Family and Ormond Beach

We went to Ormand Beach, Florida to visit Aunt Eileen and Brent, family from the Hallberg side. Eileen was married to Marty's brother Ward and Brent is their son. Unfortunately Ward passed away in 2007 from skin cancer. The girls had not seen them in 5 years and I had not seen them in 7, so this visit was long over due! Aunt Eileen is a really fun person and Brent is precious, he reminds me so much of his Dad, we had such a good time!!

Brent skim boarding, his skill is amazing
Bikini Babes

Aunt Eileen and Brent

Riding the waves

Kendall, Eileen and Lacey

Cousins

Road Trip!

Our first long road trip in 5 years, Florida here we come!

Cool Picture.




Sonny's Barbacue, the girls favorite!

Neat place we found along the way.
Be proud of me, I have refrained from posting several inappropriate comments regarding this picture.

July Already!

It's hard to believe that summer is half way over. June just flew by! The first couple of weeks of June the girls enjoyed sleeping in, swimming and hanging out with their friends. Then Kendall and Lacey spent a week of June visiting Lindsay Ann and Eric in Athens. The visit included a Father's Day trip to Dahlonega and kayaking with Eric. On June 30th we celebrated Aidan's 2nd birthday and Todd and Leslie's 8th anniversary. On July 4th we attended a family cookout at Todd and Leslie's. It was great to see some of their extended family.

July is gaining momentum! Lacey is spending 10 days at a camp in Indian Springs, GA with her long time friend Courtney and her family. Kendall is hanging out in Dahlonega with Britta until her Dad comes home on the 11th. For the first time in forever all the kids are gone at the same time. Although I miss the girls, I am enjoying coming home to a clean house and spending a little time on myself.

Sara Harp Minter Charter Year Reception

Today we attended Sara Harp Minter Elementary Charter Year Reception. The school opened in August 2002. This summer the school will be repainted, so they decided to hold a reunion of sorts for all the students to come back and get their picture taken with their hand print flower they made the first year the school was open. Turn out wasn't great since it is such a busy time of year, but it was still fun. We saw a few old friends and took pictures for some of our friends that couldn't be there.

Only 5 More!

Thank God (literally), I just finished up one of my hardest semesters at Mercer University. I was loaded down with 1 Communications class and 3 English classes, which meant I did a lot of reading and paper writing. I ended up with 3 A's and 1 B+, which is good since 2 of my classes were really hard. I was also honored to be selected to be a member of Alpha Sigma Lambda, an honor society for continuing education. I am taking the summer off! In the Fall I will be taking 5 classes and will GRADUATE in December, YAY!!!

Amazing!

I got to celebrate Mother's Day twice, once a week early with all my girls and then on the actual day with Kendall and Lacey. I was served my customary cup of tea and Kendall gave me this AMAZING rose tea set she made in her ceramic class at school.

Mothers Day!

For over 20 years I wore Ananis Ananis. I loved the perfume, still do! When my life was turned upside down with my divorce, I was thrown into a whirlwind of changes I had no control over. I no longer felt like myself, I was having an identity crisis. I wanted/needed to redefine myself. I had to start out small, so I chose to change my perfume! I know it sounds silly, but this was a hard decision to make. For years my children identified me as their Mom through my big hair, bright lipstick, long nails and the smell of Ananis Ananis on my skin. I didn't want them to lose that along with everything else they were going through, but I needed this change for my own well being!

So I waited a year to make the change. After many test sprays, I chose Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker as my new fragrance. I could only afford to buy the lotion. I love this perfume, it is light and pleasant, it reminds me of a time when I was carefree and sweet ( I know, hard to imagine), but in my younger years I was this person. With this selection I began my own personal journey to the "new" Karen.

My family gave me the entire collection of Lovely for Mother's Day this year, the lotion, perfume and small bottle for my purse. I was very excited, I have the complete set now! What my family doesn't know is the true significance of this gift for me. I am now standing on my own (with a lot of help from them), I have a great job, with career potential, in December I will graduate from college and my family is happy and healthy.

The"new" Karen is about to become a complete set too!

Once again, my children made my Mother's Day very Lovely!!
Thank you!

Lindsay Ann, Britta, Kendall, Lacey, Eric, Leslie and Todd!