June 2025

 June was a bitter sweet month. Lots of good memories, but some sadness too. I'm just going to start at the top and work my way through the month with pictures. 

The first of June brought Ellie's 10th grade dance recital, Mack attending Kirby camp in Athens, and Emma attending the Chris Haack golf camp at UGA also in Athens. 

First stop is in Athens with the Berrymans who boarded 2 Bowers kids before their Athens based camps. This crew is too cute and probably up to no good.  

Berryman camp 2025

Bowers and Berrymans take on Sanford Stadium

Mack meeting with Kirby is one of the best highlights of the camp. He introduced himself this year and let Kirby know that Worth was his dad. 

Emma looking all grown up getting dropped off for golf camp

And, recital 2025 began. This was "Tornado" and to date is my favorite ballet dance ever. 

The theme this year was "Over the Rainbow" and the choreography was phenomenal and really did flow with the Wizard of Oz story. 

"Emeralds" was beautiful. It really showed Ellie's growth in strength as a dancer. 

This was the contemporary dance. It was AMAZING, but I didn't get any good pictures because I was so drawn into the performance. This is honestly the best picture I got of the Ellie. 

"Yellow Brick Road" brought me to tears  every time I watched it. It was so beautiful, and Ellie did so well. I've watched all of these girls grow up on this stage and they looked like the little girls they used to be in this costume, but obviously have significantly increased talent now.  

The song was an instrumental version of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by Elton John. Such symbolism of the growth of these girls and how they are moving on in their lives. 

Jazz is always so fun. I was a Jazz dancer, so I tend to critique the Jazz a little more in my head, but I definitely think they scored a 10/10. 

Ellie can just jump up on these guys like it's nothing. She's grown so much as a dancer. 

As always, Mia and Dubs made it to a show and had a beautiful bouquet for Ellie! 

Emma and Mack were there to support as well

Our tiny dancer

Next up was the UAB beach trip. Worth, Mack and Ellie headed out Sunday morning. Ellie and I headed that way after her final recital performance Sunday afternoon. 

The boiled peanuts were in abundance. 

"The Dads" 

"The Moms" 

Emma and Ellie hanging with the adults to stay in the shade. 

Shrimp boil night is my favorite! We finally get some adult time without kids nosily listening in to our conversations. 

The crew in the tent one day

The kids took it upon themselves to move a log from the beach back to the ocean. It required a lot of teamwork and they did it. It was pretty heavy, so it was impressive to watch them work. 

We stopped them short of the ocean though for a photo op

The boys were always planning and plotting. 

We had plenty of photo ops on the log. 

We had a professional photographer come this year. The pictures were ok - the wind was so bad, but all things considered she got a few good ones of us. 

This is not a professional pic, just a pic from my phone. 

The whole crew by family

Mack man. 

Sisters in the crazy wind. 

Professional shot of all the kids. I thought this one was great. 

The adults got their on picture as well. 

Cheesy but cute shot of us

Even cheesier picture, but Mack is hilarious in this picture. 

My girls and me. 

The most beautiful girls I know. 

My favorite picture from the whole week. 

The professional photographer's picture of Mack is much better than mine. 

I thought the clouds were so cool over us during the photo session - obviously a storm was blowing in.

Crab hunting did happen! 

The girls had a Taylor Swift sing along party one night. They were all SO into the dancing and singing this night. 

Once we were back home, Mack jumped right back into his first summer PGA jr. league tournament.

While I was a way for a girls weekend, the kids and Worth had the first family dinner in the new house. 

Our girls weekend was so fun! We went to SSI, and even though most backed out at the last minute, as always we had a blast with the few of us that were there. This is Lauren, Kathryn, and I. 

Kelly is also an old friend that I met through Neilie, and I love it when she comes to our girls weekends. She is a fun girl! 

This next part of the blog is hard to write. The end of June didn't turn out as bright and cheery as the start. 

While I was on my girls trip, I got a call from Mama at 2:00am that Daddy was breathing differently and not doing well. At this point, he had been in Hospice care at home for 10 months. It had been constant up and downs with Daddy all 10 months, and we honestly thought he'd be gone by last Christmas, but he still hung on. This was not the first time mama called me in a panic, but I knew deep down that this was probably most likely the end. I laid in bed and just processed my thoughts until around 5:00am. I finally got up and showered and headed to Tifton leaving the girls to let themselves out of the condo. I hated it, but I knew I needed to go see him one more time. 

It took Daddy 3 more days to pass away. He had a hard time letting go, but it was good, because it gave everybody time to get there. Mama, Amos, Aunt Telie, and Uncle Dale were all there when he passed around 4:20am Wednesday morning June 25th. He had suffered for so long, I hated to say goodbye, but I knew that he no longer suffered and was begin held closely by Jesus now. 

The next days are all a blur and the day after his funeral we moved into our new house. I barely remember any of it, but I was thankful to be busy so that I was not consumed by my grief.

We did a slide show for the funeral, and I loved going through all of the pictures and memories of Daddy. He lost his memory, but we hold all of our memories with him in our hearts and minds now. These are just a few of the pictures we showed in the slide show. 

Daddy, Hardy, and Amos

Love this man so much! 

Daddy vloed the 4th at SSI. 

Mack and Papa on the beach

Daddy's first time meeting Ellie. 

Daddy and I when I graduated from OT school (I think) 

Mama and Daddy on their wedding day. 

Mama gave her life completely to Daddy for the last few years. I'm so proud of her and the example she set for all of us. Daddy had possibly the BEST care any dementia patient could ever have. 

Our last group picture at Benny's Red Barn in 2023. Daddy loved Benny's and loved taking us all there to eat every year during the week of July 4th.