Flowers, Vegetable Gardens, and Thorns: Sundays at Marmie and Papaw's

Every Sunday we go over to Marmie and Papaw's house. First we go to Grandma and Grandad's house for worship time. Grandad selects several songs for us to sing, and we also read from the Old and New Testaments. This has been a tradition since 2001 that we do this and then we eat lunch too. Before Grandma and Grandad lived under the same "roof" as Mama and Daddy, we'd meet at their house for worship, then go out for lunch, then go to Mama and Daddy's for supper and Grandma and Grandad would join us for that too. But things changed in 2007 when Daddy built the house on the bluff. Since Katie Mae was born, we eat lunch at Mama and Daddy's and supper too. Sometimes we stay over there all afternoon if Aaron doesn't have anything else he needs to do. So I took some pictures to help illustrate our Sundays. Of course, I have missed some of the very most key traditions such as the worship service itself, the wintertime Panther games being watched, pool being played in the basement, and Daddy flipping pancakes for supper. But maybe you'll get an idea. And to top it off, it is snowing this afternoon (I'm here at their house as I do this and Joe was so gracious to let me use his laptop and downloaded and resized all the pictures.) We now have several inches of snow and it's still snowing very hard!

Mama and Daddy's house is about 3 miles from our house. The last mile is solely their driveway which goes through the woods and down the mountain, dropping 600 ft in elevation. It's amazing the weather differences at our house and their house at times. We're usually 3-7 degrees colder and usually get more ice/snow than them.

You have to cross this creek once to get to their house. It's a beautiful little stream that turns in to a breathtaking waterfall below Mama and Daddy's house.

Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening....nothing much prettier.

Daddy, Amanda, and I built this bridge on the old bluff road about 15 years ago. It has two massive locust trees underneath it as supports...it's not going anywhere anytime soon!!

This is the view of the house as you drive in the driveway. Grandma and Grandads house is on the left and Mama and Daddy's is on the right. Daddy and Joe built this house from fall 2005-spring 2007. Mama did all the polyurethaning inside the house, bro-in-law, Joe helped a good bit, and Aaron, Amanda, and I helped with the shingles. Other than that, it was pretty much Joe and Daddy.

The house is south facing. There is a beautiful view of the piedmont. You can see Winston Salem on a clear day.

A picturesque pile of firewood covered in snow.

The watch dog, I mean rooster.

Marmie, Papaw, and Katie Mae. Their clothes just matched so well, I had to take a photo of them together. Not sure why it came out fuzzy. :( It's Joe's fault; he did it.

Marmie and Papaw sure do love Katie Mae.

Grandad is showing Savannah and Grandma pictures on his camera.

Aaron and Alan sit in the leather chair EVERY Sunday and look at "National Geographic". Aaron should be so very smart from the many hours he has read this magazine in the past 10 years at my parent's. I'm not sure what happened. :) Love you, babe.

The walking North Face advertisement here...North Face undershirt, button up shirt, pants, and shoes. In his lap...house plans that he designed for his future house.

It's usually pretty doggone hard to get Mr. Brown to take a good picture. It usually takes a few tries.

Katie Mae loves to look at Kelly through the door. Kelly likes it too. Look closely, you can see her reflection in the glass.

Still trying.....

Daddy's such a little chef. He cooks the pancakes and washes the dishes. Credit must be given though where credit is due though; Mama tirelessly cooks for this bunch for lunch and dinner on Sundays with not nearly enough help from me. Maybe one day I'll be a good daughter. :( Note the toys on the cabinet above Daddy's head. They are Grandad's from when he was little.