The lake is BACK!

Finally, Lake Lanier has some water in it. We were able to do a bunch of boating this summer. Because of all of the boating we were able to do, Braxton has become pretty good at wakeboarding.

Braxton

Braxton

Hailey and Mike cooling off

Braxton jumpin in

At the beginning of the summer Hailey wouldn't even jump into the pool. After a while she felt more comfortable and would let Mike throw her into the lake.

Haiely and Gabby

Annual trip with the Crosby's

We took our second, annual trip to Destin, Florida with the Crosby Family. It's so fun to live close to some family and be able to do fun things with them.

After what should have been about a 6 hour trip, turned into almost a 10 hour trip, due to a flat tire and road construction, it was so nice to finally get there. We had a great time at the beach and the pool. Hailey and Kira in San Destin
Hailey and Kira at the bbque place for dinner.

Mike and Braxton waiting for our dinner.

Kira, Braxton and Kira

On the beach

We had some cloudy/rainy weather while we were there. The day we were to come home the weather was beautiful. While the Crosby's headed home we just couldn't miss out on such a nice day. So we stayed for a few hours and got home late that night.

Loungin in the water

Independance Day

Once again, Mike made his trek up to South Carolina to pick up fireworks for our annual 4th of July bbque. In the past we've invited several families over for dinner and the "show", but this year we just had the Crosby's, Sampson's and the Howell's over. This was the first time that we've done fireworks in this house, and I was a little worried as to how well it would go over. The "fallout" from the exploding fireworks, can be kind of messy and our neighbors can be pretty uptight.

We had a delicious dinner that would have made any relief society proud, along with a pinata, snaps and sparklers for the kids, which they absolutely loved. As soon as it was dark Mike and the boys went down the back and lit up the fireworks. I have to say that eventhough it was a great show, I was super nervous, especially after one firework , instead of going up, flew sideways right at the neighbors window. Luckily no damage was done, but I was pretty stressed that something was going to explode or be set on fire. Everyone enjoyed the show, and Mike vowed that next year it would be bigger and better. I think I might need to start anti-anxiety medication before then..... Ryan Howells and the kids watching small firecrackers.

Hailey trying to bust open the pinata.

Will, Gabby, Kira and Hailey anxiously awaiting their turn for the pinata.

Braxton's turn. In trying to figure out where the pinata was he tapped it lightly, which ended up counting as his turn, he was bummed, but was a good sport about it. Which is good, cause had he hit it hard it would have for sure busted it open and no one else would have had a turn.

Everyone watching the pinata....

Candy frenzy!!

The boys and sparklers.

Hailey

Fireworks!!!!

Pictures curteousy of Kristine

Summertime 09

Summer this year has been very different than last year....with our unexpected rental home project, last summer, we spent every moment working on it, getting it ready to sell. Plus Georgia was in a drought, so the lake level was really low, making it dangerous to take the boat out. So, we worked instead of played
.
This year, the lake levels are almost to "normal" and we have no projects to do, so we've been boating and enjoying Summer best we can. We've been able to go out on the lake at least three times a week so far, and are taking full advantage of all there is to do around us.

We also had several vacations lined up. Our first trip was out to South Carolina's, Lake Murray, to meet up with Grandpa Ellsworth and Aunt Kerri. Aunt Kerri was able to get a lake home for us to stay in for the weekend. The house had a pool and a hot tub and a dock. We had a great time swimming and boating. The kids really enjoyed spending time with Kerri and Grandpa. Hailey relaxing in the pool.

Braxton

The pool, hot tub and the dock is on the far right.

Our next trip was a weekend camping trip to Lake Chatuge, North Carolina, with the Crosby's and the Maddox's.

Hailey playing in the lake.

From left to right, around the table, Noah Crosby, Kira Crosby, Seth Maddox, Ella Maddox, Braxton, Jake Maddox, Hailey and Luke Maddox. Everyone taking a break from boating to eat lunch.

These next two pictures are my favorite.....this is our tent (the 4 of us) it was a 2 room, 12 man tent.

This little tent was the Maddoxs (2 adults and 4 kids) all slept inside this little thing. I think their air mattress barely fit. We offered to have some of their kids sleep with us, but Mike Maddox insisted that they would all be fine.

This was an early morning picture of Lake Chatuge from our campsite. It was very peaceful. I was just glad to see the sun come up, since I'd been awake since 4 am. I never sleep very well camping.

These last pictures are all on Lake Lanier, the lake that is right by our house and finally has water in it. Braxton has really come a long way with wakeboarding, and Hailey loves the tubes, and to swim in the water, in between wakeboarders.

Cute Braxton

Sweet lil miss Hailey

Braxton taking on the wake, yes he's getting some air.

Brax the pro.

We've had a pretty good summer so far. A couple of speed bumps, the biggest one being having to cancel our trip to Utah, because of health issues. I'll never forget Hailey's sad reaction when Mike explained to her that we couldn't go out. She was devastated. I finally broke down a couple of days ago and unpacked our suitcases, realizing it just wasn't going to happen. We'll just have to postpone it for a while. We are off to the Beach in a couple of weeks and then up to Virginia for an Ellsworth/Brallier reunion, can't wait for that.

Preschool Graduation

Hailey has graduated from her first year of preschool. The school did a program and then each of the childrens names were called to get their "diploma". And then we were able to attend yet another class party.

Hailey singing "I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee"

Not happy she's up there
She's done!

Dance and Gymnastics

Hailey had her Gymnastics Jubilee, where they showcase all that they've learned this year. Hailey's the one standing on the green square
Hailey and her medal, you gotta love the underware coming out of her leotard.

We also had Hailey's first dance recital this year. She and Kira looked so cute out there doing the dance. You could tell that they were the only two that didn't go to dance rehersal (because it was on Sunday) so they were a little lost at time on the stage, but they still did a really good job. Braxton was the photographer of these pictures.

The recital was called Princess in the Tower. Hailey's class were the Star Faries. (Hailey is the second one from the right)

Hailey is the third on from the right.

Braxton and Baseball

Well, this baseball season has been a very interesting one. This was the first time that the kids pitch instead of the coaches. Some of the games were very long and painful, but towards the end of the season the pitchers had become pretty good. Braxton, again was put into the outfield, and sometimes on third base. He has really improved. He was one of the kids that could actually hit the ball, could pretty much catch anything and can throw really far. There was one particular game the other team hit a popfly to left field Braxton stuck his glove out and caught the ball. Everyone was up and cheering, cause no one thought he'd actually catch it. He recieved the game ball three times this year.

Once again we made it to the finals in the tournament. However, during our final game in the 4th inning, the umpires were switched for some reason. We were ahead 8 to 2 and then all of the sudden they were ahead 10 to 8. The ump made some really bad calls. During the last inning, two of our coaches were thrown out of the game, parents were yelling, it was chaos. The boys were just ready for the game to end. It was a 2 1/2 hour game! Glad it's over......Trying to get Braxton to games was always such an ordeal, that I always forgot the camera, so I have no pictures of him this year. Next year I'll do better.

London

The second stop was London. It was a lot different than Ireland, which you wouldn't think because they are so close, but they are. It just seemed two steps ahead of Dublin. We were able to tour the city the first couple of days we were there, which the architecture was so beautiful, you could spend a month trying to see everything and not see it all. The third day we were there we went up to Bath, Windsor Castle and Stone Henge. It was fun to see the countryside. I am a Jane Austen fan, thanks to my mom and in all of her books she talks about Bath, and how it was the place to be if you had money. So I've always been curious as to what it looked like. Stone Henge was exactly how I thought it would be, looks just like all of the pictures. Hyde Park, which is London's equivalent of Central Park.
Buckingham Palace

Big Ben

Some of the architecture...I could have stood and just stared at all of the buildings.

There were statues of all of the past kings and queens, they were really pretty cool.

More architecture, and a statue of Queen Victoria, there were a lot of her.

Windsor Castle. I can't remember the town it's in, but it was about 2 hours outside of London. This is one of the 5 castles that Queen Elizabeth lives in, and is actually her favorite castle. We were able to tour a part of it and it was awesome! Unfortunately we couldnt take pictures. The queen was actually there while we were.

This is the Queens apartment.

Changing of the guard

Another view of the castle, along with the church that Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married in.

This is where Bath get's it's name. There were Roman bath houses that were discovered, that were buried for years.

This was a Roman steam room. They built a floor ontop of the stacks of stone

A street in Bath

Stone Henge

My favorite picture.

We also visited the train station that was in the Harry Potter book. Mike on platform 9 and 3 quarters.

The train station

The end of our trip