Our Trip Back To Chicago

Jonathan and I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Chicago. We saw lots of friends while we were there, celebrated our 11th anniversary, and took a comprehensive exam.......all in 4 days! Here I am with some of the sweetest people in the world!! This was a wonderful little party thrown for me by Megan! She was one of my students at St. Norbert--my last third grade class. She invited several of my former students to come and see me while I was in town. This was a picture of the first ones there----more came later----but we had to get a picture of us with the cookie cakes before we ate them!! (Kathleen, we really missed you!) It was one of the highlights of the trip, to be sure!! How thoughtful it was of Megan and her family to do this for me!

Here Jonny stands with two very precious people---Pat and Nancy---in their newly remodled kitchen! They were dear friends at our precious Calvary Church. While we were in town we got to see so many church friends----including our friend Ernie who went to be with the Lord 36 hours later.... :) We also got to say goodbye to our pastor Rick and his wife Lynne, who will be moving to the Minneapolis area soon!! It was so good to see them before they left!

I also got to meet Baby Shane White----but because I hogged him all morning, I forgot to take a picture of him!! :(

Hopefully his mommy will put the picture she took of us on her blog-----That will prove that I really did see him! Lindsay, Shane, and I had a great breakfast together. It was so fun to be with her.....we missed you, Kolby!! (Check her blog---it is linked to ours to see if there is a picture!!)

Here is a picture of my little Larry---who is not so little anymore!!!! We stayed with Larry's sweet family while we were in Chicago. They treated us royally as always---wonderful dinners, great movies, and fabulous hospitality!! It was very hard to leave...... We love them so much! (You should have seen our van when we left their house----they gave us some of their furniture and a television!!! We looked like we were moving all over again!!) Thanks, Larry and Carol!!

This last picture is for our dear friend, Larissa-----------We saw this at Macy's and had to get a picture of it for you. This should be on your Christmas list, my cold little friend!!

Ocoee Trip--2007

Jonathan and his brothers took a trip to Chatanooga, Tennesse to go white water rafting down the Ocoee River. (This is the river that the Olympic competition was held on in 1996 during the Atlanta Olympics.) L-R: Matthew, Daniel, Aaron, Andrew, Adam, and Jonathan.

Matthew and Jonathan.

Jonathan, Aaron, and Adam.

Team Davis

Jonathan and his brothers pose for a serious team picuture. Back row L-R: Aaron, Jonathan, and Andrew. Front row L-R: Matthew, Adam, and Daniel.

Jonathan.

Aaron.

Andrew.

Hardwood Heroes!

Jonathan and Al got so much hardwood down during Al's visit!! They were awesome! They finished all they could----the kitchen, dining room, hall, foyer, and front bedroom. They could not do the den because we are still waiting on the hearth to be finished!

During Al's visit, Al and Andrew helped Jonathan go get all of our cabinets out of storage. Here they are placed where they will go.....It is kind of exciting to see!!

Anna Grace Litsinger

Here I am hogging my newest "neice"---Anna Grace Litsinger! She is my cousin Karen's first child.......and isn't she an ANGEL!!??

Here we are at my Grandmother's house after the reunion----Now Aunt Lois is hogging her!! :) Karen and Grandmother are there in the background. For some reason I never took a picture of her in Karen's arms. (That's probably because only Aunt Lois and I held her all day!!!!!)

The West Reunion

Jen and Al had planned on leaving Mississippi in order to get back home for the West Reunion....but Al decided to stay and help Jonny with the floors....so Jen and I along with the boys trekked back to Mayfield for the reunion. I was quite the surprise!! I had not been to a West Reunion since 1994!! While we were there, I also got to meet the newest member of the family---Anna Grace Litsinger! (Seen here in Karen's arms!)

This is my Grandmother--Amy Lois West Green Evans and her brother, Paul West. They are the oldest members of the West Family still living! I think Uncle Paul is 94! Grandmother is 85! Isn't she cute!!??

These are the first cousins----My dad is the third one from the left in the back row. Uncle Tom and Uncle Jim are next to him. (They are triplets, you know!) It was a very fun and quick trip. We arrived Saturday at lunchtime, and left Sunday after lunch!

A Fun Visit!

Al, Jennifer, Luke, and John David came for a visit during the Fourth of July week to work on our hardwood floors (and to fish! ). Jen and the boys and I had fun playing together! We went to Chuck-E-Cheese with Lizzie and Anna, and later that week we went to the Sprinkler park in Collierville (where Anna and Lizzie had thier birthday party). It was a very fun visit!

The Mantle is Stripped!!

We bought an old mantle from Keri's "Junk Man"--Mr. Huey--for $50. I finally finished sanding and stripping it....! We had to get Rocky, our cabinet maker, to make it deeper for us so that it could accomodate a brick hearth, and now it is ready to hang! We are excited about how it turned out!

To Sod or Not to Sod--Was Never the Question!

Our yard has been an exciting prospect for Jonathan! In fact, once when I asked him what his favorite thing about the house was.....he said, "The yard!" For those of you that know his mom and dad, you realize what gifts of gardening God gave to the Davis family!! They have a beautiful yard--and Jonny has big plans/dreams for ours! It starts with grass! Now, there is a funny story here....so let me tell it to you! After we cleaned up all the brick debris, left-over lumber, trash, and rock out of the yard, Jonny measured off what we could afford to seed this year. (Which is about 10,000 square feet.) He sprayed Round-Up on the weeds and unwanted grass so we could start with a clean slate. The ground was so hard from lack of rain and from big truck packing it down, we decided we should have someone come and disk it up for us. We called several dirt-work guys and we finally found one that would come and work on it for $200. However, after this arangement was made, we were told we would still need to break it up with a tiller before we actually planted grass seed. So, Jonny decided he would rather spend the $200 on a tiller---even though that meant lots of hard work!! So we went to Sears and bought a tiller. The next day Jonny put the tiller together and got started tilling the side yard. The side yard is by far the worst part of the yard---VERY ROCKY!! After several hours of working, he was not quite half-way finished with it.....and a bolt on the tiller broke. This made the job much more difficult, but Jonny pressed on! About 6 p.m. Jonny saw a man he didn't know walking up the driveway---it was Skeet Hurdle---one of the dirt-work guys that we had called. He said he had driven by and seen Jonny working on this yard all afternoon, felt awful that he had not come earlier in the week to give us an estimate, and told Jonny he would be glad to come and disk it up in the morning for him for $100. Jonny exclaimed, "DEAL!!!!!"

The next morning Skeet arrived very early and worked on our yard for over 1 1/2 hours! It was such a blessing. We had a truckload of dirt ordered for the side yard----It was still just too rocky! Jonny worked on spreading the dump-truck load of dirt out over the side yard (by hand) for a few days, and then tilled up the front and back yards. Now we were ready to plant grass seed! Then it rained and rained before we could plant it.......And it became clear we had another issue!! Our dirt we bought was going to wash away unless we could stop it! So.........we bought some sod. Al and Jonathan layed sod on the slope by the driveway, and then later Jonny and I went back for more sod--to place it around the new dirt! Jonny was so careful in how he placed it--wanting to be sure that he made it go as far as possible. (Thus the funny fan-shaped design!!) However, it WORKED!!! The sod is Zoysia grass---and it is growing beautifully! We wish we had enough money to sod the whole thing! But good things come to those who wait. So we will wait........Hopefully it will dry out soon enough for us to plant the Zoysia grass seed soon!

I'm so proud of my sweet, hard-working, diligent husband!!!!!

Jonny's Big Catch

Look how proud! Jonny and Al went fishing at "Duck Pond" (which is about 4-5 miles from our house) after a hard days' work. Al was down for a visit while Jen and Mom were at Johnna's to celebrate Catherine's first birthday! Neither Jonny nor Al could believe what Jonny pulled out of the water! Of course, it should be noted that Jonny was using Al's equipment when the grand fish was caught. The Bass probably weighed between 4-5 pounds. Needless to say, this gave them the fishing bug!! They have been back several times, but have gotten only hopeful bites---no catches!

This is Duck Pond---FULL of lilly pads!!

So Many Things Happening!

This day began with Jonny and I gettting up early to go out and shovel brick and mortar trash into the pickup truck so we could take it to the dump. I had woken up disappoited because our painter couldn't come today nor could we have our dirt delivered. It seemed as if this day was going to be a wasted work day..... But God reminded me gently while I layed there that I should give thanks in all circumstances.......for overbooked painters and for unscheduled dirt deliveries. Jonny and I had been working and shoveling for not even an hour when a crew from the Holly Springs Utility Division came out.......with a ditch witch! They were here to dig our underground electric line (from the pole to the mudroom). All of a sudden there was activity everywhere!! Then, within the hour, Larry Martin showed up to install our water treatment system (similar to a septic tank), and he brought a big backhoe and our huge 1000 gallon tank! Then our electrician showed up......he was wanting to get our electricity on for us!! He installed lights and put on some wall plates......Now we are ready for our air-conditioning to be turned on! What a day!! I was really glad I had chosen to be thankful.....God sure did bless us on this busy day!

Our huge tank arrived and parked in our front yard.

Here you can see the electric company and Larry Martin's equipment working side by side. So here is where our water treatment system will go....on the north side of the house.

And here is where all that fresh water will escape......... :)