LUCKY ENOUGH TO TEACH THESE LITTLE TURKEYS!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

 FATHER-DAUGHTER DATE TO 

COLUMBUS,MS. AFB.....BACK TO THE BEGINNING!!

My Dad called me up and wanted to know if I would accompany him to a pilot graduation down at Columbus Air Force Base.  Of course I said yes!!!  I hadn't been back there since the day we pulled away almost 30 years ago.  It was amazing how fast the memories came back to me.  My parents really enjoyed their time there, and I can see how. I fell in love with the simplicity of it all.  

 We were there to celebrate my Dad's friend & fellow coworkers son (Tony's) graduation.  We started the day with breakfast at the Officers Club, a short tutorial on the air force and then headed to the pilots graduation.  It was short and sweet and perfectly patriotic.  I love that stuff.  It's hard to hold back the tears when you can feel the patriotic spirit so strongly.  I was happy for Tony and could tell his dad and mine were too.

 After graduation Tony made it possible for us to head out to the flight line to watch the jets land and then we got to take our own personal rides in the simulators.  I bombed my ride-all of my rides!!!!  I now know that Dave and my Dad put in hours to pass those sim tests.  

 We took our own personal pilgrimage---Here are some of the Antebellum homes of Columbus. 

 The "scare-ity police".  That's what we called the security guards when we were little.

 The Officers Club, my Dad's class patch and the "W" womens college.

 A replica of the home we lived in, the BX, the hospital where Aaron was born & the Commisary.

We ended the night off with a special dinner and program for the newly graduated pilots.  It was so fun to be part of Tony's special weekend and I had a great time spending a few days with my Dad. That NEVER happens!!!  It was a great little memory that I will hold dear.  Thanks Dad for letting me be your date!!!  I can tell that your passion for the Air Force is something you hold dear.

HER SECOND BROKEN BONE-OUCH!

Our "Smiley Ryleigh" wasn't all smiles~I picked her up from dance and she had tears in her eyes. I asked her what was wrong and she held up her finger and I think it had tripled in size.  I quickly ran her to the after hours clinic and sure enough her crooked pinky was broken and her knuckles dislocated.  A little girl in dance accidentally kicked her in the hand as she was kicking her legs up to do a cartwheel.  Who knew there was so much force in a cartwheel!!! Ryleigh being the sweet and quiet girl she is, decided to wait an hour after dance was over to say something.  The poor thing didn't want to get in trouble for interrupting class.  Her teacher felt so bad and had no idea.  Ryleigh of course was super excited to have a cast and to be able to show it off at school.  She chose pink and green and had signatures on it in no time.  She should be all healed up and ready to go in a few weeks.  

 WE'VE GOT THE FEVER!!!!!!!

 I got the girls Bieber tickets as part of their birthday gifts this year.  They were beyond excited and I must admit I was a little excited myself.  My first concert was "Boys 2 Men" and I remember thinking it was the best night ever....I'm pretty sure my girls felt the same about Justin.  It was a 3 hour concert, but they were troopers. They sang and danced until the very end.  I was happy I could spend this exciting night with them...although I think Dave and Carson were a tad bit jealous haha! Justin definitely made "Beliebers" out of us!!!!

 USA GYMNASTICS TOUR

After seeing the USA women's gymnastics team do so well in the Olympics I decided I HAD to go watch them live on their tour.  I got some friends together and we all took our daughters.  It was a great mommy-daughter date and so much fun to see Gabby Douglas and her teammates in action.  

NO SURGERY FOR THIS BOY!!!!

As many of you know~last June we were in Orange Beach, Florida at the Little League World Series.  In the first game Carson was up pitching, threw the ball & felt something pop!!!  Right away (and with Grandpa Jim's help) we knew that was not good.  Well after many months of testing, finding out his growth plates were not growing in correctly, physical therapy, a few unsure doctors and lots of prayer we decided the best thing to do would be to head to Birmingham, Alabama where they are the world leaders in sports injuries and orthopedics.  We know our Heavenly Father had answered our prayers and many of yours too because we went in thinking we were having surgery that weekend and walked out with a healthy boy and no surgery.  The statistics are very low but surprisingly Carson's body had decided to start healing on it's own. The facility there at Andrews Sports Medicine was amazing.  We knew we were in the right spot when we had heard that CC Sebathaia (pitcher for the Yankees) had been seen by our doctor the week before!!!!  After the good news, Carson and I decided to stay in Birmingham for the night and enjoy the sites for a day.  We had a great little getaway and more importantly drove away with peace of mind.  We'll be back in January for a follow up......hoping for the same news again.

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN-2012

 Two years ago we started the tradition of having neighborhood families over for soup, rolls & hot chocolate in our garage.  We started with about 20 people and this year we were up to 50.  I love it and my kids love having friends over and being able to head right on out at sun down for a little trick'or treating action!

 This picture pretty much speaks for itself. Evan went as a skeleton, Ryleigh Princess Tiana, Cara a  gypsy & Carson a Collierville cheerleader.  I was pretty impressed with Carson.  I suggested the costume and he went with it right away.  He had fun with it and I think the girls were shocked to see he fit in their uniforms....he had to make sure he let them know that he had bigger muscles though haha!

 The top picture is me putting my Pinterest pinning to work and the bottom of course is our pumpkins.  The kids carved their pumpkins all by themselves.  I think they did a great job.  I think they even surprised themselves!

We had a great night and thanks to the neighbors, lots of fun memories were made.

COLLIERVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOL FOOTBALL

7TH GRADE

 Carson had a great season and great first year on the middle school football team.  This kid amazes me with his talent and his love for anything athletic.  My proudest moment was when he was named "All Time Team Captain" at his end of season football banquet.  He was voted in by the coaches AND the players making it all the more special.  Carson is so fun to watch and really talented but most important he's still a good kid and a nice kid too.  I love being his mom and cheering on my #20 from the stands.  He'll always be our MVP!!!!!

 These boys clean up nicely!!!

 I have about 200 pics of football but I won't bore anyone~

 Carson has some great teammates-all great friends too.

 His biggest fans!!!!

EVAN TURNS 2-LET THE FUN BEGIN!!!!!

We didn't do much for Evan's birthday-we kept it very simple, just the way he likes it.  Evan has hit his TERRIBLE TWO'S so we do a lot of simple nowadays. As you can see from the pics, he was even angry with his cake because he wanted to hold it-haha!!!  Evan was introduced to PIXAR CARS and that's all he thinks about now.  He sleeps with his "Lightening McQueen" & "Mater" cars every night, watches the movies over and over and plays with his "Mater" motorcycle he got for his birthday all of the time.  He also got a red wagon from Grandma Shauna & Grandpa Dave that he loves for his mommy and daddy to take him on rides in.  I'm not gonna lie-I think I've got my hands full with this little guy, but on the flip side he loves his mommy!!!  He's my little buddy.  Seeing his face every morning is one of the highlights of my day.  I love my little two year old, temper and all!!!!!

MY "DANCING DRAGONS" PERFORMING AT THE  HALF TIME SHOW---THAT IS UNTIL THE POWER WENT OUT.  WHAT A BUMMER, BUT THEY SURE LOOK CUTE!

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES-AMAZING!!!!

 DELTA FAIR

So I get suckered into going to the Delta Fair, spending all my money and hanging out with the Memphis crazies every year.  The girls were especially excited to go this year though because "Beck" from one of their favorite Nickelodeon shows "VICTORIOUS" was there.  They are very star struck...not sure where they get that from haha!! After standing in the blazing hot sun to get his autograph we enjoyed the yummy fair food, scary rides and even more frightening.....the CARNIES-EWWWW!!!!!

~SCOUTS~

SO IF YOU ASK CARSON WHAT HE WANTS TO BE WHEN HE GROWS UP, HE NOW HAS AN ANSWER.....AN ATF AGENT!!! 

 A QUICK TRIP HOME

I decided to take a quick weekend trip home to Utah to help my cousin Kelsey with a family garage sale.  I always have so much fun being with my cousins and it always feels like we've picked up right from where we left off.  The biggest reason I came out was to say my goodbyes to my Papa Peck's home.  He is moving and I didn't know if I would ever make it back before big changes were made to the property.  I'm so glad I did so I could put one last memory in at 2064 Walker Lane.  While in Utah I saw a few of my favorite things...my family, the mountains, temple square and the new City Creek-love, love, love!!!!!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL~2012

After our never ending fun summer it was time to hit the books again.  The kids were actually ready and excited to get back to school.  They were happy with their teachers and excited to see their friends.  This will be Carson's first year at the brand new Collierville Middle School.

Ryleigh 2nd grade-Mrs. Moore

CaraAnn 3rd grade-Mrs. Page

Carson 7th grade

By the way-did I mention MOM IS MORE THAN READY!!!!!!!

 ST. LOUIS

 The Arch

As if we hadn't already done enough this summer, we decided to take a last minute weekend trip up to St. Louis.  It's a fairly short drive from Memphis and on the way you pass Lambert's Cafe (home of the thrown rolls) so it makes the drive completely worth it.  We had a great time in 

St. Louis.  I can't believe it's taken us 6 years to check it out.  The Arch was beautiful.  We stayed at the hotel at the bottom.  It was so neat to be able to look out of our Hotel room and have the arch right above our heads.  

St. Louis Cardinals  

One of the biggest reasons we went to St. Louis was to catch a Cardinals game.  Busch Stadium was beautiful and the game was super fun.  The kids were all good even in the 100 degree heat....we definitely spent more than enough of our dollars quenching our thirst.  Carson and Dave eat this stuff up...in fact they went to another game the following night and the girls and I ordered room service and enjoyed a night in with a movie--in the air conditioned hotel room.

 Grants Farm-home of the Budweiser Clydesdales

We had lots of friends tell us to check this out and we're so glad we did.  It's the late home of Ulysses S. Grant who married into the Busch family-who knew!!!  This was a really cute zoo with a German twist.  The Clydesdales were amazing!!!  Their size and beauty made this day worth it.  They don't allow you to get very close for obvious reasons but they make up for it by having a huge petting zoo on the other side.  Cara is my little veterinarian in the making-she could have stayed at Grants farm all day. Lets just say this family didn't do much of the free beer tasting but we're always good at doing lots of Diet Coke tasting!!!

Six Flags St. Louis

We ended our weekend with a fun VERY hot day at Six Flags.  My kids could be stuck in the middle of nowhere and all they need is a roller coaster to make them happy.  All 3 of them love it and they all have no fear when it comes to amusement park rides.  It was so hot-in fact it was a cool 112 degrees....yes crazy but at the same time all of the smart people stayed home so we got to go on rides over and over and never waited in one line.  

All in all our trip was a success.  We had an awesome time and made some great memories together.  I'll definitely visit St. Louis again!!!!