Father's Day, Trip to Ohio, and Xan Man

Well, I am a month behind in blogging, so here are the updates. June 15 was Father's Day, as you know, but we were coming home from Memphis so we celebrated it on Monday, June 16. Pam, Joseph, and Jared cooke while I took a nap! Joseph grilled steaks and veggie kabobs, Pam made potatoes, bread, & peach cobbler, and Jared grilled shrimp kabobs! I ate til I was full! We all chipped in and got dad the new Garmin. He loves it, especially with his job because he no longer has to take the time to do Mapquest, he can just go straight to his patient's homes. Happy Father's Day, Daddy!
We also got to be with my father-in-law on Father's Day! After evening worship services Mama, Daddy, Mr. Harry, Mrs. Becky, Granny Flowers, Aunt Beulah Mae, Jared, and I all went to eat at Cracker Barrel. It was nice to get to be together!
Our trip to Ohio was SO much fun! We got up at 3 AM to be at mom and dad's by 4 AM so John Brown could take us to the airport by 4:30 AM. We go to the airport to find out we had an hour delay which would make us miss our connecting flight in Memphis. They then tell us we could all split up and get on different planes arriving at different times in Columbus, Ohio, or we could all wait for the 2:30 PM flight. At this point, I began to whine, a little more than a 28 year old should, admittedly! I had to walk away, lack of sleep affects me! Mama began trying to see if there were any other options and Jared worked on charming the lady. Before we knew it, we were all being put on a different airline that would arrive in Ohio at the same time as the original flight! Yay! But it departs earlier than our original flight which means we are not crunched for time! We rush to check our luggage in. Then, because we had a last minute flight change, we get the patted down, wanded over, wand through the luggage security treatment which takes a lot longer than walking through a security booth. We made it! Barely! Now we when we landed in Chicago at O'Hare, we barely had enough time to make our connecting flight! Luckily there was a 20 minute delay. So, I had time to go to the restroom and get a Starbucks! We realized we were missing lunch and breakfast was abnormally early, so Joseph and I split a personal pan pizza for $7.00! Well, we made it to Columbus where my Uncle David picked us up and drove us an hour and 45 minutes to his home in Athens, Ohio. 39 of us stayed at Aunt Deb and Uncle David's! It was a blast! Friday we celebrated Joseph's 25th birthday with 2 cakes, 2 pies, and some specially made just for Joseph monkey bread, made with love by cousin Derek. He is such a sweetie, my Derek! He was a ring bearer in my wedding and now he is 16 years old! Saturday we celebrated Aunt Nay's 50th birthday with an orange (Harley Davidson orange) and pumpkin theme. She is my biker chick aunt so I made her a tote bag with Harley emblems on it. She only wears Harley and orange stuff! Sunday we all went to church and then a big group of family left. Monday most everyone else left. Everyone who left had driven except for Aunt Joyce so Aunt Deb, Grandma, Mama, Pam, and I all took her to the airport and then spent the day shopping and having lunch. It was very nostalgic. We spent many days shopping from morning to night with Aunt Debbie. She's a shop-a-holic! Tuesday we got up, played cards one last time and then were off for the airport. (We played cards the whole week!) No problems this trip. We arrived safely in B'Ham where Mr. David was waiting to take us home! Many memories were made and I can't wait til 2010 when we have our next family reunion at Grandma and Grandad's house in Connellsville, PA! For more photos check out my sister's blog!

Joseph blowing out the candles!


Aunt Renay opening her gifts!


Playing cards


Playing cards


Grandma acting silly!


Me and Dillion


Jared and Erica


Alyson, Aunt Jo, Pam, Donna, & Uncle David





I will post more pictures later.

Sunday, Xander came to our house after church. We had a fun time with the little guy! He wanted to play Wii with Jared. Xander is a true "super hero" lover. He knows his Marvel comic book characters, just like Jojo! They played Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Xander wanted to be Spiderman. He knew who most of the characters were. Here is a picture of Xander playing Wii with Jared.