Liza's 11th Birthday

Happy 11th Birthday Liza!!!

Liza Celebrated her birthday this year with a trip to IHOP with the family on her actual birthday, and then a friend party on Friday night.
I made cupcakes for her friend party. I tried my hand at "Marshmallow Fondant" It was Very fun to work with. Gave such bright colors for her cakes, and even tastes good (as opposed to regular fondant)
For her Birthday Mom and Dad gave her "Disney Sing It" for the Wii. It is full of songs from artists like Hanna Montana, Jonas Brothers etc.. It's very fun. They played it at her birthday party for quite a while. This picture is of her trying it out for the first time.
Liza found this electric scooter at a "scratch and dent" shop here in town, She begged me to buy it for her birthday, knowing that it wouldn't be there after she got her Birthday $$'s from Grandparents. So I got it for her early. It was a little sad for her when she had to hand over all the cash that came in her cards, but then she went out for a ride and remembered how much she loves her new toy. This thing is Fast, let me tell you. Actually faster then I thought it would be, and kind of scary. :-)

She love it! With Lizas boundless energy tho, the money would have been better spent on a tread mill then on something that hauls her around. :-)
Here is a couple pics of the Fondant Cupcakes, just for Drea to see how I did on m first try.

For her Party Liza took 3 friends to Busy Beads and Moore for her party. The girls each got to make a bracelet. A real one, with a wire through the middle and clasps and everything. The each got a charm too. The girls loved it, and it was a great price. I think the room rental and the bracelets cost me $40. (they made 5 bracelets)

We then picked up some pizza from Papa Murphys (next door to the bead shop). Came home and had pizza and cake.
Liza is our social butterfly. She always has been. She has made fast friends with 2 girls in the ward, and 2 girls at school. One girl from the ward couldn't come, but the other (Jessica) is to the right of Liza. The girl closest to the camera is Courtney. She is in Liza's class.
This is Carly. Carly rides Lizas bus, and happens to be the bus drivers daughter. They're quite the pals as they are on the bus for a LONG time together every day. :-)
Liza and Jessica
The girls have jumped on the Trampoline, sang Hanna Montana, Pillow fight on the trampoline, done their make up, made cards, watched 2 movies, and I was just informed that they will turn off the TV after this movie is over, "and then we'll just play a board game or something like that for the rest of the night." !!! LOL what's the plan girls? an all nighter? Oh dear!

I am so glad to have liza in our family. She is full of energy and ideas. Sometimes we're not so patient with her and her energy, but I deep down inside, appreciate her zeal for life, and her creative mind. She is usually respectful and helpful. She is becoming quite a nice young lady. I can't believe we are only 1 year away from Young Women's!!! AHHH!!!!!

Happy Birthday Girl.. We Love You!!

I Phone Photos

So I totally stole this idea from Jeri, these are photos off Brents I phone, times when I didn't have my camera, and he captured the moments.

This is last weekend at the Air show. Alex is in a Chinook Helicopter. (No this is not why we named the dog Chinook.) But the kids thought it was cool to see the Chinook anyway!
Tori In a Black Hawk Helicopter.
Alex flying a black hawk.
All 3 kid in the Black Hawk

Liza holding a fish that they caught in the pond by the house.
Alex fishing at the pond by the house.
Tori in my chair, reading the book from Christina. My kids (esp Tori) do this when they are missing Maryland. :-( it is kind of sad and cute at the same time.
when we were in Maryland, one of our little friends Sophia rolled her eyes at Katie. She thought this was really cool. So she quite often says to us... "Sophia did this to me." and then rolls her eyes. We all think it is absolutely Hilarious!
Tori colored this picutre at Dinner one night. The instuctions on the page said something like finish this drawing by giving her and instrument to play. This is what Tori drew... A pregnant woman LOL!!!
Katie sipping on her Chocolate milk... MMM
Katie on the horse at Chuck E Cheese. She was having fun and smiling before the photo. Figure that. :-) She LOVED this horse tho, that is all she did at Chuck E's. :-)
Katie and I like to knock out in my chair. I have to add, that this is not my favorite picture of me, but I LOVE these moments. Even little Chinook caught a nap this day.
Alex at the driving range. He's pretty good. :-)
For Alex's 8th Birthday Brent surprised him at school and took him on a road trip to a hockey game! He LOVED it! So glad that brent snapped a picture to remember it.
This is another air show, one in MD. This was inside a plane that hangs out above a war, and keeps track of where everyone is and sends out warnings of enemy activity.
Katie in the same plane
Liza and Alex in a fighter plane. Alex in back, as gunner, Liza is driving.
The Thunder Birds. WOW what a site to see
A B-17, this is what Brents Grandpa Davies flew in during WWII. He was a gunner. We always love to see these, and remember Grandpas service.
Before we left MD, we went to dinner with our dear friend Brother Barron! The kids loved him like their own Grandpa! I am so glad that I finally have this photo in my clutches. It was such a nice night. This wonderful man sends the kids in the ward cards for everything. Kids love to get mail and he knows it! :-) Cards for Birthdays, cards for talks and testimonies, cards for sitting with him, you name it.. even a card for a hug. :-) He also brought markers and paper to church every sunday and had a bench that he always sat on. The children we welcome to come and go through Sacrament to color. Once he came to church with a roll of gold dollar coins and handed them out to the kids! They LOVED it! He even sent Tori a Happy Unbirthday card when she was sad that it wasn't her birthday. What a wonderful man!

And so there you have it. A pile of pictures that I missed

Random Stuffs

Alex was SO excited to go to cub scouts. Lucky for me, Grandpa, a former cub scout leader was here visiting when it came time to sew on the patches. I had NO IDEA how to sew on a patch, but I learned. (not fun btw) He has been 8 since May, but I never bought him a shirt etc cuz I didn't want to put the MD pack number etc.. on his shirt for 3 months, so we waited. He was so thrilled and kept hugging me and saying "thank you mommy!" He wanted a picture with his book too. He has already earned his Marbles and Bowling thingy's (I don't know what they're called... give me a bit to catch up on the Scout lingo. :-)) He has very good leaders here who are right on top of things. I hope he has a wonderful scouting experience!

Shortly after I moved in i got wind of a pregnant neighbor. I watched and sure enough, one day she took her dogs for a walk while we were outside playing. We introduced ourselves and I asked when she was due. I offered to photograph her baby, for MY pleasure and her benefit. Then when she had her baby (I knew cuz of the balloons on the mail box) I stalked the poor girl again. :-) I took her over a gift (which I would have done anyway, to be all neighborly) and a card that offered again to be her photographer. Giving her my phone number. She called last week.. brand new baby. Oh I am so excited about how the pictures turned out!
I think that I've mentioned before that TN has the most beautiful light at 7:30pm. Last night I captured it really quick on my ever posing model Tori. She was so funny, I am sure any neighbors thought we were nuts. :-) The light really IS this warm... no warming in Photo shop! It is stunning. I also learned the other day that TN not only enjoyed painting a beautiful sunset almost nightly, but also produces stunning sunrises! Wonderful! Tori has a little playmate over right now. She and Annie have really hit it off. It makes her so happy to have a friend.
Katie has been my little sidekick. She is such a great little girl. On Tuesday when we did the photo shoot with the newborn, she was so good to just play all on her own, she only came to peek and see what we were doing a couple times. Then I fed her lunch and she came to the commissary with me for 2 HOURS! She walked along me, beside my cart and took assignments to get different foods and put them in the cart. She was SO good that I even bought her a $2.oo Diego cookie! :-) We had such a great day. That evening as I was unloading the groceries... Katie went missing....

Where's Katie, Has anyone seen Katie
"BOO!!!" "Oh there she is!" We did this one for a good 10 minutes. She is so funny. She thought it was hilarious! Her Bed time secrets have changed now. She still MUST tell you a "secret" every night, but every night the secret is "meow meow, woof woof..." and then every night, the third noise is something different. It is never an actual animal noise.. usually a sssss and a click or two. SO Funny. It cracks us up. She also has been busting us up with her quoting the movie G Force. She hasn't seen it, just the commercials and she'll say "RRRIGHT!" just like the mice on the trailer, and also will just randomly out of no where say "poop in his hand, poop in his hand!" just the the trailer too. (that one CRACKS ME UP!!) I want to take her to see the movie, just for that 1/2 second of joy on her face when that part comes on. :-). She also had us rolling when she told Liza the other day that her outfit was "Dideous" She meant hideous, LOL . We've used that a few times since. Too cute. I absolutly love this age, I always have loved this age. that 2 1/2 to 3 1/2. UH, LOVE IT. I wish we could freeze time right here.
Speaking of time going quickly. Living in a new development has really surprised me. This house was nothing but a foundation 7 days ago.
The Framers had been in there about 12 hours a day, everyday but sunday! this is just AMAZING to me. and the brick work and siding is SO fast too! Impressive, I must say. We haven't had a house go up close to us yet, but I am told that if it is right next door it gets loud. Hopefully we go a LONG time w/o neighbors through the back.

You may be wondering where's Liza? well she had a birthday, and her party is on Friday, so all her news will go in her birthday post.

Last Saturday i had the pleasure of yard saleing with Erin, who knows her way around a bit. We didn't find what we were looking for, but we sure had fun trying. Then the kids went to a Stake Primary activity, and then to the Air show. The Air show was mostly helicopters... I had NO IDEA you could do those things with Helicopters! WOW. It was cool to see. They also did a re enactment of an air attack and that really moved me, nearly to tears. I am so grateful to those who serve our county. (both the US and Canada) It was a great day!

And just as a side note... I've wanted to live near a Sonic for SO long... I could drink Cherry Lime-aid till the cows come home... but I find myself mostly just tempted by the stop and rarely indulging because I could probably guzzle 500 calories a day in that stuff! We did stop last Saturday on our way home from the Air show and ordered their "kid's sundays" What a perfect treat for your kids, in the cutest little take out box, for only $1! Love that place!

First Day Of School

WOW!!! School already!! My kids kind of got their summer cut short. Late school out in MD, early school in in TN. But they were SO ready to go to school and make some friends. :-)

Liza is in 5th Grade this year! I can't believe she turns 11 next week!! WOW.
Alex is starting 3rd Grade this year! Are you kidding me?!?! 8 years old.
My little Tori starts Kindergarten! WHAT? Yeah, Kindergarten!! They go all day here, so she will be a tired little one, once they get into full swing. But I think she will be like Liza, just happy to have some social time.

Tori had to pose it up since I got out the camera... it just comes so naturally to her. It's so funny. I sure love this girl!!

They each picked an outfit for the first day of school. They all found fast friends, Liza found a girl on the bus, and one in her class that she wants to invite to her birthday. She also has made fast friends with 2 little girls from church. She always has been quick in the friend department. Alex, on the other hand is cautious about who he lets into his life... He has talked about "the twins" who live in our little area here. They are a year older then him, but are so kind... I hope he gets to be friends with them. What a better situation... 2 friends, very little effort... perfect for Alex. Tori has really bonded with a little girl from Church who is also in Kindergarten with her. They are not in the same class, but they will have lunch and such together. She has had a play date with her and cried when it was over. Katie.... well, we're working on her. :-)

I am so grateful that my kids are making friends and starting to enjoy TN. We are SO blessed.

Science Center

The Science Center in Nashville was pretty cool. It kept us busy for a good 3 hours and I am sure will do that again a few more times in the next few years. My kids (esp Alex) LOVE the science Center. This is a "moon simulator"

They are supposed to feel like they are walking on the moon. Liza said it was cool, but it hurt. :-) I am sure it did.
There were so many things to do. A lot about space. and there was a lot of room marked of in the science center with signs about exhibits that are "coming soon." I am excited for the expansion too. We will defiantly be back.

Just Peachy

"Buy a box of Peaches get a box free!!" Who could pass that up!!

Peach Cobbler
Yummm... with whip cream
Peach Jam 2 batches... so some to share with neighbors

and Peach Pancakes!!

There were only a few that rotted.... not too bad. We're about peached out though.

Hooray for Dollywood!!!!

We took off this past week for Pigeon Forge/ Gatlinburg TN. We got to take Grandpa with us this time, so that was an added bit of fun, and thankfully, and extra set of hands and eyes. We started off with the drive to Knoxville where we dropped off Chinook with Don and Heather. Then we headed on up to Gatlinburg to check into our hotel. I was SO surprised by the commercialization up there. I was expecting something equivalent to Park City. This area was closer to Vegas then Park City. We ended up in some pretty crazy traffic, but got to the "Dixie Stampede" in time to get a great place to sit and watch the first show.

Here they are waiting for the show to start. It was a bit of a wait, but worth it when these funny fellows came out and started playing....

They were great. It was so fun to listen to their music and clap along. The one used to travel with Dolly, but now has this gig. :-) They were funny and very good singers. We all (except Alex) enjoyed this little performance. I don't know what his problem was, but he was determined to not enjoy this particular part of the evening. We then moved into the main show. It was very good. Singing, dancing, horse riding, stunt riding, racing, competitions, games. There was something for everyone. Liza declared it better then Medieval times "cuz it's like medieval times and a musical all in one." They didn't allow pictures during the show, but they did allow pictures and autographs after.
Here we are with our "north" flags. The kids had the performers sign them, so that was fun.
I remember being a tweeny and loving watching the teenage boy performers. ( I even remember that one boy that performed was named Sterling. ) But could my little girl be that old??? Well she is.. she carefully gathered all the BOY performers autographs after the show. LOL!! Too funny. She's not boy crazy or anything. Man she is too young for that stuff.
Tori of course gathered the beautiful ladies autographs and Brent chatted up the other performers. It was cool to see them all up close and chat with them. The food was good, and they served us WAY too much food. It was great fun tho.

Our first Full day we headed to Dollywood. (And thank goodness we did, cuz we all got totally burnt on day 2 at the water park. ) Dollywood was quite spread out, but a ton of fun. The park itself was beautifully clean and full of lovely shade. I spent a lot of time watching Katie, as she was FAR too little for a lot of the rides. Tori made it on a few, and Alex and Liza had a ball.

There were so many beautiful places that even Tori was finding spots and recommending that her photo be taken in these places. She would say "See, mom, you should have brought your big camera." Too funny. She has a good eye.
These little cars were so cool.. very fun little ride.
Katie loved the merry go round and went on it twice. (would have done more I am sure, had time permitted.)
The big kids got in tons of rides and had a ball. Alex got the poop scared out of him in the "mine". I went on that one, and it was quite scary. Liza said she didn't like it, but about 2 hours later she was asking to go back. There were a few big roller coasters like that one, and they enjoyed them all with their roller coaster loving daddy.
Brent held his stomach long enough to endure the Flying Elephants with Tori. He doesn't fair well in circles. I think even my little Tori is growing out of these little rides.
We all went on a Train ride up the smokies... it was kind of short, but took us up to look about a bit. It was very beautiful up there, but they're nothing like the Rocky mountains. I would love to see them in the Fall... the colors must be stunning.
Tori ended up being a bit more brave then Alex this year. I think that the mine roller coaster did him in for the whole day. He didn't want to get on another ride after that one. :-( He went on the train and the merry go round and something else small... but that was it for him.
Here Tori is going on one of her favorites. She is a bit of a wild card like Liza when it comes to rides. They'll have fun growing up together. :-)
And My Katie pie. She was so good all day. I have pictures on my cel phone of her on the rides, but I don't know if I can get them onto the computer. She rode on the elephants, bee's, pigs and ducks. They were just cute little round and round rides with music.. just her style. She LOVED it.
Just me and my girls. I love this picture! I think the boys were at the magic shop, so it was just us gals w/ grandpa. Walking back at the end of the day on our aching feet.
Had to snap a photo of Tori in front of "Victoria's Fine Food and Drink" :-) This was a LONG day, and we had very sore feet. I encouraged everyone to wear running shoes. All my kiddies who were walking were in running shoes, as was I . Then we went on a ride that got our feet wet. Oh DEAR!!! Big mistake! Next time wear comfortable sandals. When we got in the car and the shoes went off and the sox flew, there were some pretty shriveled up and sad looking feet. Oh were they sore... have you ever soaked in the tub too long and had your feet hurt from doing so... yeah, we had that times 20... the kids were such troopers tho. Dinner at Wendy's and then back to the hotel to get some shut eye for the big day tomorrow.

We never took hardly any photos at the water park... In fact this was the only one with people in it. It was a great day, despite the fact that Alex showed up in shorts and a T shirt and no bathing suit! He had his suit on in the Hotel room, I slathered him with sunscreen and sent him on his way. I must have told him to get dressed, Like I did to the girls, cuz he did, he took off his suit, left it on the floor and got dressed and headed for the pool. I don't know who he thought was bringing his suit. Luckily I had a pair of shorts packed so he swam in those all day. WE all left the hotel in the morning slathered in spf 30. We reapplied at 1 or 2 and all got burned. :-( Some more then others. Again, Katie and I hung out while the troops rode the big slides. The thing that I really liked about splash country was that they would let katie go down the middle sized body slides on my lap. It was nice cuz she got to enjoy with out being afraid, and they would let Tori go down these little slides w/ a life jacket on. Katie doesn't like spraying water, so a lot of this place was not fun to her, so we were limited to one area and the lazy river. She had a ball anyway. Tori did too.. there was really something for everyone. Brent and my Dad had very sore legs at the end of the day from climbing stairs... I was just fine.. I guess that is the up side to being on Katie duty. :-) Next time we go, she should be big enough for more stuff.

I am so glad that we stayed in Gatlinburg. The drive up to Gatlinburg from Pigeon Forge was beautiful, and I thoroughly enjoyed it each and every time we drove it. Traffic was a little crazy at times, as we were there during high tourist time... but I've heard that it's almost always tourist time round here.

We walked down the strip in Gatlinburg and went to the Hard Rock Cafe. Brent has been to a lot of Hard Rocks and usually buys a shirt or a pin from each place. He has quite a collection. We always take a picture too.
The wait at 9:00pm for Hard Rock was over an hour so we walked up the street and waited a mere 30 minutes for a table at "No way Jose" s place. It was pretty yummy stuff.
While we waited Tennessee painted us yet another lovely sunset.
The kids asked me to take a picture of it, they love the beautiful colors that these sunsets create.
We got home quite late this night as all the shops along this strip are open till 11pm and 12 am. The Candy Store was open till 11:30!! It's kind of crazy to shop that late at night. We discovered the "Ole Smokey Candy Kitchen." Which smelled just like the Candy Factory from my childhood days. Oh it was such a throw back to go in there! I actually left and walked back in 3 times, just so I could smell it again and again. The people working there were SO incredibly friendly, it was such a fun night.

The next morning we headed to the Ripleys Aquarium. I had to drag 5 lazy bodies out of bed to get everything done that we wanted to get done. They were all really sleepy and tired, but there was much to do. The place that we stayed at offered a breakfast buffet every morning. It wasn't the best food in the world, but it was a step up from prepackaged continental breakfast, so we enjoyed it anyway. Alex in particular LOVED having such a big breakfast every morning. I've never seen that kid eat so much in all his life.
Here, we are at the aquarium... Liza is "talking" to the fish.. See her little fish cheeks. :-) Silly girl.
The fish were unreal and the size and magnitude of this Aquarium was so incredible. It was such a neat little stop.
They have a moving walkway that shuttles you through a tunnel that runs through the shark tank. This was just SOOO cool. We loved it! It was a really really long look around too.
They had a spot where you could touch horseshoe crabs, and also a place to touch sting rays.
Liza liked these stops the most, as she has always enjoyed places where she could touch and interact with things. The Stingrays had it figured out though. They knew just how far away to swim so that the kids couldn't reach em.
They had these cool tanks where the kids could go up inside and have a look around.
They had a whole section on the Dangers of the Ocean... Uhg, I never was fond of lakes and oceans, now I am even less fond of them... Yipes, there is a lot of stuff in that water that i DIDN'T know about, and probably shouldn't have ever learned about.
Check out this giant crab!!! Crazy critter. Tori suggested that we catch one and cook him up for dinner. :-)
After the Aquarium and some lunch we headed to the Ripleys Believe it or Not Museum. It was really cool. There was SO much to look at in there. I would defiantly go back to it. The kids thought it was really cool too. It held our attention almost as long as the Aquarium did.
Then it rained..... The sky held it in until we were at our last venue, and then boy did it rain!!! We HAD to get headed home, and opted to not wait it out. "we'll just run to the car" , we thought. The car was in a garage, so it won't be we there either. Yeah, we were drenched to the bone. Everyone had to change clothes, in some cases, even underwear had to be changed. You could wring out the clothes that we were wearing. By the time we got back on the road after the clothes change... the rain had stopped. Humph, should have waited it out, but that wouldn't have been nearly as run as running down the street (all 7 of us) in the rain. Katie was so funny... when i pulled her out of her stroller to dress her in dry clothes, she stopped me and made me wait as she pulled a little stuffed dog out of her shorts pant leg. He was dry as a bone. She had carefully hidden him away, and hovered over him so that he didn't get wet. LOL Too funny.

After a long drive to Knoxville we were greeted by the Marets who had some yummy Pizza to share with us. It was nice to take a few minutes and have some dinner with them. Brent and Don got to meet one and other, and my dad got to see Don again. It was so nice. Chinook had a wonderful time at their house, and enjoyed playing with their 3 dogs. I got to go on my favorite ride of the whole trip. Don took me out for a ride on his bike!! I can't believe that NO ONE got a picture!!! It was SOOOO fun to go out. I love motorcycles! I've never been on such a nice long ride, it was the perfect night, it was a little cool, still light and it felt amazing! We headed home, much to late, but it was worth it.

We had a wonderful time on our little vacation. We are plum tuckered out now though. So glad we went.