Golf Wrap-up

Matt finished up his first year on the Coca-Cola Junior Golf Tour at the end of July.  He made the cut for the Tour Championship tournament in Starkville.  We spent a couple of nights with Nana and Grand in Eupora to knock of a little travel time.  Andy, Caleb, and Cassie came over for the second night and Andy and Caleb came over to Starkville on Wednesday to watch Matt's final round.  We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone!

Matt did really well and finished 5th in the tournament and 5th overall for the season.  Not bad for his first time out!  Here are some pictures that Caleb and Andy took.  We can't wait for next season!

First Day of School

I am a day late but wanted to post a picture of the kids on their first day of school. McKenzie is a freshman at GHS and Matt is a fourth grader at GUES. They both started new schools this year. McKenzie got in my car yesterday proclaiming that she loved high school! That made this mama happy. Matt not so much but hopefully he will get use to his new school very soon! They both have wonderful teachers for which we are all very grateful.

Beach Pictures

We had a great time at Orange Beach over the last week!  We'll do a recap post later.  Here are some of the beach pictures we took of the kids.  The weather was great except for the wind.  It was good to help keep us cool but it was rough on the hair!

Happy Birthday, McKenzie!

Today is McKenzie's 14th birthday!  She will be a big high-schooler this year and is growing into a great young lady!  We love you and are proud of you!  Happy Birthday!

Patriotic

I love decorating for the Fourth of July. I don't do anything fancy. I usually put little flags around the house and also decorate by the back door and front porch. I had been searching Pinterest for some wreath inspiration and there were lots of cute ideas out there. I'm using the same wreath I bought for Memorial Day but I changed up the bow. The Flower Co. made my bow and I like the way it made the wreath a fun 4th of July wreath. I bought my sparkly wreath at Big Lots but did see it  at Walmart the other day. It reminds me of fireworks the way it is made. Big Lots also had cute patriotic door mats so I picked up one of those too for the back door. Happy Fourth of July

Matt has been busy playing in a couple more golf tournaments.  I'll turn it over to David to talk about that.
The last two tournaments we played in were at Ole Miss and Old Waverly in West Point.  Matt finished 6th at Ole Miss and finished 5th at Old Waverly.  The 5th place finish at Old Waverly was impressive because the course was a challenge and the four golfers who finished ahead of Matt are all members at Old Waverly so they are already familiar with the course and have played there a lot.  We've had a lot of fun playing in the Coca-Cola Junior Tour.  Matt is in third place in the point standings.  There is one more tournament but we won't be able to go to it.  If he stays in the top 8 in the standings after that tournament he will qualify to play in the Tour Championship in Starkville July 28-29.

Teeing off at Ole Miss.

This is the 8th green at Old Waverly.  The divot in the foreground is where Matt chipped in a shot for a birdie!  (That's one under par for the hole.)  It was an awesome shot!  Matt dropped his club, did a little dance and turned a flip after it went in!  Haha!

Golf Tournament

Matt has really gotten into golf this year.  We found out about the Coca-Cola Junior Golf Tour and thought it might be something we would be interested in.  I thought we'd spend this year practicing and getting better and try the tour out next year.  I checked it out and found out that this year would be the last year Matt would be in the age group where they could have a caddy.  I really wanted to be out there with Matt his first year so we decided to go ahead and give it a shot this year.

Monday was his first tournament at Big Oaks Golf Course in Tupelo.  We had no idea what to expect and were just looking forward to having some fun.  Well, the little monkey played really well and finished second!  We had so much fun and can't wait for the other tournaments.  We'll play at Ole Miss next Monday, then Old Waverly in West Point June 29th, Corinth on July 20th, and if he is in the top 8 after those tournaments he will qualify for the Tour Championship Tournament in Starkville July 28-29.

We spent the night Sunday in Tupelo since we had an 8:20 tee time.  No girls meant no rules!

Matt picked Longhorn Steakhouse for his night before meal.  Good choice!

You can't go to Tupelo without visiting Elvis!

Or having Elvis visit you!

Matt warming up on the practice green.

There were 93 kids playing in this tournament!

Getting some swings in on the driving range.

Getting ready to tee off on the first tee!

He shot a 45 and finished second!

Visions Camp

McKenzie survived her first Visions camp! I when I say survived I mean survived!! It was a very tough week of everything show choir but she made it. It was like boot camp show choir. This camp is for the high school show choir that she made back in May.  They would start each day with running laps and exercises and then a local minister would do a devotional. After that the kids would learn vocals and choreography to their competition show for the upcoming school year. The kids also participated in team building exercises designed to pull you out of your comfort zone and also help you get to know the other members better. For their last team building exercise, McKenzie's group which consisted of 10 freshmen-seniors had to create their on show to be performed at the parent show on Friday. Her group was given the city of Nashville to create their show. They had to create their stage set, costumes and choreography. We were impressed with the amount of work that went into this. It was quite entertaining to watch all the groups. The other groups were New Orleans, New York and Nassau. The groups were judged at the parent show and McKenzie's group got second place. After the groups did their show they all did part of the competition show for us. It was wonderful! I am amazed at what all they learned in a week of camp. This was a great start to the upcoming season. It is going to be a lot of hard work but hopefully McKenzie will continue to enjoy it and also learn life skills in the process. Here are a few pictures from the week.

On Monday the freshman were assigned families and big sisters to help them all through the year. McKenzie's big sisters are Sloane and Taylor. Each family had to dress as a theme and McKenzie's theme was Hawaiian. They told the kids before the week began to dress in the theme given to them and on Monday they would find out their family. It was all a surprise and a cute way to start out camp.

Here is her Nashville group....

This is the Freshmen class. It is a really talented group of kids. Can't wait to watch them grow as performers and band members.

On a different note, we updated McKenzie's room and bought her a new full bed. Her legs have gotten so long that she just hung off her twin bed. She looked so uncomfortable that I knew we needed to do something. We found this cute silver metal bed in Southaven at the Great American Furniture Store. It looks like a teen girl.  Of course I had so much fun picking out her new comforter and shams. I found the Euro shams and sheet set at Pottery Barn Teen and found this cute gray comforter at Target.com. We left the walls the light pink because I am still not sure what color to paint. I had thought about doing one wall a gray color as the accent wall but still deciding on that. She still has her fuzzy chair to sit in. The bed didn't take up all that much room like I thought. So I am pleased with how it came out.