Happy Birthday To Big Jay!

Friday, May 1st, my first son turned 8 years old! Wow, it's amazing to look back at old pictures of when he was little. (Unfortunately I don't have any in digital form.) He is a cute, humble little guy with the sweetest heart ever. He loves his family and shows it often. I love you so much big boy. Happy Birthday Jarom!


The morning pancake birthday celebration before school. For lunch, daddy went in to the school to buy ice cream for the class to celebrate.

Had 2 of his really good friends over for a sleep over and pizza! So much fun!

One of his family gifts was the Lego Pirates set. He was very excited, he and daddy stayed up late and put it all together.

Everyone had a hand in playing with it.

Walk the plank...RRRRR!

Spring Fever

Spring has definitely come...hope it hasn't left yet. It's getting pretty hot! I"m excited to see my flowers blooming and kids excited about our garden. We are a bit late planting, but we are planting!

The kids loved helping to plant a few seeds in pots, to get ready to transplant to the garden.

Raegan was busy watering the plants I bought from the store.

This is normally what you will see from some of my girls...yep, a little cracker jack never hurt anyone... Always a sweet surprise to put a smile on your face!

Ammon loves to raid the apple bowl. Putting those cute little teeth to some good use for sure!
Finally, here is the little guy pushing the "golf car" around and around. I know, I haven't posted him walking in action yet, but this is what he could do for hours and hours... To bad I don't fit in there, I could use a ride once in awhile!

Georgia Aquarium

Wow, what an adventure and a treat to go to the Georgia Aquarium...after being open for over 3 years, I was hoping it wouldn't be too crowded... (commentator) "The Georgia Aquarium welcomed its three millionth guest on August 24, 2006, and its five millionth on May 23, 2007." Okay so I was very wrong about it not being so crowded. I felt like we were the 11 millionth customers... it was still a great experience.

We dropped Ammon off at Troy and Kristin's house, THANK YOU, and took off for Atlanta--only a 30 min. drive. It's a very impressive facility "...world's largest aquarium with more than 8.1 million gallons of marine and fresh water housing more than 100,000 animals of 500 different species.

After the aquarium, we dropped by a recommended pizzeria called OZ in Fairburn. I love the quaint towns with their southern charm and history oozing from every brick. Very good pizza.

Ammon Is Walking!

Sometime I will be able to catch it on video. I get caught up in the excitement... Anyway, he stands up in place and takes up to 5 steps! He's definitely not a pro, but he's more confident then before. And many of you know about his petite feet he got from his mommy...so this is sooner then I thought! The past few weeks he'd attempt small episodes of walking and standing in place, but yesterday he just stood up and just went for it! Not just once, but over and over. Hope to share this soon...it's so adorable to watch such a milestone!

Today he found a little friend. Can you find it?

Yep, this fuzzy little guy may not be the same after Ammon was done with him. But it was so sweet to see him watch, chase and...attempt to pick him up. He had him in his fingers then turned, next thing I know, the caterpillar was gone! That's when I saw it crawling up his shirt. Poor thing was just trying to survive.

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter to everyone! It has been a fun weekend.

Again, we are in "simplifying" mode, trying to stay with the real purpose of Easter and other holidays. We helped the kids understand why they will not be getting a basket from the "Easter Bunny". But, it's still fun to hunt for eggs and get treats inside. So I hid 65 eggs in our backyard and let them all go for it. It was so fun to watch them work together.

They took turns hiding the eggs and finding them. It was a lot of good times. I think they reverted back to egg hunting days at Gma and Gpa Palmers house from the chickens last summer.

But of course we know this holiday is respectfully about our Savior

Jesus Christ and what He has done for each and everyone of us! What a special gift of renewel and rebirth, to be resurrected, because of He who loves us so much to give his own life.

What Ammon looks like before church...I promise he has a whole different look after those long few hours!

My little princess Rae! She asked me to straighten her hair today. So, she felt like a princess!

Little Tarin, what a cutie! She is truly a character all her own...

And my big, boy Jay. With all that hair cut off you can see his cute, big eyes popping out with his sweet smile. What a handsome boy!

My sweet girl Ri Ri. What a beautiful woman she is turning into!

And the crew altogether before church. What a cute bunch of kids. We are lucky parents to have such wonderful kids.

Hail? To The...

Last night Trent and I went out for my birthday dinner...yep, my one chance a year to have good sea food. Let's just say Trent is a big fan of their chicken! While waiting... and waiting... and getting familiar with the lady next to me with her cute daughter and sweet family... and her spiel about her thriving"Slumber Party" business...yeah, can you see the bishops wife throwing one of those lingerie parties???...well, the weather turned a bit scary!

This is a picture from the local news, of one of the earlier storms in Newnan. Looks beautiful, and...fluffy! But it dumped quite a bit of gravel-sized hail and the wind was all scary-like. Of course we are hoping everyone at home is alright. So during dinner (we were skipped from being seated and watched the hail from the waiting area) we called the house and consoled Tarin and Raegan from the thunder that was now hitting them. Then about 20 minutes later, the next storm hit and the same routine of hail and lighting hit. (Personally, I love to watch all of it, but when kids are on the mind, it's not as peaceful.)

After a bit of shopping, we made our way home, and found ourselves in another wave of thunderstorms. It was spectacular watching all the lighting slice its' way through the sky, until it struck close to our truck. We were driving down 34, passing the YMCA toward home, and literally 50 ft from our truck, lightning hit a transformer and threw sparks everywhere! Wow, that was amazing and scary all at the same time!

This morning, the kids wanted to show me the hail that was still left in the yard. I'm sure it melted a lot, but here is what I found. Much of it sticking together, but in big globs.

Raegan thought hers was the biggest of all ;o)

Last I checked Easter is tomorrow...so that makes this APRIL! And we are still getting snow flurries (last wednesday) and hail! Al Gore, would have plenty to say...

Just A Thought...

A friend shared, so now I will share. I've come to find Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talks my favorite.

A Great Day!

HAPPY BiRtHdAy...TO ME!

Not that I want to be a year older, but it's been a great day so far...aside that Ammon woke up at 6am, and tossed and turned in our bed with us...who wants to get up anyway?

Trent made pancakes for breakfast, which I've always loved! Then later, I took the kids to the soccer fields to play at the park with many others from the Newnan ward. The sun is shinning, the sky is clear, and temperatures are fabulous!

The day is not over yet, I hope for more fun and appreciation (as the kiddos get older, that appreciation part starts to run thin...) =-)

Rian's Quilt

This is Rian putting together her quilt. She's pretty excited to use my sewing machine. Also, she's feeling a bit behind, competative nature inside, so she wants to catch up to Jarom...



So cute to see my oldest creating, and learning something new.


She loves the fabric she was able to pick out!

Spring Break Begins

Well, what to do, what to do...we don't have plans to vacation... Trent decided to take Rian to work...and put her to work. I guess their is a pile of papers that need to be organized and filed and no one wants to do it, so for $3 an hour, Rian is working for daddy.

It will get worse before it gets better.







Now she knows why no one wanted to do it.

Jarom and Rian want to learn how to sew and make a quilt for their bed. They picked out some fabric they liked from Fabric Square Shop

It's so cute to see my boy sewing. (Rian will start hers later. )

He finished a row and was so proud.






I think one row a day (maybe 2) will be the attention limit for now. Little by little.

Later that night, the Bakes invited us over for dinner for some "Cafe' Rio", wow, it really did taste just like the restaurant! But it was the Molten Chocolate Cake that Andrea was inspired to make from our cruise! Wow, it was just as good, w/o our surroundings rocking back and forth...Excellent food with good company.

Cousin Time

This past week was a lot of fun! Denham and Brennin came down from Indiana to spend their spring break with their mom, Missy (Trent's sister). Sadly, our kids' spring break isn't until the next week. But we had fun all the same. A few days we went to Jumping Jellybeans, the library, lots of playing outside, dollar store, Nintendo DSing, and a fun sleepover. Rian loved trying out their cell phone...a whole new world of texting. I think some of you thought it was Denham...but it was Rian. Oh, sorry Gma Wardwell, I think Rian called you early this morning (oops 2 hour difference--would have stopped her if I knew). ^__^ We all had so much fun. The best part is watching them be such good friends. Love you boys, see you this summer!






Here they all are enjoying themselves in our very-messy-play-land-of-a-basement...we didn't need that stuff anyway...right?

This was one picture I had to steal of Denham...he loves those "Wimpy Kid" series. So after the library he sat down and finished the book. Very cute.

Hey, what's a sleepover w/o a fun dinner. Gotta love the good 'ol mac and cheese and hot dog routine!

Call Me Crazy...

I love to get out and do things outside...Yes, we washed the van, the kids' favorite thing to do, even though we knew it was going to rain the next day...the next 4 days...but it hadn't been washed for probably 6 months. It was screaming for a wash. (This is last week) Trent decided he wanted give the camera a shot... ;o)






Everyone helped...

BEFORE...

all grimmy and yucky and "not looking forward to it"...

AFTER...

all shinny and gleaming...nice job (pat myself on the back)

As I was doing the rims (before kids got home from school) "Where's Ammon?"

Oh yeah, of course, wanting a wagon ride. "Help yourself big boy!" He played for a good 10 mins in there.

Good Mor-ning Sunshine!

Ammon's 1st Birthday Celebration

Ammon is the Big 1 as of Thursday, March 19th! (We celebrate it on Sat. with family.) Wow, how fast a year blurs past. There is always something to get done or something to plan for ...the next thing you know, years pass you by. Every now and then I find myself looking through pictures and finding out how much our family really has experienced. It makes me sad that their are so many stresses that get in the way of what really matters...sad that I or any of us need constant reminder to remember our purpose here on this earth. We are to gain knowledge and raise our Heavenly Fathers children in His light.

Ammon is pure joy. He really does have the pure light of Christ, and I hope I can continue to teach him so he can sustain that light in his life. What a gift to raise a perfect child of God. Now here we are a year later and he is a lovable, healthy boy! He completes our family. I love you big, boy!

Here is the big guy opening gifts from Gma Wardwell...Thank you Gma!

Trent, Troy and Kristin had the same idea...great minds think alike!

Ammon was still a bit out of it from his nap, but started to test the cake...

but having 10 people watch him kind of scared him a little....

so daddy decided to help him out...or more like joined in on the fun...I think the plan was to show Ammon how to do it...but I'm thinking Trent wanted an excuse to paint himself with chocolate frosting...we all need to have fun too.

what a cute set of boys!