Akens Family: April...

Welcoming the Spring is one of my favorite times of year. It means sunshine, flip-flops, tank tops, and enjoying the outdoors. It means falling asleep to the sound of late night thunderstorms and waking up to the sound of early morning birds singing. It also means I am about to turn another year older.... 30 to be exact. I never really thought turning 30 would effect me much. After all, I have never been one to put too much care in how old someone is. To me...your age is how you act and feel...not just a number. I would be lying, however, if I said there wasn't a little piece of me that is sad about exiting out of my 20's. I loved my 20's! I have so many wonderful memories from the last 10 years. I made lots of friends and lots of good and bad decisions, I learned some hard lessons, I laughed a lot, I learned just how far $20 can stretch when you are a broke college student, I stayed up late, I worked a lot, I played a lot, and most importantly I met my wonderful husband, and gave birth to one of God's most precious gifts! It was a wonderful decade but I must bid it farewell in a few weeks. April is a very busy Birthday month for our family. April is the birth month of not only me, but also my wonderful Mother, both Grandmothers, one Grandfather, and also Kris's Dad and Grandfather. Lots of wonderful people born in April ;) This time of year always makes me think of my Great-Grandmother (Nana). Her birthday was also in April.

I think of her at various times all year long but I always miss her the most in the Spring and I am not exactly sure why. Maybe it's because she always wore dresses with flowers on them...I don't know exactly...but I always think of her around this time. She died my Senior year of college. She got sick right after Easter and died a couple months later. Up until then she was in pretty good health. She lived alone in an apartment in a retirement community (Tulip Wood) . She was 89 when she passed. We were all with her. My aunts, uncles, sisters, cousins, parents, and grandparents...we were all there when she took her last breath. It was one of the most precious memories of my life. I miss her. I have so many memories of her that make me smile. I remember that when she still drove, she drove fast!! At the house where I grew up we had a long dirt driveway and anytime Nana would come over my Dad would say "Here comes Speedy Gonzales!" and sure enough...there would be a little silver car with a cloud of dust behind going 60 mph down a long dirt road. A couple of the classic Nana stories were...she once got pulled over for speeding and told the cop that she was just about to slow down right before he pulled her over..and my favorite...one time she backed in to another lady's car at her apartment complex and the lady who owned the car came out and Nana told her "well...you didn't have any business parking there!" I also remember that when I was in high school I worked at Liberty Pharmacy and one of my jobs was to deliver prescriptions to Tulip Wood. On my way out the door I would always stick my head in Nana's room and say hello and that I loved her. (her door was always unlocked during the day for some reason) She would almost always be sitting in her chair watching either "Days of Our Lives" or some random ballgame. She always put a funny spin on things...I miss her smile and her laugh. She is also the reason I love pictures so much. She had so many old photographs from her younger years and she always had stories to go with them. I loved this as a child and as an adult. They were small windows of her youth captured in black and white. I got several of her pictures after she died, and I think because of her I have always had a love for pictures. After all...when we are old and gray the only way we can look at our memories are through pictures. They are frozen pieces of time.

I thought this was a pretty picture of her...

Nana's last birthday

Happy Birthday Nana

I have been so blessed in my life to be close to three great-grandparents. I lost all three of them within two years. My other great-grandmother died a few months after Nana. We called her Momma Willis. She was the sweetest lady! All 85 pounds of her! Her husband, my great-grandfather, died on Christmas day two years later. We always went to his house on Christmas Day. That was his favorite day of the year. His daughter found him face down on the front porch early Christmas morning. He had his Christmas tie on. As much as I miss all of them...I realize how incredibly blessed I am to have known them for as long as I did.

Me, Jana, and Jenny with Daddy and Momma Willis

Ok...back to present day. We are doing good here in the Akens household. Scout is doing wonderful! She is such a fun baby right now. I have loved every single stage of her, but right now is definitely the most fun! She laughs all the time and I never get tired of hearing her sweet giggle. I love how excited she gets and when she smiles real big her eyes look like little crescent shaped moons. She gives the BEST hugs! Everyday when Kris or I pick her up from Kidd Academy she greets us with the biggest hug! It is so sweet!!!! She is the star of the show everywhere we go and she eats up the attention. She is very close to crawling...she scoots around in circles which only ends up frustrating her more but I feel pretty confident that in the next couple weeks she will be navigating the room. I am anxious for her to figure it out but I know when she does it will be a whole new ballgame! :) She loves being outside so we have spent as much time as possible outdoors lately. She has been rocking some new shades to ring in the sunshine season :) My parents, sisters, and nephews are coming in on Thursday and we are really excited to see them. I hope the weather stays nice and we get to do some fun things. I will be sure to take lots of pictures! I hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather...I know we are. Recent pics below :)