Wordless Wednesday

My next update will be MUCH more exciting! I am heading to THE BIG APPLE on Friday! I am soooooo excited about my first trip to NYC!!! I am sure that I will have TONS of pictures on the next post!

A Weekend in Ellijay

We found out at the last minute that we were going to be able to go to a friend's river/mountain cabin this weekend in Ellijay. It was really quite nice not knowing that we were going until the last minute because I didn't have time to "plan" anything. We packed our bags and headed out Friday right after work. On our way up there, we realized that we have been in the Ellijay/Blue Ridge area on Halloween/Matt's birthday weekend 4 out of the past 6 years. It was a absolutely the most relaxing weekend that we have had in a really long time. Camping is not even this relaxing. I have to admit, I really enjoyed not having the pop-up trailing behind us on this trip. There was nothing for us to "set up" once we arrived! I also LOVED the fact that we had a bathroom and shower to use!! Don't get my wrong, I LOVE to camp, but it was really nice to stay in a luxiorious cabin!! It rained all day Saturday, so we hung out on the back screen porch overlooking the Cartecay River. Saturday afternoon, Matt's sister and her family came up to join us. We took the kids into Downtown Ellijay to trick-or-treat. They shut down the entire downtown area and everyone just goes from business to business getting candy. We didn't let the rain stop us from having an awesome time! We came home and had some homemade chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches and celebrated Matt's birthday (a few days early) with a yummy cookie cake!! I did not want to leave this morning!

Kimberly's Kitchen

I am not sure what got into me this weekend, but I was in the mood to bake! I found a few recipes in a magazine that I wanted to give a try, so I turned our kitchen into a bakery on this rainy and cold Saturday. I made a rustic apple pie, walnut layered pumpkin pie, Irish creme cake, Brunswick stew for dinner! Something tells me that I am going to be sharing these pies and cakes!!

Walnut Pumpkin Pie

Irish Creme Cake


Rustic Apple Pie (not exactly the most beautiful creation, but it was yummy!)

Jekyll Island Vacation

Last Friday was one of my furlough days and I was off on Monday for Columbus day so naturally a 4 day weekend = ROAD TRIP!!! Matt and I have been wanting to camp at Jekyll Island for a long time. The amount of mosquito's, sand fleas, and other random bugs that gnaw your legs off have kept us from trying it out!!! When we booked a site back in August, we figured October = fall and cooler weather which = less bugs! We were WRONG. The weather definitely was not cooler and the bugs had not gone away!!!! When we set up camp on Friday afternoon, they were experiencing record breaking heat in South Georgia. The heat index at noon was 100+ degrees!!! It was so humid too!!! Once we got the camper set up, we cranked up the air conditioner and didn't come out for a really long time! Matt and I were both thinking "what in the world have we gotten ourselves into??"

The Jekyll Island campground is really nice. They have a community room with games and a 1970's black and white tv and a HUGE laundry facility. They also have a campground store filled with anything and everthing a camper would need (including a $15 smores kit!). Each site was equiped with power, water, cable, wi-fi, and its very own "crapper drain." The only problem that we had with the campground was how close together the sites were. When we started to set up our camper, we realized that we needed to move it, because Matt's bed was hanging out over the campfire pit of the campsite behind us!

Unfortunately, the heat did not go away, but we still had a great time! We went for early morning walks on the beach, took mid day naps, and did a lot of site seeing (not like we haven't seen the sights on Jekyll a hunderd times before, but we still enjoyed them!). There was a bird watchers conference going on while we were there, so we got a kick out of the goobers walking around the island with their high powered binoculars strapped around their necks with massive harnesses, searching for birds!

One thing that made this trip different than all our other camping trips is that we ordered seafood take out every night for dinner! I told Matt that if we were going to the beach, I was going to eat some shirmp! It was AWESOME! Usually we are constantly checking our multiple coolers to make sure they are covered in ice, but none of that this trip!!!


Some of my favorite black and white pictures from our early morning walks on the beach!





A Jekyll Island Sunset over the wharf! Absolutely breathtaking!


Two tuckered out pups!


Sunday morning sunrise! Again, beautiful!!


The Dorminy Compound!

We tried out the timer on my camera and had our very own photo session in the historic district. I was sweating to death from running back and forth from the camera! We had some great pictures though!

"Are we home yet?"

Wordless Wednesday....

This is what happens when....

This is what happens when I let Matt do the grocery shopping. Over the course of a few weeks we end up with this in our pantry.

11 boxes of a variety of types of noodles!
4 containers of peanut butter...all different brands!
And a "Food Bank" large enough to feed a small country!

Stonemill Race For Autism

Today was an absolutely beautiful for the Stonemill Race for Autism!! Other than having to be there by 6:00 to help set up, we had a great time!! Matt and I volunteered at the 2 mile marker and had to call out the runners times as they ran past. This year I recruited Matt's family and Kale to run in the 5K race! Mom brought Kylie and Karson to enjoy the Family Fun Day after the race with Anna and Cate. This was the first time that Kylie and Anna had been together since our wedding. When mom was trying to tell Kylie who Anna was, Kylie said "I didn't go to Kim and Matt's wedding!" The kids had a great time riding the pony, in the petting zoo, on the inflatables, and on the hay ride. This is such a fun event each year and all the money goes to such a great cause!


Anna got tired and hung out with Matt and I while the rest finished the race!

Kylie, loving the pony rides!

The AWESOME petting zoo! They have guinea pigs, baby pot belly pigs, chickens, ducks, baby goats, rabbits, and all kinds of other little critters running around! You should have seen the poor innocent little animals getting squeezed to death! The pigs were squeeling their little lungs out!


Anna loved the pony ride too!

Cate wasn't real sure if she wanted to go down the slide the first time.

Way to go Kale!! He finished in 2nd place in his age group!

Way to go Jonnee!!! She finished in 2nd place in her age group too!!!



Kylie was very intensly watching Anna get her face painted.

Just the girls!

All the kiddos!

Having fun on the hay ride!

Evidence that Kylie went on the hay ride!