Family Reunion

ROAD TRIP!!! Gordon's side of the family was having a family reunion in Pennsylvania and we were excited to go! We drove our van and the drive up was about 7 hours. The girls did fabulous -all thanks to Aunt Rachel and Uncle Ryan who carpooled up there with us - I got to sit back and enjoy the long ride while they got to hear "I have to go to the bathroom!" "Claire touched me!" "Aunt Rachel, I want a snack!" "Aunt Rachel, Claire dropped her paci!" ...from the backseat!! HA HA HA! Oh, and me and Gordon totally kicked their butts at the SLUG BUG game! It was a fun road trip and we arrived safely at our destination in Pennsylvania.

Day one of the reunion featured a trip to Hershey Park. This place is where chocolate comes from so I was in heaven! We toured the factory and got free samples of Hershey bars and then we had a great day in the park with all of the roller coaster rides and water rides! At Hershey Park, the rides have height catagories - Claire was a Hershey Miniature and Evelyn was a Hershey Kiss...that's how you knew what ride your kid could go on. It was pretty cute! A good portion of the morning at the park was spent on KIDDIE rides and it was fun looking for the rides for the MINI's and the KISSES!!! We were there from about 10 in the morning until about 7 at night. No naps the entire day! The girls had a blast and were tuckered out by the time we got back to our hotel room! We ate a quick dinner and then we all crashed!!!

The reunion was at a park about 25 minutes away from our hotel. On the short drive over, the girls zzzzonked in the car. They were so exhausted from the day before! HA! We had a great time visiting with cousins, aunts, uncles, and other people that we did not know! :) We had great food and games to play for the kids. There was a firestation up the street that we walked to and in their garage they had an old 1978 MACK Fire Truck. Since Gordon works for Volvo trucks and they manufacture the MACK truck, he was pretty giddy to find a MACK truck, but it was also an old fire truck. They let the kids climb inside and take pictures!

I don't think I captured this on camera, but a highlight of our trip up north was Gordon taking me to a Wegman's. Through work, Gordon has been able to travel to different places and Volvo has a plant in Penn. Up north, they have these grocery stores called Wegman's. I know it sounds silly that I was so excited to finally get my chance to have my own Wegman's experience, but it truly was worth the wait! This place is amazing! It's a glorified Harris Teeter, Costco, Candy store and Fresh Farmers Market all combined into one magnificent store! I wish we had one in North Carolina because I would move right in and live there!!! It was a treat to finally have a Wegman's experience! HA HA!

Enjoy our pictures from our visit to Pennsylvania!! Gordon and Jamie (aka my hottie and me!)
(above) THE GROUP! Paw Paw, Arminda, Natalie, Adam, Lindsay, Rachel, Sam, Jake, Granny, Evelyn, Melanie, Mel's friend (sorry I forgot her name!) Ty, Jamie, Claire, Ryan and of course Gordon is taking the picture! Round and Round it goes! When will it stop? - No body knows!
I love both my girls!
Mack Daddy Fire Truck!

Summer Recap - Part Two

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Step right up! Get your faces painted here!!!

She got a pink unicorn with sparkles...happy camper!

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Spencer, NC Train Station

"Tickets Please!!!"

We went to the train station in Spencer with our friends - the foxy Foxes -and the kids had a blast! They thought it was cool to have their tickets punched by the conductor and they really loved finding all the different train cars, especially the caboose! What a fun day!

Summer Recap - Part One

This is Claire. If you have met Claire you know that she is a wreckless toddler who spends her entire day finding ways to have fun, make messes, drive mommy crazy and get away with beating up her big sister! She is always on the go and will never hold still long enough for me to get a decent picture out of her! This will have to do for now!!!

We just love our Claire Bear - and ALL of her spunky personality and craziness!!

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A fun filled afternoon of filling a large hole in our front yard. No animals or children were injured in the process!! :) Did I mention this hole happened twice?!! Yes, we filled it twice. Thank you city people for coming to our aid!!

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Good food and family!

Andy (Gordon's big brother) served his mission in Italy and he learned to cook Italian food - THE BEST homemade Italian food EVER! So we hired him for the night!! Chef Andy and his family came over for a fun filled night of games and food! We had the kitchen and ingredients ready and the Master Chef went to work on his creation! It was good and I am fat now!

Deborah made these tastey treats for our dessert! YUM!

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When it's too hot to play outside - we play dress up with mom's makeup!

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We have had an awesome summer! We love being together as a family and doing things with friends! We don't want to miss a beat with our kids and we are always saying how fast the time is flying and it's SO true...they are growing up right before our eyes! Loving this time together!!

Lost and gone forever...

There is no creative or happy or nice way of saying this so I'll just say it like it is - I lost my wedding ring - the diamond one - the engagment ring. It's gone and lost forever at the bottom of a lake in Colorado.
Am I devestated? Am I crushed beyond all measure? Am I saddened to the point of crying so much there are no more tears in my eyeballs? Yes.

I have learned some valuable lessons in the last week:

1. These material things can be replaced. Family and the people that matter MOST to me cannot.
2. The ring was a token, a symbol of my husbands love for me and I know it is just that. A material thing that I wore on my finger. Though beautiful and very expensive, the meaning and true symbol of the ring still exists - our love. I know that just because the ring is absent, his love for me isn't and HE is my constant reminder of that now!!
3. How tender and forgiving my husband is. I know he wiped out his savings (a couple of times) for me to have that beautiful of a ring and I know it hurt him when I told him it was gone. But he wasn't mad, or even upset at me for being careless and losing it. Instead he has been very tender to my feelings. Making sure that I am happy and trying his hardest to put a positive twist on the situation- like "won't it be fun to go ring shopping again?". He's the best and I am a lucky girl to have his love!!

There might come a day when it can be replaced, but until then, I will often think of what is lying on the bottom of a lake for someone to find and call their own precious.

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

I REALLY needed to hear this these last couple of days! I am a little bit of a control freak and when I feel like I have lost it with the girls I tend to not handle that very well...I am a self punisher and I can really beat myself up about how terrible I can be as a mother sometimes because the girls are misbehaving or sreaming or fighting...etc. I know deep down that I am a good mom and that my girls love me whole heartedly and even though there are some days that are a struggle to get through just breakfast alone - I know that my Heavenly Father is strengthening me all along the way! I know that because I have felt his strength. I have felt lifted in those "I AM DONE!" moments. I feel his love and his encouragement in me to continue to love and teach my children. Through the temper tantrums and the "I WANT I WANT I WANT!" phases...I am becoming a stronger and more loving and patient mom when I rely on his spirit to lift me and help me to be stronger. I am SO thankful for the two little blessings in my life, my daughters. I am so thankful for the blessing to be a mom and to have the Lords trust in me with these little sweet spirits. The girls are learning who they are and they are growing into little girls who are ready to explore this world ALL BY THEMSELVES!! I love them both so much and when one is screaming and the other is climbing on the table, I know that I can call upon a higher strength and be comforted and receive that strength that I SO desire in those moments. I love that.

A little late....

Happy Father's Day to the BEST daddy and husband in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!

We are three of the luckiest little ladies in the world to have this wonderful man in our lives! For all of the love and all the laughs, we thank you and we love you! Thank you for taking care of us and for being patient with us and playing with us every moment!! We are so blessed to have you as the head of our family!! WE LOVE YOU!

Butterfly Farm

We had a big group of friends go to Butterfly Farm last week and the girls had a blast! There were so many butterflies to look at and we were able to feed them with these little sugar pads. Evelyn was so excited to see them up close and Claire was just happy to be outside and running around!! We had a great time!!