Apple Picking at Hillcrest Farm in Elijay, GA

We took the kids apple picking. They had fun. They had their bag full in no time. All that practice picking oranges on Grandpa's farm made this an easy job :o). After we picked apples we watched the pig races, the kids rode on John Deere tricycles around a track and then ate a late lunch and went home. It was a fun experience.

We had beautiful scenery on the way there...

Tyler, Kenna and Katrina

Tyler

Kenna

Katrina

Katie

All the kids (Palmer's and Peterson's)

Enjoying fresh jucy apples



Kenna riding a John Deere tricycle

Katrina riding a John Deere tricycle

Disney World...

8 days was a little much for me, but at the same time, it was a great trip! We had allot of fun accept for the weather. We thought it would be a nice time of year to go but it turned out to be so HOT and Humid!!! I can handle hot, after all, I grew up in Arizona. But when you add 90% Humidity to 90+ degree heat (maybe slightly exaggerated) that is when it kills me! I was DONE with the heat and humidity by day 3. Poor Katie was about to have a heat stroke on day 1 (at the park) after we had been there an hour. We stripped off her clothes and bought one of those over priced fans that has a water bottle attached. It was worth the $17 and two new AA batteries every day to cool her down and to keep her from over heating the rest of the trip. She was such an angel the whole trip. She never fussed accept when hungry and slept so good at night (considering we were all sleeping in the same room). We spent 6 days at Disney World + one day driving there and one day driving home. It is an 8 hour drive with kids(6 hours if you drive straight through.) But it wasn't a bad drive. :o) Of course we have a TON of pictures! I will spare you and not post all of them on here. Just the highlights....

DAY 1: We celebrated the girls birthday the first night we got there so they would have their new cameras to take pictures through out the trip...

Day 2: Magic Kingdom

Day 3: Holywood Studios

Katie chillin' with the fan blowing on her to cool her down...

Day 4: The kids outside the dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom. We went with the Petersons...

Katie in her little air condtioned tent.

Tyler and Zack Peterson cooling off in the fountain. It was a HOT day!!!

Day 5: Epcot

Monika talked me into learning how to ride a Segway with her. It was pretty cool!

Our family outside of Nemo

We went to the Better than Ezra concert there at Epcot.

Day 6: Magic Kingdom for the 2nd time.

Katie looking very comfortable

They had it all decked out for Halloween

Day 7: Animal Kingdom for the 2nd time and Katrina's 4th Birthday. Since Kenna and Katrina's birthday are back to back we celebrate them together when we can. Especially since this was our last day at DW. We had to make them both feel special. First thing we did when we woke up was give them their presents...The both really wanted baloons that they have in the parks and minnie mouse shirts so insted of paying the high price at DW, Tim went to Wal-Mart and bought them. They were so excited!!!


The Petersons bought the girls necklases. They loved them!!! They are still wearing them almost week later! Kenna's was Belle (She loves Belle from beauty and the beast) and Katrina's was Tinker Bell (she loves tinker bell)


Before we got on the bus to take us to the park, Tim went to the front desk at the Resort to get "It's my birthday" pins from them. The guy was so nice, he gave the girls each their own card and a Minnie Mouse plush toy. They were thrilled!!!


Our Family at Animal Kingdom

Katrina was so sweet and shared her Minnie Mouse with Katie.

Day 8: Kenna's 7th Birthday. Going home. In the morning at breakfast there was a clown there making baloon's. Kenna was sure to let the clown know it was her birthday. He made her a baloon flower and then she wanted Katrina to feel special so she told the clown it was Katrina's birthday yesterday so he made one for Katrina too.


And the boys got sowards of course!

On our 8 hour treck home we stopped for dinner at Outback to make it a special day for Kenna. They brought out a treat and sang happy birthday to her and of course Katrina too.

Too funny!

Tim posted this on FB... I thought it was too funny!

Everyone says Tyler looks just like me. I think now I see the resemblance.

Can rain really be a cause for cancelling school?

I guess when it looks like this it is.... I stole these pictures from a friend on FB. These are pictures of Bishop Hunters Christmas Tree farm. The rivers and streams here are so full, they are overflowing which is causing alot of roads to close because they are flooding the streets. It took the kids an exta 20 min to get home from school yesterday.

Not supposed to do that... This is their driveway!!! Their drive way also acts as a dam. The right side of the drive way is a pond but it is over flowing and going across the driveway and down the otherside.


Along the side of the road...


The Hunters have a neat little pond with paddle boats and ducks/geese and there is, I mean WAS a little Island. It's totally under water now. The white pole on the left side the picture WAS the edge of the pond.


Here is what the pond looked like before...

I'm 30!!!

My Birthday was on Thursday. I can't believe I am 30! It's not as devastating as I thought it would be. I always thought 30 was so old! But, I don't really feel old. :o) I think having a tiny little baby helps me feel younger... Maybe? Or maybe it is the great friends I am surrounded with that made turning 30 OK. Whatever it is, it was a great Birthday!

7AM (still in my pj's) Tim and the Kids gave me my birthday present. It was wrapped in Katrina's shirt....




(Forgot my camera) Some girls in the ward planned a lunch and we all got together and hung out and ate lunch and they asked me a list of questions. Some questions I didn't mind answering and some were embarrassing. We had a good time though. I got pretty flowers!



That evening a couple girls and I went to Cheesecake Factory for dessert. (Deb White, Monika Peterson, Jessica Sherman and Me!)


Godiva chocolate brownie with ice cream. It was sooo sweet! It made me sick and I only ate half!


Friday night Monika offered to watch our kids so Tim and I could go on a date for my birthday. Tim let me pick where I wanted to go. Normally I would pick Stoney River, Macaroni Grill, Outback, Longhorn, Chilies or Ichiban but I didn't feel like any of those. I wanted to go back to Cheesecake factory for their awesome Grilled Chicken Toastada Salad. YUMMY!!! (Of course we took Katie. I can't leave her with a baby sitter yet.)

Baby Blessing

Our sweet Katie girl was given a name and a blessing on Sunday the 13th by Tim. The circle consisted of 9 other people, all friends and one family member. Tim's cousin Aaron Shoemaker who also lives here in Georgia and drove an hour to be there. It was really neat, we feel so blessed to have such good friends who are our family away from family. Tim said it was funny to see the shock from his cousin Aaron when he said Katie's full name because we always call her Katie, Aaron didn't know her full name. We named her after her great grandma Palmer(Tim and Aaron's grandma), Kathleen Ray Palmer, fist, middle and last name. Even the correct spelling, that's a must if you are going to name your child after her great grandma :o). It was such a sweet blessing. I had tears. He blessed her to be like her great grandma, loving, forgiving and to see good in everybody. I am especially grateful for the forgiving part because I know I am going to need allot of forgiveness from her (and the other kids) as I am far from a perfect parent and make allot of mistakes. There was more but I can't remember it all. It was such a special day.

Yes, Katie is giving us smiles now. She is growing so fast!


Her dress...

A whole lot of us...Family pictures...

I'm so exhausted from all this picture taking....

Peace out....

First day of school

I know, I am behind... Tyler is now in 3rd grade and Kenna is in 1st grade. They are loving their new school. I am so glad. They have good teachers and good friends. Kenna fell asleep on the bus last week. That was scary for her. After the bus driver droped off all the kids he brought her back. She was in tears. But, she now goes to bed when we tell her to.





Katrina enjoyed a quiet day with mommy and Katie. She got to watch whatever tv show she wanted and got to have Katie all to herself.