Summer 2009

WOW! How in the world did this summer go by so quickly? I haven't really kept caught up on all this blogging stuff since July 4th, but I will run down some of the highlights to get me caught up...for now. We started off our summer with a week long trip with our friends (the Johnson family) in Marble Hill Georgia. This was one of the best vacations we have ever had with the kids. Jordan and Alyssa (ages 8 and 3) kept my 2 kids busy and everyone seemed to have a great time. We went hiking, swimming, rock sliding, and even got the kids into canoes. We visited the Cabbage Patch Memorial Hospital and saw a Cabbage Patch doll be born. It was pretty amazing. We also visited Helen Georgia and I recommend everyone to visit there one day. We hiked up to Amicalola Falls, played in a nearby creek and had a picnic at the top of the falls. We had a 3 bedroom cabin at Big Canoe at Marble Hill. It was out in the middle of the sticks in the mountains of Georgia. We would make a day of exploring and then we would spend a day at the pool to rest up for the next day of exploring. We stayed up late and watched ice road truckers, loggers, and deadliest catch. As you can probably tell, Brandon had control of the remote! One day we cooked out by the pool and left our leftovers in a ziploc bag to cool off before we put them in a cooler and crows came and tore apart the bag and ate the meat and jalepeno peppers. They left and brought back their friends and family and our stuff was surrounded by big black birds! Then one day at the pool I was caught acting like a Baywatch babe by one of the lifeguards. (He was behind me and I didn't know it, but Amy, Brian, and Brandon all saw him!) One day Brandon lost his sunglasses at the rock slide and 2 days later found them on one of the lifeguards' face. He went up and asked for them back-it was like taking candy from a baby! We got home from vacation and Brandon's Festiva caught on fire and he had to buy a new car-a 2010 Mustang GT. He has never had a brand new vehicle and he was tickled to pieces to finally get something nice and new.

That same weekend the girls had their ballet recital and it was cute, even though Emily's routine was too short and they were only on stage for a minute if that! Brandon took the girls to Denton farm park a few days before the fourth of July. We had Abigail's birthday party at our house (on July 6) and about 45 people showed up. It was amazing! We had a really good turn out and were so happy to see everyone able to show up.

We took a day trip with the Morgan's to Blowing Rock and Boone to explore a little bit. We had a ball since we were able to ride with them in their awesome little minivan. It was like a traveling circus! The day we went we thought we might could go swimming, but for some reason I think the temperature never got above 70! It was a fun trip though.

I took the girls to Nascar Speedpark and at the end of our day it rained and we got a 1 day pass to come back again-it's like BOGO! I had talked Emily out of going to Emerald Pointe because it was calling for storms.

We took another family trip to Shenandoah Crossing in the middle of August and we got to ride horses and stay in our first yurt ( a permanent tent) We loved it! We went to Manassas VA and walked a battlefield-yay. Brandon's idea. Me and the girls were not really impressed. We would rather be at the pool. Emily mastered swimming from one side of the pool to the other and Abigail started swimming 6-8 feet without struggling. They both impressed us very much on this trip.

Here we are and school has started back. I apoligize again for not keeping this blog updated, but I will try not to get so far behind from now on!

We have spent a lot of time the past few weeks at Annette's house helping repaint some rooms and help get things ready for a new baby in the house. They are so fun to be around and me and Brandon and the girls can't get enough of them and their every day dramas. We have Lacey helping out with after school care since Abigail got into preschool there has to be a person to get her off the bus.