Weekend in Georgia

We were able to travel to Georgia over Veteran's Day weekend to see Mike's wonderful Aunt Juanita get married.

Here's a picture of the happy couple

It was a nice trip, I was really surprised that none of the kids brought their DSs along. We did have a couple of iPods that came, but otherwise it was books, crosswords, word searches, the alphabet game, a trivia game and the scribble game...and plenty of silliness too :)

We left early Friday morning and arrived in time for the wedding rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner at Longhorn. It was so nice to see everyone. We hadn't seen Mike's sister, Kim, in years...and we hadn't seen his brother Joe since he moved away from Maryland last year. Kim was shocked that both Noah and Dallin were taller than her...I can not believe I didn't really take any pictures. Everyone else had their cameras out and I was just visiting. They did have a photographer there of course taking lots of pictures...I'm hoping to be able to buy some of them. Here is one that they took of us before the wedding.

Grace and Anna holding Juanita's train as she walked down the aisle

A big thanks to Kim for sharing her pics with me!

Mike with his little sister Kim

Kim with Noah...the only reason she's taller than him in the picture is because of the shoes she was wearing :)

Getting ready to blow bubbles on the newlyweds

I love this shot of Mike being silly with Juanita's bouquet :)

Grace with Kim

Me with my wonderful sister-in-law

After the wedding reception we headed to Jan and Dale's house to visit with them for a day. 

Mike's cousin Emmy lives near them and so on Sunday night she came over with her kids to visit some more. The kids were so excited to see her kids again. After the wedding they kept talking about their new cousins. 

Some pics of them and their new cousins :)

Anna, Zoe and Grace

 Dallin, Isaac, Noah and Colton

 Donovon

On the way home on Monday we had a delay in North Carolina to replace three tires on the Suburban, fun...

Luckily they could get us right in and there was a Chick-fil-A across the street.

On the walk to the Chick-fil-A the girls found some new friends.

Our unexpected delay made for a very long day of travel.

I think we were all tired and ready to be home.

So...

we went to Georgia for a wedding and came home with new cousins and new tires :)

It was a short trip, but a good trip...it's always nice to spend time with family!

Atlanta Temple Open House

We took the opportunity to take our kids to the Atlanta Temple Open House. The  temple had been closed for renovations for about two years I think. Mike and I thought it would be a great experience for our family.

We made a whirlwind trip down there since Mike could only take a couple days off work. We drove down Sunday night, went to the temple on Monday and drove home on Tuesday. Crazy? Yes, but so worth it!

It was a beautiful day on Monday when we went to the temple. As we were getting ready the kids started singing, "I love to see the temple, I'm going there today!" They had big smiles on their faces and they were so excited to go.

My sister Jan and my nephew Titus met us there. It was good to see them again.

Mike's grandma, Aunt Juanita and cousin Jessie and some of their friends came with us too.

None of them are members of our church, but I think they all enjoyed seeing the temple and learning a little more about it.

I felt the spirit as we went on our tour and loved watching our kids take it all in, then talking to them afterwards and finding out what they thought.

Anna said that her favorite parts were the baptism room and the sealing room.

Isaac said he loved the celestial room and the sealing room.

Grace thought the whole temple was beautiful, but especially liked the celestial room.

Dallin really liked the celestial room too.

Noah liked the baptistry because he would be allowed to go there, but he also loved the sealing room, especially the mirrors that reflect eternity.

I'm so glad that we went and doubly glad that our kids were excited about it.  We really enjoyed the experience. That night as we said our "thankful for's" each of the kids spoke about the temple. It made me smile. Oh how I love our family.

I'm so thankful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and the peace and comfort and guidance that it gives me in my every day life. I'm truly thankful for temples and the blessings they offer. My family is my greatest joy and to know that I can be with them forever is such a wonderful feeling.

Oh, and I have to send out a BIG thank you to Juanita and Jessie for letting us stay with them on this quick trip and for being such great hosts.

Happy Birthday Dallin!

On the 17th Dallin turned 11. We celebrated with family on the 16th while we were in Georgia. On his actual birthday he was in the car for the whole day as we were coming home, so we finished celebrating on the 18th...lucky kid got a 3 day birthday :)

On the 16th we had birthday cake and ice cream. He requested a Rubik's cube cake. I didn't have all of my stuff so I had to make do...as a result, it didn't turn out very well. The icing just didn't want to cooperate and kept sliding down the sides. My friend's daughter just recently got the Cricut cake machine thing...I was wishing I could have used it! Maybe someday I'll get one too.

Anyway...Dallin didn't seem to care, he liked it...and I guess that's all that matters. I restrained myself from photoshopping the pictures to make it look better. so. Here is the cake in all of it's sloppy droopy glory. 

One thing that Dallin had asked for for his birthday this year was feet jammies. That surprised me a little, but he assured me that he really really wanted some...so that was the gift he got while we were in Georgia.

I love this picture!

Like I said, on his actual birthday, we were traveling so he spent it in the car. We still tried to make sure he felt special so we granted some wishes and let him sit wherever he wanted.

The two wishes he made in the car were for 11 Werther's candies...

and to have dinner at Wendy's so he could have a frosty.

Granted!

On Tuesday he got to open some cards and gifts.

He also finished up making his wishes. I think I remember all of them...

No chores

Game day

Hello Dollies

 Milk to the top of his cup

Extra Fablehaven

Free backscratches and songs

Stay up

Battle with Noah

Doodlejump with Dad

Messy hair was not one of his wishes, but he hates to comb it so I let it slide that day...after all school was cancelled and we didn't go anywhere.


All in all, I think he had a pretty good birthday. He is excited to move up to 11 year old scouts now and start working towards his Eagle. I'm glad that my boys enjoy and see the value of scouting.

He really is a wonderful kid. We are so thankful for our blue-eyed, blonde haired, California born boy!

Happy Birthday Dallin!

Weekend in Georgia

The kids have recently become acquainted with the song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" so when we decided to go to Georgia this past weekend it was only appropriate that they were all saying things like...I guess we are the devil, cause we're going down to Georgia...I hope we don't see the devil...why did the devil choose Georgia...why didn't the devil just lie and say he won the fiddle contest?...
Anyway! We did go down to Georgia and we didn't see the devil...in fact we saw some angels! 

Thanks Jan and Dale and Titus for hosting us!

We love you

Our main reason for going was to see my mom and dad. They are leaving for a year and a half to serve a mission for our church and so this was our last chance to see them before they go. They are going to the West Indies to the island of Grenada. We are so happy for them, but we will miss them so much!

Yeah, we love silly faces!

On our way home we got to stop for lunch and a visit with Mike's grandma "Nanny", his Aunt Juanita and cousin Jessie.

silly little hitchhikers!

It was a good trip...too short, but still good.

Road trips can be hard sometimes, ok, almost all the time...but the kids (and Sasha) were pretty good travelers...no they are not perfect and there was some fighting, but most of the time they did great.