Part 1 of trip...

We had SO much fun in South Carolina. It was beautiful. Though my sister-in-laws parents asked me where it was that I was from that I thought this was beautiful. Las Vegas was all i had to say. She was referring to Columbia which is where my brother lives, but we did spend 2 days in Charleston, which was 'freakin' awesome'!!! The first place we went was the Magnolia Plantation.


It was not quite what I was expecting for a plantation, but that's because the original home was burned in the 1800's and replaced by this smaller home which was later added on to. It was still cool none the less and it is really famous for it's gardens. Seriously, the gardens were AMAZING! Even though it was a bit off season for blooming, still, lakes, bridges, long winding pathways and canopies...everywhere. We had a lot of fun wandering through and my mother and I took lots of ridiculous pictures of each other. But I'm sparing you most of those!

Oh, i probably failed to mention that my mom and step dad met us in S.C. for the baby blessing and we spent most of the week with them and my brother.

the house (duh!)

the lake with bridge

one of the paths we walked down

I know you can't see us, but my mom and I are hiding in the bamboo forest.

a spontaneous stroll down a wandering path. obviously my photographer didn't see the same thing through the lens as I did...oh well. will never recreate that "spontaneous" moment again! :)

the "tourist" bathroom they built had these super cool faucets. just had to take a picture of it.



one of the slave houses they had for you to walk through. I think this is bigger than most of the others on the plantation but this is the only one you could walk through. They said that the slaves at this plantation were treated better than any others in the area at that time. Apparently they lived "the good life"!

the inside. I wonder if this is what it was really like or if they've added to it to make it not seem so bad...

First and foremost.....THE BAAYBEEY

Ok...so blogger is not letting me rearrange the photos...how rude!

Anyway, this is Ripley Marith (after grandma)

she is as sweet as apple pie!

i melted all over her for days.

she has a little fascination with her tongue and likes to stick it out all the time

she has the exact same hairline that my brother had when he was born

my brother is obsessively doting on her...he is whipped big time!

I am by far her favorite aunt!

i hated to say goodbye, knowing it would most likely be a year before I see her again ;(

This little piece of SUGAR turns SIX!

...yesterday.
How did she get so big?????
For breakfast, she wanted...BROWNIES...so brownies we had.
With candles and a song.
What a great way to start the day...brownies and presents.

Later it was Red Robyn for lunch
They sang to her there too.
Surprised she wanted that...she doesn't like having a lot of attention drawn to herself.
But she loved it, I could tell.

Dinner was per her request
followed up by a new movie
churo's........AND popcorn!

Why do I love this girl....cause she is ONE OF A KIND!
She is my little helper, a little mother and all around caretaker of the family.
She loves to learn new tricks and works hard till she masters them.
I love her desire to know how to do "stuff"
She has a very specific style and is extremely picky.
But, also realizes she doesn't need a lot of stuff.
She is very generous and thoughtful of others,
she will easily give things away and tells me she doesn't need much.

She has been working hard to learn to ride her big two-wheeler
and finally last month....SHE GOT IT!

How proud is SHE!




A few months ago she was begging to have her hair cut just like her sisters.
I tried to ignore that request and held her off as long as I could.
But she was determined that it was what she wanted.
Soooooooooo...i cut it.
then
her
face
fell.................

and as hard as she tried
she couldn't stop
the tears from rolling.

then, I joined in.
I never wanted to cut it in the first place.
and she regretted it.

so we sat there
and I held her till she stopped
and then told her how cute it could be
so we styled it
and she said she would get used to it.
And, with a sigh said "it will grow".


(obviously, this is before)


This little one is mature beyond her years.
I love her so.
and look forward to everyday with her.

by-the-way...she has gotten used to her hair and doesn't mind it so much.
me...can't wait for it to be long again...it just suits her.

vacation details to come!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

The crazy gang! Of course Jack refused a nap today so by the time we were ready for pictures, he wanted NOTHING to do with them. So Nathan held him.

The only reason I got these of him was chasing him down the side walk as he took off to trick or treat by himself. I was literally moving the whole time I was snapping these. Can't believe they are not blurry! He totally loved his costume. He would tell everyone " I a pirate. I Capain Jack Sparrow."

Our little Laura Ingalls (and the only costume I had to make this year!)

Here's her "Oh Pa...Mary said shucks" look!

The "Vendetta" Gang! As usual...Nathan changed his costume (somewhat) at the last minute. I made him wear his mask for pictures but couldn't get him to put the wig on, then he took it off and eventually went for a painted face look. WhATevER dude!

Our cute little pirate. I love that she chose something not so girly this year. It totally suits her and she ended up loving it.

Jack chechin out his "bro"!

We've had a great Halloween with LOTS of festivities!

The neighborhood was more mellow this year...which was nice,

but we still ran out of candy.

Now apparently I'm late starting my Christmas shopping since it's been in the stores for atleast a week now!!!

The race is on people

and I'm off!

See ya next week ;)

for the first time EVER!!!!!

in 6...count em' 1.2.3.4.5.6.......days

doug and i are leavin' on a jet plane!

takin' a little trip.....

JUST THE 2 OF US

for the first time EVER...without kids

YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, skipeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I'm just a little excited.

We'll be checking out a few places

like these

it's a little place i'd like to call Charleston, South Carolina.

why SC???? you say

Other than the fact that it looks GORGEOUS! and it's FULL of history and old plantations, oh and the civil war, and stuff like that, oh and I've never been there...

my baby brother lives out there and he and his wife just had their FIRST baby!

We are going to see them and attend her blessing

and basically smother some love ALL over my new little niece

Can't wait to eat her UP!

Guilt Post...

I know it's been a looooooong time (for me anyways)

but surely...this picture makes the wait worth it....RIGHT?

Us...at the ward Halloween Party

1 hour before the party I said "Doug, we should dress up. I want to dress up!"

"What do you wanna be ???" (him)

"I don't know, a punker" (me)

"How you gonna do that?"(him)

"Uuuuummmmmm.....you go to Smiths and find me something! I gotta paint Samantha's nails" (me)

"Why don't you go and I'll paint her nails" (him)

"REALLY..." "OK, I'm gettin' you something too!!!!" (me)

So I was gone for like 10 minutes and I came home with 2 wigs, and net stockings.

I was a punker and drum roll please................

In case you can't tell

Doug

was

Magnum P.I.

That's right!

We gave the mullet wig a trim and fashioned a stache for him.

In this picture my black makeup is quite worn off, but the lips were pretty black and the eyes...fright full.

Some people's comments were "wow, scary Carol." (in a very disturbed voice)

others practically wet their pants when they saw us.

Some, didn't even know who we were (that was the best, sometimes you don't really want to claim what you put together!)

The party was awesome! We are so going to dress up again, but hopefully with much more planning and thought next time!

Oh ya, and the kids obviously looked really cute too. But this isn't really about them now is it!

To the Orchard we will go...

Apparently NO ONE had school on Friday....and EVERYONE decided it was the perfect day to hit the Orchard for the pumpkin patch. Granted WE were smarter than most and left the house by 8:30 am. When we pulled in there were a measly half dozen cars parked along the patch. The children had a grand time frolicking through the vines and choosing their perfect punkins.

Samantha didn't waste much time and picked the "old man" of the patch. She loves her wonky little(big) wrinkled pumpkin. (notice her pink polka dot shoes...not so clean anymore. this is her answer to me saying "wear some tennishoes...with SOX!)

Jack seems to approve of the pumpkin I chose for him...although he kept saying in an exasperated voice "mom, is too heaveeeeeeeeeee...."

This poor kid spent more time in the dirt than anything. He refused to walk and so in all his running he constantly biffed it. He didn't seem to care AT ALL. (notice the little blue band on his arm....ya, that's his new fashion statement....hhhhmmmmmm, wonder where he came up with that one????)


Nathan decided to pick a few watermelons along the way. Having never picked one before we figured if the outside was nice and green the inside should be nice and red...RIGHT????? it was not. ever wonder what an unripe watermelon looks like? it's white. I almost thought it was some freak cucumber!

Kristen took the longest to pick her pumpkin. Apparently finding the teeniest pumpkin in the patch was harder than it looked! Nathans wasn't much bigger and by the feel of it will be the first to ROT! I went with a nice creepy green one...love it!

By the time we got ours picked the place had turned into a zoo. The line to drive in was looooong, the field across the street was packed with parked cars and the line to check out and pay was loooong.

But we had fun and we returned home 2 hours later much, much, much filthier than when we had left!