Austin grows up

So our little baby is growing up. I don't even think you can call him a baby anymore but he is so dang precious he'll always be my baby. He had a great birthday with great friends. Pizza, cupcakes, and friends, it was low key and totally great. Thanks Aunt Adrianne for all the presents. As you can see they were hit.

Our first real family vacation

We went on our first real family vacation last week to Miramar Beach FL. It was just us and the kids and we set off for a week at the beach. It was amazing. We had such a great time. our condo was great, right on the beach. The weather was perfect. The water was amazing. The kids slept in the same room for the first time ever and did great. Lee and I went to bed early a few nights and caught up on sleep. Our days consisted of mornings at the beach and pool. Lunch's and reading on the balcony overlooking the oceans. Afternoons sight seeing or lazing at the beach. It was awesome. We did have a few highlights. We took the kids to Gator Beach and got pretty up close and personal with some gators. We even got to pet one. Another afternoon we went to Gulf World in Panama City. It was pretty much like a miniature Sea World. But it was great because it was like Sea World minus everything we hate (lines, crowds, too big of a venue etc.) This place was pretty intimate and there was hardly anyone there. The kids thought it was awesome. Austin pet some stingrays and just went wild for the sea turtles. Kenzie loved the dolphins and birds. I have to admit I loved it all. After that we went to eat at Sharkey's open air restaurant on the beach. It was the most beautiful night. We ate right about the time the sun was going down.
We enjoyed running around on the beach and then the karaoke started. I told Lee I wanted to do it so he encouraged me. I asked Makenzie if she would want to do it with me. I expected her to be like "huh?" but as soon as I asked her if she wanted to sing with me she got so excited. She kept asking "is it our turn to sing yet?" So finally they called us up and Makenzie stole the show. It was so cute. She just belted it out, I couldn't hear myself or anything but her.
It was cute everyone stopped eating just to watch her. We had people coming around the corner from the hostess stand so they could watch this little 4 year old girl sing karaoke. It was really fun. Kind of a dream of mine, singing with my daughter. Enjoying something with her that I love so much. It was great. We spent the rest of our vacation in the sand or in the water. Makenzie is a little fish and wanted to spend every waking minute in the ocean. She is becoming quite the little swimmer. She made a lot of friends on the beach, so it was nice she had little friends to play with in the water. Austin perfected the art of throwing sand, or destroying anything that resembled a sand castle. That kid is all destruction right now. Coming home was hard, but we sure have some great memories to hold on to.

The Reasons why I love my family

I often get caught up in the everyday and I love how everyday something happens that brings me back. Brings me back to what is really important. Not that fact that my house is clean or my errands are done, but that I have a loving husband and children who never cease to amaze me. I love how I will hear giggles from downstairs and I'll go to see what is going on and Kenzie and Austin have Easter baskets on their heads just cracking up. Or I find my family outside in an empty baby pool just relaxing and having fun spending time together. I try to treasure these special moments, because honestly most of my time is spent "being a mom and getting things done." I love those "make me smile" moments. I'm trying to treasure everyone of them.

Back to the Mother Land

I know this is now a month over due, but that is how I roll. We got adventurous and took a road trip back to VA last month. We decided to make it a tradition to run the Ukrops 10k every year in Richmond. Its a fun race and a good excuse to see friends and family, so we packed our bags and headed north. The drive was long, and as soon as we arrived Makenzie and I decided to drive a little further in order to see our old friends in DC. It was so good to see everyone and to catch up. It was great to see Makenzie play with her old friends who she loves and misses so much. She keeps telling me "mom I want to play with my old friends." I think she will look forward to our yearly trips to VA, just so she can play with her buddies. Thanks to all my great friends for feeding me, housing me, meeting up for dinner. I had a great time and miss you all so much. After 20 hours in DC we headed back to Richmond for some family fun. We had a great time going to the park, eating all of great grandma bohj's wonderful cooking, celebrating Kenzie's birthday, and running our race. I shaved 2 minutes off my time from last year. Lee got knocked out of first place by Jimmy who improved by like 15 minutes from last year (unfortunate foot problem last year). All together we all did better than last year and had a great time. And everyone was walking after the race this year. Lee will probably come back with a vengance next year, it almost killed him to get beaten by his younger brother. Thanks for the great times guys.

A very Chick-fil-A Birthday

What better way to spend your birthday then with all your friends at your favorite restaurant. That is just how we celebrated. Kenzie invited a few friends to Chick-fil-A for her "Yellow"party. (she is now obsessed with Yellow.) It was easy to set up, clean up, and all the entertainment was right there. Kid's meals and a playground. The kids had a great time and it was fun to see Makenzie have such a good birthday with her friends. It was also fun to see Austin terrorize all her friends and eat his cupcake. Happy Birthday Makenzie, we love you!

Warm enough to do this

It has been a dream to live in GA since February. The weather is awesome. Most days its is so nice, sure it rains every so often, but we've been wearing shorts on and off for a while now. We even went out the other day and did this. It was hot outside it was great. We spent half of Saturday washing and waxing our car, only to have someone hit our car while out one night and drive away. Don't love that. Don't love the cracked tail light and dented bumper, but what can you do?

My life in GA

So I feel like I have some big dark secret. Like I am not the person everyone knew 7 months ago. Living in GA has already changed me. Maybe it was all a part of the changing process. For example. I find myself wanting to say "Y'all", and even liking the sound of it. A friend of mine the other night said "it's just more efficient." I mean what do you say instead.. you guys? Is that any better? At least in the south they've picked a way to say it "Y'all." Granted I don't think I say it much, but I do like it.
Now for my other confessions. I am now semi health conscience. Not like I wasn't before but this one has been forming for a while. Even before we got here. I just realized how much junk we eat. And we still do, believe me, but I find myself feeling guilty for buying processed foods. I now grind my own organic wheat and make organic all natural wheat bread every week. And might I add it is delicious. I haven't purchased a loaf of bread since October. I have my locally grown organic fruits and vegetables brought to my house every other week. I wish I could afford to shop elusively at places like Whole Foods. You would have to be loaded to do that. I told Lee "if we were rich, I'd hire someone to teach me how to shop and prepare all natural unprocessed foods." This isn't something that changes overnight. It takes money and work to eat like this. I am not even a quarter of the way there, and until Lee is a billionaire I'll probably stay a quarter of the way there.
If I had freezer space I would order my meat in bulk from local farmers who have grass fed beef and free range chickens. That is next on my list of ways to improve my families health. Do you think I am crazy yet? Sometimes I do.
I started couponing. It's huge in the south. Its like a sport or an art form. People devote their lives to couponing and showing others how to do it. I have saved a great deal but I am still a rookie compared to most. I have to keep it realistic, I don't just run out and get something just because its free. There is order to the way I shop and the stores I shop at.
I now shop at all the local church consignment sales. It is great, I have gotten to know lots of people from different faiths and churches, and scored a lot of cheap children's clothes.
I've started reading. So much so that Lee even bought me an e-reader (Yes the same as a Kindle only not that brand). I've finished 6 very decently sized books in the last few months. It's like an escape from my mind.
For as much complaining as I've done, I do like it here. I like how slow it feels compared to D.C. I like how friendly the people are. I like that people have faith down here. Most everyone attends a church and religion is such a part of people's culture down here. I like that. I love the weather. 70's all week baby, and its been like that off and on since February. We're slowing breaking in, and I like the person I am becoming. I want to be the best me I can be, for myself and my family.

Christmas in March

It is so me to forget that my blog even exists so why not post Christmas in March. Merry Christmas everyone. Here is what we were doing.
So Makenzie and Maddie were dying to go Christmas caroling, which I thought, could be a disaster, but hey why not. It was entertaining to say the least. Kenzie takes her caroling seriously.

The Truth is...

Just an image of some of the wonderful friends that are too far north for my liking
The truth is, I have so much I want to say, I have so many backlogged blog posts in my head but I don't make this a priority. It's been a while since I've had time to just sit down and blog, or read other peoples blogs for that matter, so tonight I tossed Kenzie in a her bed a little early with a coloring book and some crayons and hit the blogs for a little catching up. Catching up is so great and so hard because here is how I felt. (It's how I've been feeling for a while.)
I miss my friends. I miss VA, I miss really simple things. I miss my ward/wards, the fact that I felt like I knew people and they knew me. (I spoke in church on Sunday and wanted to crack a joke about Lee's youthful appearance in my intro but somehow I thought, nope, they just wouldn't appreciate it.) I miss how everyone was friends, sure everyone has their good buddies, but everyone was friends. I miss how I knew about the schools in VA, I miss the fact that my friends were a stones throw away. I miss my old running routes. This all sounds silly, but I miss it.
I was excited to move to GA, head out on a new adventure, live in a place with reasonable housing prices but the newness has worn off. Don't get me wrong, I do like it here and I have faith that our situation will improve with time, just in the current moment I am missing my old life.
I don't really have any friends here. Not in my ward at least, people are friendly but I don't have any friends. In fact I really only have 2 friends. My two neighbors have been a blessing in my life, but one is going back to work full time next week (so sad for me). But in a way I still feel alone. None of my close friends here are members of the church, part of me feels like I need a friend who understands me on all levels. I miss that about VA, I can't begin to describe how many truly amazing women I knew, and they all lived within a mile of me. What a blessing that was, and how I miss them so much. I miss just talking to them, I miss their families, I miss their cutest little kids. I miss being able to take their kids and drop off mine, and feel ok about it. I miss really knowing people. And it feels weird saying it, but I miss people knowing who I really am. I feel like I've met a lot of people they've got an idea of who I am, but thats not who I am. Its weird feeling like there really isn't anyone close to turn to. Its been a lonely feeling.
I think this loneliness feeling I have also stems from the fact that Lee and I haven't been on a real date since September. We haven't found anyone to swap with. We don't really know of anyone to hire as a babysitter (although we are looking into it). Our relationship has not been nourished, when I think of counsel about weekly dates I have to laugh and think, they must mean weekly dates when your kids are like 16. But a little attention to my husband and our relationship might also help the mental, social and emotional roller coaster I have been on. Right now, he's the only one I've got. So as depressing as that all was, I really am fine, I just really miss my friends. (It doesn't help that Lee is in DC right now on business, I told him to tell it hello for me!)