The untimely loss of a wonderful uncle

On September 27th (my birthday) Jamie's uncle Jeff passed away due to complications from the swine flu. He was 50 years old. He had a son, Patrick who is 12 and a wife Tami. He was the most kind and gentle giant. He was 6ft 6in and probably 350lbs. of pure love! Some of my best memories of Jeff were going on the boat with him and Patrick to wakeboard and also when we recently went down to South Carolina with him and Patrick and the other Smith brothers for the boat races. If you paste the link below into your browser you can see a good video about him done by the local news.

http://www.volunteertv.com/video/?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=4166447&flvUri=&thirdpartymrssurl=



Jeff and his son


Our trip to South Carolina in July (Jeff is front Left)

Mia Valentina turns 1!

Nina and Justin's daughter turns one tomorrow! On MY Birthday! Today we went to her party at Jumpity Jump and it was so fun. Blake enjoyed it but was a little tired from his early morning Swim Lesson! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIA!

Hot Air Balloon Festival

We went and checked out the Hot Air Balloon fesival this weekend and It was so awesome! At night they do a light show and it had to be one of the coolest things I've ever seen! You can also ride in a teathered balloon but Blake isn't tall enough :-( We're lucky to live in a city that has so many cool events to check out!

Burchett for Knox County Mayor Kickoff!

So one of my long time best friends is married to our state Senator Tim Burchett who is running for Knox County Mayor 2010! We're so excited and we think Tim will be a fantastic Mayor! Here's a couple of pics from his Campaign Kick-off Party!



Me and Mrs. Burchett

Fair Time!

Well we took Blake to the fair, got his face painted, rode some rides, and next thing we knew we were the proud owners of TWO Goldfish! Off to Wal-Mart to get fish supplies! Their offical names are Shamu and Sushi!

1st swim lesson!

Blake had his 1st Swim Lesson this morning at the YMCA. He LOVED it and he was very good at it just as we predicted! He loves water. He was very mad when it was over and cried and kept saying "pool" "pool". I guess he'll have to wait til next Saturday!

1st trip to the Zoo!

On Labor Day we took Blake to the Knoxville Zoo! He LOVES animals and really enjoyed seeing them in person. We even got to ride a real camel!

Fall Updates!

We are so excited it's finally FALL! It's my FAVORITE season. I already have our Halloween costumes picked out. Blake is going to be a Lion, Romeo will be the Tin Man, I will be Dorothy and hopefully Jamie will give in and be the Scarecrow! We have decided (after much much deliberation on my part) to take Blake out of Little Gym for the fall semester. He was sick most of the time during the summer and it's alot of money to pay for him to go if he is going to miss class so often. Also with it being cold and flu time during the fall he will most likely get sick so we will put him back in in the spring. Because he has so much energy I felt like he should be in something so he starts swim lessons at the YMCA next Saturday. I think he will really enjoy it because he LOVE LOVE LOVES water and it will also be a good way for him to be around other kids his age too. The only bad part is I have to get in a swimsuit too!! Also Michele asked that I keep her updated on his sizes incase she runs across something she thinks he can't live without and I thought this would be a good place to post that info for anyone else who wants it too. For the fall and most of winter he'll be a 2T and size 8 shoe! Big Boy. At his last dr. visit he was 27 lbs. and 33.5 inches tall! He's gonna be a football player for sure! Happy Fall Ya'll!~

Wedding Fun

Tonight we went to a beautiful wedding. Jay and Amber Sams got married at a beautiful old house on the river here and it was so nice! Mia was the flower girl and she was so cute! Blake was a stud in his little suit and he was a hoot on the dance floor too!