our collective digital self
Posted by Michelle on Jul 13, 2013 in Hayley, More Family
Hayley’s sister Faith came to stay with us for a weekend and we had a great time. The girls hit the pool a few times, hung out with our next door neighbor, went to Winterpast Farm and went horseback riding.
Posted by Michelle on Jun 26, 2013 in Jeff, More Family
Jeff’s folks sent us some cute photos the past few weeks…
His grandmother Faye turned 90!
And his folks raced some more…
The 2013 picture shows the seven members of the Blacksburg AARP United race team that competed in the Summer Solstice 5K race. L to R Bob Wheeler, Paul Smeal, Sally Paulson, John Hillison, Sharen Hillison, Angela Little, and Don Creamer.
The 5K winners picture shows the five members of the AARP United team that received medals. L to R Don Creamer, Paul Smeal, Sally Paulson, Sharen Hillison, and John Hillison.
Posted by Michelle on Mar 30, 2013 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle, More Family
We went to Boston for a week a couple of months ago and had a great time. It had been years since we had been back and my cousin Nicole’s wedding was the perfect excuse to catch a plane headed north. While I was raised in Chapel Hill, I was actually born in Boston where my father Tommy is from. I still have a lot of family there and this trip back was a really special time. The wedding was gorgeous and it was wonderful to spend time with everyone. I’m such a sucker for the city of Boston and its suburbs. It’s packed with history and great stuff to do. My family has such a long history with the area. With my obsession with genealogy, it made it extra fun to see some of the buildings that my family’s construction business built as early as 1895 that are still being used today. Oh and real italian food, thank goodness for that!
There were so many photos I’m going to do this in batches.
First pile, some of the aquarium photos and video clips. Hayley did a special program where you learn about the Harbor Seals and then get to work with a trainer and the seals in their enclosure. It was really amazing. Marine animals have such a special place in her heart so we were thrilled she got this chance. Of course no trip to an aquarium is complete without more photos from Hayley of whatever animals she loves – this time jellyfish and penguins.
More Aquarium Photos: Regular View or Slideshow View
More Wedding Photos: Regular View or Slideshow View
Graveyard Photos: Regular View or Slideshow View
Gloucester Photos: Regular View or Slideshow View
Misc Boston Photos: Regular View or Slideshow View
Posted by Michelle on Mar 11, 2013 in Genealogy, Michelle, More Family
This is a wonderful old article about my grandmother Jeannette from the 1962 Chapel Hill Weekly. She and my granddad Jim were really remarkable people. I love the last quote in the story, “If there are two patients at the hospital needing extra care at night, Jim may be with one and Jeannette with the other. There just isn’t anyone else like this couple.”
Posted by Michelle on Jan 7, 2013 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle, More Family
We had a great holiday. As always we had a full house with both our families here on Christmas day. I know so many people who have to pick but we are lucky to have my bunch here and Jeff’s crew willing to come down for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s just so easy to have everyone together.
As usual we did our Gingerbread Demolition Derby on Christmas afternoon – year 8!
We all know I love holiday cards!
someone was excited about new pink uggs
… See more
… See more
Posted by Michelle on Sep 13, 2012 in Jeff, More Family
Jeff’s folks run the AARP Health Fair up in Blacksburg and it’s really huge so their local NBC had them on today to talk about the event. They are awfully cute.
Posted by Michelle on Aug 14, 2012 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle, More Family
Since Hayley is in a year-round school, our summer was short and she’s been back at Salem for two weeks now – her last year there! This year Mason from next door has joined her.
First day!
With Mason
It was a good summer though. Hayley was at moviemaking camp again and we await their premiere on the big screen later this month. She’s been doing great at riding, we love this barn and she’s got a new saddle now. I need to bring the good camera out and shoot her jumping, even if watching her jump terrifies me.
We took a fabulous cooking class with our dear friend Sara at the always amazing Southern Season. Their store gets bigger every time I’m there, it’s 60,000 square feet now! The cooking school was state of the art and fantastic. I’m so stoked she is old enough to take the adult stuff with me!
Amazing setup – the flat screens could show you what was inside the mixing bowl
With Sara
We went up to Blacksburg VA for the 4th again to spend it with Jeff’s family. I’ll post more photos from that later but I never have my camera out there, I’ve got to do better. Jeff did the 5k again and shaved a bunch of time off – he’s awesome.
Hayley took a ton of photos at the art museum there – looks like Grandma Sharen posed in one with some interesting stuff!
We stopped at Pilot Mountain on the way back and went up to the top.
Right before she went back to school, we got to see Rachel and her family, I’ll post more photos from that later too.
Posted by Michelle on Jun 3, 2012 in Jeff, More Family
How cute is Jeff’s Grandma Faye with her birthday cake?
Posted by Michelle on Jun 1, 2012 in Hayley, More Family
Hayley’s Christmas present to Uncle Jay was a paintball experience down at Black River Paintball. They both came back having taken a shot in the neck but really no worse for wear. They do look pretty badass!
More photos from this set:
Regular view (easiest to find one in particular or print)
Slideshow view (easiest to see them all)
Posted by Michelle on Feb 11, 2012 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle, More Family
We had another great holiday season!
We co-hosted a Christmas Eve party with our next door neighbors Wes & Jenn that turned out to be a huge success. We usually hang with them on Christmas Eve and we decided to ask a few more friends to come on over. We figured most people wouldn’t be around but they were! And they wanted to come so it got big right quick. It was lots of fun and hopefully we’ll do it again next year. We hang out with them on New Year’s Eve too and thank goodness that was a lot lower key even if Hayley had friends over.
We did the tree downstairs in the library this year for the first time.
I’m so bad about taking photos on Christmas day… I’m just so busy doing other stuff and then sleeping that afternoon. My mother-in-law luckily took some cute ones and shared so we can thank her for most of these!
One of her favorite gifts – a little pink papasan chair for her room.
The best thing in the world – my grandmother’s recipe for monkeybread. I have to make two batches each holiday.
And this was our sixth Gingerbread Demo Derby! We made a bunch of houses and had neighbors join us to smash them up! Super fun Christmas afternoon.
More photos from this set:
>>Christmas (slideshow view) (detailed view)
>>Gingerbread Demolition Derby (slideshow view) (detailed view)
