July 4th Weekend

(Super long post- it wasn't inteded to be but there was lots I want to remember. Pics are at the bottom- you can skip to those, my feelings won't be hurt!)

Matt had Friday off so we decided to take advantage of that and drive down to Atlanta, GA. We wanted to be back for our church firework show on Saturday so it was just a quick trip.

Matt got home from work around 4:30 and I had just printed off our tickets for the Braves baseball game that started at 7:10... and it's a 4 hour trip down! Obviously we got there a little late but we were there for almost all the action. The Braves won and I think it was a good first experience for the boys and myself at a major league baseball game. We caught the last three innings and the Braves won- Great!

Friday we packed in as much as we could. We started with the world's largest aquarium. It was AWESOME!!! The boys loved it and so did Matt and I. If we lived in Atlanta I would buy a season pass and go every week! Right when you walk in There is a tank of sting rays and sharks that you can touch- so neat.

After a few hours there we went over to the CNN Center for a tour. It was neat to do, not life changing, but a cool experience- not worth a season pass! :D

We got to walk through Olympic park on our way to the Coca-Cola museum. neat to do once- again not a season pass attraction.

We got directions to a southern diner for dinner. On our way Matt drove us all over town to try and climb up the Olympic torches that are placed throughout the city. They were all closed so he was sad. his thing anytime we go somewhere is to get a bird's eye view. you don't know how many buildings we've tried to get into and get to the top floor to see the view. I guess that's just his thing- it makes me laugh.

We saw Georgia tech and even got to get down on the football field. There was a ball that Taylor found so he took some time practicing his routes on a real field- his dad was so proud!

Saturday we went to the zoo which was really cool. The boys loved it and i loved the pandas. They had a lot of animals and since we went in the morning it wasn't hot or humid yet and all the animals were out and about.

We started our drive home but stopped at a grocery store to get some lunch. While Matt was checking out a BIG black lady came rolling up in a mechanical shopping cart. She looked at Brayden and pinched his leg and started kissing his hands. She said "Oh my, boy you are a fat tub of lard! You should go with me to Weight Watchers, I've already lost 5 pounds." It was SOOOO funny!- but maybe you had to be there...

We decided to drive through Augusta on the way home and since we were there we figured we might as well try and find the Master's Golf Course. Well- an hour later and 20 pictures of the back of a country club that we thought was the course- this is all we have to show for it. They have it COMPLETELY secluded. On the very outside of the course they've planted bamboo and it is so thick there's no way you could see anything!

Continuing on our trip (wow this has gotten to be very long-winded, sorry) Matt wants to play disc golf at the International Disc Golf Center. It ends up being out in the middle of nowhere but he got to play, so he can check that on off his list.

Overall- great trip, great family time and relatively cheap. We loved Atlanta and the weather was great but all the "natives" said it was so rare for it to be that nice.

**For the life of me I can't switch the order of the pictures. Everytime I try it freezes my computer.

Camping

So we've wanted to take the boys camping... and now it's summer and SUPER hot and humid here in the south! We decided to do a test run in our backyard to see how they do. Thank good ness that's what we decided to do. We started off by setting up the tent and cooking smores- on our grill. They're not quite as good as over a wood fire.

Taylor enjoyed playing with the fire starter and Brayden found his little spot in my garden (which reminds me I need to post about) and played in/ate the dirt.

We bathed the boys, put them in pajamas and went out around 9:15, it was still 83 outside. I took a few books to read and some glow sticks and off we went, the whole ten feet off our back deck.

We read and said prayer and laid down. Matt fell asleep within thirty minutes. Brayden would lay down just long enough for me to think this might be it- he may be out and then he's laugh, or shriek and roll over and crawl all over us. We were generating so much heat it had to be 90 in the tent! Taylor and Brayden played while I tried to pretend to be asleep and see if they would copy me. It did not work. By 11:15 I was done, so I took Brayden inside and he immediately went to sleep as soon as I laid him in his crib.

I went back out side to Taylor and Matt and put the baby monitor on the porch. Well, Taylor kept crawling on me and putting his feet in my face to be funny so at 12:15 we both went in. I told Matt we were leaving and he didn't come so I got our bed all to myself!

At 7:00 Taylor woke up and went outside and woke up Matt. I got to sleep in the A/C and sleep in- what a great night, well kinda!

Girl's Camp 09

So because I'm the YW president in our ward I had the chance to go to Girls Camp this year. Since I've been home I've decided that this is definetely something I need to attend every year! It was so nice to be around just girls. Once my boys get older and smellier I bet I'll really be begging to go! The camp director this year was so fun and LOVES to dance. We had music on all day long. Things got a little crazy but it was such a blast! I was the 4th year level leader (15 yr old girls) I had the BEST girls at camp. We all got along and had a ton of fun together! Thanks for the fun girls!

4th Level Girls


Sandy Abbot our Camp Director



Rock Hill Ward YW



Some of my 4th Level girls

Me and my "besties" MaKenna and "Wicky Wicky What"

4th Level girls after they washed their hair in the rain

14 Layer Cake

So for a Young Women's object lesson I needed a very "desirable" chocolate cake. The other day on Bakerella I saw this one and thought that would be PERFECT!!! Well, I didn't document the whole process as well as she did, and mine definitely did not look as good as hers does- but it sure tasted great! My secretary's 9 yr old daughter was there last night and had a piece and said it was the best cakes she had ever had and begged me to give her mom the recipe. It was so cute. The girls were all excited when we cut into it and saw all the layers... that was my favorite part too! The layers were covered in a chocolate butter cream icing so it looked prettier, YUM!

Charleston Trip 5/8 - 5/10

When Matt's parents were here we went down to Charleston and had an AMAZING time! It was such a blast! The first day we toured all downtown Charleston on our self-guided walking tour. We walked all over the place.

We took our picture on some cannonballs





Our tour guide:




Taylor put on his own sunscreen... YUCK!







We cooled off playing in the Waterfront Park fountain




The next day we went to Magnolia Gardens- an old plantation home and gardens. They were really cool to see. Thanks Conrans- we had so much fun with ya'll and the boys sure miss you!

And we swam in the hotel pool

After the gardens we went and grabbed lunch and headed to the beach and arrived about the same time a HUGE storm did. They closed the beach just as Matt and Taylor were getting in and I didn't even get a picture!

Braydo's Birthday

We woke up a little earlier than he wanted... Taylor just couldn't wait any longer to sing Happy Birthday to him.

Matt's parents came in to town the day after Brayden's birthday so we waited until they got here to do cake and presents. The day before they came he had pasta for dinner- his favorite!

He LOVES cars right now so I made a cupcake car cake for him. He wasn't really into eating the cupcakes at all- just the mini M&Ms.

365 Days Ago

I looked like this:

Then at 1:19 pm our family grew to 4 with the addition to him

Taylor was too sure about this

But he slowly wamed up to the idea

Happy Birthday Brayden! (sorry your brother woke you up this morning. I know you were just wanting to sleep in on your birthday but he was so excited to see you!!!)

So I've been playing with coupons for about a year now... but just recently I've kicked it up a notch and am searching out the deals around town. Harris Teeter (a grocery store) in tripling coupons this week. They'll only triple them if they are under a dollar- but a .75 q can go pretty far tripled. So this morning I went WAY before the sun came up so there was no rush and everything was stocked- for the most part. Here's my loot:

You can only use 20 coupons each trip- so I need to make about three more trips. I'm saving money and it's starting to be a fun hobby! Before coupons this was $47.77 and I paid $12.69, that's a 74% savings... not too bad!!