A Wedding and a Birthday Party!

      This past weekend, we went to Randy's brother's wedding! It was a very nice wedding held at their home. The bride was so pretty! She held photos of her Dad who passed away years ago, instead of a bouquet. I thought that was a nice sentiment. We enjoyed barbecue pork and chicken the groom cooked. They even have a small garden in their backyard! I should have gotten some photos of those big, green tomatoes! There were lots of family members we enjoyed spending time with, as making a few new friends. One couple fascinated me because the man was 91 and looked about late seventies! I missed them dancing but Randy said it was great! I'm sharing some wedding photos here since I'm having a hard time sending them via email. If you have any advice how to do that, please share.

      The next day, we went to Yasmine's fifth birthday. I can't believe she's five already! The weather was overcast so it was quite humid! The sun shone too, so lots of sunburns that day! The reason for the sunburns is because we pushed the kids in swings a lot! But we endured since it will be August before we get to spend time with Yasmine and Layla! I miss them already as they are in Morocco! I'm sure they are having a great time with their family there!

      The garden is coming in a handful of cucumbers, green beans, and raspberries at a time! Before I know it, I'll have enough cucumbers to pickle! That is if I quit eating them. I love them! The squash isn't quite big enough to harvest but when it is, there should be quite a lot! I hope I haven't found out too late about DE being good to deter squash borers! The vine looks kind of yellow at the ground. I bought some today and when I finish writing, I'm putting the Diatomaceous earth on the base of the vine. Every year I loose squash plants no matter where I plant them! Lets hope this works!

      The weather has been quite hot and humid with a thunderstorm almost daily! The winds gusted up enough to cause a walnut tree to fall on the goat girl's fence. I didn't even know it had happened as there wasn't any sound. They must not have known it either cause they didn't escape. Kind of scary to have damaging winds and not even hear them! Everything else is o.k. 

      I'm loving this time of year with everything growing and producing! I hope ya'lls gardens are growing nicely! Have a nice day! Blessings from Bama!

The cake was so pretty and delicious too!

Left to right: Randy's Dad, the Bride, the Groom, and Randy's brother.

The  Bride and Groom and Randy's Mom and Dad. Of course, it's the groom's Mom and Dad too!

Almost all the gang!

The Bride and Groom and her Mom, sister and family.

Congratulations to the Bride and Groom!

Nice photo of them cutting the cake.

We were entertained by a live band. Here, the groom is singing "Drift Away" after the ceremony.

Another brother playing drums. He's good at it!

The Thompson's. He's 91. Incredible!

Randy swinging all four of them.

Little Lulu!

Our first 'mess' of green beans.

Our first cucumbers.

Nice red day lily.

My two guys and one of my 'babies'.

Look at Yasmine go!

Riley's happy in the swing!

Lovely day lilies!

How do you like this color?

Randy is taking care of the tree that fell on the fence. The girls didn't mind.

      

We Had a Great Time Easter Sunday!

      Family times are to be treasured! We had such a fun time here this past Sunday! There were lots of food, desserts, and games! Not only did we celebrate Jesus' resurrection; we celebrated each other! The weather was absolutely perfect! Sunny and upper sixties with a slight breeze. The kids even took naps, two at a time! Of course there are lots of pictures showing how much fun we had! I hope ya'll enjoyed your family as well!

      I feel like today is a summer day! I just came in from laying cardboard and weed-eating, and I'm drenched! Therefore creating an opportunity for me to write this post! I'm too hot and sweaty, and dirty to do anything else. I will have to wait til at least 6:00 before I go out and work again since the sun is so bright. Now I guess I'll clean the house.  The house always needs to be done! At least tonight is a leftover night. I made  a delicious Italian casserole with homemade ground pork Italian sausage. The pork was purchased at the local grocery store, not home-grown like I would like and I ground it in my grinder. I don't buy beef anymore cause the price has gone up so fast over the past couple of months! Two weeks ago, ground chuck was on sale for $3.39 a pound. The next week it was $3.79 a pound. This week it is $3.49 a pound. That may not be that much where you live, but I was used to paying $2.48-$2.88 a pound. Now we use pork and chicken in our recipes. Sometimes the occasional venison. I did splurge and buy a pack of ground chuck, just less than a pound, for my baked beans. They don't taste the same without it. And we will have an occasional sirloin on the grill and hamburgers on the grill this summer. But no more on a weekly basis. Pork and chicken can still be purchased for less than two dollars a pound. I guess when they get to three dollars a pound, we'll eat mostly beans, unless the hubs gets a raise! I really don't want to have to acquire a job outside the home, just to buy groceries. But if it comes down to it, I guess I will. It would be so hard to do all the things I do and work outside the home! Something would have to go! Canning? Gardening? Wait, that feeds us too! I'm just not going to think about it right now! God will provide!

      My homemade laundry detergent experiment seems to be going well. The clothes look clean and smell good due to the scented fabric softener I'm using. I'll really know if it works well when I wash Randy's work clothes in it. I washed Skylar's work clothes with it today, so I wonder if he'll notice.
I'm actually looking forward to using the homemade softscrub cleaner again! It just smells so good! I use an alcohol based cleaner on the counter-tops and glass. It works well; and I love the smell of alcohol! I guess I'm weird.

      I've been planting more seeds. The squash, zucchini, and some of the cucumber seeds didn't germinate, so I replanted them today. I may have to plant pea seeds again. I'll watch them a couple more days then decide. I think it's safe for me to set out my tomato plants, so I'll probably do that tomorrow. I hope ya'll are having a nice warm Spring and getting out in those gardens! Have a great week! Blessings from Bama!

Winterlynn with her Easter dress.

Winterlynn and Riley.

Looking for Easter eggs!

Riley is so cute with her Daddy!

I wonder what she sees.

That's the way to get the basket out of the way while Nanny puts your shoes on!

Skylar and his boots!

Nanny went for a ride on the golf cart!

My Dad and Willie playing horseshoes!

My uncle watching Yasmine and Layla.

Amber and April playing horseshoes!

Amber and Skylar playing horseshoes! I like how the horseshoe was captured in this photo.

Randy and April playing whatever the name of this game is!

What is uncle Randy trying to do to you Layla?

Hillbilly see-saw!

The girls sure are having fun!

Mom and Dad having a little swing time!

Skylar took down the blue baby swing and put up another regular swing.

I'm so glad he didn't fall! But Yasmine did and sprained her ankle, there in the background. There was a hole and she stepped into it.

Time for a ride!

Look at those smiles!

Yasmine just rode the little car.

April went for a ride too!

Yasmine didn't let her hurt ankle stop her from playing!

We have roses!

Riley was so cute putting on my hat!

And one of my shoes with her baby!

Welcome, 2014!

      I haven't posted since last year! Corny, I know! Christmas was celebrated with family, and so was New Year's day! We just didn't have as many family members here New Year's Day. Missed ya'll Amber, Yasmine, and Lulu! We went to the Smoky Mountains the day after Christmas and came back the day before New Year's Eve. We had a very nice trip! My Mom and Dad went too, so we took them to a show we saw last year! It was the Smoky Mountain Opry Christmas Spectacular! It was spectacular! Besides the show, our favorite thing to do was eat. We went to dinner every night and the food was good everywhere we went! Now we know where to eat if we go there again! Things are getting really expensive there so if we do go again, we probably won't see any shows. And, we might take our own food to cook on the grill, since eating out is also getting high. There's plenty to do there if you like the outdoors.

      We had an incident with Rubi a couple of weeks ago. The hens found an escape route and made their way into the yard. Not without Rubi's awareness, however. The girls were here and I was preparing their breakfast, and something made me look outside. I wished I had looked a lot sooner! I called Rubi, but she didn't come. I saw her standing over something white. It took a few minutes, but when she didn't respond to my call, I realized it was Silkie. She was dead. Rubi got her first taste of blood. God helped me to get the chickens back in but it took forever! Trying to keep the dogs away from the dead chicken and not eat any more of the live ones was a huge task by myself. Randy finally got home and helped. But one was unaccounted for. Later, when Randy left, the girls were outside playing and came running to the house to tell me Rubi was killing another chicken! I ran screaming and peeing my pants, trying to rescue the poor chicken! Miraculously, the chicken got up off the ground and went running to a place where I scooped her over the fence to safety. I thought she would die since her feathers were all over the ground! She is alive and doing well! Then the day before yesterday, I looked out and saw Rubi inside the area where the chickens roam! I yelled at Randy to hurry and get Rubi! He was home that day and quickly got her out before she killed another chicken. That very day, our prayer was answered and a nice young guy who wants to duck hunt, came and got her. She took right up with him and he with her. God cares, even about things like that! My life will be a little lonely, but a LOT less stressful! It will probably take half a day to clean up all the mess she's made around here! And I can wear what I want outside and not worry about getting it ripped, torn, or dirty, by Rubi! If we ever get another dog, I will pray and read up on which one best suits our homestead! Jack and Chelsea are like new dogs! They had taken a back seat to Rubi, but are like my normal pets again! They seem happier! They are even barking more!  

      I'm excited about the photos below! They were taken with my new camera I got for Christmas! I hope they are better than before!  Ya'll stay warm and have a good week! Blessings from Bama!

My uncle, Dad, Skylar, Randy, and brother.

Amber and April showing some of the girls new clothes.

Yasmine and her new boots.

My Mom.

Willie and his baby girl, Riley.

Cutie 'Lu'!

Yasmine and her 'super hero' stuff.

Showing Uncle Randy their new things.

He always welcomes us to Pigeon Forge.

Such a pretty place to visit.

Randy's boss's wife made me this shirt. She has an embroidery business.

I sort of wanted to ride this, along with the hot air balloon and the helicopter. My fear of heights must be overcome!

I don't know what kind of bird this is, but he sure is pretty. Made upstream from our campsite.

It rained all night and the next day, thus the rush of water.

The air was much colder there than here.

My handsome man!

It's hard to get a good photo in motion. The Christmas decorations are so pretty here!

I love this restaurant! It used to be a house. I had a delicious spinach-Gruyere quiche. I will let you know how the recipe turns out when I make it.

We are a happy family!

Love these pretty mountains!

Everywhere we went, there were this many cars!

Welcome to Gatlinburg!

The space needle.

Reminds me of a postcard.

Happy couple! We like this little shopping village!

Love the girls colorful costumes! The guy is ice-skating!

Ice skating to a country-sounding Christmas song!

A cute act.

Slim the juggler. That's an actual bowling ball!

Duck Dynasty impersonators. They sang good! 

A lively finale.

Nice place!

Two cuties!