The Hudnall Crew

Monday, November 10, 2008

SIS, BOOM, BAH!!!!!

"A good cheerleader is not measured by the height of her jumps but by the span of her spirit!"

Wow, how could I add any more words to this blog along with that and these pictures to say it all! Kelsey had a cheer competition in Nashville Sasturday, November 8th that I was lucky enough to attend and it was truly a blessing to watch. She continues to light up my life and those around her.

(Plus it was a wonderful opportunity for me to get to see Jennifer, Sara, Ali, Rachel and McCaleb because they drove in to watch as well. I was so happy to see them too. Dolly LOVES to spend time with her nieces and nephew!!!!! I miss them bunches. YOU TOO FURF!!!)

Love to you all and til next time-

Tour of Memphis....field trip

October 28, 2008

I signed up (what was I thinking...only joking) to attend a field trip with Bryson's class to take a Tour of Memphis. Now I thought that being still relatively new to this area it would be great and even more so when I heard people who have lived here almost all their lives talk about things that they learned about after taking this field trip with their child. The thing that I didn't know was that it was going to be a six and a half hour field trip! :0( Honestly though it was not bad at all and we rode on Coach buses. BUT I must say that the weather in Memphis has been absolutely gorgeous...until the day of the field trip. I had to donn leather coat, scarf and even took along gloves just in case!!! Wouldn't it figure! And you know I don't do cold!

Well, we loaded onto the buses a little after 9am and started out tour. I will let you look at some of the pictures that I took and I am going to list some of the interesting facts about Memphis that I learned on this trip-

Love to you all and til next time-

DID YOU KNOW????

1. Although BB King is the KING of the Blues, WC Handy is the Father of the Blues

2. At St Jude, the hospital founded by Danny Thomas (who incidentally is buried there on the grounds) they treat children with catastrophic/terminal illnesses and no child is ever turned away for ANY reason.

3. The population for Metro Memphis is one million (WOW)

4. There is a house on Adams Street called Lee Fontaine Carriage House that supposedly has a ghost living in the attic named Molly.

5. The oldest dry goods store on Beale Street is A. Swaub. It has been running for over 100 years and has been in the same family.

6. Cotton is called "white gold" here in Memphis.

7. Robert Church is the first African American millionaire in memphis.

8. Lorraine Hotel is where Martin Luther King was assassinated.

9. 3 movies that were filmed in Memphis (amongst others) were 'Cast Away', 'The Firm' and "silence of the Lamb'.

10. The largest employer in Memphis is Federal Express

11. The Peabody hotel is famous for it's parading ducks.

...and there are many, many more neat fact and places to visit. Come see us and we can take you there!

Free at last, Free at last.....

OCTOBER 24, 2008

Today was a potential day of freedom for Austin. It was the day that we went back to the orthopedist and had his cast removed, xrays obtained and found out if his cast was able to stay off for good or if he was going to have to have another cast put back on because the growth plate fracture wasn't healing well enough as it should be.
We arrived at the ortho office and he hobbled in on his crutches, and I must say that I do believe that he was the youngest patient in the waiting room on this morning. All the sweet elderly patients looked at him like, "oh look at that poor young man with the broken leg" and I think they all would have given him a dollar if he would have walked around and talked to each of them. What a ham!!!!!

We signed in and took our seats and I of course forgot my book so I settled for an outdated magazine as Austin sat and texted on his phone. I can only imagine who as his friends should be in class and they should NOT be texting him back!!!!!

Anyhow, shortly after getting engrossed in my outdated magazine, we were called back to another room when there were machines and saws and all sorts of gadgets. This was the cast room where they would remove the cast. The gentleman came in and just got to work. NOW, I have had a cast or two (or three or four....) and I vividly remember them ALWAYS showing me that in no way would the saw that they would be using on my cast in anyway be harmful to me. They even demonstrated by using it on themselves before beginning on me. Now I know that I was younger BUT those of you that know Austin know that he would have benefitted from a little of that information. THANK HEAVENS that I told him about that before Mr Cast-remover jumped right in and did his duty!!!!

Now, the cast is off and he has this little skinny peg leg that has been hiding under that cast for three plus weeks. We then head for the xray then in to talk with Dr Dlabach. After a few more outdated magazines we receive the news......no new cast. He can go into a bendable immobilizer, stay out of sports still and start physical therapy with the goal of working back into sports. YEAH!!!!! What great news! Thanks for all your prayers-

Love to you all and til next time-

11th Annual Buddy Walk

"MAN LOOKS AT THE OUTWARD APPEARANCES, BUT THE LORD LOOKS AT THE HEART."

I Samuel 16:7

OCTOBER 19TH, 2008

So as you will be able to tell from my next several blog postings, they will be somewhat out of sequence. Our home computer had crashed and we lost everything and I had to download all of my digital pictures onto Chad's work laptop so that he could then upload them onto discs. Well, now lo and behold, they are sitting on his desk at work so there are a couple of blogs that I need to post that will be done at a later day....out of order.

Anyhow, on October 19th, I headed SOLO to the Memphis Botanical Gardens to attend the 11th annual DSAM Buddy Walk. It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day in the Memphis area. There was not a cloud in the sky and you could get away with a long sleve t-shirt and no jacket and be MORE than comfortable, and at some points of the day, even a bit warm. As per in the years past, there was plenty of food, sodas, water and games and activites for the kiddies and plenty of social time for the adults. I got to spend lots of great time with Daddy, Fran, Cyndi Lou and the reason for it all....Kelsey Denise!!!!

After some usual festivites that are done every year to prepare for the mile long walk....which I must say with all the people there this year seemed like it was at LEAST 3 miles....we lined up in preparation. But ona side note let me first tell you---I know that each of you have heard me talk over and over about my buddy Kameron from Cyndi's school. I adore him (Jennifer, you have even talked to him on the phone and he promptly hung up on you when he was done talking) :0). Well, he made us all MOST proud when he stood in front of everyone with his big sister and recited the Pledge of Allegiance before the mile walk began. Talk about a tug at your heart!!!!! What a boy! And then I went to give him a great big hug and he told me that he was going to go and eat some pizza. I told him that he sure enough deserved it!!! I would buy him a whole pizza store at that point if I could!!! I know Cyndi was even prouder, after all, she is his teacher!

Again, it was a beautiful day, a beautiful cause and filled with beautiful people. God shone the sun brightly and smiled on all his children that were there that day.

Love to you all and til next time-