Our little Green Volkswagen Bus

We have a customer at my bank and he drives a Volkswagen bus and in fact he drives the same style, down to the same color of van that my mom hauled us around in as kids in Northern California, the only difference was ours had a tire on the front. The other day he let me go out and look inside the van and take pictures. It was honestly so nostalgic for me and brought back a flood of good memories. The seats were the same, the floors, even the stick shift. I spent a good portion of my childhood in that van and have some great stories of that van.

The best story is that the sliding door started falling off and my mom was driving some kids from church to early morning seminary (a class high school age kids take for church) and one of the teenagers she dropped off went to close the door and it came off in his hands, so he was just standing there holding the door in his hands.

So Nelson family these pictures are for you. Oh and once this one got old, we upgraded to a new grey Volkswagen van that also moved with us to France and I drove in High School. Good times!


The interior looks just like ours did


I remember those rubber like flours and my mom hosing the car out, which is so much easier than vacuuming


The good old green bus!

July is passing us by too fast.......

This past weekend was a busy but fun one. We had a lot of things going on. Thad was playing in the Pritchett Moore Tennis Tournament and our church (branch) was having a Fish Fry. We were busy the whole weekend and found ourselves more tired than we were when it started but had a great time anyways.

So on Friday our church in Demopolis had a fish fry. What is a Fish Fry you ask? It is a gathering in the south where you fry some freshly caught fish, more specifically Catfish. My branch was excited to introduce me into the world of Fish Frying. We had it at a park in Demopolis and had a great turn out and great food.

And Thad was able to play in his tennis tournament that only comes but once a year. He played with his long time tennis partner Rich. It was fun to watch Thad and they did really well. So here are some pics from this weekend.......


An up close pic of Sariah and Clarissa who got caught in the rain


All the yummy food that everyone brought


John was the fish frier and man was it good


The best family ever, the Palmers (who are leaving us soon)




Miss Nikki, what a babe


Johnny (in the blue, father of John the cook) who put together the main course for the Fish Fry


Thad and his tennis partner Rich (of 5 years) at Indian Hills Country Club waiting to play their next match in the tournament


Thad taking a rest inbetween matches


This is where I hung out while Thad was playing tennis, they even had some baked Brie...yum!

4th of July Weekend Festivities

Thad and I had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. It was full of family, fun and food All my fav things. On Friday night Thad and I drove up to Haleyville because David, Kristie and the kids were in town and Terri's kids also came up. It was great to see everyone. We celebrated my birthday, David's and Drake's. We also hada 4th of July BBQ. We spent a lot of time playing in the pool, hanging out and relaxing.

Since Thad and I had to be back for Church we left Saturday evening and went to Demopolis for church on Sunday then went and watched the fire works with the Sprayberrys and Joyners that night. And to finish off what had already been a perfect weekend we went boating on Lake Tuscaloosa on Monday with the Hutchisons.


Since David is turning 40 he wanted this message up on a sign in Haleyville that people put messages on (kinda as a joke). The look on David's face when he saw it was priceless


The family spent lots of time in the pool playing and soaking up the sun!


My sweet Brookie having fun in the pool....


Here is the dessert table at Pat and Ray's house. We were celebrating three birthdays....mine (turning 21), David's (turning 40) and Drake's (turning 5) so there are all the birthday cakes for each of us....thanks Pat


Drake had an Ironman cake and as soon as the candles were blown out he was licking off those Ironman figurines so he could get playing with them, it was cute


Ray and Pat got a new basketball stand and so Thad and Max are trying it out


We went to watch the fire works at Sokol Park (which is down the street from my house.....the kiddies watched the fireworks on top of Chris' truck


The Hutchisons invited us boating on Monday and it was nice to get out on the lake



Thad and Garrett floating in the water, I got in and got out quickly due to my fear of the gooch fish.....


View of Lake Tuscaloosa (which is the Lake I live right next to)