Summer...YAY!

I enjoyed Memorial Day weekend. Amy and Bryce came over for a barbecue and we got to sit outside. We had a feast of steak, watermelon, corn on the cob, smores, homemade oreo cookie ice cream and chocolate cake. Yes. I gained a little at Weight Watchers this week. *funny story coming*

I went walking with Amy on Tuesday and walked a HALF MILE! Woo hoo! Got to see Maddie, Presto, Action Jackson, and Gare Bear mid-week, so that was cool. It wasn't so bad seeing Bryce either. So Amy and I are going to be walking regularly on Tuesdays. There was a downpour on the way over, but I'm glad I stuck to the plan because we were able to get to the track. She lapped me once, but that's ok. It's just nice to get some one-on-one time with ya, Amy. *keep going.. funny stuff ahead*

Cailey had her piano recital last week. She did great! I have to figure out how to ddownload pics from my camera. When I do, I'll post some. Kendall had her ballet recital today and she was awesome. Nice cartwheel in the middle of a dance routine to "You Ain't Never Had a Friend Like Me." Faith was sick last weekend but she's better now. Clay's brother Brian is here visiting with his family. His Gracie is a clone of Faith. It's insane how much they look alike, down to their glasses.

No more suspense... Here's the funny story:

So we were all outside eating and enjoying the wonderful summer evening. Perfect weather. Clay and Brian had the kids on the trampoline and the rest of us were visiting at the table. Amie put Lia on the grass to let her crawl around, but soon realized that she may be eating something. She moved her and told us that she had been right by a dead worm. So close call, right? Well, Lia loved that grass and soon she had booked across the lawn to the edge by the trampoline. She got some playtime there, but Clay's dad brought her back over to the deck. Amie decided to give her a little more playtime on the grass, and within less than a minute I laughed and told Amie, you'd better check to see if she's eating that worm. I was only teasing, but apparently Lia had made her way right to that worm and had it in her mouth!!!!

Gnarly! Gave us all the jeebs.

Belated Birthday Post

Happy Birthday to me! For those of you who haven't guessed, I'm not 27. I know some young grannies, but that doesn't apply to me. Amie just used what she had in her cupboard. Just so happens that you can double that and know my real age. Another odd little trivia note is that Amie and I could have used the same candles on our cakes last year.
I really appreciated the birthday party with balloons in MY FAVORITE COLOR! I was still on Atkins at the time, and Amie made me a special chocolate mousse dessert. Nice!

Relay for Life

I joined Relay for Life when our bishopric encouraged us to become more active in the community. I thought that this would be a really special way to get to know some of the people better at work and help out with a worthy cause. It was amazing! Bryce helped out by offering a free 2 week cleaning that we sold raffle tickets for. We raised quite a bit of money for our team. Thank you, Doctor Carter! I also wanted to walk in the Relay as a milestone for myself. When I visited Lance and Caetie for Thanksgiving 2007, I got winded after walking just a few feet. At Relay, I wound up walking 2 miles and being on my feet for the majority of the time. We wound up getting rained out, which was very disappointing, but we still got to participate in the luminary service where they send lit lanterns into the night sky and have luminaries lit all along the track. It was very emotional and touching. I would encourage everybody to get involved next year.

A Tribute to Daddy

Twenty-five years ago, I was only 28 years old. Amie was 10, Curt was 8, Bryce was only 3, Lance was just a month old, and Drew was not even born. Yesterday was the anniversary of my dad's last Valentine's Day. I remember it every year. The first 10 years were harder, and although it's true what they say about time healing all wounds, time never makes you forget or long for that last chance to say, "I love you" one more time, or "I'm sorry for not being the princess you thought I was,", or wishing for a chance to be Daddy's Little Girl one more time.

Things I miss are hearing the song, "Robin, Robin, I've been thinking, What a fine world this would be...", "Peggy! Where's my no salt!", "Who farred that shot?", "Roostus Rastus, Johnson Brown," the song, "Peanut on the Railroad Track," and him calling me Daisy Mae. I miss lying in Mama and Daddy's expansive King bed while they simultaneously watched TV and read, and getting tickled till I couldn't stand it, and laughing, and running away from that awfully scary, children-chasing gorilla he became, or watching him wiggle his ears and whistle at the same time, and listening to the song "Cool Water" with him, and making that trip to the farm before the house was completed, and snuggling under some covers in the cold car while he grilled the best burger I've ever eaten to this day, and watching Hee Haw with him, and arguing that Eric Clapton HAD to be a better guitar player than Buck Owens or Roy Clark.

I don't miss sharing ONE bathroom at the summer place in Bluffton.

He gave us a good life, and while there were things that went on behind closed doors that I was never privy to growing up, I know in my heart that my dad, The Senator, as he is known in Velociworld, worked hard to provide us with privileges of music, dance, sports, the ballet, clothes every Christmas from Rich's in Atlanta, special Disney movies about the wilderness, shopping sprees with friends, drive-in movies with red Kool-Aid and brown, butter-greasy grocery bags full of home-popped popcorn (My favorite was the double feature of "The Pit and the Pendulum" and "The Tell-Tale Heart"), homes where we could spend time on the water skiing, crabbing, fishing, and shrimping, red towels that had our names embroidered on them, and, once, a long time ago, the honor of wearing t-shirts that said, "Vote for my Daddy."

I want my children and my grandchildren to know that they have a lot to look forward to when they see him on the other side of the veil and hug him and talk with him and give out those hugs and kisses he missed in this life. I am so proud to be the daughter of Ralph Lloyd Crawford Sr.

I love and miss you, Daddy!

Happy 28th Lance!

So here we are in the new year! Happy Birthday to Lance today! Yay! Here's a picture of him rockin' out with his bros when they got together at Curt's before the big family reunion. Good times! Check out my boys! Talk about mad skillz! Dude!

Give it to Mikey..... He'll eat anything!

Hmmmm..... What's on the menu tonight? What can I make on the fly? Through the years I have seen some interesting things in refrigerators and freezers. We had a cow eye in the fridge when Lindy did a science project in high school. Nice! I used to go giggin' for frogs as a young newlywed. Talk about budget food! I've had to tolerate a few minor myocardial infarctions when I lived with an avid fisherman who had a habit of leaving fish heads intact. I wasn't used to opening the fidge to find something looking back at me with an open mouth that seemed to say, "How YOU doin?" I've seen my share of white butcher paper with black magic markered labels on various and sundry (and sometimes surprising!) body parts from pigs, cows, elk, and deer. I'm tellin ya, I thought I'd seen it all. But the latest thing to hit the freezer in the Dunford home has me surprised yet again...
Yep! It's Scamper! Amie noticed an odd smell that rivaled a pungent diaper in the office and when she had Clay check on Scamper, they learned that he had unfortunately died. I know they loved him, but I'm thinking taxidermy is a more viable option.
I was happy to learn that the cute little ball of fur that attacked me on the stairs one morning was not intended to be Amie's next culinary experiment to make my Atkins diet more appealing. Clay's just been waiting for his hectic schedule to allow him the time to preside over a befitting funeral for the family pet that is no more.

Good Timber

The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.


The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth,
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.


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