4 Blue 1 Pink

Home Sweet Home

2010-09-29T14:54:00.011-05:00

Okay, so the plans changed again...and again...and again. We finally got down here to Georgia in March and quickly found out that the current housing market would allow us to BUY a dream-like property for much less than it would cost us to build the house we designed. So Mike signed the paperwork this afternoon for what we HOPE to be our LAST home (for at least a decade or two!!!) This is the seventh home we've purchased since we were married 15 years ago. Mike's travels all over the world for work so as long as we are close to a major airport we can live anywhere. And now we will be just 25 miles directly south of the Atlanta airport. Why go through the hassle and heartache of building when we can buy this for HALF of what it assessed for when it was built in 2006??? We weren't even "house shopping" when we mentioned to a Realtor we met that we would love for her to keep her eyes open for a country property with two houses on it so we could maybe live near Mike's brother and his wife. Just a week later she sent us the listing info on this property. We went to see it right away thinking we could grab it for a steal since it was a foreclosure that had been on the market for almost two years. We couldn't believe how perfect it was...like it was built just for us! So...in our day of modern technology...we sent a text to Mike's brother and his wife. It was something like, "Hey, do you guys want to buy 7.5 acres with two houses on it with us?" Amazingly, they said they just might! Of course, after being on the market for so long, the week we made our offer, two other people did as well. It was a stressful waiting game for a few weeks but here we are, almost 3 months later, joint owners of this beautiful property on Lake Horton in Fayetteville, Georgia. It's about 18 miles north of where we currently are. We rented our Williamson home to a nice family from here in Pike County and are packing up AGAIN. But just thinking about the beautiful view of our backyard will help make it easier: The property is very deep and narrow but is right on the lake. There's no swimming allowed but electric motor boats or canoes & kayaks will be tons of fun! The family who built the house must not have cooked much because the only thing missing from this amazing kitchen is a double oven...the small appliance under the counter on the right side looks like it may be a trash compactor but actually it's an ice maker! It will be well-used in our southern summers! It's set-up much like our Illinois kitchen with more space all around the island. There is a craft room/office for me AND a separate laundry room off of the kitchen. Mike's office is in the front corner of the house with a window that looks out to the driveway. What a treat! A full-size fridge and freezer IN the kitchen. And space for our extra freezer in the craft room/office just off the kitchen. No more treks to the garage for frozen peas! We bought our very first flat screen TV this morning that will be perfect for the spot reserved for it above the fireplace. Behind the fireplace wall is a game room. Our good friends here in GA are giving us the ping pong table they don't have room for any more. We will put our round oak table under the windows for games or puzzles the kids can leave out when they aren't done playing. Front door. Not too exciting but the view to guests when we open it will go straight through the sliding door across the family room and right out to the lake. Nice! This is a view of the back of Pete & Lisa's house. My kids' favorite part is the basketball court although the previous owners took the hoop with them, we'll get one soon. A view of the back of both houses. They are connected by a 30 ft enclosed breezeway. Another section of breezeway connects both houses to the garage. This is the view from the balcony off the master bedroom. The play set also left with the previous owners but our kids are almost too big for one anyways and there is a huge park across the lake we can go to. There are a total of 6 1/2 bathrooms in both houses and this is the ONLY bathtub (in the master bath.) Maggie's room has it's own bathroom. The green walls are cute but don't go with the decor I've already been collecting for Maggie so it will have to go. Her bedroom has a "chocolate" theme with all pink & brown stuff. Maybe we'll post new photos when we get to that project. The "project" list is quite long but we'll get to it eventually.... We've got plenty of space for guests so you're welcome to visit any time. We're about half an hour south of the Atlanta airport about in the middle between I-85 & I-75. Georgia is so beautiful and we are enjoying being here. Having a little more space will be a treat and so much fun to entertain in and to decorate and shop for furniture bargains for...when I find the time! Thank you to Pete & Lisa for sharing in this adventure with us. We look are sooooo excited to have such awesome neighbors!!! Love you guys!

Letter from Grandma

2010-02-19T08:31:00.004-06:00

I just have to post this because it made me laugh and love her even more....this is the letter we had waiting for us from Janice (Mike's Mom) when we returned from a 10-day vacation last weekend: Dear Mike and Mercy, Welcome home! Sorry Maggie got a pair of scissors. She didn't cut too much, just a little. I'm not responsible for M&M's in your bed, Mercy's socks in Mike's drawer, unclaimed laundry in your office, Mr. Potato Head parts on the floor, Muffin (the cat) taking a bath in the bathroom sink, nerf bullets in hidden places, or missing candy as Maggie periodically was chewing chocolate Almond Roca or some such candy, but she could never tell me where she got it because I wanted some, too; frozen soda cans in the snow from time to time, any missing food from freezers that you were hoping to save for yourself. Yes, we have had a party while you were gone. I plead the fifth amendment to anything and everything your neighbors might say. P.S. The hair was Maggie's dolly hair--ha ha--this time. Happy Valentines Day! Mom

WHAT A DEAL!!!

2009-11-07T18:45:00.009-06:00

I got all this food for a total of $49.32 out of pocket. THAT'S OVER $671 RETAIL VALUE OF NAME BRAND STUFF! It's quite an adrenaline rush but completely legal and what a gift to a family of 7 with holidays coming! A view from the front: There are 26 boxes of cereal, 24 rolls of paper towels, 12 containers of frosting, 4 bags of flour, 6 jars of spaghetti sauce, 8 bottles of salad dressing, 8 brownie mixes, 4 cake mixes, 9 cookie mixes, 12 cartons of chicken broth, 24+ Knorr pasta and rice sides (probably will give most of these away), four bottles of light mayo, 16 cans of Progresso soup, 6 packets of tuna, 3 boxes of Fiber One bars, 18 Yoplait yogurt 4-packs, 6 boxes of Kleenex, 11 packages of Cottonelle flushable wipes, 10 boxes of Betty Crocker potatoes & 4 boxes of Chicken Helper (again, will give these to a food bank), 2 boxes of Klondike bars (will NOT give these away!!!), 6 boxes of Toaster Strudel treats, 2 pkgs of peanut butter crackers that my boys take for snack at school. The view from above: So thanks to help and tips from our great friends the Smith's and a class my friend Jill taught at church all about super couponing, I have a new addiction! A good one this time since it means we get tons of food and stuff for free or almost free. I just had to post this photo of all the stuff I bought this week at Jewel. I started this with $15 in Catalinas we earned from "buying" ice cream last weekend although along with the Smith's we invested about $4 each and got about 180 containers of Breyers ice cream. It was fun to give a lot of it away to friends and neighbors and supply dessert for the Primary Activity on Friday night--and it cost practically NOTHING!!! I have $30 in Catalinas (the things that print out next to the receipt when you check out) still left to use on other things we may need in the next two weeks (before they expire) or I can keep rolling them to get more food for super super cheap. Here are my favorite websites for finding the deals out there: dealseekingmom.com, mashupmom.com, hip2save.com, hotcouponworld.com. It IS very time consuming and I've not been getting much sleep lately because there are always deals to research and prepare for but I've filled every shelf, cabinet and crevice I can put food in my kitchen and basement so it's time to slow down. Now that we're pretty well stocked I can pick and choose which deals to go after. Happy couponing everyone!

Fabulous Photos September 2009

2009-09-21T13:00:00.003-05:00

Just a few of the photos we had taken on Saturday morning by Amanda...you can check her out at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Photography-by-Amanda-Singleton/95229548784

Hawaii May 2009

2009-08-11T13:28:00.006-05:00

In early May Mike tells me he has to go to Honolulu on business and had been trying to work it out for me to go along but he just wasn't able to do it alone. Thanks to our wonderful friends, the Smiths and another awesome couple in our ward, the Larsons, who took over with the kids when the Smith's left town for their own vacation--I was able to go along. Our hotel, car and Mike's food were all paid for by his company and Mike had a $400 voucher with Delta Airlines after being bumped from a flight a few months prior so all I had to pay was $209 for my plane ticket for a week in beautiful Waikiki!!! Although we miss him when he's gone, there are definitely advantages to having a husband who travels frequently for work. With our kids in competent and loving hands, we flew off for another week away (we had only returned from our cruise a few weeks before). My favorite part of the entire week was the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie but of course right when we got there our camera battery died! Seems like that's the story of every vacation we go on. I even went back a different day during the week to take more photos (and enjoy my favorite shows again while Mike was working) but for some reason those photos and video clips didn't save properly because when I downloaded the camera, they didn't appear....I really wish I was more electronic savvy! We flew to Honolulu on a Sunday and spent most of Monday at the Polynesian Cultural Center. So here we are after the show and back in our hotel room. Tuesday through Friday morning Mike really did have to work all day but Friday we went to Pearl Harbor. We toured a submarine, the USS Bowfin as well as the USS Missouri battleship and the USS Arizona Memorial. There were lots of old pieces of ships to see while we waited for our tour to begin. USS Arizona Memorial. USS Missouri in the background. Thanks to recommendations from the Clement family, we had an awesome dinner at a great place called "Dukes" -- it was well worth the hour long wait! We went someplace else for dessert but had an amazing mud pie (to share, of course). Waiting for dinner we wandered around outside and found dozens of surf boards all stored for the night...someday I might take a surfing lesson on vacation but there wasn't time during this trip. The last day we were there we went on a lengthy horseback ride. It's kind of a tradition we've been able to do on most of our vacations. It was beautiful country and we were with a small group so it was quiet and peaceful...a great way to see the north side of the island.We had an awful hotel the first 5 nights but the last night we moved to the beautiful Hawaii Prince and this was the view out our window. We should have stayed there the entire week. It was down by the marina instead of right in downtown Waikiki but the hotel was clean and spacious and just simply gorgeous. I highly recommend it to anyone heading out there...best of all, we got it on Hotwire.com for only $89 for the night. (Since we extended our stay past Mike's work obligations, we paid for the last night ourselves.) A beautiful floral arrangement greeted us by the elevators. Oh, how I wish we would have stayed here the entire week. One piece of advice: listen to tripadvisor.com -- they know what they are talking about! It's a great resource for actual guest reviews of just about anyplace you would go on vacation. Thanks again to the Smiths, Larsons and my darling spouse for allowing me the gift of time away from kiddos and although the days were long with Mike working, I found great places to go shopping and even worked out at the YMCA every day. I know I am especially blessed to enjoy traveling like we do but it's my absolute most favorite thing to do whenever I have the chance. Our next trip was our West Coast road trip. I'll post all about our month away when I have a chance. Stay tuned....

Taffy

2009-08-05T12:13:00.005-05:00

Okay Mom -- this is for you! My mom keeps telling me she checks my blog often only to find I haven't posted anything new. Well this news is not new to her but a post of news of our family anyway.... So in May and early June we were preparing for a 6,000 mile road trip out West and contemplating whether or not to rent a car for the trip or take our own van. The rental would cost almost $1,000 and without upgrading to a full-size SUV (for $2,200 for a month) the rental company wouldn't guarantee us a vehicle that would seat our family of 7. The didn't have any mini-vans available at the time. This all goes back to the summer of 2003 when we drove our old van from Omaha, Nebraska to Sacramento, CA for our summer trip only to have our transmission die right when we got off the freeway at our home exit, Bond Road. I didn't want to spent the $3,000+ to fix the older van we'd had continuous problems with. Mike wasn't ready to stray from our plan to wait 6-9 more months to buy a new van. The dealership where the van had been towed offered us $3,000 toward a trade-in which I wanted to do but Mike wasn't willing to change our time line for a new vehicle. We really don't fight -- we disagree sometimes -- but this was by far the biggest "disagreement" of our 7 years of marriage at that time. To top it off we were leaving in a few days for a trip to Hawaii, leaving our kids with Mike's mom for a week to have a romantic vacation alone. So we paid the $3,000 to have the old van fixed then only kept it for 6 more months before we gave up trying to continue repairing the old van and traded it in for Mike's Altima where we got how much for a trade-in???? Just $3,000!!! It had been a lemon of a van in my opinion which is another reason our next vehicles have all been brand new. Mike promised me back then that we would never drive an old van on a long trip. It wasn't worth the stress of wondering if it would die -- of course at that time we didn't have to rent a large vehicle as we only had 3 kids are weren't planning to have any more. Mason was 8 months old at the time. So in preparation for an even longer trip with our family of 7 we decided what are cars for -- we pay for them to drive them where we want to go. So we agreed to take our van in to a repair shop to have it checked out and made ready for such a long trip. We agreed we wouldn't spend any more than $500 on repairs for a vehicle with 101,000 miles that we were only planning to keep till the end of the year. The owner of the shop called us himself and said he definitely would NOT take this van on a long trip. The rack & pinion on the front right side was worn and could fail at any time causing us to lose steering in the right front wheel. That was the only major repair but others were needed soon. This NEEDED repair would cost us over $1200 and we were planning to leave town the next afternoon. After talking with Mike we decided we would move up our plans to buy a new van. I spent that afternoon looking on the internet for dealerships in the area who had the model and color I wanted and also talked with a neighbor who had bought the same exact van just 10 days before. So what did we do? We drove the silver van three of my kids had ever only known from the repair shop straight to a Honda dealership and bought the white Honda Odyssey I had wanted when we bought this Chrysler van almost 7 years ago. We didn't even see it or drive it before we filled out all the paperwork. The research our neighbor had done before buying their Odyssey was invaluable as we had just one evening to buy this new van and pack it up to drive out to the west coast and back with stops in Colorado, Utah, California & Nebraska. It's a bit crazy to be so excited about a new MINIVAN but I've recommended the van to numerous friends over the years who have known of my obsession with cars and asked for my opinion about which van to buy. I finally got my own!!! Thank you to Mike for giving me this luxury. It's an EX-L model with leather, sunroof, DVD player with wireless headsets, 8 seats and a power liftgate. The middle windows roll down (my kids were constantly asking me to do this in our old van that didn't have the ability to do so) and I even have XM radio for a few months. We've had it for 8 weeks today and have over 7200 miles already but they've been fun to drive, even when I had to drive all the way home from Sacramento by myself with all five kids! Mike had flown home from there to return to work. We have a few friends and family members who name their cars so we thought it would be fun to do as well. After unsuccessfully trying a few other names we agreed to name her "Taffy". The official name of the van color is "taffeta white" which is where the name came from. Okay, Mom -- there's your post. When I have a bit more time I'll share all about Hawaii, summer fun with cousins and our road trip of 2009. Stay tuned....

RUBY PRINCESS March 28-April 4

2009-05-07T08:21:00.005-05:00

The beautiful Ruby Princess was our floating hotel for a week--oh how I love cruises! The ship was brand new in November of 2008. It was our 4th cruise, but first on Princess Cruise Lines. The food wasn't as good as we remembered it being on previous trips but the ship was gorgeous and really--who cares where you are when you're away from kids and home and have 7 days with your sweet hubby??? We splurged for a balcony cabin and were upgraded 6 categories so we had a huge balcony with four chairs and a table. I don't think I'll ever be able to cruise again without our own balcony....That is where you could find us more often than not. I finished a 600+ page book by day 5--we tried to play cards out there one night but a gust of wind took them flying to neighboring balconies so we stuck to reading and enjoying the fresh ocean air and loved sleeping with the sliding door open at night! The day we stopped in Grand Cayman we woke up to this sight from our balcony...it was like a cruise ship parking lot in the water just off the shore. Some stops don't actually have a real dock--the ships anchor out a ways and use "tender" boats to take passengers ashore. On this ship they used our own lifeboats as the tender boats--it was nice to know everything worked as it should in case we needed them! This was a tender behind us loading passengers to take ashore.In Ocho Rios, Jamaica we went horseback riding and actually got to ride in the ocean. About halfway through the ride they unsaddled the horses and put bare-back pads on 10 at a time and we all changed into swimsuits and rode out in this bay in the background. We were so deep at times that the water was up to our waists on horseback--tons of fun!!! Formal night on the Ruby Princess.... Thanks to My Michael for another awesome vacation! I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course many, many thanks to Mike's mom who came to stay with all our kids for the week. We even left on the twins 3rd birthday with a 24-hour stomach flu going through all 5 of the kids, one at a time. Fortunately, Janice didn't get sick. See you in a few weeks, Mom.

Family Update

2009-03-10T21:00:00.003-05:00

Since I've heard from a few of you that you really would like to see an update here, I guess I'll spend the time knowing that someone will actually read this! I'll start before Christmas when we were surprised and saddened to hear of the passing of Mike's dad, Stephen Ross Forsyth. After realizing that what he initially thought was like a stomach flu, he learned he had cancer in late November and was only sick for a few weeks before he died on December 20th at his home with his wife of over 40 years, Mike's mom, Janice. He had spoken with her earlier that day of arranging for all their 6 kids and 16 grandkids to come for a visit soon, knowing his days were short. She didn't really think we'd be coming for his funeral instead. Being Christmas week, it was a challenge to get flights for those of us outside of California but we flew out on Christmas Day (having arranged with Santa to visit our home a day early.) The photo below is Steve & Janice at our last family vacation together in Lake Tahoe, CA last June. We had a nice dinner shortly after arriving in CA. Pete & Lisa came in late Christmas night then the following night we had a bonfire in the "back 5" -- Mike's parents have 10 acres outside of Sacramento where we all stayed. Here's Mike with Maggie. Don't you just love pigtails on little girls??? Mitchell with the cousin closest to him in age, Perry. Maguire was fascinated with the fire -- we had to keep a close eye on him to stay out of the flames! This is my sister Wendy and her kids Danielle & Caleb. Mike's brothers John & Ray. Matthew & Mason loved their time at the farm. This is Mike's youngest brother, Pete, and his wife Lisa. They live in Georgia where we will get to someday....our land is just sitting around waiting for us to build on it! Since our home in Illinois is now valued at $40k less than we paid for it, it looks like we could be here a few more years. Anyone want a 5 bedroom, 3 bath house near Chicago for a great deal??? Mike's sister Mary. This is John's wife, Gaylynn. They live in Oceanside with their kids, Taylor & Addie. John & Mike at the viewing for Steve. Mike's brother James and his mom had been building a barn before Steve got sick and work stopped on the barn until the brothers were all together and worked on it some while we were there. This is Pete, Mitchell, Mike & James. Matthew climbing trees on the farm with his cousin, Meghan. Maguire was eager to help Mike while they were working on the barn. Ray, Janice (mom), James, Mike & Pete. After the funeral in Elk Grove, CA on the 29th of December, we all caravaned to southern Utah where Steve was buried in the small town he grew up in, Teasdale, Utah. It's VERY rural but absolutely beautiful! After the burial, most of the extended family caravaned back to CA (a few with the stomach flu) but our family drove north and spent a few days in Salt Lake City then flew home from there. We're grateful to Mike's aunt and cousin for welcoming our chaotic family into their homes. We were able to visit with Steve Mackie while we were in town. He and Mike were buds when they were young, before Steve and his mom moved away but they have all kept in touch. Mason outside the conference center in SLC, across the street from the temple. Maggie loved the steps.... Mike with Maguire -- we were married in the Salt Lake temple (in the background) almost 14 years ago...how time flies!!! We were so grateful to be able to spend a day with our great friends, the Knudsens, who currently life in Corpus Christi, TX. Our kids hadn't seen each other in 3 years but it seemed like not a day had passed since we were neighbors in Omaha and playing together almost daily. We met when Mason & Whitney were tiny babies and now they are 6! L-R: Whitney, Spencer, Mason, Matthew, Mitchell & Parker. Of course there were no photos taken of the adults but we took lots together when we went on a cruise with them last June...see earlier posts. We returned to a frigid January, quickly reminding us of many of our reasons for wanting out of the midwest! It was less than negative 15 degrees for a few days in a row, so cold that they canceled school two days in a row. The wind chill made is around 30-40 below zero during the day! Of course during that time is was over 70 in Corpus Christi when I caught up with Koryn, pointing out that her temperature was 85 degrees higher than ours! YUCK!!! I so look forward to the day when shoveling icy snow is just a faint memory. Here's what our house looked like for several weeks straight. The computer in our van read like this :Matthew and Mason didn't seem to mind the cold and helped me shovel the driveway a few times. Thanks, boys! We literally didn't leave the house for a week. I left a cup in the van with ice left over from a fountain drink and after 5 days it was still full ice cubes like it was a new drink. They melted inside before I thought of taking a photo but the kids thought it was quite funny. I let Maggie & Maguire play in the tub every morning just for something to do.... Matthew turned 9 on January 6th but we flew home from Utah that day...the day that I spent having the worst stomach flu of my life -- worse than any day pregnant with any of our 5 kids!!! Mike was great with the kids (except for feeding Maggie red licorice for the last hour of the flight) and I am thankful to the amazing flight attendant who helped me so much and also grateful that our flight was not full. Maggie didn't get sick till we got to the baggage claim area (losing all the red licorice all over the floor) and the other boys were sick in the days after we got home. Mike never got sick of course, he rarely does but even after being gone for so long, he called his boss to say that he couldn't come back yet, he had to stay home to take care of his wife and kids. What a sweetie! We finally celebrated Matthew's birthday on the 12th. Our house had been on the market over a year when Kodiak & Elise moved into our ward at church. We've quickly become close and are grateful for their friendship. We've hung out for no reason, traded kids and had a few Friday Night game nights, staying up till ridiculous hours of the early morning just laughing and playing cards -- thanks guys -- you will make it much harder to leave here someday! Elise has become Mitchell's math tutor, employer (for babysitting) and my gym partner. It's always more fun when you go with someone and she's such a trooper to still be going when she's expecting her 2nd baby in September. We keep wondering what's wrong with them that they would actually enjoy hanging out with the chaos that is our house and family right now....we are grateful for your friendship and look forward to many more game nights!This is their daughter, Alexa. She turned 2 in November. She's mature for her age and gets along great with Maggie & Maguire. In January the twins decided they were ready to be potty trained. Alexa spends enough time with us that she went along with it and now they are all completely potty trained. After changing diapers for over 12 1/2 years it is such a relief to see those days GONE FOREVER. (Okay, maybe we'll help with grandkids someday but that is so much different than all day, every day, for 12+ years!!!) Maggie and Maguire fell asleep on their couch recently when Elise watched them during the boys basketball games when Mike was out of town. We both agree that we NEVER want triplets! It can be a handful to have them all together but it's so much fun to have friends over to play. We enjoy our time with Alexa very much--we really truly do! When we got home from California, after not using high chairs for almost 2 weeks, we realized we just didn't need them any more. I never had full-sized high chairs for any of the other kids but they were awesome high chairs and I recommend them to anyone in the market. (They were the Chicco Polly model.) After being a part of our kitchen for almost 3 years, it was bittersweet to see them go but I sold them on craigslist to a new mom of twins. Oh what fun she is in for! So that's a recap of the last few months. We're looking forward to seeing Grandma Forsyth during her visit at the end of the month. She agreed to watch the kids so Mike can take me on another cruise -- this time on the Ruby Princess with a balcony cabin...I can hardly wait! We leave on the twins 3rd birthday but we'll celebrate early!

The language of kids

2008-10-17T09:08:00.005-05:00

Our neighborhood school finally opened on August 27th and it is sooooo cool to have a school on the street behind us. It's about the distance of 12 houses away and Matthew and Mason can walk to and from school. I have to walk with Mason because he's in PM kindergarten but it gives me and the twins a little fresh air when it's not raining. Well, not all the furniture had arrived before school opened, including the tables for Mason's kindergarten class. So every few days we would ask Mason if he had tables in his class yet. Finally, one Friday at dinner we asked him if the tables had come and he replied with big brown bright eyes and the best dimples and said, "Mom, that was like five yesterdays ago." We thought that was the cutest thing he'd ever said in all of his 5 years. Mrs. Woodbury's classroom before the tables arrived. Mason's first day of school with his friend Kyle who lives down the street and whom I watched a few days a week for two years before they both started school.I just love this photo of Mason from our day at the waterpark for Mitchell's birthday. He just loves to laugh and make others laugh....love you Mason!

De La Rue Day at the Zoo

2008-09-07T20:18:00.008-05:00

On August 23rd Mike's office treated all the employees to a day at the Brookfield Zoo as their annual family picnic. They had a great catered lunch in a new pavilion area near the carousel and treated us to the Dolphin show and children's zoo (these are usually extra fees once inside the zoo). Matthew spent the day in a giraffe hat -- De La Rue gave all the kids an animal hat for the special day -- he was just the only one who wanted to wear his. Maggie and Maguire spent the day like this most of the time. I do have 2 double strollers and they do serve different purposes, much to Mike's dismay -- I do not regret purchasing this side-by-side version for outings like this. It folds up to the size of two umbrella strollers and holds up to 50 lbs on each side.We sat in the front row at the dolphin show and got splashed a bit when they jumped up right in front of us. Having seen wild dolphins just off our boat in Mexico this summer, we parent's just weren't very impressed with the show....it's okay...it's all about the kids, right!!!???The highlight of the day was the fountain area in the special event pavilion where we had lunch. It was after we ate that the kids discovered this fun place to play -- kudos to mom for bringing extra clothes for the twins, they were absolutely soaked! Mason has the craziest expressions sometimes! Maguire just enjoyed himself so much. It brought tears to my eyes just to see my kids having simple fun on the hottest day of the summer. More silly expressions from the dimple boy! Mitchell wasn't even too old to get in on the fun -- either that or it was just so blazin' hot that he didn't care anymore! Two days later on Mitchell's birthday at a waterpark, it was almost cold-- barely 75 degrees at the warmest part of the day. Post to follow....Maguire - what a doll - he's really developing his own unique personality about now. He just loves to laugh. Mason and Maguire nearly crashed because Mason refused to open his eyes as he ran through the water. Once again, an outing with no photos of Maggie. This was the only one for the day. I've developed such a complex about taking so many photos of my only precious daughter and not many of her brothers that I've recently missed taking ANY photos of her. She is a doll and I will work on balancing my subjects!This day was near the end of the road for the division of "De La Rue Cash Systems" who transferred us here to Illinois almost 4 years ago. Mike's division of the company was sold and is now called "Talaris" which just doesn't roll off the tongue like "De La Rue" but it's still a good job and he's really enjoying the challenges he's been given to work on recently. He is a Senior Consultant and Key Account Manager to US Bank. If you're curious about what his company is all about sometime, check out their website at www.talaris.com.

Mitchell's 12th Birthday

2008-09-07T19:11:00.008-05:00

Can you believe I have a child who is 12 already??? Time truly does fly! We had a very busy day on August 25th celebrating and getting ready to return to school two days later with Open Houses at both the elementary and junior high schools. Here are some highlights from the water park where we celebrated along with 5 of Mitchell's friends: The entire water park called "Raging Waves" had an Aussie theme. The attraction of the day was called "The Boomerang". On the outside it looked like this: Mitchell with friends coming off the Boomerang. Maggie and Maguire came for the first 2 hours but it was actually a pretty cold day - only got to 75 degrees and was slightly windy. Mike worked from home that day and came to pick them up before lunch (the park is only 15 minutes from our house) so they could eat at home and have a nap. Thanks to Felicia for watching them after nap time so Mike could join us for a couple hours before the park closed. For the first time in almost 2 1/2 years - I didn't take a single photo of Maggie this day....she mostly spent her time wrapped up in a towel although I did go down a kiddie slide with her a few times. Maguire isn't so adventurous. The had a great wavepool with a zero depth entrance so the twins and I played there for a while, too. Raging Waves in Yorkville really is a great fun place but for our family budget will only be a place for special occasions. Turning 12 was a big deal and we hadn't gone to any fun parks all summer. It was fun to see the boys interact with each other throughout the day....We had a great time! Thanks to Kellin, Spencer, Steven, Tom and Conner for helping celebrate with us!Mason and Matthew certainly weren't complaining that they got to come along, too. With the boys all getting older and Maggie and Maguire home with Mike it was so nice to have some quiet time by myself. I actually fell asleep in a lounge chair for an hour or so in between the boys checking in with me periodically. Just Maguire all dressed and ready for Dad to pick him up. I hope you enjoyed your birthday, Mitchell. We are very proud of you and the young man you are becoming! We love you!

Cruise With Knudsen's June 23-28, 2008

2008-08-13T20:19:00.016-05:00

We set sail on the Carnival Elation from San Diego, California on Monday, June 23rd after a trip to the bookstore and a pedicure for the ladies....(this is where Koryn introduced me to the Twilight Saga--little did I know I would spend the next six weeks enthralled in the four book series!!!) Mike & Jeremy lounging on the deck chairs. It was actually very cool on the days we were at sea so we looked like four old retired people with our noses in a book and using towels as blankets out on the rear deck. Our first port day was in Cabo San Lucas. We headed out on a huge catamaran for a snorkel adventure. This is a photo of "Lovers Beach" that is well known just by the place where we dropped anchor and were ferried in on "tender" boats since there is no actual port for the ships to pull up to there. Koryn and Jeremy - hard to believe we have eight kids between the our two families! Well - were were just happily married, kid-free friends for a mere five days. So relaxing!!! Mike, Me, Koryn & Jeremy. We feel so blessed to have stayed in touch despite the 1400 mile distance between our current homes. I thought this was a cool shot with the ship between the rock formations.... Jer & KorynKoryn, Mike and Jeremy in their snorkel gear. I went out for about 30 minutes but I don't love snorkeling - just the thought of having all those creatures so close just freaks me out and I can't slow my breathing enough to breath through the snorkel mask thing so I went back on the boat and took the photos and had fun with the bartender attempting to get creative making me anything WITHOUT alcohol in it. Mike LOVES snorkeling - he was the last one back on the boat!....as usual : ) When we were heading back to the pier we were surrounded by a bunch of dolphins swimming right next to and around the boat. I wish I had my camera ready - this was all I could catch by the time I found it....we felt like we could have reached out and touched them - and there were bunches of them! Another day when we were playing Hand & Foot in the card room on board we saw a ton of whales out in the water - that was cool too but they were much farther away and we didn't ever take photos of playing cards even though we spent more time in the card room than anything else - maybe except for eating!!! Okay, we never took photos of that, either.This dolphin was literally just over the edge of the boat but was going so fast that the photo was a bit blurry.On the pier getting ready to tender back to the ship. This is our famous self photo - good thing we have long arms! Koryn & Jeremy....I highly recommend going on a cruise with fabulous friends - we'd cruised twice before but it wasn't nearly as much fun as this trip --we hope to do it again!Formal night.What a beautiful woman! Thanks for being such a great friend, Koryn!...and Jeremy, too !This is Ensenada in the distance from the deck of the ship after breakfast. We just walked around, had a snack and did a bit of shopping at this port. A street vendor made these bracelets for our kids - I really thought they'd like them better but haven't worn them since the day we gave them to them...oh well, it was cool to watch them being made! Of course the typical photo with the huge sombreros (is that how you spell it?) I was so grateful that my hair has grown enough to pull back in a clip - it was very humid! I sure miss that bright smile,Koryn -- we'll have to Skype more often so I can get my fill! On Carnival Cruises, every night when your room steward does the turn down service, they leave you a fun friend called "towel pals" - it's always fun to go back after being out for dinner and a show and see what friend has been created on your bed. Mike was a part of the show one night when he volunteered to be hypnotized and did some crazy funny things. Koryn, Jeremy and I were laughing so hard we could barely breathe! Maybe I can get some photos from Koryn to post at a later date! It was such a fabulous trip - wish it could have been longer....I highly recommend cruises - we just love them!!! And no, we aren't made of money, just like everything else, I am quite the bargain shopper! Mike just says I find too many bargains...ha ha...love you, hun!

Lake Tahoe 2008

2008-07-20T22:21:00.009-05:00

The first week of our California vacation was 6 nights in Lake Tahoe in a house that Mike's mom rented for all of us to stay together instead of the usual "Grandma's Camping Trip". We had a blast! It was sure a "FULL" house but we laughed, played Hand & Foot till the wee hours of the morning and had an "adults only" hot tub to relax in after playing volleyball, going off roading, hiking, bike riding, golfing, swimming and lounging at the beach and playing at the park. Thanks, Janice, for another wonderful vacation! Almost 30 people under one roof for 6 nights!!! Crazy but fun! Grandma and aunts helped watch our kids so we could play golf two days. One day we played at a little course down the road, the next day we played at a nicer course at a resort with a beautiful view of Lake Tahoe over the trees...nope, forgot to get a photo of that view, maybe next time! Each of the 6 siblings took a night to prepare dinner for everyone. This is Mike's oldest brother, Ray, who bbq'd tri-tip and chicken - Yummy! : ) Just hangin' out at the off road park waiting for a turn to ride the dirt bikes and dune buggies Mike's brother John brought up from Oceanside, CA where lives now. Mason with Mike's brother James - out for a ride. There was a great park near the house we rented - and everyone loved the huge swings, even the adults! Mike's parent's: Steve & Janice (pronounced Ja-niece). This is John's wife, Gaylynn - all the S.I.L.'s are tall - but she's over 6'1"!! Matthew - what a ham! Matthew on the "kid" sized dirt bike - the boys can't wait for us to get down to Georgia so we can have our own dirt bikes with a track around our own 9.35 acres. The rental was crowded but had a great dining table - we would feed the kids then the adults would be able to eat in peace when the kids were done....this is all the cousins. Mike with Maggie and Maguire on our walk down the bike path. Those great swings! What a face - now if she could just learn to pump herself I'd save my feet many hours of standing around pushing her!Aunt Lisa - what a gem - Maggie and Maguire just love their newest aunt! Thanks for all your help, Lisa - see you soon!Lisa, Gaylynn and me rode bikes about 2 miles into town and had a shopping day with a little lunch. They were having a demo day with all kinds of kayaks so we got to try out just about every kind there is. So much fun! Wish we had more photos of playing sand volleyball but all the adults were playing - couldn't say "beach" volleyball because the park was in the woods just a short drive from the rental house. Mike's brother John has an awesome truck and brought up a trailer full of off-road toys for everyone to enjoy - thanks, John! (I got to drive the super-cool truck about half-way from Oceanside up to Sacramento, about 7 hours, after our cruise...more posts to come!)

2008-07-20T20:57:00.003-05:00

Okay, I'll start with this from my friend Mia's blog and try to work on my own posts this week....

A Walk Down Memory Lane...

Here are the directions:

1. Leave a comment on my blog. In the comment, recall one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! Let's keep it clean. My mom reads my blog. :)

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you don't have a blog, still leave me a memory and I'll e-mail you a memory from our past. You have nothing better to do right? It's this or laundry. I definitely choose this!!! :)

Posts will come

2008-04-15T00:25:00.002-05:00

I FINALLY got my computer fixed but now Mike is out of town all week and had to take the camera so he could capture Flat Stanley in every state he'll visit - and we don't even know the kid who created the Flat Stanley...my most fabulous friend Koryn sent it our way just in time for a week-long business trip for Mike. Still have a house for sale but we've had a couple more showings....hopefully spring will bring us a buyer so we can head on down south to start our next adventure. Stay tuned...I'll post soon.

An aerial view of our land

2008-02-09T19:53:00.000-06:00

We found this aerial view of our land on the Pike County website - cool, huh??!!! Our parcel is the "L" shaped one outlined in red. We will build our house in the center of the southeast square part about 175 feet back from the road. Still no showings on our house here but we'll close on the land in 5 weeks. You can see the edge of the lake on the far right side of the photo.

She just couldn't wait another minute....

2008-02-08T16:39:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I was taking too long to get the twins down for their nap after lunch so Maggie decided she just couldn't wait any longer and put herself to bed. I sure hope it's that easy when they get "big kid" beds! Matthew's 8th birthday was a quiet one at home. Our neighbors and friends Amy, Brooke and Blake came over for cake and presents. Matthew loves to play at their house because he says Amy is a "fun" mom...and apparently I'm not. : ( Maguire hasn't had this much fun with cake since his first birthday party. Maggie ate the frosting off the top of the cake then put the plate on her head like a hat...it's a good thing they're cute!

False alarm...

2008-02-06T20:41:00.000-06:00

I'm sure many of you were sooooooo relieved that they let school out early for us to prepare for this major storm that only brought 2-3 inches of snow today - so much for the HUGE storm...unless some major snow happens overnight this whole thing will have been one big hurrah over nothin'....How much money did our school district spend on thousands of phone calls, text messages, and double bus trips for those kids whose parent's couldn't pick them up early only for our kids to laugh that they got out of school early for something that didn't happen?

Oh, the snow....

2008-02-06T13:41:00.000-06:00

So I know many of you reading this are living through this junk with us right now but for those of you not in the midwest, we thought we would show you what it looks like in northern Illinois right now. I really hate the snow. It's only beautiful when it's actually falling. As soon as it stops and the snow plows come out and people start leaving home again, it's just dirty and messy. (And this is from someone who is buying 9 acres in the country to build our next home!) I look forward to the 60-70 degree winter days as a resident of the great state of Georgia, may this be my last winter living someplace where it snows! Our cat Muffin likes to try to chase snowflakes through the sliding glass door. I didn't wait long enough to get a photo of her in a full jump but my camera doesn't take good action photos anyway. Oh, the things that provide entertainment in the winters here! These are views out our front windows right now. It's supposed to snow a foot in the next 24 hours so I'll post again with after photos. Our playset hasn't had much use in the last four months but provided a good backdrop to show you how hard it's snowing.

2008-01-21T08:44:00.002-06:00

Just cute kids!

2008-01-02T22:50:00.000-06:00

I am still amazed that I finally got my "girly" girl! She got toy necklaces and a little purse for Christmas and with her first actual nightgown (vs. foot jammies) she just looked like a little girl, not the little baby she was almost two years ago! Maggie loves to just plant big juicy wet kisses on anyone - mostly Mitchell! I came into the kitchen from the dining room where the adults were having dessert on Christmas day only to find Maguire had taken over an abandoned piece of pumpkin pie...what a cutie!!! A few days before Christmas I was elated to be able to french braid Maggie's hair. It's getting long and it's always in her face and she's a little magician with hair bands and barrettes. She didn't even complain too much about having to sit on the stool for so long...she'd better get used to it - I am looking forward to having cute girly hair to do for many years! This is Maguire's classic facial expression (or lack thereof). He's our little couch potato - we have to curtail his tv watching because if a kid show is on, he's parked in front of the tv until it's over. I have lots more "cute kid" photos but they are on Mike's computer and he's in New Jersey tonight. As long as the weather cooperates he'll be home tomorrow night. Until then, good night : )

HELP!

2007-12-29T15:59:00.000-06:00

Okay, I finally posted...but it didn't turn out like it looked when I previewed it while I was putting it together. I need a lesson in blogging...anyone willing to help so my text isn't all over the place and the photos aren't so spread out all over? HELP!!!

Christmas Photos

2007-12-29T15:27:00.000-06:00

Maggie and Maguire were so fun this year since they really "got" the opening presents part. They would have been happy with one toy - we had a hard time keeping them in the living room to open any more after the first one! Mason loves loves loves basketball! My mom sent me some fabulous lotions from Elizabeth Arden. All the boys opening our new Wii. Hard to believe our oldest, Mitchell, has outgrown getting toys for Christmas. His favorite gifts were a stereo and mp3 player. What a handsome guy! Christmas eve we open one present - always jammies from mom. I didn't make them for the twins this year but I made a total of five pairs of pants in 2 1/2 hours on the eve of Christmas eve. Mike offered moral support by playing playstation while I was sewing : ) Mason's jammies match his "bear blanket" that goes everywhere with him. Mitchell with Maggie, Matthew, Mason, Maguire. What cute kids! We had a great Christmas at our home in Illinois. (Hopefully we'll be celebrating Christmas in Georgia by next year!) We had a great day celebrating the birth of our Savior. The boys spent the day playing with presents with minimal fighting amongst siblings. Mike spent almost the entire day just helping the kids put their toys together or make room for them in their rooms. After presents we ate a yummy breakfast cake then I worked in the kitchen until dinner at 5:00. We had two other families join us for dinner so we could have a big feast without having to make it all ourselves--plus the fun of having the company of good friends since all of our family is so far away. We miss everyone who lives away from us...it was especially nice to start Christmas Day with a phone call from Koryn Knudsen--her family got up much earlier than we did but it was great to catch up and share our excitement with our new treasures. Love you Koryn! Here's some photos...Mike's best gift to me was a new memory card for our camera so I can take more than 50 photos before having to download them! I have some more fun photos of the kids so I'll post again when I get a few spare minutes! We hope you all had a memorable day. Love you!

Time sure flies!

2007-12-19T21:27:00.000-06:00

I know, I know...I need a new post. I put together this huge post of my New York trip back in October and it got corrupted and won't post so I lost my enthusiasm about blogging...help me get it back! What can I do to make it easier and faster to post? HELP!

Crusin' to Cozumel

2007-10-14T19:03:00.000-05:00

My awesome husband took me on a cruise earlier this month....we were only able to go because my wonderful mother-in-law, Janice, came from California to care for our kids. Mike's brother, Pete, and his wife, Lisa, also came in from Atlanta to help out and see Chicago before we head down to their part of the country. (as soon as our house sells)

We had such a great time on our second cruise that we hope to go on another one next summer!

I had Lasik on my eyes just a few days before we left and I couldn't get my eyes wet for a WEEK! So we didn't spend any time on deck by the pool until Wednesday afternoon. When we got to Cozumel on Thursday we rented a car and drove to a ranch where we had arranged to go horseback riding. Our guide, Carlos, took us through the jungle and to a small village where there were Mayan ruins. In this photo we are in a cave where the Mayan people used to live - they were only 3-4 feet tall! So I haven't really figured out how to put the photos in the order I want on this blog thing. When I add more photos it puts them above the previous ones so I apologize for jumping all around. On Tuesday night was the first midnight buffet. We didn't stay up to eat but they opened the dining room for photography at 11:30. It was absolutely amazing what they could do with food! It truly looked "too good to eat" but I'm sure it was demolished quickly when the doors opened at the stroke of midnight! Can you believe these are all desserts! True artistry in calories! We sailed on Carnival's M/S Fantasy. It's one of their older ships but we had a great time. This photo is when we were docked at Cozumel. The water there is amazingly clear. It's a breathtaking shade of blue-green but so clean and clear we could see all the way down to the bottom just by the dock. Our new friends whom we met at our assigned dining room table took this photo of us outside the showroom while we were waiting to go in. If we didn't get there a bit early, there weren't any good seats left. More of the midnight buffet--a dragon ice sculpture. We actually watched the artisan carve this eagle out of a 300 pound block of ice right on the stage by the pool earlier in the afternoon. He's an award winning sculptor - it only took him 25 minutes to finish this one! This photo was taken in front of a huge new mural in downtown New Orleans where we stayed on Sunday night to be sure we wouldn't miss our boat on Monday morning. We arrived in New Orleans at 10:30 on Sunday morning and walked all over the city--sometimes in the pouring down rain--but we had a great time! The streets were very uneven and dirty--I can't tell you how many times I tripped. They use tons of different materials on the sidewalks - stone and bricks of all sizes, shapes and colors. This is Jon and Joan from Lafayette, LA who were at our table in the Celebration Dining Room each night. They were great fun! We enjoyed visiting and getting to know them and LAUGHING with them throughout the cruise. Thanks to you guys for helping make it a great week! Since it was only a 5 night cruise there was only one "formal" night. It was fun to have a "grown up" night and get all dressed up but due to the Lasik procedure I had on my eyes the Thursday before we left, I couldn't wear eye make-up for at least a week. I feel like I dressed up but forgot to "put my face on" as I tell my kids when they ask what I'm doing when I'm getting ready to go somewhere.

Cute Kids

2007-10-13T20:55:00.000-05:00

This was such a cute wrestling match I wished my camcorder were working right! Maggie is one tough cookie - she was pinning Maguire down. He didn't seem to mind! I've never heard them laugh so hard. This was a really cute "twin" moment. He's definitely a Forsyth! Matthew put both twins on this red blanket and pulled them around on the wood floor. They were having a ball but were moving so fast that we couldn't get a really good photo.

Mike's 34th birthday. Mitchell made him a carrot cake, his favorite. : )

Harvest Time in Chicago

2007-10-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

Mason had a field trip to a pumpkin patch in West Chicago with his preschool. Since it was almost an hour away we invited my friend Amy Allred and her daughter, Gracie, to ride with us. Aren't they cute???!!!

Maguire had some kid of leg cramp or charlie horse and screamed for almost an hour on the drive there and didn't stop once we got our of the van so a big "thank you" to Amy and anyone else who helped with Mason and Maggie while I tried to help Maguire calm down in the van.

Shooting Practice

2007-10-08T21:04:00.000-05:00

Mike took us shooting before Pete and Lisa went home. It was my first time but Mike and Mitchell have been a few times. Mike even took his guns to California this summer and went out in his parent's back 10 acres for some target practice with his brothers and nephews 11 and over. Pete's a lefty! I took photos of Lisa with her camera but I guess I forgot to with mine! We hope to see them next month for Thanksgiving so I should get some photos then. Mike put two shells in Mitchell's 20 guage to show me and Lisa how to shoot - he shattered the second shot - way to go Mitchell!

It was a great birthday!

2007-09-15T23:59:00.000-05:00

Thank you to those who remembered my birthday and helped me celebrate this year. I got to start celebrating on Thursday when 6 girlfriends took me out for brunch. It's a crazy busy month so thank you to those who were able to come and I am sorry we missed those of you who were home with kids or at work--and thank you for my boots!

I started my actual birthday in the wee hours of the morning talking to Koryn for over two hours on the phone (when I should have been cleaning my house). Then I woke up in the morning to the phone ringing and was surprised to her from Koryn again! We usually play phone tag for a few days before we connect. She never checks her email so I had to tell her to go read my blog about her birthday and she needed the blog address again! Since our birthdays are two days apart we can celebrate both on the 14th and call it good! I spent most of the day cleaning and preparing for open house. Good thing church isn't until 1:00 because I still have a lot to do AND keep it all clean until we leave--wish me luck!

Mike took me out to dinner tonight and gave me a present. I don't know about you but we usually have something we've been thinking about and we'd like to buy so we just get it and say it's our present for whatever occasion is coming up. Well, this year Mike really surprised me!!! He got me an ipod!!! Now Mike is usually very frugal but every now and then he just decides to do something extra special. I am very excited to be able to use it on walks and at the gym and....where do you use your ipod? It's the kind that I can watch movies on and can have 20,000 songs or something crazy like that. I'm not THAT much into music but I am thankful to Mike, I love him very much and I am thankful to be happy and healthy for another birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KORYN

2007-09-13T06:14:00.000-05:00

While living in Nebraska I had the priveledge of getting to know the Knudsen Family, especially the amazingly talented and beautiful "Miss Koryn" as she was known to all the neighborhood kids. Koryn and I became the best of friends (so did our kids) and very few days went by that we didn't get together, watch each others kids, take turns cooking since our husbands were gone so much or close Target on a Saturday night. We laughed till we hurt and cried and it was okay. We supported each other through 9 months of Weight Watchers and even went to 7:00 am meetings on Saturday mornings (I am NOT a morning person). She's the closest friend I've ever had. She and her husband, Jeremy, who also became great friends with Mike, moved to Omaha about a year after we did. We had the same realtor, Renae Cohn, who called me just minutes after helping the Knudsen's find a home- that just happened to be the next block over from ours- to tell me that she just sold a house to my new best friend. Oh, if she only knew now how right she had been! Well, a year after we left Omaha for a new job, the Knudsen Family was transferred by Jeremy's job. The city of Corpus Christi, Texas is blessed to have them as residents for now. In July I was able to meet up with Koryn in Ogden, Utah where she was visiting her family for the summer. We had a great visit and a fun day shopping at Gateway Mall in Salt Lake. We tried to go to the Salt Lake temple but it was closed for cleaning. Thank you, Koryn, for all the memories. Here's hoping we find a way to visit again someday! : )"Miss Mercy" & "Miss Koryn"We have very similar taste in lots of things, we chose the same shirts at BUCKLE, the same signs at DESERET BOOK and the same headbands at J CREW.

Yes, we will move...eventually!

2007-09-12T21:35:00.000-05:00

For those of you who haven't yet heard - yes, our house is for sale and we have plans to move to the country south of Atlanta, Georgia--where it does not snow. The cost of homes is significantly less than where we are in Illinois and we can cut our property tax bill by about 75% -- and not have to shovel snow!!! We both grew up in the country outside Sacramento, CA, but it has taken me 12+ years to realize I would like to have that life for my own children. I just don't want to live in the sticks--or anywhere it snows-- so we are going someplace where that is possible. Mike has a brother, Peter, who lives in the Atlanta area with his wife, Lisa, and we really enjoyed the area when we were there for their wedding in June. The housing market is VERY slow right now - pretty much all over the country but especially in Kendall County, Illinois--where it does snow. Our realtor is having an open house here on Sunday. Maybe that will bring some buyers through - as yet we have only had 1 showing in 6 weeks. We would really like to build our own home on 5-10 acres of wooded, lush, green land - which we can buy for $50-60k (for the land) in Pike County, Georgia, south of the Atlanta airport by 30-40 miles. The home in the photo above has 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and is on the market for $215,000 in Fayetteville, GA. Our home is listed for $419,900. We have enjoyed our time here in Oswego and have made some truly awesome friends but we need to do what is best for our family (and my sanity). We will keep you posted as to any progress in this new adventure.

A sample of land for sale in Pike County, GA

June trip to Georgia

2007-09-05T14:53:00.000-05:00

We drove down to Georgia in June for Mike's brother Pete's wedding at the Atlanta LDS Temple. Mike's mom rented a house for us to all stay together in Stone Mountain. Here are some photos from that week. I didn't attend their reception in California the following weekend but Mike did so I included some of those photos anyway. Mason and Addie fell asleep on the way home from the aquarium in Atlanta.

L-R: Lisa's brother Jonathan, Pete, Lisa's Dad Larry, Mike and his other brothers John, James, Ray & Mike's dad Steve

Mike's brother Pete with his new bride, Lisa at their reception in California.

Mitchell and his cousin Addie. Mitchell and Addie became buddies. Here he is giving her a piggy back ride as we left the aquarium. Uncle Pete w/ all the cousins! I need to get better photos of him with Lisa. They are coming to visit for Thanksgiving so stay tuned! I couldn't resist posting this photo of Maguire asleep in the backpack! The cousins: Mason, Matthew, Addie, Taylor, Mitchell I carried Maggie up the mountain in the backpack but James was nice enough to carry her on the way down. James, John w/ Addie, Mason, Gaylynn, Mike w/ Maguire at the top of Stone Mountain. It was really beautiful! From there we could see all of Atlanta - which really means we saw the tops of lots of trees!

FINALLY!!!

2007-09-05T14:29:00.000-05:00

So Mike is home sick today - of course moms never get a sick day!!! So I have his computer and all of our family photos at my fingertips. Yesterday my friend Jill told me she is going to take my blog off of her list if I don't post something new so this is for you, Jill! When I took the photo above way back on June 5th I thought it would make a great blog entry. My little precious only daughter dumped an brand new HUGE box of Honey Nut Cheerios over the back of her head and then sat down to enjoy her new found feast. I was at the sink washing Maguire's hands after breakfast.

The twins are now 17 months old and very cute but into EVERYTHING so nothing is safe, no matter where you put it - they can even climb up on the kitchen table and dance for us. The photo of both twins is at the zoo the first week of June.

What has been the "cutest" mess your kids have given you the opportunity to clean up?

2007-07-07T15:04:00.000-05:00

Have patience everyone, I've visiting my awesome friend Koryn in Ogden, Utah and will have to go home tomorrow but I have a great photo for my first "real" post so I'll get it together next week, okay!

Here I am!

2007-05-06T00:09:00.000-05:00

Okay, for all of you who have suggested this, here I am!