happy halloween!!

introducing our cowboy....


and ballerina....

and some more fall memories...

we got back last night from a fun weekend in the mountains with friends. we had so much fun with all the kids and enjoyed the beautiful NC weather. here's some photos of the good times...

we took a hike to a very pretty waterfall.

the first fish evan has caught. the boy is already in love with fishing. daddy's dream come true!

ella caught her first fish too! she was even brave enough to touch it!

we decorated pumpkin cookies.

and carved our first pumpkin as a family. ella thought the insides were pretty gross.

a nice birthday weekend

i never thought 34 would feel this way. back in my 20's when i would think about someone in their 30's...i thought it was so "grown up". i don't feel so "grown up". yes, i have children, a husband, a house to keep, etc....but i still feel so young in my heart. now, this can be a good thing...yet it can be a bad thing too! but i won't go into that right now.

so my birthday weekend (i like to spread out the celebration of my birthday as long as possible!) started with the day before (Oct 18). we went to a friend's house for a play date and made these fun spider cookies.


then friday was my birthday (Oct. 19). my mom ended up coming for the day. she took me and evan to lunch. rusty took some time off of work and while my mom/dad kept the kids, we went to the mall and to dinner and then for coffee. it was nice having several hours away together!

the day after my birthday, we left that morning for a drive to Rome, Georgia where our college alma mater is...Berry College. first we met some friends for lunch. (rusty went to high school with "jmom"). we met their triplets for the first time and they are even more adorable in person! here are my kids outside the Harvest Moon Cafe after we ate a yummy lunch.

then we went to Berry to drive around the campus. first we showed the kids where mommy and daddy got married. they were very excited about seeing the inside of the chapel, but there was a wedding going on so we couldn't go in.

then we drove to the Ford buildings where i spent 3 years of my college life. we walked inside one of the dorms and went to my junior year 2nd West Mary dorm room where amy and katie lived 2 doors down. it brought back LOTS of memories and was a little weird being there 13 years later!

this is the Clara archway looking onto the Ford reflection pool. i could never tire of the beautiful architecture at Berry. it's truly stunning.

ella thought this looked like a castle. i explained to her that it was the Ford dining hall where mommy and daddy went to many school dances!

another view through the archway looking onto Clara bowl.

then we drove to mountain campus and had fun seeing a number of deer and driving to the Old Mill. ella kept saying "i love berry college". we are so proud :)

after that, we went back to our friends house to get ready for the wedding we were attending. we got this quick picture before we left and barely made it to the chapel in time! the kids did well at the wedding...other than evan's gas that he let fly on the wooden pews and his hiccups!!

it was challenging getting all 5 kids to smile...this was the best one we got!

more cute quotes

i've been meaning to write down some things the kids have said...all is quiet right now so here is my chance.

while camping:
ella: "let's marsh marshmallows!"

while camping:
evan: "i weally want to roast mushrooms. can we roast mushrooms?" (ella used to call marshmallows mushrooms too!)

while standing in front of the mirror after her shower:
ella: "mommy, i have some water in my ears. and i think i have some caramel in my ears too!"
(i then giggled and thought about how my hubby says i pull out sugar daddies out of my ears, gross, i know!)

while snuggling with evan at bedtime:
evan: "mommy, will you always be my fwiend?" (heart melted right then.)

while evan is snuggling and giving me nuzzles:
evan: "i like to give you nuzzles mommy" ( i love that he can say the word "nuzzles"..so cute!)



and this has nothing to do with cute quotes...but my kid's favorite new show to watch is PBS's "Word World". have any of you seen it? i actually think it is quite clever, smart, funny, educational and silly. i love how the characters bodies are made of the letters in their name. my kids are learning how to spell. nothing like relying on your TV to teach your children, huh? whatever it takes. (i'm kidding, ok?) anyway, if you haven't seen it, watch it...your kids will enjoy i'm sure and they just might learn something too!

capture their youth.

a couple weekends ago we spent some time with some good friends from college. amy is a talented photographer and i have seen this gift/talent grow over the years...and so i asked her to take some shots of my kids while we were there. she borrowed a fun 50mm lens from a friend and the results were so great! it makes me want to get a camera like hers (digital SLR). i think photos like these are the best way i know how to freeze them at this age. (i wish i knew of other ways to do it!).

the great outdoors

we survived our first family camping trip this past weekend! although it was much warmer and humid than we had hoped....we had a good time enjoying the great outdoors. our friends joined us for the first night and the second night we camped solo. after our weekend was over, rusty said to me that he felt relaxed after camping. i don't think the feeling was mutual for me! my childhood memories of camping with my family are good ones...but camping as an adult is so much different! i enjoy the luxuries of home and like getting a good night's sleep (on a dry pillow, not one that is wet from humidity!!). i suppose i can sacrifice for the sake of my family every now and then! the kids had a great time and just kept telling us how much fun they were having....it makes it all worth it when we hear that!

tattoos & haircuts

first of all, i have to spread the word that a friend of ours from college is going to be on TLC's LA Ink TONIGHT at 10pm eastern!!! our friend, carlos, and his family just moved back to georgia from california. he was a worship pastor at a church out there and got a tattoo at the famous LA Ink shop. so watch tonight!

moving on....ella got a big hair cut today. much to daddy's dismay (he likes her hair long, but he gave me permission to get it cut!), she got it cut to her shoulders. it looks really cute on her!! take a look!


daddy: we tried to come show you today...but you were busy! sorry to show you this way!!

be blessed

i've been following Copeland's story since i got an email about her from a friend. this precious little girl didn't live a very long life...yet her life has impacted so many people. this family's faith is inspiring and encouraging. they are real...and they reveal this vulnerability through their blog. Copeland's memorial service was saturday and they shared about it here. watch the video. may you "be blessed" as this family share's their story of love and heartache.

some fun family time

i've been putting off writing this post because i had too many pictures to go through...and as you can see by this post, i had a hard time narrowing them down. this past weekend, we decided to take the kids away for some fun family time. rusty and i have been so busy working lately, we really needed this time with the kids. so we took them to the N. Georgia State Fair last friday night and then the next day we went to Elijay to the apple picking jubilee! the kids had a blast and here are lots of pictures to prove it.

the fair brought back so many memories. i love the sounds, the lights, the smells, the games, the rides, the food! it was so exciting to see our kids faces as they were taking it all in. here's ella on her first ride, a caterpillar roller coaster, and she was staring at the ferris wheel next to us.


this was evan's first time ever riding on a carnival type ride. he had SO much fun, the smile on his face was priceless when the bumblebee started moving!

yummy funnel cake!

below is a Little Big Town concert we got to see while at the fair. they were so great!

the next day we went to Hillcrest Orchards. this is a fantastic place to take your family (if you live in georgia!). there were so many fun things for the kids.

the kids got to ride these john deere tricycles around a track.

a wagon ride through the orchards

ella got to ride up front with the driver

in the past, ella has told me she wanted to milk a cow...she got her chance! after hesitating quite a bit...she gave it a try!

ella riding the zip line

the kids watching the pig race. this was hilarious!! (and the kid's favorite part of the day)

if you made it this far, thanks for looking! it was a memorable weekend for our family and the kid's have not stopped talking about it!