Making the Most of Life's Moments

Christmas, Birthdays and other stuff

2012-01-01T21:39:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year! This is just a combination post of a few pictures that we took over the Christmas holidays. We were lucky enough to have one of my best friends fly in to spend Christmas with us. Too bad I didn't take more pictures. On Christmas afternoon we surprised the kids and took an overnight trip to Helen, Georgia. We had booked a hotel and were able to enjoy the beautiful lights, swim in the hotel and just have a fun getaway together. The next morning we went to a few shops and then headed to Mt. Yonah for a fun family hike. The weather was perfect. Sunny and just warm enough to still be brisk and enjoyable. Matt and I have done this hike many times, since it is where we got engaged, but the kids had yet to see the tree where Matt asked me to marry him. We made it to the top with out too many complaints and found the tree!!! Heather was kind enough to take some pictures of our family by the tree that kind of started it all!

The kids on top of Mt. Yonah. Don't worry, they aren't really on the cliff edge- Matt just likes to make it look that way.

I got one picture of each child on Christmas morning. Savannah with a blurry stocking stuffer.
Ryanne with a Pet Shop
Jonah with a marshmalllow Yoda.
Matt and I both celebrated birthdays as well. This year I made Matt a rice krispy bundt cake since Matt doesn't really care about dessert that much and it was easy.
We had a wonderful Christmas with so many blessings. We are so thankful for a great 2011. I hope 2012 brings lots of love, laughter and enjoyable memories!

Trip to Amicalola Falls

2011-12-12T11:28:00.000-05:00

We went to Amicalola Falls back in November and spent a beautiful day hiking and enjoying nature.
The kids played and climbed on rocks along the way
posed for a photo once we made it to the top of the falls

enjoyed all the beautiful fall colors and leaves
and just had a great time together as a family.

Savannah turns 5

2011-12-07T07:57:00.004-05:00

Savannah celebrated her 5th birthday at the end of November! I can't believe that she is 5 years old. She told me she wanted "ballet stuff", so here she is showing off her moves. Her birthday was on a Sunday this year, so we opened presents in the morning and invited family over for cake and ice cream later that night.

I didn't get any pictures of her blowing out her candles- it was kinda hectic, but you can see her cake on the table. It was a horse/stable cake and she loved it.
Here she is excited about a few gifts.

The following friday she celebrated with her friends. She had a definite plan of what she wanted to do and I forgot to take pictures of most of the things we did.
We started off at the pet store where the girls were able to hold guinea pigs, ferrets, cats, bunnies, gerbils, etc. They looked at dogs, snakes, fish, and boy, was it exciting. We were there for quite a while.
From there we went to Chick-fila, where the girls ate and played. Mostly they played. :D

After that we went to Gigi's Cupcakes and each girl chose a cupcake. We took them back to our house and the girls ate the cupcakes and played and had a great time.

We had lots of fun celebrating Savannah's birthday and we love her so much. She is such a sweet little girl. So cheerful and helpful and kind. We love you Savannah!

Veteran's Day Assembly

2011-11-11T11:08:00.005-05:00

At Ryanne and Jonah's elementary school they had a Veteran's Day Assembly. Jonah is in the Mustang Chorale and he told me that they were going to be singing a few songs at the assembly. Yesterday I received an email from Ryanne's teacher that she would be the student representing the 1st grade, reading her poem about Veterans. So this morning, Matt, Savannah, and I, went to the school to attend the assembly.

In the picture above, the Mustang Chorale is sitting and waiting to perform.
In the picture below, the songs of all the Armed Forces were being presented along with artwork and all the Veterans in the crowd, standing when they heard the song representing their section of the Armed Forces. (Ry is in the row of students waiting to present poems)

Sorry about the blurry picture of the Chorale singing, but I wanted to get Jonah in action and my camera couldn't handle the lighting in that building.
Here is Ry with her drawing and poem, after presenting to the school.

This is her poem

V is for Victory for our country
E is for Enough power to defeat the enemy
T is for Teach good to everyone
E is for Enemy will lose
R is for Release freedom
A is for Able to give up their lives for us
N is for Nation power
S is for Strength to go out and fight for us

They also had all the Veterans in attendance, stand as their name was called, and I couldn't stop the tears of gratitude as I looked around me and saw all of them, some hardly able to stand at all, proudly accepting the applause from us. Thank you to all the Veterans and those who are still serving today, for fighting to protect our freedom and all it stands for!

The Script Concert with Lar

2011-11-08T20:24:00.001-05:00

So, part of the reason my sister came to visit in October was because I wanted her to go and see The Script in concert with me. I knew that I could bribe her with an opportunity for good music! jk

She and I made our way into Atlanta and found the Tabernacle where they were playing and found parking even though there was a Falcons game and many other things going on that same night. There were tons of people out and about. We found some seats and thoroughly enjoyed singing our guts out. I love it when the singers in a group can actually really sing and let me tell you, these guys sound amazing live.

Thanks Lar for going with me!!

The Script - Science & Faith ( Official Video HD )

Ry's Birthday Celebration and Halloween

2011-11-01T20:47:00.015-04:00

Ryanne turned 7 in October and she was given the option of having a party or having 1 friend come over and spending the day doing lots of fun stuff with that friend. She chose the 1 friend option (Yay!)
We met up with our friend on Friday night and the kids made their own mini pizzas, then they watched How to Train Your Dragon while I made cupcakes. Then they did "Frost your own Cupcake" and got ready for bed.

The next morning we decorated pumpkins. All sorts of craft items took over the table and the kids had a blast.

The girls got special nails put on for the day

And we sprayed their hair hot pink and glittery gold.
They played outside for awhile and then we all came inside and made our own sub sandwiches.

Next up, we went to Menchies and got some frozen yogurt. Jonah's concoction almost made me sick, just looking at it. Too much candy! From there we went to Barnes and Noble to look at books and later that night

we met up with Dad at La Parilla for dinner. It was a fun day!
The next day we were able to go and ride a friend's horse. Ryanne loves horses and this was a very welcome surprise. (Somehow some of these pumpkin pictures are out of order, sorry!)

Ryanne was thrilled about riding a real horse and was ready to start lessons right then and there.

We were all able to have a turn on the horse (Savannah's picture got put down below)

On Ryanne's actual birthday, which was a Tuesday (we did all the friend celebrating and horse riding on the weekend), she made a birthday sign so her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents would know where to go to get some birthday cake and ice cream. She also decided to try out a possible Halloween costume.
She loved her cake and eventually got all the candles out. It was a successful birthday celebration!

I didn't get a picture of the costumes the kids wore to the Trunk or Treat but on Halloween we went trick or treating downtown and they chose these costumes from the dress up collection. Every one had fun and they have already forgotten about their candy (good, since it all went with Matt to work!)

Oh, and Savannah wanted to take a picture of the parfait she created today with leftover birthday ice cream, whipped cream and graham cracker crumbs. She was very excited about it.
Well, the pictures are all out of order, but at least I got some up! Just a few weeks until our next birthday!

Lar comes to visit, Fall Festival and Apple Picking

2011-10-17T09:36:00.001-04:00

My sister, Laura Dawn, came to visit last weekend. She immediately got busy helping Savannah have a cute hairdo. She did a beautiful crown braid and then they decorated it with rose buds from our rose bush.
Savannah was very happy with her princess hairdo.

When the other kids got home from school, we all spent some time jumping on the trampoline. Earlier that morning, we cleaned off all the leaves and pinestraw, so no one would get yucky stuff on their feet.

The kids had a pep assembly at their school where the cheerleaders came and did some cheers, so Ryanne had a couple of those memorized and she showed us her moves.

It's not very easy to take pictures on a trampoline when everyone is jumping!

That night was the Fall Festival at the school. We haven't ever attended it before because it is usually on the Saturday right before Ryanne's birthday, but this year the had it earlier in the month and it was on a Friday night. The kids were very excited because there were lots of fun activities. First we had to check out the book fair and then we were off to explore the options for fun.
There were bouncy houses, tractor rides, face, nail and hair painting, games, bungee jumping things, a rock wall, a cake walk, etc.
The kids had to try out everything and they had a blast. We stayed for the full three hours.
Here are the girls showing off their face painting. The woman who did them was very precise.
The girls also got their hair spray painted all crazy and won all sorts of *great* plastic prizes!
Yay! for the Fall Festival!
The next morning we all got up early and got ready for the day. The boys headed to Knoxville for the Georgia-Tennessee Football game and the girls headed to Ellijay, Ga to pick apples.

We had lots of fun at the apple orchard. We started off by picking apples and taking a hayride.
Then the girls both got to try milking a pretty cow.

There were lots of activities at this orchard, so it turned out to be an all-day affair. The girls loved the petting zoo and spent at least an hour in the zoo, having a blast with all the animals.

Lar even caught a chicken!
The girls loved picking up the goats and carrying them around.

The baby chicks were also a favorite.

There was a playground with interesting horse swings

Of course, pony rides
and the girls were able to sit on a cow
I had plans to make applesauce donuts, and mini apple pies, and all sort of other stuff, but we shared an apple fritter, apple hand pie, apple ice cream, and apple cider when we were the orchard and that fulfilled all my apple recipe desires. We ate most of the apples just by snacking and then I made a big batch of applesauce with the rest.

Luckily, Georgia won the football game, so the boys were happy when they returned home.
Lar and I had our own adventure in Atlanta, but I will save that for a different day.

Thanks for visiting Lar and helping us have all sorts of fall fun!

It's Baseball time again!

2011-10-10T20:48:00.000-04:00

Jonah had a good experience playing baseball this past spring, so we decided to sign him up for fall ball this year. Matt and Jonah spent lots of time practicing over the summer and after a month of practices with the team, the games began last week. Ryanne and Savannah love it too, because they get to run around with all the other younger siblings of the boys on Jonah's team for a couple of hours. Usually they don't sit by me for more than a second, so I decided to snap a couple pics of them while I had the chance.
They do look a little topsy-turvy at this point, but it was near the end of the game and most of their running around had already taken place.

Jonah is in the dugout somewhere-I think I can see him.
I went over to get a picture of him and of course he was like "what do you want?"

I said "Smile, please!"

Matt is helping coach the team and they are having lots of fun. They won this particular game and they were really excited about it.
I was not successful in getting any great pics of this game, but at least you know what we are up to, even if it is really blurry!!

Savannah and Eli

2011-10-07T08:45:00.000-04:00

I am lucky enough to watch my sweet little nephew a couple days a week. He is a little over 4 months old and Savannah loves to help me. This is the outfit she picked out for him the other day when it was a little bit cooler in our house than it had been. I just had to snap a picture of them together!

Our Outside Friends

2011-10-04T22:36:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago Ryanne found a little frog on the back porch, in our little play kitchen. She and Savannah had a good time playing with it for a while, but I finally convinced them to let it go. A week later, it had returned to the exact same spot where it had been found before. Once again, the girls played with the frog in the water and then, let it go. Another week passed and sure enough, there our frog friend was again and this time he brought his friend. I got a few pictures of Ry with her froggies.

And of course, our neighbors kitten, who happens to be Savannah's new best friend. Nahla is the first thing Savannah thinks about when she wakes up in the morning and they like to play all day long. Luckily, she is a sweet kitten and doesn't mind at all the many ways that Savannah likes to hold her. She patiently puts up with a lot of loving!

Sunday Inspiration

2011-09-25T10:21:00.001-04:00

Desire

2011-09-22T08:58:00.000-04:00

I really, really loved this talk, Desire by Dallin H. Oaks, from General Conference in April 2011.
I listened to it yesterday while I was doing the dishes and then later that day I read and studied it in my copy of the Ensign.

So much of what he said was so true and amazing.

Here are some of my favorite parts.

" Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions."

"The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming."

3 essentials that precede a promised blessing 1- desire, 2- labor, and 3- faith (see Enos 1:9-12)

"When we have a vision of what we can become, our desire and our power to act, increase enormously."

Qualities of eternal beings
1- forgive all who have wronged them
2- put the welfare of others ahead of themselves
3- love all of God's children
begin with a desire for these qualities and then pray for them

It's interesting how study of spiritual things all links together. Today I was reading in 2 Corinthians and one of the themes in chapter 2 was the fact that Saints should forgive and love one another. I love it when something I study is reinforced by something else I find in the scriptures.

Have a good day!

Leila Aboulela- my favorite author right now

2011-09-21T22:17:00.003-04:00

I haven't shared much about my favorite books or thoughts lately. I don't know why.

I discovered a new author and I absolutely love everything she has written. Her name is
Leila Aboulela. I randomly picked up her latest novel- Lyrics Alley- at the library and read the inside flap. It sounded pretty interesting, so I took it home and loved it. Her style of writing is so beautiful and the stories I find so very interesting. She writes about her native country, Sudan and presents Islam and Muslims in such a beautiful way. I just really love her books.
I enjoy reading about new places and cultures and also really appreciate a beautiful story that can be told without crude language or explicit love situations.

I have read all of her books, my favorite is Minaret. I am slowly reading her collection of short stories right now, which I had to get through an loan from Emory library. I know she doesn't have anything else published yet, so I am savoring each short story and then I will probably read them again since I have the book for a couple more weeks.

Enjoying the last bits of Summer

2011-09-20T23:01:00.002-04:00

It has been really nice outside recently. A few weeks ago the kids were coming home from school and getting in their swimsuits and playing in the water because it was soo hot. Now, they can play outside and not get too sweaty, which they really love.
There was a clearance of sidewalk chalk at the store the other day, so I bought a few packs that had brighter colors than usual. The kids have been outside making all sorts of pictures. Ryanne was really proud of her DARTH somebody picture that she made in Jonah's honor. (He attended a b-day party that day and had his face painted as that character, so he was very impressed by Ry's pic).
Savannah with a unicorn
They all worked together on this giant light saber
I need to go back outside and take some pictures of all the animals they made for their zoo. Some of them are really fun.
Ry was able to bring home "Lucy the Llama", her 1st grade pet and Savannah just happened to be holding our neighbors cat at the same time. They were soo happy with these pets. We took Lucy on a walk and showed her all the fun animals that people on our street own- chickens, cows, horses, dogs, cats, goats, ducks, etc. Fun times all around!

The First Day of School

2011-08-14T15:25:00.004-04:00

I'm not really sure how it is already this time of year. How do the minutes, hours, days, and months keep flying by?
Last wednesday was the first day of school for Ryanne and Jonah. Ryanne is now in 1st grade and Jonah is in 4th grade. I can't believe I have a 4th grader.
We thoroughly enjoyed summer and I was really sad to see it come to an end. I love long days of swimming, playing, the sun and fun. I love it that my kids sleep in and can stay up late and play. I was dreading the early hours of getting up and getting everything ready for school.
But then I decided to change my attitude and be happy. I decided to wake up early, so I would have enough time to do everything I needed to in the morning and I decided to wake up the kids a little bit earlier than I did last year so the mornings wouldn't be so rushed. The first 3 days went smoothly and we all felt good about our new routine. Hopefully we can keep it up for the remainder of the school year.
The kids love their teachers, their classes, their friends and so far, so good! Here's to a great year.
And here is the special breakfast we had for the first day of school- Cinnamon Roll Muffins.

Tallulah Gorge

2011-08-02T21:00:00.003-04:00

This past weekend, we decided to go to Tallulah Gorge. We made it down all the stairs, crossed the rocks to make it to the other side of the river and hiked our way to the natural water slide. I know this place has a specific name, but I can't remember it and Matt isn't around to tell me what it is.
We had lots of fun sliding down the rock, swimming in the water, and just playing around with each other. I think the kids were surprised a couple of times by how strong the current was in the river and honestly, so was I.
Here's Jonah making his way back up the rock after enjoying the water slide.
Savannah sneaking a snack (well, at least she thought she was sneaking)
Ryanne getting ready for take off
Matt pretending to be washed away by the water

Savannah and I taking some self portraits
We had a fun time- at least up to that point.

We were the last ones to leave the water slide area and as we starting hiking back over the craggy rocks, it began to downpour. Now, if you live here in Georgia, you know what I mean when I say that it starting to rain and it. did. not. stop. It was one of the worst rainstorms I have ever been in. The hike back was a little bit scary for the kids because the rain made the rocks slick and slippery and some of them were steep, up high- meaning one false move would send you sliding on your bottom to the now, raging river.
I tried to keep my cool because Ryanne was really scared and she slipped a couple of times- luckily I was right there and I was able to grab her. The rain just kept on pouring and pouring and pouring. We were absolutely drenched and I couldn't see anything since I had my glasses on.

Now, Matt and I are almost complete opposites and this is one of the times that I was so grateful for that difference. I was trying to stay calm, but inside I was freaking out and by the time I saw the place where we had to cross the river to get back to the stairs/trail- I completely lost it and starting crying and shaking. Now, a little while before that, Jonah and I had slid down a rock face and I landed on a bunch of jagged rocks, which immediately left me with a huge purple bruise/scrape on my upper thigh/butt. So, I might have been in a little bit of shock because that really didn't feel too good. Anyway, the point is- I was scared we were all going to be swept into the water and die, but Matt was as cool as a cucumber and loving every minute of this "adventure".

Obviously, we made it out okay and the rain continued as we climbed the catrillion steps to get back to our car.

All in all, it was fun, but there were a few scary moments for a couple of us. Ry declared that she never wanted to go back, but hopefully we can look back and just remember the good parts of this outing in the near future :)

More Summer Fun

2011-07-19T23:25:00.008-04:00

This summer I was lucky enough to get back in touch with a good friend of mine that I met my freshman year of college. She and her husband moved to Georgia for the summer and we have been getting together at least weekly for the past 2 months. Our kids have never met before this summer, but they get have become fast friends and they really enjoy spending time with one another. It is so, so, so much fun!
We traded a couple of kids and had an all-girl party for a couple of days- complete with sleepovers, yummy treats, lots of water fun, movies, and more. I love their expressive faces.

They could've stayed outside all day long making mud pies for me,
eating carrots we pulled from the garden,
posing on the outdoor equipment,

and just cheesing it up for the camera. I am so thankful for good, kind, loving friends.

The girls had been begging for an "all day all makeup" day, so I let them have it all on a recent Saturday.
We went to an unnamed place before heading to Stone Mountain to meet up with our friends for a fun day of hiking, laser show and more.

Here are all the kids together

Cutest little boy that I can't get enough of!
Bigger boy that I still can't get enough of!
We rode the train around Stone Mountain for the first time and got some great faces for the camera in the process.

We hiked to the top of Stone Mountain again, but this time it was so pleasant. It was a cooler day and there was almost no humidity. It was soo nice.

All of the kids made it to the top with happy faces!

then some of them turned to not so happy faces- (too many pictures being taken, I'm sure)

Then we settled in for the Laser show which never disappoints.
Excuse my feet- I had to cover them with a star, but here is my buddy trying to avoid the camera. If only you could see his smile.
And here is our youngest spectator, eagerly awaiting the music and fireworks!

Laura Dawn and Andrew's visit & our trip to Savannah and Hilton Head

2011-06-30T20:14:00.000-04:00

Two weeks ago my sister and brother came to town for a visit. They were both able to get work off for a whole week, so we had lots of days to play. Neither one of them have been to Savannah and living in Utah there really isn't much of a chance to see the beach, so I decided we would make a quick overnight trip to Savannah and the beach. Matt had to stay home this time since we went during the week- we missed him!

We left for Savannah early in the morning so we could get a few hours of window shopping/walking in before heading to Hilton Head for the night. We parked right by the outdoor water park and so the kids had the chance to get wet right away. It didn't last long enough though!
We walked up and down River Street, checking out the monuments, boats and shops.

We also spent some time walking through Savannah. The first time I ever went to Savannah it reminded me of Estonia, with it's lush gardens and how the city is made for walking. I love it. It is just so very beautiful. Plus, it includes lots of very interesting history.

After walking for quite some time- everyone was very HOT! and slightly tired. I had to capture some of the expressions and red faces.

All the walking and sweat paid off later that night when we made it to Hilton Head, checked into our hotel and then we walked across the street to the....
....Beach!!! Yay! the Happy Faces return!!
well, except Andrew. He is making weird faces. But, trust me, we were all very happy to be in the water. Notice how quickly Jonah disappears from the pictures.

This time the kids wanted to take their goggles to the beach

It was the perfect time to play at the beach. Still warm, with the sun going down and no crowds.

The next day we went back to the beach and on the way there, we found this nice little water/splash park. This got the kids ready for another fun beach day. I didn't take any pictures of our day adventures on the beach, but it was really fun. Very crowded, but very fun.

After all that beach and water time, we headed back home.

It was so nice to have my siblings visit. We had lots of fun here too, swimming in grandma's pool, going to the library, watching movies, playing at the park, eating yummy food and enjoying each other's company. I really love my family!

Goodness Gracious!

2011-06-29T21:43:00.002-04:00

I can't believe that we just picked over 15 cups of grape tomatoes from the garden. There were about 4 cups of them that had been eaten by bugs or something, which we were able to feed to the neighbors chickens, but still- that is 11 cups of grape tomatoes for us to eat! I am not complaining though- they are so much better than any from the store.

Summertime Fun at the Beach

2011-06-28T15:50:00.013-04:00

About a month ago, my brother Jacob told me that he was going to be visiting Sarasota, Florida for a beach vacation. Since we live only 8 hours away, he invited us to join him at the beach. We decided to leave on Friday after Matt got off work and drive until we got there in the am sometime. We reached the hotel around 3 am and crashed. The next morning we headed to the beach!
We went to Siesta Beach, which I later found out is the #1 rated beach in the US. When I found that out, it didn't surprise me at all because the water is blue and crystal clear and the sand is white and as fine as anything. It was heavenly.

Jacob goofing off

Ryanne collected a HUGE amount of shells.

Matt goofing off

We spent a lot of time at the beach, but always had to spend a few hours at the hotel pool after we went to the beach, because you just can't ever get enough water or sun.

The kids made some friends and Ryanne wanted to take a picture with her friends. Jonah had to get in there too

We had lots of fun. Jacob had scoped out a couple of restaurants he wanted to try and also found a church for us to attend on Sunday.
The morning that we had to leave, we went to another beach and collected more shells. Jonah thought that he didn't want to get in the water, but he quickly changed his mind.

I did my fair share of swimming in the ocean, but this morning I just got my feet wet.

We had a great time and really enjoyed being able to meet up with Uncle Jacob and Maren.

I love the beach!!

Ry's Lost Tooth!

2011-06-08T19:20:00.000-04:00

Ryanne lost her first tooth yesterday!

About a week ago she discovered it was loose and she has been working on getting it out ever since. Yesterday the tooth finally gave up its fight and fell out! Yay!

Stone Mountain

2011-05-31T22:48:00.004-04:00

On Memorial Day, we went to Stone Mountain. We have taken the kids to the Laser show before, but this time we decided to do the hike up the mountain before watching the Laser show. I have done this with Matt before multiple times, but never with our kids, so I was pretty sure there would be some whining and complaining about walking straight up a tall stone mountain. We had a couple of cousins with us too and I have to say that they all made it up to the top without complaining and without asking for help. I was impressed.

We tried to do a top of the mountain shot- but there were a few kids who were really nervous next to the fence and then trying to get 5 kids to look and smile at the camera at the same time, proved to be impossible. But at least we have a picture to remember it by!

I decided I would take a few pics of individuals too. There is Matt.
O
Ry
and Bans. All a little red in the face, well not so much Matt. It was nice and hot. And humid.
The rest of the individuals resisted a personal portrait.
When we made it to the lawn, some other cousins were there waiting for us and saving us some seats (Along with their parents, of course). The kids danced to the music to pass the time until it was dark.
Chicken dance and Isaac's head
Adrienne
The next bunch of pictures were a few that I tried to get of the cousins doing a Congo line. It was pretty funny to watch. They were having fun too. Obviously, I don't have a very hi-tech camera because all of these are blurry, but you get the point. They are still fun shots.

We had a great time. The laser show has improved quite a bit since we were last there and I really liked the Memorial Day tribute/fireworks that celebrated our veterans.

It was a nice night!

Garden

2011-05-24T22:19:00.004-04:00

I used to think that I didn't like gardening. My grandpa used to make us pick and pick and pick and pick things out of his garden when I was a kid and it kind of set me up for having a grudge against gardening.
Dumb, very dumb of me.
Now I feel so blessed that my grandparents and my parents always had such a huge garden because as a child growing up, we had so much fresh produce and it was delicious. Store bought veggies and fruits just aren't the same. They don't taste as good.
I love fruits and veggies and I know that played a part in it.

Anyway, my dad planted me a garden when he was here. He did the hard part. He tilled, fertilized, bought all the plants and planted everything for me.
All I have to do is weed, water and harvest.
And what a harvest we are having already.

We have had large amounts of green and red leaf lettuce- our salad on Sunday was from the red leaf lettuce pictured above and it was soo good. My neighbor gave us one of her green peppers too.

We enjoyed our first onion, zucchini and large amounts of swiss chard for dinner last night.
There are about 10 more zucchini that are almost ready to be picked.
I'm over my grudge of gardening and have plans for an even bigger one next year.

It's just too much fun eating the food you grow and it tastes soo good.

2011-05-23T21:46:00.004-04:00

"Healing blessings come in many ways, each suited to our individual needs, as known to Him who loves us best. Sometimes a 'healing' cures our illness or lifts our burden. But sometimes we are 'healed' by being given strength or understanding or patience to bear the burdens placed upon us." - Elder Dallin H. Oaks

"All that will come may be clasped in the arms of Jesus. All souls can be healed by His power. All pain can be soothed. In Him, we can find rest unto our souls. Our mortal circumstances may not immediately change, but our pain, worry, suffering, and fear can be swallowed up in His peace and healing balm."
- Elder Kent F. Richards

2011-05-22T19:44:00.001-04:00

"True, enduring happiness, with the accompanying strength, courage, and capacity to overcome the greatest difficulties, will come as you center your life in Jesus Christ. Obedience to His teachings provides a secure ascent in the journey of life. That takes effort. While there is no guarantee of overnight results, there is the assurance that, in the Lord's time, solutions will come, peace will prevail, and happiness will be yours.

The challenges you face, the growth experiences you encounter, are intended to be temporary scenes played out on the stage of a life of continuing peace and happiness. Sadness, heartache, and disappointment are events in life. It is not intended that they be the substance of life. I do not minimize how hard some of these events can be. When the lesson you are to learn is very important, trials can extend over a long period of time, but they should not be allowed to become the confining focus of everything you do. Your life can and should be wondrously rewarding. "
-Richard G. Scott

Braves win the Championship Game!!

2011-05-19T22:15:00.002-04:00

We just got home from a very exciting game!
Jonah's team was definitely the underdog, having been beaten by the Dodgers twice during the regular season. But, the Braves came out strong and took the lead and held on for the win!

Jonah's team had some really talented players, but there were also a few that were not as talented. His coaches were so great though. They let everyone play and were so encouraging. Very classy. They never let Jonah's team taunt the other teams and they never said anything bad about the other teams. They were just so inspirational and I'm so glad that Jonah had them for coaches.

Sometimes the good guys really do come out on top!
Go Braves!!

Compliments and Positive Words

2011-05-18T21:14:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity to watch the sweetest little girl, who happens to be Savannah's best friend. They play so well together and it is just an absolute joy to have them together.

I was doing dishes and I overheard this little girl say some of the cutest things. She was being totally sincere.
When she and Savannah were playing, she just said out of the blue, "Savannah you are so pretty." She repeated that a couple times throughout the day.
Then, when Matt was getting ready for work, he came into the room to say goodbye to them and she said, "I like this room- it smells so nice and clean."

She complimented me as well and it made me think about how compliments and positive words really make a difference in a persons attitude. This little girl is one of the happiest people around. She is always smiling and I have to say, that being around her, makes all the happiness and positive feelings completely contagious. We all felt happier and started saying nice things to one another.

It's so much better to build each other up instead of tearing each other down. And which ever of those we choose to do, can be done so easily with the words we decide to use.

The Beatles Montage

2011-05-17T21:55:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, a flyer came home from school about the opportunity to be in the end of the year "Beatles Montage", song and dance thingie.
It was open to all grades, so I asked the kids if they wanted to participate and they both decided it would be a fun activity. I don't particularly like the Beatles, but I knew it would be fun for them. The kids were divided into groups and practiced different songs. The picture above is Jonahs group singing "Drive my Car".

I had to check the calendar and make sure there wouldn't be any conflicts with baseball since we were already knee deep in that and it all looked like it was going to work out.
Until Jonah's baseball tournament last Saturday (which I thought would be an all-day tourney). They won a very exciting game and then made it to the semi-finals, with their game being tonight at 6 pm. Too bad the Beatles performance was also tonight at 6:30. Jonah had a major part in one of the songs, so we decided he would do the Beatles thing and then we would high tail it to the game. (Too bad it takes 25 minutes to get to the field from our house- the school is just a few minutes from our house).

Anyway, we made it through the performance and jumped in the car and drove off to the game. We got there right as the game was over and they were having the end of the season pizza party at the picnic tables. Jonah's team played the only undefeated team in the semi-finals, so we guessed that they probably lost, since earlier in the season we lost to the Pirates and tied them.
Wrong!!!! They won! Jonah's team made it to the championship game! Yay!!
Anyway, back to the Beatles thing.
Like I explained before, my camera is not the greatest, so these pictures aren't very good. But, up above is a side shot of Ryanne performing in the "Octopus Garden".
At the end of the program, all the kids performed- "All You Need is Love" and "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-dah". Jonah was Desmond, so that is him up in front of the crowd with suspenders.
After the show, we took a couple pictures in front of the Beatles stage.
They had fun!

2011-05-15T21:53:00.003-04:00

A phrase from this hymn that we sang today, really struck me.
Here is the verse.

"As now we praise thy name with song,
The blessings of this day
Will linger in our thankful hearts,
And silently we pray
For courage to accept thy will,
To listen and obey.
We love thee, Lord; our hearts are full.
We’ll walk thy chosen way."

Do you pray for the courage to accept God's will? Do I?

I think it is hard sometimes to understand why things happen the way they do.
Life can be full of sad, hard, unexpected turns.
I often try and try and try to understand why these sorts of things happen. What is the point?
Why does it have to be this way?
I wrestle with it in my mind and my heart aches. Tears fall and it is hard.

I need to make a better effort to have a "thankful heart", which I believe will lead me to
pray "For courage to accept thy will".

Because for someone like me, it isn't easy. at. all.

Random Update about Life's Activities

2011-05-11T21:03:00.002-04:00

Sometimes I wonder why I even have a camera. I am the worst at taking pictures. So much has happened in the past month or so and I have failed to get almost any of it on film. Plus, I think my camera is on its last leg. It is getting very temperamental. It only turns on and off when it feels like it. So, that is a whole other story.

Here are some of our happenings in April and May:

* My parents came to visit for 1 week together, during my kids Spring Break; my mom stayed an extra 2 weeks (I didn't take a single picture of my parents with my children- UGH!!!)

*My dad planted me a garden in the backyard. I told him if he planted it- I would take care of it. Currently, I have swiss chard, green and red leaf lettuce, carrots, onions, some green beans, zucchini, summer squash, green and red peppers, grape tomatoes and plum tomatoes, and a japanese eggplant growing like mad. The okra and cucumber didn't make it :(

* A hand weight fell off our 6 ft. pantry, directly onto my foot, smooshing my second toe. I couldn't walk on that foot for quite a while and even now, 4-5 weeks later, the blackness of my toenail and the surrounding area makes people squeemish. Who knew you actually needed those darn toes?

*Matt and I took a quick trip to Utah for a friend's wedding. I found cheap tickets and my mom extended her ticket so she could keep the children. Later, I realized why the tickets were cheap. We came back on Easter Sunday, on a 6 am flight.

* We have discovered and are currently, still discovering, that when you have 2 children playing baseball and Dad participating on 2 separate softballs teams, you spend the majority of your life at a baseball field. For the past 2 months we have had a baseball game at least 3/4 nights a week and at least 3 on every Saturday. Crazy.

* The Atlanta Temple Open House and Dedication took place. (Once again- where was my camera???!!!!!) I kept the kids out of school and we were able to take grandma & grandpa (My parents) with us. I also was able to go back and take my friend through the open house with me. It was a really neat experience. I'm so glad we have a temple closer to us that we can frequent more often.

* We picked strawberries at Washington Farms

* We had our dear friends come and stay the weekend with us

* The kids are participating in a Beatles Montage singing/dancing end-of-school presentation and have been practicing after school for a couple of weeks.

* I didn't feel good for 3 days. Too bad it was the week that I was making a wedding cake, catering a lunch, and making cupcakes for a birthday party.

* Ryanne started to feel sick the day after I started to feel better. I thought it was the same thing I had. It wasn't. She has strep throat.

*School gets out in 7 days!! (7 School Days!!) I don't know who is more excited- me or the kids!!

* We finally made the Bunny Buns that Ryanne requested that we make for Easter. My mom was going to make them the weekend she was here with the kids, but it didn't happen. We made them yesterday since Ry was home from school and for once in my life- I took pictures to prove it.
Ryanne wants to know when we are going to make them again. Ha. It was really fun. I let the girls mix up the bread dough and knead it and then we all got to shape them. They were really yummy and it made a ton of bunnies!! I will include the recipe at the bottom of the page with the few changes we made. They are basically just a cuter version of an orange roll.

Jonah made me the cutest Mother's Day breakfast. It was so fun. He spelled Love with Cheerios, but they moved, so you can't see that here. Ha ha. So cute.
The wedding cake I made. It was really nerve-wrecking and I wasn't very happy with the outcome and of course, my camera was having fits, so I didn't even know if I would get a picture of it.

Some cupcake toppers I made. Those, I absolutely love.

Until next time.

Bunny Buns

from The Friend Magazine
my changes in RED

1 package active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1 cup SKIM milk, warmed not quite to boiling

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter never shortening

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

2 tablespoons grated orange peel

5 1/2 cups flour, sifted

Glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup hot water, 1 teaspoon butter

Orange glaze- 2 cups powdered sugar, fresh orange juice -enough to make a glaze (I didn't measure), fresh orange peel

Wash hands with soap and water.
Sprinkle yeast in the warm water and set aside.
In another bowl, blend milk, sugar, shortening, and salt. Cool until lukewarm, then add eggs, water with yeast, orange juice, and orange peel.
Stir in flour a few cups at a time to make a soft dough. Let stand for 10 minutes.
Knead dough 5–10 minutes on a lightly floured surface until dough is smooth and elastic. I had to add extra flour to get the dough to come together. Place it in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover bowl with a clean towel and put it in a warm place. Let dough rise for 2 hours, or until double in size. Punch dough down and let stand for 10 minutes.
On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into strips 1/2 inch wide and 14 inches long. Roll between hands into rounded snake shapes. Cut one strip into pieces 1/2 inch long, and roll into balls.
Place one long piece of dough on a greased cookie sheet. Place one end of the strip over the other to make a loop; bring the end that is underneath up and cross it over the other end. Place a ball of dough on top of the bottom loop.
Cover bunnies and let rise in a warm place for 45–60 minutes, until nearly double in size. Bake at 375ºF (190ºC) for 12–15 minutes.
For the glaze, stir powdered sugar, water, and butter together. Frost bunnies with the glaze while they are still warm.

To Kill a Mockingbird

2011-05-10T20:49:00.001-04:00

That is a mockingbird. I really didn't know what one looked like.

I thought I didn't like this book. I don't know why. Heather kept telling me it was her favorite. I must have had some bad memory of it from high school or something, but I finally gave it another chance a couple of months ago because my local book club was reading it and I wanted to participate. I love it. It is so good. I could go on forever about why I love it, but I won't.

Here are a few of my fave quotes.

"They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions...
but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience." ~Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 11, spoken by the character Atticus

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do." ~Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 11, spoken by the character Atticus

"So it took an eight-year-old child to bring 'em to their senses.... That proves something - that a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they're still human. Hmp, maybe we need a police force of children." ~Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 16, spoken by the character Atticus

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill a Mockingbird
Atticus Finch to daughter Scout, Chapter 3

That is all for today

Some Easter Festivities

2011-04-22T10:54:00.001-04:00

We had some of our Easter festivities a little early this year. There were a few reasons for this, one being that Grandma had to work Easter weekend and we all decided that doing our egg hunt the week before would be better for everyone.

We dyed some eggs to hide in the hunt. We dyed lots of eggs. Somehow we ended up with a bazillion of those little egg coloring tablets. We had about 15 different containers of colors and then ended up just dumping a bunch of the tablets together to see what color we could make. The kids called it "baby barf green". It took about 2 seconds for an egg dunked in that color to be done. Those little tablets are powerful! Especially when you combine 13 of them in one bowl!
These pictures are not the greatest, but at least I have proof that a fun family activity happened!

The next day we went to Grandmas' house for the Egg Hunt!!!!
We also filled some plastic eggs with candy and brought half of our hard-boiled eggs. So did everyone else. There were tons of eggs to hide and find!
Here are some of the children with their precious treasures.
Adrienne found the GOLDEN EGG!!
Isaac was enjoying his egg tremendously.
Ryanne found a giant blue egg stuffed with candy.
Savannah was happy with her eggs too.
Tyler liked finding eggs, but he was more excited about the skink that he caught, which wound up being put in a plastic egg.

Jonah was nowhere to be found during this part of the egg hunt because he was too busy searching for eggs. He didn't bother with the hard-boiled ones. He only picked up the ones that were filled with candy.
Here are all the cousin participants.
Joined by some of the adult egg hiders and happy watchers.

We had a really fun time.

Baseball

2011-04-19T22:47:00.003-04:00

Is it Matt?
No, just a smaller version that looks just like him.
Jonah & Ryanne are playing baseball this year. Jonah hasn't played since he was 4 and decided this was a great year to give it a try again.

Most of the kids on Jonah's team having been playing since before they were 4, so Jonah had some catching up to do. His season has been going on for a few weeks and he has really improved. He has a great coach, who is a good teacher and Matt has taken some time to help him practice batting and catching.

In his age group, the boys pitch to each other and the games are not always super exciting. (Don't get mad at me for saying that- it's just the truth!), but this past weekend, he really had an exciting game.
His team really pulled together and played well and I was just amazed at how much some of the players have improved in just a few weeks. It was a really fun game to watch.
Here are the girls with their big brother after his game.

I haven't remembered to take the camera to one of Ryanne's games yet, but I will make sure to get a couple of her. She looks really cute in her uniform and she is enjoying learning the basics of baseball with some new friends.

Some people just do things their own way

2011-04-09T23:20:00.000-04:00

The other night I walked into the bathroom to see if Savannah was brushing her teeth.
She was. In her very own, creative, acrobatic way.

If you try this, make sure that your feet get in on the action too.

Uncle Jacob's Visit

2011-03-29T22:43:00.009-04:00

My younger brother Jacob decided to spend half of his spring break visiting us this year. He spent the first half at our sister's house in DC and then he came down to Georgia.

We picked him up from the airport and headed straight to the church for the Pinewood Derby. I forgot to take my camera, but you can see pictures on the Cub Scout blog over here . I think Jonah enjoyed himself.

I always enjoy having some adult company during the day. We went and ate lunch with Ryanne at school and then got to work making some yummy things in the kitchen. Jacob had a couple of requests, which made me happy because I love to cook and bake for people. After school we went to a park where Ry had baseball practice later that afternoon and we played and explored.
I don't think it is possible to get a normal face from Jonah when I am taking a picture. This is what he did when I asked him to let me take a picture of him.

We took a nice walk and enjoyed nature, water and the beautiful sunshine.

I realized a little too late that Savannah had somehow gotten her hands on a 2T shirt. She had a little bit of a belly showing problem-o.

The girls were so pleased with themselves upon finding this green slime in the water. How exciting!!!

It was a great afternoon.
The next day Jacob was the "Mystery Reader" for Jonah's class at school and then he joined Jonah for lunch. We had some good friends, Whitney and Richard come up from Milledgeville, so we went and got ice cream and then went to a different park.
Later that night the adults watched a movie and the kids were all in Jonah's room. Matt told them they had to be asleep by 10 and we all thought they would still be up running around like crazy people, but sure enough, they were all spread out on the floor, asleep, with the light on when 10:00 rolled around.

Jacob was here on Saturday when it rained like crazy, so baseball games were cancelled and we were able to hang out at home. We had a really bad thunderstorm with so much lightning that I got a little scared. The next morning I had to take Jacob back to the airport.

We had so much fun. Jacob played with the kids outside, jumped on the trampoline with them, made them laugh and just was a great friend to all of us. We really enjoyed his visit.
Thank you so much for spending your Spring Break with us Jake- We love you!!

Static Electricity

2011-03-18T21:08:00.000-04:00

Have you jumped on a trampoline recently? Do you remember how much fun it can be?

I jumped on ours the other day with the kids. I love how it makes everyone giggle.
I was just looking through some pictures and found these from January when Ryanne brought home her Kindergarten class' teddy bear. We were supposed to just have him for the weekend, but then we got snowed in for a week, so we had Beary for 10 whole days.

I am going to have to post more of the pics and remember all the fun times we had with Beary, but for now, this will have to do.

The Holocaust Memorial

2011-03-16T19:42:00.004-04:00

There is one other place that we visited in Miami, but I felt like it needed it's own post because it isn't as happy and sunshine-y as the rest of the trip. This is the Holocaust Memorial that is located by the Miami Botanical Gardens and the Convention Center. If you are interested in reading how and why this Memorial came about and to see better pictures, please click Here- Holocaust Memorial. -especially the About and The Creation sections. That site is really quite interesting- it shows some of the sculptures up close and explains the design and everything. Really good.

I saw some signs for it and was curious, so the day we had rented a scooter, we went to check it out.

It is hard to describe exactly how the memorial works, but there are a series of circle-like tunnels that lead you from place to place. It starts with pictures and a history of the Holocaust down one of the circle-hallway-tunnels. Maps with numbers of how many Jews were killed from different countries, photos of the prisoners, timelines, and so forth. By this point I was already in tears. On the ceiling of one of the circle-tunnel things it had the names of all the prisoner camps. I recognized a few of the names, but was surprised that there were so many. That tunnel led us to the tall hand structure that is reaching toward the sky. The first picture shows the sculpture of a little child reaching out to you in agony, right as you enter this part of the memorial. Very haunting.
All the way up the arm, there are hoards of emaciated people, climbing over each other, sick looking, lifting babies and children, all of them looking for any way out. Screaming for help. Trying to escape the despair. It was heart wrenching.
The walls that encircle these figures are filled with thousands, millions, so many names of the victims of the Holocaust. It has the same effect as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC. It makes you realize as you place your fingers across the names, that every single one of those victims was a single person. A member of a family. A member of a community. Someone who was important to other people. An innocent life taken simply because they were a Jew.

I can't comprehend how something like the Holocaust happened. It seems so impossible and so ridiculous. Although I know that innocent people all over the world are still brutally killed and mistreated because of their religion, race, ethnicity, etc. It just makes my heart hurt.
Here is a different angle. There was a pool surrounding the memorial.
There were also a few quotes by Anne Frank on the walls of part of the memorial.

This is the one that was on the wall right before the exit- "Ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to meet the horrible truth and be shattered."

That is just a partial quote from Anne Frank's diary- here is the full quote-
"That's the difficulty in these times: ideals, dreams, and cherished hopes rise within us, only to meet the horrible truth and be shattered. It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet, I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."

Celebrating our 10th Anniversary in Miami

2011-03-15T22:50:00.000-04:00

On March 3rd, we celebrated our 10th anniversary. Every year we go away for at least one night, taking turns planning the getaway, and this year it was my turn to plan.
Since it was our 10th anniversary, I decided to check flights and see if I could get a good deal to somewhere that was kinda close, but not within reasonable driving distance for a relaxing weekend. I was on the lookout for quite a few weeks and Miami won!

I was excited to go to the beach and enjoy some warm weather.

The water was absolutely gorgeous. The most beautiful blue color.
We spent lots of time walking up and down the beach. Most of the time it was pretty crowded, except nighttime, when the masses of people left to go eat/drink/party somewhere else.

Swimming in the ocean was so much fun. The water was chilly, but it was so relaxing to be able to jump in the waves and have fun with Matt without worrying about the kids. It was the first time in a while that I could remember not really worrying while being on the beach, since I didn't have to keep my 2 eyes on 3 kids, which is slightly impossible.
We saw lots of these blue-ish/purple-y guys washed up on the beach. My web research tells me that they are Portuguese man of war-s. Very interesting to look at, but I wouldn't want to see one in any other situation than washed up on the beach, if you know what I mean.
One of the days we went out on a boat with a large group of other people. We were supposed to go parasailing, but it was too windy to do that safely. We were able to jet ski, swim to a little island type thing and explore and enjoy the sailboat.
We ate yummy food. This was from a little cafe that we walked to one day for lunch. Very good.
One day we rented a scooter and we drove up to miami beach and explored. It was really fun. Especially going over these huge bridges with tons of cars, going at a very slow pace (compared to the cars).

It was so nice to be able to spend some quality time together. I also really enjoyed sleeping in. Its so important to be able to reconnect with Matt and have great conversations. I love that we still laugh together and are able to enjoy spending day after day together.

I am so grateful to my in-laws for keeping the kids and not having to worry about them at all the entire time we were gone.

I wonder where the next 10 years will take us!

Savannah is a mess

2011-03-14T21:11:00.002-04:00

I just found this post in my drafts,(only pictures & title), from April 2009. It made me laugh because Savannah is still a frosting girl. She is always the one who is dipping her fingers in the bowls of icing when I am decorating cakes because "it is just too good!" She is also the culprit when you find a cupcake, cookie or brownie that was frosted, but has been licked bare, with the cupcake cookie or brownie part lying there, uneaten.

She was so small! Time flies too fast my friends.

2011-03-13T21:55:00.002-04:00

Today we drove out to a beautiful spot, where there were lovely daffodils, green grass, trees filled with buds and the sun shining down on us. We had gathered with other family members to a place that was dear to Papa Zeke. We spent a few hours in nature together and we were able to think about him and the special memories we have.

Papa Zeke passed peacefully last Wednesday night. Just a few short months ago we celebrated his 80th birthday. Savannah was born on his 76th birthday and it was always such a neat thing that they shared that special day.

Zeke was someone who always had a smile on his face. He would always greet you with a handshake or a soft hug. He had a gentle heart. He was a great Papa to my kids and to me. He brought a peaceful feeling to the room. He was honest and kind, smart and witty.

He has a place in our family and our hearts. We will miss you Papa Zeke and look forward to the day when we will see you again.

Is the glass half full?

2011-03-09T20:35:00.005-05:00

"Some look at this glass and see it as half full. Others see it as half empty. How you see it is up to you"

I'm going to try and be more optimistic. I think I have the tendency to expect the worst sometimes and I want to do better. I was reading an article in the most recent Ensign, actually this one right here on the front of that page, and I realized I can really improve in 'Looking for the Good' in all situations.

Here are a couple of things that struck me from the article-

"Have you ever noticed that people can usually find whatever they are looking for? Look hard enough, and you can discover both good and bad in almost anyone and anything."

"The word of God admonishes the followers of Christ to be ' pure...peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy, and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.' "

"We have a choice. We can seek for the bad in others. Or we can make peace and work to extend to others the understanding, fairness, and forgiveness, we so desperately seek for ourselves. It is our choice; for whatever we seek, that we will certainly find."

So, I am going to try to be more positive, to look for the good in people and situations, to be happy and remember that I will find whatever it is that I am looking for.

Perspective

2011-03-08T18:58:00.008-05:00

It's kind of funny how easy it is to gain a positive, wonderful perspective on life, when you are walking along the beach, spending the days however you please, with absolutely no responsibility.

Yes, that is a picture of the actual beach that I was walking along, hand in hand with Matt, just a couple of days ago. The water is really that beautiful and blue. The sand is completely inviting.

There is something amazing about being able to sleep through the night with no interruptions.

But, then again, you start to miss your family, children, and familiar surroundings after a couple of days. I began to miss my kitchen and being able to prepare my own meals, among other things.

When Savannah saw me, she said "I missed you sooo much! I am going to listen to everything that you ask me to do and do it!" (That was yesterday afternoon)

Less than 24 hours after that statement was made, I asked her to perform a simple task and she refused. I reminded her about how much she missed me and what she had said yesterday, to which she replied, "I don't want to do that anymore."

It made me laugh, mostly because I completely understood what she meant.

HappY Birthday to Jonah!

2011-03-01T22:42:00.004-05:00

Jonah had his 9th Birthday last week! I can't believe that I am the mother of a 9-year old.
Here are just a few of the many faces of dear Jonah.

He decided to have Hot Chocolate Brownies topped with Homemade Marshmallows for his birthday treat. You can find more info about that HERE.
On his birthday, we played after school instead of doing chores and went to eat dinner at The Cracker Barrel. Last year we tried something new for his b-day celebration. Instead of a b-day party, he invited 2 friends to go out to eat and then they went with Matt to do some fun activities, and then came to our house and stayed up late playing outside. This year, Jonah decided to invite a couple of friends to the Georgia Basketball game that Matt was able to get extra tickets too. It was a night game and the boys had a blast.
Only two of the boys were "brave" enough to go and have a picture taken with the cheerleaders.
Of course, they had to talk to Hairy Dog and get a picture with him.
Even the grown-ups couldn't resist the Hairy Dog picture taking experience.

During half-time, Hairy Dog brought Jonah a cookie cake that said Happy Birthday. He was a little bit excited about that.

After the game, the boys were able to meet the players and get their autographs.

Jonah and the other boys had a blast celebrating at the game. Plus, the Dawgs won, so that added a happy note to the whole experience.

We are so glad that Jonah is in our family. He is a great big brother. Very helpful, loving, smart and he teaches me things everyday. Love you, Jonah!

Jonah the Spider and Sunsets

2010-12-17T00:15:00.006-05:00

Last week, Jonah was in a play at school. He tried out a couple of months ago and got the part of the "Spider". The play was "Little Red Riding Hood: The Musical" and after months of staying after school for practice, it was finally here. The picture above is the only one I got of Jonah during the play. He did great.
Thanks to my mom for making his cool spider costume! He loved it!
After the show, demonstrating how his "legs" worked.

Ryanne was so excited to see her brother on stage in the play. She loved it.
Grandma Gus hugging her little spider

Ryanne and her classmate went onstage after to try out some of the props

We have had some really beautiful sunsets lately, with lots of colors.

The kids out enjoying the beauty
On a side note- I can't believe that Matt's b-day, my b-day and Christmas are all coming up in a week! Ahh! Time goes by too quickly!!

Savannah turns 4!

2010-11-30T19:56:00.003-05:00

Savannah had her 4th birthday over the Thanksgiving weekend, so yesterday we invited a couple of her friends over for a little celebration.

She wanted everything to be princess-y.
I was trying to get some natural looking shots of her, but she kept on pulling faces. Funny Bana!

All the girls dressed up in their favorite princess gear and we had cake and ice cream. The lone boy at the party had his light sabers on hand, so that none of this princess stuff would sink in too much.

We are so lucky to have Savannah in our family. She is so happy and helpful.
We love Savannah- Happy 4th Birthday!

Perfect Weather for a Fall Day to Play

2010-11-10T21:11:00.005-05:00

I love today because it was 70 degrees and sunny. We were able to run around at the park without jackets or coats. This might be my favorite thing about November in Georgia- beautiful weather and sunshine.
Some of Jonah and Ryannes' friends happen to be at the park due to the fact that they attend the local Rec dept.'s after school program. This made for lots of fun and no whining about there not being enough children at the park to play with.

(This picture was taken after all the other children had left, thus the reason why the park looks so barren)
And, in other news- Savannah still falls asleep in some pretty wierd places late at night with lots of toys in reach.

Happy Birthday to Ryanne!

2010-10-25T10:08:00.000-04:00

Today Ryanne turns 6 years old~!
Ryanne is such a happy little girl! She makes everyone smile. We love her so much and we are so glad she is a part of our family!

Over the weekend we had a party for her with some of her girlfriends. The weather was beautiful, so they were able to play some games outside and everyone had a great time. She wanted a Littliest Pet Shop birthday, so that is the theme we went with.

She was very specific on her cake. She wanted 3 layers of different sizes. Pink cake (I made a white cake and used food gel coloring), purple icing and Pet Shop toys on top. I found a set of Pet Shops that were called "Festive Friends" and it actually had the pieces to make them celebrate a birthday party.

It was a fun day. Tonight we are going to meet up with family for dinner at Chick-fila, per request of the birthday girl!
We love you Ry!

Our Weekend Trip to Savannah

2010-10-14T20:14:00.000-04:00

About a month ago we had the exciting arrival of a new cousin- Isaac Russell! We were all really happy to have a new cousin/nephew and decided to make a trip down to meet him, as well as visit with Adrienne, Russ and Tiffany.
The completely ironic thing is that I held baby Isaac for a few hours while he was napping and spent quite a bit of time looking at him, but I didn't take any pictures of him! I can't believe it!
I only took pictures when I had my purse physically on my body, since that is when I remembered I had a camera.
I'm sad that I didn't get a single picture of Isaac. He is so cute and perfect. So beautiful.
Russ and Adrienne took us to catch fiddler crabs near their house. It was really fun. We got there right after the tide had come in and there were literally millions of fiddler crabs running for the grass. It was really cool, but kinda grotesque at the same time to see so many of the little guys swarming around. I tried to get a picture of them, but it just didn't work. They were too fast.

I guess fiddler crabs are known for their uneven sized claws. And they like to dig and bury themselves in the mud. I don't really know anything else about them. There were some that were big and some that were tiny.

We collected as many as we could in a bucket.

Then we let them go.
Matt set the 2 biggest ones up to duke it out. It was really funny to watch because they actually did fight and go after each other. One of them got the other one around the neck and clamped him down.

We also made a trip out to Tybee Island since Savannah has never been to the beach before. We weren't sure if the water would be nice enough to swim in, but it was a warm day and the kids wanted to get in.

Luckily, I had packed their bathing suits, just in case.

They had a blast.
Playing in the water
Digging and playing in the sand

They probably would have been happy to stay there all day.
I see a beach vacation in our future.

Savannah's First Haircut and some other stuff

2010-10-12T20:44:00.004-04:00

Jonah loves having his picture taken. Especially with food. It makes me laugh.
The other day the kids got dressed up in some costumes (Jonah's was from 3 years ago and is a little small on him) and started dancing around outside.
They told me that they were practicing a ballet that they were going to perform later in the evening.
Jonah was the director of the dance performance.

I enjoyed getting a couple shots of their "practice".

Very interesting, I must say. And highly entertaining.

Savannah has never had a haircut. Unless you count the time this past summer that Ryanne took scissors to her hair and gave her really bad bangs (that have grown out a little bit) and nice chopped pieces randomly placed within her long locks.
Well, the time came. Grandma Becky took her to the hairdresser to get her first cut.
I was sad to see her beautifully golden locks get chopped. But the new 'do makes all the "pieces" from Ry's cut a few months ago, look like purposeful layering.

Savannah was quite happy with the results, as was I, and enjoyed her time out with Grandma. She's growing up!

Greek Night and Banners- ever the bad sleeper

2010-09-27T09:17:00.001-04:00

I am the worst at updating this blog, but I finally got some pictures ready so here goes.

A couple of weeks ago, Jonah studied Ancient Greece at school. He had to do a project at the end of their study and he really want to do a restaurant. He made the signs and costumes and I made the food. It was really delicious and fun. Jonah was really thinking that someone might drive by our house and be really hungry and decide to stop. It was cute to see him so excited. The Greek recipes will be on my food blog soon.

It's no secret that Savannah isn't a great sleeper. Since she was born, sleeping just hasn't been her thing.
Now that school has started, I have to put Ryanne to bed first and then let Savannah go to bed later, so that Ryanne can fall asleep quickly. When Savannah is in their room with her at night, she keeps Ryanne up because she is singing, playing and doing all sorts of un-bedtime type activities.
Savannah still wakes up almost every single night and comes into our bed. But now she is quiet as she enters our room, instead of crying, so half the time, I am completely unaware that she is there.
Anyway, the other night we put her to bed in her room and a few hours later when we went to bed, this is the sight we saw. Savannah was in our bed, tightly gripping my deodorant, with her toys and my glass of water, and the top of my jewelry box.

She says that she "loves me too much", so I guess she had to get a few of my things to comfort herself so that she could fall asleep.
Maybe this isn't that funny to anyone else, but I could not stop laughing when I saw this ridiculousness.

First Day of School

2010-08-17T20:56:00.004-04:00

Okay, so I am probably the worlds worst parent, but this is the first year that I have taken pictures on the first day of school. (The first day of school was 2 weeks ago!)

Before, it was always Jonah trekking off by himself and since he started going to preschool when he was almost 3, school really didn't seem like that big of a deal to him. Or me.

Well, then comes Ryanne. She has been at home with me for 5 years and almost 10 months. She didn't know what to expect with school, but she was a nervous, excited ball of energy. So many questions about the teacher and the other kids and worries about whether anyone would like her. Sheesh. Who wouldn't love her? She is happy, confident, fun, playful, a good listener, cute, smile-y, eager to please and so much more.

Needless to say. I had to take a picture this year. And I am glad I did.

Girls have lots of cute clothes options. Boys, not really so much. Jonah chose this plain t-shirt (which was new) but, still, it is a t-shirt, as his first day attire. Somehow I talked him into using his lunchbox from last year here and the year before that in Utah, again. We also recycled his backpack, since it is still in good condition. He couldn't care less about all that stuff. He was just super excited that his 2 best friends were in his class again this year.

Since this whole experience was new for Ry, she chose a few outfits, a backpack, and got a haircut the day before school started.
They both love school. I decided to let them ride the bus home and they love that.
The hardest part is getting to bed early and waking up early. Three of us are on that schedule. Savannah and Matt still get to sleep in.

I am not really sure what exactly happened in this succession of pictures, but they made me laugh.
Happy Back to School Everyone!

Kids

2010-07-20T21:48:00.003-04:00

I love it when I "catch" Jonah reading to the girls. He is such a good big brother. He plays with them and reads to them and it makes me really happy.
For Father's Day the kids wanted to do a restaurant for dinner. Jonah was in charge of making the menu and the sign for our restaurant.
He made up all the names of the categories all by himself and then he and the girls decorated the table with all sorts of sports stuff. Basketball cards and stuffed animals that were sporty.
I wish I would've taken a picture of the table and how the decorated it, but I was too caught up in getting the food on the table.
We all had a lot of fun with our restaurant.

Summer So Far

2010-07-06T15:04:00.010-04:00

It has been ages since I updated this blog.

Summer is here and we are loving it. We swim at Grandma Becky's everyday and that is really fun for us.

One of my bestest friends in the world, Heather, flew out here to visit. She had a few other friends and destinations to get to, but we were her home base.
We went to a concert in Atlanta and took her to Chattanooga to meet up with a friend the first week she was here.
I am not good at taking pictures sometimes when we are out and about, so I have no shots of our trip to Chattanooga.

We also drove to DC. It was a 2 purposed trip. Me and the kids stayed with Audrey and Scott and got to play with the cousins. Heather got to stay with us too, but was also able to see friends in that area.

Audrey recently acquired a ice cream maker and put me to work showing her how to make custard-based gelato.

We went to "spraygrounds" which are playgrounds that include spray parks- where water shoots up through the sidewalk. The kids really enjoyed it. One of the days we were out at a sprayground it just happened to be the hottest day recorded in 100 years. It was hot!

Jonah has radar for Silly Bandz. It seemed like everywhere we went he zoned in on other kids/teens that were wearing them and began trading. It was very entertaining to watch.
We went to the FolkLife Festival that the Smithsonian hosts every year and were able to see some neat performances and do some fun things for the kids.
They were able to try on Air and Space outfits from the past.

(If you notice in any of these pictures that Savannah has very short, uneven bangs, then you will know that Ry took the scissors to her hair a couple of weeks ago.)

We also walked to the Jefferson Memorial.
It was so fun spending time with cute little Lucas. He is such a well behaved baby. He nevers cries and is so happy all the time. A pure joy to be around.
We went to the cousins' favorite museum- Air and Space museum, where the boys told us all about their favorite planes and we learned lots of interesting facts.

Audrey also took Heather and I to a delicious dinner at Zaytinya. It was the perfect girls night out.

We had to make a trip to the National Zoo. The weather cooled down a little bit on the day we went, which made for a pleasant walk to see all the animals.
Jonah and Savannah comparing their hands to lion paws.
Jonah caught in the silly bandz action for the bazillionth time

One of the best parts of the zoo is the Pizza Park at the end. Ryanne is sitting inside a giant olive. The other kids are running around on the crust by the giant tomato.
Everyone took turns sliding down the cheese.

We went to the Cactus Cantina, after a fun day at the zoo. Jonah remembered this restaurant from our trip to DC last year and wanted to be sure that we could go there again.

We tried to get a picture of all the kids smiling together, but it was nearly impossible.

From DC we drove down to Savannah to meet with another friend so that Heather could go visit with her for the rest of the trip. Tiff and Russ (my sis and bro-in-law) were so kind to let us stay with them overnight, so that we could get a good nights rest before our meeting in Savannah and before we drove home. I should have taken a picture of the kids that night that we stayed because they had so much fun catching tiny frogs in a jar on a dirt road behind Russ and Tiffany's house.

We had a great 4th of July with all of Matt's family, swimming and enjoying each others company.

Here is a picture of me kissing little Lucas. So sweet.

Jonah and Ryanne go to school in a month. Summer has flown by too fast!! There is still so much summer stuff we need to do!

Feels like Summer

2010-05-13T13:11:00.002-04:00

Yesterday we bought a plastic pool. Ryanne wanted to play in water and we really didn't have any options to do that outside until the pool purchase.
The weather has been really nice, not too hot yet, in my opinion. But, it started getting warmer yesterday.
As soon as Jonah got home from school, they put on their suits and started playing.
These little pools are great for occupying children for extended periods of time.
Hours later, they got out and we dried off.
This morning Ryanne asked if she could get back in the pool.
Sure, why not?
So, the girls have already played for hours. We are taking a short break right now, so that when Jonah comes home from school he can play too.
Hurray for water and swimsuits and little plastic pools.

Jonah's Baptism and My Family's Visit

2010-04-10T10:30:00.000-04:00

Jonah decided to be baptized and we decided to wait until the end of March so that my family members from Utah could come and share the special occasion with us.
I am so happy that Jonah wanted to be baptized and that he wants to follow in his Savior's footsteps.
It was a beautiful day and it was so wonderful to have all of Matt's siblings and their families and almost all of my siblings (We missed you Jake!) and their families, plus our parents there to share in the special day. It was the first time that all the grandkids on Matt's side have been together since the youngest, Lucas, was born. It truly was an experience!
All the cousins had so much fun playing together for a few days.

My parents and younger brother came during my brother's spring break, so they were able to stay for a week and a half. We enjoyed the beautiful spring/summer-ish weather and sunshine.

We took a trip to the Aquarium in Atlanta and my brother Jacob met us there, so that he could spend a few days with everyone.

My brother celebrated his 18th birthday while he was here, so I reserved a karaoke room at Shokitini, downtown in Athens, for the party. It was so much fun. We had our own private little room with a couple of mics, remotes and big screens.
We sang, danced, laughed, and ate some delicious food. It was a blast.

I think that everyone enjoyed it. Doesn't that look like a happy birthday boy?
After the exciting karaoke party, we went home and enjoyed some homemade angel food cake and homemade ice cream. I sure had a blast and I think Andrew did too.
The last of my family visitors left earlier this week.
I have the best family. I love them so much!
Thanks for spending so much time with us.
Love you!

Mt. Yonah & Our 9th Anniversary

2010-03-21T15:58:00.005-04:00

So, every year we celebrate our anniversary by going out of town for at least one night.
We take turns planning our trips and this year it was Matt's turn to plan.
I had no idea what we were going to do.
We had some friends come and stay with the kids overnight and also had help from all the local grandparents (Thank You!!).
We left early in the morning and I was so tired, that I slept up until we got to the grocery store to get a few snacks for the hike. I knew we were hiking, but I had no idea where.

We ended up hiking Mt. Yonah, the same hike we did the day we got engaged, over 9 years ago.
It is a good hike and a few things have changed in the years that have passed since we hiked it last.
There is a new trail head, but all the maps were gone, so we just parked in the same place we did last time and hiked up the steep road.
Matt didn't make me rock climb straight up the rock face like he did last time, but we didn't take the easy way up. We still scaled the rock, by going around it and it was quite scary to me in certain places. It was really cloudy and kind of wet.
Matt said I looked like a cat after I had gotten on all fours and climbed a particularly steep and slick place, very quickly. I was just scared and I knew that if I didn't do it fast, I wouldn't have to guts to do it.

Anyway, we got to the top and found our tree. It still had Matt's proposal carved in it! Fun!
We took some pictures and explored a little bit.
On the hike down, we decided to take the new trails and ended up by the new parking lot and trail head. Too bad our car was in a completely different spot. We figured it couldn't be too far, so we just walked on the roads for a couple of miles until we found the car.

(I love that Matt proposed this way- It was so cool to see it all over again!)
We drove to Helen, which is really close to Mt. Yonah and found a cute little hotel on the river.
We got cleaned up and took a nap in the middle of the day (I haven't taken a nap in a really LONG time, so that was really refreshing).
We went out to get something to eat and then played Minature Golf. It started raining on us while we were golfing, but it was really fun.
We came home the next day feeling recharged and ready to take on the week.
The only bad thing about being able to spend so much time alone with Matt, is that I miss him like crazy when he has to go back to work.
Back to real life, he says.
It's ok. I love my real life too.

Jonah's 8!!

2010-03-03T13:49:00.001-05:00

Last week Jonah turned 8 years old! I can't believe it.
He was super excited about his b-day get together with our family here. He was really excited about all of his gifts and read The Diary of a Wimpy Kid in less than 24 hours! (He must take after me)

Savannah and Ryanne were really excited about being able to pick out a little gift for him.
He wanted brownies, so we made a brownie tower. He chose Peanut Butter Swirled Brownies and Mint-filled Brownie Cupcakes.
Then on friday night he invited 2 friends over and we took them out to dinner with us.
We came home and had a "late-over", where they played games and had a ton of fun.

I can't wait until later this month when Jonah is baptized and my parents/siblings are coming for the occasion. Fun!!

Happy Anniversary to Us Today!
It has been 9 years- YAY!!!
We are going to go on a date tonight- Exciting!!

Snow

2010-02-18T12:37:00.000-05:00

So, it snowed the other day.
I won't lie. I didn't get excited. Well, maybe just for a second because it was kinda pretty.
I can't figure out why snow and cold weather love me so much.

Anyway, the kids ran around in it when it was falling and the next morning, they wanted to play it in.
Too bad I didn't bring our snow boots that we had in Utah. I really didn't think that we would ever need them. Who came to the rescue? Matt, of course. He rigged up some "boots" with some of his athletic tape. Yay- FOR Dad!

We had a fun Valentines Day. I had a coupon, so I was able to get the girls these little cute matching dresses, tights and headbands.
We all color coordinated and went to church.

Someone found a cool hot pink heart to surround their amazing family.

I love Valentine's Day

2010-02-12T09:26:00.002-05:00

I have always loved Valentine's Day. Not the gift giving or candy or commercialization of it, but just the idea of being thoughtful and expressing how much you care to the special people in your life.
Not to mention, I have the best valentine in the world. Matt always does something thoughtful and creative for me. Remember last year?

I helped Jonah cut out hearts for his valentines to give to his classmates and to decorate his valentine box and it was just so much fun. I convinced him to make homemade valentines this year to pass out at school and he actually had a lot of fun coming up with the sayings.
I thought he was really creative and the best part was when he realized that homemade valentines were more fun to create.

We also had to decorate sugar cookies. Valentine's Day and sugar cookies just go together. It is always entertaining to watch kids try and cover their cookie with 2 tons of sprinkles. I just had to laugh. Those little nonpareils really can make a mess.

I guess I just like hearts and love.
Pretty great things to celebrate if you ask me.

2010-01-30T17:13:00.000-05:00

I love my girls.
I love the warm sunshine.
I love smiles.
I love hugs.

2010-01-24T16:35:00.002-05:00

"Come, ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish. Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel. Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish; Earth hath no sorrow that heaven cannot heal."

I have had the words to this hymn running through my mind all day.
I don't really feel like going into all the details of the people and sorrows that have been on my mind, but the last sentence-"Earth hath no sorrow that heaven cannot heal", has really made me feel better about some things.
It's just hard to deal with the pain sometimes here on earth and the unanswered questions, but I know that Heaven really can heal all of our sorrows, hurts, and pains.

I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ.

My thoughts today

2010-01-17T13:48:00.002-05:00

Sometimes it is really hard for me to see all the suffering and disparity in the world. I feel so helpless as to how I can make a difference. It can be really discouraging if you think about all the horrible situations that people all over the world are in. War, natural disasters, poverty, inhumane living conditions, unfair treatment of ethnicities, etc. All of these things weigh on my mind at times.
I struggle with the hopelessness of it all and somehow wanting to solve everything and knowing I can't, all alone.

Then last night I finally had a light bulb moment.
I don't have to change the entire world. I don't have to save the world.
But I can do something. I can help someone.
I may not be able to heal all the wounds of the suffering, but I can help someone by taking action and doing something to help. Every little act of charity or kindness helps.

Someone has already saved the entire world. My Savior, Jesus Christ has already done it. He has already taken it upon himself to heal the wounds of all those who hurt, every unfair thing and all I have to do is try my best to be like him.
That is what I can do, to make this world a better place.

Our Quick Trip to DC

2010-01-12T13:37:00.001-05:00

These pictures loaded backwards, so I guess I will just talk about this trip from the end to the beginning.
This is me and Matt at the airport, on the way home from our whirlwind, less than 24 hour trip to go to Whitney and Richard's sealing at the Washington DC Temple.
It was soooo cold.
My mom, dad, and Andrew were visiting with Audrey and Scott, so we were able to stay with them and they came to the temple too. Andrew was mainly a baby holder.
We got to meet our newest nephew, Lucas while we were on this trip and he is sooo cute!
Matt took a picture of the temple from the outside. I have never been to this temple before. It is so big and beautiful.
I stayed inside. It was about 16 degrees with really strong winds, so we took lots of pictures inside then the happy couple went outside for a couple of minutes for more pictures. I stayed inside and helped hold Lucas.
Matt went outside and held coats and things.
After the ceremony, we headed to the Cheesecake Factory for a yummy lunch.
Then we went to Audrey and Scott's house for a few hours and got to see the other kiddos and visit.
This is Lucas. He really is the sweetest baby ever. So smiley and happy. Never cries. I wanted to bring him home with me.
I really did. His brothers got quite upset when they heard me say that and quickly had him taken out of my arms so I couldn't steal him.

Fun trip!
I am so happy for Richard and Whitney. So glad that we were able to make it up to the wedding.
Thanks to Grandma Becky and Papa Frank for watching our kids, so that we could actually afford to go up there without being completely broke.
It was a great trip!

Disney World

2009-12-30T14:16:00.007-05:00

We decided this year to take a trip for Christmas. My friend Jaime and I, had been throwing the idea around for a couple of years of going to DisneyWorld, together with our families, and talked about it, but hadn't ever really had the chance to plan it until this year. We both decided we were serious about it happening and this summer we decided Christmas was the perfect time to take our trip. We knew our kids would have a blast since they are great friends.
We left Sunday night, around 10 pm and drove to Orlando. The kids did pretty good sleeping in the car and we arrived at DisneyWorld at 4:30 am. A little bit earlier than we had expected.
Luckily, our hotel let us check in early and we got to take a nap for a couple hours before we headed out to the Magic Kingdom.
We had a blast. The kids were loving every minute of it. That first night we ate dinner with Cinderella and her family.

The stepsisters and the stepmother were just awful, meaning they were in character and acting just the way their characters would. It was kind of funny and I messed with them a little bit.
Prince Charming chose Ryanne to get up and dance with him. She was smiling from ear to ear.

We met tons of characters, which was really exciting for all the kids (well, except Jonah sometimes. He didn't want to act too excited about meeting so many princesses)
We took a spin in the tea cups. Jaime and Danny opted out on this one- they didn't want to get sick. The people who wanted to spin a lot, loaded up with Matt.
Madelyn and I took it quite slow and had fun too.

Jonah's face in this one just really made me laugh. He wouldn't even pretend that he was glad to get his picture taken with Sleeping Beauty.
The next day we ate lunch with Pooh Bear and his friends. Ryanne told Pooh that she was fat like him. Not sure where she got that idea from, but it made us giggle. She was laughing too.
Savannah just wanted to pet all these guys.

If only you could see the crazy antics that happened while we were waiting in line. I took a series of pictures while we were all waiting and it is quite hilarious to see how the kids dealt with it. Here Madelyn and Jonah were talking seriously about something.

On Matt's birthday we went to the Animal Kingdom and the safari was really neat. We got to see some animals up close and they made the ride really exciting and fun too.
Jonah's favorite ride was Expedition Everest, which was in this park. I went on it too. It was a great rollar coaster, but slightly nauseating.

The morning of my birthday we ate with Lilo and Stitch, Mickey and Pluto. I got to join in the parade because it was my birthday.
Pluto was really fun with the kids. He was hugging them and on all fours making everybody laugh.

We went to Hollywood studios and were able to meet more characters and also watch some great shows, like a shorter version of the Broadway show, Beauty and the Beast. They also had amazing Christmas lights, which for some reason I completely forgot to take a picture of.
On Christmas we read the Christmas story in our conjoining rooms in the morning before we went to Epcot. It was a beautiful day. Very warm and humid.
By friday night, Savannah was really worn out. Well, we all were! She was just wanting to lay around while we waited for Matt and some of the others to come back from a ride.

The last night we met a couple more characters and got a family pic with Mickey.
Ryanne stuck her head under a hand sanitizer dispenser and somehow had her entire head covered in hand sanitizer right before we took the last batch of character pictures. It was pretty slimey and gross.
I am still not sure how she managed to do that.

We had a great time and made lots of memories.
I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas!

2009-12-18T15:46:00.002-05:00

We got a couple of presents in the mail from my parents this week and it caused quite the commotion. The girls asked me every 5 seconds if they could open their presents yet. I told them they had to wait until Christmas and showed Ry how many days that would be. Crying ensued. Who knew that 1 present each could cause such a problem? So much whining and crying. The girls insisted on carrying their presents everywhere with them.
Then I came up with the brilliant plan to send Savannah back to my parents. She tried as hard as she could to fit in the box.
She almost fit.

Ryanne wanted to try too- she had a little worse luck.
So, we are going to Disneyworld in 2 days! So excited. I hope the kids have a blast and that we are able to make some great memories.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I almost forgot....

2009-12-09T22:05:00.003-05:00

12 Days until we go to DISNEYWORLD!!!!

Savannah's Birthday, Thanksgiving and other stuff too

2009-12-09T22:04:00.002-05:00

I added a couple more pictures to this post, simply because I haven't posted it yet and wanted to share the cake I made for Jaime's daughters 8th birthday party.
It was a cute party. Girls only and they all dressed up fancy.
I was originally going to decorate the cake with candy but saw some little ornaments at Target and thought they would look beautiful on the cake.
Luckily it all worked out! Fun, fun, fun!

My younger sister, Laura Dawn came to visit for Thanksgiving. She took a week off of work and it was so fun to have her here. I was really bad about taking pictures of our activities though.
Sometimes I am good about remembering the camera and this time was not one of those times, unfortunately. :( We don't have very many pics of her visit.

She helped me prepare and serve dinner for a local homeless shelter, the night before Thanksgiving. We took Jonah with us and he was able to help serve. It was a great experience.
If you are in the area and are interested in volunteering in some way, please check out their website at Bigger Vision of Athens.
We were able to participate in 3 Thanksgiving Dinners-they were spread over 3 days, so we had enough time to recover between each meal, before we ate a ton again.

The Friday after Thanksgiving was Savannah's 3rd Birthday. She opened a few presents and posed for the camera. It looks like she is disappointed with her gift, which is so funny because she wasn't, but I kept on trying to get her to smile and it was impossible.
Then we went out to lunch for her birthday and did a little shopping.

Savannah shares her birthday with her great grandpa, so at one of our Thanksgiving dinners I made a cake to celebrate both of their birthdays. Lar helped me come up with the decorating idea for the cake.
Overall, it was a great holiday break and week with Lar. I was sad when she had to leave and she was a little sad about having to go back to work after being able to sleep in for a week.
I am just so glad she came.
Thanks for visiting us Laurie!!