April Showers

Now that it's planting season, Gary is on the farm up from sunup to sundown unless it has rained. The rains are very bittersweet. We hate to see any slowed progress on the farm, but it is nice for Gary to get a few days off once in awhile. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), Gary was able to get away alot in April.

I was planning a trip to Atlanta for the first week in the month to see the Galbreaths. After Shannon had their oldest child, Carter, I was able to stay with them and help out a good bit because they lived just down the road from us at the time. So, when she found out that she was pregnant with Kelsey, of course we had to keep this "tradition" alive, so I promised to come and stay to help out in whatever way I could. (To my friends in Atlanta that I didn't call when I was there, I am sorry, but it really would have defeated the purpose of giving Shannon a rest if I was off visiting other people the whole time that I was there. Hopefully we can get together next time.) Due to a big rain just before I left, Gary was able to come along.

Now, Shannon has thanked us for coming to help. However, what she may not realize is that we probably cherish this time even more than they do. Not only do we get to spend time with some of our best friends, we also get days of nothing to do but play with these precious children. There are great bonds that can be formed over days of undivided attention that you just can't get in short greetings. I loved it that some of the things that I had done with Carter from a year ago had stuck with him. (For example, I taught him how to call the neighbors dog over, and now he does that whenever I'm around - even if the dog is not.)

We were there for less than 4 days, but we were able to get alot in. We went and worked out, went to two birthday parties, Gary got to play golf with Phillip, Shannon and I went to lunch and got to go and do girly things, the guys all went to a Braves game (Carter's first!), and Phillip (with some encouragement from Gary) got a Wii - we all had fun figuring out how to play it. Probably my favorite thing from the whole trip, though, was just getting to sit and talk. It is something that we did alot when the four of us lived in Winston-Salem and when Gary and I still lived in Atlanta. We have all been friends for a long time and we miss the Galbreaths so much! We're already looking forward to the Galbreaths coming to Greenwood for a visit soon.

The week after we got home, Gary celebrated his 28th birthday. We actually celebrated a few days early by having my parents and brother over for dinner. His big present was Rock Band, and we spent most of the night playing that. As you can see from the pictures, Gary didn't get to enjoy his present much since the rest of us all wanted a turn. He has spent the last several weeks making up for the time lost that night.

On Gary's actual birthday, we went out to my sister's school to watch her in the Senior Play. The play was The Big Bad Wolf and Susanne was a "wolfette". It was a very creative spoof on the story of Little Red Riding Hood and other fairy tales involving wolves. Unfortunately, Gary was working that night and couldn't make it. I also got to see Susanne compete in her last high school dance competition a few days later. It is hard to believe that she leaves for college in just a few months.

Toward the end of the month, Gary and I went to a wine tasting. I forgot to take my camera to the actual party, but got some pictures of us when we got home (with Deacon, of course! This is what happens when you are trying to get a dog to pose for a self-timer on a camera). The proceeds went to Cancer Research. There was a great turnout for such a great cause.

Gary's sister and her family are coming next weekend for their first visit to Greenwood. We are so excited to see them and I'm sure that we will have lots of pictures to post after their stay.