2oth anniversary trip

For our 20th anniversary we took a quick trip to the mtns. We visited Dillard House, stayed at the Dillard Chalets, fished at Lake Burton, hiked several of the lookout points at Tallulah Gorge/ Falls, visited Lake Blue Ridge, shopped at Mercier's Orchard, and Weaver's in Blue Ridge...and on the way home checked out Amicolola Falls.

It was a quick trip, but a very fun one!

Here's a photo of Karl getting his fishing gear ready. He is trying out one of his new lures that my mom made him for Christmas. She made it out of a coke bottle top. She is so crafty.














The Beautiful falls at Tallulah Gorge.

Here we are with the falls in the background. We had to take a lot of "self-portraits" with the camera since we had no one else with us.

Here's Karl at Lake Burton. The lake is a peaceful place. To have the "at the lake" state of mind all the time would be awesome.

We had a fun time on our quick trip. I can't wait to take the kids back and tour the gorge with them. Next time, I want to be sure and go earlier and go all the way to the suspension bridge...I know the kids will love it.

Sunday Snapshot: One Step Closer!

A couple of weeks ago we received our I-797 notice of receipt. I have been stalking the mailbox daily looking for the fingerprint appointment letter. So far...nothing.

Hubby and I finally got a weekend away to celebrate our 20th anniversary this weekend. We enjoyed the mountains and the lake which I will post more about tomorrow. I was away from my mailbox for 2 whole days. When we arrived home late last night, I said, please let me check the mailbox. (I usually don't like to check the mailbox when it's dark and I can't see inside it!) LOL


But when I checked the mailbox, we had the mail I had been looking for!! ALL 4 appointments for fingerprinting..THAT's right 4 appointments. (hubby and I, grandmother who lives with us and oldest boy...all of us have to be fingerprinted. Our appointments are July 15! We have all the other documents for dossier waiting on go.                                                                                         
                                                                                              
                                                                                                     Yea, we are One Step Closer!

makin' a wheelie?

Dad says we need to wash the boat so we can go to the lake... most of us watch. I take pictures.

Karlie is a boat watcher instead of a boat washer.

 Shek decides he wants me to get a photo of him doing a wheelie..in action...after a kazillion tries and A LOT of exercise on his part I finally get a few....I had a lot of misses resulting in the "AW, Mom, that was a good one and you missed it."

Did you get it, mom? That was a big wheelie?...Nope I didn't get that one...try it again!

Finally, Mom got it on camera! It was worth the 100 tries and all the sweat!

A clean boat, a wheelie caught on camera, and one cool dad sitting on the boat! Good Times!

Honey's Deluxe Pound Cake!

Here is my grandmother. She didn't want to be called 'granny' when I was born...so I eventually named her Honey. I called her that because, my granddad, "Lovey" called her Honey all the time, so naturally I picked that up and the same for his name...she called him "loverboy" I shortened it to "Lovey". I spent a lot of time at their house growing up. Her kitchen always had some wonderful something going on. She had a cookbook that she rated her the recipes...anything with her handwritten excellent by it was always a hit.

Her Deluxe Pound Cake recipe came from that cookbook and in the margin the word excellent is written...also there are notes as to how she changed it to make it better and even the different amount of eggs you need if you are using bantam chicken eggs from your own chicken house.

Today, Karlie and I made this cake because I am supposed to send some goodies to youth camp with my oldest later in the week. We  took photos of most of the steps of this recipe just like we learned from Pioneer woman. It's a good recipe...my hubby's favorite!

Here's the recipe with all the changes she has incorporated over the years. I use 5 eggs since I do not have bantam eggs.

Here's the Ingredients!

Cream the crisco and butter.

Add the sugar and cream it.

Add the eggs...1 at a time and beat each for 1 minute!

Dry ingredients in a bowl!

Add flour to mixture and mix.

Add the flavorings to the batter.

Add the milk to the mix then some flour then some milk then some flour...you get the picture.

Look at that batter...get ready to lick the bowl! LOL

Grease and flour the pans.

In the oven 325 till done!

Sugar for the glaze.

Add water to sugar in saucepan.

Add almond and rum flavoring to the mixture bring to boil.

Poke holes in cake. Pour glaze over cake when cake cools.


This cake is so good...it will make you "slap your momma" and make your hubby kiss you on the lips (even more than usual)...lol

Sunday Snapshot: BUSY weekend!

This weekend was extremely busy. Friday night, we went to see Little house on the Prairie with Melissa Gilbert at the FOX. This was our anniversary celebration...however, we did take Karlie with us because she loves Little house and it was a once in a lifetime to see Melissa Gilbert starring in it. We all enjoyed the musical, well, me and Karlie probably enjoyed it the most!

Here we are about to leave for Atlanta!

Here's Karlie in her new dress.

We even have new flip flops for the occasion. Got to love new flip-flops.


The Varsity an Atlanta Landmark since 1928...gotta love those onion rings!

But, first we went to the Varsity. There's nothing like a chili dog, onion rings and a frosted orange. Both Karl and Karlie had a frosted orange with their meal...

Karlie and I can't wait to see Melissa Gilbert as "Ma" in Little house! I loved these books, and  tv series as a girl and now my girl does too. We even did the year long Little house homeschool curriculum a few years ago...

We are headed to the fox from the parking garage...I look excited,but does Karl...it is a musical afterall! LOL

The famous fox of atlanta...on our way in...a homeless man played the theme to little house on his trumpet for tips. Everyone loves Little House.


On Saturday, we all headed to Stone Mountain Georgia for AtlantaFest. Zach and his  band were performing in the talent search competition.  Of course we thought they were the best, but they did not win this competition. Here are some photos of the  guys performing.

 Left to right, Megan, bass;  Zach guitar;leadvocals; Jesse,  lead guitar; Harrison, drummer; Clark, keys; Spenser,drummer

After the morning competition we enjoyed the day at Stone Mountain park.

We enjoyed the train around Stone Mountain, the Barn playground, the Crossroads, the Skylift and the view from the top of Stone Mountain..we've been there a zillion times...( not quite a zillion) but a lot in the 20 years we have lived in the area...it's always fun. Later in the evening we enjoyed the concerts at Atlantafest. Zach's buddy, and drummer, Spenser, got him a back stage pass and met some of the performers...

                                        Here we are after lunch...all the dads with their kids...and my pop with his grands.

After a busy, Saturday, we headed home. Sunday we enjoyed Father's Day at church and hamburgers for lunch. This weekend has been jam packed, but fun. Whew! I think I could use a nap.