Just Close Your Eyes And I'll Take You There....

We decided to take an impromptu vacation to the Gulf a couple of weeks ago, mostly due to the fact that Laura and Jared had the opportunity to rent a condo on the gulf side for a very reasonable price. We were able to adjust our schedules and while Danny and I drove down with all the suitcases and plunder, Laura and family flew. We stayed 8 days and they went by way to quickly. Days of heat, sun, saltwater, waves, shrimp and being lazy. We celebrated Jordan's second birthday, I discovered a wonderful shopping experience called Publix, which carried so many cool food and grocery items, like 3 kinds of sweet corn, Irish butter, celery root, oh my too many cool things to mention, this was a top-of-the-line grocery experience for me. I could have looked for hours and spent many, many dollars. I think the whole trip went well, I don't think we got on each others nerves and to tell you the truth, I think Jared and I really hit it off well and talked a lot. It's not that we haven't gotten along, it's just we have never really talked too much, with me Jared has never been a big conversationalist. The kids were really good and I enjoyed the quality time with each of them, also sharing the experiences of the water and the fine art of castle building. We spent a day at the local Naval museum at Pennscacola, shopping at the Tanger Mall in Foley, high style looking at the Wharf, including a wonderful supper, a Ferris Wheel ride and Dippin Dots, hours on the sugar sands making castles or playing in the surf, hunting for sandcrabs or seashells and deep sea fishing for the guys with the promise of fresh snapper for supper the next night. I highly recommend a beach vacation with your grandkids, it is the stuff that memories are made and I hope we can repeat this over and over for many years to come. Thanks for letting me share my pictures and wonderful time with my husband and oldest daughter's family, including my grandboys. Love you all!! Do to problems with the Blogger site, I am unable to post pix at this time....... Sorry.

The Amazing, Jordan Alan O'Quinn

Jordan, born a little blue and a little grunty, quickly on o2 and shipped to Columbia.
Dad and Jordan in the NICU at Columbia.
Great-Grandma Helen, finally getting to see her newest grandson.
Our little Jordan, at home.
Jordan at about 6 months, helping me to fix food.
Jordan;s first birthday party, he is loving his cake.
Favorite Aunt Krysta with her look-a-like, Jordan.
Jordan at the zoo last summer, he loves animals.
The Pirate Brothers last Halloween, we all went to Spooktacular, so much fun.
Our little monkey, last week on vacation at Orange Beach.
Jordan's second birthday, at the beach.


The O'Quinn Brothers, both very cute. Look out girls!!


Jordan Alan O'Quinn was born on July 13, 2007 via planned c-section. so, we thought it would be a quick and easy delivery and things would be perfect. Well, that is the best laid plans, but Jordy had another idea. He was born with respiratory problems that could not be fixed at Lake Ozarks Hospital so he was taken to Columbia Children's. He spent his first week of life there and we got to know him with feeding tubes, picc lines in his tiny head and other cords and lines. We were very grateful out time was short, other parents endure months of this. All of us including, Laura and Jared, Jayce, me and Danny and Grandma Barb helped out how ever we could. Pa Q'Quinn and Dori and also Scott added their support along with prayers and well wishes from the rest of the extended family including uncles and aunts. Jordan has always been a familiar face to me, I don't know why. I think it was because he always looked and still looks so much like Krysta and the Hillhouse side. The shape of his little mouth, teeth, his head, so much like them. I remember looking in his little eyes when he was a baby and he also reminded me of my mom, who had died just a couple of months earlier. I guess the hardest thing for me was wanting to tell her about Jordan and having her hold him and having her agree with me how much he looked like one of my own. No one else could give me this reassurance, except her. He is a stubborn and hardheaded little guy, a dare devil and a little copycat. He has to do whatever big brother does, always and sometimes it leads to him getting a scrapped knee or a knot on the head. He is so quick, you have to watch him closely, he is a lover and a snuggler. I can't wait to see how he turn out, he is talking more and more and that is so much fun, when he will repeat anything you tell him too. I hope I will get more grandchildren has time goes by, but each one has a special place in my heart. Happy Late Birthday our Jordy. With much love, Memaw and Papaw.

Krysta Keya Lynne Hillhouse Combs Birthday Blast

Krysta Lynne Hillhouse was born on July 8, 1983 at Breech medical Center in Lebanon.
Krysta at about 5-6 months old.
Krysta at one year old, learning to walk.
Krysta and Aunt Susi at her second year birthday party.
Krysta's 4th birthday, she loved her baby dolls and it was a sure bet she would get at least one each year.
Laura and Krysta celebrating Krysta's 4th birthday, always hot, hot summer days.
Krysta with little brother Pete, you wouldn't realize how much they fought and carried on.
Krysta on Kindergarten graduation day at Conway, wonder how big that tree is now?
Another birthday, maybe 5th or 6th, she loved her Barbies now and really wanted a Barbie cake.
The girls at the zoo, we couldn't afford to do much, but we did make it to the zoo, once.
Krysta on the computer, thanks to family owning a computer store, we had one pretty early.
A very lovely young lady, probably on her birthday.
Junior High cheer leading, 8th grade.
This is what happens when you have a two car garage and an older sister driving, Laura's is nice and clean in the second bay, while poor Krysta got to clean hers off, but Krysta's was a 4-wheel drive!
Finding her a sailor at the Gulf, to bad he was only a dummy, she later on found her a real sailor, skip the dummy part.
On the beach, probably one of her favorite places to go on vacation.
Graduating with her Bachelor's Degree in Education from Drury.
Is it Kevin, Brittany and Jaden James, NO, it's just Brian, Krysta and Jordan acting silly at Christmas.
Engagement on the Beach, or should I say in the air, Krysta's proposal was in a bi-plane over the Gulf of Mexico and the sugar sands of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.
Wedding day, our baby girl is all grown up.
Graduation from Drury University with Master's Degree in Instructional Math, we are so proud of her.








Krysta Lynne Hillhouse decided to come into this world on July 8th, 1983. Danny and I lived at Lebanon in a little apartment and we already had Laura who was only 16 months old. So, when I started labor the early morning hours of July 8, I drove myself to the hospital across town, so that Danny could stay with a sleeping Laura, I figured they would send me home anyway. But, I stayed and she was born, just before noon, thankfully dad made it, after getting Grandma Long and Susi in to watch Laura. I was so happy to get another little girl, first I had all girl things, plus I figured as they grew up, it would be easier to have a sister to share things and do things with. But, really, I remember one time, before children, seeing a young mom with two little girls, dressed alike, close in age and I knew that would really be my choice if possible. Krysta was born into the hot month of July and she had no choice, but to be a good baby. With no A/C, and a toddler to entertain, she had to sleep and be good, which she was. Krysta always says, she was never the first to do anything in our family, since Laura is older, but she does have the bragging rights to potty training, she was potty trained before Laura!! Of course she did everything her sister did, I had remembered not to long ago, Grandma Helen had bought them a swing set and it had a little slide on one end, well, the slide was maybe 2-3 feet off the ground and while Laura handled it fine, it scared the water out of me to watch that little blond haired girl toddle up those stairs and slide down. It took everything in me to not let her slide, but she was very headstrong and she would have done it anyway. Time goes by, along with our little girl, the little girl who broke her thumb by avoiding hitting Bobby, the dog, she went to school, casted, she could swim like a fish at an early age, she tried to pee in the floor at Bass Pro because I wouldn't listen and take her to the bathroom quick enough. She likes the ears off the chocolate bunny at Easter, she has always loved dolls, baby and Barbie, she has always been generous to a fault, kind, sweet, hard-headed, stubborn, "the baby, gotta love me" until Pete bumped her off that throne, a hard worker, never afraid of a challenge and finally met the man who swept her off her feet. She had to follow in the big footsteps of her older sister and also try to break a trail for her baby brother, and that is a job only a middle child can do or understand, sometimes things have seemed unfair, being in the middle, but she has became a stronger and better person for it.
She has graduated from college with both a Bachelor's Degree and a Masters Degree, all while working full time. Her and Brian have been married for a year and are learning the odds and ends of married life, but even though she has grown up and married she is still our baby girl and that is something she can be first at. Happy Early Birthday Krysta!! WE love you sooooo much! Mom and Dad