First we started off the month of October back in Columbia and Bluffton, South Carolina and we were fortunate enough to visit with some friends and our family . Plane tickets were significantly cheaper in Charlotte and my parents were kind enough to provide transportation to and from the airport! We spent our first Saturday in Columbia tailgating and hoping to see a Carolina Gamecock win...unfortunately the later of the two did not occur. But nonetheless we had a blast with great friends on a beautiful Carolina Saturday!
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| Gamecock tailgate :) |
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| Patrick, Nelson, and James |
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| The Hales + Nelson |
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| My best friend Lauren |
The following day, we visited with one of the sweetest individuals I know, Grandma Smith! I love and miss her so much and can always count on a good laugh while in her presence.
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| Grandma Smith :) |
We spent the following couple of days shuffling from Bluffton and Estill visiting with our local friends and family.
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| Nelson and Randy (Father-in-Law) playing corn-hole in the backyard |
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| The Shaw family :) (Kelly, Leslie with Baby Caroline, and Ella Rae) |
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| Our nieces Lekari(L) and Jalena(R) ( she was not happy with me, ha!) |
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| We got our nephew Byron out of school early so he could hang out with us :) |
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(Above: Aunt Deloris and Granddaddy Fennell)
After going through these, I've realized there were many more friends we visited with that we didn't get any pictures of! I sincerely apologize but know that we love and miss you all dearly, and it will be an area we will work on in 2012!!! In the previous years when our nephew Byron played soccer or any sport for that matter, we were always able to attend most of his games. And I must admit that Nelson and I always found it as a great source of entertainment! Fortunately, he happened to have a soccer game the last Saturday we were in town and we scooted over to Hampton in time to see him in action. He has improved so much from the previous year and we were very proud of his hard work and effort!
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| Before we left for the airport |
All in all it was a great visit 'home' and we look forward to seeing everyone again this Spring!
On to November....Nelson's parents were kind enough to spend some quality time and the Thanksgiving holiday with us here in Austin! They made the 19 hour trek out West via automobile so that Gesabelle's best friend Redmond could keep her company! ( The sacrifices we make for our pets...insane!) We had been priming her the previous weeks before his grand arrival and needless to say she was ecstatic to see him! It was the first time since we've been here that she didn't sleep in the bed all day, finally they were reunited.
Randy and JoEllen spoiled us rotten during their visit by preparing or providing basically all of our meals. And boy did we feast!!! Now I know exactly what Nelson means when he says everything tastes better when someone else cooks it! This was my first Thanksgiving that I was responsible for preparing the meal, although JoEllen deserves most the credit since she did most of the work anyways :) But we had lots to be thankful for especially the leftovers we ate on for days!
We were so thankful for their visit and always enjoy their company! We look forward to their next visit when it will be a little warmer and we'll be able to get outside and venture a little bit more!
Love,
The Lewis's
