Downtown Disney

Ok, let's discuss the topic of "Disney World". For those of us who have grown up in the west and have visited Disney "land", this concept is kind of hard to pick up. The fact that Disney World isn't just the Disney theme park, that it's made up of several different attractions. That the "Magic Kingdom" is the Disney theme park, that is the sister to Disney Land. I can't bring myself to call it Magic Kingdom so I just call it Disney Land. Anyway, now that I've bored all of you, with my highly, intelligent observation.....I'll continue.....while we were at Disney "world" we went to Downtown Disney....which is a big shopping area, with Disney shops and other expensive stores. There was a big Lego store and outside the store they had created large creatures along the sidewalk entirely out of legos. There was a Transformer, a dinosaur and a sea creature, just to name a few. There was also a Princess store, that Hailey went crazy over.

We had been at the beach earlier in the day, so the kids were tired and cranky! Hailey was beside herself and cried over everything, until she saw the princess store. I have never seen her so excited.Us at Downtown Disney. You can see that Hailey isn't a happy camper.Oh, but look, there's princess Aurora, beckoning Hailey into the store....she was all smiles here. Hailey and Seth with Buzz lightyear.

Braxton and the Lego sea creatures.

Clear Water Beach

While we were down in Orlando we had a day with nothing to do. So, Mike suggested that we drive to the beach, and he wanted to go to "Clearwater beach". What was thought to be an hour drive really turned out to be almost two hours, but it was worth it. The weather was warm, sunny and beautiful. You can't ask for more than that.

Braxton and Jake playing in the sand.
Hailey and Ella.

Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom was a lot more fun this year, especially for the kids. We went with some friends of ours, who have kids Braxton and Hailey's age. Braxton actually wanted to go on the rides this time. The night before Mike was up planning out our day, so we could be as "effecient" as possible. And it worked. We rode every ride. We got there as soon as it opened and we left when it closed. Thank goodness for the fast pass, it made the day so much better. Fireworks at the Cinderella castle....I forgot to rotate the picture.
Mike and Hailey waiting for the fireworks to start.

Magic Kingdom

Braxton and I waiting for the fireworks to start.

Hailey on the TTA ride (the old people mover) ride. Which turned out to be one of the favorites and not just because there was no line.

The kids at Buzz lightyear.

Magic Kingdom

Of all the rides to go one, Hailey just had to ride the carousel....I was not very excited to wait in line to ride something we could go on at the local mall!
Mike and Hailey at, "It's a small world" ride. She loved all of the characters and the song, oh and can't forget the sparkley things.

Hailey, Braxton, Ella, Seth, Luke and Jake in "Frontier Land".

Not quite the pool....

We went to Orlando, again for Spring Break. When we left Atlanta it was raining, and when we arrived in Orlando it was POURING! The kids had wanted to go to the pool so bad, but it was cold and rainy, so we did the next best thing. Thank goodness for jetted tubs!

Easter

We had a fun Easter this year. Braxton and Hailey woke up and found the baskets that the Bunny had left for them, and there were some hidden eggs that they had to search for. After church we had a delicious Easter dinner, with honey baked ham, funeral potatos, pasta salad, rolls, green salad and fruit. It was so good! Probably the best in a while. The Sampsons and the Crosby's came over and joined us for dinner. After, the kids went out and had an easter egg hunt. It was pretty cold outside, but they still had fun.

Braxton

Spring is here!

The kids out enjoying the warm weather.

We just had a what.....?

As some of you may of heard, downtown Atlanta was hit by a tornado, Friday night. It was weird to see the damage that was done to the buildings down there. Saturday, they had also predicted some heavy thunderstorms, and boy did we get them..... Wind, pouring rain, thunder and lightening, hail, the works. Our power went out, because it was so windy, and the thunder was so loud it shook the house. Since our power was out we couldn't hear the news to see what was going on. And we didn't hear the "tornado siren". Mike's sister called to let us know that one was heading our way, but since our power was out, we didn't get the call. Like idiots we stood at the window and watched the storm come through. A couple of hours after the storm hit I was talking to a friend on my cell phone and she informed me that a Tornado hit down the street from our house. We had NO IDEA! Today at church, everyone was talking about how they went down in the basement when the siren went off.......Didn't hear it! Our power was out all day, so we didn't know anything that was going on. Thank goodness it didn't hit any closer than it did. There is a farm house down the road, who's drive up to the house is lined with really pretty, big pear trees that have beautiful white blossoms on them. We drove by this morning and most of them are down, from the storm. Here are some pictures of took of our yard, cause it looked like a river was running through it. Hopefully the storm put some kind of dent in our drought out here.

The Hail...........

If you look back by the trees you can see part of a "creek" that had turned into a raging river. The "river" that ran down the side of the house

Pinewood Derby

Well, we participated in our first "pinewood derby" yesterday. It was just as long and painful as I remembered it to be, from when my little brother was a scout. Braxton and Mike, with some help from Grandpa Dave, carved and sanded the car. I then painted it. Nothing too fancy. Braxton was very excited to participate. He won every race but one in the first round. He then only won two races in the second round, which kept us from going to the third round. Come to find out, the three cars that won 1st 2nd and 3rd, all made illegal modifications to their cars, which is why they were so fast. (and can't go to district with them) Apparently our ward isn't very strict when it comes to the rules.Braxton with his car, just before we left for the church.
Braxton and his buddy Zach setting up to race against each other. (Zach won)
Braxton, watching his car WIN, by a hair!

Braxton's Baptism

Braxton's Baptism was on Saturday February 23, 2008. What a great day! Grandma Cheryl, Grandpa Ellsworth, Aunt Kerri, Grandma and Grandpa Hanson, and Uncle Mike and Aunt Kristine all came. His friends, the Maddox's, the Sampson's, the Westfalls, his primary teacher were all there too. It was so nice to be surrounded by people who love and support Braxton. Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Hanson spoke, Grandma Hanson played an arrangement that she wrote (I love to see the temple, Braxton's favorite primary song). Mike baptized him and gave him a wonderful confirmation blessing. It was such a great experience, and a little sad to realize that Braxton is growing up so quickly.
After the baptism, everyone came over to our house for a luncheon. Braxton had a great time playing with everyone.

Thank you to everyone who has had a role in Braxton's life. Thank you to those of you who traveled out here to be here for this awesome occasion.

Braxton with Grandma and Grandpa Hanson

Grandma Cheryl, Braxton, Grandpa Ellsworth, Aunt Kerri and Hailey

Braxton's Baptism

Us at the church, before the baptism

Braxton and Mike in their baptismal clothing.

Some of Braxton's friends that came to the baptism.
Braxton and Hailey

Braxton's Birthday

Grandma, Grandpa and Hailey singing Happy Birthday.

We now have an 8 year old in the house. I feel to young to have an eight year old, but so goes life. Braxton had a great birthday.....no party this year, but his Grandma Cheryl took he and a friend out to a movie and to dinner. They had so much fun. On his actual birthday Mike and I took him to Sweet Tomatos (his fav restaraunt) and then we came home and watched a movie. Braxton is such a homebody that he was satisfied with just spening time with his family.

Our new cub scout.....

Yep, we've started scouts. I see Pinewood derby's, court of honors, and lots of projects in our future. Braxton is so excited about it. His Grandma Cheryl was here and as part of his birthday she took him to Outdoor world to get his scout shirt, book, hat and scarf.

We have our first pinewood derby in a couple of weeks and Braxton, Mike and Grandpa Dave already have cut and sanded the car. Things certainly have changed, since my little brother was in scouts. No longer to you have to rely on your imagination, the internet has opened up a whole new world of options with the car. There are so many sites that show car styles and give you tips on how to make your car go faster. Now the only problem is to decide what car he wants to do.

St Thomas, V.I. '08

For some reason the website will only allow me to add 2 pictures per post, so I've had to do several posts......

We had a great time in St. Thomas. The weather was beautiful, a little windy the last two days, but still pretty warm. I was very dilligent at putting my sunscreen on, Dad would be proud. I did get a little sunburn in some "obscure" parts, like around my armpit and and on one side of my foot, but that was it. Mike on the otherhand, underestimated the strength of the sun and was FRIED! Even his scalp was sunburned. And now it's all peeling off.

The beach at the resort. And yes, the water was really that blue.

The Great White shark that hung out at our beach.....okay, ya got me, it was just a little Lemon shark.

St Thomas

Mike and I on our way to dinner, in front of the pool. And no, I'm not pregnant. It's just the way my jacket was open.
If you look hard enough you can see Mike snorkeling......

More pics of St Thomas

We stayed in the back building, to the left. This is a picture taken from the catamaran.
A view from the pool.

St Thomas, V.I.

Mike relaxing in the ocean.
Part of the Resort.

Mike and I were able to get away for a week, "kidfree", and head down to St Thomas. After a very windy, bumpy taxi ride from the airport to the Hotel, we finally made it to the "Ritz Carlton". It was a very nice place, a little over rated in my opinion, but nice. We did absolutely nothing! And I'm not kidding. We just layed on the beach, ate, did a little snorkeling and that was it. There are other things to do at St. Thomas, but after the car ride from "you know where" I was not about to get back into a taxi to go anywhere, unless we absolutely had to. Oh, we did take a large catamaran over to St John, and snorkeled at "rendevous bay". That was a lot of fun. All in all it was a much needed vacation for both of us. And the kids had a great time at home with Grandma Cheryl.

Oh the weather outside is frightful......

Two snow storms in one week! I think this is a record. Wednesday night it was all over the news that Atlanta was going to get a "big" snow storm, that schools and business's would be shut down. You'd think we were going to get 10 feet of snow or something, but no, we got about 1/2 of an inch. They still closed school for the day. Braxton was very excited!

Storm number 1

By friday all of the snow from the first storm had melted. But they were predicting a bigger storm to hit us Saturday. Braxton had basketball practice friday night, and that was all everyone was talking about, the BIG STORM! Saturday they canceled all of the basketball games, and people were going out and getting supplies in case the end of the world was on it's way. So around 10am Saturday morning the flakes started to fall and by 2 pm we had about 3 inches on the ground. The kids were so excited. Living out here in Georgia, you don't really need the proper snow attire, so we didn't have much to put on the kids. They went out and played in it for about 20 minutes until they couldn't stand the cold any longer.