also Josie's birthday

Today is also Josie's 2nd birthday! We were set to have a birthday party until she threw up yesterday. So she and I stayed home today and cuddled to make sure she was over the sickies, we don't like to share germs. =] And the party is on schedule for tomorrow! We went ahead and gave her one of her gifts. She loves her dog!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!! We hope you've been able to enjoy this special day and relish the love you have in your life.

Snow Day!

Friday was a snow day for us. I don't remember it snowing this well since 1993. Ben got to come home at 2 and we all played in the snow. It constantly went between raining and snowing. We went to Nana's house because her snow wasn't at slushy as ours and we built a snowman.

Useless, but cute

I think I'm going to try building one of these for the boy. Toddlers love repetition and he has such a mechanical mind. Anyone else?

Thank You Uncle Denny!

Thanksgiving

This has been a rough week for us. And it has made us even more grateful for our blessings. We are thankful for our eternal family, Ben's job, our good health, and never ending entertainment & joy in the form of our 3 toddlers. Of course there's lots more, but come on it's 2 am. =]

What Matters Most

Gotta See This!

Happy Belated Birthday Jason!

Home Improvements

Papa Joe (Ben's grandpa) came over today to help us install a new stove & rangehood. It took all morning because we had to cut some wood and such, but It's beautiful. I also included pictures of lights we've updated.

And I've added a poll to the side to see what you think about the hallway doors. If it's "other" then please comment & explain. =]

Oh yeah, and the reason for the home improvements? we're selling our home and moving just a few miles away. We'll still be in the same ward at church and near everything, but our budget won't be stretched so tight.

now to buy the CD!

Paramore

I love this song!

Paramore - New Music - More Music Videos

Johnny 'Candy' Candido

I recently found out about this guy with an unbelievable talent. I've been trying to find videos of him, but haven't had much luck. I'll have to have Ben's help later for it. Brother-in-law Jeremy was very impressed with Candy's range. (Jeremy's our local music authority.) =]

Here's one I found. He's the one playing the bass. Check out how high & low his voice can go very quickly.


Here's another. He's only in the short first scene.

hilarious!

Oh, I had so many laughs playing with these pictures at Yearbook Yourself. I marked which ones are my favorites in the captions. Which ones are yours?

JaNae

JaNae's birthday is August 13th. When Josie was born she had these cute shirts made up for the kids as Charisma's. They say "Aunt Nae Is the BEST!" In honor of her birthday I dressed the kids in their matching shirts. I even took pictures. But I forgot to post them because she was working on her birthday & I knew she wouldn't get them. better late than never, i guess.

Happy belated Birthday JaNae!

July 5th

Ok, so our 4th wasn't too exciting. But it was quite an adventure on the 5th. We went to Grayton Beach State Park in florida. It was nice & beautiful. Too much whale snot (seaweed) though. So surely you would think after our backyard swim disaster with our children we would learn. Well, I thought that Carlise would enjoy it if she saw her many cousins enjoying the beach. Ha! Oh yeah, it was that kind of day. The drive wasn't too long and the kids did really well. (a DVD player will do that, though) We paid $4 to get in (but they don't allow alcohol-- Yay!) Lots of white blistering hot sand. Carlise very quickly to inform us (as in right when we got on the beach) that she wanted to go home-Now! Ben tried taking her down to the water but she screamed the entire walk down there. Josie & Wesley enjoyed our wonderful sport pack-n-play that has a canopy and UPF 50+ rating. Carlise screamed until she realized we were ignoring her, then she willing went into the pack n play as well. I got burned really bad even though I used sunscreen. I tried spraying my back down when I was changing, but I couldn't reach what I sprayed. so, I got this fantastic drip mark burn. Wesley enjoyed the water. I got to use my solarveil pouch sling! I tried taking Carlise to the edge of the water and sitting on the sand. Even the waves coming in and just barely touching her toes, she freaked! And I got some ugly looks from folks for this cruel treatment of my child. I can't help that's she all drama. I took pictures of a couple food stands that swamp a small stretch of road w/ a speed limit of 35.

We got home around 5:30 and quickly showered & changed clothes and went to Jacob & Crystal's reception. I just need to say that Google's directions sucked & Aubrey was correct. We didn't get there until 7pm when everyone was leaving. But we can always go on a double date with them. The picture of Crystal & myself really shows my sunburn & just how bad I look.

Memorable part of the night- Jacob seeing Carlise for the first time since before his mission, him being surprised that I now have 3 children (Crystal was so ITK), and when Carlise said," Hi Jacob!" & his response was," *Gasp* She can talk!" =]

Field Day & Ice Cream Social

We recently went out to Landmark Park to let Ben participate in Field Day. No, not that kind of field day. It's a Ham thing. Field Day is an exercise for amateur radio operators (Hams). They essentially try to contact as many hams in as many places as they can during the 24 hour period of field day. They have it at Landmark Park to get more exposure for the Wiregrass Amateur Radio Club. Why is ham radio so important? during an emergency, it's the only thing that will work. Ben's had his license for almost 10 years. I'm working on getting mine as well.


It was also the annual Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social day at Landmark Park. I love going out there and enjoying the home made ice cream and seeing the animals, old houses & stores. It's quite a unique place. Here are pictures from that day. We also saw an educational presentation on milk cows. Like did you know- a dairy cow has to calf every year in order to keep producing milk? We met Lilly the preggo cow.

Fourth of July

Here are pictures from our Fourth of July. We didn't do much. My Dad flew out for his mother's funeral and my Mom left to pick up the my 2 younger brothers from EFY. We did go to my Mom & Dad's though and grilled with Jeremy & JaNae. We wanted to go swimming, but it started to storm. JaNae did give Wesley a big boy haircut, though. He was occupied with cheese puffs & 2 combs.

Josie

Josie is growing so fast.

I'm gonna weigh her tomorrow to see how big she's gotten.

Go Uncle Denny! =]

Watch Carlise grow-up

and don't pay attention that there are 8 months of pictures that I just discovered are missing!!

Edit: added some pics that Mom had =]