My Life, My Heart: A day in Columbus

Monday, June 29, 2009

A day in Columbus

May 30th we went with the kids to the Columbus Temple. They had a Temple trip with the youth and we went along and waited for them outside and in the church across the street. We decided to go with them to spend the day in Columbus when they got done at the Temple. We love Columbus, it is not too far and we go a lot for various things. There is a lot to do and GREAT shopping. Anyway before I sound like I'm doing a travel ad for them I'll go on. After the Temple we went with the youth group for a lunch at a buffet treated by the church. When we were all full we headed to the Topiary gardens, we had never been there before and it was actually quite nice. The twins loved it. It was good to relax and just unwind after lunch. Then we went to a street festival which was fun too. The babies got to jump in their favorite jumpie. We walked around looking at some art work and hanging out with each other. The kids got face paintings and drawings done. When we first got there the kids played on the playground a little bit but Forrest cut his leg pretty bad. After I bandaged him all up, he went to sit in the car because his leg really hurt...poor Forrest:( He missed out on Me, Xavior, and Liam burning ourselves. We stopped at a ladies table selling homemade salsa and we taste tested them all. Well most of them. We went to the hot table and me and Xave got excited we love hot stuff. All the salsas were rated for hotness from 1-10 most of the ones we tried were about 9/10 then there was one left it had a rating that went through the scale. They put it up way past ten and the salsa was called "stupid hot" Well ignoring all the signs of death on the label, I tried the first chip full. The lady was staring at me and waiting for me to react somehow. It actually started out tasting really good them the heat hit me and kept getting HOTTER I was like OK WOW and she said I am proud of you you are not screaming or anything, I told her Hey I have had 6 kids I'm good in the pain category. My tongue was so numb and my lips too. Them Xavior said he wanted to try it. I told him not to. but he did not listen. He gulped down an even bigger helping then me. I was nervous watching him, he started sweating and eating up the chips she had there, he was like oh my gosh that is really hot. We laughed. Then we were all getting ready to leave and I looked back to see if everyone was with us and my eyes nearly poped out of my head as I helplessly watched Liam take a chip with the same dip me and Xave just had, I screamed NO NO, Mya and Xave were laughing, and I ran up to Liam. He started spitting it out and screaming HELP HELP MOM, He then was crying and spiting everywhere people were looking at us, I hurried to give him more chips to offset the heat but it did not work he was crying so hard. I knew just how he felt and I felt so bad. I looked at Mya and they were still laughing I was VERY mad at them, it turns out they dared him to do it. ANother score for the older sibling teasing the younger one. Poor Liam, He got over it eventually and then he calmed down and started to enjoy himself. The rest of the day was good and then we ended up at the Franklin Park Conservatory to watch a light show. We stopped At Wendy's on the way and took our dinner to sit and enjoy the sunset and the evening. It was a nice time together and we loved it.

Daddy and babes at the beautiful Temple.

A nice view of the temple from the quiet picnic area close by.

The twins on the temple grounds, being hard to pose but cute of course.

Me and Liam waiting outside the temple for the kids to get done...and getting a little sleepy.

I bought him this outfit to take out to LA so we had to get a shot of him looking so cute.

Forrest looking so handsome. This is his cool pose.

The Twins in the "jumpie" as they call it. They give thanks in their prayers every night for the jumpies. It is so cute.

I am working on my self portraits, or the holding out the camera and snapping the photo. I think I am getting pretty good at it.

Me and Forrest looking cool...or so we think

My awesome nephew Xavior

I think this pic is so funny I told Chad it looks like I grabbed him and forced him into it. Ha ha

Me and Chad with our zoolander pose...ha.ha

We visited the Topiary Gardens and it is a quiet little park nestled in to a nice neighborhood. They have all sorts of topiary figures growing in these wire molds. it was fun to see and we just relaxed there and took pics. Here the babies loved the kitty kat topiary, they were petting her.

The babies loved the goldfish at the Topiary Gardens, they were trying to go in the water to get them. We had to keep at close eye on them. They have no fear.

2 tall figures at the gardens.

The beautiful lilies in the pond at the topiary gardens.

Linnea loves to wear da-da's hat.

liam and his elaborate face painting of a dragon.

Liam has a great laugh and he could not stop being silly for this pic.

Harmony and her likeness...Mya and I were cracking up so hard while we watched the guy drawing this...what is with the ears and peanut head...so funny.

Mya and her likeness...look at that big chezzy smile, just like real life...ha.ha

Xavior and his likeness....we thought this was funny, he said he thought it looked like Ellen Degeneres. Ha ha

Xavior, Harmony, and Mya showing off their caricatures.

Harmony siting and enjoying the light display.

The Palm house at the Franklin Park Conservatory. We love it here it is our get away. We have so much fun. This night we sat outside on a blanket to watch the palm house light up with all different colors. The display was courtesy of light artist James Turrell. It was beautiful but a little hard to capture due to lack of lighting. the next pic was taken by Chad and was the best shot we got.

Mulit color

Cool orange with a a slow exposure

Silly Girls showing off their face painting

Forrest riding the Art waves

Still My baby monious, just a little heavier.

Posting these pics makes me really miss my kids I cannot wait till they get back...I love them so much.

Mya Carter

Singer, Poet, Friendly. Sensitive, Caring, good friend. She is the softness in our home. Mya is my little mother she helps so much with the babies. They love her like a second mom. I always call her my queen, and she reigns surpreme sometimes even with a little attitude. Her strength will carry through the temptations in this life. She is firm in her beliefs and I am so proud of her. I love her warm smile. She looks so much like her late Grandma Marsha, which is such a blessing. Now her dad can see his mom in his beautiful daughter.

Harmony Carter

Fashion designer, Trendsetter, Go getter. Loving, Huggable, smiley. She is the Light in our home. Harmony will go far in life she is determined and will work hard for her success. She is driven and studies hard in school. She likes things organized and neat. She is playful and sometimes has us laughing at her silliness. I am so grateful for her. I prayed for another girl when I was pregnant with her because I wanted Mya to have a sister. I hope she knows how special it is to be a sister and to be a good one. She radiates and we are blessed to have her.

Liam Carter

Artist, Writer, Comedian. Intelligent, thoughtful, cool. He is the truth in our home.Liam is starting at Canton Country Day School this year.We are so proud he was accepted in. He is a rare gem with great potential. He is our little einstein. When he was little he did not talk much he used to play thoughfully and examine things. he was always anxious to get bigger so he could do big things. I hope you never lose your fire to be big Liam. Liam collects build a bears. He also writes and illustrates hilarious comic books. As long as he keeps believing in Himself he will go far. He is ma-ma's heart.

Linnea Tsoufiou

Happy, loves books, Cautious, Girly, Passionate. She is our sweet angel.God bleesed Linnea with a twin now she will have alife long friend who will be so close to her heart. Linnea looks out for Larissa she tries to keep her out of trouble and leads her into trouble too. She moves non-stop when she is awake, and tires mommy out. She is going throught the taking off clothes and diaper phase. Does anyone know of any escape-proof clothes? I feel overwhelmed alot but alos overwhelmed with good feelings for my glorious blessings.

Summer News

The summer is here, and already going fast. Forrest, Mya, Harmony, and Liam are all in Reseda California (LA) Visiting with dad Travis, step mom Marika, and new baby brother Mattias. They are also spending time with cousins and uncles. They are having a great time. We all talk everyday. I miss them tons. I do not breathe the same because 4 pieces of my heart are missing. I am getting lots done here though and trying to use my extra time wisely.
My mom got us ALL a membership at the Massillon Recreation center. She is SO awesome. I honestly do not know how she keeps up with needs of all her children and grandchildren. THANKS MOM!! We have gone quite a bit. The babies are warming up to the water and starting to have lots of fun. I like summer but I do not love it. I prefer fall and winter but I plan to make this a great summer, I might even let myself get a tan. I usually hide from the sun…I don’t want any wrinkles!!!!