Tatum Eagles

Yesterday we got all the kiddos together to "try" and get a good picture taken for the Tatum Eagle Football program this Fall. My parents have putting an ad in this program since we were young! Now it's crazy that we all have kids...."Future Eagles!" I'm not sure that my kids will be future eagles, but I know my niece and nephews will be! But, I'm not ruling that out just yet! It was a chore getting them to all smile and just LOOK at the camera. "Tucker STOP crying!"

(Kristen thanks again for the tutus! They are so cute!)

The kiddos

Trever and his friend Trevor put a video on You Tube of their trampoline dunk! I think it's pretty cool....see below!

Taydem showing her dancing skills!

Trampolein dunkers first video!

Count down....

My sister's wedding is getting closer each day. There's so many last minute things that my mom and Danin are running around trying to take care of. I help when I'm told or asked to do something! Last night we went over to Mom's to cut the programs up for the wedding. My cousin Chelsea designed the programs, Danin printed them off and I cut the suckers in half! My arm got a good workout for sure. Thank goodness I brought home the office "slicer" or that would've taken us forever! My mom has really done so much for this wedding. One of her extra bedrooms looks like Hobby Lobby threw up in there! I'm excited and can 't wait. Weddings are always fun and Danin is the only wedding this summer! Last year we had 5! Dustin and I will be singing in the wedding and my BFF Carla will play the piano for the wedding. Danin has 4 bridesmaids/groomsmen, 4 ushers, and ALL the grand babies are in the wedding! Yes, ALL of them! The two smaller kiddos will ride down the aisle in a wagon pulled by Aidan (he's the oldest). We pray that they all do their part! I will have tons of pictures in a couple of weeks from this beautiful day!

Leven has gotten in high gear already for volleyball. The month of July he has had "open gym" three days a week. He did a camp last week for his junior high kids and this week he has his high school kids in a camp and he and Trever leave early tomorrow morning for another camp Leven's doing in Teague! Next week 2-a-days START! He loves his team this year and is excited about the games again. When we first moved here it was hard for him to adjust to a new school, new rules, new girls, new PARENTS, etc. Now these girls know him and love him and respect him as a person and as their coach! He's ready to get this season going! These girls work hard everyday for him! What more could you ask for in a player?

Trever hasn't slowed down much this summer either. I will be ready for school to start again to get him back on a routine schedule. He LOVES Pine Tree. He has made so many new friends and where we live is so perfect for him. He's been working out every day and I can actually see some muslces starting to pop through! He's really changed a lot this summer. I bet he's grown 3 inches! It's scary b/c he turns 16 in November and a lot of his friends are already driving! C-R-A-Z-Y!

Taydem is talking up a storm. She has always been a talker but we can now understand her words better! She's still the sweetest little girl EVER. Loves to give kisses and hugs and is so caring. She loves school and is learning so much. She knows her numbers, colors, shapes, ABC's and still loves to sing! Her smile makes me smile! She's gonna be the flower girl and is super pumped about wearing her dress!

I am loving bootcamp more and more every day. I started a different bootcamp at a different location this go round. I have three times during the day that I can make the class. So much better. If I can't do it in the afternoon's I go in the mornings before work! I'm on week 4 right now and I'm finally starting to see a change in my body. ugh! Still haven't lost any weight, but everything is getting smaller! Choir starts back up tonight, I still try and catch some TV when I'm not running around crazy, and I'm in love with my husband and kids!

It's a family thing....Cades Cove

I was "facebook stalking" this morning and ran across the Cades Cove "like" page! Cades Cove is part of my family's history in the Smokey Mountains of East Tennessee. Every since I was a little girl I can remember taking a family trip to visit our kin folks in Tennessee. And every visit we made a point to visit Cades Cove and my dad would tell us the history of the Cove over and over again. Now that I'm older and wiser, I can appreciate my dad and my family's history.

Cades Cover was once known as "Kate's Cove" after an Indian Chief's wife. The Cove drew the Cherokee Nation back again and again by its abundant wildlife and good hunting. Later, Cades Cove's wildlife drew Eurpean descent fronteirsmen to make it their home. They and their offspring cleared the fertile valley floor and built farms to sustain them. The pioneer's families lived in Cades Cove for many generations before the cove became part of The Great Smokey Mountain National Park. Today, Cades Cove is still as full of wildlife as before but draws not hunters, but millions of Smokies visitors. Some of the homes that were once built then are now preserved and still standing. My great great great great grandparents are among the many that lived there. John and Lurany Oliver were their names and they were the first white settlesr that made it to the cove. The Olivers came despite the fact that there wasn't any Indian treaty allowing them across the Mountains. This usually caused some sort of friction between the two. However, in the case of the Olivers the Cherokee Indians actually helped them survive their first winter. The Olivers purchased their land in 1826!!! Wow!!

John and Lurany Oliver had several children and one of them was named Elizabeth. Elizabeth married an ANTHONY! Which is how I come into this picture! The Oliver's offspring still lived in the cove until it became a National Park in 1934.

Here's some pictures from Cades Cove:

John Oliver's home

"Are You a Mime?'

This past weekend we celebrated my younger sister's bachelorette party in Addison, TEXAS! Being the maid of honor, I was in charge of putting the whole weekend together. I am horrible at being creative, but I know my sister pretty well. In the beginning, once I started talking with all the girls, we decided that more than a just a few of us wanted to make a weekend out of it and drive up on Friday after work. So I had to start planning for that day as well. The week of the party, only 5 decided that they would make the trip on Friday---bummer! It was actually pretty nice just having us 5. NO DRAMA, just FUN! So the girls were....Danin, Brandi (bridesmaid), Krystal (bridesmaid), Samantha (college roomate) and myself! We had a blast together. We started off eating at Hula Hans (good choice KK) and ended the night at Sherlocks! I love love love a place with a live band! The band that night at Sherlocks (they were the same band a few weeks ago that Lev and I saw while we were there) are really good! Here are a few pics from Friday:Saturday started off by trying to recover from the night before. Once you get out of staying up late, it's a killer! We ate some breakfast and headed back to the hotel for some pool time. Now let me back up....the hotel we stayed at wasn't the hotel I was thinking about!! It wasn't the best hotel in the world, but it worked for us. Now the pool was teeny tiny and when we got back to the hotel after eating breakfast the whole pool was covered by shade. So what to do?? We decided we would walk over to the hotel next door and use their pool! So we got dressed, grabbed our drinks, music and started that way. I went and checked out the other pool before the other ladies got down. By the time they made it to the parking lot OUR hotel pool was full of sun! P-E-R-F-E-C-T! So we ended up using our pool. All the other ladies started to arrive around noon. The first to arrive were my cousins from the Houston area! We love those girls so much and I was so excited they got their when they did. We had plenty of catching up to do around the pool before everyone else got there. The "Smith" girls resemble the Kardashians very very much! Three sisters, long dark hair, big brown eyes! Chelsea (the oldest and reminds everyone of Kourtney) has been married for 4 years and has a little baby girl inside her belly! She was a trooper ALL day and ALL night! Thanks again Chelsea! Channing (the middle sis and is soooooo Khloe) had a large time that night! She is the life of the party and is in her own world most of the time! She makes me laugh! Had so much fun dancing with her at the Black Finn (and Chan, stay away from the balloons!!) Chera (the baby and is so much a diva like Kim) is 19, still in college, single and living it up! Chera had a large time at Pete's Piano bar and felt it later that night (no need to go any further!) She's still so young and makes me jealous of her beautitul youth.

Once everyone made it to the hotel we all dressed in our favorite black and headed downstairs for a little lingerie party for Danin. And boy did she get a lot of really cute~sexy outfits! Again...jealous!We left there and grubbed up at The Blue Goose. By far this was the BEST mexican food I have ever eaten! Again, by far! I love mexican food and have tasted good restaurants everywhere. But most of the time you have a favorite restaurant with the best chips, salsa, margaritas, food etc. The Blue Goose had it all! My lips are watering as I type!

After stuffing our faces we headed to Pete's Piano bar. I love this atmosphere so much. I love music and watching two guys singing, playing the piano and making people laugh just does it for me! We stayed there for about 3 hours and I could tell a few of the girls started yawning and getting bored. We hurried over to the Black Finn before somebody fell off the wagon!

We ended the night with tears, laughs, a late night trip to McDonalds, and staying up talking. I hope Danin had a good time and will always remember it! Thanks again for ALL the sweet friends and family that drove up to Dallas to help celebrate Danin!

sniff sniff

yes, i have a cold in the middle of july. what tha heck? i get so tired of blowing my nose and trying to sleep at night with it all stopped up!

leven and i had a really good relaxing time in arlington at coaching school. i'm finally starting to figure out the dallas/ft. worth area. and yes, i'm almost 30 and it took me this long! we relaxed by the pool during the day and ate really good at night. i think i gained around 4 pounds while i was gone for 2 days! leven ran into old coaching buddies and of course made several people laugh while we were there.

today us girls will head back up to the dallas area for danin's bachelorette party. we are actually going to addison. i really like that area. tons of good food and good nightlife. if i were single this is where i would mingle for sure. only about 5 of us will be up there tonight and then the other ten or so will join us poolside tomorrow. after this weekend everything will SLOW way down for us. leven starts volleyball in less than a month and then school is right around the corner. summer 2010 has really flown by! i'll have tons of pictures to post after the weekend. until next time...
DB

Her new friend Jaisey

Saturday Taydem had a little play date! Jaisey and her mom April came over for a few hours to let the girls play together. Tay doesn't have any girls that are her age that she can play with. So April and I got together and set it up. They had a ball together. I don't think the whole time they said 2 words to each other, but they played together like old friends do! They played with everything! Dress up, baby dolls, balls, Taydem's camera (it's a real digital camera, Thanks Aunt Terri!) and again they didn't talk the whole time. Here are a few pictures when they got into Taydem's closet:

devin's S-E-V-E-N

~ Quaker Chewy Granola Bars
~ more highlights in my hair
~ Taydem is talking up a storm now, and is super smart!
~ Eclipse
~ Big Brother!!
~ TEXAS
~ Love songs

God Bless America...and the rain!

I was so looking forward to this past weekend: laying out in the sun, playing volleyball in the sun, swimming, getting some color from the sun......but NO it was nasty all weekend! It didn't stop us from going out on the lake, but still! I am thrilled that our pretty flowers and green grass got some rain, but it didn't have to rain on and off the whole time. Saturday we got out on the lake around 2 ish and we never saw a glimpse of the sun. We still played volleyball and swam. We ended the day over at the West's house where they had fish, shrimp, and oysters catered! Yum yum!

Sunday morning our church put on the best 4th of July celebration performance. Performances like that make me proud to be a member of Mobberly Baptist, proud to be a member of the choir, proud to be an American and proud to be a christian!

After church, we headed back on the lake. Leven played volleyball (in the rain) for a good 3 hours or more! He was loving every minute of it. He always stacks his team and they never get off the court! I hung out with friends, watched Taydem swim and play in the sand. It rained up until about 7 and then we saw the clouds part their ways. A few, not normal, things happened:

1. Kelly Monaco was out at the island (google her if you must!)

2. Steve Holy was there as well (he sang with the Mark Cooke band that night)

3. Mark Cooke and his band set up and played ALL night long and we danced....

4. Taydem sprained her ankle bc she was dancing so much!

5. I lost 2 pairs of flip flops this weekend (I left one pair over at the West's house (I got tired of looking for them) and I only came home with one shoe from the boat (Again I got tired of looking for it's mate...too dark!)

Yesterday, we cleaned the house, washed clothes, mowed the yard and I drove to see Danin's new house being built! Love it! They have done a really good job so far.

devin's seven

~ Fun busy week at VBS
~ Newk's
~ My new bling bling phone cover (although Lev thinks it's ghetto!)
~ 4 day weekend
~ Miss me jeans!
~ Cumcumbers
~ Timbaland and Katy Perry's song!

VBS

I volunteered this summer to be a guide and help with Vacation Bible School at church. I thought to myself...hmm...it can't be that hard, right? I ended up being placed with the 3rd graders. One night we had 30 kiddos! OMG....thank goodness I had other help. I also wasn't expecting it to last every night until 9! I was pooped every night by the time my head hit the pillow. I'm really happy that I did it though. I met some more lady friends and I love love love seeing kids happy and excited. Denise Lee was the entertainment again this year. Please right now google this man. He was the best Ventriloquist I have ever seen. He had me laughing every night right along with the kids! Funny funny, sweet, and loving man! I've enjoyed myself all 4 nights! Leven was a trooper all 4 nights and enjoyed his kids to himself!

Tonight is Thursday and I have choir practice at church. It kind of feels like the church has been my second home. But really, that's not such a bad thing! We are putting on a huge performance Sunday morning for the 4th of July! Should be pretty awesome!

We plan on being out on the lake all weekend. I just pray that the sun comes out some. Everyone have a happy and safe holiday weekend. GOD BLESS AMERICA!