Sorry this took so long. I guess we have been busy. This has been a good thing and has made our time without Ben go by a little faster. Starting in April, we have had construction guys in the house, finishing our basement. Originally, it was just concrete walls and not finished at all. This first picture is of the framing and insallation.
These next photos are of the finished product....without much furniture. We had to basement finished so that Lauren, Christy's sister, and her daughter Sydney could move in with us. We are so happy to have them here and we will post some pictures of the basement once all the boxes are unloaded and they are settled in their new home. This will be the perfect place for them to have their own space and to call home. Welcome guys...we love you!
I recently spent a ton of time making new clothes and hair bows for Lexi. This one was made from scratch, but some of them were baby clothes that I altered to fit her. She wears size 3-6 months and I bought all the cute ones at the Goodwill for $1.00!
We have NOT been enjoying this weather! Why didn't we get one of our first 10 choices of bases to move to? Everytime we turn around there is a huge storm, sometimes with tornado watches or warnings, and no matter what, this is what we find once it is over....crap everywhere! We have come to realize that we have to keep everything outdoors in storm mode, all of the time, unless we are outside using it! We have spent many nights in the basement, hunkering down when the tornado sirens go off. Oh, and it is always windy here too. But, we do like it:)
At the end of May, as soon as school was over, the kids, Aunt Lauren, and I hopped in the car and drove to Florida. For the first week, the kids stayed with Ben's parents in Panama City. They spent tons of time fishing and making great memories. This is just one of Brittney's many catches...some were bigger than others.
Christian caught his share of fish as well.
Brittney got to make a cake, they helped cut down trees, spent lots of time playing board games with their grandparents, and got to visit with a lot of the Parish side of the family. It was a great visit!
The kids with Grandpa Parish
I was very excited to meet a new little girl named Montana Avery! She belongs to our very good friend, Melissa Ann and her hubby Matt. They are really doing a great job of being first time parents! Montana was 3 weeks old when they came for the BBQ.
I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days at their home in Navarre and had some good quality time loving on the baby and catching up with my old friend. Lexi did a great job of babysitting too and enjoyed playing with their dog, Allie.
For Memorial Day, we remembered our Uncle Billy who just passed away this past February. We all painted our big toes with his polish that he used to get his big toes painted with when he got a pedicure! Too funny......that is our Uncle Billy! He was also a Veteran!
Pensacola has all these different painted pelicans all over downtown. We had to go get our picture taken with this special one!
We of course got to spend a ton of time with our baby brother! We love you Jonathan!!!
We spent every Tuesday night at Pensacola Beach for the Bands on the Beach! All the music and great company was awesome!
More with the brother and sister....there are a ton of these pictures :) We love him!
There was a lot of this going on.......at the beach and the pool. Ahh...what a life!
There was also a lot of this going on... we sang Karaoke about 4 times during our vacation! So much fun! Lauren is just chicken and won't sing by herself.
There was a lot of this going on too.....two of my sun bathing beauties!
One Thursday, we got to have lunch with our Mom's Uncle JE....he is 93 and is just as funny as can be! He toured us all around where he lives and treated us to lunch in the beautiful dining room. Before lunch, he showed us his little apartment and made everyone have a beer. (Beer is not for me, so Mom and Lauren enjoyed one with him) Thanks for a great afternoon Uncle JE...it was so great to visit with you!
During one of our days at the beach, the cousins were fishing and they hooked a sea turtle and were able to let him go. It looks like we weren't the first to catch him, because he had other hooks connected to him.
The kids enjoyed their time with some of the cousins and their friends! What a great day!
We spent a lot of time on Cory's boat. He is a friend of our brother and now a good friend of ours! We had a great time and the kids were able to get up on the wake board. Mom wasn't so lucky!
picture perfect.............
What a great day at the beach.........Christian, Lauren, Christy, Jonathan, and Brittney (L to R)
I also got to drive Brother's car! Holy Cow! He doesn't let anyone drive it. He gave me 4 chances and I only needed 1. I didn't stall at all.....came close, but I didn't! After driving it around the neighborhood, I was shaking like a leaf! I am a great driver, but was so nervous to drive his race car! And I am serious - he tunes cars for a living at a performance shop and his '02 Camero SS has Nitrous in it! Of course, I didn't use the NOS, but you get the idea. And then a couple of days later, he let me drive it again...on the real road! Talk about nervous. I was soooo worried I was going to stall out in the middle of traffic. But, I made it back safely!
Well, we are so excited that six months has almost past, and that Ben will be home for his mid tour from Korea ...in just two days. He will be home for almost a month and we are really looking forward to having him home. This has been the hardest thing we have ever done, but we are making through. We hope to have a great visit with him and let him get to know where home is now.
I am also happy to announce that I have been awarded $3000 in scholarships from two different awards. Very exciting!!! And I am excited and scared......nursing school starts in two weeks! More updates to come soon... I promise I won't wait as long as last time. Oh, and we finally got our grass put in. Pictures will be posted next time :) Hope all is well with you and your families! ♥ the Parish family
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