Why I Love Summer

Ah the sunshine, the stray afternoon showers, the heat, and the humidity, oh the humidity. It can only mean one thing. It's summertime! Oh what do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green? Here are the top 5 reasons that make summer so great.

5. I get to watch Little House on the Prarie everyday. (Gotta love that Laura Ingalls)

4. Instead of a Sunday nap, I get to take naps Sunday-Friday and on occasion, Saturday as well.

3. Fun little day trips are possible.

2. I get to go to the beach with some of my favorite people.

And the number 1 reason why I love summer is...

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I get to hang out with these little guys more often.

Oh how I love those boys. Oh how I love the summer.

Bitter Sweet

Today I was released as the Primary President of our ward. I've served in that calling for two years and four months. It has been such a blessing and a learning experience for me. I've grown to love the primary children more than I thought possible. I've learned from them and have enjoyed having the opportunity to see their testimonies blossom. I also had the opportunity to work with an AMAZING presidency. I loved them so much and I have enjoyed every second (I really mean it.) of serving with them. It is hard to be released from the calling, but I take great comfort in knowing that our new Primary President is an amazing woman, one who loves the children and will pour her heart into the calling. I am now off to my new calling as the Stake Primary President. I am excited and overwhelmed. It is bitter sweet, but it's on to a new adventure.

Spring Break

This spring break I spent a few days at the beach with a few friends. By a few friends I mean 4 women and their 20, yes 20, kids in one condo. It was actually fun. And it sounds a lot more chaotic than it actually was. The kids were great company. Who else would play with you on a chilly day in 60 degree water?

You can't really tell from the pictures, but I did get wet. I dunked under the water and went completely numb. It was at the request of a cute and persuasive 7 year old.

Not only did we spend some time at the beach, we also did some exploring of Fort Morgan, shopping at the outlets, eating at the oh so fun Lambert's, and a little go kart racing. My driving partner and I showed off our mad driving skills on the track. Number One!

I enjoyed spending time with these great families. The only sad thing was knowing that I won't be able to vacation with them next year because they are ALL moving.

Oh well, maybe next year I'll have to visit them. Pictures from Germany coming soon!

Baby It's Cold Outside

This winter has been unusually cold by Alabama standards. Most winters we might have a cold day followed by a string of temps in the 60s. But this year we have been having some pretty decent cold spells. The beginning of January was insanely cold. There were a few days when the temperature didn’t reach above freezing. Luckily, those days ended and we had some nice 60 degree days. It felt so good that we planned a trip to the zoo. However, old man winter decided to come back much too soon.

The boys spent most of the zoo trip like this...

Even the animals wanted out of the cold.

Do you see the chimpanzees?

Neither did we.

It was just too cold. We did manage to coax the boys out of the warm stroller a few times.

They are so cute!

The Happiest Place on Earth

I have been a slacker for these past couple of months. I decided that maybe it was time to update. Since my last post a lot has happened. I won't be able to blog it all, but I'll hit the highlights for this and the next couple of posts. I guess that I'll start with the holidays. This year we decided to plan a family trip. We chose to spend a week in Orlando. We were able to go to Magic Kingdom, an Orlando Magic game, which they won, an urgent care clinic, and the ER. Yeah, they were fun times. It was fun to spend time with my family. Everyone got along well which is always good. Below are some pics of Disney. I managed to have a lot of fun even though I was little sick that week.

Halloween Pt. 2

After the school festival and the ward's Halloween party, what was left? Trick-or-treating of course! Grayson had been looking forward to trick-or-treating all month long. Well, the night finally arrived. We loaded him and Hartley in the car to take them. When we reached the trick-or-treating destination, this is what we found in the backseat.

Yes, they were asleep. But that didn't stop us from trick-or-treating. We put them on wheels and pressed forward.

Finally, they woke up and had a wonderful time and scored lots of candy. It was the perfect Halloween night...great weather, great candy, great company!

Besides being able to go trick-or-treating with my nephews, seeing mama dress up for the first time ever was this Halloween's highlight.

Halloween Pt. 1

I love the fall! One of the highlights of fall is Halloween. I know that it's a holiday for kids but I still love it. I love going to the pumpkin patch with the kindergartners at my school. I love fall festivals, pumpkin bread, dressing up, and trick or treaters. This Halloween was a busy but fun one. First, I coordinated the fall festival activities for the kindergartners and first graders at my school. They seemed to have had a great time.

Then, Laura and I took a few days to construct our famous crawl maze that we do annually. It's usually a hit. This year was no exception. We did have a few mishaps during construction but all turned out well in the end.

After that, it was time for the ward Halloween party. Tons of people showed up. I even captured the cutest little lion.

His equally cute tamer was a little busy.

It was a well planned and fun evening for all of the kids, little and big.