My very own Bob The Builder!

Tanner used to watch Bob the Builder religiously when he was about 4 years old. I have this one episode embedded in my mind forever. It's the one where Wendy goes out of town to visit her sister. Bob gets the idea to build her a garden with a pergola for shade. I was so jealous of Wendy because I've always wanted a pergola!

Well my own personal (and way hotter) Bob The Builder has come through. Yesterday he whipped me out the most beautiful 24X16 foot pergola! AND...he did it in the pouring rain. Eat your heart out Wendy...mine is better than yours!!!

It still needs some finishing touches so I'll have to show you the whole shebang another time!

I'm LOST...

We've been huge Lost fans since the beginning. I've watched every single episode waiting and wondering what the "answers" would be. We watched the finale this week with a bit of sadness that our favorite show is coming to an end. I was looking forward to getting some long awaited "answers" to my many questions as well. But...no such luck. They didn't answer much! I'm not saying I didn't like the ending because I was totally satisfied by the way it wrapped up and I had already figured it would end this way. I just think the finale felt rushed and they could have done a better job leading up to it. What done is done though and I've loved every minute!

Although I sure would like to know the answer to some of these...

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Georgia On My Mind

I finally went back! It's been 3 years since the last time I went to visit and that wasn't under fun circumstances, so it doesn't really count.
Man did I have a good time! When my plane was coming into Atlanta I started choking up all suddenly. I had to check myself before I started all out bawling. It just felt so familiar and so much like home. Before I left, Alan told me he was terrified that I would get lost driving around but I never had a problem. It all came back to me like it was yesterday. The entire time I was there I kept wishing I could just call Alan and the kids and tell them to get on a plane, leave Washington behind and stay in Georgia forever. Of course that's never going to happen but I sure wish it could. I love my Georgia friends who were my family for 4 years and I miss them more than I realized. I'm just going to have to make it more of a yearly visit instead of every 3 years. Thankfully I won't have to wait a whole year to go back though! I get to go in July to shoot the wedding of Chad and Kari, woooohoooo! I can hardly wait.

Our family favorite! The ice cream shop in Hickory Flat where they make all the ice cream themselves. Oh ya, it's gooood!

Went back and it had moved and now looks like this. Still yummy!

Another one of my favorites. A cute little boutique in Hickory Flat. It had also moved but it was better than ever. I bought myself a great necklace!

Oh the yumminess of Ellijay...FRIED PIES!!! I bought a black raspberry one for breakfast and then bought 6 fried peach pies and brought them all the way home. Along with some fudge and taffy.


These are the two houses that we owned in Georgia. Love them both! I have to say it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to see them. They didn't feel like mine anymore. I learned a big lesson. A home is truly where your family is, it's a feeling, not a place.

Lula Belle's 2nd Birthday

Lula turns 2 tomorrow but we celebrated on Saturday with a big ol bash. This little girls is so much fun! She's a spoiled rotten diva for sure but we adore her. Alan tells me that I've ruined her and I have to agree, I have no defense. For example she didn't show any interest in her presents until she opened the frilly dress from Grandma, then she cracked a smile and let out a giggle. This girl LOVES clothes and possibly loves shoes even more. I'm really not the only one to blame in her spoiling. All 5 of us pamper her. She's our baby and we can't help ourselves!

Our Young Woman

Our baby girl isn't a baby anymore. Taylor turned 12 on April 17. She celebrated twice. On Thursday I took her to Sephora to get a makeover and buy some makeup for her, then I took her to her favorite restraunt Red Robin for dinner. On Friday she had a party with 8 of her friends at our house. The girls all made flowers into hair clips. Then I took pictures of each of them as a keepsake. My friend Natalie made some awesome cupcakes for Taylor's party that Taylor helped design.
This Sunday was Taylor first Sunday in the Young Woman's program. All of the girls and leaders came to primary to get Taylor. Alan and I stood in the hall to watch her go. We had big smiles on our faces but a little bit of sadness that our baby girl has grown up so fast. I really don't know where the last 12 years have gone! I'm so proud and thankful for this young woman of mine.

Tanner's Big Day

Tanner turned 10 on April 14th. Totally amazing that he's so grown up! I love this little guy so much. The 10 best things about Tanner are:

1. He'll still snuggle up to me.
2. He has a big huge heart.
3. He loves animals.
4. He can read better than most grown ups.
5. He's adorable.
6. He has a sense of humor that you don't see coming.
7. He's so logical.
8. He doesn't allow people to be insulting.
9. He's brilliant.
10. He has a great testimony.

For his birthday Alan took him for breakfast to the Pancake House. After school they headed out with his friend Easton and Easton's Dad Dan to the Family Fun Center for some serious fun.

The egg hunt.

We had our friends the Nerlands over for Easter this year. It stopped raining long enough so that we could have our Easter egg hunt outside. Yah! The kids were pumped. We tried to count the eggs while we were hiding them but we totally lost count and didn't end up with a number. I think it was around 200 eggs though. The kids had them gathered in about 5 minutes! Although, they went out later and spent an hour finding about 16 more eggs. Next year I'm not being so nice and hiding them in plain site, I'm going to make it much harder.

Happy Easter!!!

I love Easter sunday. This year is especially wonderful because we have the opportunity to hear the Prophet, Apostles and leaders of the church testify of the Savior. What a special confrence it's been! I love my Savior and am so grateful to him, to all that he has done for me. If you didn't have a chance to hear the confrence messages, click here...go be edified!

HAPPY EASTER TO OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!