Camping at Stone Mountain

Get ready for picture overload! We took a lot of pictures during this trip, so I will do three posts in order to share some of them with you! The weekend before school started for Bryce, we took a little trip to Stone Mountain State Park. We had a great time! We stayed for two nights, ate really good meals, hiked 5 miles (Brant did SO good!), and played in the creek! We went with the Taylor's and had a very fun, relaxing time together. It was a great trip to end the summer with. We had perfect weather the whole weekend! It was cool at night and in the morning and not too hot during the day!

Brant, Bryce, Melia, Jarred & Logan our firt "chilly" morning!

I am not sure Melia was really awake yet!

Melia playing in the creek.

They were all sitting in the really cold water!

Bryce seeing how long he could put his head in the cold water!

Melia loving on Mommy!

The boys setting up for a leaf race!

Nationals in WV & Beach

Okay! I know it has been a long time since I posted last. I have a lot of pictures and a lot has happened since the last post. I am not going to try to cover everything, but I will try to hit some of the big things we have done. We went, in July, to West Virginia to our FWB National Convention. This year was the first year we have had kids from our church compete and it was fun to watch them and cheer them on. Bryan sang in the praise team and overall it was a good week. We traveled there with Mema, Aunt Kay, Uncle Ralph, Aunt Bebbie and Cooper! They are always so much fun to be around! Our motel in WV was probably the best one yet. We had a suite, so there was a lot of room! (with three kids and all of our "stuff", we definately needed the extra room!)

After the Nationals, we came home for about two hours to clean the church and then got back into the car and headed toward the beach! We stayed on Radio Island and enjoyed a day and a half of relaxing/playing in the pool! The kids had a blast, but we were all ready to be back home by Saturday night!

The next week, Bryan and I took the kids to Grandaddy and Grandmama's on Tuesday night and we left Wednesday morning for Choral Festival in SC. Bryan and I had a great time at Choral Festival. We were able to see Phillips, Craig and Dean in concert as well as the Thomas Road Baptist Church Choir with Guy Penrod. It was a good time for us to catch our breath and be ready for the busy fall we have. The kids did really good at Grandaddy and Grandmama's even though, at one point, all three of them had a fever! Bryce was able to go to Peace's VBS all week and had a great time!(He only had fever Friday night and Saturday morning!) Brant went to VBS on Tuesday night, but no more after that because he ended up running a fever off and on until Saturday. Melia kept everyone laughing (and busy) and only had fever for one night! Mama said they all were really good, but most of the time they didn't really feel like being bad!

Well, that is all for this post. I will post more pictures later!

The kids getting ready to leave for WV.

We made a potty break at a rest area and let the kids walk aroung for a while!

Bryce, Brant, Melia and Cooper

Brant in the pool at the beach loving his floaty!

Melia sticking close to the stairs!

Bryce jumping in! (He is becoming such a good swimmer.)

Brant jumping in!

They were so tired after a day and a half of swimming!

Melia being a "big girl"!

Melia's Ears

We are getting ready to leave for WV in a couple of hours, but I wanted to post a pic of Melia with her New Earrings! After being called a handsome boy (despite the fact she had a skirt and a bracelet on!) four times before lunch on Thursday, Bryan and I decided to go ahead and get her ears pierced. She did really good and only cried for a little while. They aren't red, but they are still pretty sore to touch. She is so cute when you ask her about them. She will say "yes" that she likes them and thinks they are pretty, but will also point to them and say "Earring Hurt!".

We're still here..... or not?!?!

We are still here, but we have been soooooo busy this last month and a half. We spent a week and the beach with Bryan's school for a beach/missions trip with some of his students. We had a really good time and even the kids enjoyed ministering to the people in the nursing homes we went to. After that trip we were at Camp Lapihio for two weeks! We took our Senior High teens the first week and then Junior High the next. We had a blast! Even though it was very hot the first week, the kids did really well and had a great time. There were a lot of decisions made both weeks and I just pray that they (and I) will be able to stick to them. The week after camp we had our VBS at church. Our theme this year was "God's Big Backyard". We had a good time learning about serving others. The last night of VBS Dan the Animal Man was with us and brought some neat animals. He did a great job telling us about the animals, but also showing us how God uniquely created them and us. After VBS we had July 4th, spent some time with family and have tried to clean up some in the house! We are getting ready to leave on Saturday for our National Convention in West Virginia! I am looking forward to seeing friends and family while we are there. Here are some pictures of some of the things we have been doing lately! Hope you enjoy and maybe I can get better again at posting more regularly!

Colton, Me, Addie & Bryan during Senior High week of Lapihio!

Dan the Animal Man with a HUGE porcupine!




Here he is with a Gibon.



Here he is with an Alligator who was surprisingly calm!



Brant, Caleb, Logan, Jarred, Bryce and Ashton with Dan the Animal Man and the Alligator!

Our family & Grandaddy & Grandmama

Bryce lost his 3rd tooth, 1st up top!

Bryce and Daddy catching fish in Mema's pond!

Brant on the water slide at our friend's house!

Melia trying wear Mama's new black heels! (I think she can walk better in them than I can!)

Cooper & Melia with Uncle Ricky when they came to visit!

Bryce and Brant with Uncle Deb - what fun!!!!!

Happy Birthday Bryan!!!!!

Today is Bryan's birthday and I wanted to let him know how much I (we) appreciate and love him! Bryan (Daddy) is so many wonderful things to us: He is a wonderful man of God, husband, daddy to three kids who thinks he is the greatest, son, friend, youth pastor and many more!

Daddy,

We love you soooooo much! You are the best daddy! Thank you for all you do for us. Thank you for taking care of us, playing with us, bathing us, loving our mommy and praying with us! We hope you have a great birthday and are so thankful God chose you to be our daddy!

Love,
Bryce, Brant & Melia


Bryan,

I hope you have a wonderful birthday today! Thank you so much for what you do for our family! I LOVE YOU more than words can express and I am so thankful God gave me the wonderful man He did!

Always & Forever Yours,
Michaellynn
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Mother's Day Pics

We had a great mother's day! We had our regular church services, and then we headed to Wilson. We did not have a Sunday night service, so we stayed in Wilson until later that evening. We all went to Mema's house for lunch and relaxation. Uncle Ralph cooked some great steaks and, of course, we ended up eating and snacking all day long! We played outside until a storm came and then we went in and played cards until time for baths for the kids! They love to get showers at Mema's!

We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed our whole family being together. Bryan and I are so thankful for our Mom's. They are so good to us. They are Godly, loving, kind, generous, helpful with their advice, wonderful Grandmothers, and many, many more things! Thank you Mema and Grandmama, you are loved and appreciated very much!!!

These kids are soooooo funny! It is quite a challenge to get all four to cooperate for a picture, but they have so much fun together!

Silly! (The little ones love to say "cheese")

Melia loves to swing, swing at Mema's!

Pray for us! One day these two are going to be teenagers together!

WOW! What a weekend.

This past weekend Bryce had the opportunity to play "Dew Drop" a surfer dude from who knows where in our children's play at Church. Michaellynn directed our Kidz Praize program for another year and did an excellent job. We were able to do a repeat from a couple of years ago called Splash Kingdom. It's about a group of kids that want to enter a fabulous water park but their names are not found in the invitation book, (The Book of Life.) After learning how they can get into the water park they go through the steps of making it possible and are able to enter. It is a great program for kids to explain just how simple it is to be saved. I must say that our kids did a great job despite the fact that this was probably the smallest group we have ever had in Kidz Praize.

Friday, Micheallynn and I spent the majority of the day tying up some loose ends so that dress rehearsal would run smoothly on Saturday. It did just that, with no credit to me. Michaellynn, Brooke, Mrs. Dianne, and Mrs. Lisa did a fabulous job getting things together.

Grandaddy and Grandmamma came back from their mission trip to Mexico on Friday, and after taking Saturday to recover came to see Bryce on Sunday. Mema, Aunt Bebbie (Debbie), Uncle Ralph, and Cooper-man came too. It was great having them all their to support Michaellynn and Bryce.

Well, another year and another play. We'll have to see what next years is going to be like.

Bryan