Moving transition

We didn't fall off the face of the planet, but we will be with out Internet for the next week or so. I have so much to share and show on the blog, but it will just have to wait. We miss all our friends in Louisville and hope that all are well. Stay tuned for more from Texas!

Franklin, TN

Before mom and dad drove home with me we went to Jennifer Land's wedding. We had a great time. Mom and Dad toured the country Music Hall of fame and the Grand ol Opry. Uncle Richard showed us around Nashville and the Southern Baptist Convention building. He showed us where he does his radio Show and the offices of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. He took us out to lunch at a very tasty Italian restaurant. When we drove into Franklin, we learned all about the history there. the wedding was beautiful, and it was so fun to see family! Here are just a few pictures from the little side trip.

Carnton Plantation served as a hospital during the Battle of Franklin.

This is the front of the house.
The cemetery was divided by states and each soldier was numbered.
The back porch of the Plantation house.
Rachel and me after the Jennifer's wedding.
All dressed up
Aren't they handsome!

Fourth of July

“It can not be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!” Patrick Henry

Happy 4th of JULY!

So this is by far one of my favorite days of the year. Unfortunately Will wasn't with me, to enjoy the fireworks and yummy all American food.

Baby Will's first swim!

Wes being Mr. Helpful! He came in and asked Oma if he could do the dishes.
Then he asked Pops if he could water the plants.
Ella made some points in Washers.
Will plays Washers like a pro!I did not, I repeat, NOT make this dessert. Nicole did! I just helped with the strawberries.

Sparklers!

Will and Ella are ready to watch the fireworks show.

KABOOM!

Happy Chigger Day! 11 years!

Happy chigger day!

11 years ago on July 3, Jenny Hammond and Will Crum were in the mist of the summer after their freshman year of high school. They had been to beach camp and now were in the throws of church youth group gossip, and puppy love. The night before independence day, Jenny and Will went for a moon light walk in his neighborhood. They decided to stop and sit on a railroad tie in a green belt to talk. Both of them completely distracted by the other, did not noticed the itchy little friends that had joined them. As Will walked Jenny back to her car, he asked her oh so quietly, "So you know what everyone is talking about? What do you think?" Jenny's exact words were, "I think it is a good idea." You can imagine how the conversation went on from there. Though it was an itchy way to start a relationship, it certainly made it memorable.

I think this is the next day, hanging out at Abby's house!

This is the first time in 11 year that Will and I have been apart on our dating anniversary! He sent me these beautiful flowers. I put them in a vase with food and the next morning they were opened up so beautifully. I wanted to share them, and brag on how wonderful he is too.

Will, Thanks for 11 amazing years. I don't know what I would do with out you! I'm so glad that the Lord put us together. You are an amazing man of God and will be a great father! I Love you!

Ironically, This article was in the newspaper on July 4th. It's a little late now.
GROSS!
Oh Well! Happy Anniversary Will!

Pictures from Home

These are just some pictures I took while I was home last. Good times with family and friends...

Mom and Dad greeted us with some TEXAS cookies. (Grandma's homemade recipe) They decorated them themselves. Man, those cookies are good. Thanks for the warm Texas Welcome.

Will, Ella and Wes made a sign for James and Gary.

Posting up the sign.

The cousins playing a duet.
Will, Me and Oma
Stacey and Pops

Will lovin' on Gary.

Baby Gary

Will and I met the girls and Clint at Mi Cocina. Mexican Food, yum!

The two most competitive people I know... I don't know who won this game.

Playing Washers : Mom and I battling it out in the dark.

Stacey, Granny and Baby Gary

Catchin' lighting bugs

In The Green Belt catching fireflies.

James' Fireflies
Granny, Jenny and James cozy by the fire
Pops stoking the fire
by the fire


Those TEXAS cookies are almost gone.

Wack-a-mole
Uncle Will and James
Bouncy Gary
Granny and I, Blue was the color of the day.
The Pregos eatin' our cookies, yum!

Precious!!!
Gwenny checking out her bag

Will opened his gift at his mom's house. These are for Baby Will to wear to the A&M Games.

Kyle, Spivey and Will getting ready to watch Big Brown win... again.

The grandsons were playing with Pops' Jets helmet so I thought I would try it on. Don't I look tough.

Dad's first couple of blooms on his Gardenia Bush came out while we were there. He went and picked some for the ladies. They smell sooooo good. They are dad's favorites.

Mama Nita and Gwen Enjoying the Gardenia

Granny and I with our Flowers behind our ears.

Doesn't she look pretty with the flower behind her ear?

Mama Nita and Oma Mama Nita, Oma and Pops with Gary




Granny feeling Baby Will Kick and move he was being shy.
The Bevers "We miss you dad!"

Teddy Bear Ella
Wes... Okay I'm ready.
All on one float
A ride in the whale
Stacey helping a pregnant sister out.

Feeding Gary is so much fun to watch!
Pops and He-man Will.

Oma, Will and Ella
COOKIES!
YiaYia and Kewi
A friendly game of Washers
Pops in the pool with the kiddos

James' glowing bracelet and lightning bug catcher.
Pops inspecting a loose tooth.
Ella and Oma ready to catch come bugs.

Fireflies

Ella's lightning bugs
Uncle Will showing the glowing bug in his hand.

The cousins checking out the catch of the day.


Pops with firefly juice on his cheeks.





Uncle Will and Aunt Jenny with all the Cousins!

Snips of Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Shower

Last Friday night I had another wonderful shower. Jeni Kelli and Melissa threw for baby and Will and me. Jeni came up with the Snips of Snails and puppy dog tails theme, and it was super cute! Here are some pictures to show all the creativity.

Jeni had taken maternity pictures of Daddy Will and me and had them everywhere. She also printed them all out and put them in a photo book for us. This is the sign in book table, Thanks to the new sewing machine bargain Jeni and I found at a garage sale.

I had never seen this done before, and it was so cute. Jeni had everyone vote with stickers as to what they thought baby Will would be like.

Here is Bernie Voting. For the record the final decision was: Blue Eyes, Blonde hair, Dimples, Birthday sometime before due date, he will go to Texas A&M and Seminary, and it was a close call between baseball and football, but football won out by one vote. Jeni let me keep the ballots so when he comes and looks nothing like that he can laugh at how wrong we all were. (Or right.)

Jeni's Diaper Cake

I Love the table runner, this was Jeni's first go at quilting. She did a great job. I can't believe she found snail and puppy fabric.

Doesn't it look professional? That is because it is! Melissa is the cook at The Gardner School. She is about to graduate from Sullivan and be a pastry Chef. She made the cake and cupcakes. They were yummy! Thanks Melissa!

I Love sprinkles.

Jeni had my top cravings out on the table too. I didn't realize how random they were until I saw them all there together. Fresh bell peppers, Jelly beans (During Easter time) and E.L. Fudge Cookies. Will and I have a running joke because one night I couldn't get them off of my mind.

Jenny- "You know what sounds good?"

Will- "What!?"

Jenny- "E.L. Fudge Cookies!"

Same thing every 10 minutes.

Now whenever I say," you know what sounds good?" Will says "E.L. Fudge Cookies."

The coffee Table had more pictures and Its a boy suckers.

On the left is the photo book Jeni made for us. She had cards in a basket for guest to write us notes and advice. I put them in the photo book. It is so cute.

Baby balloon! He makes me smile.

This is me trying to break up the ice... with a pie server.

A Handmade blanket from Rebecca. She told me she bought it out of a trunk, then laughed and said her coworker makes them and puts a whole bunch in her trunk because Rebecca buys so many of them. It is super soft and I know Will is going to love it.

Kelli and Andi watching the gift opening.

Baseball uni and sunglasses for baby Will from Eric and Amy. Amy said Eric wanted Will to know that he helped pick out the baseball gifts. Great Job, Eric!
I am super excited about this surfboard tummy time mat from Grant and Melisa. I think it is so cute. Melisa said that she was going to go get one. Her little girl is due a few weeks before Will. They have a cute pink version. I think they would be precious, surfing next to each other.

two words... Automatic Sprinkler
Melisa is writing down the gifts for me.
Bernie and Liz watching me open the goodies.

Having just finished my last day at work, when someone hands me a book I still feel like I need to show the pictures and read it to the class.
This is Emma, she is playing with the most fun toy I opened. The tissue paper of course!

My First Baby Shower!

My first baby shower was so beautiful! Thanks to the hostesses! I wanted to share some of the pictures I took. It was so wonderful to see everyone.

The hostesses: (lft to rt) Abby Wood, Laura Pierce, Holly Lyons, Stacey Bevers, Me, Nicole Giese, Jane Hughes and Nita Ellis

The Hammond ladies

Mom and Granny Hammond

Abby and Holly

Abby's crafty wreath

Holly's crafty Diaper Cake

The sign in book, precious invitation and a picture of baby Will

Aunt Nita made the adorable center piece for Will, I can't wait to use all those goodies with him.

Basket of diapers!

Nicole's beautiful floral arrangement

The beautiful spread

Mom's little touch

Aunt Nita's cute baby booties with yummy chex mix

Cups with little Will's initials

Beautiful Flowers

Laura and Me (The pregos)

Guest are starting to arrive and so are the gifts. Everyone was so generous!

Moi, Betsy, Me and Cece
Mingle Mingle
Heidi (Yaya) hugging me and baby Will
Granny signing the book

Eating the goodies


Let's open Gifts!
Holly writes them down for me.

Bibs from the hostesses and mom

Laura and the hostesses put together a sweet box that has a gift for each week I have left of the pregnancy. I opened an " it's a boy" bracelet. So cute. So far I have opened a cute black tank and some good smelling skin oil for my belly.
The swing from Yaya (Heidi), Tia (Cece) and Tante (Brooke)
Big Bottle Bank filled with goodies from Maurney (Michelle)

Abby, Holly and Abby write advice on all those diapers
Look at all those GIFTS! WOW thanks everyone!

All in a days work.

Sticker fun! I was the art for the day. The kids had a blast decorating my baby bump! When Will and I took them off we counted 79 stickers.

TA DA!

Derby Day!

Will was out of town and I was trying to decide what I was going to do on derby day. With some encouragement from my family, I decided baby Will and I should be able to say that we have been to the Derby. We live here so we needed to go see what it was all about. It was quite an experience. I payed $40 to get into the infield. I didn't stay for long in the field though. It was literally a huge frat party, and seeing as how I was sober married pregnant girl by her self in the mist of drunk college guys, Baby Will and I decided to walk around and find the paddock to see some horses. The Paddock wasn't a frat party but it was a party. An easy way to explain the difference is: In field = 21 year olds drunk on beer and Paddock= young perofessionals drunk on mint julips. I did however meet a few nice people who weren't too tipsy while I was standing in the crowds. Shamefully, I wasn't wearing a hat, I have some gorgeous hats in Dallas but of course I wasn't thinking ahead quite that far. Once I found the paddock I worked my way as close to the front as possible. I camped out there the rest of the time. Excuse the pictures, Will had the camera on his Maison trip, so I used my camera phone. Most of the pictures are of the crowd though I may have caught a glimpse of a horse here or there. Anyway I wanted to give everyone at home my view of the Kentucky Derby.

When I first walked into the in field, I saw a huge mob that seemed to be the wagering windows. I walked right up and got in line. It took about 45 min to an hour for me to get to the window. I place two $2 bets. Both way off. I felt silly because you had to buy the programs to see what horses where where and in what race, not to mention the odds and research. I was going off of what Will told me over the phone. The guy at the window was cool though, I think it was his first time to take bets anyway. I bet that might be a lucrative little weekend job on Derby day.

While standing in line I notice a little aristocratic patronizing. The horse owners' boxes were set up in the in field. Each had a box a balcony that over looked the in field/ wagering windows. The well dressed would stand out on the balcony and throw down things to the in fielders. Cigs were the most popular.

On my way to the paddock I passed the stadium's wagering windows. It was just as crowded.

The crowd as I was searching for the Paddock. In the foreground of the second pic, you can see people standing in line for mint julips.

While standing around waiting in between races, Chelsea Clinton came walking by. Okay...

So that was my picture.

and this was Josie's picture... Josie was a girl standing in front of me, whose last name is BEVERS, by the way. She was there with her friends. She was so excited about this shot, she kept talking about it. It kinda became a joke. I asked her to email me pictures from today. (Meaning the horses) I think she misunderstood because she only sent me this one.

Nice hat Chels!

The Twin Spires

This was the nice man in front of me. To give you an Idea as to how close we were all standing. And this was before the mob started to get packed right before the big race. He had a big 10 gallon hat on and was very nice but he did light up like 4 Cigarettes in a row. Baby Will and I held our breath.
The paddock before the BIG RACE...

and right before the BIG RACE. Some nice hats too.

The host horse waiting for the runners to get ready.

Heading out onto the track.

People everywhere!

After the race, this lady in the pink jacket would check each horse's bit as they went back to the stables.


Interviews with the jockey. This isn't the winner but at least was a clear shot.

All in all I had a great time. I was really tired when Baby Will and I got home. It took us forever to get back out of the infield. We were all herded out one tunnel. It was crazy. I wish I would have had a video camera for that. I had only parked about 3-4 blocks away in the front lawn of a church. I am glad that Baby Will and I can say that we have gone to the Derby because I may never get another chance to go.

A Look into the Future

This is Max. I think he could be related to the President. Ladies and Gentlemen you are looking at the next President in the Bush dynasty. You take a look... Am I right or am I right?





This is Brody, I think he looks like Abby and Jon's future son. There is something about him that looks like Jon. I think it is the eyes. Abs what do you think? You be the judge.