Breaking NEWS!!! You are NOT going to believe what we have done this time!

 

In case you have not heard yet.....

 

We have moved to....

 

This is our new skyline...

 

Think you are shocked ? You can't imagine how we feel. It is CRAZY... I know.

 

But with the Florida economy, it was/is getting harder and harder on the construction industry. SO we picked one of the 5 best areas in the USA for construction (which was Nashville) and moved on UP!

 

We feel exceptional blessed and honestly feel like this is where Heavenly Father wanted us to be. It is hard to move away from a place we have called home for 28+ years though.

 

We are loving the area we are in and are excited about the future! Stay tuned for all of our foot stomping, hand clapping good times to come! Yea Haw!

One of my favorite Christmas songs!

Am I too Young to feel this OLD??

It seems like just yesterday we were bringing Emma home from the hospital....now she is in Middle School. And our baby Grace is NOT a baby anymore... she is a 4th grader now. Man, do I feel OLD!

Vacationing with the Kennedy's in Cape Cod....

Well..... NOT EXACTLY. :) The Kennedy Compound was just down the street though. :)

We actually vacationed with some of our FAVORITE people, The Hunter Family. We just love them!

This is Marion's Pie Shop. Yum! Yum!

This is Chathum Beach. This was one of the first places the Pilgrims saw of the new world. A round the time we were there, a lot of sharks were in the area. STAY OUT OF THE WATER KIDS! :)

This is a picture of the cabin the Hunters stayed at...

 This was the back yard....



We stayed on the beach in Dennis Port....



We also did some whale watching.....

This is in Providence Town. The tall tower is a memorial to the Pilgrims. They dropped anchor here for a little while and decided that it was not the best place to set up camp.

 This is on "Race Point Beach" it has lots of sand dunes. Very Pretty.

When we showed up, we were wondering why no one was in the water..... look at the girls faces....it says it all. :) The water was so COLD! Shark sighting here too.

 

This was when we first got off the plane in Rhode Island.....

This is the Kennedy Compound..... We just heard that Taylor Swift bought one of the homes in the compound. So maybe I should refer to it as the Kennedy-Swift Compound. :)

This is the JKF Museum....

This was an amazing beach. At low tide the water goes out, in some parts, a mile. It leaves little title pools filled with sea creatures. It was beautiful. First Encounter Beach is operated by the town of Eastham, and is situated along Cape Cod Bay. This busy beach was the site of the first encounter between Native Americans and Pilgrims prior to their settling in Plymouth, hence the name.

 Sunset.....

 When we were walking back to the beach from were the tide stopped, there was a couple who were digging. The kids asked what they were digging for..... Clams! They showed the kids how to do it and before the couple knew it....they had an almost full bag. The kids LOVED doing this. They were ready to go back the next day. :)

This is an ice cream shop that served ice cream at Jacqueline Kennedy's bridal shower... It was wonderful! We had it twice! It is only open in the summer because it is a teacher who owns it. He picks students to work there for a summer job. It is ALWAYS busy.

The Mayflower II.....

Plymouth Rock.....

Burial Hill..... This is where the Pilgrims were buried....

This site is one of the first forts of the Pilgrims and the burial place of William Bradford and other first settlers. Set high atop the hill, the Pilgrims placed their cannons facing the harbor for protection.

National Monument to the Forefathers...

The monument was designed primarily by Boston sculptor Hammatt Billings. As large as the Forefathers monument stands, Billings’ original design called for it to be nearly twice as high at 150 feet (just under the Statue of Liberty’s height, including the pedestal, of 151 feet).

The monument features several allegorical figures depicting virtues the Pilgrims, known in Plymouth as the Forefathers, brought with them when they arrived in Massachusetts in 1620.

A dedication on the monument’s northeast face reads, “National Monument to the Forefathers. Erected by a grateful people in remembrance of their labors, sacrifices and sufferings for the cause of civil and religious liberty.”

We had a great vacation and can't wait to go back!

A few highlights from the 1st half of 2012

THE GIRLS SCHOOL.....

Both of the girls did extremely well at school this year. Honor Roll and all. We are so proud of them both. Grace is hoot and is excited to be in 4th grade this year. Even though I think she would be better suited for 5th. (size and brains) Emma graduated from the 5th grade and is SUPER excited to finally be in middle school. Justin and I wish we could say the same. Time is going by WAY TOO FAST. :(

This is a picture of the Middle School Emma will be going to.

WE HAVE MOVED.....

Back in October, Justin and I decided to get out of debt as much as possible. We have a big financial goal that we really want to accomplish as soon as we can. That meant we needed to make some big decisions. Selling our house was one. It sold in a MONTH! The realtor was SHOCKED it sold so quickly. It was just confirmation to us we were doing the right thing. It took it till the end of March to close. By February we already had a new home...we down sized a little to 3200sf, added a huge pool, an acre of land and moved our office out of the home into its own space on the property all while saving over $2,000.00 a month on the mortgage. We are LOVING the new neighborhood and the new place. It has been such a blessing. It is also a one story and I have to say I had forgot how great that is. :)


GIRLS CAMP 2012......

This was my last year as the Stake Girls Camp Director. Getting released was a little bitter sweet but I enjoyed it 100% while I got to. This year we stayed local. Wheew! It made so many things a lot more easy. It was another fantastic year. I have a real love for the girls and will miss working with them.

GRANDMA ELLA PASSED AWAY....

I got home from Girls Camp on Friday and that Saturday night was woken up at about 2:00 to a phone call telling me that my Grandmother had passed away. She had suffered a long battle with Alzheimer's. I will miss her so much. She was a wonderful, but tough, woman. She had taken care of over 100 foster children plus had 9 babies of her own. As sad as it was to let her go, I am excited that she has now joined her eternal companion and 4 of her children in Heaven. Justin was asked to be a part of her services. He did such a beautiful job. I love how much he loved her too.

STAKE YOUNG MENS PRESIDENT.....

The same day I was released from my calling, Justin was called as the Stake YM President. He also is still serving on the High Council and is now the Senior High Council man. Justin was very nervous (really just SHOCKED) about the calling at first but one activity with the Young Men and he was so excited to work with them. He has such a concern and love for them. I personally feel the Lord new what he was doing when he had Justin called to the position.


WE SAW FOREST GUMP AND PAULA DEAN IN SAVANNAH....

For Memorial Day we decided to go to Savannah. WOW! The historic district is just beautiful. We stayed one block from Paula Deans restaurant. We took an historic guided tour and a GHOST tour. Grace got to go to a bakery that was featured on the Food Network. (She is a F/N junkie.) She is always asking if she can visit all the featured places. So you can only imagine haw excited she was to go inside and then to have her picture taken with the baker. Mom and Dad were able to go with us. It is always great to spent time with them. They just love the girls so much and spoil them rotten. I consider that a blessing and not a curse. :)

Lady and Son's (Paula Deen's) Resturant & Menu....

This is where the opening scene of Forest Gump took place (the bench was removed) ....

A NEW TAHOE FOR US....

We loved our old Tahoe so much..... we got a new one! We love it just as much!

WE VISITED NAUVOO AGAIN....

Justin and I headed up the Nauvoo trip again this year for the Stake. We had 25 youth go, all between the ages of 16 - 18. We have amazing youth and had amazing adult leaders too. It was fun and so spiritual. I am so grateful to the early Saints and Pioneers of the Church.

LOTS OF VISITS FROM THE FAMILY......

We LOVE it when family comes to Florida to visit. This year, Jimmy and Tammy (and the girls) came and stayed a week with us. We just love them so much. They are an amazing family. My girls love that they have such wonderful cousins. Even though we live so far from each other they are always texting, Skyping, talking on the phone.....etc. to keep the relationship close. We went to Disney this year and spent the night a Disney Hotel. We also went on an airboat ride and almost got eaten.

A week later my cousins from Indiana came down. We had a ton of fun with them. We dont get to see them as much so anytime we get to see them, it is a real treat. They have 5 boys. Can I just say the pool was a HUGE hit! We went to Orlando again with them and stayed at the resort. We also enjoyed spending the 4th of July watching fireworks together.

A SUMMER SON....

This summer we have Alex living with us. Alex's parents just moved to Ohio and he was looking for a job and a place to stay in Florida. We were able to provide both. We are so glad he is a part of our family this summer. He is a great Young Man. Our girls totally feel like they have an older brother and torment him all the time. :)

A TOTAL WRECK AND NEW TRUCK...

Unfortunately our truck was in a pretty serious accident. It rolled on I-75 and was totalled out. (Sorry to all those who were stuck in the huge back up.) Amazingly, NO one was hurt. All we can say was the "Hand of God" was helping out.  Turns out, we were very blessed, because with the Geico Insurance check, (our truck was in great shape and paid for) we were able to pay cash for this truck.....

Wanna see what our other truck looks like upside down????



2011 Stalker Christmas Card

Happy 2012 New Year!!!!!

Nothing says Happy New Year like being in the Smoky Mountains with people you love.

Justin, myself and the kids rung in the new year with Wendell, Lisa, Jimmy, Tammy, Brooklyn & Preslee !

We had so much fun! 

Here is a picture we took at Cades Cove of an 8 point hiding in the woods. 

Here is a little closer....

Another picture of Cades Cove. It is just so beautiful.

 

Here is a picture of us getting ready for a a little racing action!

Wendell and Lisa loving each other BEFORE the race.... :)

Emma with her racing hat on!

Grace smack talking!

Wendell burning rubber and making us eat his dust!

Jimmy passing Justin....

Us in the cabin, hanging out. Justin has just learned of a new game on his phone called "Mouse Trap"....thanks Jimmy! And the look on my face is makes me what to say, "No way!" but really, I have no clue what we were talking about.  Even though....it might have been me telling Jimmy I was going to the tool store with him! LOL!!! He hE hE!

The "Goof Troop"! The girls just love each other. They have a very special friendship.

And here is the whole gang together on the last night at the Comedy Barn! 

Happy New Years!