Proud

I don’t think I have ever been more proud of Jody than I was this weekend. He has been working (with the help of Andy Villarreal) very diligently over the past few months putting together the 1st Annual Patrick Murphree Memorial Golf Tournament, which will fund the Patrick Murphree Scholarship set up at the University of Alabama. The tournament debuted Saturday and turned out to be such an amazing and fun event. Here are some tournament stats just to give you an idea: 23 four man teams participated grossing over $20,000 and drinking almost 37 cases of beer!

Getting ready to tee off!

The weather turned out to be incredible considering earlier in the week they were predicting 60% chance of rain. During registration and lunch the skies were overcast and looked like rain was heading in our direction, but as soon as the teams headed out for their first hole the skies cleared and the sun appeared! Shortly after that…The Blue Angels started flying over (Thanks Uncle David for arranging it).

Jody’s team of Scott Belcher, Kirk Sanders, Ben Light and himself ended up coming in second place overall, which won them each a $150 Callaway Golf Gift Certificate! (Check the Patrick Murphree Memorial Golf Tournament blog for a list of all the prizes, winners and more pictures when I get them all posted.)

Jody’s Team on their last hole

There were only a few mishaps of the day – Gammy (Patrick’s other Grandmother) got her car stuck in a culvert at Point Mallard Campgrounds when she got lost on her way to Target, the second set of $75 and $150 Callaway Golf gift certificates got mixed up so we had no clue which stack was which, and I left my sunroof open and about an inch of rain came in after the tournament was over and we were packing up!

Just a few thank yous to mention from my end: Thank you Andy Villarreal for being Jody’s mentor and for donating the delightful Domino’s pizza to feast on after the tournament!

Thank you Sara Walker for helping me man the Sign-In table and for driving me around in the golf cart all day so I could take pictures. I really enjoyed spending my day with you and am looking forward to it again next year!

Thank you Mandy Mitchell and Owen Anderson for entertaining my kids! Come by and play with us any time!

Thank you Kim, Tracey, Mandy and Beth for spending your day out there driving the beer carts. If you read the number of cases they went through...then you know they were BUSY!

Thank you to all the high school and college friends who drove in from all over the South to participate! You made the tournament fun and made me feel way younger than I am!

The “Frat Boys” from the University of Alabama

The D-High Crew (Frank…you made the blog)

The Hole-in-One Witnesses

The Girlfriends

Thank you to Popsy and Gigi for keeping the kids on Saturday so I could support Jody. Thank you to Nanny Nan and John B for taking kids Saturday night so we could house 6 of Patrick’s fraternity brothers and friends. I kind of felt like the housemother of a fraternity house but I truly loved every minute of it!

Every time there is an event in Patrick’s memory, I am reminded of the amazing group of friends Patrick collected over the years from all parts of his life! I really enjoyed seeing all of them and hearing all of their “Patrick Stories”. There was lots of laughter mixed with a few tears on that golf course!

I think Patrick would have been proud of Jody and everything he made of the tournament. Jody’s goal for next year is to have double the teams (divided into a morning and afternoon flight). It is my dream to see Banks playing in it one day!

Olympic Hopefuls

A group of about 20 kids all around Banks and Mary Reese along with their parents enjoyed the extended "swim at your own risk" hours at the club pool Friday night. Banks started going off the diving board last year during his swimming lessons. Mary Reese got up the courage Friday night to try it out after watching Banks and Mary Bradford jumping. Then, Mary Reese talked her friend Gray-Gray into joining her!

I think we might have some Olympic Hopefuls on our hands!

Weekend filled with Family

It is very rare that my mother has all of her kids and grand kids at home at the same time...usually we are always missing someone...but this weekend was the exception to the norm! Nicholas, Sue and Carter came into town Wednesday night so Nicholas could play in Decatur Country Club's Member-Guest Golf Tournament with one of his friends from high school. So, Banks and Mary Reese got some quality time in with their cousin at the pool on Friday and Saturday.

The kids had a very domestic day today. First we went with Aunt Stacey to the Gin House Branch Farm to pick these:

Then Banks got a lesson from Debbie on how to correctly cut the corn off the cob to make creamed corn:

After we were finished with all our domestic duties, we feasted on a good old-fashioned summer veggie meal consisting of creamed corn, green beans and new potatoes, stewed squash, fried okra, slaw, marinated cucumbers and tomatoes, cornbread and homemade peach ice cream! Debbie said we better enjoy it because we probably wouldn't get another one until next summer!

Beach Wrap-up

We had a FABULOUS week!

Beach Blogging

This is our last night at the beach until next summer! We had a wonderful week full of playing on the beach, swimming in the pool, soaking up the rays and eating tons of delicious and delightful food. Here are some of the facts from our 2008 Beach Vacation:

1. We went through at least 3 bottles of 50 sunscreen.
2. The longest we had to wait to be seated for dinner was less than 30 minutes.
3. The earliest we came up from the beach was 6:00 pm and the latest was after 7:00 pm.
4. Banks' favorite meal was the Chicken Fingers and Twice Baked Potatoes at Louisiana Lagniappe. Mary Reese's favorite meal was at Cosmos because they had live music.
5. Banks played a countless number of baseball games on the beach with people we had never met.
6. Mary Reese wore every pair of shoes she brought (see the Beach Bound post for a picture) and bought yet another pair of flip flops.
7. Banks got burried in sand by a boy with a mowhawk.
8. Mary Reese had a "morning swimsuit" and an "afternoon swimsuit".
9. We caught 10 jellyfish one afternoon before we got bored with the task.
10. Banks took his first trip to the "Florda-Bama".
11. I took 189 pictures during the week (I will post a slide show of my favs when we get back).
12. We saw the most impressive fireworks show Saturday night after the Dental Meeting Party.
13. I read an entire book and started another one!
14. Banks and Mary Reese ate a rainbow snowcone everyday!
15. Debbie only set the alarm off once at our house while we were gone!

We are pulling out in the morning and heading back north! Hopefully it will be an uneventful drive home!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads we love! We hope you have a nice relaxing day! After our pancake breakfast, we will be spending our day with our dad on the beach skim boarding and looking for seashells! We hope you all loved your ABC Book we made you!

Love, Banks and Mary Reese

Beach Vacation - 1st Day

The Griswolds (I mean Murphrees) are here and have survived our first day! We rolled into town about 9:00 on Thursday night. We did stop at Peach Park for scoops of ice cream to snack on until our real dinner (Lillian's Pizza...yum)! Yesterday morning was very overcast with at 70% chance of rain. So before the rain set in, we got the tent pitched (sorry Jason...Jody was in Mobile with a customer during this process) and our beach necessities down to our site that morning. It never really rain, just thunder and lightening.

We got about a hour on the beach before the thunder and lightening started up, so we decided to grab lunch at The Crab Trap with David's sister and nephew! By the time we finished lunch, the sun was back out! We all headed back down to the beach for the afternoon.

Notice Mary Reese's shoe choice for walking down to the beach. And Banks has already made friends with everyone on the beach, including this group playing baseball. Yes, he is right in the middle of them! David's sister and nephew joined us for an afternoon on the beach. Brooks, we hope you had fun playing with us!

We wrapped up the day with a dip in the pool before going up to get ready for dinner. We ended up going to Bayside Grill and actually got to walk right in (probably because it was after 8:00 and we did split up our party of 12 into 3 tables). It was a perfect way to end our first full day at the beach...eating yummy seafood outside next to all the fishing boats!

***Update***

After everyone went to bed, Jody and David ended up at the Flora-Bama to try to catch a lobster. Rumor has it...they had it in the claw and almost to the drop point when the lobster escaped!

Beach Bound

Tomorrow we are Beach Bound or Bust...we are headed down to the gulf for our annual family vacation at the Phoenix X (conveniently located next door to the Flora-Bama)! Jody and I opted to pack the car tonight in the cool 81 degree weather vs the projected 88 degree and isolated storm weather predicted for 3:30 tomorrow, plus we didn't have 2 extra helpers since we did it after they went to bed!

I was pretty proud of myself...I think I really cut back on the "necessities" for this trip! Both kids have been really looking forward to the beach all week. Sunday, Banks decided to make a grocery list - he would think of something he thought we needed, I would spelled it and he would write it down. Notice the circled item on the list: That would be beer...for his daddy of course! Wednesday night, they both excitedly brought down their suitcases. We noticed that Mary Reese's didn't look empty. When we unzipped it, this is what we discovered...

Every princess needs at least 6 pairs of shoes for a week at the beach! We will be pulling out after Jody and I put in a full day at the office. Hey, someone has to pay for the $3.89 per gallon gas to fill up the family truckster! The first and only stop will be another family tradition...Peach Park in Clanton, Alabama!!!

One Fish, Two Fish

I now have 2 fish for children! Banks really took to swimming last summer during swimming lessons (Thank you Matthew). Mary Reese has always been fearless when it came to the water. This was her 2 summers ago at the beach (she was only 18 months old):

She had no fear...she would just jump in even if no one was standing there to catch her. Last summer, she was signed up for swimming lessons but had to drop out after two days because of swimmers ear. She spent the rest of the summer jumping and swimming but only with swimmies on. Yesterday I got in the pool and talked her into taking her swimmies off. This is what she was doing within a few minutes:

And my big fish...jumping in cannonball style!

Texas Tech - City Champ Runner Ups

Congrats to the Texas Tech Red Raiders for winning 2nd place in the City T-Ball Tournament! Going into tonight both teams had only lost one game each - to each other. It only semmed fitting that we play them for the championship! Both teams played a great game but the Kansas Jayhawks pulled off the win...congrats Jayhawks! Banks had a fabulous first season (minus the display of unsportsmanlike conduct after tonight's game which almost cost Banks all of his Disney Dollars) and made lots of wonderful memories! Thanks Coach Brad for being a wonderful and patient teacher and for giving us our very first game ball (he gave one to everyone tonight)!

The team accepting the 2nd Place Team Trophy!

Banks accepting his individual trophy!

The 2008 Texas Tech Red Raiders!

Team on 3!

Mail!

Banks and Mary Reese LOVE getting mail. Who doesn’t…unless of course it is bills, but at their ages they really don’t have to worry about that! The mailman has delivered them some very exciting things this week! On Monday when they checked the mail, there was a letter from Mickey Mouse himself addressed to both of them. Inside they discovered $20 in Disney Dollars for each of them to spend during our upcoming trip. But there was a catch: If they got in trouble, they would have to give back a dollar; and if they were ugly to the other one, they had to give them one of their dollars (for example the first morning under the new “Disney Dollar Reward Program”, Banks continued to bother Mary Reese even after he being told several times to quit! His punishment: put 1 of his Disney Dollars in her jar)! Mickey also sent some extra dollars that they could earn by being good and following directions! Needless to say, the program is working like a charm!

Yesterday in the mailbox there was a envelope addressed to Banks from Ms. Davis. Inside were a sweet note and a book he had enjoyed READING at school. He face lit up when he saw that book! She still continues to amaze me with her sweet thoughts and gestures even after Banks has “graduated” out of her room! She truly LOVES teaching and it shows!

Banks reading his book to me, Mary Reese and Melanie!

This is dedicated to…

the one I love! Happy Anniversary, Jody!

About this time seven years ago, we were here:

Arriving at our reception

This time seven years ago tomorrow, we were sitting here:

I was in one of those lounge chairs and you were at one of those seats at the swim up bar!