It's a girl....and a girl, and a girl, and 5 boys

Our neighbor's dog, Abbey, had 8 puppies (5 yellow, 3 black) on Tuesday morning. Miller is the proud/oblivious new father.

Johnny Cash is Pardoned

For those of you who don't know the story, Johnny Cash played a show in Starkville in 1965 and was arrested for public drunkenness. He said he was only picking flowers, and he wrote a song about it called "Starkville City Jail." A Starkville resident, Robbie Ward, decided to work to get Johnny pardoned for the incident. People were very receptive to the idea and in 16 weeks, it turned into a full-blown music festival. Our company, Blufish Design helped coordinate the poster design competition and a submission from Blufish Arizona won! (I was NOT a judge!) The artist, Zach Crowell, came to Starkville for the festival with his girlfriend Ashley. The owners of the the AZ office, Matt & Kira, also made the trip with their new baby Weston! Here are some pictures of the fun!

Kira and Weston at Blufish Mississippi.

Friday night there was a Charity Auction at the PIKE fraternity house, where Johnny also played in 1965.

The poster artist, Zach, with Pat Cole, who had the winning bid for the poster's original artwork.

Like father like son! Matt and Weston check the Crackberry.

A Johnny Cash impersonator, dubbed "Johnny Crasher," showed up and bought almost all of the Johnny Cash memorabila at the auction.

Setting up the merchandise tent Saturday morning. JohnnyCash.com was nice enough to send us a lot of Cash goodies, including a tiny baby onesie that said "I Crawl the Line."

Little Folsom Prisoner!

Watching the early afternoon bands.

Taking a break to watch some football in the bar.

Kathy Cash, Johnny's daughter, and Joanne Cash, Johnny's sister, came from Tennessee to accept the pardons.

The mayor and the sheriff presented the pardons.

Marty Stuart, who is a Mississippi native (and was married to one of the Cash daughters), performed with his band, the Fabulous Superlatives.

Johnny Cash Festival this weekend

If y'all can make it, come on!

www.pardonjohnnycash.com

Jennifer's Baby Shower

Whew! I can barely reach across both of our bellies.

Soon to be a Grandmama!

Baby Rylee

We went up to Southaven to a baby shower for Grady's sister Jennifer this weekend. Lots of food and presents! And candy shaped like baby feet! Watching Jenn open her presents, I learned a lot about what baby stuff we need too. Jennifer's friend Megan (Tubman) Hardin brought her 2-month-old twin girls, and they were so sweet and cute. I think everyone got to cuddle them. Sunday, Jennifer took us to Babies R Us to help us register. Thank goodness - we needed help.

Big fat pregnant moment of the week:
At my doctor's appointment, the nurse said "Mrs. Dixon, let me get your weight again..." As in, "that can't be right!" Oh well!

28 Weeks

"That thing is growing by the day!" -our friend Wesley, who is also our dentist.

I am still feeling good and I think I am finally getting some energy back, but my back has been hurting a lot more. This weekend we are headed to Southaven for Jennifer Dixon Brown's baby shower. Hopefully she can help us register for all the baby goodies we need, since there are no stores in Starkville where we can register.

The weekend before last we had 5 people in town for the MSU-Tennessee game. The weather was great and we had a fun tailgate with pork tenderloin and sausage - YUM. MSU lost, but it was not that bad of a game. This week's game was tough to watch though. Mark & Robin came over for a small indoor "tailgate", but we ended up outside playing w/the kiddies before too long.

Homecoming Weekend

MSU managed to win another game! Visiting MSU alum were Dave Brommer from Tuscaloosa, Tyler Finklea from Panama City, and Laura Sidney, Elisabeth Harris, and Bo Tate from Phoenix! New rules prohibit parking vehicles on the grass, so we bought a heavy duty wagon (holds 1500 lbs.) to haul all of our tailgate necessities to our tent. It was a HUGE hit with the kiddies - we had to tear it away from crying babies when it was time to pack up and go home! I didn't go to the game. The 1:00 sun was way too hot.

Tailgate Wagon

Dave, Sam, and Baby Katie

How We Passed the Time During the Game

Pregnant friends

Look how cute my friend Amy Aarhus is! She looks like she is smuggling a basketball into the Auburn game! She is 1 week ahead of me.

23 weeks

Mama and Daddy came to visit on Mama's birthday weekend, Sept. 21. We had a fun quick visit with a tiny bit of Starkville shopping and a yummy birthday dinner at the Veranda, complete with the peanut butter balls that we have heard so much about! So good!

This Monday I will be 25 weeks. Trying to eat a little less and walk a little more, since my dr. said my weight was moving up a little fast. The baby is moving around so much that we SAW my belly move in church this morning! Crazy!

Baby Girl Goes to Mexico

The Girls!

Melissa, Grady, Matt, and Elisabeth (former Blufish MS designer, now Blufish AZ superstar)


In September, Grady and I took the Blufish MS office (Darcy and her boyfriend Darren) out to Arizona to meet all of the other Blufishes at the Tempe office. We drove down (about 4 hours) with everyone for the employee retreat at our usual "compound" in Puerto Penasco (a.k.a. Rocky Point), Mexico. There was a lot of volleyball, grilling, shopping, ATV riding, and some renegade Mexican fireworks. The group, about 25 of us, consumed many many tacos, breakfast burritos, fajitas, and about 16 cases of Mexican beer. It was a good time, but no doubt, the last big trip for this pregnant girl. Traveling is tough, even when Grady carries all of your luggage.

Melissa goes to jail!

This is the picture from the front page of the Starkville Daily News about the Johnny Cash Flower Pickin' Festival being held this November. Melissa is on the planning committee. Learn more here:
Starkville Daily News
www.pardonjohnnycash.com