Celebrating the 4th of July 2009

Rarely a week goes by that my kids have not gotten to do something extraordinarily fun or exciting. They really do have it good...if I do say so myself. One of the main reasons for me having the blog is to document our lives so that they will remember all of the fun and exciting things they have been able to do. This last weekend was no exception. We headed to the Lake to spend the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa "G".

Friday we arrived and settled in and then Jeff and I took the opportunity to sneak away and go to the temple in Birmingham while we had "free" sitters. My good parents were kind enough to entertain the kids for the evening and as usual my kids had a great time. They were able to test out the new jet skis (blow up ride ons for the kids) and take a late night swim. Jeff and I enjoyed a nice night serving in the temple and then grabbing a bite to eat alone!

Saturday we decided to get moving pretty early in hopes of beating the crowds that the 4th of July was sure to bring. While Grandma and Grandpa took out the big jet skis for a smooth ride over the early morning water, the kids showed off on their new toys. They LOVE them! What kid wouldn't??? They propel themselves and they squirt water. Grandpa and Grandma peeling out on the jet skis!Kendal...ready to fire!After a while we decided to head over to the marina where they were doing a boat parade. Their were a lot of boats and people on the lake making the water very bumpy and exciting if you are into that, however even our daredevil Bayley had had enough after just a short time. So after the parade we packed up the jet skis and headed back to the house for lunch. After lunch we napped then it was time for cupcakes and homemade ice cream....definitely one of the highlights for my kiddos. Before we left the kids also got to enjoy the pool one more time and then we headed home to unpack, shower, and get ready for fireworks. Because we had had a full day of activities, we decided to stay home this year and put on our own little firework show....sparklers and a few other little fireworks. A great ending to a great day!

We continue to enjoy our summer and the time we have had to spend together as a family. It is hard to believe that school starts in about one month...

Crazy Hair Trey...what happens when you let your big sisters armed with gel touch your hair
Trey prefers neat hair as opposed to crazy hair

A Week at the Lake with the Griffeth Family

After Jeff and I returned from St. Maarten the following week was our annual week at the lake with the Griffeth's. We are fortunate to live only 35 minutes from the lake house and the lake so the recovery time and getting ready for the trip were lessened quite a bit by the close proximity of the vacation. My brothers Wes and Grant flew in from out of state with their families and my brother Spencer drove in with his family from Georgia. We have been able to do a vacation like this for the last 4 summers and have thoroughly enjoyed the time that we get to spend with each other. My kids had a great time and actually behaved very well despite the compromised sleeping schedules and sleeping arrangements.

Things to Remember (Alyssa if they look very familiar it is because I stole/borrowed/plagerized part of your blog post...you did an awesome job of summarizing the week!)...

Having Lake Wedowee almost to ourselves, ice cream cones and Popsicles, playing The Newlywed Game, lots of Capri Sun and Diet A&W, kids’ dance parties on the deck, hours and hours of swimming at the gorgeous Infinity pool overlooking the lake, Alyssa's birthday,endless races across the pool, tubing until we were aching and bruised, riding in the back of the truck or on the 4 wheelers to and from the pool, ice cold watermelon 3 meals a day, Alyssa jumping in the lake and swimming the “correct” key out to Doreen’s drifting jet ski and swimming back to the dock—Only to find that the new key didn’t work either-- She’d had the correct key all along :),lots of yummy BBQ’s—Filet Mignon, hamburgers, hot dogs, and grilled chicken, reading by the pool, huddled inside during the crazy southern storms that conveniently occurred almost every afternoon during naptime, many trips to the TINY local grocery store, debating over how cold to turn the thermostat in the house and then freezing to death at a mere 71 degrees,endless games of Rook, Nertz, 5 Crowns, and Great Dalmuti, roasting marshmallows and eating s’mores at the outdoor fireplace, the unbelievable views, playing the candy bar game,the baby shower for Leigh and I, sitting on the porch watching the kids ride back-and-forth a thousand times in the bike and wagon, breaking up lots of “toy fights”, enjoying being in the same house with your family for a full week (how many people can say that!).

My sister-in-laws all have GREAT cameras and took great pictures to document our great memories! Seriously, we can not wait for next year!

St. Maarten....A Trip for Two

The first week of June Jeff and I were lucky enough to be able to go on a company paid reward vacation to St. Maarten. We were also fortunate enough to have wonderful family who were willing to step in and keep an eye on our kids while we were gone. Jeff and I were in the Carribean about 2 years ago when we went to St. Thomas by ourselves for a vacation, so we were excited to head back to that part of the world. Almost better than the vacation itself was the fact that we incurred ZERO expense in going including food, transportation, lodging, activities, etc. A trully INCLUSIVE deal.

Jeff recieving his award

We arrived in St. Maarten on Wednesday afternoon and after checking out the Westin Resort we enjoyed a welcome dinner on the pool deck outside. Thursday Jeff and I signed up for a ferry ride across the Atlantic Ocean to the nieghboring island of St. Bartholemews. We were excited to check out a different island, but the trip over proved to be a little more than we had bargained for. The first clue that the 45 minute "Ferry" ride was going to be interesting was during the captain's initial welcome and debrief. She started out by saying that many people spend lots of money to go to an amusement park to ride a roller coaster for less than 5 minutes. We were going to get the rare opportunity to experience a 45 minute amusement park ride. Jeff and I both had taken Bonine before we left which is supposed to help with nausea, so we really weren't too worried at that point. About half way through our 45 minute "RIDE" Jeff started feeling it (there were about 10 other people that felt it too). By the end of the journey he was exhausted and ready to get off the boat. I was fine, so while he slept off the yucks, I took a taxi tour of the island of St. Barths...quickly renamed St. Barfs. I picked Jeff up after about 1 hour and he was feeling and looking much better. We decided to walk around and quickly found out that St. Barths is a very exclusive island...everything was VERY expensive. We sat down to eat lunch where we split a medium sized pizza and a bottle of water and the meal cost us $30....and after talking to a bunch of others we found out that we got off rather cheaply. After lunch we checked out a nearby beach called Shell Beach. We quickly found out why it was named Shell Beach....there were millions of shells everywhere. I have never seen so many shells. Because of the shells there wasn't much of a beach so after checking out the shells and seeing a little too much of the French sunbathers, we started to make our way back to the dock. We happened across a couple from our group on the way back and they told us that the original "Cheeseburger and Paradise" from the Jimmy Buffet song was right around the corner. So although we didn't eat there we can now say we had a couple of Sprites and met the owner of the famous Cheeseburger joint. Before we left Jeff popped a dramamine for the ride back that he as well as the majority of ferry riders were now dreading. Fortunately the ride back was not as rough and Jeff walked off the ferry with color and without any issues. After our little Ferry boat adventure we were very glad that we had switched our original plans to give Deep Sea Fishing a try and had changed to an afternoon at the spa. Thursday night they had an awards ceremony recognizing all of the winners in the South Region, including Jeff. It was neat to realize that Jeff had his most successful sales year in probably one of the busiest years of his life. I KNOW that he was blessed not only for working hard at work, but also for the service he provides as branch president. We trully have been blessed because of Jeff's sacrifices.

At Cheeseburger in Paradise

Friday we headed out on another all-day excursion. This time we signed up for a catamaran trip to a private island off the island of Antigua. This 2 hour trip proved very enjoyable and much smoother than the previous days journey. Once we arrived at the island we had the opportunity to snorkel along a long reef in clear waters. We saw some pretty cool stuff, but Jeff still feels like St. Thomas had better snorkeling overall. The beach was a private beach and while we snorkeled the catamaran crew prepared a grilled lunch of chicken and fish. They rang a bell when lunch was ready and we headed up to be served our lunch...did I mention we really had very little to worry about during our vacation. Lunch was good and after laying on the beach for a little while we explored the little island. It was beautiful white sandy beaches and awesome water all the way around the island. As we were walking along the shore Jeff saw a baby shark that was playing in the waves. In fact the shark got close enough for Jeff to touch...pretty cool. We finished off our day with a great dinner at an exclusive restaurant in the city of Marigot sitting on a deck overlooking the beach and the ocean.

Saturday was deemed our day of rest and relaxation. We slept in, ordered room service and then prepared ourselves for our first ever massages at the spa. I wasn't sure if they would be able to accomodate my growing belly, but they did have a specail ringed pillow so that I could lay flat on my stomach for the massage. Both Jeff and I left the spa feeling very relaxed. After our massages we decided to go shopping for a couple of hours to see if we could find any trinkets for the kids. The shopping was much like most other tourists cities with lots of jewelry stores and then the other typical sourvenier stuff. We found a couple of t-shirts for the kids and then decided to head back to the resort to enjoy the rest of the day lounging on the beach and near the pool.

Sunday we woke up early so that we could attend church at the Phillipsburg Branch there on St. Maarten. I am so glad that we belong to a church where we can go just about anywhere in the world and find a place to worship and know that it will be organized the exact same way as our congregation here at home. The people were very friendly and excited to see so many visitors...there were 6 of us in all. After church it was time to get ready to head home, which is how we spent the remainder of our day...getting home. We had a great time on our trip but we were ready to get home and see our kiddos and gear up for a week at the Lake with the Griffeth Family!

A "Breath" of Fresh Air!

I am playing catch up, just so that I can get behind again...the story of my life these days. Oh well, good thing we are having fun, most of the time. I have blogged a couple of highlights from the last two weeks below and this if my final update of today. WE had a very nice Memorial Day weekend which we spent at the lake with Grandma and Grandpa "G" and Leigh, Spencer, and little Spence. The weather was actually pretty crummy, but we were able to spend some time outdoors. The kids played in the hot tub a bunch and we did pull out the jet skis a couple of times. Tuesday of last week was supposed to be my catch up day from the weekend and the last week, but Trey woke up with a cough and not feeling well. All morning we battled his cough and him throwing up...I tried breathing treatments 2 different times and have ZERO results. He COULD NOT breathe. It was the saddest little thing...there is nothing worse than not being able to help your child when they feel crummy. I decided to take him into the doctor to find out what was going on...as soon as we got there we were immediately seen by the doctor. He was in respiratory distress and immediately given a steroid shot and a double dose of breathing treatments. After that did not work, the pediatrician said that he would most likely be admitted to the hospital if he didn't improve in the next couple of minutes. In the meantime they administered another breathing treatment, which also appeared not to work. The doctor asked if I would like to have him admitted, to which I responded if we could get to a point where he was comfortable sending us home I would much rather that option. He said he would try one more time with a breathing treatment and after that we would make a decision. Four treatment's and a shot later, he finally started to improve. Sent home with strict instructions to closely monitor him we finally headed home. After not eating all day we were just happy to see that he could keep dinner down that night. Jeff was kind enough to spend the night on the floor next to Trey while he slept and the next morning we headed back to the doctor's office for a follow-up visit. The doctor's and nurses couldn't believe that it was the same kid. His energy was back, he was breathing normally and he was smiling! As this was the third time in the last 6 months that Trey has had issues with breathing, the doctor decided to run an allergy test on him. Friday we got the results back...he is allergic to just about everything outside as well as cats, dogs, and the common indoor allergens. The doctor was totally perplexed that Trey has not had more allergic responses given the results of the test and also that Trey does not have any hay-fever symptoms, but only asthmatic symptoms when he has a reaction. Trey is now on a daily breathing treatment and we will see if this helps. In the meantime, we will just watch him closely and hopefully keep those airways clear!
Trey's respiratory distress was obviously the big "event" of the week, if you could call it that, but we also had a couple of other fun things that went on. Bayley's last day of second grade was Thursday...she was excited, but she really does LOVE school. We are looking forward to a short action-packed summer. Yesterday Kendal had her last T-ball game and then her team party. She enjoyed t-ball, but I'm not sure that it was as fast-paced as our little rocket would have liked. We'll see if she wants to sign up next year.
Jeff and I have been looking forward to this upcoming week for the last couple of months. We are headed to St. Martin on a reward trip from Jeff's work performance last year. It should be a lot of fun. Fortunately we have great family who are willing to watch our kiddos while we are away so that we can enjoy the time away knowing our kids are in good hands. Jeff was very blessed this year at work and now we get to enjoy the fruits of his labors! I'm sure we will be blogging a play-by-play!

DeSoto Caverns Fieldtrip

A week and a half ago I was able to accompany Bayley on her class field trip to DeSoto Caverns. DeSoto Caverns in a cave about 45 minutes from our house. Bayley was thrilled that I would be able to come...thanks to a good friend who was willing to watch my other two kiddos. We had a very good time. The cave was nice, but kind of puny compared to some of the other caves I have been to like Timpanogas and Carlsbad Caverns, but nice for around here. Not only did they get to walk through the cave but they were also able to pan for jewels...I think that was the highlight of Bayley's trip. It was a fun day with my Fun seven year old!

Dora Live

Dora Look-a-Likes
Two weeks ago there was a Dora look-a-like contest at our local Chick-fil-A. Once I told Kendal about it, she was determined to enter and WIN. In fact in the days leading up to the contest that seemed to be all we talked about. That Tuesday night Jeff had a dinner for work, so I packed up the kids, including Kendal dressed as Dora and Trey as Diego and headed to Chick-fil-A. Not only did they have the contest, but they had coloring and other small activities for the kids....and as an added bonus they had free kids meals with an adult meal purchase. For the first little while Kendal and Trey were the only 2 kids dressed up so it looked like they would be the winners automatically (mind you at this point we had no idea what the prizes would be and really didn't care, it was all about the experience). However, as the time for the contest drew nearer little girls dressed up like Dora started coming in. All of the girls had the exact same costume (Kendal got hers a couple of Halloweens ago from Grandma G), and the others had black wigs. As they pretty much all looked exactly alike it was impossible for the judges to fairly pick a winner. So with the blessing of all the contestants and their parents, they put all the of dressed-up kid's names in a hat and picked for the winner. KENDAL WON! She was so excited! And boy were we even more excited when we saw the prize pack...she was 4 fourth row tickets to the Dora Live Show in Birmingham, a car wash, and of course some free Chick-fil-A food! It was a fun night and I came home with 3 very happy kids. Thanks Chick-fil-A!!!!

T-ball games, Dance Recitals, Etc.

My DANCING QUEENS

Want to know what we have been up to lately...a lot of t-ball, a lot of dance, and life in general.
Dancing took the center stage this weekend. The girls were excited to show off what they had been working on the last couple of months. Kendal performed a very nice slow dance and looked very beautiful in her costume. I think she is going to take a break from dancing and give some other activities a try. She likes to dance, but I can't say that she loves it like her sister Bayley does. Bayley did a great job this recital. She is in a class with girls a couple of years older than her and has very little problems keeping up. Of course, she is as tall as the other girls and looks just as old, but it says a lot that she has been willing to challenge herself with the older girls. She definitely has a dancers body...long and slender. I am very proud of both of my girls.

Grandma "G" and Bayley (notice the beautiful roses...the girls loved them)

The last couple of weeks Kendal has had a couple of t-ball games a week. She has enjoyed her t-ball experience and has improved as the year has progressed. She proved to be the most attentive girl on the team...the rest of the girls were usually in the outfield picking grass or talking, while Kendal usually at least knew where the ball had been hit. Now that the season is over or almost over, depending on if they decide to make up any of the cancelled games, the most exciting part of the season remains...the team party where Kendal will receive her trophy. (after the first game this year, she asked me, so now do I get my trophy??)

Kendal at the plate!

And of course, life has continued to be filled with lots of other stuff. The weather goes from being very nice to very rainy, so we have had the chance to enjoy our pool here and there. The kids are itching for a week where they can swim every day. Church callings continue to keep Jeff and I, mostly Jeff extremely busy. He is gone most evenings, however, makes a point to spend quality time with the kids when he is home. He really is a good dad and husband. Other than that, we are looking forward to the end of another school year in 8 days...but who is counting. This week I am headed on a field trip with Bayley's class. It should be a lot of fun to spend that time with her. And of course, the end of the school year means the start of school for Kendal is just around the corner....not a day goes by that she doesn't ask how many more days until she starts school. I love that she is so excited!!