happy birthday kimmie!

Today is Kimmie's Birthday:) This pix says it all...I hope that you have many M and M's today!!! Love you Kim!!!

happy birthday sarah!

Today is my niece's birthday! Happy Birthday sweetie!!!

We love you so much!!!!

monday's the day!

THEY'RE COMING HOME!!!! Chad and Becky have been living in Columbus Mississippi for four years now while Chad has been staitioned in the Air Force and now they are on their way home...for a little while anyway! They both have college degrees and are ready for the next chapter in their lives.

Chad wants to stay in the military so he is going to enlist as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. He wants to be a pilot! I am a proud aunt! So glad that you will be home for the holidays!

Homecoming Dance '09

It's homecoming weekend here in Pendleton! Here are some pictures of Evan and Graham and their dates Sandy and Deserie', and their friends. You can click on the collage to veiw the pictures up close...enjoy!

The Herald Bulletin - Delta reins in Arabians

Graham is in the news today...click below and enjoy!
The Herald Bulletin - Delta reins in Arabians

lions and tigers and bears...

It was a rainy day when we started out at Bravo's for lunch but after seeing the dolphin show and the Komodo dragons at the Indidanapolis Zoo, the sun came out! If you click on the collage, it will make the pictures bigger...enjoy!

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!!!

If you thought that you heard an unexplained shrill around 4:00 Saturday afternoon in Madison County...well...it was the PHHS tennis team! They are the Madison County Champs for 2009!! They played Highland in the morning and won 3-2 and then had to play the defending champions, Anderson High School, and won 5-0!!! I am so proud of this team. They now have an undefeated record of 5-0!!!

Here are Evan and Graham being introduced before the Highland match. Evan plays number one doubles with Zack and Graham plays number 2 singles.

After the Highland win the team takes a lunch break and hangs out until the final match against Anderson.

Captains Matt and Evan are warming up the team.

I love this picture! The boys are running with their coach (he is in the middle). Royce is not demanding and not on a "power trip". He doesn't say, "Get out there and run!" instead, he will say, "Let's go out and run the track and warm up" and he leads the way. The boys really respect him and love it when he does the workouts with them. He is a good Christian man and it is so refreshing to see positive growth in the boys this year!! They are no longer individuals...rather, they are a team!


Here is Evan doing what Evan does so well...being loud and pumping up his team! He takes the captain position seriously and I love him for that:)

One last huddle...GO ARABIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I love this man!! He is giving me the victory sign after Matt comes off the court. At this point all of our singles have won their matches so Todd knows PHHS has clinched the title!

Way to go Zack and Evan!! They won in a super tie breaker!

This is Brett and Graham. Brett is Graham's best tennis buddy but, he plays for Anderson and that is when it gets hard. Pendleton has already won at this point and they are just waiting for number two doubles to finish up their win. But,they are still best buds!

Arabian Power!!!! 2009 MADISON COUNTY CHAMPIONS!!!!

Mammy and Paps with their boys! Can you tell how proud they are?!

Todd and Matt...he saw you Matt! You better be careful...

The celebration continued at the Dairy Queen...of course!!!

What a day! These boys will remember this day for a long time...and so will I!

And so will the coaches. Can't you just hear them now..."Can you believe it...we are the county champs! How did that happen!!! I don't know, but I'm glad it did!"

tennis dinner

Todd wanted to have the tennis team over tonight for a spaghetti dinner because tomorrow is the final day of the Madison Cty. Tennis Tournament! The team won Thursday night against Elwood which moved them on to play Highland in the morning. Hopefully they will move on to the afternoon match. The boys and coaches are pumped up (and "carbed" up) and ready to win!

I got this "cupcake" cake and it went over really well. There was tons on icing, yum!...but the chocolate cake wasn't the best. It was a lot easier to serve than cake so I would definitely do it again but I would choose another flavor or store.

Here are some of the boys chowing down. At this table is Andre and Zack in the forefront. Mitchell (hidden behind Andre) Evan H., and Graham. Coach wasn't seated yet.

Coach and Mitchell enjoying dinner.

This is the other table of boys. Evan and Matt are in the forefront laughing. Others at the table are Brandon, Sam and Connor and Michael (hidden).

Brandon on the phone with his mom, Michael in the white hat in the back.

After dinner some boys (Mitchell S., Graham and Evan H.) went up to Graham's room to look at youtube videos...

some went down to "the dungeon"to play video games...




and some went down to play, what else, tennis...table tennis that is! This is Matt and Evan duking it out.

The boys left around 9:30 to get there sleep before the big tournament! Bus leaves for AU at 7:45... Good luck guys!!!

the boys of summer fripp island 09

Click here to view this photo book larger

we won!

PHHS Tennis team is 1-0 in the conference! I am so excited for this season. The number one, two, and three singles all won their matches which gave Pendleton the win for the team (3-2). Pendleton hasn't beat Mt. Vernon for a l-o-o-ng time...great job men! The coach is firing them up for practice and 5 more matches this week!


Here is a picture of Evan during warm up and telling me not to take his picture. No Evan, the racquet doesn't hide your face!

This is a picture of Graham warming up. He too did not want me to take his picture.
A picture of Evan serving.




Paps congratulating Graham. I don't think that Paps sat down the whole time...what am I talking about, neither did I!! Thank goodness the boys were playing on courts right next to each other. I loved hearing Evan encourage his little brother ever so often with, "Come on Graham!" or, "Good job Graham, come on!"

Talking sweet V-I-C-T-O-R-Y with Grandma Kay while icing the always painful shins! Graham played number two singles and won. Great job on your first HS win, Graham!

The team's new coach, Royce Hammel, and Todd.

Our "three" boys. Here are Graham, Matt, and Evan after the match. Matt is like another son to us. He plays number one and is a senior. The team will sure miss him next year...and so will we:(

sweet Mercedes...

Please pray for my niece this afternoon. She is on her way to Purdue University with her sweet dog Mercedes. They do not know what is wrong with her but she hasn't been the same for a week now. She has been told that Mercedes might have a brain tumor. If this is the case, Kiley will put her down, but she just wants to make sure that is what it is. Kiely has been through so much these past three years and Mercedes has been the only constant in her life...she would be so heartbroken if they have to put her down.

Many of you know Niki Brown. Well, this is a dog from her dogs litter from 5 years ago. I took Kiely over to see the brood of dogs that were left and Mercedes literally crawled in Kiely's coat pocket as if to say, "Take me home!" So Kiely did and she has loved her from that moment on! Bless these little four legged family members...they just know how to steal our hearts!

I love you Kiely and am praying for you and your sweet Mercedes today,

Aunt Holly

great weekend!

What a great weekend! We had our tennis-thon, but not a lot of tennis was played due to the rain. But the boys did raise some good money to go towards the new equipment. They were able to get a little practice in and really spent more time using every piece of equipment possible to dry the courts. The last windscreen was hung and the last of the tennis balls with the boys names. We grilled out hot dogs but then the rain was too heavy to continue to play so we called it a day early afternoon.

Evan and Graham went home with Mammy and Paps for the night which gave Todd and I a chance to have an early anniversary dinner date. Our anniversary isn't until next week, August 27, we will have been married 22 years! We ordered Bravo's take-out and had a nice quiet evening at home. We enjoyed our dinner and the hot tub.

Today Mammy and Paps brought the boys home and we had dinner on our back porch. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is the first time that we have eaten out there since we got the patio set this time last year! It has been a chilly day around here so that is what I made...chili! It was so nice to just sit out there on this "fall-like" day and be with family.

Evan sold his mo-ped and our neighbor picked it up today as a surprise for his son's birthday. I took one more picture of Evan on it and one of he and Paps watching the surprise unfold across the street.

It's been a great weekend!!

to God, give the glory

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Romans 8:26

I read this quote on Kelly's Korner blog and found it so fitting for my friend Julie (who's husband is battling esophageal cancer) and for me personally. I pray, due to the recent news that our family has received, that we will be able to cling to such Godly truths, and that His glory will shine through our earthly pain.

I always love singing this hymn in Bible Study Fellowship and it keeps playing in my mind today...especially the last verse:

Oh come to the Father through Jesus the son, and give Him the glory great things He has done!

first day of school

Today was the day that I have been dreading...but it went really well. The boys woke up on time and left for school on time. If only this could happen all year! It was really cloudy this morning and the sun wasn't up yet so the pictures came out dark, which I hate, but at least I have them.

I kept myself busy with a scheduled dentist appointment, met with a client, and finally talked to my mom, whom I haven't talked to in weeks. Tomorrow the boys have there first high school tennis match. Evan will be playing number 1 doubles and Graham will be playing number 2 singles. I'm so proud of them!

Graham's "senior picture" pose! He kept saying, "Are you crying yet, Mom?" And then he hugged and hugged me and wouldn't let go telling me, "It's alright, you're gonna be okay." He is so ornery!

Here are my two boys! So very hard to believe:( They were just in elementary school for crying out loud!

And there they go...