So Far in 2011

I can't believe it's already MARCH & less than 3 months left til we meet our baby boy! Crazy stuff. Time is flying by!

Here's a list of some of the fun things we've done so far:

-Had a blast with the Adams for New Years.

-Registered for baby stuff for our little boy.

-We had a snow day followed by some pretty intense ice.

-Tiffany & her girls came to town for MLK weekend.

-the Greenburgs visited & we babysat Grace & Cage.

-Stake Conference (we have an amazing Stake President)

-Game night with the Carron's.

-We've become even more addicted to Netflix.

-Found out we're going to Disney in December with the Ensign crew! woo hoo :)

-I started doing Prenatal Yoga & I'm loving it!

-Went to the Columbia Temple to be with Karl, Onna, & the boys for their special day.

-Made Chicken Cordon Bleu for the first time ever. (So delicious!)

-Tried Vietnamese food for the first time (Dinner with the Malans).

-Made funnel cakes with the Crolleys.

-Had a Superbowl party with the Malans & the Crolleys. (Ate WAY too much but it was totally worth it)

-Had more snow. Fortunately NO ice & it melted quick.

-Got Moose a hair cut. (she needed it BAD)

-Celebrated Valentine's Day with my lovely hubby

-Took my Sugar Test & passed! :)

-Kyle started training for the Bridge Run.

-We've planned a trip to Mt P in April (SO excited!)

-Spent an evening with Bryce on his way to SC.

-I endured a gruesome stomach bug... (I was so close to making it thru this entire pregnancy without puking!)

-Got Cabin Fever in the mountains of North GA with Kyle & some friends. (a post on that later)

We've had some fun & I know there is more to come! This weekend we are heading to Hartsville to visit family & to have our first baby shower! We love going home even though it can be a bit exhausting with so much family to see. I will post on our weekend later too. :)

White Day After Christmas!

So I guess we didn't dream enough about having a 'White Christmas' so we had a White DAY AFTER Christmas in Hartsville. We heard all the hype about the snow coming but didn't chalk it up to much of anything because too many times the 'snow' turned into a flake maybe two. Well needless to say we were pleasantly surprised! Kyle woke up to a few text messages stating church was cancelled. He looked out the window & there it was! The snow was EVERYWHERE! Kyle woke me up by singing "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas." You'd think we were little kids because we jumped into the warmest clothes we had & ran out the door. (Well we did wait for the Jackson girls) Moose LOVES the snow! She thinks every snow ball thrown & snowman made is just for her to chase & destroy. We even let her off of the leash just to roam around in all the beautiful snow. She had a blast & in the end had little snow dreadlocks! :P I was very nervous that Moose was too cold (we forgot her sweater) but at one point in the day she was just laying in the snow like it was the warm beach sand-it didn't bother her one bit!

We played with the Jackson girls for a while then headed over to Karl & Onna's to play in the snow with Christian & Ethan. There was a major snowball fight with all of the boys. Onna & I kept a low profile on the deck & documented the hilarious occasion. I'm not sure who won because Kyle ended up with frozen hands (no gloves), Christian got a snowball to the face so tears came after (poor thing!), & Karl got snow down his shirt & pants (good job Onna!). My guess is that Moose & Ethan won! :)

I had a blast watching Kyle play in the snow with Moose & our nieces & nephews. Its great to still be a kid at heart!

Christmas 2010!

Boy did we have some fun but VERY busy Christmas! I won't bore you with all the details because when I say busy-I mean BUSY! So I'll just post a lot of pictures. :)

Christmas Eve we did the traditional Ellison Christmas gathering. It was awesome like always! Great food was had-I loved the ham, tater mush, & rolls! It's always great catching up with all of your relatives & enjoying the Christmas spirit. We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus & celebrated with a delicious Red Velvet cake. Papa read Luke 2 while the youngest kids dressed up & acted it out. (it's weird to not be apart of that anymore-I'm growing up!) Then we had a couple of presents passed around. The greatest gift given was to Papa from my cousin Sundi. It was (drumroll please....) A Superman Snuggie! Oh it was so awesome!

Christmas morning started with a bang! I started waking up at 5am hoping the Jackson crew would be ready to rumble! Finally at 7:30 the girls were up & Santa did come! :) We loved spending the morning with them! The rest of the day was spent with my brothers going to & fro from Kevin's house to Aunt Renee's house. It was busy but fun. I loved reminiscing & making new memories with the family!

We can't wait to see what Christmas 2011 will be like with our little baby!! :)

Camping 2010!

Let me tell ya- Kyle LOVES this time of year! He loves the leaves changing & the cooler weather- especially now that we live closer to the mountains. (I like this time too but I'm more of a spring time-beachy kind of gal) Kyle planned 2 camping trips for us so far & both were a blast!

Our first trip was to Amiacola Falls State Park (an hour+ north of here) where it was just our little fam (Kyle, Moose, & myself). We had a great weekend just soaking up the outdoors, cooking over a fire, & just enjoying each others company. We did a little 'hiking' (we had Moose so we couldn't do anything too intense). It actually turned out being over 500 wooden steps up the side of a waterfall. Moose wasn't a fan so she was carried most of the way. Also that weekend we stopped at a pumpkin patch (my first experience ever) & loved looking at all the gianormous pumpkins (I felt like Charlie Brown), dried corn cobs, gourds, etc. It was probably a highlight for me. :) Oh & we did our first Geocaching!

Camping Trip #2 was to Hamilton Branch State Park near Augusta (a good halfway point between us & Hartsville) We had Marc & Pat, Karl & his 2 boys, along with Tiffany & her girls join in on the camping fun. It was a blast being able to enjoy each other's company! Our tent is always put to shame by Karl's cabin-tent & Marc's mega dome but I'm sure we will be investing in a bigger tent soon-this one is getting worn out. Anywho! We had 2 campsites-one was for eating, cooking, & the warm fire while the second was for sleeping. We played hang man with the kids, ate all kinds of yummy snacks, the guys played frolf (frisbee golf), froze our booties off at night, trekked it to the bathrooms, & enjoyed the sunrise/sunset right on the lake. All in all it was a blast & we hope to keep the tradition going! (This was our second year)

Happy Camping Everyone!

Labor Day Wknd 2010

Kyle & I couldn't wait for Labor Day Weekend to get here. We were SO excited to go home & see the fam! Since the last time We haven't been home since June & during that time some things have changed but the good news is there is MORE family around. Now Kyle has 2 sisters (& their families) living with his parents so Ensign Headquarters (EH) is packed but full of fun & love!

We rolled into the ville Friday night & hunkered down at Karl & Onna's house (which they recently purchased & fixed up-SO cute!). Saturday morning I headed to the big EH to dig into some yummy breakfast casserole while the boys played frisbee golf & the kids went to a primary water party. I felt like a hobo most of the day. I had my pj's on until dinner time & everywhere I went I had my bag of clothes & shower stuff with me just in case I needed to actually look presentable. (Don't you love that you don't have to dress to impress with family?! Maybe it's just me & I'm sure they hate it but it's too late because we'll be together for eternity! ha!) Anywho Kyle & I did get to spend some time with my mom, Kevin, & Trevor. Most of Kevin's family was battling sickness so by the end of our stay we were actually able to see the whole fam! It was great seeing Mom & Kevin. I hate being so far away from them.

Saturday night marked the start of BATTLE DIP Ensign style! Let me tell you-there was some fierce competition! Kyle & I made our usuals (you can't mess with greatness) pineapple cheese dip & Kyle's chili cheese dip. I don't remember exactly who won... I think Onna's Black Bean Raspberry Dip brought down the house. Some of my other faves were Bryce's (the dark horse) Buffalo Chicken Dip & Karl's (idk what it was called but it was hot as fire dip)! haha The top 3 will be showcased at Thanksgiving! Word on the street is a Battle Dessert is in the works... After stuffing ourselves with dips we played some fun games-Celebrity & the Couch Game.

After church on Sunday Kyle & I enjoyed 2 amazing home cooked meals. Lunch was with my family & some of the good eats were: brown rice, roast, peach pie & ROLLS! Kyle also had his friend, Tom, eat with us. He just got a job with Sonoco & is new to the area so he joined in on the fun. After eating way too much we waddled on over to the EH to have dinner. Some of the highlights were pretzel salad, funeral potatoes & ROLLS! Can you tell I LOVE carbs/starch?! That night we were supposed to go to Kev & Sue's house for games but their kids were still battling illnesses so we played some more games at the Ensign Headquarters. The games: Curses, Rukus & Murder (very Sunday appropriate huh?) haha

Monday morning started with the Ensign tradition of washing all the cars. It was good teamwork & we had some fun music to listen to while we worked. The boys played another round of frisbee golf & before we knew-it was time to pack up & head out. :( After spending some time with Mom, Mama, Papa, & Uncle Gary we grabbed Moose & made on our way back to ATL.

All the kids love Uncle Kyle & his iPhone!

Can't you tell they are closely related?! Just look that their Ensign calves! :P

Mom loving on baby Lauren!

This is just a peek into the fun we had!

Weekend Update!

This weekend was a BLAST! Rachel & I kicked if off with a Lady Antebellum & Tim McGraw Concert on Thurs Night. We ended up having way better seats than we anticipated & got so close to Tim that we could almost smell him (haha gross) All in all the concert was amazing. Rachel & I decided that Country Music concerts are the best-end of discussion.




Most of Friday was spent on the beach & it was amazing! I loved it! What's not to love? It was great being outside & soaking up some sun with my bffl. That evening the Ensign/Jackson crew came to town! We grabbed some yummy 5 Guys Burgers & headed to park to play. The girls had a blast as us ladies watched a wedding. The guys-Kyle & his dad-went on a Father/Son overnight camp out to enjoy some man time. I hear that had a great time minus the fact they shared an air mattress for the night! haha

Saturday morning we were off to the beach again. This time I had lots of SPF in tow! :) After a couple of hours of playing in the sand it was time to head back for lunch. Unfortunately the fun came to an end when the Ensign/Jackson crew had to make their journey back home. We love when they come to visit-just sad that it only lasts for 24 hrs & that its one of their last times visiting us here on the coast. :(