What a fun few weeks!

I can't believe November is already over! We were so busy have fun during November that we are sad to see it go! Since the last post we have been very busy travelers. We went down to Atlanta to visit some great family friends, the Weber family, for a few days. We had a wonderful time involving hiking, basketball watching (Go Brianna), movie watching, napping, and eating REALLY good food. We also fit in some cards, which was WAY fun.
After that we headed to Durham to celebrate TJ's birthday by shopping and relaxing, but he was not feeling so hot, so instead we visited the urgent care, he took a nap while Kaitlynn and I went swimming, and then we headed home. It was not a total wasted trip, as we did stop in at his FAVORITE place, the cheesecake factory, for some yummy food before we left. The next day was his birthday, although he had to work, I think it turned out okay. Kaitlynn tried to help him open all of his presents, of course. He is such an old goober, but I love him anyway! =)
This past weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving as a family with the missionaries. I was quite proud of my first Thanksgiving meal, it included: Turkey, rolls, mashed potatoes, Sweet potatoes, green salad, corn, stuffing and gravy. We also had pumpkin and apple pie, of course. We had a wonderful time, the food and company were great, and Kaitlynn slept through it. =) The rest of the weekend was full of hanging Christmas lights and putting up the Christmas tree. What a wonderful time of year, I LOVE IT!
As far as TJ, he is doing MUCH better FINALLY! After losing 10 lbs during his illness, he is starting to get some energy back and a little appetite back. Yesterday was his first three meal day for over two weeks. It is so nice to have him back. Thanks for all of your calls and prayers on his behalf, he was a sick little boy! =)
Hope you all have a wonderful week, sorry about the long post. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Enjoy the pics!

Girls weekend!

This past weekend I headed to Boston to hang out with some of my MOST favorite people! All of the sisters got together at Carol's house for a few days. My Mom also had to come, I mean, there were grandchildren there! =) We had a wonderful time, ate some GREAT food (Carol is a FABULOUS cook), saw some sights, got wet with rain, enjoyed their view off their balcony, talked, laughed, and made some very happy memories! What a great weekend! Thanks to EVERYONE who helped make it happen, Kaitlynn and I LOVED it!
While we were gone, TJ actually got REALLY sick and was stuck at home all by himself. He has had fevers every night despite being on antibiotics and he has had to do breathing treatments every four hours.
Kaitlynn is funnier then ever and cracking us up constantly. She eats ANYTHING and EVERYTHING and he loves backing into walls, posts, etc and then sitting down. She also LOVES jumping and ALL of her cousins. Enjoy the pics!

Busy, Busy, Busy........

Do you want my hand to eat too?

TJ and Kaitlynn, Damon and Evan visiting the Ostrich.

Hello Mr. Bison, How are you today?

Dad and his Tag along Kaitlynn

Feeding the deer, petting the dear, grabbing the deer....

What a wonderful time of year, as the holiday season approaches. I love changing decorations, sipping warm cider, and putting on my slippers. It's time for holiday fairs, festival of trees and GREAT FOOD! I suppose that this is the ONLY time of year that I might even think about missing the college life as I soon realize TJ will not be granted 2-3 weeks off around Christmas. But have no fear, this thought comes and goes quickly as I will give up the weeks off for the nights off from studying, test taking, etc. For all of you who are still in school, hang in there, it is definitely worth it when it is done!
This week was packed full of good times as a family and great memories were made. The week was pretty low key as we continue to do little fix up projects around the house and keep up the usual stuff. We had some friends over for dinner throughout the week and TJ went to a local Mexican restaurant with a co-worker. This was AUTHENTIC as there was nothing in English and there wasn't any American influence. The food was slightly spicy (ok, really spicy) but TJ could not be out done by his co-worker, so on he ate, held back the tears and ate some more. I'm not so sure when or if he will go back, but he feels more like a man and he saved face in front of his co-worker.
This weekend I headed to the Holly-Day fair which was a delight. Lot's of crafts, GREAT food, and great ideas. That evening TJ and I left Kaitlynn with a babysitter and headed to the Temple. It was great to be back inside the temple as it has been a few months since we have gone. Saturday we headed to the ranch so Kaitlynn could feed the animals once more before it got too chilly. That afternoon we headed to a ward picnic/volleyball game/concert event while TJ went golfing. All in all, a busy yet fun weekend!
We hope you guys are all doing great! We love to keep up on your blogs and to read your comments and e-mails. We hope you all enjoy your upcoming week!

Happy Halloween

What a wonderful time of year! I will be the first to admit, TJ and I have not been the best supporter of Halloween in the past, but this year I think we made up for it! Kaitlynn wore her costume atleast 5 different times to parties, trunk-or-treats, trick-or-treating, etc. She was such a good sport. This year TJ dressed up as well. His team's theme was Snow white and the seven dwarfs. He was prince charming and his co-worker (male) was snow white. It was HILARIOUS! They all did such a good job, and he even got a gift card for participating. It was great!
We had a great time wandering through the neighborhood and visiting with our neighbors. We also had a chili/cornbread cookout and carved some pumpkins with our new friends. Some of them had NEVER carved a pumpkin before. At this stage in our life, I think the adults are still having more fun carving pumpkins than the children. The kids seemed happier about the paper on the floor then the pumpkins! It was a great time and we are so blessed to have met such great people.
TJ continues to enjoy spending time at the clinic and I absolutely LOVE staying home with Kaitlynn. Our house is ALMOST all unpacked and organized, we are just finishing the last room which mostly has pictures or odds and ends to be put away. I will be SOOO happy when it is FINALLY finished! YEAH!
We hope you are all doing well and we love you all! Have a wonderful week, and we hope you enjoy the pics!

Chevy to the Levee

Say "Cheese"

Up close with our little Monkey

The full costume!

Fun on the slide

Her first pumpkin painting experience!

Utter excitement on the swing!


My moment of glory!

Our Family after the 5K
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_syJpLK-0255GX1K4QWpUfYzJ1D52XA2j0PrWWkZh3s10x8vumkFEuxP3zrEn4pL0NBk7Xuiy-yORXCUkRnxJsEipR5zooq4D9GXFWYMy2vQfnTj-Gj2ZWx0dZUrqVpM5qeBLG0RiPLw/s1600-h/chevy+09+031.JPG">
Finish with a sigh of relief.

All smiles before the big race!


This weekend was a wonderful festival called the Chevy to the Levee. It is a fundraiser for local charities and it has a lot of events including a couple races, 5K (which I participated in), stiletto race (male and female), and family fun run. It also had free canoe rides, inflatable slides, face painting, etc. It was a wonderful family event!
I do have to brag for just a minute, I finished 3rd overall in the female division and 32 overall. I finished in 23:51 which averages 7:41 each mile. It was a really good time and I actually won a cooler and a car that says "3rd place." It was kind of neat! TJ was great and took care of Kaitlynn the whole time. She really enjoyed the park, hay ride and inflatable slide.
We also had our first invite to a birthday party this weekend as well and it was a costume party. Kaitlynn is a monkey this year for Halloween and she is pretty cute while she is walking in her costume!
This week we are excited to carve pumpkins, eat some chilli, and go trick-or-treating for the first time. We are looking forward to some good times! In other news, TJ was called as Young men President in our branch and is really excited to work with the young men. He is also dressing up for Halloween this year and we will post pictures, it should be great! =)
We are also very grateful for the gospel in our life. We both had spiritual guidance this week which is always so humbling and we are truly grateful for the Holy Ghost and for the influence which it is in our life. We are also grateful for the fullness of the gospel and the plan of salvation. We feel very blessed for the opportunity to live here and to meet new friends and make new memories as a family. We hope you are all doing well and we love hearing from you!

Oh How I Love Fall!

That is this?

The truck BARELY fits into the garage

TJ and his two beauties!

A VERY happy man!



TJ and the Carriers in the beautiful mountains

The gang at the bonfire

Kaitlynn trying to eat a pumpkin

Kaitlynn at the Carrier boys

The Family by the river
What a WONDERFUL time of year. The weather is starting to get a little chilly, the hoodies are on, hot chocolate is brewing, leaves are changing, it is wonderful. This weekend TJ and I took a road trip to the mountains of North Carolina to see good friends, beautiful leaves changing colors, and eat delicious pumpkin cake. It was SOOOO much fun. We headed out on Friday and returned this evening. While we were there we went to a pumpkin patch, went on a small hike, ate some REALLY good food, took a nap, and watched some great games. A perfect relaxing weekend. Thank you so much to the Carriers for hosting us, it was great!
In other news, TJ FINALLY got his toy. He got a Ford F-250 truck this past week and let me tell you, HE IS IN HEAVEN! He totally loves it and has driven each and every day! Such a funny boy!
Anyway, hope all is well, love you all and hope you had a great weekend!

TJ's handymanness (word?) hung our TV

Kaitlynn's bath time hair due

The porch before it was stained

The trimmed hedges

The stained back porch

The new couch and rug!

The front room that was empty

YARD WORK.....

My little princess all grown up

It's the "I can do it myself" phase

What is this little thing?

Kinda looks like a dog, so I will pet it.

Watching baseball with dad, GO YANKEES!

So, what have we been doing all week? I will tell you, YARD WORK! Although it has been exhausting, time consuming, somewhat expensive, we LOVE having a yard! I will post some before and after pictures, but we have done some MAJOR trimming and staining. We trimmed ALL of our bushes, they were OUT OF CONTROL, and we stained the back porch with some help from our local missionaries! It has been so much fun!
For fun this week, we went out to eat at a local Chinese buffet (TJ's favorite place to eat lately), saw a parade for homecoming and packed up our bags for a trip to the mountains to see the Carriers but we never left the garage because Kaitlynn caught a slight fever as we were loading up. It was a total bummer, but we will make it out there soon, I hope!
Kaitlynn is walking EVERYWHERE and is SOOO much fun. She has such a cute personality and makes us laugh daily. She is also drinking milk again, FINALLY, but only if we put a little bit of chocolate syrup in it. Oh well, what can ya do! She loves books right now too, she loves to look at them, push them around on the floor, carry them, eat them, you name it. She cracks me up!
I hope you are all doing well, we hope you enjoy the pics of our little princess who rules the roost. Drop us a line if you have time! Take care!