Gymnastics, costume parade 08

So, I am quickly finding out that Hailey is much more "opinionated" than Braxton ever was. Every morning is a struggle for us to agree on what she is going to wear that day. If I let her, she'd wear a swimming suit over a pair of tights everyday.
Picking out a Halloween costume this year, proved to be just as difficult. We went to "Party City" and stood in front of the wall of costumes for about 20 min while she picked which of the princess's she wanted to be. It was so painful....She finally picked the Ariel costume, so we went to get some accessories for it and she spotted the Ariel wig. The picture on the package was hideous, so I can only imagine what it looked like out of the package and there was no way I was spending $20 on that! So we argued about getting the wig for another 15 min. She finally gave in and decided that since she couldn't have the wig she didn't want to be Ariel anymore. So back to the wall of costumes..... We went back and forth with every princess, because they all had wigs that she wanted. I finally got her to get the Sleeping Beauty costume, without the wig. I convinced her that she already has Sleeping Beauty princess hair. Next year I'm hoping we can do something a little more creative.

Hailey in her gymnastics class.

The costume is so cheap.....the crown looks more like a headband. But she loves it and that's what matters.

Doing her stretches....and she just couldn't put the sceptor down.


Gabby and Hailey.

My parents last visit.......

My parents made their annual trip out here. Although this time, now that my sister Kristine and brother Jarom live close, that would mean that half of the family would be together. So we were all looking forward to their visit. My parents flew out and drove down to Charleston to stay with my brother and his wife. Jarom had to work at the hospital while they were there, but was going to drive out here with my parents to stay with us. The first half of their trip went as planned. They got to see Charleston and where Jarom and Liina live.

However here in Atlanta, Kristines daughter, Kira had come down with the stomach flu. We all hoped that she would be over it by the time my parents and Jarom came out. No such luck, not only did she not get better quickly, my nephew, my sister and brother in law all got it. So Jarom and Liina decided not to risk getting it, and stayed home. My parents stayed one night with Kristine and decided to move to a hotel, when the rest of the family came down with it. The worst part is my mom ended up getting it the night before they went home.

So the trip didn't quite turn out how we'd hoped! Such is life, better luck next time! (the funny thing is, none of the Ellsworths got it and we'd all been exposed)

The one day that we were able to go out and do something before my mom got sick, we went up to Helen and to the pumpkin patch. Kira had started feeling better by this point, but you can tell in the pictures she's not quite herself.....

The bug house cont.....

The tenants had done so many odd things to the house....Like wall paper some of the windows, the cupboards, the bathtub? I don't know what the tradition is down in Mexico, but it just seems odd to me. If you notice even the windows are new. Mike was inspired by my Brother in law, Craig, who had replaced their windows himself. So, Mike did it all on his own and saved us a lot of money!

There is much more that we did, but this gives you an idea. I don't know what we are going to do with ourselves now that we are done! It will be nice to have a free Saturday.

The "Bug House"

Mike and I have had a lease/purchase home for a little over 4 years. The tenants that lived in there were supposed to purchase the home after 3 years. Well, the 3 year mark came and went and they were unable to get the loan. This past June we find out that the family had just up and moved, owing us 2 months rent. A few days after we found this out I went over to the house to see what kind of shape it was in. It was so......I can't even find the words that would do it justice. Definately not a place I would wish on my worst enemy! The smell was so awful, I could barely stand to be in the house. And the cockroaches were so bad they were falling from the ceiling.

Our summer was pretty much spent in fixing up the house so we could sell. We started in July and literally just finished on Tuesday. We worked on it every spare second we had. Even the kids helped out. Mike taught Braxton how to cut and lay tile, and Hailey helped with painting. (I'm still trying to get paint out of her hair).

When we first started working on the house, Hailey started to refer to it as the "bug house", because of all of the bugs.....so that's what we've called. Although now that it's clean and we had an exterminator come there are no more bugs. Here are some before and after shots.

the kitchen....there was caked grease everywhere! And roaches in all of the cupboards and drawers and crawling all over the floor. Who wall papers their stove?

The after shot. We did everything ourselves, we even taught ourselves how to lay hardwood floors.

Mike added on extra cupboards. I'm so glad I married someone who's so handy.

this is the family room. The carpet was so gross I didn't even want to walk on it with shoes on.....and they had taken the light fixture.....and it wasn't this color when we rented them the house.

amazing what some paint, new floors and a nice light fixture can do.

The Bug house

The house after some TLC

FINALLY!!!!!

Yes, we finally took the boat out and were able to do some wakeboarding. My brother and his wife made a last minute trip out here, so we thought we'd take a break from usual weekend activities and have some fun. We went back up to Lake Chatuge, NC for the day. The weather was beautiful, and there were hardly any boats out on the lake. It was so relaxing! Just what we needed. Lil miss Hailey
Brax calling Mike to see when he was coming back with the boat to pick him up.
Brax and Hailey playing on the beach

Hailey and Kira watching the boys wakeboard.

Lake Chatuge, NC

First day of preschool

Hailey just started preschool this week. I was a little nervous about her going, after the "meet the teacher" open house we went to. Hailey was not very nice to the kids or her teacher. She clung to my legs and if anyone tried to talk to her, she'd yell "NO!" and shove her face into my thy. So I didn't know what to expect when I dropped her off on her first day.

They didn't allow the parents to bring them into the class. We just dropped them off at the car pool line and the teachers took them into class. When we pulled up and the teacher opened the door, Hailey said "Bye Momma and Dadda" and jumped out of the car.

When I picked her up, she talked non-stop about her day. She loved it! I'm sure it helped that her buddy Gabby is in her class. But she's excited to go back, so that's a good thing.

Labor Day

So our original labor day plans were to go and work on our rental house that we are rehabing all day long. Well, the plans changed. Mike still went for part of the day along with my brother-in-law Mike and our friend Mike (yeah three Mikes) but I took Hailey and met my sister and a friend at chick-fil-a for lunch and then we all met back here for a bbque. We had the Sampsons, the Maddoxs and the Crosbys over for dinner. The Maddox's were kind enough to bring their huge waterslide for the kids to play on. The kids had a BLAST!

Georgia is in a drought right now and we aren't supposed to use out door water......So I was a little nervous to have this huge thing right in the front yard. However, I figure if all of our neighbors can use their sprinklers to water their lawns, then we can run a waterslide for a couple of hours.

12 years....

Mike and I just "celebrated" our 12 year anniversary. Mike had originally planned a weekend getaway for us, but in light of our having to carry two mortgages, we made an executive decision to cancel the trip for now.

Our anniversary was on a Sunday this year, which what can you do on a Sunday? But Nicole, the ever service oriented friend, insisted that she take our kids after church for the rest of the day, so Mike and I could be alone. After a long nap and dinner we just hung out. Not too exciting I know but it was nice to have peace and quiet.

Charleston, SC

My brother, Jarom and his wife, Liina, just moved from Utah out to Charleston, SC. After graduating from Medical school he is now doing his residency in Neurology at MUSC (I always get the university wrong) Anyway, we were able to make a quick trip down there to visit and to see a little of the town. It was a quick trip, but we were able to hit the beach for a few hours. The little kids had a blast playing in the sand and waves. We also did some sight seeing and took a tour of the city. I love architecture and the history of the buildings and old homes was really interesting. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to go back for a longer visit. Hailey and her cousin Kira on the beach.
Mike (my brother in law), Braxton, Mike, Hailey (asleep) Kristine, Noah and Brady in the stroller, Liina with Honele (sp?) and Jarom.

Our little visitor from Utah....

We had the rare opportunity to have my niece, Amber, come out and stay with us for a week. It was so fun to have her here. The kids really enjoyed having her around. Braxton was so happy that Amber likes to play the xbox, so when we weren't out and about doing things, they were playing the xbox.

We did so much while she was here; floating down the chattahoochee river, playing on the natural water slides at Pooles Mill park, going to the Lanier Islands water park, swimming at the pool, going up the Chattanooga, TN and hiking through the cave to see Ruby Falls. Kristine and I were also able to have a girls night with her and do some shopping. It was a lot of fun. Ruby falls
Hailey and Gabby

Amber, Braxton, Zach and Parker in the cave

Max, Braxton, Amber, Hailey and Zach at Pooles Mill

The good Ole days!

My sister, Stacy did a post a little while ago about she and her friend Dawn and posted some pictures of her college years and today. So when I got these pictures from our trip to Utah, I went and compared my pictures from my days at Utah State along with the recent pictures.

Me, and my roommates, Jodi ( we shared a room) Karen and Jeana. This was taken the fall of 1994.There were many nights up in Logan where we had to entertain ourselves. I have no idea what we were doing, but I'm sure it was fun! Why I'm the only one that looks like an indian.....heaven only knows. Jeana, Karen and me. (Jodi lives in Ohio) We are able to get together at least twice a year and catch up. And we are still pretty good friends.
All four of us decided to join the LDS sorority. We were accepted into the Xi Eta chapter. Which our career as sorority sisters didn't last for very long. I found it kind of silly, and I was just happy I got my free sweatshirt, so after a couple of months we quit. Anyway, we were selected to do the Spring Fashion show for the Lambda Delts..... This is Karen and I.....yes we look scary!
Karen and I have stayed very close over the years. Which is amazing considering I live in Georgia and she lives in Utah.

Visit with friends

A put together a cluster of pictures from our visit with the Colemans out in Utah. They've been our good friends for a long time, and we are lucky to have such great friends!

The kids playing in the fountain at Gateway Mall.

Doing sparklers. Hailey and Kenzie on the slides.

Karen, Kenzie and me. Chris and Mike

Park City, Utah

I totally spaced blogging the main part of our trip to Utah..........every year my family has a family reunion up in Park City. We all stay at the Silver King resort, and do some swimming, hiking, the alpine slide and some more swimming. This year we were up there over the 4th of July, so we had front row seats to the firework show up there. And I mean literally front row, we were right across the street from the parking lot where they were setting them off. It was amazing! Braxton had a great time with all of the cousins. And everyone was able to go except Jarom and Liina, so almost the entire family was there. Amber, Hunter and Anna
Zach showing off his back dive
Some of the fireworksThis is my favorite picture....Mike and Hailey came down the slide together and their sled stopped about 100 yards from the end. So Mike had to pull Hailey down the rest of the way.
Mike and Hailey
Braxton and Noah
Kira, Hailey and Carter

Spencer, Zach, Abe, Carter, Braxton and Uncle Craig heading up to ride the Alpine slide.
Stacy, Amanda, Jeff, Parker, Summer and Kim....below them you can see Mike, Hailey, Kerry, Sophia, Kim (Kerry's babysitter) and Amber.