Virginia family time

My cousin matt, His mom Aunt Kathy, My cousins Leigh, Brittani, and Zach

Aunt Kathy and Leigh making Aunt Kathy's yummy Lasagna. It was the best I have ever had.

My cousin Chuck, his wife Mary and her son Robbie

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Mom and Harris at the cemetery where Aunt Sissie is buried. I love the trees.

My little girl all cute! I smile sometimes because My aunt and mam-maw would have LOVED her.

 Last week we went on a girl trip to my favorite state..... Virginia. It is where I was born and every single memory I have there is a great one.  My mom, sister, and I with all our little ones had a amazing time. My Aunt Sissie passed away right before I  found out I was pregnant with Abigail. When I found out I was having a girl it was easy to decide to name her after my amazing aunt. Plus I was also named after her My middle name is Gail She was a amazing woman.  Always took care of everyone else. While we visited we had the time to go threw some of her things and divide them up. It was  odd and very therapeutic ! I have never laughed so hard or cried so much. It was a trip full of celebrating the passed and the present. My favorite day we went to the cemetery's where Aunt Sissie, mam-Maw, Papa, grandma Hazel and her husband were all  buried.  Plus went to my mam- Maws old home. I will share those pics later. It was emotional. Even though I have a testimony of the gospel to be in Virginia with out them is still weird and sad. On the drive home we had the most beautiful drive. The leafs and the trees are absolutely breathtaking. I felt it was a little reminder to celebrate life and enjoy every day because looking at how amazing nature is you can not help but feel that heavenly Father made all these gorgeous things. We came home after a emotional day and everyone gathered in the backyard and we all played "mother may I". We laughed and  twirled liked princess, jumped like frogs and spun like tornadoes.  It was a perfect day!

Baby Mullet Gone

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I finally decided to get my BABY his first hair cut. Aaron and I have joked that he was getting a pretty cute little mullet growing but I loved his curls to much.  Last week however we went to go visit my family in Virginia  and I wanted him to be looking his cutest for  his Virginia family.  Which after the haircut he has never looked so dang cute. He did great during it and actually by the end of the haircut was flirting his little cute self off with the hair stylist. When he was all done he checked him self out in the mirror and all by himself stuck his little hand up for a high five. I can not believe he is getting so big and everyday he starts to look less like my baby and more like my little man.  The good news is he is adorable either way!

6 years!

 Aaron and I celebrated our 6th anniversary on October 30th. With all the craziness of that week I did not post our fun date but I wanted to make sure to share. Aaron decided he was going to plan everything since have been a little crazy for me. He planned a great day in St. Simmons Island in Georgia.  He really planned everything from the food to the babysitter. I was highly impressed!

 We ate at this restaurant named Barbra Jeans. Oh it was yummy! I had  shrimp and crap cakes. Aaron had gumbo with red beans and rice. We were both stuffed.

 Then we went to all the little shops and got to walk hand in hand loving the cool weather and a kid-less day.

 Then we went to this old colonial historical site. It was so neat! Below is the foundation for a old colonial home. It was tiny I mean tiny. I often wish my home was bigger but seeing that families of 10 could live in those tiny little spaces was wild for me.

 This is part of fort for the little colony it as well was tiny. They said sometimes 30 men would sit inside.

 Then we left and went to the oldest church in Georgia. It was beautiful!

 I love brick walk ways. I think they are so gorgeous!

Then when we were leaving the church Aaron heard a band practicing so we went on a walk to find them and literally stumbled across some graves with the name "DISMUKE" which is my moms maiden name.  I was excited to get home and talk to my mom and find out if they were maybe family. Mom didn't know but knew that there was a lot of Dismukes that came south. I thought it was neat maybe my Mam-Maw's way of reminding me to do more family history. It was a great day and a even better 6 years. I look forward to a 100 more. I am a lucky girl to still have my heart go pitter patter every time he kisses me and even more lucky that I get to spend eternity with him! I love you Jammes!

These days the weather has been AMAZING! We spend so much time playing and enjoying one another outside. Sidewalk chalk has always been one of my favorite things and now Abi has joined in. Abi loves to color and make pretty things.  The other day we made our patio pretty and then it rained and Abi woke and and was so sad that all our pretty work was all gone. I thought about it all day and then I decided that sidewalk chalk was a great way to teach Abi about the atonement. It was a wonderful moment to watch her little face as she began to understand just how lucky we are. How wonderful my life really is.  Who would have thought that sidewalk chalk would give me a amazing moment like that with my daughter.

Halloween fun at school!

One of the best parts of being a preschooler is that Abi now gets to do fun things like school parties. We looked forward to the school party all last week. Finally the day came and we got all dressed up and we off for a fun day. Abi's teacher Mrs. Staab is amazing! In class Abi got to make her own little trick or treat bag, painted a pumpkin and learned all about stranger danger. Mrs. Staab really loves all her kids and we are lucky to have her. Another wonderful thing  is that Abi has some really great friends like Mandy and Luke that also go to church with us. I love it because when she gets home she tells me ever detail.  I signed up to pass out candy so my friend Katheryn took these great pictures for me, her friendship is another great blessing of Abi being in school. I have gotten to make some really great friendships as well. Halloween was great this year because we had a a great time with our school friends, our church friends, and a wonderful family day! I love this time of year!

Halloween time

Like everyone else in the world last week was wild. Everyday was fun and crazy. Halloween is  one of my favorite holidays and we were ready and looking forward to it. This is year Abigail was Ariel from "The little Mermaid". Harris was a train Conductor. Both were really just way to cute for their own good.

Wednesday was 'Trunk-or-Treat' at church. After 2 minuets of being there Abi was the proud owner of 4 goldfish. We had a great time. The only thing missing was daddy. We were sad he had to work.  We were off to get some yummy candy. Harris learned fast that if he smiled he got more and boy did he get A LOT of candy.

Then Sunday we had our primary program and party it was great. Abigail marched right up and said her little line. Which was " I believe in Jesus Christ because he helps me to not have bad dreams".  It was to cute! Then after naps we were off to Auntie A and Mathews little apartment for some family time. We ate some yummy food, got dressed and were off to our house to get the good stuff. Candy! Candy! Candy! It was a great night! Abigail decided about 20 mins. into it that she would rather pass out candy so we went home and the rest of the night gave candy out. It was the best Halloween ever!

MY FAVORITE PARTS:

*Getting Abi dressed.

* Watching Harris walk around the house like a big boy.

*Abi announcing she is a parent to 4 new goldfish.

*Eating and getting ready at Auntie A and Mathew's house.

*Watching Abi pass out candy.

* Holding hands with Aaron as we walked the kids door to door.

* cuddling up with 2 tired kids and rocking them before bed time.

* Cuddling up with Aaron on the couch eating some yummy candy we stole from the kids bags.

Butterfly rainforest

We have been loving this weather we have been having.  We needed to go enjoy it and we found this place in Gainesville called the butterfly Rainforest I found it a couple weeks ago and told Abigail about it and she has been dying to go. We did not tell the kids where we were going just that it was a surprise. Which made it even more fun. It was amazing! First they have a museum of natural history that was FREE. You can not get anything for free these days. Then you can go it you want and visit the butterfly rain forest and it was $9.00 a adult and $6.00 a child 2 and under was free. Totally worth it!

The skeleton of a mammoth guessed to be over 15,000 years old ALL original bones except for the teeth and tusks. There also was a female mammoth that was found in Florida that was found a mile away from the male. I thought that was sweet.

My 2 favorite and handsome men.

These were jaws of sharks that were found in the St. Johns river. They were huge! A little crazy that sharks are really that big.

There were mock caves and a little cave that the " little explorers" used.

Abi so badly wanted a butterfly to land on her. This was as close as they got to her but it made her happy so we were happy.

This is Abi standing perfectly still like in the sunshine like the worker suggested to get a buttterfly. No luck but she looked super cute trying.

I looked back on the car ride home to see my little pris pot sitting so lady like it was cute.

The best parts of the day were:

* Abi being so excited on the car ride to her suprise that she asked every 5 mins "are we there yet"

* Abi's face when we told her we were there

*watching Harris explore the caves and squeak  with delight when he found snakes and birds.

* The boys sneaking away for a second and Abi leaning over and hugging me and saying "Thanks this is the best day ever"

* Holding hands with Aaron while the kids played.

* looking at all the pretty butterfly's and flowers.

*Listening to Harris snore on the car ride home.