Summer Youth Series

This past Monday night, our congregation hosted a "Summer Youth Series" and we had 177 in attendance!  Summer Youth Series is a series of lessons hosted by area congregations on Monday nights during the summer.  This allows our youth to meet with the youth from other congregations to sing and hear a speaker deliver a lesson targeted at their age group.  This is the second year Blossom has participated in it, and it is a WONDERFUL work.  The series usually starts the first Monday in June, and is held weekly until the middle of August.  Due to our VBS, we missed the first lesson hosted by North Jefferson Church of Christ in Mt. Pleasant, but since then have attended in Blodgett and Fruitvale.  

Michael led a few songs

Then Lanny led several more songs

And Dwight Butler (Evan's dad from Illinois) was the speaker of the evening.  Dwight always does a FANTASTIC job, and I love to hear him preach.  And the apple doesn't fall far from the tree because Evan always does an awesome job too.

All the pews were packed - just as they should be!

We decorated in a country/bar-b-que theme

I made these cookies for the meal following.  I should have done a better job outlining the flower, but I believe it was close to midnight the night before when I got around to icing and decorating them.

Tiffany made pulled pork sandwiches which were AWESOME!  And we had coleslaw and chips to go with it.

Most everyone that comes, stays for the meal afterwards to fellowship

Full House

Colton, Reese, Erin, Courtney, Hailey & Michael

Some of our younger kids

And when I saw this sight, I had to get a picture.  Courtney vacuuming without me telling her too??

And Hailey too!

Reese was trying to make rabbit ears behind their heads, but he needs to grow another foot before we will be able to see them :)

It was a great evening and I am looking forward to attending more Summer Youth Series this summer!

Shrimp Boil

This past Saturday my little brother and sister-in-law had us all out for a shrimp boil - which is probably my absolute favorite meal.  They did an OUTSTANDING job!!

My brother and his wife do not have human kids, but they do have canine kids.

My canine nieces an nephew: Lexi, Bo, and Layla

 Looks like Layla and Lexi could use a P90X workout or two

 Poor Bo - he will be 11 in October.  He has cancer, and the vet has done all he can do.  The remaining tumor can not be removed. The last time Bo came to visit me was when we lived in Blossom and we had a cat.  Big bad Bo was very, very scared of the cat.

Rod helping the cook take up the shrimp

 

 Yum!! 

 I was so glad that my grandmother was able to come!

 These pictures are out of order, but it takes too much time (for me) to move them.  Jeffrey and Vicki recently redid their bathroom in Harley Davidson decor.

 Makynzi, Court and my mom

 We were lucky enough to have Avery for the weekend, and she decided to try out the Harley

 Michael seems to still enjoy stroller rides.  Maybe he is not ready to move 8 hours away from me after all?

 Court and Michael

 Cody, Rod and Avery

 Michael and Vicki

Thanks for having us out Jeffrey and Vicki!  Food was awesome and company was great!  Let's do it again real soon :)

Michael Blake - 19 years old!

Thursday, June 9th, my baby boy turned 19 years old!!  WOW - where does the time go??  It was such a busy week with VBS, that I really didn't have much time to plan anything for his birthday - not that a 19 year old really cares about having a party.  My main goal was just to plan time to see him!  He has been working so hard lately, that I barely ever see him.  But...I couldn't ask for better company than those he has been running with, Evan and Lanny, who are both good influences on him!  He wakes up 4:30 every morning to meet Lanny at 5am to work out (P90X), then he usually works in the mornings and sometimes evenings with Evan (Evan and Melanie are building a new house) before going to work at the vet clinic around noon.   He is a busy boy, and enjoys going and doing and staying busy as much as I do :)

2 months

1 1/2 years

At Sea World - 5 years

Kindergarten

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth

Disney World - Age 8

Age 10

 Age 17 - The only thing scarier about my child holding on to a shark, is that I was in the water CLOSE enough to take the picture!!

And all I could think about in this picture was the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin... 

 Age 18 - Fishing off the coast of Belize

 Prom with Kelli

On Michael's actual birthday, I baked him a cake and we went to the Fish Fry (his choice) to eat with my mom. I used Maverick colors to decorate his cake - and it worked - they WON!

MawMaw, Michael, Courtney and my mom at my brother's house

 Seth's birthday was on Monday, June 13 (he turned 11), so we had lunch and cake again on Sunday for both Seth and Michael at my brother and sister-in-law's house. 

 Me and the birthday boy

I can't believe this will be his last year to be a teenager!!! Happy Birthday Michael!!  I love you to the moon and back - but I won't go on and on and embarrass you - not that you read my "lame" blog anyway! :)

Phillips Cook Out

This past Saturday night, Ben and TiffanyPhillips had their annual hamburger cook-out.  We always look forward to this every year.  It is a way to kick back and relax after a busy week of VBS.  Ben grilled hamburger and hot dogs, and several people brought homemade ice cream.  I'm not sure who brought the banana nut ice cream, but it was AWESOME!  And I am not even much of an ice cream fan.

Tiffany, Vivian and Britney putting the final touches on the food and making the tea

Kylee, Hailey, Courtney and Erin

I never did hear how many showed up, but there was a nice big crowd

The boy table

Is he not just adorable!

We were keeping Avery, so she got to go with us :)

She thinks Rod is funny

Hudson and Grady playing hide and go seek

Cute little Evan!

Benton loved this car!  All the babies are getting so big!

The kids hitting the volleyball around a circle

Vivian, Becky, Daphine and Mandy

Chuck, Lanny and Michael

Kenny was blowing bubbles and Jack was loving it!

Venita and Bettye

Now, the serious fun begins.  A good old game of kickball.  All the kids picked a number between 1 and 50, and the two closest to the number I chose were the team captains. 

This is the team that Ryan picked:

And the team that Bryce picked:

I went in to change Avery's diaper, and found Ms. Joan playing the piano very beautifully

Courtney wore flip flops to the cook out, so Kelli was nice enough to share one shoe with her

Sweet little Autumn Faith

Thank you Ben and Tiffany for a fun filled evening!!  We had a blast, and I am sure everyone else did as well :)