We met some friends for dinner this past Friday night. Now, these just aren't some random friends that you have little in common with...these are friends that we are bound to for life!

Let me give you a little history on the crazy way we met and have remained friends with Pat and Barb. Don and I went to NYC on our 1st wedding anniversary. Well, me being the big nerd I am, had to go to The Today Show to see if we could get on TV (we did but when Campbell Brown asked me during a commercial break if I wanted to talk when they came back on air I freaked out and said I couldn't do it.) Anyway, I noticed that there was a couple standing not far from us with a Clemson flag. Since Clemson is down the road from us I wondered aloud to Don if they were from Greenville. Don looked over at them and realized he actually had met Pat through a business function. So, we ended up talking to them and standing next to them the rest of the morning. We laughed a lot that morning and I think I embarrassed Pat with all my crazy antics.

Fast forward several years...Don called me one day at work and asked me if I remembered the couple we had met in New York. He told me that Barb was pregnant and had gone into labor early. She ended up having sweet Faith at only 25 weeks (weighing in at a whoppin' 1 lb, 10 oz.) It was September of 2003 and I was pregnant with Max and I just couldn't even imagine having a baby so small. Well, six weeks later I was in the hospital having my sweet boy too. Barb called me immediately and gave me a pep talk and filled me in on life in the NICU. She printed out labels for breast milk bottles (a pain to write out so she made it so easy for me), checked in on us constantly and was such a huge support for me. Faith will be 5 this September and, honestly, she has never skipped a beat! She is in perfect health and is such a sweet little girl.

Here are some pictures of the earlier days. Flashback circa summer of 2002. This picture was taken the day we met Pat and Barb (in fact, I'm pretty sure one of them took the picture). By the way, I loved David Bloom and was so sad when he died. The day we were there he stayed outside and talked to every single person who wanted to talk to him or have their picture taken with him.I believe this picture of Faith and Max was taken the summer of 2004. How cute and bald are they?!?!I think the following two were taken the fall of 2006. Pucker up!
Then these pictures are from this past Friday night. They're growing up way too fast!! Introducing Pat and Barb Fountain!No Barb...I said kiss Pat not me!Pat invited his cousins to come along which was fine with me until they got out of the car and had these contraptions on...definitely not the subtle route. This "band" was playing in a plaza in downtown Greenville and let me tell you what...they could JAM!!
Max put a dollar in their bucket, but as you can see Faith thought the music was too loud and didn't want to do it...
...until it was time to leave and then she realized that maybe she DID want to put money in their bucket. But it was too late and she was a little sad.

So that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

You know how it is...you link onto one blog and that leads you to another and that one leads you to another...well, in doing that I found this man's blog about his 32 year old wife who has cancer. I don't know her, but I've been following her story since earlier this year. She lost her battle last night. She was 32 years old with one toddler son. She just got the diagnosis this past November - how quickly life can change. Anyway, not to be a downer today, but I just thought you might want to read her husband's post from last night announcing her passing. Such raw emotions and a true testimony to his faith in God.

http://forleslie.blogspot.com/

I am a stay at home mom but I must admit that I rarely stay at home. Because of this, I fail to do a lot of the things that I need to do for my family...clean, cook more often, organize, etc. Well, today I didn't go anywhere and it was amazing how many things I got accomplished and how good it felt. Phone calls were made, weeds were pulled, laundry was done, dinner was cooked and most importantly...I didn't spend any money or waste any gas! Isn't that ridiculous though? I am blessed enough to have a husband that works hard and makes sacrifices so that I can stay at home and I am not keeping up my end of the deal. So, I'm putting this out there so all you faithful blog readers (okay, my husband and family) will hold me accountable to ACTUALLY BE A STAY AT HOME MOM!!! (Oh, and as a result, if you have stock in Target you may want to sell ASAP).

My brother, Paul, and his family visited last week and we had a great time hangin' with them. Last Saturday night we went downtown Greenville for pizza and ice cream. Here's the family at my favorite ice cream place where I have been getting the same combination since I was pregnant with Max...cheesecake ice cream mixed with cookie dough. Gives me chills just thinking about it!Max was puckering up for someone...don't know who or why.My brother and Don. Paul absolutely LOVES to have his picture taken...can't you tell?Lily and the dead butterfly she found...may he rest in peace.Smitty made a friend while we were out. Here's a picture of him doing a very obvious fake laugh. (I'm pretty sure the guy asked him for money)Paul's lovely wife, Lori, and the not-really-shy-but-acting-like-it Hunter.For some reason Andrea and Smitty just broke out into some line dancing...a little strange but whatever keeps their romance alive.Max and Don in front of one of my favorite restaurants, Sassafras. They have the BEST shrimp and grits EVAH, and, oh, the best pimento cheese dip with homeade chips! We actually had our rehearsal dinner at this restaurant.Now this is cool. My dad decided to build a treehouse in their backyard. So, the men talked about it for a LONG time, then went to Lowe's for a LONG time and then came back and built what you see below. It's got a long way before it's finished but the kids will love it!Max and Hunter played Max's favorite game...roll the tire down the driveway and have Papa catch it before it goes into the street.We haven't been getting a lot of rain here in the South, but we did one day last week and the kids took advantage of it. Here's Lily trying to catch some rain in her mouth.
Grant is lookin' good!
Max found a little puddle in the driveway and decided he wanted to stick his hair in it...
...here was the result.
It didn't rain for long so my brother got the water hose out. Are we rednecks or what?How many ribs can you count? I SWEAR I feed this boy!Future Calvin Klein underwear model...Poor Hunter is worn slap out from all the fun.

That's all for now!

She just popped out a baby two weeks ago and this picture was taken yesterday. Wow...I didn't even look like that after delivering a 2 pound baby...unbelievable!!!


P.S. I'll get back to posting about Mighty Max soon...he asked me if I would lay off of him for awhile...people are stopping him on the streets and the celebrity thing is really starting to get to him.

My sister, Shari, just started a blog and I'm so excited to welcome her to blog world! Shari is my oldest sister and, at the young age of 47, is training for her 1st marathon...might I also add that her training is being done in the unbearable Texas heat! What's up with this...two of my older sisters are both great runners and me, the youngest of 5, can barely walk to the mailbox without breathing heavy! Maybe reading Shari's blog will give me some motivation...let's hope so!

http://musingsofafirsttimemarathoner.blogspot.com/

I was going through some boxes and found a picture of me when I was pregnant with Max.

It's taken me awhile to upload my pictures and it's because I've been in a state of depression since having to leave the beach. Why oh why can't we be filthy rich and have a beach house? :) Oh well...once my country music/modeling career takes off then I'm sure we'll be able to buy any beach house we want. Anyway, here are a few pics from our trip. I must admit that I was quite the slacker at taking photos last week - I've gotta get better at that. Just a little FYI on the beach...my family, my sister's family and my parents stayed in a condo in Wild Dunes, Isle of Palms. My friend, Sally and her family, also stayed at the same condos so we spent a lot of time with them too.

We took Max's bike to the beach to get some practice rides in. He still doesn't love it...we'll keep working on it.Don is still learning too.My sister and her family.Here's part of the clan in the ocean.My stud in the making.This pictures describes Max at the beach...sand and his trucks.The Clardy family venturing into the ocean.Max loved to "ride the waves." He and Lily got caught by a big one!Just chillin! Max and his girlfriend, Emma (one of Sally's girls). I'll ask Emma if Max is her boyfriend and Emma will say "NO". When Max hears her say that he will say "yes I am." I guess they're having some communication issues.We had a patriotic photo shoot on the 4th of July.
Sally and her great looking family.

Now that the beach is over our summer seems to be slowing down which is really nice. My brother and his family actually flew in from Dallas yesterday so we will be hanging out with them quite a bit for the next few days. Other than that it's just going to hopefully be some lazy summer days ahead of us!