Wonderful & Exhausting Current Events

I guess I will start with our trip to the Lads to Leaders Convention. I will keep things as short as possible but you must know that we have been a crazy busy mess since the middle of March.

The Thursday we left out for Nashville, HP had a little Easter party and egg hunt that morning at her school.

As soon as HP got all candied up we drove strait over to get Autumn and Anna. After loading the car we were able to get on the road and head towards Nashville. The drive up went great. We had a good time talking and singing, just goofing off and having fun. We were relieved when we finally saw the Opry Mills Hotel. Hailey was in shrieking ooey gooey happiness mode. When we walked inside she looked at me and said "It looks so real!" (talking about the plants in the garden). Then she told us that the hotel looked "like a castle, a really fancy one".

Hailey did a great job with her speech and song leading. We had several people who came to hear her and the other girls from our congregation. Thank you to those who were able to make it that morning. It meant a lot to Hailey and I, especially. When Hailey walked across the stage at the awards ceremony Friday night you would have thought someone gave her a million dollars. She was so happy to have that Good Samaritan medal.



We had a really good time for the most part. We enjoyed getting to see friends from other congregations. I loved spending time talking and getting to know Autumn and Anna better. Hailey had fun running through the gardens, admiring fish and eating honey buns :)

The only downside to our trip started Friday night when Hailey threw up her dinner all over the floor in our room after rough housing with Stentson. Little did I know it was a precursor to Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. After Hailey did her song we went to support Taylor Parker for hers. Hailey mentioned being cold and wanted to lay her head down. We were in a new bed and had to get up extra early that morning so I figured she was just sleepy. Before we could make it back to the room she was crying and had a really bad fever. The fever caused her to get sick several more times and she was pretty much quarantined to our room the rest of the trip. We missed Saturday's awards ceremony and she was unable to go with me to worship Sunday morning (thank you Anna for watching her for me). She was devastated that we didn't get to go to the mall and play putt-putt or eat at the Rain Forest Cafe. I felt really bad about that too. We were hoping to meet up with some people from church to do those things but our day just didn't work out like we thought it was going to. On a brighter note, we checked out of the hotel and made it home safely with no accidents in the car. We did have to make a house call for a potty stop so Hailey didn't have to use the potties at the Boobie Bungalow. I already was trying to avoid her questions from a previous stop where they had "toys you could buy in the bathroom" she just didn't get it why someone would do that, "most people just need some privacy" she said. Anna and I got to do some girl talking while Autumn slept (surprise, surprise ~ rolling my eyes) and Hailey enjoyed the radio and the scenery.

Exhausted? Yes, but exhilarated at the same time. I couldn't wait to get my hands on Blake who I missed SO MUCH and to kiss my sweet Hubby. I don't like going off without my boys.

The kids went through their Easter baskets and we spent the rest of the evening at home together.



There are so many things I left out but the trip was wonderful and I hope next year we can make it the entire weekend without a fever virus.

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Last weekend we enjoyed the day at the Rouse House where we celebrated little Andrew's 1st Birthday!


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Now, the Zoo....the end of the school year is rapidly approaching and Hailey's kindergarten is wrapping things up with a few fun trips. Yesterday, we went to The Birmingham Zoo. We all had a great time but Blake, Hailey and I were so excruciatingly tired when we got home. Thankfully, we were able to get a little cat nap before church.

The kids enjoyed the animals, carousel, train, lorikeets, foam pool and everything else there was to do!

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We have also spent a little time visiting with the Grandparents and preparing to host a Jr. & Sr. High Devotional here at the house tomorrow night. Afterwards, the WINGS girls are going to stay for a sleepover and then we are going to jump up bright and early Saturday morning to participate in Adamsville's Ladies Day with Cindy Colley!

Well, this wraps up a few things I have been needing to blog about. There is so much more to come!