We decided to put our new trampoline in-ground! The guy Saturday morning to dig a giant hole in our backyard! He was so fast! It only took him an hour to dig the hole! After he was done, Tom, Cyndee and Amanda put the trampoline together and into the hole. All the neighbors came out with shovels and we all helped to fill in the sides of the hole so that the ground around the trampoline would be level. Later, everyone took a break to enjoy some Pizza Joint Pizza, before getting back to work! After about 12 hours, the work was finally done!!!

Cyndee's brother Patrick came to Atlanta last week for business and we were able to meet up with him a great little town called Madison, GA. This is a very old, historic southern town with dozens of antebellum homes. General Sherman did not destroy this town during the Civil War but unfortunately, many of the old homes and business district were destroyed by fire several times after the war. It was a fun visit with Patrick and we enjoyed the town. We hope that he can come back and visit us at the end of the month.

Natalie was born on Sunday August 16, 2009 in Augusta, GA. She decided not to wait until her due date and came 2 weeks early. She weighed 6lbs 6 oz and was 19.5" long and is very beautiful with lots of blond hair. She is so fun to have with and everyone, especially Amanda, wants to hold her. Amanda is always willing to change her diapers or clothes. We are truly blessed to have her in our family.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Tom ran the Marine Corps Mud Challenge at Fort Gordon and LOVED IT!!! The race was a 4.5 mile obstacle course that included running, climbing high walls and low-crawling in the mud. Got a few scrapes and bruises but ready to do it again next year. 4.5 muddy, sandy, and watery miles with 17 obstacles in 56 minutes. Not too bad for an old guy!

Dad decided to take the girls fishing today. This is the first time that we have gone fishing together and the girls were a little concerned what we would do with a fish if we caught one. When I told them that we would eat it for dinner, Amanda reminded me that we are not big seafood eaters:) Just as soon as we set up the pole and cast a few times, the rain started to fall...and then it poured and poured. Luckily we had umbrellas but it definitely put a damper on things. Besides, the fish weren't biting anyway. We did see a lot of turtles swimming around in the water and Rachel had fun playing with baby frogs. We will definitely try it again and I can't wait to see the girl's faces when we do catch a fish. Even though we didn't have any luck fishing, I was happy to hear that Rachel and Katie's favorite part of the day was fishing in the rain!

I love wood working! It is my way of relaxing! I love to take a piece of wood and turn it into something useful and hopefully beautiful. I am grateful to my dad (the master craftsman) for teaching me how to woodwork and for being my "advisor." This table (in all its colorful renditions) is my lastest project. I experiment with the color to see what would look the best. I made the table out of pine. So...what do you think? What is the best color for the table?

Okay, Okay...in Utah that usually means snow skiing, but you can also make a case for sledding. You just can't go wrong with a sled and a long, long hill devoid of trees and other objects that can make for a very sudden stop! We found the perfect hill and had a great time speeding down. The only problem was that we had to climb back up (exercise). The girls were not the slightest bit scared and took the sled for a spin several times. This is one time that I enjoyed the snow. Some of the outfits were pretty funny. Cyndee was wearing two different styles of snow boots and Kristin was wearing grandpa's Air Force flight suit. When your traveling from out of town, you have to make do with the clothes that you can find. Cyndee practicing on the "little" hill. Check out the outfit:)

Check out this video of Amanda and Matt fulfilling the "Need for Speed."


Great video of Derek's "roll and recovery"

We went to Utah for the Christmas holidays and I (Tom) can truly say that I don't like the cold, snowy weather! When we were driving to the Atlanta airport to catch the flight to Utah it was 70 something degrees. When we landed in Utah - it was COLD!
Needless to say, it snowed a lot while we were in Utah and the girls loved it. We had a hard time rounding up snow clothes for them but I am glad that they got to experience a winter like I had growing up here in Utah. They didn't seem to mind the cold at all. We shoveled the driveway and sidewalks several times a day and we even had a snowball fight and built a snowman. I have to say that Aunt Kari is brutal with the snow balls. I still prefer warmer Georgia winters though.





I love Rachel's hat in this one. Papa was teaching Rachel how to shovel snow and she jumped right in and did it with him.

We decided that it was time to take family pictures. I am sure that most of you understand the ordeal that it entails. Deciding what clothes to wear, getting the kids ready, getting to the "photo shoot," and then trying to get the kids to look at the camera and smile several hundred times. We went to the Savannah River Rapids and took lots of photos and several of them were actually pretty good. Here are a few of them.

Tom and I got invited to a Halloween party! We had such a great time. Tom made us dress up as Sarah Palin and John McCain. Would you believe we won 2nd place for best costume? Hilarious!
Amanda had a very big birthday party! She had so much fun!

Well it has been quite some time since we worked on this blog. We have all been really busy lately. I have been taking some online classes to keep my teaching certificate valid. I like learning, but have so many family responsibilites on my mind that it is hard to focus and to want to take the time to do it. Halloween was so fun! The kids had a blast. We went to our friend's house and had pizza before hand and then went trick or treating. The weather was perfect. We have so many good friends and neighbors here in Georgia. We feel so blessed to be here. Amanda was Glinda or Galinda, I'm not sure which one she was. Rachel was a little Kitty and Katie was a witch! We went back to our friends' house afterwards and did some Karaoke. That was hilarious!