I'm a Sister-in-Law ...

Last weekend, my baby brother finally tied the knot. I've gained an AWESOME sister-in-law! We are all thrilled to have Candice as a part of our family now. I'm so thankful that she loves my brother and has been so wonderful to and for my nephew. I could go on and on about how wonderful she is, but I'll end by saying that I wish them NOTHING but the best! Here's a little slideshow I made of some of my favorite pics from the wedding. ENJOY!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The Great Snow of 2009

Being in the South, we can experience 4 seasons in one week . . . NO KIDDING!! We have had forecasts all season for snow, but to our disappointment, we never received any. We started hearing forecasts for snow today and my first thought was "Yeah, right!! That's NOT gonna happen." Well, I was WRONG!!

I got up this morning and headed to church in the pouring down rain. It has rained ALL weekend. During the service, you could tell that there was something different about the rain . . . it had ice/sleet in it. I had to keep nursery during 2nd service and then I went out to lunch with a bunch of girls afterwards. As I was heading home, the rain turned to nothing but ice/sleet. I got home around 3:00. An hour or so later, the ice/sleet was nothing but snow . . . HEAVY snow and HUGE snowflakes! By the time night had fallen, we had several inches of snow. I would guesstimate that we have around 4-5 inches, which for us is a BIG DEAL! All of the counties around us have called off school for tomorrow. A LOT of businesses have announced that they are closed. The roads are, for sure, a HUGE mess. I attempted to move my car from the road to the driveway & couldn't even accomplish that. Nothing but slipping & sliding. I have NO intentions of attempting to go to work tomorrow. My boss isn't supposed to be in the office tomorrow anyway, so unless someone comes to get me, I will be staying at home.

The "feeling trapped" mode has set in now & I'm bored out of my skull. I'm wide awake, which is nothing new. So, I'll just do some internet surfing, watch a little TV, etc. until I can fall asleep. Then, tomorrow . . . I'm going to try to get some projects accomplished while I have the chance. I need to clean out my bedroom closet and also do some furniture rearranging in my bedroom. I guess those two things will turn into an all-day event. But, it's okay because what else is there to do?!

Here are some pictures of the "great snow of 2009" (I'm still amazed that we got a big snow on March 1st . . . MARCH 1st):

So, any of you have winter weather over the weekend?

Have a great week everyone!

Australian Wildfires

I saw this picture this morning and just thought it was precious. It's a terrible situation in Australia and what makes it even worse is that they believe the fires were intentionally set. My thoughts & prayers go out to all of our Australian friends.

(AP Photo/Mark Pardew)

President Bush Comes to My Hometown

Irregardless of whether you like/dislike, agree/disagree with or support/not support the President, it's very exciting to have him come to your hometown. At least, that's my opinion, and . . . . since it's MY blog, I can say what I want. HA!HA!

President Bush was invited to attend Furman University's graduation today and was asked to give one of the commencement speeches. The graduation was closed to the public, understandably. We were able to see President Bush arriving and leaving today, which was a little bit of luck & a whole lot of good timing. We were able to get a great view of him heading out of town and back to the airport in the limousine. We weren't as close as we watched the motorcade travel down the interstate, but it was still exciting to see him arriving.

His arrival wasn't without protest, which wasn't very surprising to me. However, I was saddened to learn that 31 faculty members refused to attend graduation in protest. This never should've been about politics. I find it to be very disrespectful to the students who have worked so hard to achieve this great success in their lives. What a great honor to the students, the University and our city to have the leader of the free world come and honor the students for all of their achievements. How terribly sad and discouraging it is that these faculty members couldn't set aside their political opinions and support their students.

Here are a few pictures of the excitement around our city today:

Photo Credit to Gwinn Davis (The Greenville News)

Photo Credit to Bart Boatwright (The Greenville News)

Photo Credit to Bart Boatwright (The Greenville News)

Photo Credit to Alan Devorsey (The Greenville News)

Photo Credit to Alan Devorsey (The Greenville News)

Photo Credit to Bart Boatwright (The Greenville News)

Photo Credit to Gwinn Davis (The Greenville News)

Photo Credit to Gwinn Davis (The Greenville News)

Photo Credit to Gwinn Davis (The Greenville News)

Photo Credit to Bart Boatwright (The Greenville News)

CONGRATULATIONS to the Class of 2008!!! What an exciting day for all of the graduates and for all of us here in Greenville. It was probably a once-in-a-lifetime moment that I was able to experience with my family!! It was truly a fun day!!!

I hope everyone has a great Sunday!!

Cutest Dog EVER!!

Is this not THE CUTEST dog you've ever seen??!! I fell in love INSTANTLY!!!!

The Many Adventures of Bubby

Just a little slideshow I put together from the past couple of weeks. We've done so much with Bubby lately - ALL fun, but really just not in the mood to think & recap everything (maybe I'll do that in a later post). But, here's a shortened version of what's included in the slideshow:

1st Time Swimming

Car Show @ Kevin Whitaker

Arts & Crafts with Granmommie

Shopping @ Petco

Birthday Party in Memory of Daddy/Poppa (August 30th)

SC Upper State Fair

Visiting the Greenville Humane Society (which we do all the time)

Bathtime silliness

Click on The Many Adventures of Bubby to view the slideshow. ENJOY!!! Until next time . . .

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Today would've been Daddy's 60th birthday!!! It has been almost 2 years (January 9th) since we lost him. Some days it seems like yesterday and A LOT of days, it seems like forever ago. I can't help but think about all the things he has missed and will miss in the future. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about him! I miss him more & more with every passing day! I know he is looking down on us & is proud of us - - - for making significant changes in our lives and for pushing through the grief.

If you would like to see the full slideshow I created of some of my favorite pics of daddy, please click on REMEMBERING DADDY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!!! I love & miss you VERY much!!!!

James Edward Hendrickson (1947 - 2006)

Bubby's Birthday

It's hard to believe, but Bubby turned 4 years old on June 14th. Before we know it, he'll be in school. He has grown into such a sweet little boy. He has a great sense of humor, does NOT meet a stranger (which, I guess is a good thing), is well-behaved and listens well (for the most part). On the flip side, he has his daddy's temper and attitude, from time to time - - - thank goodness that he only exhibits these qualities on rare ocassions. He loves animals, all sports, reading (this was my TOP priority with him & it "stuck"), watching his videos, playing with cars, etc. He entertains himself for the most part, though he follows me around like a shadow. Between him and the dog, I can hardly go to the bathroom in peace. :-)

I wanted to share a little about Bubby's birthday weekend. . .

On Friday night, he wanted to go to IHOP for "pannycakes" and then we watched "Cars."

On Saturday morning, we went to Stax's, which we do EVERY weekend that we have him. Some of the waitresses got together and got him a card and put money in it and then they did their version of a cake (whipped cream on a plate w/ gummy lifesavers & candles) and sang to him. That's the ONLY time I've ever witnessed that happening there, so he must be loved. Actually, I know he's loved because when we're there, someone is always over hugging on him or giving him something. One of the waitresses puts money in his pocket every time we're there & he gets larger amounts on birthdays and Christmas. I joke with her that she will be paying for his college education. Which, is FINE with all of us! I wish adults got paid every time they went out to eat because I would be a RICH person! Unfortunately, I'm not a sweet, blonde, blue-eyed little boy, so it just doesn't swing that way for me! OH WELL!!!

That afternoon, we just hung around the house and then went to Tito's Pizzeria (he calls it "Cheetos") for early dinner. We met Bubba & Shell there and had a little "party" (if you want to call it that). Our plan was to go to the Greenville Drive game, but as is typical of summer weather, it stormed on and off up until time to go downtown. It finally cleared up and we went down, only to discover that it was sold out. We were afraid he would pitch a fit because he had done NOTHING but talk about the baseball game for weeks. But, we explained it to him and he was fine. What a WONDERFUL child!! We ended up just walking around downtown and then went to Marble Slab for ice cream. He even got free ice cream just because he batted those little eyes at one of the girls & told her it was his birthday. SUCKER!!! He picked out strawberry with sprinkles & we figured it would go straight into the trash, but he ate EVERY BITE!!

His favorite gift was from Bubba & Shell - - - a remote control Gravedigger (one of those monster trucks). The batteries were dead after one weekend of play - typical, I suppose. Mom, Lizzy & his daddy got him a "Cars" chair, safari play set, and several other things. I got him books, a dvd set, a binocular viewfinder set & a cute little thing called "grow a head." The "grow a head" is a dog and it's kind of like a chia pet, but much cuter. The dog's name is Spike and on Sunday, Bubby & mom worked on getting Spike ready to grow hair. He has now grown hair & Bubby checks on him every time he's over. It's really cute to watch him.

The weekend was GREAT!!! He had so much fun and we did, too. We still owe him a baseball game, but will just have to play it by ear! Below are a few pictures from the weekend. ENJOY!!!