Back at Last

We finally made it back to Tennessee. Woohoo! We weren't gone THAT long, but it sure did feel like it. We ended up staying an extra day to give the kiddos a day to rest. I think we needed the extra day to rest ourselves.

Let me tell you, out of 10 days there, we did some sort of traveling 8 of those days. The point of this story is not how much time we spent on the road, but how many pictures we managed to take despite the time we spent on the road. 196 pictures. Yes! You read that right...196. "How?" you might ask. I haven't the foggiest idea. Between Greg and me, we spent at the least 56 hours driving to, from, and while there. And we still managed to take that many pictures. Crazy! We only got about 4 pictures while in Texas too. Even more crazy! I think our camera needs as much rest as we do.

The camera broke loose of the black bag as soon as we arrived in Louisiana. Uncle Brad, Aunt Marla, Breyden, and Kenden came to see us at Pawpaw and Fifi's. They broke out the Slip 'N Slide, and the boys had a blast.

In our defense on the number of pictures, Evie had her 1st birthday while we were home. So you know right there was half of the pictures because in true Hasley form, she had 2 parties. Wednesday night we went to Pawcaw and Nana's to celebrate Evie's birthday. Evie even got a special birthday dress from Pawcaw and Nana to wear for the big event. She loved sitting in the rocking chair. She looks like a little lady.
Pawcaw was glad to have some helping hands in the garden. John Reagan had a blast exploring the garden, but the real fun for him was riding on the lawn mower which he calls a tractor. Like cousin Breyden, the boy loves tractors.

I am sure John Reagan is getting the full run down on corn right about now.

While in Louisiana, we all finally got to meet our first little niece, Annie Ray. John Reagan calls her Auntie Ray. It is so cute how he says it. I don't know if you have deduced yet that John Reagan loves babies, so I will go ahead and tell you, John Reagan loves babies. He held Annie more than Greg and me. He was kissing all over her face and hands. When anybody was holding her, John Reagan would run up, grab her hand, and start kissing on it.

After playing dress up with Evie and all the fun of gardening and new baby, we finally got to the festivities. Evie had a blast checking out all her presents.

It took a while to go through all the gifts, and she had had just about enough by this point. I can hear her saying, "Get this out of my face."

She was ready for her cake. A girl can only take so many presents before she needs some sugar. Since Aunt Tiffany made the cake and she LOVES icing, she loaded Evie up with the icing.

We did get a couple of days at Pawpaw and Fifi's where we were able to lay around and enjoy a little freedom. John Reagan followed Pawpaw's every move, even down to watering the plants. Seeing as how John Reagan loves the water, he started telling Pawpaw to spray him down. Needless to say, he went from fully clothed to this before the plants were watered.

Party #2 was on Sunday. Pawpaw's birthday is the day before Evie's, so we had one big birthday bash for Pawpaw and Evie with lots of family. We had a mini family reunion and birthday party all in one.

This would be Cake #2. She had the system down pat by this one.

The party wore John Reagan out. He played hard with all his first, second, and third cousins. About 7:00 that afternoon, he asked for some cookies. That would be John Reagan terminology for Nilla Wafers. After about 2 cookies, this is what happened.

To round out our trip, we rode down to Lake Conroe in Texas on Monday to have a mini reunion with Greg's family. This would be the time we didn't get the pictures we should have. We did get this picture though.

We discovered that Evie loves babies as much as John Reagan. She tried to get Annie Ray and hold her herself. It was too cute. Annie found out about personal space while we were there. After we got home, John Reagan informed us that he wanted a baby. Greg asked him if he wanted a brother or another sister like Evie, and he said, "I do." At least we know both of our children will be fascinated with a baby if nothing else.

I am going to give you a little teaser now...

Stay tuned for some big news coming in a few days to a week.

And NO, it is NOT baby news.