Life with Sam - when it's time to eat ...

We've been telling friends we have a Siamese cat and a beagle puppy ... better known as Lily Grace and Sam.  When Tonya turned her back, Sam once again lived up to his billing ...

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Steve

Legacy – A labor of love is born

After two years of grabbing bits of time for planning, writing, recording, catching some of Nashville’s best musicians when not touring or involved in other commitments, re-recording, mixing and re-mixing, we are happy to announce that our Legacy music project is finished!

Legacy, a collection of Celtic and Appalachian folk music, is a tribute to our family heritage and to yours – to those who came before, and upon whose shoulders we stand.

It has been a joy and privilege to work with my brother, Marty, who has become a fine Irish whistle player, my niece Audrey – a budding singer-songwriter, and the amazing multi-talented Melissa Du Puy, without whom this record would not be possible.

Our guest musicians are Celtic vocalist Meghan Doran, fiddler Deanie Richardson of Patty Loveless, Vince Gill and now The Chieftains fame, and Matt Combs – Grammy nominee and multi-instrumentalist.

This all started because of a trip to Scotland with Tonya, which inspired me to write Iona Homecoming for our wedding.  Other songs followed, as I learned more about our family roots and in particular, the story of Mary Young Lamont, whose bravery and sacrifice in the mid-1600’s made it possible for the Young family to be here today.  (Read her story in the About section of the Legacy web site.)

This musical journey has resulted in all of us reflecting on those who came before – realizing that the values we’ve learned from our families didn’t happen by accident, but have been carefully passed down, generation after generation, by those who placed their faith in God and took the risks and made the sacrifices necessary so that their children would have a better life.  This album honors them.

We invite you to listen to Legacy, and to share the music (and its message) with others.

Steve

Family, Faith and Fall

Hello Everyone, from our family to yours!

The nip of autumn is finally in the air, and it’s hard to believe that the holidays are not far away. We celebrated Sam's baptism last weekend – made all the more special by so many of our immediate family being here with us to share it.


Sam turns 18 months today and continues to make great strides. He’s on the verge of walking and we’re sure talking won’t be too far off. :-) Lily Grace is a proud almost 4-year-old with her “Gotcha Day” coming up at the end of the month and her birthday in January.








We continue to adjust to our “new normal” and even in the most chaotic of moments are so thankful for the blessings in our lives – friends and family like you being chief among them.

We hope you all have a wonderful fall season, and we’ll be back in touch once the holidays are underway.

Steve and Tonya

Summer Update

Summer 2011 has been a time of finding our feet as a foursome, celebrating the progress Sam continues to make as he settles into his new life and helping Lily Grace get used to her new reality. Special time with family and friends, the Blackberry Jam, Lily Grace's first "cousins camp" in Arkansas and Vacation Bible School at HFPC have kept us busy. Here are some of our favorite pictures taken this summer:













We hope you all enjoy the rest of your summer, and all the special memories this time of year brings.

Steve and Tonya

Update on Sam and the Fam ...

Slowly but surely, we are learning the two-kid dance, but we’re stumbling amateurs compared to all of our veteran friends and family. As an engineer friend told us, “adding kids isn’t linear, it’s log-rhythmic”!

Sam is doing amazingly well – he seems to change every day. He’s a happy, animated little fellow, eats like a horse and is curious about everything. Commando crawling is his locomotion of choice, and we’re working with him to learn how to crawl on his knees. He is also starting to pull up and hold on in a standing position. He loves to swing, jump and get baths – making sure more water winds up on the floor and on Mommy than is left in the tub. :-)

Lily Grace is tolerating Sam a little better each day, tells her classmates in pre-school how much she loves him (he’s great in theory), and is working through this “sharing Mommy and Daddy” thing. Her role playing now routinely involves little brothers and sisters, as do her favorite books to read at bedtime.

We thought you’d enjoy seeing some pictures from Sam’s first bath (we started him out in the sink), and how Lily Grace responded to that:

We hope each of you are enjoying springtime and are looking forward to the end of school and summer days ahead.

Steve & Tonya