Atlanta Temple

On April 21st we headed down to Atlanta so we could go through the Atlanta Temple the next morning. The temple had been closed the last 2 years for renovations and we went down for the open house. Wanted to take the kids through and this is a great opportunity to teach them about the temple. The whole week leading up to leaving for Atlanta was very hard and it seemed like anything that could go wrong, did go wrong (murphy's law), but we didn't let it get the best of us and we pushed onward to the temple. It was such a great experience going through the rooms, Rick thought they were pretty but didn't like the booties you have to wear, Emma asked a lot of questions and she thought it was beautiful. She loved the Celestial room and the chandelier. But she wanted to know where the isle is that you go down when you get married, so that led to a conversation about how different it is when your married in the temple versus anywhere else. Emma wants to get married in the temple and is excited to be able to go through one day. This was a great learning and testimony builder experience for our family. I'm grateful for these opporunities to share the gospel with my family.

Preschool Party

So Rick has been going to my friend Jenny's Preshool in her home and he has just really enjoyed and loved preschool. She had a BBQ with all the 3 year old families. Me and Jenny

Rick and his best Bud Tyler

Boys getting ready for the flashlight easter egg hunt

We all (except me, gag too easy) played chubby bunny, heres Nick with

a mouth full of marshmallow.

This is me and Camille, I use to work with her at Taco Time when we were

in High School, crazy how small this world can be sometimes.

The girls playing chubby bunny

(Camille, Ginger, Jenny, and Zoe)

Emma with Barrett and Roxy

Family Update

I've been posting alot of activities and things we've been doing, so I thought I would update just family information. Nick started a new job with a consulting firm back in March and he's enjoying it much more than his last job. he also is back in school for his Doctorate degree through University of Phoenix- Hospital Administration. Emma is in the 1st grade, she loves gymnastics, riding her bike, playing with her brother. She is very creative and loves to play dress up and put on her own plays that she makes up. She will join the Star Bright players this summer for an acting camp, she also will get baptized this year, can you believe it, growing up too fast on me. Rick is in Miss Jenny's Pre-school and just loving it, it is at the home of his best bud in the world- Tyler. He loves riding his bike and playing any sport. He will play indoor soccer this summer through the YMCA and then play a regular season this fall. I am working at the Franklin Family YMCA as a wellness coach and also in family serivices. I really enjoy it, and gives me some freedom to do what I love to do. I am the soccer mom, taking the kids from one activity to another. I am an Activity Days leader in the church and love that calling and will be going to girls camp this summer as a ropes coarse leader :-) And I enjoy just speding time with my family and dates night with Nick. The last month has been busy, we enjoyed a week long spring break: We took the kids to their first round of golf (but only 9 holes), they had a lot of fun with that; we went swimming, went to jump zone, went to the TN state museum, and just hanging out with the family. The kids also got a new 4 wheeler to play on (an early easter present, couldn't pass up the deal). We have been truely blessed this year. Our family is happy and just enjoy each other.

Atlanta Trip Day 3, Ruby Falls

Day 3 of our Atlanta Trip and we are headed home. We left right after breakfast so we can avoid traffic. On our way through Chattanooga we decided to stop and see Ruby Falls and if time and weather permitted we would also see Rocky City. Ruby Falls is an 145 ft underground waterfall, approx 1200 feet below the surface. We started off taking an elevator ride down about 260 ft, and then hiked from there to the waterfall. The kids loved it, and I was amazed at how Rick kept up. There were so many beautiful rock formations and of coarse the falls itself. For more info on Ruby Falls, go to the web site: www.rubyfalls.com.

We didn't have time to walk through Rock City, it was about to rain, so we drove past and do have plans to go back this spring to camp, hike, climb, and zip line around Rock City. We started here, the elevator is located on the 2nd level.
Down in the caves, our path was lighted the whole way and we had a tour guide.

Atop of Ruby Falls lookout overseeing Chattanooga.

Here is video of the falls! So Beautiful!

Atlanta Day 2, the Zoo

On day 2 of our Atlanta Trip, Feb 20th, we went to the Atlanta Zoo! The kids just love the animals and they were certainly getting their fill of marine and land animals this weekend. The Atlanta zoo isn't much bigger than Nashvilles, but this zoo has an amazing gorilla and monkey exibits. We also went on a train ride and played in the kids zone. The kids were pretty worn out and we took a nap when we got back to the hotel. We then went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.

This gorilla was pounding on the glass at us. you can see Emma in the reflection.

This is the newest gorilla in the zoo, only 9 months olds. Rick just loved watching the gorillas and didn't want to leave and move on to see the other animals, but when the mama gorilla took the baby gorilla out of sight, he was ready to move on. It was amazing to see this little guy, his mom would just hold onto his leg and not let him wonder off.

The first video is Emma drawing the animals that we see. The second is the baby gorilla.

Listen to this playlist: whitneyklan's Playlist

Atlanta Trip day 1

Nick had to go down to Atlanta Feb 16-21 for residency for school, so me and the kids decided to go down on friday the 18th and have some fun and see Atlanta. I picked up Emma early from school and headed down and got down to Atlanta in about 5 hours with traffic and its a huge city, glad we had the gps or I would have been lost for sure, there is sooo much to do and see. We had some dinner with Nick at the Hilton hotel, I worked out in the fitness center and then we went swimmin. The next day, Feb 19th we went to the Georgia Aquarium, worlds largest tank. Poor little Emma was in some pain, she had a big mouth soar on her cheek, so she isn't smiling in the pictures, lots of pain, but she still had fun.
We saw just about every kind of fish: salt water, fresh water and other animals that inhabit them: fish, sharks, octopus, gaters, otters, star fish, sea horse, sting rays, whale shark, paranas, and so on. Rick loved the sharks, and Emma loved petting the sting rays. We also saw a fun 4D movie, the shark exhibit, and hangin out at the kids play zone.

Then after the aquarium, we crossed the street over to Olympic park, home of the 1996 summer olympics, we walked around the square.

This is a statue of the founder of the olympics, Baron Couberin, and his motto below.

After a long day at the Aquarium and sight seeing, kids were tired, but not too tired to go swimming again at the hotel, Emma got new necklace, a dolphin book, and a fish key chain, and rick got a shark squirter which he just loved playing with.

Here is video taken at the largest tank, you can just see how big it is and the kids loved it!