Biggest Cow I’ve Ever Seen!

The girls had so much fun at the pumpkin patch and loved seeing the animals. Kate was happier watching the cows while Abby had no problem letting them eat from her hands! Kate was also very concerned by the bully cow who pushed away the other cows and wouldn’t let them have any food. :)

Irony and a Rant

I used to love Glee, watched it all the time. Then it slowly started to change. I completely banned it after the sex education episode where they claim kids who choose abstinence in high school must be frigid and lame. Then those in the celibacy club are of course so dumb and naïve that when it’s their turn to promote abstinence they choose “Afternoon Delight” to sing.

However, I decided to give it another chance the other night because honestly, I kinda missed it.  Well what do you have? Singing a girl power song while dressed like a stripper. Anyone see the irony? Thanks Glee for getting the message across… You know that girls are only fun to watch and useful when they’re scantly clad and dancing like a stripper. I mean, it definitely can’t be their minds or their message, that would just be crazy. I find it quite frustrating how few decent female characters there are on tv and in movies. Team Emma Watson all the way!



I should explain that my problem isn’t that all tv shows should be old fashioned wholesome cheesy shows. I mean we watch Dexter! My problem is when a show claims to be a family show and its target audience is children/teenagers and then is completely inappropriate. Ever watched the Family Channel? Then you know exactly what I’m talking about!

Pregnancy Update

We are beyond excited for baby number 3! My due date is March 19th, 2012.

I thought I was pregnant before even testing due to the creeping nauseous feeling I was having. Unfortunately, I’ve been pretty sick this pregnancy, like my others, but this one has felt harder. It seemed to start earlier and more intense. There have definitely been moments when I didn’t know if I would be able to handle it anymore.

I secretly take some comfort in the sickness, hoping that means things are going well with the baby, but logically knowing that means nothing. We’ve been blessed to hear the heartbeat three times. The first was when I was was around 7 weeks, with an ultrasound. The second time, at 10 weeks, was a little scary because the Dr could not find the heartbeat after many attempts. She was about to send me for an ultrasound when she finally found it! The third time, at 14 weeks, she had no trouble and even commented on how active the baby already was :)

I’m 16 weeks now and still feeling sick but nearly as bad as earlier. I just keep eating a ton hoping that will help!

The Girls Trip with the Grandparents

While Jason and I were at GNP, Kate and Abby stayed with my parents then Jason’s parents and sister came up to watch them. We figured it would be too much for one person to watch them the whole time. We have very active children! Here are some pictures my Mom took on her phone to send us so I didn’t get too homesick

Kate loved her sign so much she made my Mom take her picture again. I think Kate looks like Jennifer here; Jennifer used to make the same smile when she was little.

Love these girls!

My Dad is known for filling up our Christmas stockings with items from the Dollar Store. He stocked up with treats from his favorite stores for each day they had the girls. It was like Christmas for them!

Abby makes us laugh ALL the time!

This is a random old picture I found on my phone. My Dad is very serious about catching squirrels but one day he caught an opossum instead. He sent a picture to Kate since she was disappointed my Dad was freeing the nasty thing before she could come over.

Kate’s 1st Day of Pre-School

While Jason and I were out of town Kate had her first day of pre-school. Not the best planning on our part. My parents said she was so excited to get ready and take her school bag and lunch bag. She had a great first day and couldn’t wait to go back!

She’s going to Johns Creek Presbyterian Church, right by our house, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-1:00PM.

I had a hard time deciding all the pre-school logistics… what time, which school??? I LOVE the school we choose. They’re smaller, have amazing teachers and I can literally walk there. I also only wanted Kate to go for 2 days a week and not for a long day. I know she loves going, but she is going to be in school for the rest of her life! This is the only time I get her at home all day (away from outside influences), plus I think this is a great bonding time for her and Abby.

Hello Mr. Grizzly Bear

It's a long story so bear with me (heehee) ;)

We did a long 13 or so mile hike one day. Around mile 8-10 we came across this very minimalistic chalet people have to hike to and can stay overnight. A couple of people told us they saw a large male grizzly on one trail we were going to be taking but that he was far away. We continued on and passed two guys who said they saw the bear about a mile back but also said he was super far away. Jason was kind of excited to be able to take a picture of this bear. Well a mile came and went and there was no bear. Figured he had moved out of sight or something. At this point we are only 2-3 miles from being done with the hike and aren’t even thinking about bears anymore.

I was walking in front and as we turned a bend the bear was RIGHT there about 10 feet from us. Too close to walk by and too close to just back up. We were talking but apparently weren’t being very loud. I reacted and clapped really loud. All the rangers told us to yell or clap when going around blind corners to not surprise a bear but I’m not too sure you’re actually supposed to clap AT the bear :) The grizzly stood up on his hind legs, pretty big, and then ran away. When he first ran he went into a bush and you couldn’t tell if he was coming at us or away. That was a fun second ;) We walked pretty fast the rest of the way down! It was just the rejuvenation I needed to finish the long hike!

Ironically, this was the only day we forgot to bring our bear spray. We did a hike at the beginning of our trip where we were completely isolated, not a single person out there and the trail was overgrown at parts. We saw multiple signs of a grizzly bear then and I was actually more nervous on that hike when we had the bear spray and didn’t even see the bear then when we actually ran into one! Jason took a picture when we were far away from the bear. Unfortunately, you can’t see just how large he was!

Besides all the fun bear stuff it was such an amazing trip! I’ll make Jason blog more about the trip later but it was beyond words!!!!

Things I learned on our trip…

1. Six tenths of a mile can be the hardest thing you’ve ever done.

2. I have a love/hate relationship with facebook. I didn’t check it while on our trip and loved it, but when I’m home I can’t seem to stay away.

3. My goal is to never allow Kate to watch MTV.

4. Kate will also be ending her semi dance career by the ripe age of 5. Have you seen Dance Moms???? Who are these people?!

5. EVERYTHING is more fun with someone you LOVE

6. If a bear was to charge me I could stand my guard without freaking out. In this situation I also have the fight not flight reaction (maybe too much actually).

7. It’s more fun to turn the TV off and listen to the creek out on your balcony.

8. No camera or lens can fully capture what the human eye can see.

9. The air out West really is cleaner and easier to breathe without all the humidity and smog.

10. I love hiking and being in nature but I also love seeing the buildings of downtown Atlanta. It just makes me happy.

11. You can do almost ANYTHING when you finally have some hours in the day where you don’t feel like death.

12. My life would be complete if I had someone to cook 3 real meals for me each day. I also am happiest when I eat an outrageously ginormous breakfast everyday.

13. It’s nice having someone who completely loves you