Enjoying The Holidays With Family and Friends

It’s hard to believe we have been back at our stick and brick house for three and a half weeks. Gina has been busy decorating the house for Christmas while I have been sick with a cold. I guess I’m having trouble with all this cold weather down here when it should be warm. We have finished most of our doctor visits and now are focused on Christmas and spending time with family and friends.

Here are a few pictures to show everyone what we have been up to.

Our Main Christmas Tree

This is our Family Tree

This is our American Military Tree

Nativity Scene on our Sofa table

Watching my sister conduct her childrens choir program

Ryan, Stephen, Ashley, Parker, Dana & Rickey enjoying Sunday lunch with us

Happy Birthday Uncle Jim

Saturday night Ashley and Parker flew in from Granada and Gina cooked lasagna for their arrival. We had a great get together at Parker’s parents house.

Ashley & Parker arrive back home

Ashley & Parker

Our get together celebrating Ashley & Parker coming home

John & Brenda, Our Special friends from Canada

Monday, John & Brenda, our friends from Canada arrived here in their beautiful motorhome around noon. We enjoyed a light lunch of cheese and crackers while getting caught up with our happenings. Gina decided to cook spaghetti for dinner. We waited for Ashley & Parker and Nicole to arrive so we could all enjoy a wonderful dinner with family and friends. Our children were excited to finally meet some of our friends from the RVing world that we talk so much about. Dinner was great and Ashley made homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Except for the cold weather you couldn’t ask for a better or more exciting day than spending it with family and friends.

Tuesday found Brenda and Gina out shopping before she took Brenda to our family doctor for a little relief of the pain in her knee. While they were gone John and I did a little shopping of our own. First we headed to Camping World and while we were there we walked through a bunch of motorhomes. I was quite surprised that I didn't care for any of the floorplans. Well, I guess I'll have to keep what I have. From there we stopped at our local Bass Pro store. We didn't buy anything but John thought Bass Pro did a great job of capturing the decor of south Louisiana. Once we finally made it back home I got started on cooking some chicken and smoked turkey so it would be ready for Gina to cook up some of her chicken & sausage gumbo. We were having another big get together tonight. Dana & Rickey, my sister and BIL, Brandi, who has a special place in our heart, and of course Nicole, our daughter were coming for dinner. While Nicole was here she made a Key Lime pie which will be for Wednesday.

As you can see we are really glad to be home for the holidays and spending time with our family and friends makes it all the more special.



Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Our First Week Back in Louisiana

Wow, what a first week we have had being back at home. It seems like we haven’t stopped to smell the roses. We have spent a lot of time with family, which has been great. Of course, our first order of business has been doctor appointments. Our first appointments were with our primary care manager on Monday. Then on Tuesday I went to see an orthopedic doctor for my shoulder. After a few x-rays he decided to give me a shot of steroid into my shoulder. It’s feeling a little better but I’m still experiencing a little pain that he said would be there for a while. Wednesday found us preparing for our Thanksgiving feast all day.

Thanksgiving Day found all of our family at our house enjoying a wonderful meal while we all reflected back on the blessing we have enjoyed this past year. Our Father has humbled us and our lives have been so enriched by all the wonderful people He has placed in our lives this year. They have made this past year unbelievably wonderful and we consider them all part of our family. As such, we hope everyone enjoyed a Happy Thanksgiving.

Rickey holding Addison & Dana, with two of their sons Ryan, and Steven

Me & Gina with Nicole & Shane

Thursday evening found Gina and Dana making their shopping plans for our annual Black Friday morning shopping trip together. We have done this together for the past fourteen years minus last year when we were in South Texas.  We left our house at 3:15 in the morning heading to the mall for those great doorbuster sales.

While the girls shopped Rickey stood in line to check out

Somewhere in there I took a little nap while the girls shopped

We made our way through all of the stores and finally decided it was time to head home around eleven o’clock. However, Rickey and I decided that we needed a little man shopping.  So our final destination was Home Depot.  Once we made it back home it was a meal of leftovers before we all settled down to watch the Iron Bowl as Auburn took on Alabama. After the game was over we said goodnight to Dana & Rickey and called it a day.

Saturday found us sleeping in with the only plans today was having Nicole & Shane and Gina & I going over to my sister’s house to eat hot fried turkey sandwiches while watching LSU football. Even though the game didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to we still had a great time.

Hopefully, now that this festive week is over Gina and I can slow down a little. We both have some projects that we need to get started on. So between now and Christmas, it will be our goal to get those accomplished.

Mom & Pop's will be leaving South Texas tomorrow as they head toward Arizona to spend the winter in their new home. Safe Travels Mom & Pop's and we'll be right behind y'all after Christmas.


Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Home Sweet Home

Friday morning found us packed up and ready for that final 60 mile stretch to our stick & brick home and Gina’s beautiful garden. First, item was to get a few more minutes of visiting with John & Sandy and Jim & Ellie this morning. We finally said our “see ya down the road” and pulled out of Fontainebleau State Park around eleven o’clock. We made it to I-12 and headed west. Seeing exit 12 was a welcome sight. We turned into our driveway and Dana, my sister was there waiting on us. We got parked and after some long hugs we all walked around Gina’s garden then walked into our home. As Gina said, “It’s such a wonderful feeling to be at our home and spending time with family”.  A very special thank you to Rickey, my BIL for keeping our yard looking beautiful and to Paige & Josh for keeping both our home clean and Gina's garden looking fantastic!!

Gina, Rickey, Dana & Addison

A few minutes later my dad came over and even though we just spent time with him in Kentucky it was nice to see him again. Dana and Gina left to go buy some turkeys for smoking and frying for Thanksgiving while I turned our home around and got it setup. Once they got back from the store we headed over to Dana & Rickey’s house for a much anticipated welcome home dinner. What a dinner it was. Fried catfish with Crawfish Etouffee served on top with stuffed potatoes on the side. It tasted GREAT!! Thanks sis for that special welcome home meal. We then decided to play spades and yes, we men won. We had such a great time with them and finally said goodnight around two o’clock in the morning.

Saturday morning found us back at my sister’s house for some fresh & hot Mary Lee’s donuts (there the best IMO) and continuing our catching up. Around noon Nicole, our daughter came by and picked up Gina for a girlie kind of day. First, it was to get their hair cut and styled then they were off for that manicure & pedicure.

After they left I went back home since Jimmy, my brother called and said he was at our house. We enjoyed a wonderful visit and once he left I went back down to my sister’s house to watch LSU take on Ole Miss with Rickey. It was a very close game. However, LSU pulled ahead with 44 seconds remaining. Gina and Nicole arrived just as the game was ending. I know they had a great momma and daughter day since they didn’t make it back home until after six o’clock.

My sister had already convinced me to stay for dinner again tonight. Of course she didn’t have to convince me all she had to say was “Fried Shrimp”. Thanks sis for another great dinner. Gina and I both commented to each other that after two days of eating like this we definitely will need the desert just to lose weight.

We have really enjoyed being back home with family. Well, it’s Sunday morning and I need to get this posted since we’re heading to church in a few minutes.


Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.