First Day of School!

August 5, 2013...Redken and Mollie left for Seminary at 6:30 a.m. Next we loaded the rest of the gang and dropped Ira and Callie off at Hickory Flat Elementary.  Then we drove Norielle to Dean Rusk Middle School.  Red and Mollie have a carpool lined up from seminary to Sequoyah High School.  Ryan is in Ohio and was sad to miss the first day of school.  Some how we managed flying solo.  Best Wishes kids!  You will do awesome. Summer went by way to fast.
11th, 9th, 7th, 5th and 1st.......

A name and a blessing...

Collette Maggie was blessed today.  We love this little baby girl and the sweet spirit that she has. Our family is complete.  Ryan gave her a sweet blessing today. Blessed her with health, with a desire to go to the temple and a desire to choose the right. At the close of the blessing Ryan expressed gratitude as she is the close of our family.  My parents were able to be here.  We missed  Alan and Linda and the rest of our family.  We did adopt  Marshall Pettit as family to stand in the circle ( Nate's best friend from high school).  

 

A flash back from the past...

We had to do a double take when we thought we went back in time.  Are we in the 80's...Do you remember the good ole days when the garbage man held on as he rode on the back of the truck...obviously in Georgia it is still "The Good Ole Days"...what a bust...so Mollie and I stalked the garbage truck and we knew this picture was blog worthy.  I wonder how many bugs he swallows a year?

Our house on the hill...

We live on a hill and we have this huge slopping hill behind our house.  It reminds us of some of the California slopes in the backyard, minus the huge trees, pine straw, bugs and chiggers of coarse. We have seen more rain in the last two weeks then we have seen in 10 years and that is not an exaggeration. We now know what sheets of rain looks like for 5 days straight. Anyway, Ryan is the white spot at the top of the hill with the weed wacker. Did I mention that we love that Ryan loves to take care of the yard and we love that he loves to take care of the yard. We do go out as a family and attack this massive hill and pull weeds, the kids only last about 20 minutes before they are itching because of all the bugs. So far we have not encountered any chiggers, only fire ants, snakes and turtles.

Happy Fathers Day!

To the Coolest Dad ever.  Ryan works so hard for our family.  We are so thankful for everything he does for us.  Like yard work, taking us to the pool, making us waffles, netflix and buying us milk for our table.  We are very lucky. We might have to go buy him a Bear Claw...a really delicious almond treat that reminds us of christmas and our favorite dutch pastry (Boetter Letter)!!! 

We moved...

We left Legacy Park and moved to Bradshaw farms the end of May.  We loved our three months here and made great memories.

Happy Birthday, Ira, 10

Ira turned 10 on May, 29!  We went to the pool and braved taking all the kids to the pool while Ryan was out of town.  Ira makes us smile, he is very funny.

Last Day of School...

Our last day of school.  May 24, 2013...we finished school in Cobb County in Kennesaw Georgia. We will start the next school year in Cherokee County in Canton Georgia.  Our teachers were kind and helped us adjust to our new home.  We will forever be thankful to all our teachers.

Redken, gives a big California Howdy to North Cobb, Adios.

Mollie and Norielle....See ya... Ira will leave the Big Shanty and Callie will miss her sweet kindergarten teacher at Kennesaw Elementary.  We miss our California teachers the most though....Callie did not want her picture taken, can you tell...

Watch your step!

As if the Mosquito's, spiders and fire ants are not enough, we found a wood scorpion in our home. Our pest control friend Billy Bob, told me if it made me feel better they are not venomous.   Strange enough it did make me feel better, but if it's late at night and dark we never walk barefoot. 

If anyone knows me well enough, you know I hate bugs, especially mosquito's.  In the middle of the summer you will generally find that I will wear a jacket or sweater to avoid getting bitten.  I was lucky enough that Ryan found this wood scorpion. Welcome to Georgia, Land of the Bugs, Ryan "I think I need a Hazmat Suit", and I am not kidding.

Happy Mother's Day!

Callie decorated this cake for me at school on friday.  Redken made me a cutting board in his enginering class.  Ira made me an egg and gave me a card.  Norielle asked if she could stay home from church and take care of the kids (nice try).  Ryan went to Salt Lake City for his brother's wedding for the weekend, so he owes me breakfast in bed and my sunday mothers day nap!  Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in our lives.  Mother's are Amazing!!!

Two weeks old...

Collette is two weeks old tonight. She is now a little past her birth weight, 7. 13.  She is starting to smile and sleeping a little better at night. She had her first bath which she did not enjoy. Mick loves  to talk to her. Time flies and we are trying to enjoy every moment.

Redken's 1st date in Georgia

Redken is on a date tonight. Meet Anna King, a senior one of the smartest  in her graduating class I might add, the bishop's daughter and a really nice girl. They are going to a regional mormom prom. Before the dance they were off to take group pictures at the park then off to dinner.

It's a Girl!

We arrived at the hospital on Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 6:30 p.m.  I thought they would send me home because the contractions were so far apart, but when they checked me I was 8 c.m., guess I was wrong. We wanted this Baby to come in April. We got our wish.

After 10 minutes of hard pushing, Collette Maggie arrived at
7:53 p.m. She weighed 7 lbs. and 11 oz. and 19 inches long. We had a great midwife and all the nurses were so helpful.
The kids came the next day and we had a moment of emotion as we realized our family is all complete.  This is it. The last of our children arrived and we feel very blessed.  At the" Top of Our Game " Ryan and I   went home with our little one...

Our New Home

April 26, 2013, Ryan and I officially have a mortgage.  We are so thrilled.  We feel very blessed that we were able to find this home.  We didn't want to get to excited until we had keys in our hands.  So we closed on Friday and on Saturday, we drove out to the house, baked a few pizza's, vacuumed and cleaned all the bathrooms.  We will have the home painted, add a few coats of finish to the hardwood floor, call the Pest control company (because Georgia is full of bugs) and move in around the end of May.

The yard needs some TLC.  The house is in great shape. We wanted to find a home that was move in ready. New carpets, Newly renovated Kitchens and Bathrooms.  The kids are so excited.  Ira and Mick share a room with a Jack n Jill Bathroom attached to Callie and Juliette's room.  Mollie and Norielle share a room with a nice walk in closet and their own bathroom attached to their room. Redken has his own room in the basement.  Ryan has a man cave in the basement that is really sweet for all those honey do's.  I personally have a nice walk in closet, double ovens in the kitchen and a home to manage and maintain.  It's more than we dreamed of and we know that it is a direct answer to prayer.

A week and counting...

With one week to go...May 3, is the official day!  We are ready for this baby to arrive. If my body keeps doing what it is doing we should have a baby sometime this weekend.

Wish us luck...I wouldn't be surprised if I delivered sometime next week.

Our Weekend...

On Saturday, we went to the "Big Shanty Festival."  What is a Big Shanty, you might ask, we asked the same thing, in the 1800's, during the Civil War the shanty became known as the staging ground for the Railroad and the Locomotives.  We had a great time as we watched the parade and walked around the exhibits. It was a small town parade with a Big He-Haw.

The Start of the parade, we collected candy galore, loved the marching bands, the georgia peaches (beauty queens - which I am told were not that beautiful) and a few horses in the mix with some motorcycles and it was a true parade. The last parade we attended was 5 years ago in Draper at Draper Days.

We topped the morning off with a Run to Bojanges, where we were told made the Best BoBerry Bisquits.  We enjoyed...Eat your hearts out Jeff and Cassie, when we come for the wedding we will pack some in our suitcase...

We then traveled out to our new neighborhood to be, to do a final walk through, before we close on the house Friday, April 26th.  We love this neighborhood and it is starting to feel very real.  We will be excited when we have keys in our hands, paint on the walls and furniture delivered.  

We had to share with Y'all... The

Tin Man Fire Hydrant

We cracked up...all the fire hydrants are painted this color.

We thought it was kind of odd...

The Heart of the City.

Today we drove into the city and went to the Centennial Olympic Park, located in Atlanta, Georgia. We had a fun day.  We enjoyed the sunshine and the splash pad.

On the way home we stopped into a Steak n' Shake, for a shake...of coarse...

We then took a drive past
Ryan's office location...

We had a great day trip!

Our Morning Schedules

Our mornings start earlier than they did in California for some.  Redken is off to seminary by 6:30, so he gets to sleep an extra half hour, then he is off to school.  He attends North Cobb High, as a warrior and school starts at 8:30 and ends at 3:30.  He hops on the bus and is home by 4:00.

Every morning Ira, Callie and I walk up this huge hill,  in the dark  at 6:55 a.m. and wait for the bus.  Most mornings it is very cold and the two bundle up in blankets.  Spoiled California Kids! The bus arrives and they return home at 3:00. Callie attends Kennesaw Elementary School (K-2) and Ira attends Big Shanty Elementary School (3-5). 

Mollie and Norielle have the most time in the morning. School starts the latest for them.  They also walk up the same huge hill, (Norielle tells me it isn't that big, try telling that to my belly) wait for their bus at 8:45 a.m. and they return by 4:45 p.m. They attend Awtry Middle School as Vikings.  

I have been so used to driving the kids to school.  I was a little unsure of the bus.  I love the Bus...it saves me so much time.  Callie, Ira, and Norielle like riding the bus.  Redken and Mollie not huge bus fan riders as you can imagine.

At the end of another school day...32 days to go...