Frozen Quotes

As I've been laying low with these two girls...we have been playing a lot of movies. Frozen has been one of the top ones that Andrew's been in to lately. He's seen it so much he's starting to quote it. I just love his little voice repeating these big sentences!

"I just can't...the sky's awake so I'm awake. We HAVE to play!"


"Hey we were just talking about you...All good things, all good things."


"What's that smell? Mmmmmmmmm chocolate! Hehehe."


"We need to head this way to the North Mountain, Come on."

Happy Birthday America!

I seriously can't believe how fast the Fourth of July snuck up on us this year. Is it really already July? Stephen has been working some crazy hours with his new position and so a long weekend was exactly what we needed.

One of Stephen's good buddies from high school and his family live close by in Tennessee. They invited us up for a BBQ with their family. So we decided to escape from the city for a day. Unfortunately, they called us the night before and told us that their little girl was sick so the family wasn't coming over for the BBQ. Well, we decided we'd better not chance it either with Andrew and so we'd stay home. 

Then the next morning Stephen and I decided that since he had the day off we'd run up the rest of his sail boat gear. His friend, Jason is storing our small sailboat and has a small lake on his property where he can sail it with his boys. So we figured we'd still go up anyways and take the rest of the gear and just not stay....well, after driving and hour and a half we arrived...they convinced Stephen since they were going down to the lake that they should take a few poles and take Andrew fishing.....Well, that turned into a big event and then it was lunch time... before we knew it we were firing up the grill and having a bbq.

Ahh well, we did keep Andrew pretty much separated from their little girl who was sick, but the sad part is she's 3-years old as well. And it's been a week and we've had no sign of sickness at our household. So I think we were successful.

We had a wonderful time and it was so nice to get away for the day. They live on a beautiful little farm, with lots of land, chickens and dogs and an amazing garden. To top it all off it has an incredible view of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. While Jason and Stephen and all the boys were out fishing, I helped Maria with some last minute freezing of blueberries and green beans freshly picked and was able to cuddle and hold their little one month old baby. Then of course the big boys had to drive into town and load up on some fireworks. Nothing is illegal in Tennessee, so we had quite the show that night.

This year Andrew LOVED the fireworks. After each one he would stop, clap his hands and cheer "wahoo". The loud ones didn't seem to bother him. He'd jump, then say "oh wow that one scared me!"  It was pretty funny. We did sparklers for the first time and he loved those as well. No fear in this kid. I was impressed at how long he lasted too. It's was after 10:30 before we finished and headed out. He was a such a trooper and unusually happy for that hour. Must have been all the celebrations. This years firework experience ended up being much better than last years 4th of July...hands down. No crying or screaming at all. Kids make the holidays that much more exciting and fun.  Although, I'll always remember how we spent his first 4th of July. He'd just come home from the hospital the day before and we watched fireworks from inside the house tethered to an oxygen tank.

Here's a few random photos from the day. Since we weren't going to stay I didn't bring my camera or my phone. Good thing Stephen remembered his and we were able to snap a few.

Catching a few catfish

 Here's what Andrew reeled in...

 He thought he was so grown up in his own chair!

 Playing with the big boys

 They had some of the sweetest dogs and Andrew kept asking 

if he could ride one like a horse...so finally we gave 

in and let him. They didn't seem to mind at all.

 SPARKLERS!!!

The big kids decided to get the pellet gun 

out and practice shooting targets.

We had such a fun day! Thanks Silvenis Family!!

Things I've learned in Georgia...

We have now been in Georgia a month and I've come to learn a few very interesting things about this place. It has been quite an adjustment for our family and I think of all the moves we've done the last 4 years...this one has by far affected Andrew the most. Although he's only 3, he certainly misses his friends in Texas....as do Stephen and I.

So here is my Georgia Top 10 list of things I've learned this past month while living here...

1. Accents. I thought I'd be bombarded by huge southern accents that I wouldn't be able to understand. Come to find out, Atlanta is really a melting pot of people and cultures. Most everyone has moved here from somewhere else and there are very few native Georgians in the Atlanta area. I come across one every now and then, but so far we really haven't had too hard of a time deciphering through the southern accents!

2. Rain. I have NEVER seen so much rain in my ENTIRE life!! It's a rare day that it doesn't rain. Umbrellas are my new best friend. Went and bought one for each car and a compact one for my purse...never get caught without one. It comes quick and it comes hard. Then it's gone and sunny. The 90% humidity however seems to always stick around, but my curly hair has never been curlier!

3. Apartments. Apartment living with a toddler is harder then I thought it would be. I knew it would be different and I knew it would be a challenge, but having no backyard and very little space inside has certainly been an adjustment. Sooooo we've had to be creative!

Picnics on the front porch 

Go on walks

 Sensory play on the back deck

Swimming at the pool in the complex

Feeding the ducks at the Chattahoochee River close by.

Boxes have also become endless entertainment

We try to venture out as much as we can...while I still can. :)

4. Location. One amazing thing about living in the city in an apartment is everything we'd ever need is in about an 8 mile radius. The proximity is awesome! I LOVE it!! All of Andrew's doctors are at the children's hospital about 5 miles down the road. My doctors are just across the street at another hospital.  The Atlanta temple and our ward building is literally 5 blocks away. So many different shopping areas, I'll never be able to hit them all up or keep them straight. It's awesome! We used to drive over an hour to Fort Worth for all Andrew's Neuro-stuff and almost 45 min just for his pediatrician. I'm going to get real spoiled really fast with this new convenience .

5. Fireflies. I've decided that my new favorite past-time is to watch fireflies at night. Tried to catch some the other night, but didn't have much success as I was getting bitten by many other six-legged creatures! 

Awesome picture courtesy of google. 

6. Hills and Trees. The first thing I noticed when we got here was how many huge green trees and how there are hills there are everywhere. When you drive down in interstate it's just walls of trees on either side. Sometimes I get claustrophobic because I can't see out, and as big and beautiful as they are it makes finding things even harder and frustrating. You can drive right by your destination and not even know it, because so many trees block your view. So as beautiful as they are, I find them to be a bit frustrating. 

7. Bugs. Bug spray is a must! With all those trees and woods and of course the warm weather comes lots and lots of bugs! I thought I knew bugs living in Texas, but it's way different out here. Those college students who sell pest control in the south during the summer...well, it is a NECESSITY out here!  The nighttime symphony outside my window each evening with all the different bugs and critters is fun though. 

8. Grits. Grits is for breakfast. Everyone tells us you have to try grits and you have to have them for breakfast not for dinner AND you must put lots of butter and cheese!  So I bought some at the store and tried it this week. I'm not a huge fan, but maybe I'm just not making them right...I'll have to experiment more.

9. Moss grows everywhere. Moss and mold. Some people wouldn't think this is a big deal. But for a Utah girl. This is crazy and weird to me that moss will just randomly grow on trees, sidewalks, railings etc. We actually have to run our air conditioning more for the fact of reducing the humidity in the air, then really cooling us off. It really hasn't gotten much hotter then the low 90's, but the humidity makes it seem much hotter than that. Everyone warned us about how hot it would be, but honestly I'd rather take this weather than 3-4 months of 100+ degree weather in Texas.  

10. Atlanta Driving and Roads.  Navigating in a new city is always  a fun adventure. The Roads are CRAZY out here. First of all traffic...of course all big cities have traffic...it's just apart of life. And I'm pretty used to it after living in Chicago and Dallas. But the roads in Atlanta were not planned to handle the amount of traffic this city has. What would be a 2-3 lane road each way in Dallas is a single lane road each way here. I learned the hard way to not leave my house between the hours of 4:30-7:00 pm. It took me almost 45 minutes to get home from the grocery store, just 4 miles away.

You can come to a light and each road at that intersection has a completely different name. So even if you go straight through the light you just might be on a completely different road. It makes no sense to me.

Georgians are also not very creative when it comes to naming streets. There are many variations of the same name.  Peachtree is a popular road name down here. Just to name a few, we have Peachtree-Dunwoody, Peachtree Village Way, Peachtree NE, Peachtree Pkwy, Peachtree Creek Rd, Peachtree Memorial Rd, New Peachtree Drive....etc Yes. I heard there are over 70 variations of different "Peachtree" streets just in Atlanta city limits, plus countless others across the state. 

All I can say is after a month of driving in Atlanta,  I am so very thankful for my GPS.

Father's Day Celebrations

Since we really didn't do anything for Stephen's birthday we decided to make it a whole weekend of celebrations for Father's Day. Stephen wanted to go on a hike. So we found a fun place not too far away that was simply the most beautiful retreat from the city. It was just what we needed.

In the northeast corner of Georgia, just on the boarder next to South Carolina is Talullah Falls. We thought it would be fun to go and explore this state park and see a few water falls. After going on a few trails and exploring the hills of North Georgia, I definitely think I've fallen in love with the beauty of this part of the country. It was simply breathtaking and a spectacular canyon with lots of easy trails and overlooks. Then Stephen decided to be adventurous and take Andrew by himself down 330 steps and across the suspension bridge that connects both sides of the gorge. He was brave...especially to take an extra 35 lbs on his back.

Then we decided to hit up a little mom and pop BBQ joint close by. Living in Texas has made us both huge BBQ fans. Both Stephen and I love meat and I don't think I'd ever get tired of BBQ. Well, we tried to do some reasearch and  we think we found a favorite! 

Here's Stephen in mid-sentence with his first bite of his ribs. Just imagine him saying "oh man....these are A-Maz-Ing!" The look on his face is priceless. 

Georgia proved us once again.  When we were strolling through Target afterwards we found some of this Texas delicacy! We had to stalk up although it's quite a bit more expensive then what we would pay in Texas. It was well worth it!  

Sunday was just the icing on the cake...sleeping in. Skyping with both sides of the family and Andrew giving daddy a little homemade gift! I sure am grateful for such a wonderful husband who puts his family first. He is an amazing dad to Andrew and will be to our little girls. Andrew looks up to him so much and asks multiple times a day if we can go to work to be with daddy. He adores his dad and so do I.

Happy Father's Day Stephen!