This will be my last entry until we get back from the wedding! So STAY TUNED for lots of great pix!
OH! And P.S. I got an e-mail from AOL saying that they would be ending their AOL JOURNALS on Oct. 31! OH NO! (I will find another blogger, tho, don't worry! HAHA)!
Hello family and friends! Just a note to say good-bye as we are heading to Destin early Wednesday morning! Our baby girl is getting married this Saturday, Oct.4th at Sunset at Watercolor Inn. I can't believe the day has finally arrived! We are so thrilled and love Jon so much and, since they have known each other for 5 years, we already feel he is a part of the family!!! We are so excited that the Fry family is continuing to grow by adding sweet Jon to our family tree!!! 
HAHA) and also for the wedding week-end in general! We cherish your love and prayers for our sweet little bride and groom! 
What is it about child number one???? Poor things! The younger kids think the first kids "have it made"! NOT SO! They are the "experiment"! The one who does EVERYTHING, FIRST!!! The hardest to let 1. start kindergarten 2. go alone to b'day party 3. expect the best grades from 4. cry the hardest the day they leave for college!!!
Yes, I experienced all those things. You wouldn't know it by the time baby number FIVE arrived! But, yes, I felt all those things. Sometimes I still do with him! When he called to tell me that he and Rachel were expecting a BOY, I burst, once again, into tears!! Because I knew that HE would soon be feeling all those things I felt the day I heard I was having MY first son. All those wonderful things you can't explain to your child, they have to experience it for themselves. How can you even TRY to explain the love you have for your first born child?(and next borns, but TODAY I'm talking about the FIRST TIME feelings of motherhood!). I can't help but shed a few tears this morning as I look over the lake at this GORGEOUS sunset and think about my OLDEST son turning 36 years old today and my youngest daughter getting married this coming Saturday. The circle of life. So wonderful. So incredible. So moving. So sad. So beautiful. So exciting. So happy. So emotional. Some days it's just hard being a mama, whether you are a mom at 20 (like I was then) or a mom at 57 (like I am now). WHy? Because there are moments I just wish I could turn back the hands of time! To see Charles for the first time again. To watch him walk on his first birtday again. To see him get off the school bus. To stand outside his bedroom door an hear he and Michael whispering secrets when they were going to bed. To see him graduate again, from B'ham Souther and watching DADDY'S FACE. To see him get married. To see him watching Powell in the hospital.Just remembering and wanting to go back in time. For just that one moment in time. Oh the memories I have today. Just like last week, thinking about MICHAEL, this week is CHARLES' week. Next week-end I'll be feeling similar memories about Katie. And so on. And such is the stuff of life. Today, for now, I honor and cherish moments of Charles. To him I say, "thanks. Thanks for making me the happiest I had ever been 36 years ago. For YOU, sweet curly haired son, made ME a mom"! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I LOVE YOU!
*(Even when he was 3 1/2 he loved his SAILOR SUIT!!!!)....PATRICK! We are so proud of you!!!!! I can't wait to see you next week-end! WE LOVE YOU!
Here is Jon going through, literally,HUNDREDS of photos over the past 5 years that he has known Katie! He is putting together a video show for the family while we are at the beach. I can't wait to see it!....We are getting sooooo excited! ONLY ONE WEEK TILL WE LEAVE!!! WOW! For a year and a half, we have planned and planned and PLANNED for it all to come to next Saturday, Oct. 4!!!! HURRAH! ....as of today , we have finally finished getting rooms taken care of and everything is now READY. Have I mentioned I will have the WORLD'S BEST PHOTOGRAPHER make the wedding pix?? Well, we do! It's my COUSIN, JIMMY ASKEW, driving all the way from Virginia to come to make pictures of Katie and Jon on their wedding day! I can't wait to see the pix! If they are HALF as good as the ENGAGEMENT PICTURES he made of them last Fall, they will be incredible!.....All that's left for this MOB (Mother of Bride!) is to get over the SNIFFLES!
In case you missed it on Sunday , PatPat, once again, got in the NEWS! Here he is in the Birmingham News on Sunday in the "Travel" section of the paper! That PatPat! He's a sneaky little bear!!!
Yes, Saturday was a very good day!
Alabama beat Arkansas, so at least, for THIS Sunday, we can celebrate! Until next game day, of course!! Then, the nail biting continutes for the Alabama Crimson Tide! HAHA! For today, we celebrate! 
RIGHT, DAISY????
Today was my sweet Michael's 35th birthday!
GOSH, I can't believe it! HOW CAN HE BE THAT OLD?!!! He just left after having dinner here with us and it was so much fun! Another year older, wow, he's getting O-L-D! Now, for 9 days, he and his brother are BOTH 35! How funny is THAT?!....We had a fun dinner tonight with the Hornes/Frys! (Katie is in Auburn/Pat in Pensacola/Charles in Boston! So, it was a quieter birthday but still fun!!! Actually, it wasn't quiet at all ! HAHAHA! ...Lily/Kemp were so good as was Daisy, despite the fact that she has a bad ear infection and bad cold! .....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOST PRECOUS PRECIOUS MICHAEL! I LOVE YOU!
Today I'm CLEANING OUT KITCHEN CABINETS! Helping Katie do hers last week-end got me INSPIRED! SO, that's what I have done all morning! HURRAH! It's DONE!!! I have thrown away plastic lids I've had for 8 years! HAHA! My kitchen looks so good I don't want to even cook in it!!!....Tonight is Katie/Jon's little "Around the House" party at Charles and Rachel's. It is going to be such fun! I can't wait! .....ONLY THREE WEEKS UNTIL THE WEDDING!!!! WOW, UNBELIEVEABLE!
!!! We went to Home Depot/Ross/WalMart!!! We drug poor little Kemp around with us, he fell sound asleep on the last run!!! Last night I almost laughed out loud when I saw him with a broom and a dust pan! He's just like his mama, loves a clean house! AND, like Aunt Cutie, too! Right this minute she's mopping the kitchen----AGAIN! We have been cleaning for 2 solid days! Tomorrow we're heading back with post notes left for Jon: KEEP CLEAN! HAHAHAHA!
Terry and I were invited to the Clelland's River house for Labor Day. We had such a great time! We ate lots of "Q" (thanks to Bobby's delicious ribs and chicken and Dianne's home made sauce!)and slaw and beans and tater salad! I brought the slaw (I have a great recipe for it!) and pound cake and Terry made some Jerk Chicken and brought the MOST DELICIOUS Maragrita mix from La Concina and we made them there! YUMMMMMM! And I even was NICE enough to watch the Auburn game! HAHA! Bobby wore his lucky AUBURN house slippers and I wore my WINNING Alabama house slippers! Guess both of those "lucky charms" worked b/c BOTH our teams WON!....We enjoyed having, not one, but 2 special little dogs on this trip! SKIP, of COURSE, and also Scarlett, the precious Scotty that belongs to Katie/Win....We had to cut our trip a little short as I wanted to get back in case the weather got yukky and to talk to Patrick and see if he was going to be evacuated from Pensacola. Luckily for the Alabama Gulf Coast, NO problems. And, Patrick didn't get evacuated either. He's safe and sound in Pensacola.....Anyway, we had a great time as always and I'm already wanting to return!
Well, our little girl got part of her Birthday prezzie yesterday from her MAMA and DADDY. SHE GOT HER EARS PIERCED ! I met Kadie and Lily (and her friend Alexandria) over at Libby Lu's @ the Galleria where Lily got her ears pierced! She was SOOOO excited ! Kadie and I almost flipped, tho, when the girl said she'd have to do them one at a time b/c the other girl wasn't qualified to pierce ears and so they couldn't do them at the same time. I almost said, "NO, we'll wait" but Lily wanted to do it!! So, she popped up in the chair and was SOOO brave! They did the first one, and it reminds me of when Daisy gets a shot, she sat there for a second and then "OUCH!!! THAT HURTS!" Kadie had already decided if she cried too much or didn't want to do the other one, she would just let that one grow back. Well, our brave little girl did it again! She cried , for just a minute or two, and then, once she saw those adorable little earrings in her ears, she was grinning and soooooo excited!!!! I bought her a little stuffed animal for being so brave!!!!! Here's an adorable clip of the agony and then, the ecstasy! LILY BELLE, WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU FOR BEING SO BRAVE!
P.S. we are leaving in a little while to go to the Warrior River with Dianne and Bobby Clelland for the rest of the week-end! We LOVE to go there and just chill out!!! I've made a pound cake (Bobby's fav) and some slaw and eggs and Terry made some JERK CHICKEN---he also has a big ole pitcher full of Margarita Mix from La Cocina! HAHA
WOW, now THIS is exciting NEWS! Our own JAROD is the STARTING QUARTERBACK for the first NAVY GAME in Annapolis on Saturday !Oh how I wish I could be there with my sweetest friend, Konie, when she sees Jarod first come on to the field!!! We are SOOOOOO thrilled and excited and Terry and I hope to make it to a Navy Game after the wedding so we can see him play! I am so thrilled and happy and know he will lead his team to VICTORY just like he did the Hoover Bucs!!! GO NAVY !!!!!
Tuesday we headed back to our roots to>>>> Trussville! haha! Kadie/Lily/Natalie/Daisy/Katie and I went to Katie's Bridal Luncheon given by her Aunt Judy.A few couldn't be there, but we still had a lovely lunch and visit. Mimi at lesast got to attend one of Katie's parties! It's so hard for her to get around so this was a perfect place/time for her. Also, Mrs. Bryant was there, too! Katie's first CUZZINS were there and they enjoyed seeing each other, too! Joshua and Ann Clair and Daisy and Lily were glad they finally got to meet each other!....Scherry made delicious chicken salad and Judy had lots of other good items to eat, too! It was such a fun lunch and we so enjoyed it!!!! Mimi was sitting in the den like a queen surrounded by her loyal subjects! HAHA.....The next party on the agenda is at Charles and Rachel's in a couple of weeks! THEN, countdown to THE WEDDING! YIPEEEEEE!
How can it be? How can 4 years come and go so quickly? How can it be that I remember every detail of today just like it was yesterday? And what am I referring to? The birth of my first grandchild, my first grand-daughter, LILY CLAIR FRY! I will never forget the day she was born and her life has been DOCUMENTED even before she came into the world! And, I'm so glad! I love to look back at her pictures and say, "WOW, look how this child has grown. And become who she is today!" She is:smart/beautiful/sassy/prissy/tender/gentle/funny! She is my little angel and I'm so glad she's mine!!!!
*(the first group of pix are from today, her real b'day, and the others are from Saturday at her party in a paint pottery party in Homewood!)
Here are the 2 best Hostesses in the whole world! Konie and Beth!!!(check out their little aprons Katie gave them with "Chef Konie and Chef Beth" on them , made by Kadie,, in the picture above!). These 2 pretty ladies gave Katie her MOST BEAUTIFUL Bridal Tea!!!! It was absolutely a beautiful Tea!!!!EVERYTHING was just perfect: the TONS of food/the MILLIONS of gifts/the house/the petit fours/the gifts/the ambiance! It was unreal!!!! Everything went perfectly and we had THE most wonderful time. Beth sent me an e-mail and said after countless teas she's given and been to, this one was the MOST FUN and best! I agree 1000 %!!!! It was just unreal!!!! ...>the weather was so worrisome the day before and SOOO rainy on Saturday and Sunday was SUPPOSED to be the same way! In fact, the weather reports were for torado watches and flooding! I prayed Sunday morning that God would just give us about 2 hours of NO RAIN! WELL, our God is an awesome God, even with all the BIG problems He deals with, He gave me my request! Not only did it not rain, the SUN actually came out yesterday! And guess what? We are under flood and tornado watches TODAY! So, God definitely gave us a miracle. I truly believe God gives us "small" miralces as well as big ones. This is one of them!!! Another thing? Almost every person we invited came! The ones who didn't were sick or out of town. who can say they almost had 100% attendance?!!!! It was wonderful. ALl I know how to describe it.PLEASE look at the pictures of all the smiling faces and all the FOOD and gifts, too! And Konie's beautiful home! It was a day Katie will never forget. For that matter, neither will anyone who was there!......
Here's 3 of the 5 and ME! (PatPat, of course, IN THE NAVY, and C/R/Powell in DESTIN).. We celebrated eating out at MACARONI GRILL for dinner last night and we ordered pizza for lunch !(the girl loves Italian food!) Her favorite dessert? Tiramisu! She had a big piece with a candle in it and the Italian waiter sang "Happy Birthday" to her in Italian! It was SUCH a fun day/night!....Her celebrations continue! Tonight is her GIRL'S NIGHT OUT! Natalie (and Mary and Meghan) are having her a LINGERIE SHOWER at Nat's house. Natalie already has the house perfect-O and decorated so adorably (she needs to go into the PARTY BUSINESS!). Pix of that to come! Sunday is her big Bridal Tea (given by Beth and Konie) and Tuesday a family luncheon at Judy's. So, the next few days are going to be very busy and FUN!
Katherine Louise Fry: August 21, 1985! 8 pounds 4 1/2 oz.
Here she is, 23 years ago today! What a beautiful baby girl!What a beautiful 23 year old girl!!!......More pix to come as we celebrate our bride's 23rd birthday today! Hurrah for Katie!!! (it's also my cousin, Virginia's birthday too! HAPPY BIRTHDAY , VIRGINIA !)
Yes, my mood says" Embarrassed! why? B/c I have soooooo many video clips and SOOOOOO many pix ! HAHAHA! But, everyone keeps begging for more, so here they are!!! Some go over the limit as far as MBites , wish I could put them all on! Some really funny ones! And, more to come, believe it or not! 
Just some more video clips from NYC! and a few more snaps! FUN FUN AND MORE FUN!
P.S. Brad, I'm "ashamed" because I have SOOOOO many pix and SOOOOOO many videos! HAHA
Katie laughed and laughed at me at that video clip I made, like a DUMMY, while riding down the escalator in Bloomingdales! I almost FELL when I got off! Listen to me at the end! HAHAHA! ....The pix in the church was the Episcopal church on 5th Ave. It was such a blissful respite from the busy-ness of the city. It was just beautiful......
We got up at 3:30 (for the 2nd morning in a row!) and I had a KILLER headache! I don't even get headache's that much! I sure am glad I brought ADVIL! Whew! By the time we got there my headache had eased up. Guess no sleep finally caught up with me! Anyway, we got to the TODAY SHOW area at 5. Our great PR girls: Rachel, Elly and Shannon, had us a place saved! We were first in line! We made some pix and then were led to an area in front of where they shoot the show. Then we WAITED. and WAITED. And WAITED! All told I think we stood there for 5 hours! Anyway, we found out immediately that Al Roker was in D.C.! What a disappointment! We knew the anchors would probably not interveiw me on the show, then. BUT, Meredith Viera came over and chatted and chatted and spied PATPAT and heard him TALK! She was so cute! She grabbed a pen and signed his shirt. She said her dad was a Navy surgeon so she loved the Navy! Of course, we made a ton of pix! After while, Natalie Morales came over and chatted as well. She saw Patrick's picture and said, "Oh! He is so cute!" I snapped away with her holding Patrick's picture! I was beyond thrilled! Here is our day last July 31, 2008!
