An Unexpected Family Reunion

So the other week, we were given a huge blow to our little world. Pat Shea, our beloved friend, passed away. It's still hard for me to think about, much less than write too much about, so for now, I will just highlight the fun part of the trip And that was getting to have a mini- improptu family reunion minus Scott. The last time our whole family was together was I think Thanksgiving 2004. Anissa was very pregnant with Alethia and Joshua wasn't even a twinkle in his mother's eyes yet. This was the first time we have seen Josh and Anissa and their kids since Alethia was 4 months old. She's 18 months old now, so it's been a very long time since we've been together. I was so excited to fianally get to meet my nephew too. He's already 4 months old. The funny thing is that I have really been having a hard time this summer because my parents and Jessica have seen Josh and Anissa a ton. It just worked out that way. I was really, really missing them and having a hard time with that. I began praying that God would make a way for me to spend some time with them. I wanted Natalie to be with her cousins and play with Lei Lei. I wasn't expecting Him to answer me in this way, but He did and I praise Him for knowing just what we ALL need. The girls had so much fun together!!! They instantly bonded. Natalie fell in love with Bubby too, as did I. They all three shared passifiers. Alethia and Natalie finally were able to wear their matching outfits together. Alethia and Bubby finaly were able to fall in love with their aunt Mimi (me). And most of all I got to fall in love with them. Here are a bunch of pictures of our time together as a family...

Here At Last...Rocky Top, TN

I can't believe it, but it's been a month since we left to go for a little vacation to visit my parents in Knoxville, TN. It was a short trip, but we made the very most of it. As always, I was looking for the next great story to tell on my blog and our trip proved to be full of them. The first full day we were there, a huge storm blew in. It ripped one of my parents new plum trees right out of the ground. The thing about plum trees is that they cluster together kinda like birch trees. So for one tree you may have four or five trunks growing up from the same root system. But plum trees don't have extensive root systems. In fact they just kinda hang out at the surface of the ground and grow outward. So it really doesn't take much force to uproot them. (This is an incredible spiritual analogy...but I won't go into that today.)
After the weather calmed a bit, we all went out to check it out.

My parents and Scott worked at cutting it apart and clearing it away from the flower beds while I took pictures from my blog--of course!

As I was taking my blog pictures, I couldn't help but notice that my dad and Scott were identically dressed.

The only difference was my father's shoes. He has a tendancy to do all sorts of messy things with his dress shoes on. As a child I remember many Sundays coming home from church and while us kids changed clothes and my mom started lunch, my dad went straight to his workshop still in his suit. We all still to this day tease him about his choice of footwear for working around the house. It's one of those quirks that I absolutley love about my dad. I hope that he never stops wearing his dress shoes to cut down trees!!!


So that was our first day in TN. The next day was the Forth of July. We had plans to BBQ but it rained on and off most of the day, so we went to the brand new Apple store that had just opened instead, where my sister finally gave in to Scott's constant reccommendations. She was the last Martin to fall to his Apple tempting ways. (Once again there seems to be a spiritual lesson somewhere in that...hmmm.) In the evening we went downtown for the firworks show. We parked in the parking ramp right accorss the street from the World's Fair park. It was really cool. The Knoxville Symphany played and there was food. Our little family had a blast!


Once the fireworks started, the symphony played to the rhythm of the explosions. It was so cool!



So afterwards, we headed back to our car in the ramp...with about 10,000 other people--not even kinding. We hadn't even thought about how many other people had parked in the ramp just for the fireworks. We were parked on the 7th floor of the 8 floor ramp. There were 6 floors FILLED with cars that were all leaving at the same time. We sat in our cars for over an hour waiting for the ramp to empty. We had fun anyway. It was so late by this time that I think we all got a little giddy.

Scott and my dad got bored waiting in the car, so they walked down a ways to watch the traffic. When things finally began to move for our floor they came back to the car. It was stiffling hot in the ramp. Ugh! Like an oven!!


But finally it was our turn...


That was day two of our little vacation. Day three took us to Ober Gatlinberg. To get there you have to ride this tram which they pack full of people. It's a little unsettling, but kinda exhillerating.




My dad had been given two wristbands good for all the rides, go carts, chair lift, and a bunch of other stuff through his work. (Wausau Insurance insures the Ober Gatlinberg park, and it's one of my dad's accounts.) Anyway, my parents gave them to Scott and me. We had so much fun. We rode all the rides--well almost all the rides and just had a blast together while they watched with Natalie. We all went up the chair lift, which has a breath-taking view on a clear day. It's not bad even when it's cloudy.



At the very top there's a hillbilly band that plays and a really great view--again on a clear day. Natalie wasn't a big fan of taking pictures, but we snapped a few anyway.



As we walked around Ober Gatlinberg, my dad kept trying to get us to go on this huge waterslide ride. Ok! I was not wearing a bathing suit--Scott hates water rides--and there were a million steps to climb. We had just moved into our house and I was glad to be on vacation from my steps. Looking at those steps did remind me of my steps at home. It's roughly the same amount of steps, don't you think
The steps to the waterslide...

And my steps here at home...

So similar, don't you think?

Well, anyway, that was day three and by day four we were headed home. I told you it was a fast trip. We had such a great time. I was waiting to post this until my mom sent me her pictures, but she's taking too long and my pictures-to-post are piling up. So, if she has some really great ones--I'll add them later.

Until then--Happy Blogging to you!

First Fruits

For as long as I have lived on my own, I have longed to have a garden like my mom had when we were growing up. I don't have a green thumb, and I really have no idea how to garden. A home just doesn't feel complete without some sort of vegetable growing in the back yard. I was so excited to have a garden of my own in my first house. Unfortunately, our back yard isn't very conducive to a vgetable garden, so I moved it to the front yard. Ha! Does that ever sound like a hillbilly or what. Next thing you know I'll have an old truck out there and call it "lawn art." Anyway, I put two tomato plants and two bell pepper plants in my flower bed out front. The two peppers are growing and have little tiny buds. One of the tomato plants quickly shriveled up and died. The other one has only yielded one little tomato so far. Natalie and I had a good time picking it and then eating it. It was very good if I do say so myself.

"My Do It Myself!"

That's the way Natalie says that she wants to do something herself. It is so cute. I just had to share these pictures of my beautiful little girl. They were taken a couple weeks ago when we had breakfast with Ron and Elana Cantor. (Ron's a pretty great photographer too!)



Yeah, she really is that gorgeous! She is my daughter you know!

PS. I haven't been around for a while beacause I had to go to Wisconsin for a funeral last week. I was gone a total of eight days. Five of those eight days I spent driving. Ugh!!! When I get a minute I will tell the whole story. I was able to see so many old friends from waaaay back when. I hate having reunions under those circumstances, but it really was good to see everybody. I will post all my pics later and I still have all the pictures of when we went to TN for vacation forever ago. Coming soon....

Our First Real Home Improvement Project

Yesterday we received a $100 Lowe's gift card from when we bought our washer and dryer. So last night we went shopping. I really wanted to get new light fixtures for the kitchen because the other ones were sooo ugly. Scott had some other really great ideas, but when it came down to it, he said, "whatever you want Honey," (like a good hubby). We had always talked about putting a fan and light combo in the kitchen, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to skip the fan. You see, I wear contacts and they dry out easily if there is any sort of fan blowing. Even in the car I have to have the air point away from my face. When we lived on River Road in Ringle, we had a great little ceiling fan and I loved to use it when I was cooking. The kitchen always got hot and the breeze was nice, but every time I turned it on, I had to go take my contacts out because I couldn't see. So that's why we ultimately decided to skip the fan.

Chris and Terri were waiting for us when we got home last night. Chris seemed to think he knew what he was doing so he helped Scott get the light up in the kitchen. (This morning we re-did it. Sorry Chris.) He also helped Scott put in a dimmer switch for the chandelier. Yeah--he forgot to tighten something and when the power was turned on it blew out the dimmer. So this morning Scott took it back. He successfully installed the new one when he got home and we installed the chandelier ALL BY OURSELVES! Can you believe it! I didn't even call my dad, in fact, it never even crossed my mind to call him. You have to understand that while my husband is an incredibly gifted musician, he doesn't fancy himself a handyman. I on the other hand think I am the Handy Lady, but have never really done anything yet. I have just watched ALOT of HGTV, Discovery Home, and DIY. Plus I've always had a dad that could do pretty much anything. So, it was a learning project, but it was really fun doing it together. It wasn't as easy as it looks like when Chico does it for Candace, but it was our first time. We'll get the hang of it.

Anyway, I just had to share a few pictures of our first home improvement project....
But first a picture of the old light fixture. It's nasty twin was above the dining area.

Our BRAND NEW chandelier...


In the background your can see our new curtains for the kitchen. I finally hemmed them and got them up this week. I pulled one side closed to show you what it looks like, but we normally leave them open. The wall color will be pretty much that exact color.

This is the light in the kitchen. I didn't use the flash because it made it look all sterile.


And this is our wonderful dimmer switch Scott installed for the chandelier. It's really cool. Growing up my parents always had dimmers on everything. I have really missed that living in rental places.