Happy Halloween!

I was so excited for our costumes this year. I basically picked them months before and have been trying to gather stuff for them since then, but of course, the night before our first Halloween party, I'm up late finishing up details. But you know what? I'd do it again in a heartbeat. The finishing details are always worth it!

2016 Primary Theme- Free Printables!

I was called to be our ward's primary secretary. I was put in charge of getting the binders put together for the upcoming year. They always have a binder cover, so I was tasked with finding a new one. The theme for this upcoming year in Primary is, "I know the scriptures are true." I looked online, but there was nothing to my liking, that was free at least. So I thought, I can design one myself! So I did. And now all of you can benefit from it as well!

I designed two different binder covers. The first is one that is more easily printed at home since there is a white border around it, whereas the second has a full bleed that you can print all the way to the edge. 

I've also included two smaller print sizes: 5x7 and 4x6

And lastly, I have included the shield logo to be used as needed/wanted.

Remember, these are all free for personal use. Enjoy!!

Download 2016 Primary Theme Binder Cover w/Border

Download 2016 Primary Theme Binder Cover w/Bleed

Download 2016 Primary Theme 5x7 Printable

Download 2016 Primary Theme 4x6 Printable

Download 2016 Primary Theme Logo

A chilly fall day

When October came around, I was ready for it to be fall. It was so warm, and I was aching to see how North Carolina would greet me with all of its trees turning beautiful shades of red, yellow, and green! I waited and waited. The only thing it greeted me with was rain, rain, and more rain. I assumed the leaves would be gone before they could even turn! Alas, a day without rain came, but it felt more like a brisk winter morning. But we had way too many days inside that we had to get out, cold or not!

I love living in a cul-de-sac. Our circle, that's what we called them, was where I played. There was hardly any traffic, which meant we could play anything from tennis, to kickball, riding bikes, to roller blading. I love that Nixon get that's same chance to run and play in our circle now.

Broken glass

Remember how I mentioned that Nixon is a bit of a handful? Well, the other day I was making dinner. Nixon was having a hard day, and I was trying to stay as patient as possible. He was getting in to one cabinet after another and it was driving me crazy! I finally heard him getting into the cabinet on the other side of the island where I couldn't see him. I realized he had gotten one of the cups out and was on his way out. I didn't want to chase after him because I didn't want him to run, so I walked up behind him calmly, he started trotting and I asked him to stop. I put my hand out and asked him to hand the glass to me. Just as I was about to grab it from his hands, he raised it up and smashed it on the ground! My blood went from normal to boiling in 1.5 seconds and I grabbed him and put him on the couch. How I kept from yelling is beyond me, but I remained calm and explained what he did and why it was wrong. I told him I loved him and gave him a hug (him still crying), and then he reached for Grammy. Of course.. I don't know if I should consider this a parenting win or a fail, but as least there were no stitches from the broken glass!

The cutest boy you ever did see

I'll be the first one to say that this boy is one of the most stubborn/strong-willed/ornery kids I've ever seen. In the words of Lion King, "He deliberately disobeys me." If I tell him to come to me, he looks at me, smiles, and runs aways. If I tell him to come out of a certain room, he looks at me, smiles, and shuts the door in my face. But even with all of his less than exemplary qualities, that are probably inherited from me, this kid's smile and giggle can light up an entire room. When he's happy, he can be the sweetest, most loving boy, that gives the best kisses and loves. I'm a little nervous for the "terrible twos" but I guess if my mom was able to wrangle me and my brother, I can do it too! We love you Nixon boy. 

Matthew's Alive

There's a festival here every year called Matthew's Alive. It's full of vendors and activities. We decided to head down with as a family and explore.

Only in North Carolina do you have NASCAR's at every event and festival. 

We got there too late to actually explore the inside of the fire truck, which I think Nixon would have really liked, but we settled for looking at the outside.

 After a couple hours, the boy was beat and needed to be carried off into the night by his daddy.

We enjoyed the festival so much, we decided to do it again, sans kid, with the Esselmen's! The festival had this awesome NASCAR simulation inside of a bus. All of us did pretty terrible except for Rylee. It just shows that I didn't miss a calling as a driver. It's too stressful.

We skipped the food because it was ridiculously expensive, but I did get an orangesicle Italian ice that was SOOOO good. I shared with everyone and they all agreed. But for our real food, we headed over to Moe's Original BBQ. Oh my word. I'm not a huge fan of BBQ but they had a smoked turkey sandwich that was AMAZING! I seriously even called over the busboy to tell him how good it was. If you're ever in Matthew's, North Carolina, it will not disappoint! On our way back from Moe's Rylee picked up her kettle corn, and Ethan grabbed a funnel cake to go, and we were on our way home. It was warm and sunny and the streets were alive with the sound of music! Seriously, there were some radio stations there and tribute bands on the stage. I love summer and I love all of the fun and festivals it brings! Until next year Matthew's Alive!

Happy birthday

To me! I was able to spend my 26th with this cute girl on a girls weekend in Florida last week and it was one for the books!

Edisto Beach

We made it to Edisto Beach later than expected because of the ER visit, but we were able to hang out with the family one of the houses for a few hours before all of the kids were done and ready for bed. It was ok though, because we had a whole day at the beach ahead of us the next day. 

There's not a whole lot better than a beautiful day at the beach.

Even though Ethan and Nixon couldn't get in the water, they were able to find other things to do on the beach.

 Some of the Group

Jonny, Mariah, Grandma Nuni, and Jessica

Emmett was Ethan's little helper

Ethan and Mike

Sweet little Colton

Colton and Nixon

Ethan and Jared taking their boys for a walk

Deacon and Mason

Shannon, Jessica and Vanessa

While the littlest ones were down for a nap, we went to a little inlet to find some crabs. I just have to say the beaches here are BEAUTIFUL! They look like they've been taken right out of a Nicholas Sparks movie! (I guess that's because that's where all of his movies are filmed.)

There were crabs everywhere! There were holes all over the place with piles of balled up mud next to them where they had dug down and would poke out there heads, check to see if the coast was clear, and would pop back down because they saw us. They were quick little buggers too!

We found a couple larger holes and happened to find this guy in one of them. It was pretty big compared to the other tiny little ones we had been seeing.

This view was truly picturesque. 

We had an amazing day, and although we only had the one day, it was one to remember. 

Emergency room take two..

The second trip was for Nixon.

We were just about to finish up packing for our trip down to the beach, when I went to get the stuff for my bathroom bag. All of a sudden I hear Ethan say, "Oh no." He said Nixon had tripped and hit the bed frame. Then I hear, "Oh no. Kaytlin get in here!" I run into the room and there's blood all over. I run to get paper towels, but then realize I'm going to need something more, so I grab a towel. We got it as cleaned up as much as we could and called our urgent care to let them know we were on our way.

When we got to the urgent care, they told us there was nothing they could do, so they sent us down to the pediatric emergency department. After this second trip to an urgent care, I've decided, unless it's a tiny cut that needs a bandaid, they're kind of useless.

We made our way down to the ER and they checked us in. They put him in this little gown that was so adorable.

He was in good spirits, so we decided to let him walk around the room a little bit. It was the CUTEST thing I've ever seen. 

I've never been in an ER with a child before, and I don't know if it is a common practice, but while they were putting on the liquid stitches, they had a Child Life Specialist, which is a fancy way of saying someone who tries to distract the child from what's really going on and to keep it the least traumatic that they can. She had a little spinning light up toy which worked great until the sting. Poor guy, as if the pain of smacking his face wasn't enough, evidently the burn of the stitches was pretty bad too. 

The doctor finished up and we were able to calm him down, and give him a little fruit bar. This is the face of a little boy who decided to take on a mean metal bed frame. I wish I could say the frame lost. 

We finished up the paperwork and was on our way. He had had such a rough morning, that all he wanted was some snuggles from his dad.

As I had mentioned before, we were packing up for a trip to the beach and after two trips to the ER, we debated scrapping the whole thing. We figured we could either stay home, figuratively licking our literal wounds, while the whole family was at the beach, or we could join them. It didn't take long to agree we would still go. It may have been a few hours later than planned, but we were going to go to Edisto Beach with the whole family and make it a great trip! And so we did. 

Emergency room take one..

It's been a long time since I've been in an emergency room, so it came as a bit of a surprise when I had to make TWO trips in one week!!

The first trip was for Ethan.

He and a couple of the brothers went up to Concord to a place called the Speedpark at Concord Mills. They did some go carts, games and a trampoline bungee jump. You'd think he would have learned after his last outing on a trampoline, which ended in torn ligaments and crutches for weeks.

Evidently, the bungee jump is attached to a trampoline so you can jump while in the harness to be able to do flips. Ethan was doing a double back flip. As he was coming out of it, his shins bashed the edge of the trampoline and completely split it open. I wasn't there, but the rest of the story went a little something like this. Ethan reached down and realized that his legs were bleeding. He lifted up his pant legs and one of the workers told him to, "Cover that up!" They asked the workers to get a first aid kit and then came with a little thing called a boo-boo bag. It consisted for a little sanitizing wipe and a couple of little bandaids. The guy had no idea what in the world he was doing so Ethan told him not to touch him. He asked them to go get paper towels and tape so he could bandage himself up. They got him the stuff and they went to an urgent care.

He called me and said he was going to the ER. I immediately assumed he was lying and then quickly realized he was telling the truth. His brother was driving him there as we were speaking. I told him I would meet him there.

Shannon and I drove together to meet them and when we got there, Jared was wheeling him in, in a wheelchair. We got him checked in and waited. Went into the triage room, then waited. Got sent back out to the waiting room, then waited. They took him back to get x-rays to make sure nothing was broken, brought him back out and we waited. They took us back two more times, before someone finally said, "Do you have a laceration?" Are you kidding me? That's why we are here!! Even after that, there was another hour or so of waiting until we were finally taken back to a room.

The doctor was a great guy, who we talked to the entire time. He answered all of our random questions about his job and what he was doing, and was a great sport.

The next couple pictures are a little more graphic.

We finished up just shy of 2:00am and had 18 stitches. We were both exhausted, but we had to get some sleep because we had a trip to the beach in just a few, short hours.