Tuesday, January 22, 2013

youth winter retreat 2013

i was asked to be a chaperon for our church youth group's winter retreat to great wolf lodge this year. wes was invited to come with us, so we happily said yes! gary wanted to join as well, but sadly, there wasn't a need for male chaperons and the entire hotel was fully booked :(

saturday morning we loaded up and headed to concord. we stopped at concord mills so everyone could eat lunch at the food court (and wes could ride the carousel) before heading to the lodge. 

we got there a little it before we were able to check into our rooms, so we visited the arcade for a while.
 we shared our room with 3 girls. kailin and ayla who are in the 8th grade and rachael, who is in 9th. there were very sweet and did well with wes. 
wes really enjoyed the water park. there were tons of places to play and sides to ride on. 
 
the big bucket on the picture below that says 'great wolf lodge' would fill up with water and then tip over and spill when it was full. 
wes is on the far left. i love his 'happy dance' at the end.

 

watch for wes on the blue slide.
 


there's a game throughout the lodge called magi quest. your purchase a magic wand and are given a quest with certain things to find. your magic wand makes things happen, like pictures talking or the magic chest below opening.  
wes really loves his wand :)
 
rachael the monkey and wes the wizard
aunt tracy was there too. she stayed in a room with high school girls.
on the way home we stopped at the mall again, for lunch. wes went to build a bear workshop and picked out a monkey. and what monkey is complete without a light saber?
and took one last ride on the carousel. he sat on the bench this time, so the monkey could ride with him.

we had a great time. i'm so thankful that we were invited to join along!

Monday, December 17, 2012

christmas celebrations

warning: video overload!!!
i just can't help it. seeing your kid sing is the cutest thing ever. i don't ever want to forget it :)

one of my favorite things ever is candlelight service at church on christmas eve. i play violin in the service so i have a great view. 

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

stella!!!

 Tim & Whitney became the proud parents of Stella Caroline on December 5th!
she is gorgeous and loved by all. 

 




Monday, November 26, 2012

thanksgiving

we got up early on thanksgiving morning, like usual - although it wasn't to take a trip to oneida, like we normally do. this year we decided to hold off, since whitney is almost due to have stella. we'll all take a trip once she's here :)
  
wes and i headed down to lake lure to pick up a smoked turkey from the smokehouse. 
papa t and uncle tim got up super early to smoke the turkeys and we're sure glad they did. it was yuuuummy! 
my favorite thanksgiving food is sweet potato casserole. gary's mom has the best recipe ever. it came from her mom. i love having the leftovers for breakfast. yuuuuuum!!
 after eating lunch with pawpaw, neena, aunt tracy and uncle daryl, wes and i went to watch wreck it ralph. it was an awesome movie. we both loved it.
 my great-grandma martin passed away on thanksgiving day. she was 93 and lived a wonderful, long life. i know that she is happy up in heaven with great-grandpa farris. 
my maw maw mary lou is the 2nd oldest of her 12 children!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

november, part deux

 
october did it's best to hang around. our pumpkin pirate hung out on the porch. we really liked him. tissues hung out inside. we were very sniffle-y. 
wes had a cold, but took his medicine like a champ, which was sooo nice.
 we played inside a lot and got better.
 
weekends were full of sillies, of course.
 
 callie found her new favorite spot, which drives us nuts. does it HAVE to be in the kitchen?
 we went to the park and i got sand in my eye. i had no idea it looked like this until we got in the car. woops.
 
 we've had our new fish tank set up for a while and the fishies seem to love living in bikini bottom.