Our Memorial Day

We had a nice, full day yesterday marking the occasion of Memorial Day. The city of Tupelo does a really nice job hosting a ceremony to honor those who paid the ultimate price for the freedoms we all enjoy today. It is a somber, reflective, and patriotic ceremony, and I am so proud and happy to attend it. This year, our own Uncle Kelly, Colonel, Judge, and dear friend, was the keynote speaker. He gave an excellent speech using the Gettysburg Address as the basis for his encouragement and personal reflections from serving our country. I was so proud of him!

Uncle Kelly

The ceremony began at 9:00AM. The weather was beautiful, the chaplain who spoke before Kelly was inspiring, and the patriotic music was touching. 

Here we are with Uncle Kelly

It was great to be with Lynn and her family during and after the ceremony. I briefly forgot about the coronavirus during this outdoor event. Of course, people were social distancing, but the Mims family and our family hung out together just like normal. 

After the ceremony, we came home and got ready to go to Julie's house for lunch. The only picture I took was of the cute, patriotic table she had set for us. We enjoyed a delicious lunch and a fun time playing with Mae. 

We left Julie's house around 3:00PM, and I enjoyed about an hour outside reading beside my pool. I fixed some more food, and then we went to Kelly and Lynn's for supper. It was so exciting! Our first social event (besides the Memorial Day Ceremony that morning) since the beginning of March. Kelly grilled chicken, and we enjoyed another wonderful meal and even better company.

The four of us

So good to be together!

Mother's Day and More

I had a wonderful Mother's Day! Three out of my five children were here to help me celebrate, and the other two were here in spirit! The weather was so pretty, and I spent a good bit of the day outside talking to my mother on the phone, planting a few flowers in pots, and watching Mae run around. 

I awoke to this beautiful table setting prepared by Leah after I had gone to bed the night before. 

Julie prepared a delicious meal that she brought over for all of us to enjoy. After eating, I opened my gifts from my children and also from Jimmy. The gifts were all so lovely and thoughtful. Everyone was so kind!

We planned to take some pictures with Julie and Mae...but Mae was sleepy, and then we just never got around to doing it. Leah and I did have Sam take our picture just before our evening Zoom church service. Leah is actually taller than me more so than this picture shows. I have on heels, and she has on flat sandals.

A very fun and exciting thing that Leah and I did Saturday was to attend a drive-by, social distancing baby shower for our preacher's wife, Jordan. She is expecting her third baby really any day now. It was so good to see people from our church family in real life and not on a computer screen. (I am thankful for technology! But I miss everyone so much!) The idea behind the shower was to drive by, hand your gift from your car window to the host (who would wipe it down with clorox wipes), and wave at Jordan, Trey, and their children. And some people followed that protocol.....but some of us parked our car and got out! We tried to stay 6 feet apart. (For sure we kept our distance from Jordan), but I did get close enough to Lynn for a picture. 

 the happy family of soon to be 5!

Yay! Together!

(Leanna was there before we took this picture.....I'm so sad we did not get a picture or all three of us.)

A Spontaneous Road Trip

Last Friday Leanna texted Lynn and me inviting us to join her and her family for a short trip to the beach. The plan was for Lynn and I to drive down to Seagrove, Florida Sunday afternoon after our church services, spend all day Monday on the beach, and then drive back after lunch on Tuesday.

Hmmmmmm. Let me think about that.....a short 6.5 hour drive to my favorite place (Seagrove is right next to Seaside) for one full day of reading in the sun, listening to the the ocean waves crashing, feeling the breeze, smelling the salty air.....YES. I'm in!

So, Lynn and I asked our husbands if we could, and of course they said yes, so we planned and packed, and we were off!

Someone asked me yesterday if it was worth all that driving for just one day of sand and sun, and I said, "Most definitely, yes!" I finished one book, and skimmed two others. Then I bought two new books at my favorite bookstore, Sundog Books in Seaside.

The kids (eight total between the three of us mamas) had a blast. They spent all their time either in the heated pool, playing in or beside the ocean, and playing card games. We three girls talked and talked and generally enjoyed our break from our normal, busy lives. We walked to Seaside Monday night to browse the bookstore, and then Lynn and I and our children spent almost three hours in Seaside Tuesday morning before we left for home. We browsed, shopped, and enjoyed lunch from the food trucks.

It was a short, much needed spontaneous road trip!

Running With The King 5K

Bright and early this morning all of us (except Clay who was still at Boys State--he's been gone all week) ran the Running With the King 5K. The "king" is Elvis.  Tupelo has a big Elvis Festival every year to celebrate the fact that Elvis Presley was born here. The race course runs right by his birthplace.  It has become a tradition for our family to run this race each year.

Sam and Julie both set a PR (personal record) in a road race 5K.  The rest of us were happy with our finish times too.

Jimmy and Sam

 We still look sleepy, don't we?

We found my nephew, Causey, at the race too!

Last weekend I made another quick road trip.  I drove 4 other ladies from my church to a wedding in Clinton, about 3.5 hours away.  We had a delightful time!  At the reception there was a photo booth (which was the cutest idea, by the way), and we laughed and laughed at our experience!  

Here is our printout!

Sheila, Lynn, Leanna, Mary Alice, and Me

What a blast!

The wedding and reception were both lovely, and we are all so happy for Josh and Emily. 

The Epic Road Trip

Ok. First of all, this is the reason I never blog anymore......it took me 1 hour and 10 minutes to upload these 12 pictures, and they are not even in the order I wanted them to be.  I am not kidding.  Will high speed internet please come to my house???

I digress.

So, about 5-6 weeks ago Julie asked me could she run the Coke 10K race.  Our family has run this race every single year since she was 8 years old, and she really, really did not want to miss it.  However, we had one tiny problem.  She, Olivia, and I would be in Tampa, Florida (12 hours away) on the Friday night before the race for Florida College's graduation.  I had only registered Jimmy, Leah, and Clay for the race because I was well aware of the conflict this year.  

But Julie said, "We can leave as soon as graduation is over and drive all night and make it just in time for the 8:30 AM race start."

Really?  I have never stayed up all night in my life.  Even with sick babies I dozed in the rocking chair.  Could I really drive all night?  

But how could I say no?  Olivia said, "Mama.  We cannot drive all night and then run a race."  I decided I needed a challenge, so I told Julie sure.  And just like that all three of us registered for the race.  

Then some of Julie's crazy cross county friends heard about our plan, and they wanted to join the fun too!  In the end, Josh, Cameron, and Sam (not my son Sam) registered for the race and agreed to caravan all night with us.  Their XC coach and his son drove to my house Friday and met us at the race Saturday morning.  

I spent the few days prior to our road trip flying to FL, packing up both girls' belongings from their dorm rooms--putting most of it in storage, and then squeezing the rest of it in their small car.  Josh also carried a couple suitcases for us in his vehicle.  Then we all attended graduation.

On our way to the gym for graduation.  Olivia is holding a pitcher that contains her beloved goldfish, Bingley.  He went to graduation too!

Sadly......Bingley passed away a couple of days after we got home (our cats attacked him!) :(

Olivia has gotten a new goldfish, and his name is Levi.

Julie with Sam (we call him Big Sam--so we won't confuse him with our Sam)

Sam is the main reason we all wanted to attend graduation.

After graduation we stopped by 7 Eleven for gasoline, coffee, and I got the biggest coke you have ever seen!  We were on the road at 8:13 PM EST.

Car #1:  Josh and Cameron.

Car #2:  Olivia and Me

Car #3:  Sam and Julie

This was my passenger!

The road trip home was actually pretty uneventful.  Just miles and miles and miles of driving in the dark!  We stopped about 7 times I think....for coffee, coke, the bathroom, gasoline....at our first stop, Josh and Cameron ordered seven Chick-Fil-A sandwiches! I alternated listening to an old John Grisham book on audible and peppy music on the radio.  I got a little sleepy after about an hour of driving, but after more coffee, I was alert the rest of the night.  I drove our car the entire way, Sam drove their car the entire way, and I think Josh let Cameron drive the last couple of hours.

At 7:38 CST, we made it!  Twelve hours and 15 minutes of delirious driving.

We met Jimmy, Leah, Sam, Coach Weliever and Miles, Lynn and her family, and a host of other friends and family members at Jimmy's mama's house.  The all night crew quickly changed into running clothes, and we were all on our way to the starting line.

We made it!

The rest of these pictures are all out of order.....

 Coach Weliever and his cute son Miles

 Cameron and Big Sam

They both won a golden Coke bottle!

 Julie with her Coke bottle

 The all night crew---all ready to race!

Josh, Cameron, Big Sam, Julie, Olivia, and Me

We don't even look sleepy!  

 My sweet children

Jimmy and Me--before the race

Lynn and Me--after the race.

(Russ and Megan in the background)

Let me just say---running 6.2 miles after being up all night fueled on caffeine and sugar was harder than driving all night.  I wasn't sure if I could even finish the race!  

Josh and Bo (a local friend) with their Coke bottle trophies

The Three Sams:

Uncle Sam, Big Sam, and Small Sam

It was an adventure, to say the least!

After the race we all went to Jimmy's mama's house for lunch and visiting.  Many people joined us, and we had a really nice time.  About mid afternoon, we all packed up for one last leg of our road trip--45 minutes to our house.

And the fun continued!  Coach, Miles, Josh, Cameron, Big Sam, and Big Sam's parents (they just met us at our house....they drove during the day like sane people) all joined my family at my house for a couple of days of fun and fellowship.

I would have NEVER been able to receive guests and be hospitable after being out of town for several days if it were not for the wonderful help of Jimmy and my kids at home, Lynn, Leanna and Megan.  My dear friends kept Leah and Sam for me, bought groceries for me (and washed and prepared all the produce), changed sheets on beds for me, and I can't even remember all what else, but it was FANTASTIC!  My house was clean, and we had food for the masses.  Priceless.

We made some remarkable memories over those several days.

The Fall in Review

Since I have been such a failure at blogging lately, I decided to share a few photos that give an overview of our fall. Much of my life over the last few months included lots of traveling.

I traveled to Tampa and back 4 times since August….driving three of those trips and flying only one. 

I saw Olivia and Julie run in two XC meets, and Jimmy was able to see four of them.

I made several 2 hour + trips to Tennessee and one to Clinton, MS for Clay's high school XC meets.

We attended five (or maybe 4? I already can't remember….there were 7 home games in all….) Mississippi State home football games, complete with all day tailgating, visiting, etc.

When we were home we diligently completed our schoolwork, and we have listened to hours upon hours of audio books for both Sonlight and Clay's English class in our car while traveling hundreds of miles. 

Some pictures in no particular order…...

 Olivia and Julie at one of their XC meets

 Madison, Julie, and Olivia at their XC Nationals Meet Banquet

 Julie and Cassie at a XC meet

 Olivia and Julie at a XC meet

 Joe, Leanna, Kelly, Lynn, Jimmy, and Me at a MSU game.

 Lynn and I were unable to attend our homeschool group's field trip to the pumpkin patch, so we just took our children on another day.  We pretty much had the place to ourselves.

 Leah with a rabbit at the pumpkin patch

 on the "hayride" getting their pumpkins

 We attended the Prince's Halloween party.  This year Jimmy and I did not dress up because I simply could not find the time or energy to plan and make us costumes!

Leah was Honey Lemon from Big Hero 6.

 Sam dressed up as his uncle Sam Johnson.

Sam Johnson and Sam Johnson.

 One glorious night in October Leah and these other sweet girls were baptized into Christ!

 Olivia and Julie texted this picture to Jimmy one night……It was an ENO party.

It looked pretty dangerous to me, and I did not ask how the people in the upper ENOs got up there.  Olivia is 2nd or 3rd from the top. Julie is 3rd from the bottom.

 Another December tradition for our family is to run the St. Jude Marathon or Half Marathon.  This year Jimmy ran the full, and Lynn, Leanna and I ran the half.  Leanna and I are happy to be finished in this picture!

 Here we are, freezing before the race.  

Lynn took these pictures which is why she is not in them!

The three amigos before the race. 

Lynn and I wore matching outfits. Our leggings had Christmas lights on them!  :)

 Jimmy and Julie and the XC Nationals Meet Banquet

We went to see the Nina and the Pinta which were docked on a nearby waterway.  Of course these are replicas, but it was an interesting tour.

 My children, Lynn's children, Leanna, children, and a few cousins outside one of the ships

Clay, Leah, and Sam wanted to have an ENO party of their own.

(They used a ladder.)

A Trip To Tampa

Hello!
We are home from a 5 day trip to Tampa with Kelly and Lynn, and their oldest son, Parker.  We took Clay and Parker for an official college visit, and we were able to visit with Olivia and Julie too.

Much fun was had (as always when we are with Kelly and Lynn). Many laughs and many memories made. Lynn and I ran twice while we were there--4 miles each run, and it was hot. Jimmy ran many miles (20 one morning).

We attended some college classes.  Clay and Parker went to 5 classes, I went to 3, Lynn went to 1, Jimmy went to 1, and Kelly lasted about 10 minutes in college algebra.  :) We were also able to attend chapel twice, and we visited two different churches for services yesterday.

Jimmy took lots of pictures, and I hope to share some tomorrow.  It's late, and I don't think he has even downloaded them to his computer yet.

Leah and Sam stayed behind with Megan for half the time and half the time with Leanna.  Thanks girls!

While at the airport waiting to leave and also on the plane, I did some reading….I finished Tom Sawyer and I read my chapter for our book club this week.

That's all for now. Tomorrow's plans include beginning another week of half-marathon training, homeschool, XC practice, art lessons, grocery shopping and laundry.

The Last Couple of Days

Jimmy and Clay left yesterday morning at 4:40AM for a 1400 mile round trip to Gainesville, Florida, to see Olivia and Julie run in a huge cross country meet. They also delivered Olivia's goldfish that I forgot to take when I took Julie to college back in August (Olivia had to fly down to school a week early for a summer school class…..and I was supposed to bring the fish, except that I forgot!)

 Proud Daddy with Olivia and Julie after the Mt. Dew Invitational

While they were gone Leah, Sam, and I cleaned house, did some school,  bought groceries, and hosted 6 other children for a little spend the night party. (Lynn's younger two children and all four of Leanna's). They played while I prepared food for our family Bible study meal (that we had tonight) and packed the car for the tailgating at the Miss. State ballgame (earlier today).

The three mamas (Lynn, Leann, and I) and 11 children left around 8:00 AM this morning to go see the Bulldogs play. All three of our husbands were unable to attend today's game (Jimmy--on his road trip, and Kelly and Joe were working). The teenage boys set up and took down our big tent, and we all worked together hauling everything to and from the car. We enjoyed a nice day in front of Allen Hall, relaxing and eating lunch together before the game.

We watched the Bulldog Walk, rested in the shade a little bit more, loaded up all three of our vehicles, and then went on in the game.

It. Was. Hot.

 Lynn, Leanna, and Me---before the game---before we melted.

 The Children

A selfie we took after sweltering at the game awhile.

Nice photo bomb from the guy sitting behind us.

None of us have a twitter, but we texted the picture to Kelly to see if he could add it to the #maroonselfies so we could appear on the jumbotron (We never saw it). :)

We left at halftime in order to make it back home for our family Bible study.  We made it just in time! And guess who else made it too (before us!)?  Jimmy and Clay.

That's my last two days.

And that's post #4 of 100!