This is for the handful or so (?) out of town readers . . .
I'm not sure if any of my sweet friends in Texas and where ever you may be realize what has happened in Nashville, but I'm doing my part to spread the word to my little corner of the world because we have received almost no national news attention.
On May 1 and 2, we received record-breaking, (hopefully) once in a lifetime rainfall in the Middle Tennessee area. At our house, we recorded 16.26 inches in less than 48 hours!! Thankfully, we have been very blessed to receive no flood damage at our house and so far have had no interruption in water or electric service. (However, we are at a critical stage in our water supply and are on strict water conservation watch - only for drinking, food prep and washing HANDS.)
On May 2 and 3, the Cumberland River (which runs right through downtown) crested at an all time record high and flooded many communities, many of which never even dreamed that they would be in a flood plain and don't have flood insurance. The flood waters swelled and flooded the heart of our downtown, including many historical and major tourism attractions, including the Titans field, our downtown arena, the Symphony (which is only a few years old) and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Also flooded and destroyed is the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, Opry Mills (a HUGE shopping mall) and thousands of homes. Buses and trains for public transportation have been flooded and those services have been cut extremely back and/or halted.
For whatever reason, we have only gotten minimal news coverage, but the devastation is Katrina-like, only without the looting. There were hundreds, possibly thousands of water rescues from flooded homes and cars. Nashvillians are helping each other out, and because we have the "Volunteer" Spirit (we are the "Volunteer State"), maybe our "story" isn't that sensational and newsworthy.
Thousands upon thousands of people's lives, homes, and memories have been affected greatly and will have a lifelong impact because of the events of this weekend. Please keep all the families, businesses, and our city in your prayers - it will be a very long, hard recovery.
If you want to peruse some pictures of the devastation, you can click
HERE for many photos and videos.
We came outside with our ice cream (except Lawton because he always says he doesn't like it) and he started feeling a little left out. . .
A few months ago I took the kids and my two nephews to a local ag center. Why or when I can't remember because I've been such a horrible blogger . . .This picture above was after we got back home and they were all coloring their new coloring books we picked up.
We saw the horses and some sweet baby kittens in the horse barn. I kept on asking Houston if he wanted to hold the kittens or pet them and he politely kept telling me no. "Are you sure?" I asked. . . "Aunt Laura Beth, I'm allergic." Ahhh! I ran the kids out of there, forgetting all about his horrible allergies . . . we were in a dusty, hay ridden, cat and horse filled barn. Aunt of the Year, huh? :)
I love these kids. :)
And somehow, after lunch, we had a hearty game of baseball going on in the front yard of Gran-D and Papa J's house! Sister refused to be left out!
We stopped at McDonald's and had a special breakfast while we were waiting. We 
See? There Chad is - the red shirt with gray shorts! :)
The best picture of the two of them was actually made with my iphone, and maybe one day I will take the time to download all my pics from there on this blog. :)
I think she must have been calling Noni to tell her we were on our way. . .
And here is the funny part - they had a "best dressed" cowboy and cowgirl (of all ages) before the rodeo actually started. Carolina WON (and Lawton did not!) Can you tell how he felt about it? ha! I think her little pigtails wooed the audience and the judges . . . and she won a $50 savings bond and they both got all these free tickets to do things all around town. (See the big ribbon she won?)
We had a fun night at our first rodeo ever!! Thanks, Noni and Dandy!
I love these cute little legs!! :)
This was his warm up pitch - I took a picture of the actual "pitch" with my real film camera so I could zoom and actually get a decent picture (vs. my point and shoot digital . . .)
Emily was going to make the cake, but she realized that her plate was super full since she was in charge of a huge fundraiser the night before, so I had to make the cake with some pointers and a little help from her. Thanks, Em!!
The real Bison made an appearance for the birthday boy!
Sis wasn't too sure about him. . .
Luke and Carolina had a BLAST playing with the balloons - they eventually escaped because the paper around the weights was torn up after they dragged them around so much!
This might be my favorite picture of Lawton and Hunter together - EVER.
Ummm. . . Can you tell he was a wee bit excited about his new Braves hat and t-shirt? I was telling someone tonight he might as well only have four shirts in his closet - his Braves shirt, Titans jersey, Predators outfit (see below) and his fall ball t-shirt. He has a closet full of nice shirts/t-shirts (some also sports themed), but he wants to wear these shirts over and over and over. It could be much, much worse - so I just go with it as long as they are clean. :) (and Chad and I like sports, but we are in no way sports fanatics . . . ESPN is never on, but yet he wants to check my phone all the time for scores.?)
Noni and Dandy gave him this cowboy hat because we went to the rodeo the very next weekend with them. He cocked his arm like this unprompted and I just love it - he cracks me up . . .
And his beloved Preds outfit - he has worn it every cool day since his birthday . . . but my favorite part of this pic? Papa J's happy face in the background. :)
After all the partiers left, we actually sat down and watched the game. It went into extra innings and was very exciting!
I love you sweet Lawton!!! 
