Everyone loves Christmas. I agree that Christmas is fantastic, but one of my very favorite holiday's is Labor Day. For our family, it's a HUGE deal. I'm not sure how many years we've had the family dove hunt tradition, but Mom figured that we've been in our house for 17 years... and the hunt's being going on as long as we've been there. I think we love it for different reasons. For years I'm sure Barry would say it was the getting together with his lifelong best friends, the thrill of the hunt, then a great lunch and nap as his reward. I have a feeling all of that is fine but taking the spotlight for Barry now is sharing the tradition of the hunt with his little man and incredible daughter.
For me, it's more the nostalgia. As annoying as it sounds, i love getting woken up by the gun shots. Then laying in bed for a while to see how many shots I can hear. Trying to get the early guess on if they are having a great hunt this year. It's breakfast around the table just with the girls (minus Charley because she's never going to miss a hunt!) Then, getting our hands dirty. I love nothing more than being in the kitchen with my momma. It's my very favorite place to be. We're lucky now to have Lauren right there with us. It's the easy conversation. It's the dance of women waltzing around the room with knives and food and kisses and pokes.
There's something very old school about it all that I love. The men hunt. The women cook. The men nap. The women clean. It's just traditional and I love it. Family together. Loud kids. Lots of running. Far too many dogs. Mud on the floor. Piles of people on the couch. It just all comes together in this beautiful symphony of being in a place built around loving each other best. It's warm at my house.... but it's not the heat. It's the warmth of home.
Crack of dawn smiles of excitement....
When did he get so big???
Lizzy 'walking the dog'. Oh my.
Even Lizzy held a bird! And loved it!! She's come a long way!!
Barry and our sweet friend Trey! They stayed at the house with us during all this madness!
A little pear pickin' with my best girl! Oh, she's so cute!
Mom and Dad's anniversary was the end of last month. We all forgot. I felt awful! However, we pulled out their wedding album. This picture made us swoon and laugh at the same time! Check out Charles. Is he even in the picture?!?
The Men.
Charley took this of our old barn. I love it. So many memories here. Beautiful capture of this place.
This picture is out of order, but London's hair is the perfect link to do fun bathtub hair! I love it! She looks like a dr. seuss character!
This picture keeps deleting if I try to center it. Who knows. charley took this beautiful shot also. Our home is magical!
Ok, my programs getting wonky. Charley, Lu, and I drove back to Bham Sunday so that we could run 'The Color Run' on Monday. It POURED the whole entire time but we had a total blast! This was Charley's first 5K and I think she loved it! I was so happy that I got to experience this with her! I'll do anything to make that child smile! I love her with everything in me!
The idea behind the color run is that workers shoot you with colored powder while you run and it gets all over your clothes, etc. There is loud music, tons of people (10,000) and lots of getting seriously dirty. It was awesome! The above is our before picture!
(After)
My new favorite picture in the world. How happy does she look?!
All of my sweet best friends. I adore these women! They are so fun and always up for anything!!! My darling friend Hannah blogged about it as well at http://hannahcrafted.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/color-run-in-the-rain/ . She got some precious pictures!
I love you past the countin' Charley Bug.
This little champ was a GREAT sport!! She wasn't super thrilled about the down pour rain, but she didn't complain one time!! She is still talking about it so I think she had a blast! I love getting to introduce her to good, fun, healthy things in life. I hope running and this community that goes with it will be a part of her life one day!
Example of the color. So fun!
So cool! What a fun day!
Aren't my friends cute? I know. I know.
A mighty full, mighty fun weekend! I am so blessed to have this family, these friends, this Savior that showers us with His goodness!! Thank you mom and dad for giving us the treat of this weekend every year! I already can't wait for next year!!
YES! (with a fist pump) I finally made the blog! Even before my kids.
ReplyDeletePS. This was my third hunt and it is one of the highlights of my year. I look forward to it all year long. Trey
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