Kelly's Korner SUYL Family Edition

I don't post in a lot of SUYL topics but I wanted to participate in this one.  (I read a lot of them, just don't post)  Anywho, this week is a Show Us Your Family.  As my quote for my blog says, "The love of a family is life's greatest blessing" and I wouldn't be the person I am today without my family.  I live in a very small, rural South Georgia town, Cairo, and have lived here my entire life.  If the name Cairo, Georgia sounds familiar, we have a couple of well known people from here.  For starters, this is the birthplace of Jackie Robinson, the first african american baseball player; Teresa Edwards, you can look at her here.  We also have Mickey Thomas, Starship, singer.  They sang, "We built this city".  You can look at him here.  Willie C. Harris, made the winning point scored the winning run.....(just for you James, I edited it!) for the 2005 World Series.  Jake Bundrick, a vocalist and drummer for the rock band, Mayday Parade.  Mayday Parade is doing amazing well right now and I am SOOOO proud of Jake! AND.....our high school football team was voted ESPN's most unique mascot in 2009, I think.  We are the Cairo Syrupmakers!! Our mascot is a syrup pitcher, HAHAHA! You can read the history here.  My best friend, Brian Mason, whom I have talked about on my blog before will definitely be a name you will recognize soon.  He is amazingly talented and was a principal dancer in the remake of "Footloose" starring Julianne Hough, Andi McDowell and Dennis Quaid.  (He met all 3!) and has appeared in several commercials and judged dance competitions with Tyce Diorio from So You Think You Can Dance!

My dad, Rick, is the Electrical Superintendent for the City of Cairo, and he and I are like two peas in a pod.  He is loud, opinionated, friendly, funny, caring and would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.  He is a hard working man that has always provided an amazing life for our family. 

My Mom, Debbie, is the Clerk of Court of Grady County.  She is my rock.  My mom is this dainty, petite little woman that couldn't raise her voice in anger if she wanted.  I always remember her reprimanding me in her cute little sweet voice, "Now Amanda, don't do that, that isn't very lady-like".  Bless her.  My Mom is seriously one of my very best friends.  I know a lot of people say that but I would rather hang out with my mom than any of my friends.  As I have gotten older, we have gotten so much closer.  We can share secrets, cry together, laugh together and have our own little inside jokes.  Funny thing about my parents is they are TOTAL opposites.  My dad is about 6'0 and a BIG guy while my mom is a tiny little thing.  We like to call them the number 10 b/c my mom looks like a "1" and my dad looks like the "0".  HAHAHA. 

I have an older brother, Chris, who is 3 1/2 years older than I am.  I don't think I've ever in my life met two people that are as opposite as we are.  My brother is very reserved, an introvert, very OCD about things but I wouldn't change ANYTHING in the world about him because it makes him Chris.  Growing up, we never got along.  Like, EVER.  We fought all the time (ha).  He was the more quiet person in school and I was the girl that was friends with everyone.  After he graduated, he went to police academy and started his career in law enforcement.  About 5-6 years ago, he wanted a change and became a code enforcement officer for Grady County and is currently there.  Chris got married to an EMT (at the time) Cori, who is now a RN, and they have the most precious little boy ever, Caden, who turned 2 on Feb. 25.  My brother and I have gotten so close over the years and actually lives across the road from us! We always say we just need to get my parents to move out near us! Mom and Dad live about 20 minutes from us, which isn't bad at all.

My favorite family memory growing up was our summer vacations.  I swear, I always compare them to the "National Lampoons Summer Vacation" because my Mom's parents, Mam-Maw and Pop-Pop (Pop-Pop passed away in '95 from Leukemia and Mam-Maw celebrated her 90th birthday on Jan. 13) would always travel with us.  Now, we wouldn't just go the beach or anything, we would pack up our car and drive hours upon hours to different places all over the US.  I've been up north to NYC, Canada, out west to Las Vegas, Texas, etc.  We always went to the big tourist places like the Statue of Liberty, Liberty Bell, Gettysburg, Grand Canyon, NOLA, Washington D.C., Niagra Falls, etc.  It was AMAZING.  I had the best childhood. 

I have always said that I wanted to be able to provide for Preslei and show her the kind of love that I received growing up.  We started the tradition of every year taking a family vacation to the mountains ALL of us.  I absolutely LOVE it.  We stay in the same cabin every year and Preslei calls it "the mountain house".  Last year, she cried because she kept saying she didn't want to the leave the mountain house.  Bless her heart.  We started the tradition in 2009, and hopefully will keep doing it.  I am beginning to think we just need to buy a vacation house up there since we plan on going every year!!!

Hope you all enjoyed reading about mi familia :o)