Heading to "The BIG Apple"!

I'm packing up, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, doing last minute errands, and finishing laundry all in preparation for my trip to "The Big Apple". I'm so excited. I'm heading out of town with my good friend Amy from Memphis and we're meeting up with my sisters and my cousin Kelsey (all of us kidless, yippee). This is a big vacation for me because I get two of my favorite things~time with my sisters and time in my favorite city NYC! We will be there for 5 days and have tons planned. All of the obvious tourist attractions plus I get to see my childhood friend Elaina Gingold. So I'm signing out to check off some more items on my never ending "to do" list. To be continued...........

It's official, our family has been taken over by the game of baseball. We have a Marlin (Carson) and Royal (Cara) this year. Carson is now in kid pitch and Cara is FINALLY old enough to play T-Ball. She has been so excited. Carson is playing with a really good group of boys this year. He's the youngest on the team and I know he's a little intimidated but I think he'll be able to hang with the big boys. Most of the boys play competitive fall ball so hopefully Carson gets a little game time in and can show his coaches what he's made of. Cara so far is the only girl on her team. She could care less though. In fact it probably suits her personality just fine. We are up to our heads in practices and games. My new question of the week to you other Mom's out there is How in the heck do have your kids in more than one event??? With church, scouts, mutual, and school I don't see how's it's possible, unless I paint my car bright yellow and post TAXI on the side. Doesn't sound like the life I'm ready to lead right now. I say one thing at a time....my kids still have to be kids and have play time!

Cara's preschool takes a field trip

to the "Town Square".

Cara is such a happy little thing. She gets so excited about everything. The night before her field trip she kept telling me "Mommy I have to go to bed, cuz I have a field trip tomorrow." No arguments from me of course! She had a great time. They toured the Silver Caboose Restaurant, ate ice cream under the Gazebo, toured the train cars, and learned a little about the events that happened on the square during the Civil War. You can't miss Cara in these pics, She's the one with the big "Cheezer"!

Georgia Aquarium

We've STILL got Georgia

on our minds....

We decided to spend our Spring Break with Scott, Kim, and Grandma MaryAnn in Atlanta, Georgia. We had a wonderful time. We took walks, played ball at the park, went to the new Georgia Aquarium, visited and hiked Stone Mountain, ate lots of food, and helped celebrate Scott's birthday. I love being around family. It always makes me a little homesick once I have to say goodbye. Thanks you guys for a great weekend!

Bowing out from making

bows for a while!

I've been doing a little spring cleaning lately and came to the part of the process where it was time to clean out my ribbon closet. I knew the best way to get it organized was to get the bows made that I had bought all of the ribbon for in the first place. I love making bows, but I think I'm going on a bow making vacation for a while. The tops of my fingers are numb from working with hot glue and the joints aching from twisting so much wire. I spent Saturday afternoon making all of these and came out with about 50 more bows to add to the collection. If you need a bow just ask, I obviously have plenty!

"Cleaning the church is fun to do,

fun to do, fun to do, cleaning the

church is fun to do,

to do, to do, to do...."

A little Spring cleaning.....

minus the Spring!

I've been getting the cleaning bug lately I just wish it were a little warmer and sunnier out so I could get a little more motivation. My house can't wait any longer though. I decided baby steps are always best so I started with my master bathroom first.

My earrings are always in an unorganized mess in my jewelry box so I decided to get a plastic tackle box to hold them in. It turned out to be the perfect way to store and organize them.
This is all of the make up that I have held on to that had just a little more left, or the make up that I bought extras of and forgot I had. UGH, what a waste of money.
All of the extras in my bathroom drawers that are pretty much empty. Can somebody please tell me why I have all this junk to begin with???

Okay so seriously, how many headbands does a girl need.....not this many. I do love headbands and I do wear them but like everything else I own they're usually plain black....these are going to my Young Women. The sad thing is that I still have 6 black ones I kept in my drawer.

It feels good to throw....I love throwing. I love the feeling of tying up my big black garbage bags knowing that I've accomplished my goal of purging and getting a cleaner more organized house in the end. NEXT ON THE LIST.....my closet. YIKES!

BLESSED

I've wondered for the past 4 1/2 months how today would feel, the due date of our daughter Claire. I can honestly say that I am at peace today. I feel saddened for our loss but so extremely blessed for the children that we do have. I would be lying if I said I haven't had a few break downs because I have. It's funny when they hit. Usually I'm in my car by myself, with a religious song playing, when my heart starts to ache. I know it's okay to have those meltdowns and it's in those times that I feel so close to my Heavenly Father. Who knows what the future holds for our family. One thing I do know is that we are happy, and so grateful for our three healthy, bright, and beautiful children.

A little Ward Boot Scootin'

For our Ward party last week we had a line dance activity for adults only. The turn out was pretty poor, but we actually ended up having a lot of fun. Those of you who know Dave know that I had to BBBBEEEEEEEGGGGGG for days to get him there. He was a great sport and I think really did enjoy himself. I was proud of him for trying. We have a wonderful Ward. I love getting to know the members better through fun activities like this one.
Yep, the tall dude in the back actually bending his knee to the music would be my hubby...I knew you had it in you Dave!
You've gotta give it to these guys. I don't think a single one of them wanted to be there. Shows how much they love and support their wives!