Georgia Pictures

Okay, I have finally uploaded pictures from my camera for you all to see!

This is a picture of Zuri's room.  It was the best one I could get with the most included in.  What you can't see is a little dresser, a double-door closet, and the rest of the crib.  In the picture Zuri is saying "hello" into the play telephone.

This is a view going down the street--we don't live at the top of the hill, but close to it!  This is our little (ahem,or not so little) sub-division--there is also a pool! 

This is why it feels like we live way out in the country.  We take this road to get to the highway--which really isn't all that far, just a couple of miles.

Today we went to the Mall of Georgia--it's the biggest mall in Georgia, and oh boy it it huge!  We spent a good few hours just walking the mall and didn't even get to everything!  Zuri had a blast, though, because it is very kid friendly.  They have outdoor events at the amphitheater/entrance--you can see they were setting up for an evening event. 

Barnes and Noble.  Didn't go inside, but I am dying to!

There is a ground fountain, kind of like at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake, that kids will play in during the summer.  Zuri was very excited to play--we didn't let her get too wet today though!

Inside the mall there were all kinds of cars and trains and things for her to play with.  There was even a train that went around inside the mall (kind of like what they have at the zoo).

The mall is only about a ten to fifteen minute drive from our apartment.  There is a four way stop just before the highway, and if we continue straight instead of going left onto the highway, approximately the same distance (give or take a few miles) is the largest lake in Georgia, lake Lanier.  We didn't even see the full lake because it is so big and not a round shape.  It has many fingers and even a few "islands."  Zuri had fallen asleep in the car so we didn't get any shots of her playing in the water, but here are a few of the lake!

I am very excited to spend lots of time at the beach, and to see more of Georgia!  There are some really nice parks and exciting things to do around here!  More pics as we go!

Georgia

Well, today was our first official day in Georgia.  It is really gorgeous out here and the weather is oh-so nice.  I am really glad we missed the snow storm in Utah!  Zuri and I flew in yesterday and today was spent settling in and exploring.  We are in the town of Buford, which is on the outskirts of Atlanta.  It really feels like we are in the country with all of the trees and rolling hills around.  Our landlord, Linda, was telling me that Buford is all relatively new because it used to be all farm land.  Only within the last ten years or so has it become more developed.  The town itself is really more just residential subdivisions.  We are within a fifteen minute drive from the Mall of Georgia--which happens to be the biggest mall in Georgia, and wow, is it big!  We have so much within a ten minute drive around us, but it really feels like we are way out in the country.  Really cool!

Our apartment is nice and cozy.  Even though we are in the "basement" we are above ground and have lots of sunlight.  Our door opens up into the backyard and we have garage access as well.  Linda painted Zuri's room and decorated it all nice for when we got here.  No surprise, Zuri destroyed it within the first ten minutes.

The weather here has been beautiful, although we are expecting rain this weekend.  Yesterday, when we flew in, the temperature was in the mid-sixties.  Today it was around seventy-five with a light breeze and sunny skies.

Zuri, for her part, has been enjoying herself.  She loves exploring the house and playing in her new room.  We brought her pop-up tent and she has made it her little sanctuary.

The flight went fairly well.  We had a layover in Denver, Colorado, and she was slightly fussy through the first flight.  While we were waiting in the terminal for the flight from Denver to Atlanta, Zuri was entertained by the moving walkway.  We rode from one end to the other for a good forty minutes.  When it was time to board the plane, Zuri threw a tantrum for a solid fifteen minutes.  That was the hardest part of the trip.  She wanted to go back to the moving walkway so badly, and she didn't want to sit still on another flight.  Finally, she calmed down as the plane started taxiing down the runway.  Before we were airborne, she was asleep and slept the entire two and a half hours we were in the air.  Such a blessing (I bet the other passengers were mightily relieved as well).

I will have pictures to post later, but as for now, I really should get to bed, because although it feels like it is only ten-thirty to me, it is really twelve-thirty!

Goodnight all!

Zuri turns 2...well, almost...

...but we celebrated her birthday this weekend anyway!  I know we are two weeks early, but we wanted to celebrate while we were still out here.  Friday, J leaves for Georgia, and Zuri and I follow the next Wednesday!  It is coming up so quickly!

This weekend has been a crazy one.  J's parents came up Saturday with the truck and we got everything out of our apartment that is too big to fit in our car, which means that for the next week we are sleeping on an air mattress and without all our furniture!  We are still in the midst of packing so our apartment is a complete disaster.

Saturday we also celebrated Zuri's 2nd birthday!  Wow, how the time flies.  It is hard to believe that it has been two years (okay, almost) already.  We had the party at Nielsen's Grove park (ah, sweet memories).    The day turned out to be very nice, with some light clouds rolling in later in the afternoon (a stark contrast to the last party we had there).

 Before (and after) the party, we were moving.  Here is a shot of Zuri and Adilynn just before we went over to the park.


The next few pictures are of the kids playing while we were waiting for everyone to show up.  

Adilynn, Zuri, and McKenzie playing.

Zuri not only loves to slide down slides, but she also loves walking up them as well!  Here she is with Perla.

Zuri and McKenzie sliding down the twisty slide together.

Zuri and McKenzie playing

Jennifer and Perla pushing Zuri on the swing--I think the swing is still Zuri's favorite!

Adilynn on the swing.  She wouldn't smile for the camera.

 My mom made the cake for Zuri--a princess castle!  So cute--and so yummy too!  Zuri was more interested in touching the candles than blowing them out--I had to do the honors quickly before she burned herself!

Enjoying cake and ice cream!

Opening presents!

At the end the kids all had a water fight with the squirt guns.  Zuri's favorite part was drinking the water from the squirt gun!  Funny kid.

On the way home from the party...she didn't want to leave and threw a fit.  She also didn't get a nap at all so she was extra tired.  "It's my party, and I will be ornery if I want to."  This was actually a better look than the one she had originally.  I was laughing so hard while trying to get my camera to get the picture that she perked up a bit trying to figure out what was so funny.

When we got home, the guys wanted to get the last load done and the ice cream truck came around!  Zuri had her first experience with the ice cream truck--and she loved it!  She got an orange creamsicle--her favorite flavor.  Adilynn got a Dora ice cream.

You would think after all the excitement of the day that Zuri would crash when everyone left--not so!  She wanted to race around with her balloons...

...and drink out of her new sippy cup!  If you look at her right hand, you will see she has a sock on it.  For whatever reason, she loves putting socks on her hands!  She is also really interested in shoes lately.  She can't get enough of taking them on and off and racing around with one shoe!  It is really entertaining to watch.

Daily Herald

J has been very busy during his first year of graduate school.  On top of the normal school work, he was nominated co-leader for a class project in which they developed a 12-Step manual specific for teens with addiction problems.  The manual is a gift for agencies and the community at large.  Professionals in the community can take the manual and create support groups for teens.  It is essentially a manual for Teen AA.

The Daily Herald wrote a short article on the project and it made front page!  Here is the link so you can see for yourself!         http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/central/provo/article_8fc690db-cf49-5cb3-93a1-0cb00a02b3a4.html?mode=story

Terrible Two's?

Tantrums aside, this is a fun age (and oh boy does she have the tantrums--when she gets really upset she stomps her feet really quickly; if you have seen me do 'happy feet' with her, it's a lot like that only upset).  Zuri is three weeks away from turning two (don't worry, I already have a nostalgia post planned--lots of pictures from birth until now).  She is beginning to really communicate (in words we understand) and doing the cutest things.  Her new favorite words are "hot," "ow," and "all done."  Here are a few highlights from today:

She is a social butterfly and absolutely adores other kids, so when she saw a girl a little younger than she across the aisle from us during Sacrament meeting, she kept wandering over to the girl and giving the girl her toys to share and play with.  When I sat blocking her way, she would find all sorts of ways to get over to the girl.  It was quite entertaining to watch her little mind work and her persistence on trying to get past my blockade.  She has gotten quite sassy--or will be when we can understand all she is saying, but she makes it clear in her tone!  We have a video demonstrating what I mean which I will upload another time!

Another funny thing happened today, Zuri is beginning to distinguish good and bad smells.  We keep the diaper pail in the downstairs bathroom and J was taking out the garbage.  I went to put a new garbage bag in the pail and Zuri followed me into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.  Now we don't have a fancy diaper genie--just a little ten dollar diaper pail from Wal-Mart, so while it traps the odors in, the pail itself is rather stinky.  I got the liner in and she gave a little whimper.  I was washing my hands and turned to see what was going on and she seemed fine.  Next thing I know I hear hear her do a little dry heave.  I grabbed her and raced out of the bathroom.  She was fine after we were out of the smell.  I knew it smelled bad, but I hadn't realized it was that bad!  I laughed so hard when I realized that the smell is what had caused her to almost throw up!  She has never given a negative reaction to smells before so it caught me by surprise!

J was in the kitchen making ice cream and he was mixing everything together and banged the wooden spoon against the bowl, which made it sound like someone was knocking.  Zuri looked up at the door, jabbered something incomprehensible to me, and when I didn't respond, she grabbed my hand.  She proceeded to lead me up the stairs to the front door and grabbed at the doorknob.  She kept looking back at me like "duh, Mom, aren't you going to answer it?"

Conference Weekend

Conference this year went by really quickly.  We didn't get as many pictures as we usually do, partly because of the cold weather--we weren't outside as much as normal, and partly because Zuri didn't feel like cooperating this time.  Conference was really great and the talks were really enriching--just what I needed!

She did really well on Saturday, played quietly through the first session while we all sat in the Tabernacle.  She fell asleep in the opening hymn of the afternoon session and slept all the way through. 

While the guys were in the Priesthood session, Zuri and I made a detour to my mom's house and visited for a few minutes.  Dallas and McKenzie had recently gotten hamsters and Zuri was fascinated.  She kept wanting to pick them up and play with them.  It was adorable.  Dallas was very patient with Zuri!

Sunday, which was Easter, Zuri was a little ornery in the morning.  She had a meltdown during the first session.  J and Zuri went to a luncheon with J's family for the final session and she slept through the whole thing (I had given J explicit instructions to get lots of pictures--go figure!). 

Here are a few pictures that we were able to capture from the weekend--enjoy!

 

Saturday...taking time to enjoy the flowers

Petting the hamster with her Uncle Dallas

Sunday morning in the car on the way to Conference.  She has this thing about taking her shoes off when she is in the car.  Just like her mama!

It had snowed overnight.  Cool shot of ice on the flowers

Before she got ornery...Isn't that the cutest dress! 

Playing in the tabernacle.  She was running back and forth between J and I before the first session began.

 

Walking with Daddy after the Sunday morning session.

Virus/Email Hackage

I am following suit in writing a blog about my recent email issues.  For those of you who weren't aware, I opened an email from a trusted source and it had a link.  Thinking nothing of it, I clicked the link, and since then my email has been spamming the link to all my contacts.  I have run five different virus/malware/spyware programs and none of them have found anything on my computer, which leads me to believe that the website basically hacked my email account.  So, for the time being, my new email address is the same as the old, just with gmail.com instead of hotmail.com.  I actually set up the gmail account when I started this blog, and never really used it for much, but it will be my primary email from now on.

I am sad to be leaving the hotmail account because I have had it for fifteen years.  I am working on a way to get it unhacked (haha I know that isn't a word but it works).  Word to the wise: never click on a link unless you know for certain what you are clicking, even if it comes from somebody that you know!

A Prom Like No Other

Gunnison Valley High School has a Junior Prom like no other.  The whole community is involved.  Every Junior in the school attends.   If someone doesn't have a date, one is set up for them.  At the prom, there is an official promenade in which partners are lined up by height.  The promenade is done twice so that parents on both sides of the bleachers can see it.  Then there is a dance with the parents after (Father-Daughter/Mother-Son).  Afterwards they can dance with their dates and pictures are taken as the parents disperse.

J's brother, Cory had his Junior Prom a few weeks ago and while Josh and I didn't have the opportunity to attend, Zuri did!  Here are a couple pictures that were taken.  Cory's date was crowned Prom Queen, and he had a great time!

All the girls!

Cory with his two nieces--Zuri and Adilynn

Like Father like Daughter

The other day J took a break from studying and pulled out the Playstation.  When Zuri saw what he was doing she grabbed the other controller and "played" along.  It was so cute that I grabbed my camera and got a picture!  She is definitely her father's daughter!    :-)