The Wedding Dress

Hey Ya'll!  So I'm making a huge goal for myself and I need all ya'lls help to succeed! 

The goal:  To be able to fit into my wedding dress by my 5th year anniversary so that Brian and I can get pictures in my dress and a tux for our anniversary. 

I only have 25 lbs left to go, but these are lose last hard pounds that just don't want to come off, so I need all the encouragement, tips, help that I can get.   I especially have a hard time eating right so any extra help in that catagory would be fabulous! 

I'm gonna make it happen!  This photo is going to have a competitor soon, you just wait and see!  :):)

5th year anniversary.... HERE I COME!

Day at the Beach

We made it to the beach (Acworth Lake Beach) for the first time this summer and boy what a day it was!  We had a blast!  I've never seen the kids this happy in the water before and it was terrific.  As we were driving to the lake I was half out of my mind worried that it was gonna be a waste to drive 30 minutes away if the kids wouldn't even play in the water.  For 2 years now Ian has refused to get in the water, only will he let his toes touch. 

When we got there we lathered the kids up with sunscreen (Brian being in charge of Ian's skin, which now has a streak of regular skin and around it is red) and headed out to the water.  At first the kids stayed very close to shore, only running into the water where it was just a few inches deep, but after a short while both kids were up to their necks in the water, splashing and playing.  I don't think I've ever seen those two so silly and happy. :)  Kenya was so couragous that it made me nervous.  She kept sticking her face in the water and would come up gasping.  I tried not to freak out too much, but it just scares me.  Ian actually went out till only his little head was poking up and was giggling and splashing both Robert and Brian.  It was hilarious!

While we were there I met another young mother and we got talking.  She's an amazing woman and we just talked for the entire time we were there.  She has 4 kids and her youngest two are Kenya and Ian's ages.  It was an enjoyable couple of hours watching the kids, playing in the water and chatting. 

What a great way to spend 3 hours on a Saturday afternoon!

Brian was chasing Kenya, it was just too cute!

Little Bro

My little brother, Robert, came into town this last Thrusday and will be spending the summer with us.  Ian has been running around the house for two weeks now yelling, "When Robert come? When Robert come?" 

So, on Thrusday, Brian and I drove to Birmingham, Alabama, went through a session at the temple and went to dinner.  By this time it was 10 pm and Robert's plane was suppose to land at 11.  Perfect timing, right?  NOPE!  My dad called just after dinner and told us that his flight was delayed and he wouldn't be landing till well after midnight.

Since there isn't much to do at 10 pm in Birmingham, we headed to the airport to wait.  We tried sleeping on the airport benches, terribly uncomfortable.  We tried sleeping in the parked car in the parking garage, extremly hot and muggy.  Eventually we resorted to being inside and leaning on each other while we waited.  At 12:45 am, Robert walked out of security.  We immediatly headed home, but it proved to be the longest 3 hour drive I've ever driven.  I was so tried but didn't want to fall asleep and leave Brian awake alone.  I don't remember much of the groggy drive, but what I do remember is odd.  We were talking about animals and which we would be or something like that. 

We got home and climbed in be at 4:45 am.  Thankfully, Kenya and Ian were at a friends house for the night through this whole ordeal, but we knew that they would probably be calling us in about 2 hours when the kids woke up at 7 am (which is totally normal for them, sometimes they even get up earlier and it's awful!).  When I woke up at 10 am and realized they hadn't called yet I was supprised.  So Brian and I got up and dressed and went to pick up the kids.  Apparently they had slept till about 9:30 at my friends house.  She attributes this to the blackout blinds she has in the rooms of her house. 

So what did  I do the yesterday, buy and put up blackout blinds in my kids rooms.  If they'll sleep till at least 8 am in the morning I'll be in heaven!  Hopefully it will work! 

Took way too long

It took me way too long to get my craft room organized and everything out of boxes this move around and I fear greatly that from now till we never move again that it will just keep getting harder and longer to get unpacked.  Such is the life of a growing family.  But, I did finally get all the boxes unpacked and everything now has a place, it only took me a month and a half longer than normal. 

You see, I'm one of those crazies that has to have everything in order within about 3 days of the move.  This time around that didn't happen at all.  But thanks to 6 shelfs bough for real cheap (a total of $25) I was able to unpack everything and put it on shelves.  YEAH! 

Honey, if you want....

Brian came home one night after basketball acting kinda funny.  He said, "Kayla, I heard something on the radio.  Maybe I shouldn't tell you though."

He was trying to peek my interest, but at the time I was so tired that I just didn't care if he told me or not.  After a couple of minutes he just coulndn't not tell me.  So he started explaining what he'd heard.  It was a commercial for a furniture store called The Dump and they were having a 3 day weekend sale for Memorial Day where you could purchase furniture and not pay any payments or accrue any intrest for 24 months.  He told me that if I really wanted a bedroom set or dining set that now would be the time to get it with that deal.  I was floored.  He GAVE me permission to purchase large items.  Items that cost hundreds of dollars, not just a hundred.  He told me it was fine by him if I went the next morning and picked it out by myself.  I was trying to figure out what had happened to my hubby while at basketball, cause this surely couldn't be him.  Had he gotten hit ultra hard on his noggin? 

So on Saturday I went to the store, picked out my favorite, called Brian to make sure he was cool with this (which he assured me he was) and purchase a brand new bedroom set.  (I've been wanting a new bed for about 3 years. Our old box springs and mattress were caving and it was bad.) 

When I purchase the furniture I had been assured that we were approved for the 24 months no interest/no payment deal.  Sadly 10 days later (only 3 days too late to return the furniture) we got a bill for June.  They had LIED to us.  After many calls, lost of hassle, much frustration, and finally some helpful managers I was able to get things sorted out.  I guess the sales rep who sold us the stuff was brand new and messed up big, not my fault and I wasn't about to take the fall for it. 

So, here's our new furniture.  I'm absolutely in love with it! 

The mirror is gonna go on top fo the dresser when I get it hung up.

Camping in Georgia

So I'm playing catch-up.  It happens right. 

In May, Brian planned a camping trip for our family and we had a blast.  I'll tell ya of a few things that Georgia isn't lacking.

It's not lacking in:

-Moisture

-bugs

-trees

-beauty

I'm sure there are more, but those are what I remembered.  We took the kids, and yes, Comet too, and headed about 70 miles north of where we live to go camping.  It was beautiful and all we could see around us was tree even though we knew that there were other campers only 100 yards away.  The kids had a blast playing in the tent, roasting marshmellows, and just being outside playing.  Comet ran around rampant and enjoyed every minute of it.  I was really reluctant to go in the first place, but I'm really glad Brian dragged me along, it was well worth it. 

Ian loved roasting the marshmellows but the funny thing was that he hated eating them.  He'd just roast them and pass them off to Brian or I.

The house... Finally...

...MORE PICTURES

So, I know that I haven't been really bad at getting posts up lately and I really appologize.  Hopefully now I can start getting back on track.  So here is the first of what I hope to be many. 

Pictures of our house.  I'll explain each as we go. 

This is the entrance to our house.

Going up the stairs.

The living room.

Another angle of the living room with the kitchen door to the left and the dining room door to the right.

The dining room.

The kitchen looking into the dining room.

Kitchen left side                            Kitchen right side

Going into the downstairs (the door and the lowest living level are on the same level, then you go up to the main level and up again to the upper rooms.)

Kids playroom/family room.

Another of the kids playroom. Door to the left is the laundry room and door to the right is out to the main area of the house.

Nice big, open laundry room.

Guest room.

Office/Craft room

Another office/craft room

Part of my aweseme L-Shaped closet in the office/craft room.

Going up to the upper level of our house - the kids rooms.

When you walk up the stairs, Ian's room is the first door on the left.

The first door on the right is the hall bathroom.

Kenya's room is the second door on the left.

And the master bedrrom is the second door on the right. (Please igrnore the clean laundry. :))

We ABSOLUTELY love our house.  We have a nice sized back yard (which of course I forgot to take pictures of) and it's just wonderful! 

Brian took a video of the house and walked through it, but I can't figure out how to post videos on here anymore, so this will have to do.  Hope you enjoy the photos!