Anything...

So after spending a wonderful four days and five nights at my parents' house we headed back home for a week off from work, both of us! We had been looking forward to this week for quite some time. We didn't have any agenda and there wasn't anything we had to do except for everything we wanted to do; it was pure heaven!

We slept in every morning and I woke up to my handsome husband's arms wrapped around me. The girls slept in. Did I mention it was heaven?

We played puzzles. Taught Kaitlyn how to ride a bike without training wheels (more to come) and played some more Wii.

Nathan took Taylor on her Daddy/Daughter date she earned because of her outstanding behavior at school while Kaitlyn and I took an afternoon nap.

While Taylor and I spent a day out just the two of us Nathan and Kaitlyn had a Daddy/Daughter date. Taylor and I went to Daytona Beach to meet up with the Graydon Gals for lunch and ice skating. Nathan took Kaitlyn to her favorite place, the mall.

Unfortunately traffic was horrific on I-4 so Kathie and Aubrey couldn't join us for lunch, but they made it just in time for an adventure in ice skating. Taylor and I took advantage of some alone time and had lunch at the Olive Garden, probably our favorite place to eat. We played tic-tac-toe, the dot game and raced to finish the word find.

Ice skating was definitely an adventure. After a few rounds of holding on to the wall and a couple of falls we finally got the hang of it. By the end both Taylor and Aubrey were venturing out into the middle of the rink. Taylor was even daring enough let go and try skating all by herself.

Friends are hard to find and I've found that true friends are even harder to find. Kathie is a true friend and I am so blessed that Aubrey is a true friend to my Taylor.



On Friday I wanted to see the sunrise. At first only Nathan and I were going to go, but then we decided that the girls would enjoy it too. So we all woke up at the crack of dawn, bundled up and headed to the east coast. As we laid there in the dark waiting for the sun to rise my precious Kaitlyn asked "what are we doing here?"

I guess no one told the clouds they could have the day off because they made an early morning debut which prevented us from actually seeing the sun rise. The lady who was nice enough to take our family picture was also nice enough to inform us that the sunrise the day before had actually been breathtaking. Really?!? After sulking for almost a millisecond I decided it wasn't about the sunrise, but making the memory.


After the beach we headed to surprise number two, Krispy Kreme donuts...yum! We filled up on calorie filled donuts and headed home. After a morning nap we decided to put our Wii skills to the test and actually go bowling. That was an adventure. Kaitlyn was so excited we couldn't keep her off of the lanes and Taylor wasn't sure what to think. In the end I was the one who could have used the bumper pads on my lane because I stunk it up real bad. I didn't even break a hundred. As fun as it was we all concurred that we needed to stick to the Wii.


That night we celebrated the ringing in of a new year by hanging out as the Hawthornes. We ate pizza, watched movies, Nathan and I took a mini date and stopped in at church for the dance and even danced a couple of slow songs, we played the Wii and toasted the new year with sparkling cider in crystal goblets, we lit sparklers and hollered happy new year. Kaitlyn was afraid of the sparklers so I got to enjoy in the festivities too.


We all slept in til noon on New Year's Day. We played outside and we played inside. We watched football. We took a nap and watched some more football. Did I mention it was a week of pure heaven? I wouldn't have changed a single moment. It reminded me of what truly matters in life and that is family. The memories we make as a family. I told Nathan that this week has really gotten me excited for the day when we will retire (like in a 100 years because we are so young, right?). Seriously, I loved the mornings because I could wake up in his arms and together we decided what we were going to do for the day. It was heaven!

Needless to say we were back at work today and back to reality, but that doesn't matter because together we can do anything!