Fall Retreat 2010

This past weekend we took our students to Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters for a Fall Retreat.  Jody had made a wager that if we got 50 students signed up to go he would shave his gotee!  Although I was rooting for the students to get 50, I did NOT want him to shave off his gotee!!!  Lucky for me (& Jody) we got 45 students!  Last week schools were out for a fall break, and it just so happens that there were a few schools that had decided to have "non-mandatory" but necessary practices which prevented some of our regular students from going!  We had a great weekend and the students LOVED Snowbird and can't wait to go back in the summer!!!  Thanks to my parents for coming to Georgia to watch our kiddos for the weekend (Friday-Sunday) so I could go without kids!!!

This was our group shot, complete with leaders!  If you want to see more pictures of the weekend, click here A, B or C...there were about 500 pics and I edited them down to 423!  A few of our students took our camera and captured the weekend from their perspective, always interesting!!!          

Wordless Wednesday...when uths take yo camera!

Did you notice?

The new pictures of us on the left side of our blog and at the top?  A great friend Pam took pictures of our entire family (parents, brothers, sis-in-law, niece & us) while we were back in North Carolina a few weeks ago :) We take an annual picture for my parents wedding anniversary in November, but decided this year to add my parents for an entire family shot!!!  They turned out so good, Pam is an exceptional photographer, especially to keep the attention of all 5 kiddos, 2 of them 2 and under!  Thanks again Pam for the awesome time we had and all the beautiful picture you captured of our family!!!  I am going to throw in a picture of our entire family as a teaser.  But you can see more of Pam's photography and our family on her website by clicking here :)

Tennessee Football

For as long as I've know Jody (1998) he's been a HUMONGOUS University of Tennessee Football fan, that also just happens to be the year they won the championship game thingy!  He's never been to a game at Neyland Stadium and has always wanted to go, so this year was the year!  I researched and researched and researched where to sit, where to park, what game to go to, basically everything to make sure it was the best it could be!  

I even talked to some of our friends who were season pass holders and had family that had season passes to see if my selections were good!  I ordered the tickets while Jody was in El Salvador and had to hide them until our anniversary (August 19th), I couldn't wait another month to give them to him for his birthday!!!  He was shocked and super excited!  Jody's Mom came in town to watch the kiddos so we could head to Knoxville for the day...which is only about 3 hours away :)  We left around 9am so we could get there in time for the Vol walk and marching band before the game and got home around 11pm!  We had a lot of fun, even though we were packed in the stadium, there were 102, 455 people in a stadium that had enough seats for 102, 459 seats!!!  

Now that's a lot of ORANGE!  We took so many pictures, so here's the link to what I posted on facebook (easier to post them all to facebook than on here).  And here's the link to the pics I took with my Droid.  So glad we were able to spend the day together and Jody was finally able to see his Vols play :)  Thank you also to all our family who helped make this day possible!!!

Happy...

30th Birthday 

to my awesome, amazing, fantastic husband!!!  

Jody isn't a big celebrate birthdays guy, but if you have facebook write on his wall, send him a text or call him to wish him Happy Birthday :)

I took him to a University of Tennessee Football game last weekend as his birthday present!!!  

Stay tuned for pictures, we took a ton and had a great time :)  

Happy Birthday Honey!!!

Wordless Wednesday...Park Fun!

A Prince & Princesses...

all gathered in our "castle" last Sunday for a royal gathering to celebrate Lizzy's 4th Birthday!!!  Here are just a few of the pictures...

Click here to see more pictures!

Thankful for Thursdays!

Here are a few reasons why: 

• Thursdays mark the end of Jody's work week.  Being in the ministry his work week begins on Sunday with Friday and Saturday off!  I'm thankful he has a day off during a "regular" work week :)  For so many years Saturday was his only day off, leaving not as much time as we'd like to spend with him!
• COFFEE!  This is everyday thankfulness!
• My husband who gets Emma up and ready for school every morning so I can sleep that extra 30 minutes until the rest of the crew wakes up :)
• The short walk we get each day to pick up Emma from the bus stop!
• A husband who can fix car troubles!  While we were in NC (about an hour away from my family) we noticed a grinding noise coming from the front brakes!  It turns out part of the brake pad had broken off and it was pure metal on metal-terrible sound and super scary!  Jody changes our brakes, so it was a breeze & he knew just what to do!  I'm thankful we were at my brothers house who had the tools Jody needed to fix the brakes...who knew he'd need to bring his toolbox?!
• MY silly goofy kiddos who make me laugh, even when they are in trouble :)
• Thursdays mean Fridays are right around the corner and we get to spend Saturdays together as a family!!!

What are you thankful for on this Thursday?

Cookout!

While we were in North Carolina we had a cookout for Lizzy's Birthday...she was so excited to see our family and that there was a party just for her!  I didn't get many pictures, we enjoyed the evening just spending time with family, but my Mom & Aunts snapped a ton of pictures, as soon as I can get a hold of them I'll post them :)  Until then enjoy these few...

Jack & Karsen (my cousin Zach's little girl-they are 16 days apart)

Me & Karsen :)

My Grandma & a few of her great-grandkiddos

Karsen, Crystal (Karsens Mommy) & Jack

A few Shellmans, some Livingstons and 1 Goodew...

My niece Ashtyn

And the Birthday girl with her cake!  

She picked it out all by herself!

We had a great time spending the evening with family!!!  Thanks to everyone for coming and making Lizzy's 4th Birthday Special!

Lizzy's Birthday :)

We've had a few parties for our newest 4 year old :)  We began hearing all about her "biwfday pawty" since Emma's birthday back in January, who she wanted to invite, where she wanted to have it at, what she wanted to do...in great detail I might add!  Her Sunday school teachers one day decided to write down everything she had been saying just to show us how excited she was...the list was very long and included a tricycle race, water balloons, tea party and ice cream cake (to name a few ;)  On her actual birthday we started out the morning with breakfast of her choice, Dora balloon, presents & a birthday card and  that afternoon we left for North Carolina to visit family and friends for the long holiday weekend!    She said all day "since I'm the birthday girl I get to choose"...this is a phrase that has continued even until this morning :)  Her Uncles & Aunt had given her Build-A-Bear gift certificates for her birthday and she was dying to use them since she had never experienced Build-A-Bear for herself!  We headed out with our kiddos, my brother, sis-in-law, niece and both my parents to the mall the weekend we were in Raleigh...I snapped a ton of pictures, as many as I could of all the girls (Anna also got Build-A-Bear gift certificates for her birthday next month) so I made a slideshow!  I snapped all these with my Droid, sorry some are blurry, but you get the picture :)

This photo slideshow made with Smilebox

What in the world?!

Yikes, so it's been about a week since I posted!  We've been really busy-NOT an excuse, because we are all busy I know!  We've had birthday parties (yes more than one), two 4 year olds, a visit to NC, Build A Bear, volleyball games, new bangs, grillin' out...I'm working on posts as I type this, so don't fret (like I'm sure you are :).  I'll be back to letting you know what's up with The Livingston Family ASAP!!!

Wordless Wednesday 4 year old attitude...

Sorry for no posts the past few days!  We headed back to North Carolina Thursday after Emma got out of school and got back late Monday evening (just in time for bed)!  I'll hopefully be able to post this afternoon, that is if I finish all the laundry, get to the grocery store and unpack EVERYTHING!!!  Hope everyone had a great labor day weekend :)

Happy 4th Birthday!!!

To our sweet & sassy Lizzy :)  We are so thankful for our beautiful 3rd baby girl!!!

Happy Birthday brand spankin' new...

Happy 1st...

Happy 2nd...

Happy 3rd...

And today Happy 4th Birthday Lizzy Maye!!!  

We love you so much and can't wait to see what life holds for our "sassy pants" :)

  

If you'd like to see more posts about Lizzy click on her name on the left side of the page under "looking for something specific?".

Wordless Wednesday, morning snack!