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!!

Lately...

we've just been around here- not doing too much of anything exciting. My parents and brother came down for a few days two weeks ago. It was a fun trip. We are trying to sell our house so we're busy keeping it in showing condition. Here are some pics, I really don't feel like typing anything. Maybe I'll come back to this, I don't know. I'm just not feeling it right now.

Taylor's steps to dying Easter eggs.

1. Get your hard bolied egg.

2. Pick up your white crayon.

3. Scribble on one end and one end only!

4. Drop it a few times to ensure cracking the shell.

5. Drop in dish and splash dye everywhere.

6. Remove and marvel at your handiwork.

use next step if needed:

7. Give baby brother a piece of carboard to eat so parents can focus completely on you.

I lOvE this!

Valentine's Day Date

So because of the bet I lost (see previous post about the mile run) I had to plan out Valentine's Day Date. I was planning on going rock climbing or laser tagging... but Matt said plan something we both would enjoy. So I found that these big monsters were in town- so we went- how romantic!


This bad pup was my favorite- the driver was pretty entertaining during his minute "freestyle" portion. Also, the tongue went in and out as he drove.



The intermission show was a man and his adult two daughters riding motorcycles in the steel cage. I guess this wasn't very cool because a lot of the people there had been to the circus the week before and there were 7 little people on motorcycles in a cage at that show.


So when I was getting ready to go I put on blue jeans and a polo shirt. Matt said there's no way he'd let me go looking that nice. So I changed into jeans witha hole in the knee and my Goodwill Texas shirt. I went to go pick up our baby sitter and came back to Matt smearing mustard into his shirt so he would "fit in better" at the Monster Truck show. Again- how romantic!