State Capital

Right after returning home from South Carolina (we didn't accept the job offer by the way),
I got to accompany my daughter on a field trip to the state capital, the nature and science museum, and the zoo. It was quite the whirlwind! Here are all of the kids and a few teachers on the steps of the state capital.

Because I ended up helping a kid who had some fear of height issues, I let my daughter loose with the camera.
She did a pretty good job!

Looking up

Picturesque staircase

Looking down

Exhibition, and misc photos

Within the past couple of months, we celebrated my birthday...
I love it when my kids create a masterpiece for me!


Our daughter's somehow got hold of the camera and decided to take a few shots of themselves - including everything around the house as well.
She has a purple tongue...kind of like a giraffe.
Pretty flexible eh?

Our oldest daughter got to participate in a cumulative project she's been working on for several months.
Her group explored shelter as it relates to poverty.
She performed some community service, and then helped put together a very compelling presentation.
Part of the presentation was to have people take a crack at sleeping on some newspapers on a concrete floor.
They did such a great job!!

Easter weekend 2011

It looks like I'm going backwards in time! I've missed so much lately!
Our cousins came to visit.
We took the kids to an easter egg hunt. UNDER WATER

They had a blast.
They had to dive for their loot!

After lunch, we pulled out the sugar egg molds and the kids went to work decorating their own panoramic eggs!

The fabric counter

I don't know where this photo came from...it just magically appeared.
Our daughter is getting baptized in a couple of weeks, and I decided to make her a dress.
This lady was crazy. I don't know why they stuck her in the sewing department. She knew nothing about sewing - and only had boys.
She also was working at one side of the counter. There was a sign right in front of her saying that we had to go to the other counter.
We did. There, we found a bell. She totally knew we were there, because I'd been asking questions all along.
She refused to help us until we rang the bell to request her service.??

While I had every intention of sewing a brand new baptism dress for my daughter, due to the scary lady and her lack of help, I didn't get enough material. I had to order it online, and it got here too late.
I'll be adding that to the summer projects list.

If I lived in South Carolina

If I lived in South Carolina, this is the neighborhood I would live in.
It is in perfect proximity to our church, the best schools, and it is beautiful and very peaceful.
I spent an entire day with a realtor, and this was my favorite area.
We'd definitely have to put in a swimming pool though.


And of course - I'd have to have several magnolia trees in my yard. I heart magnolia trees!

After church on Sunday (we went to a couple of different wards to check them out) we
drove over to a nearby lake. We had a little picnic on the side of the road while killing some time before our flight left.

Here's my awesome view of the earth from my airlplane window. I'm sure the fellow passengers thought I was a nut, but how can you go up that high and not think about what things must look like to Heavenly Father, and how different his perspective must be. The things that seem so important usually aren't.  Or maybe this picture just reminded me of home.  Lots of fluffy white snow and a crystal blue sky!

Boats and plantations

This struck my curiosity as we drove past. So - how do the boats get up there?
How do they get back down?


We decided to head out and sight see. Here's a country lane.
Off to the right is the Dreyton plantation.
We drove through a couple of plantations, but in the end decided not to take any tours due to the lateness of the hour.

Check out the spanish moss on this cool tree!

I met a local woman named Mary Morgan while in South Carolina. She mentioned to me that all of her friends (southerners) refer to the Civil war as "The great waah of no-then agression" (you really have to say that with the correct southern accent to get the full impact).
Guess this sign sort of tells it like that too.

Another Ocean!

We decided to spend a day exploring near the coast. We headed to Folly Beach, and watched someone fishing off the pier pull this fish in while we waited for lunch on the pier.

I know, enough with the pictures of food. This was my ALL time favorite food of the trip. It was a breakfast entree, but the waitress recommended it. Poached eggs with grits and a creamy mushroom spicy sauce served with corn fritters with tomato jam. It was SO amazing!

Our beach photos.

Unfortunately, after spending an hour or so at lunch on the pier, and after getting the kids some souvenirs, we headed out to the water. After about 10-15 minutes, we decided that beaches are just SO much more fun with our kids.
We decided to check out some other features of the area and headed out.

More South Carolina

On Friday we spent the day driving around, orienting ourselves with the area, and in the afternoon we headed to the nearby temple.  We had a great experience there, and then headed out for some grub.

On our way there, we got completely stuck in a raging rain storm and ended up pulling off the road to wait it out.

We ended up at a barbecue place that had been recommended.

I ordered the buffet so that I could try out everything and then some.  It was so fun.  I ended up trying out grits with shrimp gravy (you kind of mix it together - good thing the kitchen helper guy was there to explain how to put everything together!), shrimp, squash casserole, broccoli casserole, okra, hash, bbq pork, mac'n'cheese (with pimentos - which is all the rage apparently).  Just a taste of everything.  My husband went for the ribs.  We loved trying to figure out what the side dishes actually were - when my husband ordered okra, the waitress said 'oh yeah, something normal'...we laughed since okra isn't really normal for us.  

Hash & Rice, Collards, Rice & Gravy Okra, Sweet Potato French Fries, Succatash, Okra & Tomatoes...yep..those were all of the foreign foods.  And, it just seems weird to have cabbage on a menu at a restaurant - unless it is in sauerkraut on a hot dog!

FRIED PICKLES???!!

You know you need to blog when your friend frantically calls you to let you know that they can't get in to read any new posts on your blog...and you respond with chagrin that there just haven't been any new posts.

We've been so very busy lately getting ready for so many things that have been going on that while I've thought about blogging, I honestly haven't had the chance.  

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I decided to take a quick weekend trip to South Carolina.  We loved it, and it truly was like entering a new world.  Complete with a little bit of culture shock!  

I spent the week and a half prior to our trip making plans to fly grandma into town and making plane, car, and hotel rentals.  I couldn't believe how time consuming it all was.  Then trying to pack 4 days into a very teensy weensy carry on.  It worked, but definitely took some work.

Grandma came in on Wednesday afternoon, and got to watch gymnastics practice, and we headed out - leaving at 4:30 in the morning hoping to make it to the airport on awful roads during a pretty nasty snowstorm.

After a layover in Atlanta, we arrived in Columbia, South Carolina around 4:30 that afternoon.  It really is tough to pack when you are leaving a winter snow-storm and heading into 83* with humidity.  It was beautiful.  And I really loved the SC airport.  White, light, and bright with rocking chairs to relax in while waiting for a flight.

After getting checked in we decided to explore the food and headed to a nearby restaurant.  Dinner was definitely a new experience.  We asked what some of the regional foods were and ended up with an appetizer of fried pickles.  No joke.  They kind of grew on us truth be told.  Dill for those of you wondering.

I had something akin to chicken fried steak with sawmill gravy and I have no recollection of my husband's main course.  We sampled sweet potato souffle, sweet potato fries, okra, and collard greens.  Everything we tried was completely foreign - and fun to try.

Fried pickles

Hot pepper pecan fudge we sampled

Fire drill and a cake

This evening we had some friends over for dinner. At one point, my husband stook up to let someone get past, or to let the cat in or out (I'm not sure and frankly it isn't relevant). What is relevant however is that he got up, and pushed his chair back behind him. As he stood, we heard a horrific screech. Honestly, it sounded like our cat accidentally getting under foot, but 100 times worse.
We all turned to see what had made the dreadful noise, and saw a cloud of something floating in the air.

My husband had accidentally pushed his chair into the fire extinguisher that sits near the fridge on the floor. For some reason (or another) the pin had been pulled, and when his chair pushed back, a nice stream of fire extinguishing material coated (literally) our kitchen floor.

The very dark spot just above our rug, is where the rug was moved - showing the floor's true color - sans fire retardant.
Please don't notice the chopped spinach pieces on the floor that my daughter dropped while she was helping out in the kitchen.

I love that our guests were pretty unflappable. After a jolt and a laugh, they all continued to converse and eat as if nothing had happened. Never mind their teeth chattering and the shivers as they tried to keep warm while we tried to clear the air.

As you may know, (or may not) we've recently been playing with cake decorating techniques.
While we've done frosting roses in the past, they've always been with royal icing.
I also tried out a basket weave technique that I'd never done before. Next time, I'll make my weave much tighter. It isn't amazing, but not too shabby for my first time. The buttercream roses were definitely a new adventure as well.

This is what my birthday cake made by me looked like.

Yeah - that isn't the best side, but it was the best photo for posting...

Sorry, there's no number in there if you were looking for it. Just a random rose pattern. For the record, my husband and kids did make me a cake on the actual day. I just haven't off loaded any pictures yet.

Easter Sunday 2011

Check out the new lenses on this kiddo!  We were very excited to get some new lenses for this little girl to see better with.


Here are a few pictures from our Easter Sunday:

 

Easter Hairdos

Both girls actually let me fix their hair.  While this is a common occurrence with our youngest - I generally only get to touch our oldest's hair once or twice a year - if I'm good (and of course, there were conditions)  :)  

After church we had some friends come over for dinner.  We had our traditional homemade 'taquitos', and then our english trifle.  Yes - while we know that it isn't really a normal Easter meal, we decided 3 years ago to eat what we really like - I think the kids made the decision - and it stuck!