Monday, July 26, 2010

Birds

Adalyn LOVES the little birds on her swing. She gets so excited each time we put her in the swing, smiles, kicks and loves to talk to her little friends.


I know.....don't you love the hair? he...he...he


Thursday, July 22, 2010

Birthday Wishes

I had a great birthday. Thanks everyone for the phone calls, messages and cards - I appreciate them all.

Quote of the day from yesterday - provided by Andie "Mom - how many candles are you today? 91?"

She is a funny girl...I guess I am old in her eyes. Glad I am only 29.

Our little party

Thanks for the beautiful flowers
Trying to capture a smile....it didn't work. Oh well

Friday, July 16, 2010

Adalyn's Blessing Day

This pretty much sums up our little family! We do the best we can! I love all my girls!
*My Special Day*

Do not take the binky!!
making sure she is picture perfect
Proud Dad
Very Happy Mom

We blessed Adalyn this past Sunday. We wish family could be closer for special occasions like this. It was good to have Shawn's parents with us. Shawn gave a really nice blessing.

Savannah, GA

On Friday, after Shawn's class, we headed down to Savannah. It's about 4 hours away and the girls did great. We stayed in a nice hotel by the airport, with a great continental breakfast.

Friday night, we went down to river street and had dinner. We ate a place called Tubby's. It was yummy - and you definitely have to watch the video below of Ali...you will enjoy!
Our view from River Street.
After dinner, we drove around the historic district, which was neat to see some of the old homes. To be honest, we weren't that impressed with Savannah. We thought it was worn down, old and dirty. But....we did love Tybee Island and the beach!! That made the trip worth it!

It took the girls a little bit to warm up to waves splashing them, but once they did, they were fearless.The beach/water was warm, beautiful and just PERFECT!!The girls loved digging in the sand and would jump in their holes when the water came, to make sure it didn't wash away
Adalyn was great. She just slept in the stroller and hung out with us near the water. She's such a great baby!

We had a great time.


Ali eating a lemon. SO funny.

Helen, GA

This past week, we had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Broderick. The girls had so much fun and it was good to see family.

Thursday we headed up to Helen, a little German town setting tourist attraction. Shawn had to work at school, but the girls and I had a good day trip with grandma and grandpa. It's only an hour and a half away, not bad at all.

Our first stop was in Cleveland (just 10 miles from Helen). We came to the "Cabbage Patch Hospital" where I believe, or have been told, cabbage patch dolls originated. It was a fun little shop and we eve got to see the birth of a new cabbage patch doll.The doctor getting ready for delivery!
It's a BOY!
Getting to hold the new baby. Ali loved him, Andie was shy.
The doctor then weighed him, measured him, counted his toes and fingers and showed us his heart. Very exciting! ;)
The girls had a fun time walking around and seeing all the fun decorations!



Afterward, we head up for a picnic at Anna Ruby Falls. It was a very pretty drive and fun to be in a "Canyon" type feeling/setting.

Our hike up to Anna Ruby Falls. It was just under a 1/2 mile, but mostly uphill. I had to take a few breaks pushing Adalyn. Chuck was the trooper pushing Andie and Ali up. We had a great time!Very pretty water falls - definitely worth the walk!
I love all three of my girls. They were great and enjoyed being out doors.

Baby Adalyn loved taking it all in - she was alert and observant the whole time.
After the falls, we headed into Helen. Chuck and Cindy walked around with Andie and Ali, while I nursed Adalyn. It worked out great. It would be fun to go up again, and "Float the Hooch!" A lazy river, where you pay $3 to bus up, get dropped off and float down for 3-4 hours. Maybe next summer, when the kids are older.

4th of July

I grew up going to the Provo parade every 4th of July. We would camp out the night before on the parade route for a good spot, enjoy a McDonald's breakfast, hot air balloons and lots of fun watching the parade. It was usually followed by a picnic at a park (the one day of the year we ate KFC) a movie and then watching the fireworks from Stadium of Fire. What great memories.

Living in Georgia and not being by family - I longed to celebrate one of my favorite holidays. So - we made it happen! I had heard about a parade in a small town called Colbert, about 20 minutes from our house. It started at 9am and I figured we needed to be loading the car by 8am if we had any hope of making it.

So - I woke up at 6:30, showered and woke Shawn up. He needed a hair cut, so I cut it real fast and while he showered, I made a yummy french toast breakfast (one of our favorites!) We got the girls all ready and made it in the car by 8:15. Not shabby with a 4 week old.

We headed out and once I saw the sign, "Colbert City Limits" I said to Shawn, well - let's hope we run into the parade route somewhere. We sure did!! To give you an idea, Colbert has a population of just over 500 people and I had read that the highest turned out they had had one year was about 12,000 people. We found some parking and then easily found a spot. Only a few people were sitting on the south side of the street. So, we set up camp.

About 5 minutes before the parade started, everyone on our side of the street starting moving to the middle of the road? WHAT? Do we follow suit? We sure did! Setting up camp on the median, in the middle of the highway!
Finally - our first family photo with Adalyn. She was 4 weeks old today!
We had fun with some friends from our ward. Thanks!
One of the MANY, MANY cars in the parade. The first 15-20 minutes was a stream of old cars. It was fun to see all the different models.

Then we saw a really old car....not restored. We told the girls it was "Mater" and they got excited and started waving!This made it worth Shawn's day!! If you know Shawn well, then you know Back to the Future is one of his all time favorite movies. To see a Delorian with it's "wings" up and ready to fly was "SUPER COOL"
Oh look - another "Mater"
Tractors were a highlight....gotta love the small town parade.

We're sitting enjoying ourselves, when all the sudden "Uga" comes along. He is the official mascot for the University of Georgia Bulldogs! Fun to see him up close!These little 4-wheeler monster trucks were cool.
Finally....a float! "Shawn take a picture" I think this was one of two floats in the whole parade.

Confederate flag and soldiers....found only in the south!
We had a very fun time at the parade. As it was nearing where we were sitting, we noticed all these people pulling out grocery bags. I thought, "This is strange." Well, when we were ready to pack up and leave, we were wishing we had a grocery bag. The kids got SO MUCH CANDY, it was Halloween all over again. Great times.

After the parade, we took the girls to the $1 movie and saw "How to Train your dragon." Very cute movie. After that, Shawn took the girls swimming. It was a great day!