Jackson Family Farm: 7/1/17

Last Friday I got to surprise my Miss. buddies and it sure was a lot of fun! Their daddy had been working in Athens all week and they drove over for the weekend. But, the kids were led to believe we were out of town ~ to pull off the surprise. Amy, Greg and I met them at the Varsity in Athens for lunch and at least one of the kids was super surprised....Ragen! It was so worth it to see her face and get her sweet hugs. Honestly...they all have sweet hugs. Then we went to Party City to buy some of Amy's wedding stuff ~ the invitations & envelope seals, coffee cups and lids, napkins for the buffet and dessert tables and huge bags of candy for the candy favor bar. And Party City has an app with coupons, which I got to take advantage of!

Then back to the house for numerous games of Umo (Lauren's word for Uno), Phase 10, and Cirkus (a shape game like Blockus).

They came back the next day ~ Steven was a huge help with Greg fixing a belt on the boat, we went to the Farm Stand for peaches, watermelon and cantaloupe, picked garden stuff in the field, and played Uno and Phase 10. And then we watched it rain ~ a lot. We thought our Stone Mountain Laser Show trip was going to be washed out but we went anyway and it was a fantastic, soggy, patriotic show. Oh, we showed them Amy's veil and Miss Lauren decided she needed one too....so I made her a veil ~ which she wore all day, to the farm stand and too the grocery store.

They headed back to MS on Sunday morning ~ and the Smiths drove over and got here Sunday evening. Austin stayed in our RV. We ran lots of errands. Austin's mom, Tammy brought over the flowers she had made ~ all the bouquets, table centerpieces, corsages, boutonnieres, etc. She did a fantastic job and they were beautiful. Monday afternoon, she stayed at the house with me and worked on a couple of more corsages and a boutonniere. I had a project to finish also, so we had a nice visit. Amy, Austin and his dad went to the new house & ripped up carped in 2 rooms and got them ready to lay the new flooring.

Monday night we headed back to Stone Mountain for the Laser Show again...this time half of Atlanta was trying to get into the park with us. It was packed! All was great except for one incidence ~ at the end of the Laser show and before the Patriotic fireworks show ~ they had everyone rise for the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance. If you chose not to stand and be respectful (like the people behind us) ~ then you should, at the very least close your mouth. Those folks were loud and obnoxious the whole time ~ I shushed them at one point. But think about it ~ you are at a Patriotic celebration of our Nations 241 st birthday on the Eve of the 4th of July ~ if you don't want to be respectful, you should have stayed home. I am proud of our Nation, our Heritage, and the sacrifices made by our brave Military. (rant over)

Tuesday, we spent time at the lake with Katie her crowd, and Austin & his folks. Lots of fun swimming, playing with water squirters, watermelon eating, tubing, jet ski riding and knee boarding. Then the rain started. After we got the boat loaded back onto the trailer, the thunder and lightning started so we were thankful that didn't happen while we were on the water. We let Cracker Barrel fix our dinner that night! Yum!

Wednesday we went out to the house and worked on painting and the floor. They got the floor done in the little bedroom and the master bedroom. Greg finished up the last strip of flooring in the master and the little bedroom closet last night. Now we need to do the baseboards and touch up any spots for paint. Amy, Tammy and Austin cleaned the vent covers, the ceiling fans, and Amy spray painted the vent covers. Everything is looking nice and clean and will be fanstastic when all the projects are completed.

After visiting James yesterday and going to Walmart and Kroger with Mom, I sat down last night and cross stitched. Something nice and lazy. Amy & Greg worked last night ~ Will and I had leftovers for dinner.

Oh, and we sold Amy's car. She has been wanting too for a while. Greg put it on Craigs List on Friday night and it was sold by Sunday afternoon. Now, to find the girl another vehicle. Her biggest want on her car list is a working air conditioner!

I am thankful for ~
help with wedding preparations
sales and coupons on apps
watching Amy & Austin interact with each other
household help with their future home together
recreation time
the USA and all it represents

Here are some pictures of our fun, busy, tiring week! And even though it was tiring....it was worth every minute!