Dirt Road, Wild Daisies, Skipping Rocks

About a year after Seth and I were married, Seth began his journey of looking for land. WHAT! I thought I had married a city boy! We lived in a cute little neighborhood, which was convenient to anything and everything. So, as the year went on, his land file grew bigger and bigger. He had many newspaper clippings with "Land for sale" circled. He would take me to see some of these pieces of land and I would say, "well, this is pretty!" And he would say, "It just doesn't have the VIEW I'm looking for."

So after about a two year search, I had come to terms with the fact that I was going to live out on some land with a beautiful view. The day came that he found that perfect view.


You have to travel down a quarter of a mile dirt road to reach our home, that is at the highest point, so we can enjoy this beautiful view. I mean really, who lives this far down a dirt road today?

The reason for this post?

We have now been in our house for a year. And, I must go on record saying that I love my dirt road! I love the peaceful feeling I get when I turn off the busy highway into our little retreat. You never know what kind of wildlife you will see. It could be a pack of deer, or a mother turkey crossing with her little ones. It's really kinda neat that my children get to grow up in the country like I did....

Picking Wild Daisies and Skipping Rocks!

EIGHT wonderful years

I love you, Seth!

Happy Halloween

"Laurel and Savannah, what was your favorite part of Halloween?" It is unanimous, "THE TREATS!" Laurel was a cowgirl and Savannah was Pebbles, BONE AND ALL, from the flinstones. Why these costumes? Laurel's dance studio was having a five dollar sale on old costumes. I'm usually one that misses out on all bargains, so I was pretty proud of myself this halloween. Laurel's halloween day started out with an all day long party at school, with a little education. "Mommy, bats are notturnal (nocturnal) animals. They sleep in the morning and hunt for food at night."

Savannah waited all day to get to put her costume on. Once it was on, she was ready to go. "Let's go get those treats. Let's go trickytreat." We had a great time trick-or-treating with some good friends, Dan and Debbie, and their two adorable children, Cody and Brooke. They all had fun filling up their buckets with lots of SUGAR!

Corn Maize

I love Fall! This is my favorite time of year. I love when the weather cools off and the leaves start changing colors.
This past weekend we went to a corn maize with two of Seth's brothers and their wives. Oh, it sounds so good to say, "their wives." I married into a family with five boys and only one girl. This past year Roger and Kimball both got married and it is great having some more women in the family!

We had a great time trying to find our way out of the maize. Laurel and Savannah had so much fun with their cousin Spencer. They literally laughed and screamed for two hours.

HAPPY FALL!!

Partners in Crime

I turned my back for five minutes. I couldn't find Savannah and her friend that I was "supposed" to be watching. I looked all over the house and finally heard giggling coming from behind the pantry door. This is what I found when I opened the door.
Oh well, I guess it could have been jars of spaghetti flying up in the air, instead of napkins and straws!

Banana Split

We went to Durhamtown, Georgia last weekend to a Dirtbike race. It was a beautiful, sunny weekend. We stayed in a cute, little cabin named the Fox Trot. Seth and two other guys switched off racing a 10 hour race. I may complain a little about Seth riding a dirtbike because the season never ends, but can I just say, I love watching him take off on that dirt bike and the girls are so cute as they scream, "Go daddy, Go!" There is something HOT about a man in uniform! It was a very relaxing day, for those of us not riding a bike. I almost finished the third book in the Twilight Saga and Laurel and Savannah had so much fun just playing in the grass and watching their dad. Their team, Banana Split (name given to the team by Seth, because all the bikes are yellow) came in FIRST place in their class. Way to go Banana Split! We should have gone and gotten a banana split after the race. Why didn't I think of that?!?

Savannah's Voice

For the first year of Savannah's life, she woke up crying and screaming. There would be nothing wrong, this was just her way of greeting us each morning. I would dream of the day that we could just hear her "coo" in the mornings, but it never came.
When she was almost two, a friend, whose daughter was going through speech therapy, called and asked if I would bring Savannah over for a play date while the speech
therapist was there. She wanted to see how Lily acted around other children.
At the end of the session, the therapist suggested that I get Savannah evaluated! In her observation she didn't think Savannah was where she should be. So we did, and Savannah qualified for speech therapy.
Every month for the past year Savannah has had a "playdate" with the speech therapist. She went from screaming in frustration, trying to tell me what she wanted, to learning some sign language to communicate her needs. She had the cutest "help" sign I have ever seen! Finally, she started putting some words with the sign. As she rubbed her chest, she would say, "peas." I will never forget the first time I heard her say a new word, "gue" for glue.
Savannah will be three in November and there is no worry of her not being able to talk! We wonder sometimes if she will ever quit talking! This post is for you Savannah...

I LOVE how you are always concerned about everyone being happy: "mommy, you happy?" "mommy, you sad? Maybe Child of God (song from church) will make you happy",
"waurel (Laurel) happy, daddy happy, mommy happy, I happy", "Mommy, you happy I went tee-tee on the potty"
I LOVE how you are so independent already: "I do it myself", "I get out car myself", "I wear these shoes", "why me don't go to school?"
I LOVE your silly knock, knock jokes: "mommy, knock, knock" who's there? "apple juice" apple juice who? "eat apple!" (made up all by you!)
I LOVE how you get out of bed bright and early each morning ready to eat! "eat mommy", "feed me mommy", before you could put these many words together, you would bring me a spoon!
I LOVE how sweet you sound when you give the family prayer.
I LOVE how you pretend play with your babies and when you catch me watching you, you say, "I not talking to you mommy, I talk to you in a minute."
I LOVE listening to you tell your sister, "I wuv you Waurel", "I miss you waurel," when we drop her off at school.
I LOVE it when I ask you why daddy has to work and you say, "to buy more food, mommy"
I LOVED it when we drove up to the elementary school to have your last speech evaluation and you said, "Is this the grocery store, mommy?" You have come a long way.

I Love your voice, Savannah!

"Yeah! Today is my big day,"

is what Laurel said, as she ran into my bedroom this morning. Yes, Laurel started her first day of K-4. I know, she just turned 5 and could have legally gone to kindergarten, but her birthday was so close to the cut off date that we decided to hold her back a year. I just wasn't ready to send her off all day long. My younger sister seems to still be traumatized from being the youngest in her class, so according to her, Laurel is going to be very thankful to us. Savannah had a little trouble adjusting without Laurel. She kept saying, "Let's go get Laurel." As soon as Laurel got in the car, Savannah grabbed her hand and kissed it. They are so sweet with each other. She seems very excited and has been playing school with Savannah all afternoon.

I was shorter than them when they were 12

.... and I still am! About 6 months after Seth and I were married, I was called to serve in Young Womens. I loved this calling! These young women were great at 12 and 14 and are still doing great things with their life at 18 and 21. Um, How old does that make me? I had a great time getting together with them the other night.
Thanks Victoria, Rebecca, Rachel, Meredith, and Christy, it was a blast!

Future dirt bike riders?

Seth's brother brought this little 4-wheeler up to our house last weekend. Laurel and Savannah are having so much fun riding it. Last Monday night, Seth and I took turns riding it through the woods on this trail that Seth has cut for his dirtbike. I was too afraid to let them ride with me because I kept getting out of control when it was just me, so Seth would take turns letting them ride.
On Friday, Laurel came running into the house asking me if I would take her and Savannah for a ride on the 4-wheeler. My first thought was, I just washed my hair and really do not want to smell like 4-wheeler fumes! But, I decided to be a cool mom and try riding it with them. We had so much fun! It was so cute watching one get off and run to the front porch while the other one got on. It brought back so many memories from childhood of me and all my cousins riding 4-wheelers. Laurel kept saying, "Mommy, daddy goes through these ruts faster!" I guess those are the words your children learn when they have a daddy who dirtbikes. Anyway, here is a picture of them after we were done riding.

This picture is for those of you who wanted to see how the aprons turned out from Laurel's birthday party. It was so crazy, I forgot to take a group picture of all the children in their aprons. I took this one of Laurel, Savannah, and their cousin Spencer after the party. I wish you could have seen all of them. I had so much fun sewing them and am loving my new found hobby of sewing. Well, you can't really tell much about them, plus it doesn't help that they are side ways. I didn't know you had to rotate before you posted. Anyway, Laurel's has little clowns wearing birthday hats. I had so much fun picking out the boys fabric. Spencer's has cowboys all over. My favorite boy's apron was one with John Deere tractors that said, "nothing runs like a deere"

Laurel's Birthday

I can't believe Laurel is 5! It seems just like yesterday I was crying and praying for a baby. She is growing up way too fast. We celebrated her birthday with a cooking party. Her and her friends painted place mats, decorated cookies, and made their own pizza.
Her granny and papa dressed up like Pirates and danced with the children. They were so entertaining and Laurel's friends are still talking about the pirates. Thanks granny and papa!
It was such a fun day and we wish that all of our cousins, who live far away, could have been here. Happy Birthday Laurel! We love you!

Family Reunion

We just got back from spending the week in St. George, Utah with 3 of my siblings and mom and dad. There were 9 adults and 12 children. My brother-in-law organized the whole week, with the help of "Dan in Real Life!" He found a great house with a pool, which allowed us to successfully wear the children out everyday. We had morning runs and walks. The guys went four wheeling and hiking one day. The girls got a girls night out, where we ate some delicious Japanese. The highlight of the week was the family talent night. I was so proud of Laurel and Savannah. Savannah showed off her crab walk and Laurel sang a song. The winners were mom and dad. We all wish that we could have been there when dad told mom that he wanted her to yodel while he sang! They did great and we all got a good laugh. Mom, you are a good sport and dad, you are definitely where you need to be, the Wild, Wild, West! Anyway, it was a lot of fun and we can't wait until next year. Thanks Linn for putting it all together. Scott and Kim, we missed you and your family.

Okay, here we go!

I have had so much fun reading friends and families blogs. So with the help of my dear sister-in-law, we are starting a blog! I think that this will be a very enjoyable way to keep a journal for my families own records and to also stay in touch with friends and family.