Fall

I am so excited that fall is almost here! I was just thinking about how beautiful the leaves will be in just a few weeks. I think last weekend was a just a taste of what we have to look forward to!

Fall has to be my favorite season. It makes we want to go to Gatlinburg and drive through the mountains, take a walk down a mountain trail, and eat chili and apple pies! YUM!

I was looking back through the pictures I took of the girls last fall. It never ceases to amaze me how much they can change in one year!

Here are last year's pics:



What's your favorite season?

Kellye

More project pics...

Sisters!

Me and my baby!

I love this one of Jon and Caroline! Gracie took this one.

Here's what I do best - LAUNDRY!

So the girls had a good time playing with my camera :)

Can you say cute?

Caroline loves her dogs! Jonas (the bigger one) is now 1 year old. Stella is about 6.5 mos. She is the CUTEST puppy I have ever seen in my life. I can't believe we have two dogs and I'm ok with it...

Grandma

Caroline had a project for the first day of school, so we needed a picture of her with her Grandma. I thought this was a good opportunity to get a pic of both kids with her, so I snapped this at church a few weeks ago.

I think the girls look like they're about 12 years old here!

Beautiful Savannah!

I may be moving! I fell in LOVE with Savannah, Georgia!


The houses are gorgeous!

The city is rich in history! There are city square EVERYWHERE! I mean each one has a different fountain, monument, statue, etc....

filled with HUGE live oak trees that are covered in spanish moss! I have never seen anything like it in my life!

Jon took me to Savannah for our second anniversary. He totally suprised me with where we were going. He has now set himself up for failure because I don't know of any other place that he could take me that would be any more perfect than Savannah!

It's just Walking!

...so what's the big deal?

I have owned a really cool treadmill since January (because I, like millions of others in the world, fell into the whole "new year, new you" ad campaign that works every year for retailers around the globe) I can say that I have used it several times ("several" being used lightly here), but I have NOT been devoted in the least!

It's not something that's difficult to do or that takes up much of my time...

I have really good intentions of getting up 30 minutes early...or walking before going to bed...or just exercising three days per week, but I CANNOT MAKE MYSELF DO IT!!!!!!!

WHY??????????? My only answer here is that it's BORING!

So.....

Tonight I am typing this blog post as I **guess what I'm doing** WALKING ON MY TEADMILL!!!!

Ok so that's kind of nutty, I know, but it is getting the job done!

I'm walking!

Horsing Around

Another camp story....

Camp week is full of events like horseshoe tournaments, volleyball games, disc golf, and more! Gracie has been playing in the horseshoe tournament since she was old enough to walk. (not really but it seems like it to me...) Here you can see the concentration on her face as she gets ready to pitch...


And here are the results of the concentration.....A RINGER!

Father's Day

Each year we have family camp week at our church's camp grounds. It always begins on Father's Day which is pretty cool because the camp ground is the perfect place for Gracie and Caroline to remember their dad since he LOVED it there! The girls are standing beside the covered bridge that Josh helped build there. He never got to see it to completion but he would be so pleased with the way it turned out! The girls are standing beside a small monument built to dedicate the bridge to Josh, and there is a time capsule filled with lots of "Josh stuff" inside the concrete on it.

This year for Father's day the girls brought these purple flowers and placed them in front of the monument. They watered them and took care of them all week while we camped out. Sometimes it's hard to think of ways to help them remember and know who he was. Hopefully they will have that same love for the camp ground that he did!

He really graduated!

It happened! Finally! YAY! These are two proud parents.



...And here's one proud wife. :) Congrats, Jon!

Pics of my kids...

We had some professional pics taken of Andy and the girls today. I think this is the first time we have EVER taken them somewhere else to have pics done! The photographer took some great shots of the three of them, but she didn't take any of them by themselves, so we stopped on the way home and I snapped these: (not too shabby for an amateur like me..)

I will be sending out some copies of these soon, but I couldn't wait to share them!

Finally...a note from me

I'm caught up! I had no idea how many pictures I had taken, but it was a LOT! It feels good to have the blog updated!

We have had so much going on lately in our lives that I have become a "binge" blogger I guess. I hope to be doing better soon. Some of you may not know that Jon has been in college for several months - 18 or so. Well, he is graduating in two weeks!!! He won't be completely done with his school, but he will be able to finally work a full time job - which God blessed him with recently by the way. It has gone by so fast in some ways, but slow in others. We have been through so many transitions in just the past few months life has just been pulling us along. I'm so thankful that he will be finished with the 'heaviest" part of the college classes soon and that he has started working.

The down side to that of course is that I am now losing my Mr. Mom - the one who picked up the kids at school, cooked dinner (most of the time), did the laundry, etc, etc, etc. He has really been a lifesaver for me in those areas. I can't believe how easily he took on the jobs in the first place, but it sure was nice coming home to dinner almost ready and laundry even halfway done....

So, thanks for all you did Jon! I'm so glad you have had the opportunity to go back to college to do what you love! I Love you!

I also want to say thanks to our family for bearing with us as we have gone through these crazy times. You have been super helpful when we needed you and understanding when we haven't had time to be around like we were in the past. We are looking forward to getting to spend more time with you all as things calm down. We love you all!

Caroline's 7th Celebration

Caroline chose to celebrate her 7th birthday by taking her BFF Maddie (and sister - after a little arm bending) to Bath Junkie in Hendersonville. The chose their scents and made lotion and soap...

Love that scarf...

Running to Brixx Pizza for dinner.

Again, the tooth. We need to pull it but it's such a big deal to her - she won't let me near her mouth. I have offered several bribes with no luck. We are seeing Dr. Wendy (dentist) next week, so hopefully it will come out by then...or maybe while we're there ;)

A Little Shade please...

Caroline at Gracie's soccer game last weekend. She forgot her sunglasses, and borrowed Mr. Jon's. I think she would look cute in anything! Gotta love that crooked tooth in her mouth...

More Stella

I love this pic of these two dogs! They're sharing a stick here - Gracie took their picture...

Stella

The girls conspired against me this year for their birthdays. They began telling Jon and me how Jonas is too big for them to walk and handle, so they definitely need a smaller puppy. As a result, we have a new puppy named Stella. Her name came from the TV show about the Jonas brothers, so the dogs' names "go together" Having her around has been much like having a new baby! She is so small that we all think she needs to be picked up and carried around all the time. She is adapting to our house well, and Jonas doesn't mind her biting her tail, ears, paws or anything else she can reach very much at all.