Happy Halloween

Kennedy dressed up as a little pumpkin. 
She would make the most delicious pumpkin pie…. we might just have to bake her and gobble her up!

Raven Rock

It’s always fun moving to a new area and exploring nearby sites. Last weekend we discovered a State Park just 30 minutes from us.
Raven Rock State Park is a beautiful area that borders the Cape Fear River. The park is named for a rock formation that juts out along the mountainside. According to the information center, the rocks span 1 mile along the length of the river and are 150 ft high. It’s a landmark of the “fall zone”, an area where the hard rocks of the foothills meet the soft rocks of the coastal plain. (No, I did not copy that. Those facts came right out of my head).

I know how much everyone loves hearing all the details of this park… so I’ll continue…

It’s scattered with trails. We chose the 2.6 mile trail. The narrow trail was just beautiful. My mother-in-law just sent me a new field guide… which of course we brought along (oh, you didn’t know we were field guide junkies?), we were able to identify some deadly poisonous mushrooms…. like the Fly Amanita and Destroying Angel. We couldn’t figure out the last one, but decided it was best not to eat it, just in case.
 

View from the outlook. I was excited to see a few fall colors from up here. We have mostly pine trees and I’ve  been really missing the yellow, orange, and red tones of Fall.

When we got to the river we had to trek down 100 steps….

and we found ourselves at the end of the trail. Thank you Shawn, for pointing it out to us. And just about breaking Kennedy’s neck.

We had a ton of fun climbing and exploring the rock formation.

Seriously, I had to zoom in this picture so you could see the joy on their faces.
  

Check out the roots of this tree!

Shawn and I with our red-head baby….

What fun… the kids ran around for a while, then it was time to hike back.  We’re definitely going back… we’ve got more trails to hike.

A Visitor

We recently had our first of MANY visitors (right?)
My mom came to stay with us for a couple of weeks. She left last week and I am still getting re-acquainted with my washing machine. She was so helpful and we loved her company. I'm in the works of convincing her to move out here. I even found a 3500 sq. ft. house with in-law quarters and an indoor pool!! In my mind there is no question about it. But she has something called a ‘job’, which is so constraining!

We shopped, took a lot of walks, sat around talking… pretty ordinary stuff. But we had fun. My mom proved to be quite the acrobat on the trampoline… 

The boys are in school all day, so Reagan got some serious quality time with her Nana. We went to library story times, the park…. my mom even brought her tap shoes to practice dance with Reagan.
 
(I promise, I did not stage this adorable picture)…

(oh, and don’t mind the barren walls in my house. My goal was to put stuff up while my mom was here… didn’t happen. I’ve been here 3 months and can’t get a darn thing done besides clothe and feed my children.)

This girl got some quality time too.

On the weekend we took a drive up to Raleigh to check out the city museums. Now, when they call it “the Smithsonian of the South”, they’re not joking. There are several FREE museums within walking distance of each other, and they are amazing! Shawn and I were able to check out the North Carolina Museum of History. We could have spent an entire day there, but we only had 2 hours.
When we went up with my mom and the kids, we visited the Museum of Natural Sciences……(you totally can’t read it on the rock, but that’s what it says)

This place is awesome! I think I uttered, “I can’t believe this is free,” about a dozen times! There are 4 floors of exhibits. It truly is fantastic (and free).

The kids loved the entire museum, but we had to tear them out of the Discovery Room. Everything in there was hands on. There was a see-through bee hive, spiders and insects,  which Jefferson loved. Reagan and Grant tried on 10 animal costumes each, and insisted I take a picture of every one.
 

Outside the museum was a walkway featuring plants and cash crops of North Carolina.. We’d never seen a cotton plant before and probably looked like  bunch of fools going wild over something so common here. My mom was especially fascinated. In fact, she screamed one day on a drive and made us pull the car over so we could look at cotton. Here she is, posing with the famous plant itself. And on the drive home, she snickered and showed me the inside of her purse…. full of cotton. Why was I not surprised?

Next time we’ll have to tackle the Nature Research Center. We only had enough time to snap a picture in front of the GINORMOUS globe jutting out from the building.  

It was a lot of fun having my mom visit, and it was hard to see her go. I’m sure she’ll be back… but she has vowed NEVER to come when there is any hint of humidity.

A Special Blessing

A couple weeks ago, Shawn was able to give our dear Kennedy a blessing in sacrament meeting. It was a very special day for her. We enjoyed dressing her up and treating her like the little princess that she is. She was given a beautiful blessing, which she ‘coo’ed through. The circle of priesthood holders was small… the Bishopric, a member of the Stake Presidency, and a friend of Shawn’s.  Here are some pictures of the day….

I think she was excited to be given a name and a blessing.

With her Daddy…

I feel so lucky to be holding this beautiful girl!

With her Nana…

Oh, we love this girl and passed her around all morning, taking pictures with her like she was a celebrity…
or more like a precious Daughter of God.

My Baptism Day

by Jefferson Skinner

I was baptized on September 29th. I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I decided to join because I believe in this church and I could get the Holy Ghost after being baptized. The Holy Ghost will help me in my life and I wanted this gift from Heavenly Father. I’ve been excited to be baptized and have been waiting since my birthday. So I was happy on this day.

I was happy because my dad could baptize me. This is me and my dad before I was baptized. I had to wear these white baptism clothes because they are all white. Even my underwear was white. So, the clothes are white to show reverence. We are pure and clean when our sins are washed away, just like the color white is clean. Black is like sin, so I wouldn’t wear black clothes to be baptized.

I wrote in my journal all about how I felt when I was baptized already. But I will tell you a little bit.
I felt clean. I felt the spirit. I knew I was doing the right thing. My dad gave me the Holy Ghost. I know that the Holy Ghost is with me now.

This is my church. I’m a member of this church now. And I think it’s pretty cool to be a member.

I got my own scriptures for a gift. It has every book, like the Book of Mormon, Holy Bible, Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine and Covenants. I’ve never had all of the books before and have wanted my own scriptures for a long time. It even has gold pages.

I have a CTR ring I can wear to help me remember to choose the right. Choosing the right is important to do now that I am baptized.
and I got my very own hymn book. It has all the songs and it’s small enough to fit in my scriptures.

This is my family. I was happy that my Nana could come. I wish my cousins and other family could have come, but they live in California. But that’s okay because Jesus didn’t have a lot of his family there when he was baptized.

It was a special day for me and my family.
I can’t wait ‘til Grant and Reagan get baptized. I will be a good example for them until they do.
 

3 Months Old

Kennedy is 3 months old now… 3 months and 7 days to be exact. I can’t believe how old she’s getting, and at the same time, I can’t believe how little she is. (does that make any sense?) I finally took her for her 2 month well-child last week. Having her get shots was as awful as I imagined it would be. She weighed in at 13lb 6oz. She’s in the 60th percentile for length and weight.

Kennedy is quite a delight. She learned to smile a few weeks ago. She also ‘coos’ at us all the time…. she’s a social girl. This has everyone excited to hold her, kiss her, squeeze her, and smother her. Reagan especially can’t keep her hands off Kennedy. “I just love her too much”, Reagan will say, “and I just want to gobble her up!”
Maybe I’m biased, but who wouldn’t want to gobble up this sweet face?

With her adoring brother.

She has bright blue eyes and reddish hair. She’s got a little bit of craddle-cap and gets dirt stuck between her toes and fingers every day. Her little hands are starting to lift to reach for things. She’s got a tickle spot under neck that if you run your finger gently across it will make her giggle. She LOVES being wrapped up in her carrier, or held in your arms. Bath time is her favorite time of day (and mine). She is a pure, irresistible bundle that we snuggle all day and night. Everything about her is delicious!
 

The Beach

A few weeks ago (I’m really slow on blogging these days) we took a trip to the beach. It’s only 2 hours away, yippee! I’ve never lived further than 2 hours from the coast and I don’t know what I’ll do with myself if that day ever comes.

We asked people we knew which beaches were the best they all said Carolina Beach and Myrtle Beach. But one person said ‘if you want a less crowded beach, go to Kure.’ Done! You say the words ‘less crowded’ and I’m there!

We parked our car and started walking towards the beach. When Jefferson saw the shoreline he frowned. He told us, “I’m not going to have any fun here. There’s nowhere to play. No rocks or trees to explore.” The boys are used to the west coastline surrounded by nature. This was a wide expanse of sand, just sand!
It took about 5 minutes for them to warm up to the area and dive in. The east coast did not disappoint!

It was this girls first trip to the beach.

The kids spent the entire day running from waves. The waves were huge (compared to what we’re used to). These pictures are deceiving… they’re huge!

Jefferson, being swallowed by a wave. And Grant, getting knocked over.
 

Shawn taught the boys to bodysurf. After that, I couldn’t get them out of the water (including Shawn).  

Watch it, watch it, watch it…. RUN!
  

Reagan showing off some of the broken shells she found. We also had a crab crawl over to us and burrow himself in the sand at my feet. I didn’t get a picture of that because I was too scared he would bite my feet off if I stepped down to get my camera.

Look at this beach babe!
 

We girls stayed safe on the sand while the boys were swimming. But that was short-lived. As it got later the tide started to come in, and each wave got closer and closer. We kept having to move our things back, until we couldn’t go any further. Finally, enough was enough! I called it quits when a wave completely flooded us! And I mean, that thing washed up higher than our folding chairs! Luckily I have super-human skills and was able to pick up the baby, my camera, and our dry clothes in a split second. Everything else was SOPPING WET! (I think the trunk of our car is still wet from everything)
And I still had to beg Shawn and the boys to leave.

Nearby was Fort Fisher, so we stopped by. Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort during the American Civil War. It protected the vital trading routes of the port at Wilmington, North Carolina, from 1861 until its capture by the Union in 1865. (I may or may not have copied that from Wikipedia)

I did in fact enjoy touring the fort, although I was still a little water-logged.
The kids walking down from one of the mounds that held the cannons.

The view from above…. you can hardly see Shawn.

Walking the trail.

Reagan insisted on pulling Kennedy’s stroller the entire way. I’m sure Kennedy was thrilled with the bumpy ride.

It was a fun day. I love all things historical and can’t wait to explore more sites along the East. And definitely more beaches, especially now that “the beaches on this side of the US are more fun to play in,” according the Jefferson.