Fortune/Purvis Family Reunion

Saturday, September 11,2010 we celebrated our annual Family Reunion over at Uncle Skippy's house. It was awesome weather....folks actually wore jackets especially in the late afternoon/evening. A welcome break from the heat & humidity we had been having! I must say that we REALLY missed Sandee & Norma......it just wasn't the same without you guys. ;-)Aunt Linda's famous pound cake.
Maw (Kathy) & Linda

Clay & my cousin on Pop's side of the family, Kyle Hendricks

Skippy & Maw......she looks a little tired, doesn't she?

David Purvis & his band

My BIL, David Bennett joined in on the keyboard

After lunch, the kids walked over to the house to check on Rocky & bring him to the reunion to meet everyone.

Alli, Anna & Ashley...............

gosh, I remember a pic VERY similar to this, taken on this very front porch, but it was Sarah, Mari & Chrissy.........a whole new generation now!

Kristi & Baby Milly

The Hendricks cousins:

Me, Kyle & Sarah

Alli was sketching a pic of Anna while Delia watched

I was amazed at how Cora was able to zonk right there in the middle of everything.....folks talking, the band playing & look at her just a-snoozin' away.

Alli, Katelyn, Anna & Daniel were enjoying a little peace & quiet out under Uncle Skippy's apple trees.

Ashley's Birthday

Happy 17th birthday to my Ashley-Girl! Her BD was on the 9th & again, I'm playing catch-up with my blog & pictures because of our crummy internet service. (And in the words of Forrest Gump.....that's all I have to say about that!)Ashley is in an Audrey Hepburn mode right now......she got a cool poster (like the one Shae has on her dorm room wall, Inger), A big book about Audrey's life & the 3 disc movie set which includes: Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffanies & Roman Holiday. After opening presents we set out on our birthday adventures for the day. It was off to downtown Lynchburg to the Depot Grille to meet the aunts & cousins for a Girly Lunch.

The waitress was so sweet & offered to take this pic for us. L to R: Daniel, Sarah, Maw, Ashley, Amy, Aunt Linda, Aunt Vada, Cora, Alli, Kristi, Anna & Baby Milly in her seat.


After ordering our lunch, Ashley flipped the menu over & noticed that the menu was designed by Matt Tyree......he goes to church with us & plays in the worship band on Sunday mornings. He does free lance graphic design.

Outside after lunch.....

Aunt Linda & Maw talking outside the old Depot.

Loved these cool flowere pots out in front of Amazement Square! There's just a metal rod inserted in the big planter on the ground & then the other pots are just inserted onto the rod through the bottom drain holes & they automatically tip to the sides like that. Such a cool & simple thing to do.

After lunch, we just walked around a bit downtown & took some pictures......

Loved this mosaic that they were working on.....the kids thought it was awesome!

After our downtown adventures.....we had an afternoon coffee treat at Starbucks. Then it was over to Maw's to get ready for our Birthday cook-out that evening. Clay & the boys came up.....Chris & Ashley C. came over & later on...after supper, Aunt Vada, Johnny, Kristi & Cora dropped by.

My 17 year old Birthday Girl! Isn't she beautiful?!

The Two Ashleys
Ashley Cates & Ashley Bunner

Ashley C. & Alli.......as you can see, my girls love Ashley to death!

Uncle Johnny Bowl

A new devotional book from Maw....

Love this pic of Ashley & Anna...........poor Anna was SO tired.....it was LATE & she had been partying all day long. Kind of a sweet pic to end off a very special day!

Michael's Deer

Yesterday was 'Youth Hunt' day & since Clay had to work, our neighbor, Mason took the boys hunting. Around 9ish I heard the 4-wheeler & went out to see Mason bringing Michael home with this awesome 9pt. buck! Just look at that smiling face....he was tickled to death! Poor Jon.....it'll be his turn next!

Mason is such a blessing to our family.....particularly in my the lives of my boys & I'm so thankful for him. He stayed right with Michael every step of the way.......helping him skin out his deer & get the meat all cut up & saving the rack for mounting. What an investment of his time! When Jon got back he helped Michael in processing the meat. We had quite a production going on in our kitchen. Jon was cutting up the meat, Michael was grinding & weighing while I was bagging & freezing. We put 16 pounds of burger in our freezer yesterday along with the tenderloins. I know I'm being sappy, but the whole time I was in the kitchen I just kept praising God for this whole awesome scene around me........wonderful neighbors that love my boys & whom I trust them with, my boys working together....no jealously on Jon's part, bless his heart, meat in our freezer for this winter & just totally enjoying being at home & spending time with my kids! God is SO good!!!

Shopping

'The quickest way to know a woman is to go shopping with her.'

~~Marcelene Cox

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My first thought was 'Mmmm.....I don't know about this' because I just don't get into shopping like other women do. But the more I thought about it, the more true I realized it really was. I really do think folks could learn alot about me if they spent a day shopping with me........So, I thought I'd kind of give you a peek into what a fun day of shopping would be if you went with me. Forget Sams & Walmart.....that's grocery shopping & I'm sure you could definitely gain insight there.....but I'm just thinking here about a fun day of shopping. Where would I go & what would I be looking for. For starters, I'd hit my two favorite Good Will stores....with no time limit & no one telling me how boring this is. I LOVE scouring the book shelves & have built myself quite a nice little library of good christian & classic books all for either .75 or $1.00. Oh & you can't forget to check out the cds! I've even got Ashley hooked on shopping for books there now. She even ASKS if we can go look for books. ;-) My next favorite spots would be Michaels & AC Moore. I love browsing in those stores.......looking at all the art supplies, scrapping goodies, yarn & idea books. And I ALWAYS check out the clearance/Dollar bins. Target is another favorite....Clay hates it...says its a Girly store, but whatever. And it would be a hoot to actually go WITH me there because I don't just stroll & browse like anyone else would but we hit all the clearance racks/end caps/dollar bins in each dept. It really is hilarious if you stop & think about it. My eye is constantly searching the aisles for those little yellow 'clearance' tags. Like recently I went in there.....shopping for nothing in particular....just seeing what I might find & I came out with a couple boxes of poptarts that were on sale, some wasa crackers that were marked down & two sets of sheets for the girl's beds that were on clearance for $7.99. Oh & another time I came out with two really cute pairs of leather-like flip-flops for UNDER $5. Old Navy is another great place to shop. Again....we only check out the clearnace racks in each section. And you REALLY hit the jack-pot when they do half-off on all clearance merchandise! I got Ashley a winter coat there year before last for $6! So, anyway.......that's just a PEEK into how I shop. I'd love to hear everyone else's stories.....your favorite shopping places, bargain tips, etc. Leave me a comment & tell me about it!!

Back-to-School Pool Party

Calvary Chapel had their back-to-school pool party last night at Sugar Mill Pool. Mexiacn food, swimming, horse-shoes, good fellowship. We all had such a fun evening!
Ashley showing Emily her King's Dominion pics.

Taylor & Kathy playing horse shoes

Jerry's stylin' tonight with his swim trunks, black socks & steel-toed work boots! LOL!!

Jesse, Taylor & Ella testing the water. It was so nice & warm.

Jon....with Taylor, Alli & Cori in the corner

Chicken fight! Luke & Turner were going at it! That's Jon with Luke on his shoulders.

Ashley was talking to Cori & Alli

Jon & Alli

Dakota & Luke going at it this time!

Just look at that face.....what a cutie!

Cassady & Ashley!