Christmas 2007

This Christmas has been one of the best ever due to the addition of some cute new faces. Below are some pics snapped during our Christmas vacation.

This is one of Bailey's better smiles that we've caught on camera. She is really excited because we're teaching her all about Santa Claus.

As a result, she decided that it would be a good idea to wear her Santa hat and sit by the Christmas tree to wait for him to arrive with presents. She soon got tired and fell asleep.


"Hmm...this better not be my only present, guys."

Along with presents come the Christmas things that aren't as much fun like family pictures.

Here is Bailey shortly before we even left Greenville to drive back to Alabama for Christmas. I guess all the excitement of Christmas was too much for her (or maybe she was catching up on sleep b/c she knew she would need extra energy for the many relatives she would soon have kissing her cheeks and trying to get her to laugh and smile).

Bailey, Harrison, and Scott trying to figure out how to use an abacus

Bailey quickly learned that the wrapping paper itself was more fun than the present inside.

Apparently, Harrison felt the same way about the box that his present came in.

Harrison getting some help from his great grandma opening his present.

Okay, we really didn't stage this one. Harrison and Bailey both wearing their Santa hats, sitting in front of their stockings, and holding hands on Christmas morning. Pretty cute, huh?

Of course, the moment passed when we all noticed and starting running for our cameras and distracted them. They must have thought we were a little crazy.

Bailey, Harrison, Grammy, & Granddaddy on Christmas morning.

This is a "Taggie" and is one of Bailey's favorite toys. It has tags sown all around the perimeter of the toy. Ironically, her favorite tag to suck on is the one tag that has the actual product information on it.

Bailey and mom on Christmas morning.

Bailey and her great grandparents on Christmas morning.

Harrison and his dad (Justin) on Christmas morning in matching Reggie Bush Saint's jerseys.

Baptism of Bailey Edith Williams

Bailey Edith Williams was officially baptized by aspersion at Buncombe Street United Methodist Church on Sunday, December 30, 2007. In attendance were a number of family members as well as some friends. Following the church service during which the ceremony was performed, we all took turns making pictures and headed over to The Westin Poinsett Hotel for a special lunch. The first three pictures below were taken by a professional photographer one week before Bailey's baptism and showcase a 58 year old baptismal gown that was made by her Great Great Grandmother (maternal side) and has been passed down and worn by generations of relatives during their respective baptismal ceremonies. The remainder of the pictures below were taken subsequent to the ceremony.

This is a beatiful picture of Bailey in her baptismal gown. What you don't see, though, is Melanie and I off to the side acting foolish in order to get a smile out of her. It seemed that Bailey was a little stingy with the smiles when the camera was near.

This may be my favoite picture of Bailey yet and I don't think I'm alone. Just check out those big, beautiful eyes.

Yet another beautiful photograph of an amazing baby girl.

Bailey with her parents, uncle, both sets of grandparents, and one set of great grandparents immediately following the church service during which she was baptized. She is lucky to have such a loving family.

The Williams family.

Bailey with mom/dad and the Stutts family.

The extended Williams family

Our friends (Quay and Erica Scott) from across the street and their eight-month-old daughter (Ava) were nice enough to attend the ceremony and join us for luch afterwards. If only we knew what those two little girls were talking about. Whatever it is, it looks pretty interesting.

Bailey drinking water out of a glass with a little help from Mom. Surprisingly, neither Bailey nor Melanie got very wet as a result of this little experiment.

Grandpa, Grammy, Big Grandma, & Big Granddaddy enjoying lunch at The Westin Poinsett.

Quay, Uncle Kenneth, Pops, Melanie, and Bailey at lunch.

Gran talking to Billy Fallaw, the music director of Buncombe Street UMC. Originally, Billy's wife, Joanna Fallaw, was going to perform the baptismal ceremony, but caught an ill-timed case of strep throat and had to stay at home.

Great Granddaddy, Erica, Ava, and Quay at lunch.

Billy Fallaw with his two sons Will and Ross Fallaw. He also has a daughter, Ann Morgan, who was unable to attend, and, as previously mentioned, a wife, Joanna, who was at home sick. Today's church service was Billy's last to direct at Buncombe Street UMC. Unfortunately for us he has accepted a position at another Methodist church near the South Carolina coast. Joanna has also accepted a position as the full-time chaplain of a university in that area. Billy has done an absolutely wonderful job directing Buncombe Street's choir and our family has been lucky enough to develop a personal friendship with Billy, Joanna, and their family. We are very happy for their new opportunities, but will hate to see them go.

Thanksgiving 07

Here we are at 10 til midnight on December 20th and I'm just now getting around to putting up some Thanksgiving pictures of Bailey. That's how it is around this time of year, though. We really didn't take many pics during Thanksgiving so I've only posted a few. We'll do a better job during Christmas.

Actually, we spent a large portion of our Thanksgiving in the car so there wasn't much to take pictures of. We left Greenville on Wednesday night after work and drove to Nashville, TN, where we met up with Kenneth and Meg, who were coming down from Roanoke, VA, and stayed in a Sheraton there. We awoke Thanksgiving morning and hopped back in the car and made the trip from Nashville to Dyersburg, TN, which is where Mel's paternal grandmother, Meme, and her aunt, Pat, live. We remained there until Saturday morning when we, once again, loaded up the truck and drove from there down to Decatur, AL, to spend some time with my family. Meg drove from Dyersburg to Alexander City, AL, to spend time with her family and Kenneth rode back to Huntsville, AL, with his parents. On Sunday morning, we jumped back in the car, picked Kenneth up in Huntsville, and headed up to Chattanooga, TN, where we met up with Meg. At this point, Meg and Kenneth headed back up to Roanoke and we drove down through Atlanta, GA, and back home, finally, to Greenville. All in all, we spent 24 hours in the car and drove nearly 1,100 miles. The most amazing thing is that Bailey never really got upset until the very end, but it was taken care of easily enough by Dad's rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (over and over for 40 miles). Thankfully, the good Lord saw fit to keep us safe during the whole trip and we had a great Thanksgiving.

Here we are at Meme's house in Dyersburg.

Bailey and cousin Harrison at Grandpa's (I think that's his grandparent name this week) and Grammy's house in Decatur.

Matching shirts, but, lucky for Bailey, not matching headgear.

Just kickin it with Harrison after a huge Thanksgiving dinner.

Saturday Fun

Today is Saturday, November 10, 2007, and it is a beautiful Fall day. Bailey started her day off as so many do with a steaming hot cup of Starbucks coffee.

She got such a caffeine rush from the coffee that she had to find more caffeine. So, Mom introduced her to Dr. Pepper. We've created a monster!!!

Wide-eyed and ready to rock after her double shot of caffeine and sugar, Bailey spent some quality ExerSaucer time out on the back deck. It was a little breezy and cool so she opted for the hooded jacket, which, like most everything else, looked extremely cute on her.

It looks like some more of that caffeine and sugar just kicked in!

Sorry, Bailey. The plastic elephant does not have caffeine or sugar in it.

Still feeling good!

This smile is not quite as enthusiastic. Time for more Starbucks and Dr. Pepper!!!

First Hiking Trip

We also spent some time at Paris Mountain State Park just outside of the Greenville city limits during Grammy’s and Grandpa’s visit where Bailey went on her first hiking trip. We started out on the Brissy Ridge Trail, turned onto a trail that doesn’t completely exist yet but was marked with flags, and ended up on the Firetower Trail.

This weekend was the first weekend in November so we had hoped that the color of the leaves would be a little prettier, but we haven't had much rain, the temps have been kind-of warm, and we weren't in the higher elevations. This tree, however, was beautiful! It really stood out from the rest of the forest.

The Brissy Ridge Trail is a great mountain biking trail that I frequently ride. I really enjoyed hiking it for a change, though, b/c I noticed a lot of things that are either a blur or that I don't see at all when on a bike. Paris Mountain doesn't allow mountain bikers to ride on Saturdays so that hikers don't have to worry about getting flattened. It's nice if you want to hike, but annoying if it is Saturday and you want to ride.

New Toy

Grammy and Grandpa came to visit Bailey and, what are their names…oh yeah, Scott and Melanie, this past weekend and brought Bailey some great new toys. The biggest and best, though, was a brand new ExerSaucer. Thank goodness, b/c Dad was about to buy a used one off of Ebay.

Halloween

Obviously, this year was Bailey's first Halloween, so we decided to do it up right. We spent a Saturday morning before Halloween at a pumpkin patch in North Carolina where they had hot apple cider, a corn maze, a petting zoo, and, of course, tons of pumpkins. Then, on Halloween night Bailey dressed up in her angel costume but decided she had had enough before it was even time to go trick-or-treating.



"This is the pumpkin I want and this is the pumpkin I'm gonna get!"

“On second thought, I like the looks of that one over there, too.”

Mom and Bailey in her angel costume beside the two pumpkins she picked out at the pumpkin patch.

Dad with Bailey in her angel costume just before pass-out time.