Chihuly at Cheekwood

 

On November 2, I took the kids to the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens to see the Chihuly blown glass exhibit.  We were able to meet up with our good friends the Stovers and the Judds.  Here are some of the things we saw that day.

 

The kids had a blast rolling down the large hill.

 

I loved this part of the exhibit.

Malasada Night

Since Halloween was on a Sunday we decided to all stay home and do something even better.  We made Malasadas!  They were a big hit.  Arick came up with the moment of the night.  He wondered what it would be like to put an almond joy in side one and fry it.  It was awesome!

It has been a long time

I really need to update the blog. Yikes. While I am working on some month in review posts, please enjoy this picture of our kids. We took it while on our vacation to Florida last week. Click on it if you would like to see it larger.

A video of the kids meeting Charly for the first time

I finally found the cord to my video camera so I can finally share the clip of the kids meeting their new pup, Charly, on Easter morning. Enjoy!

10 inches of rain and counting

We have received 10 inches of rain in Nashville and it continues to come down. Lots of you have inquired about our safety and we are doing just fine. In fact, if you watch the video, you might just see that our kids are having more fun than they have had in a long time.

Ella

She is growing up way too fast!

A boy and his pup

y absolutely adores Charly. She is the first thing he thinks of when he wakes up and when he comes home from school. He loves her. Today while I was practicing my lighting skills he asked if I could take a photo of him with Charly. Who knew that a puppy could make a kid so happy.




Charly is seriously tough to photograph. She really looks like a ball of black fluff.

I love this little stinker

Rarely, do I relax enough to be photographed. I know that I don't look my very best right now but my kids don't mind, to them I look just right. So I have been trying to get in front of the camera more. I can always delete the photo, right? I love this shot with Ella. She did not want to be photographed so I tried tickling her while whispering in her ear anything to get her to smile. Her stubbornness won and this was the best shot of the bunch. Oh well. I love her, even if she is a little stinker sometimes.

Time Out for Women

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend Time Out for Women in Memphis this past weekend and I can't recommend it enough. I was truly inspired and I left with an incredible amount of gratitude for my life. It was such a treat to hang out with great friends as well.

My favorite speaker was Marioma, an amazing lady from Sierra Leone whose testimony of the Savior was so powerful. She has witnessed horrors and devastation that I can't even imagine and yet her faith and hope are strong. She is such an inspiration.

Meet Charly!

Meet our newest member of our family. Believe me when I say that I never ever thought I would cave to allowing a dog in our house. Seriously, I am not an animal person at all. However, one can only take so much begging before one gives in. It really was 5 against 1. Anyone want to take a guess how wanted a dog the most? That would be Andrew. I could have sworn that he told me that he disliked animals when we were dating. If I had heard otherwise, we may not have stayed together.

It all started on April Fool's Day, Andrew told the kids we were getting a puppy. The kids were so excited which made Andrew feel horrible when he said, "April Fools!". That even made me feel guilty as I was the only thing coming between them having a dog. Well, a couple of days later, Andrew's coworker brought in some puppies that she had for sale. He sent me some pictures and I admit they were pretty adorable. I told him I would give it some thought and meet the pups. The owner said that we could return the puppy if it didn't go well which made me feel lots better. Andrew promised to train the dog and do the majority of her care as well.

The Saturday before Easter, Andrew and I met the Shih Tzu puppies. The little balls of fur were so tiny and cute. Of course, all I could imagine as I held the puppy is how happy the kids would be which broke down the last of my defenses. Minutes later Andrew was paying for the puppy and we arranged to pick her up the next morning to surprise the kids on Easter.

That night I tried to get all the things I needed to prepare out home for a puppy. It is amazing how much stuff you need and the variety you have to choose from.

On Easter morning, we placed the puppy in a basket and covered her with a blanket. We called the kids down and told them that their Easter surprise was under the blanket and to lift it up. Their reaction was stunned silence. Arick got a little teary eyed and said that it was the happiest day of his life. Ella giggled and fell back onto the couch. One of those moments I will remember for the rest of my life.

It took us a day to name her as we all had our favorites. Andrew wanted to name her Ahsoka (Snips for a nickname), Arick wanted Cutie Pie, Brianna wanted Sidia, I wanted Bailey or Chloe, and Ty wanted Charly as did Maren. Charly is in honor of the youtube video "Charlie Bit Me" which has long been a favorite source of laughter in our house. In the end Charly, short for Charlotte, won.

We have had her for 9 days now and she has been wonderful so far, except of her first night home when she cried ALL night long. She is adapting well and the kids love to be with her. Maren loves her too and when she visits us, the puppy is snuggling in her arms within minutes. She has gone on lots of adventures to Gigi's house, to the soccer fields for the kids' games, to the vet, and to Petsmart. Her favorite place is either being held or being in her crate. She loves this little stuffed animal that you heat up in the microwave.

Happy Birthday Marshall

In February, my mom, my sister and I flew to Connecticut to surprise my brother for his 40th birthday. We sat on the outdoor furniture at Lowe's with books in front of our faces and as he walked by we started singing 'Happy Birthday.' He was definitely surprised and we were all a little teary eyed. We had a fabulous weekend together and we were all sad to go. We definitely need to visit each other more often.

The highlight of the trip was eating at Bar Americain, Bobby Flay's restaurant. The food was FANTASTIC! We all agree that our favorite part was the tower of raw fish. Everything tasted great and the service was perfect. Here is a picture of the tower.


My brother ordered the crepes for dessert and they embellished it with a birthday message! The crepes were delish.



During the weekend I was also able to visits friends and attend my old ward which was super fun. One of my friends just had a baby girl so I squeezed in a mini photo shoot. Here is a picture of me with the baby and my favorite picture of the baby.

Ella Bella

I had a friend over today to take photos of her adorable baby and Ella wanted to have her picture taken too. This is my fave out of the few I took.

Our new nephew, MVP!

We had a wonderful time this past weekend visiting Jamie and Andy in North Carolina. Their first baby, Mark, was born in January and we were there to meet him and attend his baby blessing. We all were pretty smitten by him, especially the kids.

Cabin Fever

I am officially depressed. The school called to inform us that school is canceled again tomorrow. I have not left this house since Thursday evening and I really need to get out.

January in review

Life is certainly busy with business, birthdays, homework, sicknesses, church stuff, snow days, and a long list of chores. Here is our life in pictures for the month of January.

Ella showing off her fashion taste. She is such a girly girl.


I LOVE my Blendtec blender!! I have at least one smoothie, if not two a day. It makes the perfect breakfast and lunch. I love that I can sneak lettuce or spinach in there and my kids still drink it.

Our first good snow storm of the season. Due to the snow, many birds came to visit our bird feeder.

Andrew's birthday. We celebrated at a local Mexican restaurant. The food was good and we had the place to ourselves thanks to a snow and ice storm. Andrew was thrilled it snowed on his birthday. He was also pleased that the restaurant staff respected my wishes that they not cover his face in whipped cream.

Brianna and Ella being silly.





I have been spending a lot of time at the YMCA lately. I am loving it and wish I could go more.

Ella having fun with static electricity.

We love the original Boom Blox game game for Wii. This is the second version which I got for Christmas. We have loved playing this game together.

Ella had a play date with her friend T. They both love everything princess, can you tell?




I attended Imaging USA, a professional conference for photographers. The picture above was taken during one of my classes. I learned so much and I had a great time.

Brianna turned 12 and is now part of the Young Women program at Church. The older girls love to welcome the new girls, so they made this cute poster for Bri. The funniest part is that they put it on the neighbor's mailbox. We had a celebration at home where we dined on homemade California rolls, her favorite. The gifts we gave her included an avocado, a pint of Haagen Daaz, the game Clue, and a new purse. She was thrilled with her gifts. The avocado was a special request since she loves it and wanted one just for herself.


Here is a picture of Ty enjoying one of his birthday cupcakes I made. I surprised him at school. He was so happy and didn't want us to leave. Ella did not want to leave him either and proceeded to cry for 5 minutes in the car.




Ty turned 6! We celebrated his birthday with pizza and a cake made out of ice cream sandwiches. I love kids at this age as they are so easy to please when it comes to gifts. Although he was given other gifts, his world was complete with a super soft blanket and a new Bakugan.



I can't rave enough about www.ldsjournal.com. Andrew recently had his journal from ldsjournal.com printed into a book and it turned out great. I loved it so much that I wanted one for myself. I have now started my own account. It sends you reminders to journal according to the time settings you choose. It also has a journal jar section with questions for you to answer about your life.

I never thought we would ever be able to build a big snowman again since we moved to the South.

The kids showing off their snow fort. We received about 4 inches or so which is the most we have received in the nearly 3 years we have lived here. Due to the weather we have been trapped in our home for 3 days. Church was even canceled today. The area in which we live relies on the weather to melt the snow, so no sanding or plow trucks have been by here. This makes it incredibly dangerous to drive. School will be canceled tomorrow as well because of it. With temperatures in the 40s tomorrow, the roads should be clear by Tuesday.