Screven County Decision

Well, this decision was made almost 3 weeks ago, but I have been putting off this post, because I haven't wanted to type the long explanation. So, this will most likely be a shortened version:) Well, Jeff and I were feeling really good about a lot of the parts of going. One of my volleyball tournaments got cancelled, which was actually really good timing because it was the same weekend as our ward temple day. For the first time, our ward was providing babysitting and I had been really bummed that we would miss it. So, our plan was to wake up early, go to ward temple day in Atlanta, then drive to Statesboro, stay the night in a hotel and go to church there in the morning, then drive home Sunday afternoon and deliver our decision Tuesday. Well, Thursday, I researched about our house on the IRS website and made a call (where I was on hold for almost an hour) as well. I discovered that even if we were to rent out our house, we would have to pay back the $8000 tax credit we received from the government when we bought the home. That 3 year period would end in either July or October. We talked briefly about living separately for that short period of time, but we just didn't feel like that would be good for our family. So unfortunately, we had to turn down a great opportunity. We both feel good about it though and we are just prayerful and hopeful that something else will open up in the future that will be just as good of an opportunity, if not, better when we are able to take it. It is a lot for Jeff to coach two sports. Until he hires someone else, if we can figure out a way to make it work for us to go there, he still could, but I think we are going to stay put at least another year. We decided there was no need to go to Statesboro again since we had already made our decision, so we spent Saturday night at this awesome hotel in Atlanta instead. It was a doubletree, so we got delicious cookies at check-in and check-out! But, rewind to the temple.... it was so nice to be able to leave our kids right there at the church next to the temple. I, of course, forgot my recommend, but luckily they let me in. We had a wonderful session and then had a picnic at the park after. Then we went to the hotel and checked-in and we all took a really really long nap (like I think 2-3 hours if I remember correctly). Then we woke up and went to Applebees for dinner. We stopped by Wal-Mart on the way back and got some ice cream bars and breakfast for the next morning since the hotel was so nice they didn't even provide breakfast! hah! We had so much fun staying in the hotel and it was awesome because it had two separate rooms with a door that separated them so it was like we had our own room! The next day we were supposed to go to a Super Bowl party, but Cheyenne was really tired and kept saying she didn't want to go. I was carrying her out to the car to go anyway and she puked all over everywhere, so we decided we better stay home. Other than that it was an amazing weekend and I am just so grateful for my sweet family. And I am praying that we made the right decision about this job....

P.S. my flat iron was broken!! Thus, the ugly hair... Thankfully my mother-in-law saved the day and sent me hers! So so sweet... then my brother was in town for the weekend and he totally fixed mine! I couldn't believe it! He cut off the cord from a hairdryer I had and like peeled off the wires and electrical taped them together and now it works just like new!! So Connie, I will bring yours back with me when we come this summer! Thank you so much for saving the day though!

Berkeley loved this window seat thing.

I just love this sweet thing.

Valentine's Day Party

For Valentine's Day our friends in the ward invited us to their house for a little party. It was so much fun! She posted this post on her blog, so I had to steal it for my blog, so I could remember how fun it was:)

I know it doesn't fit to my blog perfectly, but you get the idea. So fun!

{the menu}

dinner: penne rustica, french bread, caesar salad, strawberry limeade and lemon water.

dessert: peanut butter cookies with heart shape chocolates, heart shaped chocolate brownies with caramel, white chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate chocolate cake, strawberry whoppers, candy hearts and cream puffs.

{the guests}

{the entertainment}

the newly wed game

and a little bit of this:

{seriously, you have to watch this}

we hosted a little valentine's day party for some of our friends saturday night and we had SO much fun! we started the night off with dinner, conversation and a cute little photo session in our home made photo booth. then, we got into a wild game of the newly wed game...only to find out that andrea thought eric's favorite body part of hers is her long hair. let's just say, he didn't say her hair. we also learned that zac has a made up word to describe lindsey's body and that jeff and stacey have communication problems. aaron brought up the mother-in-law card with sara and apparently most of the wives need to be better at cleaning (according to their husbands). we hope the game didn't cause too many marital issues on the car ride home. after we had a three way tie (seriously!?) we drew numbers for the white elephant gift exchange. and then, the dance off began. i don't think i've laughed that much in a long time.

while setting up the photo booth, i had doyle sit in the chair while i tried to set up the camera on the tripod. what a trooper! you can tell from the following pictures that he wasn't too thrilled...

oh, doyle.

we hope everyone had a wonderful valentine's day and weekend!

Spelling

I taught Cheyenne how to spell her name out loud a few months ago. Then, in the past few weeks I have noticed an improvement in writing letters, so one day when Cheyenne and I were coloring (her with markers and me with her new star crayons), I tried to get Cheyenne to write her name. The first time she just wrote all the letters but they were in random places on the paper. In an effort to try to teach her to go from left to right, I drew 8 empty boxes for her to fill the letters in. She always knew which letter to put in them, but sometimes I did an example of how to do the letter before she tried (she is good at the E and H, but needs reminders of how to draw the other letters). Sometimes the letters are facing the wrong direction (c's and u's). I thought she did a really good job and I was so surprised she was able to accomplish this already. I really need to spend more time teaching her things because she just soaks everything up. She really loves learning new things.

Star Crayons

So I have been wanting to do this for a really long time now and finally got around to it the other day. I cut up a bunch of broken crayons and made them into new multi-colored star shaped crayons. Cheyenne and I did it together while Berkeley was napping actually. The down side is that Cheyenne's job was to unpeel any remaining wrappers off the crayons, so now I have found her a few times doing that to good, sharp, new crayons. I LOVE these new star crayons more than either of the kids. I love how I will be drawing with them and all of the sudden they will be a new color, so fun!! It makes me want to keep drawing to see what color will be next (I know I could just look at the crayon to see, but what is the fun in that?) For those who have done this before... how do you get the mold clean? I used a flexible ice cube tray and it now has bits of crayon in it and dried dishwasher soap that is not coming out. I want to get more and more molds and make tons of these crayons, but I doubt I ever will:) That's okay.... it was fun anyway while it lasted.

By the way, you just stick them in the oven on 230 degrees for anywhere from 10-20 minutes depending on how deep your mold is.

Rapunzel

Cheyenne loves to play Pretty Pretty Princess. I thought she looked so cute, because one night we played it while she was wearing her Rapunzel nightgown. She is so sweet, love her!

UGA vs UK

Kentucky played here at UGA and our friends Steve and Robyn were so sweet to give Jeff a ticket! He was excited especially because Kentucky is one of the top teams in the nation this year (or at least they were at the time of the game, not sure if that has changed since then). He had a great time. I had to miss it because I had volleyball practice, but I am so glad Jeff got to go:) Thanks Robyn and Steve!

Blue Devil Basketball 2011-2012

Jeff's basketball season has been going great! They are so fun to watch and I think they are so good! I think their record is 15-7, but they are 9-1 in region and tied for first place. If both teams win their last two games, they will have to meet and have a coin flip for first place seeding in the region tournament. Every team that they lost to the first time, they beat the second time, so that is great for a coach. Here are some pictures from a couple different games. I listened to the game on the radio last night and it is cool, because the radio announcers always talk about how Jeff is very composed. I am so proud of his character and that he continues to have good character even in stressful situations. He is doing a really good job with a very talented team and I am so happy that his hard work is paying off and he can enjoy this successful season. I wish I could see more of his games, but they are so late and it is so hard with our little girls. When I do go, they are usually so tired and cranky and hard to control. It is nice, because his home games we can sit in his office and watch through the glass (right under the hoop). I put a movie on one time for the girls and it was AWESOME!! I am thankful I can also listen to them online when I am not there and still feel like I am involved.

Cedar Shoals

North Oconee

This is Hailey, she was on my volleyball team last year and has babysat for us before. She was SO sweet to come and sit by me for most of the game and help with the girls so I could watch! Cheyenne cried when she left, haha.

Out Cold

I walked in to the living room one Saturday to find this:

It reminded me of my Uncle Winfield who is a farmer and whenever we were there at his house, he would be asleep and all 4-5 of his kids would be climbing all over his face and body and he would be out cold! I remember thinking how in the world could anyone be so tired??? Its a good sign of a hard worker I suppose!

Cheyenne didn't seem to mind, she just kept bringing out more and more toys to pile on!

Gymnastics!!

Okay, so ever since I found out I was having a girl, I couldn't wait to get her signed up for gymnastics! Gymnastics was the first sport I really ever seriously competed in and I really felt like it gave me the best base for any other sport I tried. You learn flexibility, strength, balance, coordination, grace, discipline, etc. I loved gymnastics when I competed and I still love tumbling. It is the coolest feeling in the world flipping around and being able to control your body in that way. I wish I could justify spending the $200 for me to do the tumbling class.

Anyway, after about a year of stressing about it, I finally bit the bullet and signed Cheyenne up for a class! I LOVE watching her and I love even more that she loves it too!! She gets so excited about going every week and she loves to show her daddy and others what she has learned. She can do a forward roll consistently all by herself and she knows all the positions such as layout, tuck, pike, hollow, arch, and straddle. When I watch her all these memories come flooding back to me, I love it! They get stamps and I remember getting stamps and loving it. It is also fun to sit and talk with the other moms and get to know new people.

Cheyenne's First Haircut

So this actually happened back in November I think, but I wanted to post about it. My camera was out of batteries, so luckily Grandpa Frank had his camera with him. We took these pictures on the way to the airport to drop him off when he came to visit during football season. It is only two months later and already Cheyenne needs another haircut! Her hair is seriously almost to her bum! Anyway, I was a little worried that she wouldn't hold still, but she was so sweet holding so still and was so good and got a little trim! You couldn't even tell it was any shorter, but it looked much nicer on the ends. My dad couldn't believe I paid someone else to cut her hair, but I did have a coupon so it was only $7 total.