Hunt's new hiding place

I couldn't find Hunt the other morning. This is where I found him! Inside Maggie's kitchen! Now he gets in there at least once a day. And I still laugh every time he does it. He crawls in and shuts the door and sits there for a second. He then swings it open and screams! Precious!

He loves yogurt! Can you tell?

I feel like sometimes I am raising Maggie all over again with this little one! Another strong-willed child!! He won't let ANYONE feed him. He wants to do it "all by himself!" So, during snack time...he fed himself yogurt. Doesn't he look like he enjoyed it? It was messy but way too cute not to take a picture!

Hilton Head

This is Hunt's face when he is mad! I caught it right in time!

I could go on and on about how much fun we had! It was very busy but so much fun! All 3 of them could have stayed on the beach until sunset if we would have let them! We did a lot more playing in the ocean than we did building sandcastles. Tyner had a lot of fun riding his boogie board. Maggie was right there with him! Are you surprised?!! And Hunt!...whoa...we couldn't take our eyes off of him because he would run straight for the water and never stop! We cooked some delicious fish the first 2 nights and then found 2 great restaurants the last 2 nights. We took time to ride around the island. We are excited about this new beach we have found and look forward to going back! It is such a blessing to be able to get away and enjoy watching the kids have so much fun! I am very thankful!

Sewing like crazy!!!!! and loving every minute of it!!

I made her this eyelet lace dress as a swimsuit cover up. But it is cute as a dress as well.

She is ready for the holidays!

Maggie's first halter top

I had this cut out for a while and finally finished it when we got up here. This is one of my favorites. And the little boy that wears it is pretty cute, too!

Mama, I thought you would enjoy seeing what I have been doing during nap time for the last month. It is SO fun having time to sew again! I finished the knit leggings I was telling you about and will post a picture of those, too. Well, I have to go now because Hunt just woke up and he is standing in his bed screaming"MAMA, MAMA, MAMA"...do you remember that sound? haha!!

My Big Boy!

My left-handed/right handed little boy...He can't decide what he is going to do. I was sitting with him this morning while he was eating and couldn't resist taking some pictures of him. He is just so stinking cute!! Ohhhh but he is so unbelievably strong-willed. Do I still get to feed my precious little boy? Absolutely not!! He won't even let his sister feed him anymore! but..oh well...he sure melts my heart!

Sweet memories to cherish and save!

This brings tears to my eyes. I have been working my tail off in my sewing/computer room the last few days trying to get all my pictures uploaded and my website off and running. Still have more work to do on the website(actually Hunter does:-)..) but I published my facebook page. Yeah!!

Anywhooo, the kids have been doing an incredible job of "using their imagination"-a phrase i use quite frequently around here- and entertaining each other. It is really weird getting to this stage with the kids where they can play by themselves, and I don't have to sit in the room with them. and as for Hunt...the older two watch after him! N-I-C-E!!

Well, the point of all my rambling...Tyner made this note for Hunter(with no prompts from me at all!) and taped it to his office door. He couldn't wait for his Daddy to get home to see it. It was so fun when Hunter walked in the door. He actually worked really late that night and I let the kids stay up and wait on him. Daddy walked in the door at 9:30. The minute he walked in they took him around the house and showed him all the pictures they had made for him. Oh it was precious!! I cherish these moments with my children!

It all makes beautiful sense!

Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the Earth!!
(This is what we got to look at all weekend while we were on two beautiful lakes)

"Someday, when we see the face of Jesus, we'll finally understand why things happened the way they did. And even more amazing, we'll agree that we would have done it the exact same way, so that He could bring us to the place we were supposed to be. Someday it will all make beautiful sense."

This is a quote that I saw on the facebook page of a friend of mine from Nashville. Our preacher at our old church in Nashville said this. When I read it I thought...wow! Our family has certainly been put to the test over the last several years. Our faith has been tested in many, many ways. But honestly...I would do it all over again! He put us through all that to bring us to the point where we are now! I am so content and so very, very thankful! Blessed! That is what I feel...very, very blessed! I feel like a lot of it makes beautiful sense! All the tears, heartache, pain...they were all worth it!

And I don't think I will EVER get tired of looking at these mountains. They are such a perfect reminder of how great our God is!

Roan Mountain

What I saw out my window the entire drive!

Playing at the Roan Mountain playground

Just another mountain! ha!

The "Babbling Brook" that Tyner spotted first. He said "look Mama it's a babbling brook!"
PIE...that's for you!!!!!

Roan Mountain is just another one of the wonderful mountains to hike, picnic, camp, play...I decided last minute that we were going to visit it. It is about a 45 minute drive from our house, but the drive is gorgeous! I kept saying to the kids, "y'all look at these beautiful mountains! We live here!" I think after the 15th time saying it they were like...yes, mom we know! ha! We got there right at lunch time. We had a picnic and the kids played on the playground. They have a wonderful pool with a fun slide. We enjoyed that too! I can't wait to go back with Hunter and hike it!

The Track in Pigeon Forge

Daddy and Tyner

Mama and Tyner

Maggie was hilarious! She had her hands in the air almost the whole time!

Well, I can say we have been there and done that and we won't go back. It was fun while we were there and the kids enjoyed it! That was the purpose. So, mission accomplished! It is such a joy to see my kids having so much fun.

Hands On Museum

performing on the stage

shopping in the grocery store

playing in the tree house

There are so many fun things to do here! We are having a blast! The Hands On Museum is wonderful. It is downtown and such a fun and educational activity. It is a museum full of stuff for them to touch...read...play...spin...draw...slide...I could go on and on. Right up my ally!! We even went twice in one week! There is a stage where they can dress up and "perform." Guess who did that! imagine- our little performer!

Jonesborough July 4th Festival

Indian Dance

Priceless!

Fun Kiddie Rides

After Maggie opened her birthday presents we all loaded up and headed to Jonesborough for their 4th of July festival. It began with watching Indians dance and looking inside a teepee. The kids loved it. The kids had fun riding rides, playing games and eating lots of junk food.

Maggie's Birthday

Riding the horse at Chuck 'E' Cheese

Pointing to her Dora birthday banner!

The birthday girl! I still can't believe she is 4!

My girly, girl had a great 4th birthday. Of course she woke up at 6 a.m. ready to begin her special day! We had lots of fun and ended it by going to Chuck 'E' Cheese. She was screaming the whole way there. Poppa and Susan joined us. We were so glad to have family there to celebrate with us. Hunt had as much fun as Tyner and Maggie did. We stayed for a good 2 hours. Needless to say everyone was exhausted by the time we left.

Bays Mountain Park and Planetarium

This was our friend waiting right outside our car when we arrived!

not sure what Maggie was doing! haha! that happens often! and yes that is a purse hanging from her wrist. She is such a girly-girl sometimes!

If you look close that is a wolf! aghhh! They(there are about 8 of them) all went running to the fence when they heard someone howling. It was amazing!

Today, we took our second trip to Bays Mountain Park in Kingsport. Tyner has been asking to go back so we were all excited about going again! It is just this beautiful nature preserve on 3500 acres. They have tons of hikes, a planetarium, animals, etc...so just perfect for the Simpson nature lovers! We packed a picnic and had a great afternoon. The first thing we saw when we pulled up was a deer standing about 10 feet from our car! That was a great way to start our afternoon adventure. We saw the wolves (behind a huge fence- thank goodness) up close and personal. We ended our visit at the planetarium. We took a trip into outer space and learned all about the solar system. It was amazing! We had to cut it a little short because Simpson #3 doesn't quite understand about sitting quietly in a dark room for 30 minutes! ha! We were able to stay long enough to learn lots of good stuff about the inner planets and the sun. We will go back for the rest of it soon!

Looking for a Waterfall- Our First Hike

We took our first family hike today. Wow!! That is all I can say! I was on a mission to find a waterfall and I absolutely found one. It was a 2 mile hike one way but it was every bit worth it! My kiddos were quite the troopers. It got very steep at times and our legs were tired, but the prize at the top of the mountain was unbelievable. I had tears in my eyes!!

It was absolutely breathtaking!

and it wore my precious baby boy out!!

Rock Creek Falls here we come!

Fast Forward 8 Months

Fast forward from October 2010 to June 2011. A lot happened in those 8 months! Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hunt's 1st birthday, Christmas, a snowy winter in the delta, lots of time at the lake with my parents,Easter, a 7 year anniversary, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Hunter's birthday, Tyner's birthday...and lots and lots and lots of other things sprinkled in there. But, the most exciting thing was our move to the mountains in mid May- Johnson City, Tennessee! Hunter began working for Windsor Health Group in October of 2010 and by March 2011 he was offered a promotion within the company. It would give us the opportunity to move to this wonderful place waaaay far in east Tennessee. I was a little nervous at first, but the Lord provided us with many, many signs that this was part of His plan. We obeyed, and here we are. And I couldn't be happier!!!

Our Date

It isn't very often that I get to take a picture with my handsome hubby! I cherish these dates we get to go on every once in a while. We were on our way to a wedding reception for a dear friend of mine. We danced the night away and had so much fun hanging out with our good friends:-)

Life on a Farm-Living in the Delta

Living on a farm is a lot of fun for little boys...and little girls, too. Logan came to spend the night(this was back at the beginning of September) and the kids woke up at 7:00 the next morning ready to "explore the farm." One of Mr. Pete's workers saw them mesmerized by the big machines and took them all for a ride. Oh my gosh! Priceless is all I can say about their faces. We are having so much fun living at the end of this country road. We spend as much time outside as we can. We go on scavenger hunts, play on our swing set, and play freeze tag.

Friday Night Lights!-September

We spent a lot of Friday nights at our football games. Tyner was a "Future Colt" and got to run out behind the "big boys!" You have never seen a smile so big! Maggie was a colt cutie and danced and cheered at halftime. (Well, she stood there.) I think she was overwhelmed being in front of the crowd. She walks around all day doing her cheers at home though. "We are L.A...We are L.A." ......