Camping on Colombus Day weekend

Me and the Boys at High Falls Campground.
Last weekend our family took the opportunity to go camping. The boys had a week off of school starting with Colombus Day, and Steve got that day off of work also, so we planned a trip.
First thing I did was call Jessica. She has been saying she wanted to go camping, and we really wanted her to come with us, and she agreed! So, she flew in Friday night, and we headed out to High Falls Campground which was about 2.5 hours away the next morning.
Our adventures started right away. We needed a little more room in the van, so Steve and I discussed tying stuff to the top of the van. He was uncomfortable about it, but I assured him that Dad always did it, and things would be OK. So he tied all the camping chairs and then two tupperware bins to the top. One tupperware had ALL the food in it, and the other had ALL the cooking camp stuff which included flashlights, the water pan for over the fire, all utensils, cutting board, knives, etc, etc, etc. All the important stuff to make eating at the campground bareable. Well, when we took off ,Steve said he was not comfortable with how the bins were tied up there, and said we needed to go to a store and get bungee cords. I of course was irritated because I thought he should have been able to do it with rope, plus Steve makes us go to the store almost EVERY time we go on a trip. I just wanted to get on the road, and not have to take an extra half hour plus to go to Walmart. So, we happily headed down the road, and about 20 miles in to our drive we hear this weird sound. And Steve says, "There goes all the stuff!" Sure enough, we looked behind us and there were cups, tableclothes, marshmallow scewers and that big water pot bouncing all over the freeway. It was terrible. Jessica and I told Steve to back up a little and we would see what we could salvage. Now remember we are in Georgia. There are just not that many people in Georgia, so don't picture a California highway when I tell this story. It was a pretty mild freeway, but had enough traffic that people were running over the stuff spread across the road. So, while Steve took down the other stuff from the top, Jessica and I ran up and down and across the freeway to see what we could save. Amazingly we saved about 70% of the stuff. Most of the dishes, some of the flashlights, the tupperware bin and some other stuff we were able to pick up and take with us. The water pot was smashed and we were very concerned about what that had done to someones car. Steve eventually got nervous about us running around on the freeway, so we left.

The rest of the camping trip was basically a normal trip. Very nice weather, great company having Jessica there, the food was Fabulous, and we all had an awesome time. Jessica mentioned how much easier camping seemed with our family than it did when we were growing up and this was a very easy camping trip. Tents went up quickly and easily and other than the trip to Dollar General to replace some important items it was pretty easy. I forgot to mention earlier that the food tupperware bin did not go anywhere. For some reason it stayed put on the top of the van, so that saved us a bunch of money.

Now, Here is our camping trip in pictures:

{Jessica and the boys setting up}
{Steve bought a hammock for this camping trip, and it was a hit!}

{It is so nice to have Jessica around. They are headed off for a potty break.}
{Jessica brought Diary of a Wimpy Kid for Steven to read, and I haven't ever seen him absorb a book like he did that one. He loved it.}

{The next morning, of course we had Eggs in a Frame. Steve and Jessica made a great cooking team, and made some delicious breakfast.}
{We had to keep a close eye on this little terror during the trip. He was in his time out chair most of the time.}{After breakfast, we headed over to a hike of the falls and had a wonderful time. It was a beautiful area, and a very nice day.
Nathan found this tree that he thought was interesting. He thinks it looks like a 4}

{While on the path we came across a black snake. Steve knows a lot about snakes because he used to catch them all the time when he was growing up. So, he was excited to pick it up and show it to the boys. He carried it on the hike with us for a good ways, and then found a sunny spot to put it down.}


{Jessica, by one of the scenic look outs.}


{Brandon chewing on a piece of pine straw. Otherwise known as a pine needle. Depends on where you are I guess.}{The second and last night of our camping trip it rained a bit during the night. Enough that Jessica, who was sleeping "under the stars" had to get up and go to the van to sleep. So when we got up in the morning, we started to take down camp. If you remember my last camping blog you will remember that we got rained on pretty hard, and Steve and I had to take down camp during a down pour. We learned our lesson this time, and cleaned up while we had that break in the clouds. It drizzled on us a little, but we got it cleaned up just before the down pour. Then we headed to Shoneys for breakfast and some hot chocolate.}

More of the story

So.... as I read through my last blog I realized that I left out a very touching part to my story. My friend Sheila who came over to help me clean up the water told me what she was doing when I called for help. I thought this was so neat. She was in charge of teaching Sunday School that Sunday, and was preparing her lesson. The part she happened to be reading about was the story of the Willie Handcart company who got stuck in the snow on their way to Utah. A bunch of the saints who had already reached Utah got together a rescue party and went and saved this group of people who were all freezing and starving to death. The question the lesson suggested asking your class is how can we be like those pioneers and "rescue" others who may need us. She said I called right as she was reading that part. Isn't that neat? I loved that she shared that with me, and then told the story in Sunday School. She was a great example of how we can rescue our friends and neighbors.

Now more on the floor. A guy came Monday morning with 8 awkward annoying machines that he was using to dry out he floor. They had to stay on for three full days. He did say the floor will have to be replaced and it wasn't until the next day that I wondered why is he drying out the floor if it has to be replaced? But now that it is dry, I am thinking we may just leave it in the house until it gets really bad and then replace it at that point. That way I don't have to deal with it right now. Cause the floor really doesn't look bad to someone who doesn't know what happened and isn't looking for the damage. We will just get the money from the insurance and wait until we are ready to switch it out.

Oh and some of you asked how the boys didn't notice the water. They like to watch their show with the lights off, so the room was pretty dark and they were all sitting on the couch. So, it was just flooding the floor underneath them. Plus... when they watch TV they are pretty glued to it.

Now for something a little more exciting. I LOVE the cute little phrases and songs that kindergarten teachers come up with to help the kids learn, or obey or whatever. Jacob was singing the cutest one the other day, and I thought you would all like to hear it. He forgot for the first couple seconds what he was suppose to be singing. And I think this song is sung when they sit down on the rug for story time.




Here are the words in case you didn't catch them.

One Two, buckle my shoe.
Three Four, bottoms on the floor.
Five Six, zip up your lips.
Seven Eight, sit up straight.
Nine Ten, we're ready to begin.

Nathan has a cute phrase that they say at school too. This could really be put to good use by us Moms.

The story of the flood

I typed this story up last week, and then it got erased when I was just about done, so I ignored it for the week because I was frustrated, but now here it is....

Last Friday was the last night of Steve being out of town. The boys and I went to a High School Football game because they like to introduce the flag football players at one of their games, so Steven was being introduced. We had a pretty good time, but left at half time because the boys had lost interest. When we got home the boys asked if they could still stay up late. On Friday nights they get to stay up late and watch TV if they have had good behavior at school that week. (It has been a great incentive for Nathan.) At about that time Steve called from his hotel, and I wanted to talk to him about the day, so I told the boys to turn the TV on. This was about 9:00pm. ThenI went in to the office and got on the computer while I talked to Steve. I talked to him for about ten minutes , and when I was done talking I stayed on the computer because the boys were all occupied watching their late show. Right?? WRONG!

At 9:30 I hear Brandon start whining so I went to find him. I walked through the family room towards his room, and on my way I stepped in a puddle of water, took another step and stepped in another puddle of water. I looked towards the bathroom and Brandon was locked in it, so I ran and turned the lights on and my family room was FLOODED! Apparently for that half hour Brandon was not watching TV like I thought he was, instead he was flushing toilet paper down the toilet and watching the water flow over the top. It had to have been running for like twenty minutes. The bathroom, hall, and family room were covered in water. I couldn't believe how much there was on the floor. My bathroom has a tile floor, but the hall and family room have a very nice hardwood floor.

So, I quickly made all the boys get a towel and start soaking up the water. That was a joke! The towels were dripping before they even got to the floor. The boys would bring me their towels and I would ring them out and send them to soak up more water. After about 15 minutes of this with little progress, and my hands hurting from ringing out four towels every minute I decided to call for help.
My backyard neighbor is a member of the church, and a dear friend to me, and I knew she had a carpet cleaner. So, at 9:45pm I called her and told her the situation. She came right over with the carpet cleaner, and worked for an hour to get the water up. She probably filled her two gallon tank fifteen times, and had to dump it. Like I said, So Much Water. So she and I took the rugs outside, and I mopped up the rest and we went to bed. Thank heavens that is over. Right? WRONG!
Over this past week I have noticed the floor cracking and then getting little white spots all over it. Everyone I have talked to said I definitely needed to call my home owners insurance and find out if there was more damage done to the floor. Well, I finally did that this past Friday, so one week after it happened, and when the lady came to check it today she said there is definitely water still under the floor. It has probably just pooled under the wood floor, and is sitting on the concrete slab, and rotting the wood floor from underneath. Aarrgghh!
I am so mad at myself for not paying more attention that night. This is going to be such a headache to have the floor ripped up and a new one put in, not to mention the $500 deductible we are going to have to come up with.
I was pretty calm the night this happened and was very ignorant in thinking that once we soaked up the water the problem was solved. What was weird to me was the slight panic attacks I had in the middle of the night for two nights after this happened. On Saturday night Jacob came into my room because he was scared and he was kneeling next to my bed asking if he could sleep with me. I woke up and looked at him and then started yelling, "Where is Brandon, do you know where Brandon is!!??" I remember being very afraid that Brandon was in danger.
Then the next night at about 3am I woke up and jumped out of bed, and was quickly headed to Brandon's room to see what he was doing. Steve talked to me before I got out of our room and asked what I was doing. I then became conscious and realized that I was panicking for no reason. Weird huh??

So...if you are still reading this we need some opinions. What kind of floor would you get for your family room. I guess we have the option to change if we want, and I may want to do that. The hardwood looks beautiful, but it scratches SO easily and it stresses me out every time something gets slid across that floor. We thought today about carpet of pergo or hardwood again. Does anyone have an opinion for me? I would love to hear it.

The End

Sunday Night Entertainment

Last night the boys decided to do a "puppet show" and did a great job. They went in their room for about five minutes, came up with a story, and some props, and then practiced a couple of times before performing. Good job Steven, Nathan, and Jacob.
(please ignore the wires all over the wall, Steve is getting to it. ;))




Since the camera was out I decided to take a picture of grumpy boy who missed his nap. Earlier Steven somehow broke half of his binky off, but it seems to still be suckable. Enjoy. Oh, and yes he does have a black eye that is healing from Jacob scratching him with a hockey stick right under his eye, and he has a scratch on his head from falling off the lowest bench of the bleachers at Steven's football game Saturday.

Football and Firetrucks

We are really enjoying the fall weather here in Georgia. Not quite cold enough yet for hot chocolate (that is for you Felicity) and it is still humid, but it's not as hot and we can tell the cool weather is coming. Yea!

Through much discussion Steve and I decided to put Steven in football this year. He didn't really want to play at first because he doesn't know much about the sport, but Steve talked him in to playing. We just thought it would be a good way to get him moving, and we wanted to see how he would do. Steven actually loves sports and wants to be a sports guy, he just doesn't have the natural talent and he doesn't seem to have it in him to practice until he gets good. We keep trying with him though. :)

So, last week they started off the football season by having the teams run through the tunnel and then Steven played his first game. It is nice to have him in a sport again even if it does complicate our night life.



Now for Brandon. The poor boy is just bored a lot of times at home unless we are out at stores spending money. I have come up with a couple solutions. Once a week we are going to go to the school and have lunch with one of the boys. We went to eat with Steven today and Brandon loved to be with all the kids. And Steven loved teasing Brandon in front of all his friends.
The other great thing is playgroup has started! Yea! I love playgroup because it does allow Brandon to play and learn things, and it let's me hang out with my dear friends. Last Tuesday we went to the fire station and got to see the fire trucks and see the fire man in his gear. It was lots of fun and Brandon was pretty impressed with it.

Jacob has had great behavior in school this week and so he is the star student of the week. That means he gets to bring home Max the monkey to share the weekend with him. We will take pictures of things we do with Max and then do a little scrapbook page to put in the Max book.

Nathan is doing well also although there is nothing specific about him. His behavior in school is getting better and his grades are always Great, he is a smart boy. Basically he is just loving life.

Our Temple Trip

As an anniversary surprise to Steve, I arranged for us to go to the Columbia, SC temple last Friday night. It is about a three hour drive, and because of that we haven't gone very often. So, this time I arranged for us to go overnight. I had each of the boys stay at a different families house from the ward.'They went from after school on Friday, until Saturday afternoon. It is so wonderful to have a network of friends that you trust to leave your kids with, and who are willing to do it. It also made it a fun weekend for the kids as well as for us.

Of course as with every time we try to go to the temple it seems there is trouble. I spent all week finding people to babysit, booking a hotel, and getting things ready so we could take off on Friday. On Friday morning I checked the temple website to get the address, and happened to see the schedule of closed dates. And lo and behold I see that the temple is closed on Saturday. The very Saturday we were planning on going. So, of course I go into panic mode and do what I can to try and get us there Friday night for the 7pm session. As I am calling people to see if the kids can come a little earlier, two of the four families say they have sick kids in their home. And not just a little sick, but a fever, throwing up, and soar throat sick. But being un-intimidated by germs as I am, I said if they would still take the child, it wouldn't bother me to leave him. They both agreed to still take the child. Whoo hoo!

So, Steve and I are in the car by 4pm and headed to SC on Friday afternoon on Labor Day weekend with no time to spare. Needless to say we did NOT make the 7pm session. We got to the temple at 7:15 and were able to do sealings for about an hour which was absolutely wonderful!

What we found out after it was too late was that there is a short cut to the temple. Steve and I trust our GPS a little too much, and thought that it would take us the best way. Well...it took us fifty miles out of the way to keep us on a freeway. In Georgia, often times the fastest way to go is on the back roads. So, we took the fast way on the way back, and it cuts out between 30 and 45 minutes from the drive. Enough time that we would have made it if we went that way Friday night.

After the temple on Friday, we went out to eat at Outback which was delish. Steve got a fish dish since he is trying to eat healthier, and I got the chocolate cheesecake for dessert since I was out to eat as an anniversary celebration. :) Saturday morning we slept in until 9, then played a game of cities and knights on line which is our favorite thing to do as of late. Then we got up and drove back to the temple for some pictures. Next to the temple is a very nice church bookstore that we browsed at for a while including an outdoor yard sale they happened to be having that day. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful overnighter. Then we drove home the fast way and were home by 2:30.

So, it was an eventful trip, but it all worked out beautifully in the end. The boys all had a great time, and the families said they had no problems with any of them. Brandon wasn't the best sleeper, but they enjoyed him other than that. And miraculously none of us are sick this week even after the exposure we had over the weekend. We do have good strong immune systems though. It must be our lack of using hand sanitizer. haha

Definitely a FABULOUS anniversary get away.

9th Anniversary

Yesterday (Sept. 1st), Steve and I celebrated our 9th anniversary. I felt a lot of gratitude this anniversary for all the wonderful things that have happened in my life since I married Steve. Many anniversaries just pass by without much thought, but this one was a little different for some reason. I am so happy in my life right now. I love being a Mom of four boys, I love living in GA, and enjoying the people in this area, I love our ward here, and MOST of all I LOVE my husband. He has done so much for my life that I just couldn't have done without him and has helped me to learn and grow in so many ways. Our wedding song lyrics said

You were meant for me, and I was meant for you.
Nature fashioned you and when she was done
You were all those good things rolled in to one.

And I do think we were meant for each other. I know there are other people we could have each married, but we are a great combination. We seem to be moving at the same pace, and that makes living with someone so much easier.

So, for our anniversary Steve took the day off. Yea! for Steve's endless days off. haha We had a nice day, and then for dinner he made his chicken curry which is one of our favorite meals. We then took a break from anniversary stuff so we could go to a student showcase night at the school. (the kids got to show us some of the work they have done so far this year) We walked to the school, and then took a detour on the way home, and walked around our mile long block behind our house.

When we got home Steve gave me beautiful flowers, and a delicious cake. He even bought a number nine candle to celebrate the number of years. We all enjoyed the cake as a family.

The great thing is... the fun is not over! I have planned a surprise for Steve on Friday that is going to be great. It is not elaborate or anything, I just don't manage surprises very often, so I am excited that this might actually stay a surprise until Friday. Cross your fingers for me.

I do LOVE Steve so much and all that he does for our family. I have confidence in him to lead our family down the path we want to take. He is a loving husband, and a wonderful example to our boys on how a husband and father should be. I am so glad we are together forever.

{the boys}


{bad picture of me. beautiful flowers, and cake}

Our Week

The boys have been in school Three Weeks already. Can you believe it? We have all adjusted wonderfully, and all three of the boys are enjoying school. I used last week and this week to clean the carpets in my house. (I did one room a day or every other day) And boy do they look good. Now I can check that off my list and move on to one of the other million things I want to do to get organized or to clean. Ahh the life of a mother/homemaker. I do love it!

So, I failed to mention a very exciting event here in our great town of Brooklet. Every year they have a peanut festival which is a very exciting event for such a small town. Apparently Georgia is a huge producer of peanuts, which I must admit I did not know until we moved to Brooklet. So, we went last Saturday morning (the 15th) and enjoyed the parade and then went to the festival for a little bit. We were lucky because that week had been quite hot and Terribly humid so we were happy that it was overcast with no rain during the parade. A nice treat.

{There is a family in our ward who lives on the main street in Brooklet, so some families from the ward meet at their house for the parade.}


{Army guys from Ft. Stewart}




{Take note of what this tractor driver is doing while he is supposed to be posing in a parade. By the way, most of the parade is of people driving tractors. Some of them were very old school too.}






I also mentioned in Brandon's birthday post some of his two year old habits, so I took some pictures of some of them.

{Since he kept climbing out of his bed, we got him a new one. This lady was selling matching beds that were this toddler bed and a twin bed. Now Jacob and Brandon have a whole new bedroom.}


{Setting the table, with all the silverware in the drawer}


{I wasn't sure where Brandon was the other day, and when I went to find him, this is where he was. He had taken off his pants, and diaper and climbed up, but forgot to get rid of the binky. He is NOT potty trained by the way. }



{A couple weeks ago, I went to check on him at night, and I thought his blanket was completely wrapped around his head. Luckily when I came to get it off, it was just lightly placed over his face.}



One thing that we have just started to do this past week is going on a nightly walk. Steve is making a great effort to lose weight, and he has asked us all to walk/jog with him each night to get some excercise. We are all very much enjoying it, and the boys are loving being able to ride their bikes off of our driveway. Right behind our house is a brand new subdivision that is coming along very slowly. As we all know, people just aren't buying houses right now, so it only has three houses in it right now, and it is quite a big circle. We are able to walk around that with no traffic to bother us. It is like having a high school track right in our own back yard.

{Note the outfit. haha, I didn't feel like putting pants on him, and he does have some crazy colored socks.}




{During one of our walks this week Steve decided to roller blade. It just about killed him, but he never fell down, and he roller bladed the whole time. Way to go dear.}




And here is a picture of Steven with his newest hobby to pass the time.

Brandon is TWO

Well, Brandon has turned two even though he has been a bit of a terror for a couple of months now. Of course he is still a joy to have in our family, but the boy gets in to everything, sneaks out of the house, crys whenever we are in the car because he is asking me for something and I have no idea what, thinks he is potty trained(which is so not the case) and has learned how to get out of his crib before I was ready for him to.

But I am happy to report, he had a GREAT birthday today. He started it off all wrong by getting out of bed at 4:15am. He came in to my room asking for a binky and after I found one for him, I thought he would just cuddle up and go to sleep with me. That wasn't the case, after telling him to go to sleep 15 times I finally took him back to his bed where he waited another half hour, and then went back to sleep. We did get a nice nap today though.

So, the birthday festivities started this evening after dinner. We had our wonderful neighbors over for cake and ice cream. They have one son who is Nathan's age and he loves to come to our house. They are also members of the church, so we have become great friends.



We sang to Brandon, and then had some chocolate cake with butter cream frosting.
Here is that wonderful smile of his.

Brandon was so embarrased from all the attention. It was so funny.


After cake we went in to the family room to open presents, and Brandon was loving it.

The Nielsens (neighbors) gave Brandon a book and a cool little car


He got a sesame street toy from Grandma and Grandpa Allred that he loves!


And from Mom and Dad he got a hammering toy and a two year old race track.




He also got cards from Grandma Great and the Seraydarians. Thank you all so much for remembering the littlest Hughes boy.

Brandon is such a wonderful boy and I am so happy he is in our family. He is talking more and more and I love to hear how he pronounces his new words. He is having a hard time with all of his brothers in school, and has decided that we need to read books together all day. Which has been kind of hard, since I have decided that I want to clean the carpets in the whole house. :) We will be starting a fun preschool group at the church in a couple of weeks, and we will both really enjoy that.

We are so happy Brandon is part of our family!

Back To School!!

The boys went back to school on Monday, and I am thrilled. The school year here is a little different than most of the country, but I love it. They have the full months of June and July for summer, and then during the year they have about 6 week-long breaks. I have really enjoyed it, and it lets you travel when the rest of the country is still at school.
Some of these pictures came out blurry dang it!

(Jacob started kindergarten with a nice juicy cold sore on his lip. Poor kid)


(Nathan started 1st grade without his chipped tooth. We pulled it out the night before. Remember the one he chipped in Germany like 4 years ago? Ya, that is finally gone)


(Steven in 3rd grade, and loving his backpack)

Our summer vacation was tons of fun, and we stayed very busy, so it felt like we got a good break.

Jacob started Kindergarten this year, so now I have three in school and one home!! Can you believe. It is so exciting for me, and I can't wait to see what I can accomplish. Although Monday Brandon and I went to Walmart for school supplies, and Brandon cried the whole hour we were in the store!


The boys all loved their first day of school, and were excited to go back again today. They seem to have wonderful teachers, and we once again want to say, we LOVE Brooklet Elementary.

Other exciting news for me is that I was called as the first counselor in the Young Women's at church. I can't believe I am out of primary and going to be tested in a different area. I am very, very excited, but also pretty nervous. I talked to the YW president yesterday, and she was telling me all of my responsibilities. WOW There is a lot that I am in charge of. And right off the bat I am suppose to be going to an activity Wednesday night, but Steve is working a 3-11pm shift for the next two weeks. So, I asked our college age neighbor if she would sit with the boys for me for a couple hours. She agreed, so it looks like I will be able to go. I am thrilled.