This buds for you!

Our brother-in-law, Brad works for Budweiser in Meridian. This afternoon they celebrated the completion of their new warehouse and office spaces. Haley Barbour was invited and Lan was so excited to meet him and have his picture taken. They also had Kasey Kane's car there for people to see.

City deer!

Over the years we have seen lots of deer in our backyard but never in the front until last weekend! The amazing part of this (for those of you who don't know) is that we live on probably the busiest street in Meridian. Myles was in New Orleans with Brad at the Saints game (pics to come) so Lan, Katie Grace and I watched as this little one ate persimmons off the tree in the front yard. He is so cute and I am panicked thinking of him getting out in the street!

Emerald Mound

One of our stops was to Emerald Mound. It is the second largest ceremonial mound in the United States. The mound was used from 1250-1600 A.D. by ancestors of the Natchez Indians. The mound was abandoned in the 1600's when the Natchez moved further south. It is 35 ft high and 770 ft. long and 435 ft. wide. Not one of my favorite stops but neat to think how in the world this was constructed.

The Ruins of Windsor...

Probably the most haunting spot I've ever seen. The ruins of what was Windsor Plantation are located off Hwy 61 South of Port Gibson. Lan really loves this place and I do too. The Coffee family began construction of this beautiful home in 1859 and it was completed in 1861. Mr. Coffee only lived for 4 weeks after the house was finished. During the war it was used as a Union hospital. After the war the home played host to many wonderful parties until February of 1890. A guest at a party left a cigarette on the 3rd floor and the house caught fire and burned to the ground. All that is left of the house are 23 of its 29 (forty-five foot) Corinthian columns, some ironwork and the iron staircase which now resides at Alcorn University.

Longwood...

Longwood is probably one of my favorite homes. The Nutt's began building the house in 1960 but work halted when the war began. The workers were all from the north and feared for their lives if they stayed. The ground floor was the only one that was finished and that is where the family lived. After the war the Nutt's were bankrupt and could not afford to complete the work and he died a few years later. Mrs. Nutt lived in the house until she died. The house would have been 30,000 square feet if completed! The story of this family is very interesting. I guess the thought of what could have been is the most haunting part of Longwood.

Dunleith Plantation

(Lan on the porch waiting for our tour.)

(I took this on for Lan's dad.)

Lan and I went on a couple of tours while we were in Natchez. One house we saw was Dunleith Plantation. Dunleith was built in 1856 by the Carpenter family. This home plays host to weddings and has a really good restaurant (from what I hear).

Sunset...

This was the view from our balcony at The Briar's! Look at the majesty of our Lord!

The Briar's!

This is the beautiful B&B we stayed at! I fell in love with these bunnies and Henry who served us breakfast every morning! I highly recommend Henry and The Briar's!!!

My Sweet Husband!

They next few post are some of the pictures that I took on our anniversary trip. Lan planned everything all by himself. I had said that all I wanted to do was just spend some time together, relax and have fun. Bless him he came through in a big way! He put so much thought into everything! Our anniversary is September 26th and that night we stayed at The Century House. Lan's dad owned this house and he lived there for 6 years and we lived there the first year of our marriage. His dad sold the house and the owners turned it into a beautiful bed & breakfast. This was really special! We also went to The Rustler that night for supper (one of my faves)! The next morning we got up and headed to Natchez where he booked us a room at a beautiful B&B, The Briar's!

Here is a picture of the beautiful and delicious cake Carolyn Wilkinson made us! Lan said we needed cake at least once a month!

Katie Grace and Seth...

This is another one of those entries I should have done weeks ago! Katie Grace came home the first day of school talking about this little boy that she wanted to spend the night with! As you can imagine her daddy was fit to be tied! The whole week all she talked about was Seth and how he wanted her to come over and play and then spend the night. I had never heard of Seth or his family (they were new to Meridian) and tried to explain to my crying child that I wasn't about to invite her to someones house! This went on for 2 weeks and then one day she came home with a note from her teacher explaining that Seth's mom wanted to get in touch with us about a play date. Praise the Lord, the child had been crying everyday after school for 2 weeks! Anyway... We got these children together and I got to met Jennifer and Greg and they are wonderful! Jennifer is just one of these great people that you take to immediately or at least I did! She and Greg are from Houston and moved to Meridian in July. These are some pics I got at Seth's birthday party a few weeks ago. He and Katie Grace have the funniest relationship! They are both very head strong but for some reason Seth lets her boss him around and does everything she says! I don't think it's funny because I don't want her to think she can just run over her friend but Jennifer thinks it's great because Seth just lets her do it! They really do get along so well and Katie Grace loves him to death!

Culpepper & Henry Sleepover!

Sorry it's been so long since I posted anything! I am so bad about putting off until I'm about 10 blog entries behind! These are some great pics that Jonda took one night when they let Myles, Katie Grace, Anna Kate and Parker spend the night. My two would stay every other night if they would let them! They all had a lot of fun and love to rock out to Rock Band! Jonda and Brad are great to let these four come and take over for the night!

Life's been kinda busy!

Lan and I got back Monday from our anniversary trip! Things have been so crazy I haven't had time to download or post any of the wonderful pictures that I took. We've had soccer, gymnastics and birthday parties all in a matter of two days and today I'm working on all of the house cleaning I've been putting off. Anyway I promise to share pictures ASAP!!!