Fort Bennum

Berkeley got the movie Beauty and the Beast for Christmas and I really have been wanting the girls to watch it, but movies are really hard for them to sit through so I had to get them pumped. I let them stay up WAY past their bedtime to watch it, which was a good enough incentive right there. I also read them the book first, with the same Disney pictures so they would recognize the stuff in the movie and stay engaged. I built this fort on to the TV and popped some popcorn. Berkeley made it about 3/4 of the way through and then came to me wimpering so she may have been a little scared, but she didn't want to watch it after that. Cheyenne made it the whole way through but never wants to watch it again because she doesn't like the beast or the "guy in the red shirt" (Gaston). It was fun though and we left the fort up for about a week...

Halloween 2012

A couple days before Halloween, Jeff decided he wanted to carve our pumpkin with the girls. Neither of the girls were interested in touching the guts, so we all just watched Jeff do it. Then we all went outside and watched him light it and looked at it in the dark. Jeff suggested I make Halloween cookies, but I was being lazy and I really didn't feel like it. I am such a bad wife/mommy.

Berkeley in her bee costume ready to trick or treat!

Cheyenne in her duck costume ready to trick or treat:

The girls trick or treating in the wagon! So much fun!

It was cold on Halloween night so we switched from Fairy Princess Costumes into the warmest ones we had which happened to be a duck and bee... I thought they were pretty cute too:) We met Cheyenne's little friend Layla and their family and trick or treated around a neighborhood near our houses. About halfway through, a man came up to me and asked if I had dropped my camera. I checked my pocket and sure enough, my camera was gone! The man told me where he lived and I sprinted back to get the camera. Thank goodness for honest people. Seriously so sweet. The only way they knew it was my camera was because they looked at the pictures and then found the duck and bee! What is it with me and cameras? 

After we finished that neighborhood, Jeff was on his way home from football practice, so we decided to meet him at home. I pulled the car in the garage and sent the girls around front to trick or treat to Jeff. I closed the garage door and Jeff opened the front door, gave the girls treats and then we all went out the front door to trick or treat around our neighborhood. Jeff had his car keys in his pocket and so he locked the front door on the way out. As soon as he shut the door he remembered that he had taken his key off to give to my brother when he was visiting and had never put it back on his ring! We tried everything we could and we even were stopped by our neighbors who thought we were burglars! We have awesome neighbors by the way! 

We called my dad and our friend Steve as we were walking around the neighborhood and got the number of a locksmith. We called him and he said he wouldn't be able to come until about 10:30. It was 8. After we got done trick or treating I think it was about 9. So we went to our friends house thankfully, because it was pretty cold. The girls emptied their trick or treat buckets and chowed down on some candy. Then, since we both have the same visiting teacher, Robyn, she came over to bring us even more candy! 

Robyn gave us a ride back to our house and we got there about 15 minutes before the locksmith came. I don't know what I was thinking, but I thought locksmiths had some sort of Master Key that they just came and unlocked your door. Nope. He tried to pick the lock for half an hour! It was the worst grinding sound too. The girls fell asleep in our laps while we were waiting. Finally, he said he could just drill out the old knob and put on a new one, but he didn't have any the right color so it wouldn't match. I told Jeff to make the decision since he had to get up early in the morning and Jeff told him just to pick the lock a little longer. Well, the patience paid off because about 10 minutes later, we were in! It was $85, which sucks, but really they could pretty much charge whatever they want because our only other option was to break a window! We finally laid the girls down around 11:30 pm. It was our most eventful Halloween yet!

The girls get to pick two pieces of candy a day, and it is so funny because Berkeley will randomly say throughout the day, "Soobee doo buttet" The first little while I could not figure out what she was saying for the life of me. Finally I understood, "Scooby doo bucket." So every time she wants her candy that is what she says. Oh yeah and they also got these king size pack of skittles from a cop who was driving around handing them out. I thought that was so sweet. He pulled up to us and I thought he was going to say, "Have you seen this man?" I was a little creeped out, then he gave the girls the candy, so funny!

Mail

Thanks for the birthday present Grandma Connie and Grandpa Frank!

ECCHS Football Season 2012

My Brother Aaron, his wife, Andrea, and their kids Audrey and Austin came up for the BYU vs. Georgia Tech game. They had planned to stay with us the night before so they could go to one of Jeff's football games. Sadly, my brother Aaron got called for a short flight on Delta so he had to miss the football game. My dad and I went to pick up Andrea and the kids at the airport and we saw the BYU players and team busses there. Anyway, we headed to the ECCHS/Hart County game which is a big rivalry. 

Everyone thought the team this year would be better than last year's team. They were loaded with some extreme offensive talent. Namely, senior Tyshon Dye who has committed to Clemson and Meiko Hardeman who is the new freshman quarterback, and one of the best on the team. We expected they would at least get to the 3rd round of state. Well, they had some tough opponents in their first games of the season, had some close games, but started out 0-2 (they played Buford who wins state every year and Cedar Shoals a 5A school). Anyway, then they were doing well in their region until they had a tough close loss against North Oconee. They got pretty beat up in that game and several injuries, which included Tyshon breaking his ankle and Meiko pulling a hip flexor. They were both out for this Hart County game and we ended up losing 6-0. Then we barely lost the next game as well to Jackson County, which ended our chance of going to the state playoffs. They just had their last game of the season against Franklin County and won to finish the season at 5-5.

I was thinking about it and it is so unbelievable how much work by so many people goes in to just one football season. All the coaches and players doing the spring season, then all summer long lifting and practicing and 7 on 7 leagues. All the boosters fundraising and the parents cooking and caring for their kids. Taking care of the field and equipment. The hopes were so high for this season and it is just nuts how fast things can change and a season can be over like that. 

Regardless of the sad outcome, we had a great time! We brought all the girls candy leftover from the trunk or treat and pigged out:) 

 Cheyenne wanted to take a picture of Audrey and I... she missed the tops of our heads, but it wasn't blurry at least!

After the game this kids ran around like crazy on the field of course. That is the best part of the whole experience:) Looking forward to basketball! Tryouts were the last two weekends and the first game is this Thursday, a scrimmage at Banks County, can't wait!!

Berkeley is officially TWO!

Well, this was about 2 and a half weeks ago, but Berkeley turned two on Thursday October 25. My dad was visiting and he wanted to go to the JV football game in Hartwell and the girls wanted to go to the ward trunk or treat. So I drove about 45 minutes to Hartwell and dropped Dad off at the game. Then I drove about an hour and 10 minutes from Hartwell to our church! We stopped by Burger King for chicken nuggets for the girls and a whopper for me. The trunk or treat  was AWESOME. They had all these little fun stations and games. The girls also got a huge bucket full of candy. Then on the way home I stopped by WalMart and got this little cake. We all had cake and ice cream and sang Happy Birthday to  Berkeley. Berkeley LOVED it and had a huge smile on her face the whole time. It was great that my Dad could be here too, since we rarely have family in town with us for these special occasions. And Berkeley totally blew out her own candles!!! Go Berks!

Johnson's Fall Party

Our friends in our ward host this big Fall Party every year in their beautiful backyard. They live on a bunch of acres and have horses and just a beautiful yard that they decorate with lights and hay and it is seriously awesome. Everyone brings soup, bread, a side or a dessert. It is so much fun. They had a huge screen with the football game playing and they had music and dancing. Jeff was swinging on their little swing with about 6 kids on it and all of the sudden the chains broke and it fell. All the kids were screaming, but luckily Jeff was able to catch all the kids and make sure their heads didn't get slammed in the ground! Cheyenne still keeps talking about when the swing broke, I think she was slightly traumatized. She thought it was daddy's fault because the swing was only supposed to be for little kids, we had to explain to her that it wasn't daddy's fault and it was just an old swing. She kept saying, "why did Daddy do that?" Poor Jeff! Haha... it was a great time though!