Happy Birthday Phillip!

What a pleasure to wish Phill a Happy Birthday ~ he is a gift in each of our lives! He gives us laughter, kindness, peace and joy! We love you and wish you a special birthday and year ahead. To celebrate Phill we gathered for a cookout for burgers, hot dogs, gifts and lemon cake ~ and then headed to see the new "Indiana Jones" movie. We loved the time together. Our son ~ we are proud of you through and through. We love you.

The Memorial Day weekend has just been awesome here at the Smith house! The weather is absolutely FANTASTIC ~ those perfect days of mid 70's, clear blue sky and no humidity. Ahhhhhhhh ~ it just makes you smile. We have spent time: at the nursery getting flowers and vegetables to plant and planted them, watched a few movies at home and at the theater, slept in, Alden and I took a drive downtown to our wonderful Capitol to see the sights of Memorial Day, enjoyed the sunset on the Potomac and peaceful converation, annual Memorial Day church service that honors those in the miliary past and present, talked with neighbors and enjoyed a block party on our street .........and of course family time. ~ we are blessed and know it ~ thankful we are.

Thank you to all who have served and are serving our great country ~ USA

One nation under God ~this nation is yours God.

David Cook ~ the winner

This is our first year REALLY watching American Idol and we've sure had fun with it. We loved the two finalists and REALLY liked David Cook ~ congratulations to him for a job well done. What a fun show it was tonight ~ lots of GREAT music! Yahoo for simple fun!

Connecting with extended family ~ wonderful

Saturday we enjoyed a day with extended family ~ Alden and I went down to North Carolina to his dad's cousin reunion. The year his grandmother died ~ the children (Alden's dad and siblings) and cousins decided to have a yearly "cousin" reunion. We have tried to make this a priority in the last few years to stay connected with "family" and what a treat it always is. 5 of Alden's dad's siblings were there (there were 9 of them!). There were about 50 people ~ young and old. Yep.....we are on the younger side (isn't that fun!), but then there were twin 4 month olds too! It was just good to talk and laugh with these wonderful people.........and hear things like "you have the Smith hair" (Alden's white hair is prevalent in this crowd!). It is also good to meet the "cousins" and their families. What a real treat for us!

Peggy, MR and Jean, Jerry and Jean,

Elma and Cindy

Alden and Foy

We then headed up north, stopping in Richmond to have dinner with Dorian's sisters and families ~ Susan, Richard, Kim and Heather. We enjoyed Mexican food, then took a ride down to the James River and enjoyed the view, and then topped off the evening at Kim's house for some more visiting..........before heading home.

Thankful for family ~ ahhhh yes

Exciting News ~ Phill and Christy are having a baby!

What INCREDIBLY exciting news we received this weekend ~ Phillip and Christy are expecting! Their precious little baby will be born in late December. Yahoooooooooooooooooooo! We are so happy for them. Brittany and Andrea are happy to be having a new baby brother or sister!

The happy parents-to-be!

"sisters" celebrating

Pregnant "sisters" ~ what special friends these two little babies will be

proud "dads to be"

What fun ~ expecting babies together!

Our prayers are with these two little babies as God grows them.

Sharing the news with the Richmond crew

Phill, Christy, Brittany and Andrea ~ we REJOICE with you!

Reminiscing a bit more..........

Hannah's graduation weekend was just fantastic. You know how occasionally an event turns out just perfect. You think in your head and pray for the event to be wonderful and special, but then when it happens it is just AMAZING. This was "that" event. Not that everything went just as planned or without glitches, but it was just so special. God blessed us all over the place and we are thankful. The highlights of the weekend were: Hannah's nurse pinning ceremony Friday and our whole family gathering for it. It was so fun ......all of us (Alden and I, Courtney, Pat, Rebekah, Joshua and Bailey), Phill and Christy, Brittany and Andrea, Steve and of course Hannah) meeting at the 1st event of the weekend...........the excitement was high and the weather was gorgeous. Harrisonbury, where JMU is located, is nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains. The scenery is awesome. This ceremony was so special ~ well planned and fun to be a part of Hannah's nursing program (about 60 people). Speakers, songs, candlelighting ceremony with the nurse's pledge and of course the pinning ceremony. They showed a video of the girls throughout the last two years. It was fantastic. Refreshments finished the time and we were able to visit.

Our kids ~ we're proud and we love you all so much.

Hannah with some of her nieces and nephews who love her SO much.


Sisters ~ special sisters
That night we all went out to dinner ~ we were able to just talk and laugh and simply get caught up with everyone. A very special night indeed.

The next morning we were up bright and early to get our seats at the stadium for the graduation. We met up with Dorian's two sisters, Susan and Kim, Richard and Heather (who were so KIND to join us for the day!) We had been concerned about the weather as a bad storm was forecast. It was a BEAUTIFUL day.............sunny, with a breeze. Thank you God ~ we know it was YOU who took that storm away. We did LOTS of sitting and listening and waiting....and we all did GREAT. Good job kiddos.

Richmond crew arriving ~ welcome Susan, Kim and Heather

Hi Richard and Alden

All of us waiting for the ceremonies to begin!

Courtney and Kim

Christy and Bailey

Heather, Brittany and Rebekah

Phillip and Joshua

After the full ceremony and diploma ceremonies, we headed over to Hannah's house for the celebration with her 4 housemates and families. We had a great time with good food and great people.

Ahhhhh.....a special day. We love you Hannah.

After the party, we headed up to the mountains where we were staying, got into comfortable clothes, ate Chick-Fil-A, curled up on the couches, and talked and laughed and reminisced. Oh what a GREAT time.

Hannah ~ the honoree!