August, almost over...

My Handsome little man!

Us and our co-workers on the Trolley ride!

Preschool with their "home made" pasta jewelry!

Kait all dolled up and ready for church

The beautiful Biltmore!

Walking in the Biltmore gardens
Well, I truly love living in North Carolina, but I do have to say, August is my LEAST favorite month of the year. This is the month that no matter what time of day, no matter what clothes you are wearing, no matter what you are doing, you are hot, sticky and sweaty. We made great memories, had some great fun, but go on August, leave us alone, we are all done!
Do you ever feel like the week you just survived had a theme? Mine would be "Clean up on isle..." For instance, Tuesday morning Tj was retrieving a diet pepsi from a higher area in our house when it dropped and spun around in circle after circle leaving a large spray of diet pepsi along it's path. Wed. Kait was eating applesauce and of course shot it across the table and onto the floor where it turned side ways and leaped out of the container across the floor and into the other room making sure to land on the couch as well. Thursday I was making dinner, like the good wife that I am =), I put potatoes and chicken on a plate right before it jumped off the counter and onto the floor shattering the plate. Luckily the potatoes caught most of the pieces but not before they when down the cupboards, across the floor and all over the stove. Friday we were making biscuits and Kaitlynn was stirring just enough to throw all the flour all over the counter and the floor. To make matters worse, I had JUST finished sweeping and mopping the floor the night before. Needless to say, I am out of clean towels. =)
On a more positive note, our little branch is growing, growing, growing. When we moved here two years ago, there were a total of 38 people in the congregation. Today, there was 91. Our goal is to reach 100 and have to open the over flow! Our primary has increased from 12-15 children to having 30 today. Plus, nursery which was non-existent when we arrived now has 6-7 children every single week. It is so fun to see the growth and to watch this transformation. I am so glad to be a part of this great and wonderful church.
More excitement happened as well, TJ's mom flew out last weekend to watch the kids while TJ and I headed to the Asheville Mountains for a conference and some play time. We had SOOO much fun. We visited the Biltmore, the largest private home in America and the 2nd most visited estate in the the U.S., we hiked some trails, went on a historic trolley ride, ate some GREAT FOOD and when to a dueling piano bar which was SOOO fun, we headed back for a second night. It cost us about $7.oo (for two diet cokes, two songs and a tip) for two hours of great music and entertainment!
We also survived the closest we have come to experiencing a hurricane and I can honestly say, I don't need to have any more experience with one. We had planned to head to Balitmore but decided to stay put since everyone else was trying to evacuate that part of the country. We had some rain, some wind and LOT's of clouds but other then that, not too exciting.
We are off to try to survive another week, hopefully one titled "my children, the littliest angels..." hahehaha

So, I'm really sorry about the long hiatus on blogging, but I will made a much better and more improved valiant effort to keep updated. Thanks Ady for the call today to motivate me to get my butt in gear! Our lives have been busy as always since little "E" came into our lives. We love him tons and tons and he keeps up on our toes. Kait loves him and can't get enough of him, even when he has had enough of her. Here are some pics (more to come) of what we have been up to over the past few months.
Basically, I work, play with the kids, clean and feed the kids, clean up after the kids, cook occasionally and go boating about every week. Life is so full of fun and excitement right now. Kait is 2 1/2 and talking NON-STOP, she also dances like crazy, has about 6 bears that must go everywhere with her. She cooks them dinner, puts them to sleep and changes their diapers. She loves playing ball, basketball, baseball, soccer, you name it, she loves it. She is a fish and loves to swim in the lake, the pool, jump in the sprinklers. She is always making us laugh. She is full of love and energy and we love her dearly. She is her daddy's "little buddy" as she calls it and can't get enough play time in with him. She has mastered her bike and is begging to get training wheels off. We will see about that...
Ethan is crawling like crazy. He loves to clap and show you how big he is. He LOVES his sister and chases her around the house NON-STOP. He is very mellow unless he needs food, sleep or a change in diaper. He has discovered real food and has cute four teeth in the last three weeks. He is definitely a "mommies boy" which I truly appreciate, even though TJ doesn't. He can sign a few works and he screams to communicate at this point. He is trying to walk, but just can't find the courage to take the first step! He is into everything and his smile melts our hearts.
I am staying busy with the kids. We go to the park, go for long bike rides in the neighborhood, have tea parties, read books and visit local attractions. I am trying to train for a 10K, although I am very intimidated by my sister's time and am not sure I could even attempt running 6.2 miles in under 50 minutes. I am still in the primary and loving every minute of it.
TJ is staying SUPER busy. He is working like crazy, serving the branch presidency, planting grass in our yard which caused a drout in our neighborhood and he is attempting new tricks on the wake board. He does get a little golf in every once in a while as well.
For the most part we are REALLy enjoying North Carolina although August is the HOTTEST and MOST humid month. We have been boating every single week since Easter weekend and don't know what we would do without the warm water. Well, my son is calling, so I am out of here! Hope you enjoy and there will be more to come soon!


My super fun pre-school group!

These are truly the "royalty" at our house.

I did put pants on him before bed....oh there they are, down on his feet.

We have been doing A LOT of boating/swimming

This is my beautiful 2 1/2 year old, don't let her fool you, nothing innocent about that one.

Alot of playing in the pool, sometimes it's more like wrestling.....

Ednless amounts of feeding, then more feeding and some more feeding!

And never enough smiles from this handsome little man....yes after 10 months we FINALLy have a little bit of hair!

Our beautiful boy!

Well, we are runnying a little behind as Ethan is now over a month old and we are just BARELY showing pics of this little guy! We are SOOOOO excited he is here and absolutely LOVE him! Kaitlynn COMPLETELY adores him and can't get enough of his hugs and kissess! He was born on October 8th, spent two days in the NICU because he decided he wanted to be the "boss" about when we were leaving, when he wanted to breathe, etc. He is doing great now though, eating and growing like a champ! We are doing great adjusting from family of 3 to family of four. We know we are truly blessed to have such an amazing spirit brought into our home. TJ and I are so thankful for our beautiful children and have been so blessed by so much service in the past month as well from friends, church members, family members etc. Life is so wonderful and we are so thankful for all that we have!
We hope you are all doing great and enjoying the change in weather! I'd like to say go Utes, but we all know what happened to them on Saturday, the poor little tykes! Oh well! We will stick with Go DUKE!
Since our last post we have been quite busy as well! I can't believe I haven't updated since July! I'm totally pathetic! Here is what we have been up too:
Spent the weekend at Myrtle Beach eating WAY too much food and soaking up the sun!
TJ and family went deep sea fishing, but he ended up TOTALLy sea sick for 80% of the trip!
Took Kaitlynn to Seaworld, our new FAVORITE place, she still sleeps with "Shamu" every single night!
Went to a "Boat Show" came home with a boat. (TOTALLY NOT PLANNED, but LOVE IT)
Kaitlynn celebrated her 2nd birthday with Elmo as the theme, SHE LOVES HIM!
TJ dressed up like BIG BIRD for Halloween, Kaitlynn was a butterfly and Ethan was a pumpkin!

Hope everyone is great, I will try to update a little more frequently!

More pics

July, oh what fun!

What a fun summer so far and yet there is still so much to do! TJ and I have had a very busy and very fun summer. From trips to the zoo, trips to the beach, and trips home we have tried to cram as much as we could into the last few months. Kaitlynn is loving every minute of is and growing like a weed.
She is hilarious and keeps us on our toes. She is little miss copy cat and repeats almost everything we say. She is now 90% potty trained YEAH, and I am totally stoked. She thinks she is such a big girl and wants to do everything everyone else is doing.
I am getting bigger EVERY day, but so far no complaints. I'm feeling great but getting a little more stressed about this little guy getting here and me not being quite ready. We still haven't agreed on a name yet, but I think we are getting a little closer. Now we move onto rearranging some rooms and storage bins so this new bundle of joy will have a place in our house.
Tj still LOVES his job, and he is looking forward to a deep sea fishing trip he is taking in August. He loves playing with Kaitlynn, washing his truck and working in the yard. He enjoys his time off and even plays golf once in a while! =)

We do exist!

So, although we did take a small hiatus from the blogging sphere, we are back. With some great news! First we are expecting number two in October and, yep, it's a little BOY! We are totally excited and scared about two little ones running around, but we shall survive, I hope!
We have also been having fun doing some great family activities including:
1- Having family come out and visit over Easter with our very own Easter hunt.
And Yes, Kaitlynn was SCARED TO DEATH of the Easter bunny!
2- Going to the Zoo and the Aquarium together on Thursdays as a family date.
3- Flying home to go to my little sister's wedding.
4- Creating our own red neck yacht club in our front yard with blow up pools
and sprinklers!
5- Doing Yard work and playing in the rain.
6- Picking strawberries and making strawberry jam, YUM!
Kaitlynn is now almost 20 months old and running our household. She is talking up a storm and LOVES to copy EVERYTHING we do and say. She thinks she is hilarious and cracks herself up ALL the time. She is a ball full of energy and keeps us busy, busy, busy!
We also had to say goodbye to one of our family members, the Ford Explorer. It is the first car we bought together as a married couple. It gave us a great 7 1/2 years, but it was time to let it go, out on it's own and live it's life to the fullest. Alright, so we sold it to a family in our ward and it is a little creepy to see it parked at church each Sunday, but none the less, it looks happy! =)
Hope you enjoy the pics and have a GREAT day!

Fun Memories!

We have had such a great time the past few weeks! We took Kaitlynn to her first circus the other night. She did GREAT! Although, I still have not decided who the circus was for, us or her. She tolerated everything, sat quietly and listened as TJ and I enjoyed all the cheesy entertainment that brought us back to our childhood years! Kaitlynn is such a trooper, she goes with the flow and whatever other crazy idea her parents may have.
Speaking of crazy ideas, we also headed to Florida last week for SPRING TRAINING! Can you say, giddy school boy? TJ did not know what to do with himself, he was SOOO excited! We headed down for some up close and personal action with some of the best Yankee players there are. We had a great time at the games, the sun was warm, weather was FABULOUS, got sun burnt, a few autographs, made some great memories and enjoyed the beach! Life could not get much better then that! Kaitlynn was a total star of the show as well. She made it on the mega tron every day we were there. My favorite part, is her sunglasses. She had to have them on anytime TJ and I had ours on! She is just so super cute!
Kaitlynn is now 17 months old going on 2 1/2 I think. She is talking ALL the time, but you can only understand about half of what she says. She is climbing on EVERYTHING, reading books like crazy, hugging and laughing ALL the time and LOVES stacking cups, blocks, etc. She is our little firecracker and we love her to death!