The Dotson Family Adoption

We spent Easter here for the first time since 2005. It was great to be with my family. Everyone came to "poppa's" house and Audrey and Hayden loved hiding the eggs for Mamie... yes. they didn't want to hunt, they wanted to hide them, yet when I would go look for them, Hayden (3) would say "Aunt Amy, Look in the garage, I put one in the garage" (he would then disappear and then reappear with an egg and say "here it is, this is the one I put in the garage!!!" He continued to do that with every egg, while Audrey (5) would scream "I HID THAT ONE" everytime I'd find one! I must say, they were VERY good egg hiders... Audrey, Hayden, Poppa and Sawyer It was such a long day for the boys :)

Our anniversary dinner.... LOVE IT!!! Kelly preached in South Baton Rouge and then we visited with his family for a few days before loading up and heading to NOLA!!! There were two movies being filmed while we were there. This was infront of the Riverwalk, 12 Rounds, with John Sena (sp?) The second was being filmed outside of our hotel. It's called Cirque Du Freak with John C. Reilly and Selma Hayek (sp?) Amy before dinner at Bocca's. New Orleans is just great. I love it more everytime we go! This time we spent a lot of time on Magazine Street. It's absolutely great. If you are there and need a place to eat, we recommend Theo's Pizza . We also did a cooking class at The New Orleans School of Cooking . We really enjoyed that. Our chef, Michael DeVIDTS was very entertaining and he had some great tips for "going green" in your kitchen. He made a Corn and Crab Bisque, Shrimp Creole, Pineapple - Coconut Bread Pudding, Pralines and the best part... they served A...

Amy and I have have had the extreme pleasure of doing some pretty amazing things this summer. First, we spent a week in Paris, France . The trip of a lifetime. Second, we spent three days hiking Mt. Rainer near Seattle, Washington. Breathtaking. Third, we took the month of June and sailed around the world. I can not find the words to describe it. And we were finally able to finish decorating the living room with the installation of that plasma TV. Wow, what a summer. Of all the things we have done, however, nothing comes close to the three days and three nights that we had in Ft. Worth, Texas, on the occasion of Neill Bryant's wedding. We were not alone... No, these guys were there too. Ben Shaw (far left, behind the good looking one), made quite a gracious traveling companion for my lovely wife and I. We set out on Thursday, July 19 th early in the morning. We drove to Monroe, LA to have breakfast with Ben's mom and then we were quickly on the road to Ft. Worth. ...

SO WHAT A GREAT SURPRISE! My best girlfriends got together and surprised me with a little get together at Tammy's house for my 25th birthday! We had a blast! I believe emma must have helped with the favors... note the lovely tiara that I'm sporting! I love my friends! Thanks girls for making my 25th one to remember! Love ya'll!

Life has been "busy" - that's everyones excuse.... I have no shame in saying we too have been busy! We're slowing down this summer.... our goal is to have a funfilled summer, spend time "chilling" and to not running around like chickens with our heads cut off! One of my few goals is to begin blogging again! As many of you know, lifes challenges got to be too much and blogging was not a priority for us! We have had many requests for us to begin "blogging" again and after much therapy, medication and a few bushwhackers, we have infact decided to "bring sexy back". So i leave you with the sexiest picture of Amy.... it was taken on Wacky Wednesday at her school.... shouldn't all Wednesday's be wacky? seriously....

Amy and I just wanted to tell everyone happy Labor Day. We each celebrated this wonderful holiday in our own way. I worked on the church web site and on some homework, sprinkling football in between, while Amy labored in her own way. If you want a fun way to celebrate the holiday go to this link: http://www.homestarrunner.com/toons.html click on the "puppet stuff" button and then go to the one marked "labor dabor". Then enjoy. Happy Holiday, Kelly

Kelly turned the big 29 today! oh yeah almost there!!! :) Mark your calendars for next years throwdown! :) Here is a glimpse of Kel's night - I cooked chicken and dumplins (from scratch) for him and got him a cookie cake... kel got a circular saw, some blades, and ipod stuff - although he hasn't gotten the ipod yet...but we'll get it this weekend, and money money money.... oh and a target gift card for $52.99 - interesting! enjoy the pics! Kelly talking to Will..... braggin' about his "circular saw"