Nahsville & Kingston TN Trip

I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures from our family trip to TN. It was a lot of fun and we got to see some amazing places!

**Warning...lots of pictures and details about where we visited!



The Hermitage-Home of Pres. Andrew Jackson, quite impressive!


Back of the home. This is on an extremely large land plot! enough to fit 10+ of these homes!!


Delia in the gardens at the hermitage


Magnolia flower on one of the many Magnolia trees all over the south. First time seeing one in person(though we lived in KY for 4 yrs, I don't recall seeing any) and they are much, much bigger than I imagined them to be!


Over the fence from the gardens and out into more pasture. so much green!


Delia and Ian hiding in a bush!



part of the Carter house that was riddled with bullet holes during one of the blodiest battles of the civil war, Battle of Franklin.


Back of the brick kitchen with holes made from bullets(the kitchen was always seperate from the house..at least in the south) 9500+ soldiers died during this battle...incredible


Me and andrew sitting on one of the cannons used. We tried to take the sucker away, but he wasn't havin' it!


This is Carnton plantation, one of the closest plantations near where the battle of franklin took place. It was made into a hospital for the wounded, but many ended up dieing. Many lost so many limbs that they were piled up against the side of the house, rising at about 8 ft. It was really quite incredible inside. Of course they have done some remodeling of the wall paper, etc. but tried to keep it close to the period. The home was actually lived in until about the mid 1970's!! The doors were about 14 ft tall and each door was about 7-8 feet wide! loved them! There were 3 stories in this house, but they don't take visitors up there. They also didn't let us take pictures of the inside. It is said to be haunted...another of my favorite parts in this home was the portrait of the mistress of the house Carrie McGavock. The painting was bigger than any portrait i had seen. about 6-7 feet tall and 3-4 feet wide. So lovely, but eerie at the same time.
there was also a small doll bed, which was said to be extremely rare during that time. This poor
woman had 5 children and lost 3 of them, she was said to have been in mourning until the day she died, always wore black and was nick named "widow of the south" when the home was turned into a hospital, she took action right away in attending to the sick and afflicted. There are still many blood stains left on the floor, some were apparently so bad, that even after the thick carpets were removed it had penetrated and permanantly stained the floor, it was wicked!



The Front of the Carnton Plantation

Delia in the plantation gardens

Grapes hanging off of the trellis

The grave yard behind the plantation that holds all of the soliers who died.

Delia on a bridge at the Nashville zoo.

Andrew watching the porcupines being fed.

Look at this face!

Delia on the little train at the zoo. cheeseball!

Sweet girl, trying to smile pretty for mommy!

The famous Delia attitude!

Pretty girl by Great Aunt Carolyn's lake.

This is the wall paper in Christian's Great Aunt Carolyn's home, a famous plantation in N or S carolina..can't remember.

Trying to get Delia and Andrew to pose for a picture in front of it...not going to happen.

Delia next to her Great, Great, Grandma Delia Cash Anderson whom she was named after.

This is the media library at the baptist church in Kingston, TN and because she helped organize the first baptist church in kingston they named their library after her.

A very, very old dock behind Great aunt carolyn's home. so lovely. and of course it stormed just seconds after taking this picture for about 45 mins...really stormed! it was great!

My Brother is Engaged!!

About 3 weeks ago my youngest Brother got engaged!! And the Wedding is July 30..that's right, 6 weeks!!! Ahhh. I'm super excited for them both! I have never met her, but have conversed a couple of times through Facebook about wedding plans, pictures, etc. and she seems very sweet. My brother tells me she is a lot like me...I'll have to take that as a compliment! I have been dieing to see these photos and plan on making them something special with them as soon as I get a disc! Squeeee...My first sibling wedding! I plan on going to Utah for about 3.5 weeks!! I want to be at her shower, and then my 10 yr High school reunion is the following week, and then the week after is the wedding, which is when Christian will come down and then plan on spending another week so christian can go fishing with my dad and combine birthday celebrations at Lagoon! It's going to be fun! Congrats to these guys!

Andrew's 1st Birthday

Andrew turned 1 a couple of Days ago!! My parents we in town so they were able to celebrate it with us. He got lots of balls!! He loves balls and apparently the word got out because now he has a ball haven!! He also got a "bouncy ball center" which is MUCH larger than I thought it would be! but he loves it! He also enjoyed his cake as you can see. He's such a sweetheart!

Easter 2011

Easter was really fun this year. Although it was cold and rainy outside and ruined my plans of having out first backyard Easter egg hunt, it was still memorable. This year it was filled with a lot of meaning. We did an Easter tour of the ministry, death and resurrection of our Savior at church and Christian and I were in charge of the resurrection room, I even made costumes for all of us(pictures to come when I get them) and had some good friends over for an Easter dinner(the first I have made) and it was super yummy. I should have taken pictures of all the good food! The girls, delia and Ava had a blast! Now that Andrew is walking now, he actually took place in the Egg hunt and it was so cute to watch. He especially liked the ones that were filled with money because of the sound. I took a video of all of them. Such great memories for the girls I'm sure! Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Andrew is Walking...& few of his favorite things!

Andrew is officially walking now! for the last 3 weeks or so he has been standing up on his own and taking 1-2 steps, but then just this past week he took more and more and now 90% walking and every once in a while will get down and crawl. He loves to walk. You can see a sense of pride and accomplishment in his eyes when he looks at you while walking, it is the sweetest thing!! I just got some soft soled shoes for him and now he can walk anywhere. He even walked on the grass for the first time yesterday and had no trouble. When he falls, he gets right back up! He is 11 months old. Delia was walking a little steadier than he is now at this same age, but they are pretty much doing it all around the same age. so exciting. Rather than wait for Andrew's first b-day I decided just to post this little milestone and couple of his favorite things as of yet. As you can see in the picture he is holding Delia's play stethoscope, he likes to suck on the foam part. the other objects below are his favorite things, you can almost always see him with these. They are: toy car
-lego steak(one of the only legos he likes)
-DQ icecream treat
-metal keys(either these or the real things)
-ball(big and small) he looooooves to play with balls of all sizes. You will have to wait and see one of my ideas for his birthday present!

and yes, the basket lid is one of his favorite things. He likes to hold it while walking and it looks like a shield, too funny! He likes to hold things while walking. I think it gives him a sense of balance.

Missing from the picture is the Clown fish bath toy. That one in particular is the toy of choice when taking his bath. He might play a little with the others, but if you take the clown fish away, you better watch out. So fun to see his personality shining through.

He is just a little piece of Heaven and I am totally in love with this boy!!

Day 3 on Walk with Christ

So I was a slacker yesterday and didn't post my Day 3...so here is Day 3 & 4

Day 3

Am I seeking Christ's help in all that I think or do? I think that I am constantly seeking his help in my heart throughout the day, but I must also get down on my knees and diligently seek him for the things that are truly important to me. I do not pray near enough, I need to do better. I never thought about praying with “integrity” but it is important that we pray with a true sincere heart, that we have developed that relationship with our Savior to be able to pour our hearts out with all that we need. Prayer is like a daily spiritual nourishment, just like our bodies need food, water, rest, and exercise, our spirits need prayer, scripture study, church attendance, service and constant replenishment of good thoughts and keeping the commandments. I never 'really” thought about it in this sense, but it is very important!

Day 4

I think I really do rely on my Savior a lot for strength. I need to step back and look at the time I have in the day and use it wiser than I have been. I need to decide what things take priority over others. It seems that in our society today we are all much busier and stressed out than it was 100 yrs ago and it supposed to be more convenient for us to accomplish things, it has mad things easier, but at the same time brought more complications and stresses with it, so it seems we have not “really” solved anything. It is important to make our families, and the gospel and our Savior top priorities before making anything else a priority over these. Yes, we all have known this before, but we need to be reminded again and again.

Day 2 on Walk with Christ

Day 2

I can follow my Savior's steps today by just following his example. To be be aware every single day of what I should be doing. When faced with a decision to make can I ask myself, “what would Christ do?” Yes, as often time when faced with difficult decisions I do, but with everything big or small I should always be aware of what my Savior would so in my shoes.

I need to follow the promptings the spirit sends me, but I need to make sure that I am worthy and aware of his presence. I need to think of Christ as not only my savior and redeemer, but as my brother who is always there when I need him. I know that he will help guide me toward what I need to do to become more like him...he has paved the way and paid the ultimate sacrifice. He is our way back! I know that I need to stay focused on my journey home and not be deceived on the world's perception of what we should do/be. It can and is hard, but the Savior has promised to be there every minute of our lives, he will never leave us and knowing that comforts me to with stand all the the things that are thrown at me everyday.

On another note. Despite finding out we owe the Gov. mucho money(through our business) it was a pretty good day. I even found a long lost friend who I've been searching for , for years! I hope to contact her soon! I am so excited!!!

14 Day Walk with Christ

For Young women's as part of personal progress they are given some activities or challenges to help progress toward completing each Value. I am not sure if they are still doing the necklaces as awards in addition to the new things, but for each value that is completed you get a ribbon of that value color to go on your YW scripture marker. The leaders are also invited to do it, so I took on the "challenge" but it has definitely been a challenge with 2 kids and many other responsibilities. Today in church the sister who is in charge of personal progress handed out one of these activities. I'm not sure which value this goes toward(many multiple ones) but she asked if I would like to do it, so I am! It is a "14 Day Walk with christ" where for each day there are different questions relating to christ or his example. we are to record these in a journal. Since my blog is like my online journal I though I would post my "answers" on here everyday during the 14 day challenge. I am also recording it in a separate file on my computer. I am not going to post the questions, I'm going to do it in more of a "random thoughts on christ" style. so here is the first day, today

Day 1

The members of the God Head are their to help us succeed on our path back to them, they being, Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. Each has a significant role in our Salvation. They want us to learn from mistakes that we make from trials that we will face and most importantly they want us to have faith in them for we have not seen them during our time on this Earth and want us to show the ultimate faith in their love and support for our return.

As a daughter of God I have never really thought in depth about my heavenly home and what it means to me that I come from a Royal heavenly line! As with any “earthly” royal part of a family, there is much to learn about being a part of Heavenly Father's plan for all us. It is important that we step back and look at our earthly journey's as part of a greater piece to being with our Father again. We are all unique in what we have to offer and need to use these divine qualities to help our children and others to return to their Heavenly home with the knowledge, experience, and extended faith we have gained.

Understanding my place in God's Kingdom will help me to accept the qualities and talents as inherited by my Heavenly Father and that it is my purpose to nurture those into a way of life and of course having my savior as the ultimate example of how to grow. To remember that my/our ultimate goal to to return to Heavenly Father with the best job done to offer and knowing that my best will be graciously accepted as long as it was done with a full and honest heart.

Oh the Week I've had...!!

So to start my week off... my treadmill breaks, apparently the motor went ca-poot, which almost never happens and it why it is warrantied for 25 yrs! Great..looks like I got the one-in-a-million dud. so they shipped me a new one..(you mean "I" have to put it back on??) yep! Then later that night, Delia goes to grab some food off a hot pan from the oven and burns herself..pretty bad!

Then tues morning it is evident that the kiddos are sick with a cold. it's been affecting Andrew more than Delia. so preshcool...and my hair appt is cancelled!

Then later that night my sweet visiting teacher calls to ask if she can come visit, I tell her mornings work best and she says "okay, what about 9 am?" sure I say, but quickly regret it because 1) I usually don't get up until 8:45-9 am( I know...lucky me) and the kids are sick and will most likely be up during the night(which they were) so that will kill me. I consider calling her when my alarm goes off at 8 am to push the time back to 10:30 am, but I talk myself out of it and drag my tired body out of bed. I'm ready the kids are ready, and at 9:25 am, she calls to tell me she forgot and was in a city about 30 mins away. okay, that's alright, I've been there!

Then I decide to check Delia's burn since I let her keep the guaze pad I had taped over it. As I peel it off, a large chunk of skin comes with it!! No she has an open would that I do not want to get infected and we have no more "large bandages" to cover it...oh, and Delia is having a conniption fit over it all!!

So I decide to take advantage of the morning that I have and run to target to get some things(including bandages). Of course when I walk into the store I see their springs line clothing..so I have to try some things on. while in the dressing room, Delia tells me she has to go #2...so I tell her hold it for a little longer I have 2 more shirts to try on. so as I'm rounding up everything, she then tells me..."but mom, I already went!" what??!! greeeeeaaat! By this time Andrew is really getting fussy and cries the whole way to the end of the store for the bathrooms smelling stinky the whole way. Yes! Wonderful! I grab Andrew and my wallet and keys and go into the family bathroom. I hoped it would be just a simple plop and go...nope...it was messy! So there I am, Andrew on the dirty floor screaming, me yelling at Delia, Delia crying also, washing her underwear in the toilet. What a glorious day this has turned out to be! And to make matter worse, when everything is seemingly taken care of I go to grab my keys(angrily mind you) and smack my knee so hard I almost passed out! it hurt like nothing else!

Friday...my treadmill motor came. Wow! They told me 7-10 business days! Sweet! So Christian "offers" to help me put on the new one(how they think it's as easy as picking a flower, I'll never know) needless to say..it took 2 hours of frustration, and arguing, and the sacrifice of christian's smashed finger!!!!(don't ask!) we finally get it back on!

To make matters worse, Andrew has been non-stop cranky this whole week and the 2 lbs I lost at the beginning of the week I gained back( despite my continued exercising and yard work)! Just one of those weeks I guess. Crossing my fingers that this next week brings me just a little luck!