Georgia....

I got invited to go to Atlanta Georgia with my hubbies Aunt last week. She was going there for work and needed an assistant, so she invited me. Her and I are buds. I loved Atlanta! I is a very beautiful city all those Southern folk are oh so nice. I love that southern drawl. I have never been called Mam so much in my life. Am I old enough to be a Mam? It was very respectful. Suzanne and I had a few days to go have some fun and see the sights before we had to "officially"work. So we went exploring and saw some pretty cool things and had a good time!

Me and Suzanne in the car. Love her. She is a blast! She reminds me A LOT of my mom actually. From the singing to the long fake nails and red hair of course.
Found the Atlanta Temple. It is one of the smaller ones, but very beautiful!

At the Atlanta Aquarium. It is the largest Aquarium in the world I believe.Touching some sort of hard shelled ray. Kirk would be proud:)
Touching different kinds of shrimp. I ate some of those for dinner that night. Not those exact ones....probably some relative...maybe the Auntie.
I love Turtles. This guy liked me. He would follow me when I would walk back and forth. Fun!!!

The Piranha. Dont let this guy fool you. After I snapped the pic, he flashed me his pearly whites....YIKES. They dont eat humans though I learned. They dont like the taste of our flesh........few!
This is the Spider crab. They were ginormous and the way they walked creeped me out. Just like normal spiders....YUCK!!!!
Loved the Balooga whales. They are huge and so gracefull.
This is the only male. He had the 2 females all to himself and they said, he enjoys it. Funny!

These are Sea dragons. never seen or heard of these before. Very interesting.
This was the glass tunnel that was under the football stadium size aquarium. It was cool. I felt just like in the movies Jaws where the people were walking through one of these and Jaws comes breaking through, except Jaws didnt come breaking through. Yes...I have seen way to many movies
Almost cut off the best part of the Hammerhead.
Sting Ray. He even smiled for me:)
Forgot this guys name, but I bet if he could talk, he would have a very deep, very low southern accent. He was huge!
This was in front of this huge, huge glass window where you could sit and watch everything swim by. This is the Whale Shark. So awesome. These things are huge. This is the only aquarium that has the whale shark and the Balooga(sp?) whales I think. The whale sharks are very gentle creatures.
#1 . This Jellyfish was cool. It had what looked like electrocal currents running through it. Cute little things.
#2...my favorite Jellyfish
#3
Love Seahorses!
Forgot the name, but cool!
This is the Coca Cola Factory. On the plain, Suzanne told me we were going to the Coke factory. I asked her which kind of coke....haha....so funny. I knew which one.
Yum, Yum. Actually, it wasnt that good. Tasted like my finger.....haha!!!
This guy was very stubborn. He wouldnt give me my drink.
At the end they have this room with these stations where you can taste a punch of different coke products from all over the world that you can taste. Some were really good, some where ok, and some where really gross. It you did it like a shot, it wasnt to bad. The gross part was that your feet would stick to the floor.
Some more flavors....
At the end, you got to take a free coke. How nice:) You know what they say.....Always Coca Cola. Oh and FYI...I learned that when they first came out with Coca cola, it actually had real coke in it. Not sure if thats how you spell that kind of coke or not.Yum, Yum!
While looking for plantations, we stopped at the Chattahoochee river. I love saying Chattahoochee.
We went out to look for some cool old plantations to see. This was one we saw and we took a tour of this one. There were actually 3 plantation homes there. This one was what they called a "working plantation" 3 generations owned. It was so beautiful on the inside and out. It had all the original everything from the furniture to the windows to the floor to the slaves quarters....everything. It was so cool to learn how things were done back then. I want to live on a plantation. Now a days, not back then.
Had to get a pic of me actually working. This was at the highschool where the music festival was. We got there on Wednesday and didnt have to work till Saturday and I would call and talk to Kirk and tell him what I did that day and he would ask when we were going to work. We were working actually. Suzannes work told her to go out and get to know her city, and got o all the attractions, so we did. That was hard work, let me tell you.

Rock a bye Baby.....

So R had been upstairs for a while by herself, and it was very quiet(never a good sign). So I went upstairs to check on her and found her being quite cute. When my sisters and I were babies, my dad made us each a cradle. We loved them growing up, and I still have mine(I think we all do) and I put it in ES and R's room. So this is where I found R. In her favorite little reading spot. She had got her pillow(for comfort of course) and her "duck"(her favorite blanket....a must, but not in the pic) and a good book and snuggled into my old cradle. It was really adorable. She was reading out loud to herself, and being so sweet. Sad to say, those moments are rare, so I had to capture it on camera. After, she wanted me to rock her and sing to her, "like a baby mama." I love me some R!!
Here is my cradle.....obviously. My dad did all the cutting and putting together, and my mom did all t he painting. I love my cradle. This is actually something from my childhood that I have good memories about.

Forgot....

I forgot to add this pic of the kiddies in their Easter outfits. I was so happy I was able to find the same dress for all the girls. The older E is getting, I am having a hard time finding all the same dresses. A was such a stud and agreed to wear a pink tie to match the girls. I asked him if he would wear a pink shirt, and he said no way.....to girly, but he did agree to wear a pink tie cause it was a special occasion, and cause 2 of Kirks cousins(who are 19 and 18) who A thinks are soooo cool, said it was studly. As Kirk was helping A get dressed and telling him that it was a real tie, and showing him how to tie it , A grabs the tie and says,"ah....I get a mans tie." I love my boy! Kirk was not to excited about the pink tie, but did admit it looked cool. It did! Couldnt get Kirk to agree to a pink tie....oh well...

I love our kids. They are truly so wonderful and good(yes.....even R) and really are good friends, and love and take care of each other. Kirk and I are very blessed.

"Hoppy" Easter fun....

We had a good Easter. Even though I knew it was early this year, it still kinda snuck up on me and I wasnt as prepared as I wanted to be. We had a nice Easter egg hunt and dinner at my house on Sunday. Had a lot of people over and had a good time. The kids love the egg hunt. J is too old and cool now to hunt, so he is in charge of organizing the hiding of the eggs. Our grass wasnt as green as it usually is for Easter, but when it comes early....what do you do.

And shes off.....Love this girl!
I wanted to get in on the action. A beat me though:)
Cute!
I cant believe my E is almost 10. She is so great!!!
Look at my cute little G-ma(my moms mom). I love this woman. She is so fun. She has been through so much and is such a strong, feisty little woman. Dont let her size fool you. She seems to be totally into what Im saying too. HAHA!
Just a cute pic. I think someone hid the egg to high and nobody wants to go get it.
Yeah...big A with his sweet loot!
Stef wondering whats up with this girl.
Kendall and Nordas little fam:)

Bye-Bye Daddy-o :(

Well....my Dad left today for Afghanistan(shed a tear...seriously) He got a job offer there, and will be living there for a year or more. To sum it up.....he will be training the Afghani(sp?) Army on how to improve their own Army's security and intelligence. When he was active duty Army, he was with Military Intelligence(you know...I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you), so he has the credentials. He was sent to Desert Storm all those years ago, so hes been there done that, but its not that scary where he is going. We will miss you dad and will pray for your safety and protection. We love you very much!!!

Oh the things kids say.....

Today ES was going by R to get to the love sac and accidentally fell on top of her. R says to ES, "Ow ES, you cant do that to people." Well, it was more like she yelled it at her. I then said to R, "R, you cant yell at people, its not a nice thing to do." She then turns to me and says,"Mama, I can do whatever I want!" Yah.....like thats gonna fly....

A cast of Men......:)


Got to go see Civil War at Hale last night. Our brother-in-law Garrick is in it. He is so talented, and did such a good job. He got to sing along side Merrill(sp?) Osmond. He is the Star of the show. We got to meet him after. (see pic below) As always Hale did a great job. I dont know what it is, but I love listening to and watching a bunch of handsome, manly men sing. I love good men singers, and there were a lot of them last night(G being one of them) Ah..........
Anywho.....thanks G for aways sharing your comp tickets with us. We are your #1 fans, you know! Its always a good time going and watching G and being with my sisters. Missed you Nat, but we will see you soon sista! Kirk went(missed the photo op) even though hes a sick boy......thanks babe!!

Us and G in his real, authentic Civil war clothes and props. They were cool, and man those guns are heavy!
Here we are with Merrill (sp?) Osmond. He was walking by and Lynette asks "Hey Merrill Osmond can we get a picture with you?" It was funny, and he was very friendly and nice. It was nice to meet him. He did a good job. Kirk was with us, but he wanted to take the picture. Hes not to into photo ops. Thanks again for the Tickets G. It is so nice of you to always share your comps with us. We are your #1 fans you know!!!!!