Happy Birthday Kevin!

So Kevin turned 29 on Friday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! He has the best birthday ever: 7-7-77! I love it b/c I can remember it so well. We celebrated all week! We started out on Sunday in TN with Granny's fried chicken dinner and a family party. Friday night we had Babe's Country fried steak dinner-YUM! (all you TN folk, think Monnels or Loevless Cafe style!) and then we went to see Pirates of the Carribean. Graham and Lindsey joined us for an adult night out, it was so crazy without all of the girls! It was good but we agreed that the first one was better. It was a little too sci-fi / gooly for me. Saturday night we went to one of our favorite places, "Brio" with Minnie, Pop, Daren and Kylie and Maylen. Lots of fun and yummy food! And last night was the great "Bankes family celebration". We all got together with the family-grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins and all! We celebrated Daren, Kevin, Uncle James and Joe Don (aka "Donna" per Bella) birthdays. It was so much fun. We grilled out at James and Anne's house and swam and jumped on the trampoline. Check out some of the pics...TONs of Fun! Anyway, I always reflect on days that celebrate my sweet Kevin. I am so incredibly blessed to have him as the leader of our home, my partner and friend. He is the best daddy! He and Bella love to rough house and play "get you". He says the sweetest prayers over her. How awesome for a father to pray over his daughter in the ways that he does! He also is a wonderful husband. He works so hard for our family and guides us down the path of the Lord. May God cover my sweet Kevin in all His love & protection and fill him with wisdom only He can give and courage to go forth with it! I love you Kev! Happy 29th!!!

Bella LOVES the trampoline! She is quite a jumper!

Bella took it upon herself to jump off the diving board, Minnie got a picture,

and thankfully I made down there just in time to catch her!

My child of NO fear : ) On the way to celebrate Da's birthday..."HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY"

Bella loves to decorate herself in stickers for special occasions.

****I am having picture posting troubles, I will add them later...make sure to check back!

Trip to TN

Last weekend we took a LONG overdue trip to TN. It was so wonderful to be with family and friends that we have not seen in so long. I unfortunatly got some strep type of bug aand was sick at the beginning, but what other place would I rather be? WE got to see Aunt Connie, Uncle Larry and Chris's new house-gorgeous! And we also got to hang out with the grandparents a lot which is always precious time. We celebrated my parent's 33 anniversary at a very quaint little resturaunt in Thompson Station-Thanks for the example mom and dad! We celebrated Kevin's birthday with homestyle Sunday lunch..YUMMY! Brent and Meghan came to hang out which was wonderful too! I did not get to see everyone I wanted due to the illness set back but we had a great time! Everything was so wonderful. Here are a few pics to share. Lots of love accross the miles to TN!!

Mimi, Bella and Papa

I could not wait to get my hands on Baby Chandler (Rachel & Stephen's new addition)!

He is the cutest little guy!

Bella and Big Brother Jackson had fun playing in Chandler's bed and tumbling on the floor

Bella LOVED to play in mimi and papa's backyard and blow bubbles

THANK THE LORD for portable DVD players! We got stuck on a 4 1/2 hr flight instead of

a 1 1/2 hr flight due to rain in TX on July 4! But we were thankful for the rain and that the airlines

were looking out for our safety!