The Avenues ...

Because I couldn't choose just ONE favorite ... here are a few fun pictures of Micah at The Avenues!

Always interested in what is what...

Really... there is a ROCK hidden in his hand...

He's a CLIMBER ...

Wishing he could splash in the water ...

FAVORITE: he discovered his shadow!

THE CABIN!

This will probably be the FIRST of a THOUSAND posts about trips to "the cabin!" My parents recently bought a new cabin in Blue Ridge, GA - which is just about an hour and fifteen minutes from our house! Over the past few months we've been trying to get it "READY" so that we could actually stay the night... appliances, furniture, gas hooked up ... and a few live-in friends out from under the cap on the roof! WE DID IT ... still a few more things needed - but it was ready enough! The mountains of Blue Ridge are beautiful ... and we are thrilled for all of the memories that this little place will bring! We kicked off the weekend with a trip to the strawberry fields at Mercier Orchards! The boys HAD to jump up on the train ... that we hope to ride in a few weekends ... and the other pictures are the only pictures I snapped AT the cabin ... more coming!

The creek is just RIGHT down the hill ... can't wait to campout on the porch and listen to the rushing water!

Strawberry Pickin'!

Strawberry Pickin' 2010 was at Mercier Orchards ... they are very well known for their apples but we enjoyed their strawberry patch this year!

Here is my sister, Laura, and Benjamin LITERALLY skipping off to go pick strawberries ... I'm not quite sure who was more excited!

Micah, Benjamin and I in front of the fields... check out Micah's very happy and RED face!

Our little family at the patch ... AND we got a fabulous wagon ride too!

Here's Benjamin (and Jonathan in the background) ... hard at work picking!

My parents, sister and our little family at the patch ... with the mountains in the background!

Micah was a trooper and spent a good bit of the time in his stroller - so long as he had another strawberry coming!

Can't wait until CHERRY season!

CIRCUS DAY!

Benjamin's pre-school had the BEST Circus Day...

I have ever been too!

So many fun festivities ... free food ... and even "good" prizes!
Here is Benjamin so exicted to ride the pony...

The boys REALLY enjoyed their snowcones!

Micah not so excited or sure about riding on this pony!

Benjamin with his friend Porter at their "booth" -- BOWLING!

and ... Benjamin was a MONKEY for the day...

Micah's 1st Birthday!

Micah turned ONE on April 28th ... but had a fever and was cutting teeth - so we waited until the weekend to celebrate!

Here is Benjamin reading Micah the book he got for his birthday!

Here are the boys opening gifts ... isn't it great to have an older brother ... or BE the older brother!

Here's a family picture ...

ANOTHER favorite ... Benjamin helping Micah blow out his candle! (SIDE NOTE ... this just may possibly be my LAST homemade cake ... I'm giving up and would much rather buy a cute one ... it would be 110% worth it to me and less stressful!)

Micah getting his first bite of his cake...

Don't you love the green zebra stripe mouth!

ONE happy Birthday boy!

Micah can actually sound like a MONKEY -- "ee-ee-ah-ah" hince the reason we did a little Curious George party!

Micah is MUCH MUCH more quiet than Benjamin but can still communicate pretty well! Here are a few FACTS about this little guy that we love and adore:

FAVORITE FOOD: CANDY (fruits are second)

SLEEPS: 12 hours (at night)

NAPS: 2 (at 1-2 hours each)

WORDS: mama, dada, ni-ni = night-night, bye-bye, hi, ee-ee-ah-ah, mowa=more, du=done, ben-min=Benjamin, ta-da, baw=ball, and about 5 or so more!

SIGNS: done, more, thank you, YES, NO (head nods), night-night, bye-bye, blow kisses, please

LOVES to give HUGS AND KISSES (especially if he bites ... he's a BITER!)

WALKING: almost - has taken a few steps

CLIMBER: will crawl and climb onto anything and everything - has MASTERED up and down the stairs like a pro

LOVES: playing outside and riding in the little car

ENJOYS reading books

LOVES pushing cars/trains and making the sounds

FAVORITE TOYS: remote controls, IPOD, cell phones, and anything with a cord

IS JUST A FUN SMILEY little guy - we SURE do love him!

SURPRISE!

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY!

We had a SURPRISE birthday party to celebrate Jonathan's 30th birthday ... AND he never figured it out!! He went on a 20-mile hike with the scouts ALL day and was dead tired! Aside from being exhausted -we had a wonderful evening with friends and family!

I LOVE that all of the kids wanted to help him blow out the candles!

Here's our little family ...

does it look like Micah is EXHAUSTED or what!

Love all of the smiles on the kids faces ... and Jonathan's - those are the "I'm happy through and through smiles!" The cake was AWESOME ... probably the best I've EVER had ... AND we ate every single bit of it that was left-over!

I loved this picture of my dad and Benjamin! My dad was incharge of the snow cones - so of course Benjamin frequented him!

Thanks to everyone who came, helped and kept an AWESOME secret! We LOVE LOVE Jonathan and all that he does for our family ... 30 years and so many more to go!

A Taste of Heaven

A Taste of Heaven

The cookbook that I've been working on the past couple of months is finally HERE! Many of you have pre-ordered 2 books so that I had enough orders to print the book ... but I still have some extras that are "FOR SALE!"

They are $7.00 plus shipping. I really liked how they turned out and they really do have so many yummy and WONDERFUL recipes!

A big THANKS to all of my friends and family who were so supportive. Let me know if you are interested in buying a book or two... great for gifts as well!

AND ... if you haven't noticed ... I FINALLY updated our blog 10 posts all together - but with lots of pictures for those who enjoy "picture reading!"

STONE MOUNTAIN for a NIGHT!

Since we had a free night at Mariott to use BEFORE April 12th ... and couldn't go TOO far with all of the yard work and house work we've been doing (and did this past weekend...) we headed to Stone Mountain! Upon entering the park - Benjamin woke up from his power nap and couldn't stop talking about everything he was seeing outside his window and what all we were going to do!

One of the first things we did was went to a 4-D movie ... Benjamin wasn't even scared and liked the dinosaur slobbering on him ... he really liked the rain too!

We rode the Sky Ride to the top of the mountain ... we're planning to hike up next time when we haev a little more time!

.
We rode the train ... Micah was especially excited to see it coming down the tracks!

Here we are on the TRAIN!

AND ... Benjamin, our trusty 3 year old photographer, took this one of Jonathan and I ... didn't he do a GREAT job (it is edited)!

Love this picture of the boys at the top of the mountain - MEMORIES!

We ate breakfast at the hotel the next morning ... for FREE ... and it was probably the 3rd best breakfast we've had since we've been married -- close behind our Boston and Honeymoon trips!

EASTER SUNDAY!

This year we were blessed that Easter Sunday and General Conference fell on the same weekend! This doesn't happen very often - but it is always amazing to hear from the Prophet, President Monson and the other apostles and leaders of the church on the weekend we remember the Savior's Resurrection! This year headed to Ringgold for a family Easter Dinner!

Here's our little family...

Jonathan and I eating dinner!

Micah thrilled to be outside!

Benjamin hiding behind one of the trees.

As good as it gets when trying to get pictures of the boys together!

And just to show you what Benjamin was really feeling about taking pictures... here are the boys - THRILLED as usual to take pictures!

BUNNY MORNING!

So the EASTER BUNNY comes to our house on Saturday morning to drop off all of the eggs and a basket with candy and a fun spring toy!

Here's a close-up of Micah's basket ...

Here are Benjamin and Micah ready to see what the Easter Bunny brought - although Benjamin had already passed through the living room TWICE and knew that the bunny brought him a SCOOTER ... he was SO excited!

Micah got a helicopter that he enjoys pulling around and pushing all of the buttons! Benjamin was a big help and showed him how it worked!

Benjamin was happy to read to Micah ... as you can see Micah is enjoying a big gum ball in his mouth ... the kid LOVES candy!

LASTLY ... we didn't let him EAT the gumball ... but we did give him ONE M&M before breakfast!

Tucking Benjamin into bed that night, I said: "Guess what tomorrow is? ... Easter!" Benjamin said, "But the Easter Bunny already came!" Me: "I know but he comes to our house on Saturday so we can think about Christ on Easter!" Benjamin: "YAY!!! Tomorrow is EASTER!" I was glad that he was so excited for the day JUST to be Easter ... aside from all of the bunny stuff and to really focus on the Savior!