"I needa take a nap!"

We spent the morning cleaning the house and getting ready for movie night. We still hadn't seen the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. Patrick was giving the boys a much needed haircut and I realized I hadn't seen Samuel in a little bit so I went to look for him. I found him all snuggled up in the floor asleep with all his blankets and stuffed animals. Sometimes when he's tired he'll say, "I needa take a nap!" very matter-of-factly. It's pretty adorable.

Final 3 Days

Our last few days in Scotland we did more relaxing, a little hiking, a little picnicking, the fanciest dinner I've ever had,  a lot of driving, and we visited Edinburgh. Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures from this point on unless it was with my Iphone, and even of those I have very few. It was a very beautiful area (of course!), and mostly because of a fear of not being able to capture the beauty, and, if I am being honest, the fear of having to edit/organize all the photos!

June 17th

We went to visit Stirling Castle where William Wallace overtook a much larger English force. We walked around the old city, and toured some old churches, jails, and a very large graveyard. On our way back we saw a sign to pick strawberries, and bought some sandwiches from their bakery and headed back towards our hotel with the hopes of finding a place to picnic...so easy to do in Scotland. After we ate we explored around the Loch. Then we drove back to Balquhidder and stopped by Rob Roy's grave and walked around the church there and found a waterfall not too far off.

I didn't take this, I wish! But this is the castle with the city just below it and that is the William Wallace Monument. 

June 18th

We went on a few hikes on our final day around the area where we were staying. and then drove a little ways to Callander and walked to Bracklinn Falls.  It was a really pretty town that had a very hometown feel to it.

June 19th

We drove to Glasgow and found our hotel. We then walked to the train station to get a ride into Edinburgh. We were so tired by this point that I didn't have the energy to do much, plus we felt the time crunch to get back to Glasgow. We walked along the Royal Mile then up to the castle. It was pretty incredible to see this entire city built out of granite.  There was a man dressed up as William Wallace doing a bit that we watched that was very entertaining, and some rock band that included bag pipes.The thing I mainly remember about being there, was just all the different cultures and languages we heard. I love stuff like that, and I love people watching...I just hope no one is ever watching me! As we were trying to find our way back to the train station, we walked down a large stairway and each step was a different shade of granite, unpolished of course, but really beautiful. We finally found the station hoped on our train and then walked back to our hotel for the night. As we were walking back, we happened to walk right in front of one of our church buildings there! Made me wish we were staying through Sunday!

Loved, loved, LOVED our time there! Of course it would take a lifetime to explore all the beauty there is in Scotland. I was amazed by all the water. Every where you looked there was a loch, or a waterfall, or a stream. And If you didn't happen to see water, if you went around a bend in the road or over a hill you would. So incredibly stunning. This world is an incredibly beautiful place! Thanks to Patrick for the surprise and trip of a lifetime. He knows in order to get me there he'd need to surprise me. XOXOXO

But nothing beats coming home to a house full of boys!

Lucky No. 7

Patrick and I have been married for seven years today. Wow. We celebrated by him leaving work early (probably the best gift you can give a wife who stays home with little kids), me finishing up the painting in the boy's bathroom, going out as a family to Chuey's (our first time going and we loved it), then to Home Depot, then to Sweet CeCe's (expensive but tasty and fun for a special night), then back home to put the kids to bed, and clean the bathroom up together. Yup. He is the man of my dreams.

Nashville Temple

Honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas

Nov 2010

Real Quick

I just wanted to make a quick note before I go to bed of a couple things I am thankful for.

1. Something that was wonderful today was watching Will and Jack play together and love each other. They truly enjoyed being brothers today. I am so thankful I got to see that, and hear them laugh together at each other's silliness.

2. Again I am amazed at the good man I married. He is certainly not perfect, but he is one incredibly patient, loving husband and father, who puts up with me, a certainly imperfect woman.

Today has been good.

Patrick's Birthday

 Thanks to Patrick's very kind and generous boss, we celebrated Patrick's birthday with tickets to watch the Predators play the Red Wings, and thanks to my very kind and generous Mom we were able to go. We were 2 rows from the ice, right behind the Predators bench. It was a very exciting game with the Predators scoring with only 2 minutes left. It was so fun to be together. Happy birthday, Honey!

Double Date

Patrick's boss has season tickets for the Predators. Some of his friends at Cracker Barrel have season tickets too. On this particular night they were traveling, so Jeff got the tickets and parking pass for us to use.  Since there were 4 seats available, we asked our good friends, the Jenkins, to come along. Patrick's parents offered to come and stay with the kids so we could all go out.

With the parking pass, we were able to park right under the stadium. We walked right in with no lines or crowds. After the game, we stopped by Cracker Barrel to have a sweet treat before going home. We were 3 rows from the ice! It's cold down there! And the former governor and his wife sat right in front of us. The game was exciting. We won. AND Miranda and I were on the jumbo tron! Best game ever!! I think it's official; we're hockey fans.

GOAL!

Just a little fight

Nashville Zoo

Will had a check-up with his neurologist Dr. Sharpe on the 21st. Patrick decided to take the day off and spend it with us. After leaving the doctor's office with a good report we took the boys over to the Nashville Temple to look around for a few minutes. We then headed to Ihop to indulge our children in one of their most favorite foods-pancakes. Before we got there, Patrick got pulled over by a Franklin police officer on a motorcycle who claimed Patrick wasn't wearing a seat belt. Oddly he had it on when the officer was lecturing Patrick though. Patrick didn't back down though and somewhat calmly told the officer he wasn't signing the ticket. Which seemed to make him a little irritated but he gave up and left the $10 ticket with us. At Ihop we almost choked on our food when William proclaimed, "LOOK AT THAT BIG FAT..........TRUCK!" sigh of relief.

We then headed to the zoo. This was our first time going and we thought the setup was pretty neat but were a little disappointed about the amount of animals there. The meerkats and the monkeys were probably the boys' favorites. The elephants got really close to us which was my favorite.

Spring has Sprung

Valentine's Day

2 Weeks

Patrick got the Bridgestone job! He is so excited, and I'm feeling overwhelmed a little bit, but extremely grateful.

Potty Trained

This week Patrick is in Nashville training for his new job. They put him in a hotel so he wouldn't have to drive back and forth. There is another guy staying in the same room with him, Ben. Patrick says he is a really nice guy. He has even been to Culinary school--fancy that! He recently changed his career to financial investing. He was in a car accident a few weeks ago and had back surgery. He is still having a hard to moving around 100%.

Last night when Patrick called, Ben got on the phone, introduced himself and told me that I had done a wonderful job training Patrick. He said, "He always puts the toilet seat down." He told Patrick to please stop because it was killing his back every time he had to bend down and lift it up. Kinda funny.

Fully potty trained at 25. I'm so proud!

How do you eat your oreo?

I don't always know what is going on when Patrick is looking after Will. But I think it's pretty obvious why Daddy is his favorite, AND why he has decided to tell him on a couple of occasions "wuv ooo" and I still got nothin'!

Here. Have a bite.

Hard Working Man

Patrick graduated December 13th from Tennessee Tech with a degree in Finance. We still can't believe he is done. He has sacrificed so much to get here. He has balanced (most of the time VERY well) working a full-time night shift job on the weekends, being a full time student, a dedicated husband, an attentive daddy, and responsibilities at church for just a little over 3 years. He complained some but it was rare. Usually it had the ring of, "This is hard." Had it been me: "I am so tired! You don't know how hard this is! wah! wah! wah!" But I'm pretty sure he is a better person than I am. So I'm not at all surprised. On the 12th he accepted a job offer from Northwestern Mutual. He will be a wealth management advisor and sell different types of insurance. Right now he is studying so he can get his licensing. The job is in Murfreesboro but he will be able to work from home quite a lot. He'll do this along with his weekend job until he thinks he can't/ or doesn't want to manage it any more. He is a worker! He is still pretty interested in graduate school and hasn't totally counted it out yet. But for now it will just be work, work, family, and church on his to do list. I am so proud of him and proud to be his wife.

Men at work

We don't have much leaves to clear up in the fall, but we have enough. Our preferred method of getting rid of them? Mowing them. It chops them up in teeny tiny pieces that you can't even see. Some people think it's weird. We think its easy. Here are the men taking care of business...

Long Time Gone

And I ain't commin' back again - kidding...Time for a quick update.

Sunday, May 18th -Patrick was called to be Elders Quorum President. I felt a little bit like Sis. Hinckley when she found out Presdient Hinckley was called to be an Apostle - "You?" (Disclaimer - I have an amazing husband. It was just quite a shock).

I also got the news on said date that I would be released from my calling of 3 years (primary president). I was shocked by President Meredith's phone call and all that it entailed. So my obvious reaction? Tears - lots and lots of tears. Joy? Sadness? Horror? Could be any body's guess.

Wednesday, May 21st -Began implementing sign language with Will. First signs we are working on; "mommy," "daddy," "diaper," & "all done." We aren't too consistent as of yet. But we are trying to remember to use the signs when we speak to him. We are doing better.

Friday, May 23rd - Baby Food Day. I love making Will's baby food. It is quite possibly my favorite way to cook. So easy, and I'm pretty sure I can't screw it up too badly. Super cheap too!

Week of May 25th-30th - Spent preparing for my last primary activity - children's talent show. As always kids were adorable and fun to watch. We had quite the variety show - singing, dancing, magic tricks, poetry, swords, baton twirling, guitar pickin' cute kids! I'm gonna miss 'em.


Week of June 1st-7th - Teething, fussy, tired baby. Will now has 2 teeth that he so graciously reminds me of quite often. We are working on "It's not okay to bite, Mommy." I need a sign for that. Wonder if slapping counts? Kidding, KIDDING! seriously kidding.

Sunday, June 8th - Officially released from calling and it feels g-r-e-a-t! Miss the kiddos - most of them anyway- again, kidding -kind of :)

Well, I think those are pretty much the highlights...until next time....