Fun hairstyles compliments of Aunt Gabby

The girls both love to have their hair braided and unfortunately for them I can't do it. They so enjoyed being with Aunt Gabby last weekend as she can braid! She did their hair every day before we went to the water park and it looked so cute. I watched her and am going to attempt to learn to do it myself. I told Taylor for now I will do it at home and once I can do it w/o it looking messy she will be allowed to wear it in public. Until then she will have to settle for wearing it around the house or having Aunt Gabby do it when we are together :)

Smokey Mountain Wilderness Fun

We had such a wonderful time this past weekend with Matt's family while at the Smokey Mountain Wilderness in Sevierville. Both the kids and the adults had a blast playing in the water park. There was enough to do to keep all the kids busy. It was also small enough that the older kids could wander about on their own and we could hang out with the smaller ones and not worry. Taylor was big enough to do all the slides so she enjoyed hanging out with her cousins.

The bucket that dumped water every few minutes....Madison hated this!


Matt and Caleb "racing" Taylor and Riley


The hot tub was Kelsey and Caleb's favorite place to be!


Nona and Caleb having a blast in the wave pool!


They had a ride called Surf Rider where you could body surf or surf while standing up. All the kids (well all but Madison and Shelby since they were big enough) gave it a try. They all did well too. Gabby and I gave it a try but there is no evidence. I wasn't very good at it.

Corey


Riley


Haley


Caleb....love the look of excitement on his face!


Kelsey was so excited too!


Taylor loved doing this and was really good at it too!


Don (Matt's brother) gave the surfing a try


He wiped out though


But got back up!


Corey gave it a try too


but also wiped out!


We also did quite a bit of playing on the Wii. Some nights the adults didn't go to bed until 3 am b/c of Wii tournaments!

Nona and Don Wii boxing


Haley and Corey playing the Wii


Caleb and Kelsey's turn


Riley and Evan's turn

What will she be?

Future Nascar Driver or Future Pit Crew Member....you decide?

Snowed in with the Tomlinson's

Last Saturday we decided to head out to the Tomlinson's since the roads were so clear...little did we know how bad it was in Powell. The roads were starting to get icy over there and we weren't able to make it up their driveway. We got about halfway up and that was as far as we could get. Aaron even tried to pull us up with the 4 wheeler but it just wasn't happening. Matt ended up reversing and getting stuck in the yard b/c you couldn't see the driveway. Aaron had to pull him out with the 4 wheeler. It proved to be an interesting start to our evening with them. We had taken our things to spend the night so we just settled in for a fun. We enjoyed soup, sledding and hot chocolate for 24 hrs! Aaron's sister and her kids got snowed in with us. They had come over earlier in the day and weren't able to leave b/c of the road conditions. It was lots of fun. The next morning we got everyone bundled up and headed out for more sledding. They have the best hill in their front yard. We got airborne a few times. Madison wasn't as thrilled with the sledding....a little too fast for her but she was happy to make snow angels and throw snowballs :) The kids enjoyed sledding down the hill and having Aaron pull them back up with the 4 wheeler. They also enjoyed riding the 4 wheeler around the yard in the snow.

Can you find their driveway? I will give you a hint..the start of it is where our car is at the bottom of the hill!


Madison and Clara being silly


Taylor getting a ride back up the hill


The beautiful view from the top of their hill


Notice the determination in Caleb's face....aka his tongue sticking out.


April and Annabell headed down!


My baby girl enjoying the snow


Amy's turn


Amy and Aaron headed down

Snow Day 1

We had such a wonderful time playing in the snow! Taylor had 2 little friends from Girl Scouts spend the night on Friday. We took them to see The Tooth Fairy Friday afternoon and when we came out of the movie the world was white! When we woke up Saturday morning the kids were thrilled with the amount of snow on the ground. After breakfast we dressed in our snow gear and headed out. Hope and Chris even came over and joined us with their new sleds! After a snowball fight in the front yard and sledding down our hills we piled in the Expedition and headed to the park at the bottom of our subdivison. It has great hills and the kids had a blast. There was only 2 other families and a man with his dog down there so it was great! The kids had such fun soaring down the hills. Matt and Chris had a race....Matt won! Madison didn't like it too much b/c the hills were so big that you really flew down them. She did go down a few times with me but was happy to play on the snow covered playground :) When we got back everyone was cold and wet and so we came in for hot chocolate while Matt made us a snowman....what a nice daddy! We had such a great time.

The kids getting ready to head into the snow


The kids all scattering as snowballs bombard them!


Madison hiding behind a tree...she didn't like the snowballs being thrown at her


But she loved throwing them at people


Caleb had a blast sledding


And so did Taylor


Taylor and Uncle Chris racing


The hill on the side yard proved to be a great sledding hill




Me and Matt


Hope and Chris


Matt and Chris racing down the big hill at the park


And Matt won!


Matt building us a snowman


The finished snowman....he looks like he belongs in FL with the golf hat!