may days

First of all, let me just say that having a job has definitely put a damper on my blogging! All that said I don't necessarily have a whole lot to blog about that's above and beyond what sometimes seems like a pretty ordinary life so I guess it's fine I sometimes just end up with a wrap-up post:) So here goes May:

I got to make a trip home (yes, I do still refer to MS as "home") to see my little brother graduate - magna cum laude I might add - from Mississippi College. WEIRD! When I left for college Thomas was in junior high, and so I feel old for sure when I realize that he is now a MC alum as well. To brag just a little, he has excelled in so many ways in the last couple of years and we are so very proud of him - and excited to see where his path goes in the next couple of years!

Pappaw rode with me and someone standing nearby took this for us before the ceremony. The pictures with the rest of the fam with Thomas in his regalia are unfortunately on my mom's camera:(

A quick shout-out to Daniel - a great friend to Thomas and a Swannanoa beau to boot!

We went to Bravo for the celebration lunch which was just delicious! Here we are afterwards with my Laurel grandparents.

And here's the group family shot...for the observant readers out there you might notice that there's one person missing from what you'd imagine and one you might not have expected...we were happy to have Niping meet up with us even though we missed Miriam who was out of town for that weekend.

There were also two more birthdays in May that I am ashamed I didn't post back then. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Claude and to my dear friend Catherine. Kind of silly but I've always thought it's neat that their birthdays are just two days apart because they both entered into my life in the same season...that sometimes hard, but necessary, season of entering the adult world if you will...being out of college, living on your own and paying your own rent:), starting over in lots of areas of life, and wondering "what do I do with my life now???". I of course, loving school as I do, spent these years still in school but grad school is sure not the same as college! Thankfully, the Lord provided these two gems for me in those years and I can definitely say my life was changed for the better by knowing them both:)

Alrighty, moving onto my next photographed event. Our first Greenjackets game!!! There's a baseball stadium with a local team super close to our house and even though we were here throughout a good part of the season last year we actually never made it to watch a game. Well in true deal fashion we decided to check it out on a two-for-one night...two-for-one tickets and diet cokes:) This was a couple of weeks ago, so though it was warm weather it wasn't blazing yet and it happened to be a beautiful evening. The park was also surprisingly nice for it's size and our team pulled through in the bottom of the ninth for the win. It's a good thing because I don't think we would have been able to last through too many extra innings.

The view from our seats...

Self portrait...believe it or not this might be the "averaged" best one of the two of us from a total of 5 or 6 attempts...sad I know...

Claude staying true to "take me out to the ballgame":

Taking part in the seventh inning stretch:

Well, apparently I could stand to do a little better job on the photodocumentary of our lives these days because these are the only May pics on my camera... We did however have a fun Memorial Day cookout at our house (which was threatened by intermittent rains but conquered in the end thanks to Claude's new gas grill!) with great food (grilled hamburgers, chicken, and corn AND homemade icecream) thanks to Claude and great company - our friends Amy, Michael, Will, Julie, and Taylor and our next door neighbors Jerry and Judy. Next time I'll be sure to capture evidence! As it's getting to be about my bedtime here in the Eastern time zone so I'll close for now... with the best of intentions to post again before the end of June at least:)