Life in Charlotte

We made our move to Charlotte and we love it so far! The city is smaller than Atlanta and the people are even sweeter! The accents are stronger and our neighbors are the best! We have seen blessing after blessing from moving here. To be honest, I was itching for a change from Georgia. I love my family and friends there but I wanted some space, I guess. I think my calling as young women president made me feel heavy-burdened and super busy all the time that I wasn't enjoying other aspects of my life, sadly. I miss my YW and nothing will ever come as close to the experiences I had with them and what they taught me but it has been a relief to be released!! I am young and still learning so much and I always felt inadequate as a leader in such an established ward. There, I said it! My bishop was so sweet and helped me so much to be the leader The Lord needed me to be. I will always cherish Georgia and that season of my life.

Here's our townhome for the next year. It's a two bedroom and cute and cozy with wood floors and white walls. Perfect for decorating! I will show the inside soon!

Loved having my sister visit the first week in Charlotte. Made me feel like home!

        Redneck games in the backyard!

       Our first Sunday in our new ward!!

We made our way down to Atlanta for Mother's Day weekend and Ernesto's graduation.

Decided to try an entry way makeover at Leanna's place. Here's the before...

After. It was fun to spruce up their entryway with finds they already had around the house!

Here we are in the ER with my boy! He was playing hot lava with Azaliea when he fell on the floor(lava) and broke his arm. It was a minor fracture above the elbow.

Coming down to Atlanta was worth this picture right here! So proud of Ernesto for completing his law degree in his second language! 

For my birthday I went to Mac and got a much needed makeover and new makeup too! I felt spoiled!

His elbow was looking good! Time to get it taken off!

Charlie got his cast taken off and we have been in the water playing everyday! We met up with some new friends in Uptown for a fun play date!

My friend Abby has quickly become one of my good friends here! We both moved in within a month of each other and our boys have a blast together! Plus her baby Mia is as adorable as they come!

I was called to be activity day leader and we had a summer hairstyles activity recently. This is the best calling to have! The girls love coming, it's only twice a month and they are so fun! I was happy to see half of the girls do the same hairstyle I taught them on Sunday!

We weren't able to be host families for youth conference since my hubbies work schedule didn't allow time off but I was able to help with rides to and from activities. As you can see, two in three girls are giants here!

So that's our life so far here in Charlotte!! Of course, I will cover more soon!

our stay in Savannah

Two weeks ago my mother in law invited us to stay in their Savannah condo for the weekend. We happily obliged and honestly left the next day knowing we wouldn't have many opportunities to stay in the condo, since it has been leased out the last 4 years! We left the 10 degree weather in Atlanta and enjoyed a sunny 40 degree weekend in Savannah!

Savannah is a MUST when you visit the South, there is no other way around it. For some reason, you forget your troubles and just bask in the light of the city. I feel at home here and it's comfortable and familiar. We made our plans very simple, keeping our time and money spent on only things we absolutely love here, which includes...
1. Picnic lunch and play at Forsyth park (FREE)
2. Supper at Lady & Sons (Paula Deen's restaurant)$$$
3. Walking shores of Tybee Island ($3 parking)
4. Walking around downtown as a family (FREE)

Savannah, until we meet again!

Valentines for baby

These pictures are from 4 years ago!  I can't believe it was just 4 years ago my little boy was a 6 month old and oh so cute!
You can read the post on how little Charlie made his adorable valentines here!
Oh, and how he asked Julia Glenn here!
And Julia's response here!
Oh, how life was before instagram!!

small towns, part 1

 One thing I absolutely LOVE about living in Georgia are all the small quaint towns within a 30 minute drive from us.  Yesterday, we had to pick up my husband from work since our other car is in the shop.  We got down to Smyrna 30 minutes early and decided to head 7 minutes down from his building to discover the cute town of Vinings.  I have driven by Vinings a handful of times but it seems even more enchanting in the rain.  It has history written all over it, and even the newer shops maintain the whimsical white paint, green roof motif the entire town has.  Even the CVS pharmacy is adorable, can't believe I forgot to take a picture of that!
The visitor center has old pictures, maps and journals of the first families and leaders from the town.  The original windows still have the signature of Walter (last name I forget, but he was pretty important) etched in the glass, you can barely see it in the middle picture.  Of course Charlie was more curious with the trap door to the basement cellar than anything else but he behaved himself enough that the tour guide asked us to come back! And come back we will!

sip and see

I want to come back blogging in an effort to share myself, all of me.  Not just updating on family milestones but writing about the things that make me tick, or not tick each day.  The past 3 1/2 years I have been waiting and waiting for things to happen, the type of things that anyone would expect to occur within the last 3 1/2 years. In retrospect, I would get sad and disappointed that we didn't progress in ways everyone else seemed to be.

Our main goal was to have more children 

and for our family to grow.  

We didn't grow in the way I would have expected, 
but we did grow. 
In heart and strength.
In having charity and love.  
In patience and endurance.
In relating to others and having empathy.  
In all, we have only learned and progressed to be more like Christ, which is our most divine goal and life-long desire. 

I have found that having a hope for all things gets me through the day.  I hope to have a family continually growing in the Gospel.  Hope to be happy in all things.  Hope to settle down and buy a home and a hope for more children.
Which is why I am writing this blog, to keep the hope alive and burning strong.

 

The BEST Super Bowl QUESO dip

I present...

Julie Boyack Smith. She will be your hero in just a minute.

Back story:
Thanksgiving 2010 my parents came up to Utah to visit us. We stopped by the Macey's grocery store in Spanish Fork and low and behold, we stumbled upon Julie. She was passing out samples of food from her new cookbook. We obliged, obviously and were taken away into a food coma! My mom bought me a cookbook and I used it immediately.



This right here is a beauty and a true treasure to me! Now, let me share the mouthwatering Queso Dip from her book that has been requested every super bowl party as well as any time our friends meet up. It is the most successful thing I have every made, and I'm not kidding. Oh, wait until teenagers try this...they will be asking for the recipe and well, teenagers don't do that. EVER!!

Behold, the BEST Super Bowl Queso Dip!

1 can RoTel diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 (16 oz.) pkg. Velveeta cheese block, cut into cubes
2-3 cans HORMEL chili WITH beans

Do NOT buy generic or any other brands, I promise it won't taste good, at all!! Blend all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Transfer to a crockpot and set to warm/low until party starts and keep setting to warm. Serve with tortilla chips. (this recipe can be doubled, tripled...you name it!)

Let me know how it turns out!!

I'm back and ready to blog!

 Oh my!  

A WHOLE year has gone by and I haven't blogged!  

Here are a few reasons why... 

1.  Instagram took over my life and found it much easier to post pics on there and even facebook.

2.  No one was blogging anymore.  Friends stopped updating, using said Instagram instead and that became my way to keep in contact with friends and family.

3.  I didn't feel blogging was an outlet for me anymore.

Now, I feel this sudden urge to blog again. There is so much updating to be had, but for now enjoy our conference weekend photos.  We headed to a pumpkin patch 2 blocks away from our abode in between sessions on Saturday. 

Take note of the awesome hillbilly pumpkin patch activities...

{ "mommy, I want this one!" }

{ dreamy, right?! }

 

That's all folks!!  See you in a few days!!

my 3 year old!!

Wow, my little Charlie Owen III is 3 years old now!!!

What a celebration it was too!

We started out the morning with pancakes made by daddy.

We went to church, I got a new calling... in Relief Society again (which I love, but will miss my sunbeams and activity day girls),

came home, ate dinner with my father in law, sister Leanna and her family. 

Lastly, we had a little birthday party for a few of Charlie's friends from our ward!

We had carrots with dip, apple cider doughnuts we got from BJ Reece apple orchard, water and the amazing chocolate pudding cake... which is a tradition now!!

The kiddos played while us adults played the Dellenbach name game and just chatted.

It was very low-key and fun!

That morning was a bit sad for me, due to the fact that my little guy didn't have a sibling by his 3rd birthday.  Well, I can't say we didn't try! :(

Luckily, we had an amazing General Conference and Elder Eyring's talk touched my heart in such a strong way.  These last three years I was only supposed to have one child to love, care for and teach.  Only one.  How blessed I am to have him.  I know this is supposed to be a trial for me, a trial that I need to depend on the Savior to help me through.  The weeks and months that pass I learn more of the Lord's will for me, and how wonderful it is... especially with my little Charlie in my life!