The Page Family

Boutique Sweet Cheeks goes to Las Vegas and LA October 2010

2010-10-21T20:16:00.020-04:00

One of the largest baby/childrens trade shows(ABC EXPO) in the world is held annually in Las Vegas. As most of you know, my dad and I came up with a pattern 3 years ago for the bumbo chair cover. You can see our covers at Boutique Sweet Cheeks.com. Sales started out great and have exceeded our expectations over the past year. These EXPO's are essential for business, because they get your product into retail stores. Buyers and media outlets are there looking for the next best baby gadget or trend. Getting ready for the show was stressful. I had never done anything like this and had no idea what to expect. I never imagined how much effort and time it would take to get ready and feel prepared. Overall it was a wondeful learning experience and I am so glad we went. I could not have done it without the help of my Dad, Jennifer, Candice, Mike, David or Mom.

Plus...who wouldn't want to go to Vegas?

We stayed in 2 hotels while we were there...the Palazzo and the Hard Rock.

The Palazzo was great..and worth every Penny. It's part of the Venetian.

Our Room...

We had our 1st celebrity sighting here as well. Mr. Larry Flynt of Hustler Magazine. Woody Harrelson played him in the movie..People vs. Larry Flynt. He is actually in the wheel chair because he was shot in Lawrenceville GA near the downtown courthouse.

We also ran into the following wax celebrities..

Oprah

Tupac

Britney

The Rat Pack

And my wax figure. Crazy!

Here was our Booth for the show.

We met some fun friends at the EXPO and they have some great products so check them out.

Piggy Paint..A non-toxic nail polish.

Pulling up Flowers. A keepsake journal by the Dibble Company.

2nd Celebrity Sighting...Danny Lynn and Larry Birkhead at the actual ABC EXPO.

The daughter of Anna Nicole Smith.

During the week, we switched over to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. We kept seeing these kids being followed around by camera men and huge lights. We also saw signs everywhere telling guest that a reality show was being filmed and that we might appear on camera. They would'nt tell us the show they were doing, but with the help of the internet, we found out.

Real World Las Vegas

We spent our days at the EXPO and our nights mostly going out to eat, sight seeing and sleeping. The 3 hour time difference was crazy. I woke up at 7 every morning..and was ready to go to bed by 6pm. Not good when you are in Vegas. One night was spent at the gas station because Jennifers battery died on her car. Dad rode to walmart with a complete stranger who spoke very little english, but was very kind. He actually had to take dad to 3 different places to get the right battery.

After the EXPO, we rode back to LA with Jennifer. I was really excited to be in "LA Baby" (inside joke between me and Jenn.)

3rd celebrity sighting was Mischa Barton. She was eating at the same little french resturant as us, hardly noticeable. The only reason we recognized her was because she went to the bathroom which was right by our table.

We drove all around LA and even went up to Calabasas, CA to vist the first DASH store. Owned by the Kardashian sisters, none of which were there.

It was a great trip with great people, however I really missed my family and home. Glad to finally be back. ")

Family Trip to Glen Falls Waterfall in Highlands NC

2010-10-21T19:57:00.006-04:00

This is a wonderful hike to take with your kids. There are 3 different places to see waterfalls along the easy trail. It's located about 2 miles outside of the main Highlands, NC downtown area.

October 3rd Our 7 year anniversary.

2010-10-21T19:16:00.007-04:00

Mike and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary the first weekend in October, by white water rafting and camping out in Tennessee. I was not nervous at all about rafting, but then this instructor sat everybody down to give us a small training session. He was pretty energized...on energy drinks and I am assuming some illegal substances...because seriously he had a lot of energy. He pretty much said that everyone would fall out of the boat. This was not something I was going to let happen. I am not the most outdoorsy person...and falling out of the boat and humilating myself in front of a ton of people was not my idea of exciting. However I need to live a little and go with it, so I did...the outcome..... I didn't fall out of the boat and it was awesome. I loved it. The weather was beautiful and camping out afterwards with our friends was so fun. This was also the first time we had spent the night without the girls. Thanks Mom and Dad for watching them.

I love you Mike and look forward to many more adventures with you.

Day Trip up to Mountains May 29th, 2010

2010-05-30T10:51:00.004-04:00

Today we drove up to the mountains to cool off and eat some good BBQ. Mike found a BBQ tasting festival up in Young Harris Georgia and we got to sample some great BBQ. We also enjoyed fresh squeezed strawberry lemonade. Yum Yum.

On our way home we stopped by a little river and let the girls play. Here are some pictures of the beautiful river and my 2 beautiful girls.

Girls Beach Trip April 2010

2010-04-29T13:48:00.007-04:00

I had a case of the mondays..so I decided to pack up the car and take the girls down to the beach in Florida. My favorite momma moment was when we were all getting ready to go to sleep and the girls were making each other laugh. It was so great for me, as their mother to see them happy and playing together.

Here are some photos from the trip. We did the Alligator farm in the morning and the beach later that afternoon.

Easter 2010

2010-04-07T14:40:00.007-04:00

We had a wonderful Easter with my Family.
Great Lunch, Easter Baskets, Easter Egg Hunts, and Easter Candy!

Karlie and Janies Pony Party

2010-04-07T14:02:00.015-04:00

Since Karlie turned 3 at the end of February and Janie turned 2 at the beginning of April we decided to do a combined Birthday party this year.
In October we went to a fall festival which had pony rides. Karlie tried it and of course loved it. So for their party this year, I thought about having someone come out to the house to give pony rides to the kids.
In my search for this, I found a lady who had a farm in Snellville who actually had the parties at her farm. We had hit the Jackpot! It was the best place ever. She had a playground, picnic tables, seating, a covered place in the barn to keep the food and unwrap gifts, bales of hay for the kids to climb on and of course a miniature pony for pony rides.(Big horses too for the older kids.)

I had so much fun planning for the party.

I found the cutest invites on ETSY.

I made the girls matching outfits. White tee's with their names, ages, and cowboy hats...along with cute little ruffled pants.

And found some great things at the dollar store for goodie bags.

For food, we did Shanes Rib Shack BBQ sandwiches, had lots of ice cold IBC rootbeer and cream sodas, red velvet cupcakes for dessert and I made some yummy caramel apples coated in M&Ms.

Here are some photos of the fun.

The writing on the wall!

2010-04-07T13:29:00.010-04:00

So...It was a perfectly normal sunny day. I had just got done cleaning the house, vacuumed both floors, cleaned the kitchen, did the laundry...and I even shampooed the carpet in the living room.
Ahhh..a nice clean home.
I decided to let the girls play downstairs while I went upstairs to call the insurance people about our car accident. I got off the phone and thought...wow..the girls are being really quite. This usually means they are doing something they shouldn't be. As I walk down the stairs I see the first of the damage. Black Sharpie marker everywhere! They wrote on the walls, their toys, the furniture, the tv, the wood floors, and best of all the carpet I had just shampooed. I was speechless for a while..they both stared at me like they knew they had done something wrong. Karlie went to timeout and Janie went to her bed.

Here are some pictures from that fateful day...

This is them after they had washed away their sins. My cute little angels again.")

Stress Break....I mean Spring Break 2010

2010-03-25T13:41:00.012-04:00

Here we go.. in order of how things transpired....

Arrival to the Brown's Orlando House: Saturday Morning 2 AM.

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were great relaxing days. We didn't know at the time that we would really need these. ") During this time we slept, ate, visited with family and shopped.

Tuesday-Thursday..We decided to rent a house on the beach in St. Augustine,Florida.
The house was right on the beach, but that was the only good thing. It was older, and had a dirty feel to it.
The girls were able to go on the beach for a couple of hours, but we had to bundle them up in jackets, sweaters and jeans...because it was overcast, windy and rainy for the whole 2 days we were there.

Doesn't this look like a beautiful day on the beach?

Tuesday Night we decided to go on our Favorite Sail Boat ride in St. Augustine. Its a sunset sail, where you usually see dolphins, and enjoy the view. Mike and I have done it about 7 times by ourselves, but we decided to take the girls this time. We thought the girls would think it was amazing that they were on a real SAIL BOAT! NOPE.... They for some reason hated every minute of it. Maybe because it was 4o degrees! Janie was the worst, she was inconsolable. I felt terrible for everyone else on the boat that paid money to hear a toddler scream for 2 hours. The captain of the boat did however show us down to the hull of the boat, where Janie's cries were somewhat muted. So glad we paid $90 to sit in the hull of a boat.

Wednesday got even better!! That night I had gone to visit one of my friends, Julie, who lived in the area for dinner. I loved catching up with her, and talking to her about all that had been going on in our lives since she had moved to Florida. It was great seeing her.
On my way home, a car tried switching over to my lane. (I was in his blind spot) and he hit the side of my car, causing me to spin across the 4 lane road into a huge cement pole. My car which we had just bought in January, was totalled. Ughh!!

That car WAS so nice.

Thursday we spent the day at enterprise renting a minivan*. Then we went to the junk yard to get some items from the car, took pics. etc. Then we drove 2 hours back to Orlando.

Friday was Mikes Birthday...and by far the best, most memorable, enjoyable part of the trip. My parents watched the girls all day while Uncle Bill took us to Silver Springs for Kayaking. I don't know of any other place in the states where you can experience something like this.

The river water is clear...you can see everything underneath you which is Amazing, Scary, and Beautiful. There were alligators lying on mossy patches everywhere, birds and turtles. But the best was the wild Monkeys. Yes!! Wild Monkeys in Florida! They shot a movie back on the river in the 30's and some monkeys got loose and have been reproducing and living there ever since. WE LOVED IT!

Saturday we rested from our 10 mile kayaking trip.

Sunday we were leaving to head back to Georgia. I was driving and had not even gotten a mile from the house when a cop runs out to the road in front of our car. His partner was clocking people in this parking lot on the right... and he would run out to tell them they were speeding and needed to pull over for their ticket. After they talked to me a little while and got some information they ended up letting me go without even a warning. How awesome was that!! GO Florida Cops.

Georgia Cops...not so sweet. Mike got a ticket on interstate 75 going 88. Anything over 85 is considered "Super Speeding" under the new super speeder law..meaning another $200 gets ADDED on to your original fine.

REALLY!!

Happy Spring Break. ")

Home Fix It Projects!

2010-03-09T15:45:00.009-05:00

We have been working on a few things this year and I wanted to share the photos of our finished products with everyone.

First off...I completely organized and cleaned out our Closet. Its so nice to find things so easily now. Thank you Mike for clearing out your old things...even though you really didn't want to.

Second...Stacey and I decided one Friday night at 9pm to move my little home office niche upstairs. We actually did it! Stacey is the best sister in law... she helped me paint my wooden desk cream and my drawers pink. We also put leapord paper in the bottom of the drawers as a liner. I love looking at my work area, and enjoy doing my Boutique Sweet Cheeks business in my new office space.

LAST...because it's the best..Our Master Bath.

We remodeled the whole bathroom. My inlaws did all the work. They were super patient with me, as I changed my mind on a million things. I will let the photos speak for themselves.

I am so excited about all of these changes and enjoy my room and bathroom so much more!

Karlie's 3rd Birthday with Family

2010-03-09T15:27:00.007-05:00

Karlie turned 3 years old on February 25th. We are having a bigger party for her and Janie combined in April, but of course wanted to celebrate on her actual birthday too.

We went to Monkey Joes for the evening and ate cupcakes...with sprinkles..per Karlie's request! ")

Here are some pictures from her big day!

Snow FEBRUARY 2010

2010-02-12T19:19:00.008-05:00

Yay! It's been snowing all day. As soon as Mike got home we layered the girls in outfits and took them outside. Karlie had said she wanted to make a snow angel all day. (Where does she learn this stuff!) As soon as we got outside she was laying down in the snow making her snow angel.

We also made a snowman.

This was the girls first real snow.

Georgia Aquarium

2010-02-11T14:06:00.003-05:00

Mike found a great deal on tickets to the Georgia Aquarium, so we jumped at the chance and took the girls. Mike took off early from work on a rainy, Thursday afternoon..which was perfect because the place was practically empty! It was fun and actually really calming too. A great way to spend the afternoon. The girls loved it!

Here are some additional pictures from our outing.

The day I shot my first GUN!

2009-11-28T21:41:00.004-05:00

Mike and I finally went on a long overdue date night, thanks to my parents being in town for Thanksgiving.

Mike suggested that we go to the gun range and I agreed. We had never done that before and I needed/wanted to know how to shoot a gun. We went to a place right near our house...Bulls Eye Indoor Gun Range in Downtown Lawrenceville.

We were able to rent 2 guns...a night hawk(shown above) and a desert eagle. .

It was pretty crazy shooting a gun. I will try to explain it the best way I can..but it is something you should experience for yourself.

I could actually see the explosion. It's really loud, and your whole body moves when the gun goes off. I enjoyed it, but know that the only time that I would ever use one would be for mine or my families protection.

South Eastern Railway Museum

2009-11-28T20:48:00.009-05:00

Karlie's School had an auction style fundraiser. Mike and I bid on a couple of items but only won 2 auctions. One of our winning bids was a trip to the South Eastern Railway Museum. We wanted this trip for a couple of reasons. Janie's first word was choo-choo..and lately the girls favorite show is Dinosaur Train, so we thought taking them to see real trains would be a very exciting way to spend a gorgeous Saturday.

Their favorite part was NOT the huge steam engines, or the actual ride that we took on a real train, nope....it was the small train set that had a train going in a tunnel and coming out the other end. Go figure!

I was not expecting it, but much to my surprise...I hold a special place in my heart for trains. Seeing all the old passenger cars and envisioning how the elite traveled back then was really interesting. I also learned how to do morse code. Very Cool!

Lake Lanier Night of Lights

2009-11-25T09:51:00.010-05:00

Oh What A Night..

Usually we are all in bed by 7:30, but last night we decided to do something different. We all packed into the car and went to Lake Laniers Magical Night of Lights. We enjoyed a wonderful evening of hot cocoa and gooey roasted marshmallows that we made ourselves at the outdoor firepit. Karlie and Janie's dreams came true as they rode on pony's and trains. ") It was so amazing to see the smiles on their faces.

Here are some pictures from our night.

Halloween '09

2009-11-01T09:22:00.005-05:00

This Halloween turned out to be really fun for the girls. I wasn't even going to dress them up this year, but Mike talked me into buying them costumes. I went to Toys R' Us and found them the cutest little outfits ever...and they were on sale.

Lion Costume...$2
Poodle Costume...$5

You can't beat that! What a treat!! ")

We started off by going to Chick-fil-a on Thursday night where they had .99 cent kids meals, clowns, and kid activites.

Friday we had Karlie's School Halloween Party which turned out really great. We ate more chick-fil-a, made halloween bags and went trick or treating.

We finished off the holiday by going with Lee and Amy Dawkins to the Church Trunk or Treat party. It was really fun. We ate Chile, danced to halloween music, and got lots of good candy from Trunk or Treating.

Here are some pictures of the girls in their costumes.

Mike gets the Swine Flu!

2009-10-18T20:49:00.003-04:00

It happened! I was terrified of this moment!! I have become obsessive complusive because of the fear I have of this virus coming into our home, but on Sunday October 11th...it defeated us!

I didn't believe Mike for the 1st couple of days, but he finally went to the Doctor on Tuesday..and it was confirmed. For Mike to go to the Doctor really meant something was diffently wrong. I have never seen him like this..and never want to again. All he could do was lay in bed..he would go from freezing to sweating over and over again. He kept a fever of 102 for almost 4 days. He lost 8 pounds and had no appetite at all. His fever finally broke on Thursday, but he still not feeling great.

Luckily none of us girls have shown symptoms, so hopefully it will just pass us by. I have scheduled for us all to get flu shots on Wednesday!

Jennifer and Justin August 22, 2009

2009-10-18T20:27:00.005-04:00

My sister, Jennifer and her Husband Justin Redmon got married on August 17th 2009. Here are some photos from their wedding reception.

Orlando Vacation and 6 year Anniversary

2009-10-18T19:17:00.010-04:00

At the beginning of this month we went down to the Brown's Florida home for a much needed vacation. My mom and sister joined us. We all needed it. Jennifer got married at the end of August... 2 days later my grandmother passed away and 2 weeks after that my grandfather followed. We had been going through a rough patch and needed a time out. This vacation was such a blessing!

While we were there, Mike and I celebrated our 6th year wedding anniversary. We spent the day in St. Augustine, Florida getting a couples massage, taking a sunset sailboat ride, and then going out for a nice dinner. It was perfect!

We took a little trip with our girls to Wonder Works. They loved it!! It was kind of like a little interactive science museum. I highly recommend it.

Mike did a little fishing...but other than that we didn't get out much.
The Browns home is so comfortable and it takes a lot of will power to get up and go once you get settled in. Thanks for letting us stay there again. ")

Karlie's 1st day of Preschool

2009-09-09T19:16:00.004-04:00

Karlie's first day of preschool was today and it was both exciting and sad. She was happy going in this morning, but Janie cried when they took Karlie in and I cried a little bit too.

When I came to pick her up..she said "Momma!!!" I said.."I missed you Karlie"...and she looked back at me and said.."I missed you Momma" . It was the greatest.

Here is what her teacher said in an email to me this afternoon...

Ok, she is so cute-I love everything about her!!! Miss Donna (she teaches a 3 yr old class) came down and took one look at her and said, "You tell her mom that I get her next year. She is adorable." She had a really great day until she was tired out. SHE LOVES THE PLAYGROUND!

I signed up to be a room mom and can't wait to help plan all of the holdiay parties. Wish us luck!

Orlando Trip '09

2009-06-07T20:57:00.010-04:00

Our summer vacation has come and gone. We left on a Friday and didn't come home until the following Sunday..so needless to say, we took our time. 10 days to be exact. Uncle Bill and Aunt Brenda have an amazing,comfortable, relaxing, state of the art home down there..that could not have been more enjoyable. Thank you guys so much for letting us stay there! If we were not at Disney parks or the beach...we were in the house either in the pool or the hot tube, playing rock band upstairs in the game room, watching a movie on the 60+ inch HDTV or just reading magazines and resting on the enormous couches and chairs. Ahhhh...So relaxing!!

We did decide to leave the house once or twice...")

Early in the week we visited Melbourne Beach. Karlie and Janie both love, love, love the beach. They love the sand, the waves, and the people watching.

Monday was my 30Th birthday..so Mike and I got dressed up and went to the House of Blues at Downtown Disney. I had never been to the House of Blues and loved the atmosphere. Mike and I also love all of that Cajun soul food. We got the BBQ sandwich w/sweet potato fries and the Seafood Jambalaya..and ate off of each others plate. It was yummy!!

Tuesday we took the girls to Sea World. Karlie and Janie loved it. Everything except for the Elmo show, which was one of the major reasons for us going there. They are both obsessed with Elmo at home, but seeing him up close was just too much! Here is a picture of Karlie in front of one of the aquariums.

PS...all of the pictures were taken with the new camera that Mike got me for my birthday. I love it!! Thanks baby!

Wednesday we celebrated Janie's 1st birthday. We went out to eat..which I know...was more for us then her, but still! ") Here is my favorite picture of her..we were singing her Happy Birthday and she was acting shy!

Thursday we took the girls to Aquatica. The water park associated with Sea World. That was great because it wasn't busy..and the heat didn't bother us.. being that we were in the water most of the time. The girls couldn't do much because they are so little..so we rode around and around on the lazy river at least 100 times. My favorite part of this day was when it started raining. We decided to take a lunch break. Mike had packed some snacks...Cheese Whiz, crackers, beef jerky and Oreo's. This is what we feasted on. I just know all of the people sitting around us from other countries were thinking..."Americans" as they ate their grapes. ")

We love the spring!

2009-03-08T20:26:00.006-04:00

This weekend couldn't have been better. We spent Saturday at Laura's parents grilling some hamburgers and hotdogs and spending time with them before they head back to Texas. As always the food was great and it was sad saying our byes. Today we took a trip up to Highlands, NC with Stacey and Robert. The weather was perfect making it a beautiful drive. I love passing by the private school in Rabun Gap which has to be the nicest school in the southeast. There is a long windy road that twists up the side of the mountains heading into Highlands which is always fun to drive up. Laura had to remind me more than a couple times to drive within the lines. Highlands is a small mountain town with lots of antique and art shops. It sits next to Lake Sequoyah which is just a small serene lake that is created by a georgous waterfall dam. Just past the dam is a little waterfall that falls over the road. It used to be that you had to drive under the waterfall to get into Highlands but now they built a road around it. You can still drive under it if the weather isn't cold. In downtown Highlands we walked down the mainstreet looking in the shops and just enjoying the weather. Our favorite stops were the "Sauce store" where you can sample all types of salsas, sauses, and jellies. The icecream parlour and an antique shop which has a fun Ring game we like to play. It was great having Stacey Robert, and Lucie to enjoy it all with us. Here are a couple of videos of the trip up to Highlands, and Bridal Veil Falls. It is a little long but didn't feel like editing it :)

Karlie's 2nd Birthday

2009-03-03T20:48:00.003-05:00

Karlie celebrated her 2nd birthday party with family and friends on Saturday February 28th. We loved having everyone over..and Karlie got some great new toys! I had fun decorating the house PINK..and dressing Karlie up in Her Special Birthday outfit. The theme was pretty much anything and everything girly. I had Genna Harris make the cupcakes and included some beautiful pictures of the finished product.

Texas Trip '09 Hail Storm

2009-03-03T20:34:00.006-05:00

Mike and I took our little family on an early vacation to visit relatives in Texas this year. We ended up all getting sick and coming home early, but I was still glad that we got to spend some time together..sick or not. While we were there we witnessed a massive hail storm. I have, and probably will never again see something like this.

Here are some pictures of the girls from our picnic in the park, while in Texas... as well as some from the car ride there. Yes we drove all the way to Texas with 2 babies!

Family Pictures 2008

2009-01-02T18:15:00.005-05:00

Uncle Bill took pictures of us for the fall. They turned out great..and we thought we would share them with you guys. Enjoy...and hope you all had a great holiday season. Happy New Year!!

Our 5th Wedding Anniversary

2008-10-09T18:56:00.007-04:00

Mike and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary over the weekend.

Can I just tell everyone...that I have the most amazing husband in the world...he would win the Gold Medal in the Husband Olympics. It really is the truth. Anyone who know's Mike, know's what I mean. Even if you take out the fact that he is a great Husband and Father...he is just such an awesome guy! I often ask him if he is one of the 3 nephites...jokingly of course...(but would he tell me if he was???) The patience and intergrity that he shows on a regular basis is pretty amazing. And then to be so HOT on top of all that. Daaaaang Babe!!

So for our 5th wedding anniversary, Mike took the day off from work. That was a gift in itself. We then dropped the kids off at the Dawkins House for the day, another gift in that he found the babysitters. (Thank you guys, by the way!) We then headed downtown to get massages...and do some shopping at my favorite store. If that wasnt heaven enough....we went to eat at Canoe...I had never been there before...and it was amazing.

It is right off of the Chattahoochee River in between The Vining's and Buckhead. Mike made reservations for an outside table near the river. The weather was beautiful and dinner was amazing. Mike ordered the Swordfish, and I had Salmon. Guys..this is totally the place to go if you want to impress the ladies!

I also got flowers, a card, and a porch swing. Mike has learned that every true southern girl needs a porch swing.")

Thanks Mike...I love you and can't wait to spend eternity with you!

Karlie's new bed

2008-09-22T22:31:00.003-04:00

I found a deal on a new toddler bed for Karlie about a week ago. We set it up today and wondered if she would know it was her bed so we put her favorite blankies, and bears into it and left her alone. It was nice to come back in and see her fast asleep on her Big Girl Bed.

Ike brings family fun at Yellow River Game Ranch

2008-09-14T19:00:00.004-04:00

Laura has had some family in town from Texas because of the recent hurricanes and it has been fun spending time with them. The other day Laura and Karlie went to the Yellow River Game ranch and fed the animals.

Spicy Gumbo, and a New Wii! Rockband party at our house!

2008-09-07T10:04:00.005-04:00

The other day we were invited to Laura's parents for some famous Cajun Gumbo. For those who don't know Laura's family makes the best southern/cajun food without a doubt. So when invited over it is always a mouth watering experience not to pass up...ever! Well the Gumbo did not dissapoint as I gulped down 3 bowls of it. Afterwards we spent time with Laura's grandparents who are in town from Beaumont, Tx, Jenn, and David.

The suprise of the night was the Wii, Carl gave us a Wii with the Rockband kit which we setup and started rocking away. It was a night to never forget with Laura jamming on guitar, Jen singin, and David drumming away. We also got in some bowling that Laura's grandpa played, Baseball that Carl hit a grandslam on and some good ol tennis. We are very greatfull for the new Wii and me n Laura have started a band "Your Momma's." We play almost every night which has been some fun times together. Thanks y'all!

Hopefully we can reach the level of these guys sometime.

What is the best way to practice? Ask these guys...

New job at CheckFree

2008-08-31T09:05:00.002-04:00

The Geek Squad badge has been retired and I just finished up my first week as an employee of CheckFree. I was contacted by my friend Adam, whom I worked with from Circuit City about an opening for a Desktop Support Analyst and after 2 interviews I recieved an offer that we were very happy about. CheckFree is owned by a Fortune 500 company called Fiserv and presents a great opportunity for me to develop new skills and grow within the company. It is nice to finally get out of a retail environment and I have been very excited every day. talking off my family's ears off about how much I enjoy it!

Florida Trip

2008-08-30T18:24:00.025-04:00

Even though Tropical Storm Fay attempted to rain us out in Orlando it definitely did not keep us from having an awesome trip. We arrived at Uncle Bills new place just south of Orlando. They had a beautiful room waiting for us where we setup Karlie's portable crib and Janie's bassinet. The next morning we headed to Disney World with Karlie while Aunt Brenda took care of Janie for us. We were able to get some fun times in before the rain started coming down. Karlie's favorites were "it's a small world," and Monster's Inc. Laugh floor. The next couple days were rainy, lazy days but had lots of rockin fun with Rock band and just hangin' out. We did manage to squeeze half a day in a Sea World where me and Karlie went with Jeff and his family. Karlie liked pretty much everything there and her favorites were the Elmo show, Shamu, Walruses, stingrays, and the penguins. We spent our last 2 days at a condo on Melbourne beach where we enjoyed some sun finally. Karlie and Janie loved the beach. Janie chilled next to mommie in her Bumbo seat in the shade while Karlie and I splashed in the waves. Karlie was fascinated by the beach birds and spent about an hour chasing them up and down the beach. When she finally realized that it was hopeless she let me build a sand castle around her. We had a wonderful time and can't wait to go again! Here are some pictures from our trip and I will post some more videos from Sea World when I get a chance.

Karlie doin some computer work

2008-08-03T09:42:00.004-04:00

If you have a baby you know how much they like the keyboard. I have an extra one that I have let Karlie bang the keys on, one of those old and loud keyboards and she loves it. The only problem is she wants to use the keyboard mommy and daddy use. Welcome Baby Smash! This free program allows your baby to use the pc worry free and makes it fun for them. As babies smash on the keyboard, colored shapes, letters, and numbers appear on the screen and you can set options for laughing or speech. If they use the mouse a bunch of colorful circles follow the pointer.

Some other sites for your kids:

Quintura
A kid friendly search engine powered by Yahoo Kids, so all search results should be G-rated.

TOTLOL
A youtube for kids.

YUVA
Karlie is too young for this but for older tots a good way for kids to create art with shapes. This "creative playground" (basically an online drawing program) lets kids create artwork using shapes that can be dragged, expanded, flipped, rotated, doodled, and so on. The resulting masterpieces can be saved in "sketchbooks," turned into e-cards to share with friends and family, or printed.Is not free but can try it for seven days and if your kid likes it only 29 per "artist".

Printable Car Activities
Some fun stuff to do with your kids while taking that summer vacation trip.

Free Sesame Street Ipod videos that teach kids valuable lessons
The iTunes Store is offering six free Sesame Street videos, each designed to teach kids an important life lesson. The videos range from 13-42 minutes; they're free to download and can be viewed on your PC or iPod. You will need to have itunes installed to download the videos. Also tons of kids audiobooks can be found here at Storynory.

Print your own coloring books
For those of you who love to color (or who have kids who love to color) coloring-book.info has a whole bunch of printable coloring book sheets.

Here is a video of Karlie mashing away at Baby Smash!...

Geek Squad Academy Graduation

2008-07-19T19:37:00.006-04:00

Geeksquad Summer Academy was AWESOME! Here are some more pics and some small videos of graduation. We had most of the students take a survey online and it was very interesting to see what an impact this event had on the kids lives.

More pictures can be found here

Geek Squad Summer Academy 2008 Atlanta

2008-07-16T19:43:00.007-04:00

Since Sunday I have spent every day helping as an instructor at Atlanta's first Geek Squad Summer Academy 2008. This by far is the most meaningful event I have had the opportunity to be part of, in a work related activity. Geek Squad Summer Academy is a program designed to inspire a younger generation to get involved firsthand with technology. This year in Atlanta we are having 4 different classes for the Girl Scouts of Atlanta. There are about 100 "ladies" as Girls Scouts are reffered to attending. Throughout the 4 days they take classes on how to build their own computer, setup and secure a wireless network, learn about HTML and design a webpage, and are educated on "Green Computing." It’s amazing to see these young ladies put together a desktop computer themselves, power it on and smile in amazement as it actually boots up. They build their own Ethernet cables and understand how to secure a wireless network. They build all sorts of solar powered electronic devices; make gadgets and jewelry out of recycled computer parts. I am one of the instructors for the web class in which we teach the basics of HTML and watch them excitedly build their own "Junior Agent" websites. You can check out mine here

Tomorrow is the last day of the event and graduation. I will make sure to post some more pictures.

Karlie in the Water

2008-07-12T20:19:00.006-04:00

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Yesterday, Karlie and her Cousins played in the water. She had so much fun splashing around. My favorite picture is of her sliding down the slide on her stomach..I Love It.

I attached a video too.

Love you baby..see you on Monday!

Laura, Karlie, and Janie

Texas BBQ

2008-07-11T16:03:00.007-04:00

I am a southern girl, and BBQ is one of my favorite meals. Nothing is more American than some old fashion BBQ beef, pork, or chicken. Yesterday my family and I went to a great BBQ place for lunch. Don't get me wrong, Sonny's BBQ is good but if you want real BBQ you need to visit places that look like this...

I ate a huge beef brisket sandwich, but what was even better was the piece of Homemade Chocolate Meringue Pie that seriously made it worth driving 750 miles to Texas for. YUM!!YUM!!

Now I need to drink water and eat soup for the rest of the trip...yeah right")

Stormy afternoon

2008-07-09T18:48:00.007-04:00

Today we had a nice storm blow through our neighborhood. Because we live at the end of the street much of the water comes right down our driveway cuts a canyon in our backyard and joins up with a creek. Here is a video from todays storm.

Tuesday July 8,2008

2008-07-08T21:55:00.011-04:00

Hey Baby,

Here are the pictures that I took today of Karlie. We went to Angie's and rode around in the VW Bug.

Also, look what else I found today at Walmart. It's Karlie's favorite thing in the whole world. An Elmo Juice Box with a Straw, Awesome! She loves it!

Hope you sleep well. We miss you!

Love, your Babies!

Our Trip to Texas...Summer 2008

2008-07-07T17:51:00.017-04:00

So mostly this is to keep in touch with Mike while we are away so he can see pictures, etc. But everyone is welcome to read and of course comment on these posts.
So yes, I decided to take a trip 735 miles one way to Vidor, Texas to visit family. Karlie and I really needed to get out of the house and do something different. We decided to stop half way and spend the night in New Orleans. I had never been and was totally excited about sightseeing and taking tons of pictures.

Well, we got there, showered up and went to go eat some good Cajun seafood at Landry's, (an awesome seafood restaurant). I envisioned beautiful streets with trees and moss hanging down, statues, pretty much a peaceful evening in Louisiana. When we arrive in downtown New Orleans, the streets were packed due to the Essence Music Festival being in town...so here is what the Essence Music Festival is for those of us who do not know!!
It’s apparently a Black American Empowerment Seminar. The participants included: Tyler Perry, Rev. Al Sharpton, Tom Joyner, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, Louisiana Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu, Lynn Whitfield, Regina Belle, Roland S. Martin, Soledad O'Brien, Dr. Juanita Bynum, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Bishop Paul S. Morton, Bishop Debra Morton, Tye Tribbett and more."
WOW!!

We eventually decided we would still go eat at Landry's just in another part of town. We got lost on the way there...Went through neighborhoods that included houses reconstructed worth $500,000 next door to homes with FEMA trailers in the front yard. Once we finally get to Landry's, the wait is 45 minutes long. We should have turned around and gone to Taco Bell at this point, but we stayed and 25 min. into the waiting period Karlie decided to go pretty much ballistic. I have never seen her act this way. (Well, maybe that one time at Ann and Gary's) She seemed practically uncontrollable! I thought maybe when we got seated she would calm down, but she never did. I told my parents that Karlie and I would just sit in the car and wait until they were done. We went to the car and sat...and Karlie totally calmed down so we went back in. My parents had ordered my dinner, (grilled shrimp, field peas, and dirty rice) and while we were waiting on it I fed Karlie some crackers and water. Finally after about 30 minutes, they brought out my food and it was completely wrong. At this moment Karlie hits her head on the table and goes back to being uncontrollable, so outside again we went. People are of course staring and I am almost in tears. My dad comes and gets Karlie while I go back in to eat my food, but at this point I am irritated and stressed, so I ask the waitress to take my wrong order off of the ticket. Then my parents and I got into a huge fight that we did not resolve before going to bed. It was awesome. Good Times. The next morning we woke up still upset, and drove another 4 1/2 hours. Enough time to make up. ")

Here are some pictures from our road trip there...the first is of my sweet precious angel and the other is of my not so sweet precious angel.")

Love ya Baby.

Laura

The Vacuum Demos Paid OFF!

2008-07-03T17:52:00.005-04:00

So as many of our close family and friends know..due to the fact that most of you watched hours of Vacuum Demo's(Thanks again for doing that!)..We are now the proud owners of a Rainbow Vacuum Cleaner Air Purification System"). We finally got our Payoff check in the mail today. Wahoo..It was so worth it. We have used it so much already. Just the other day, Mike shampooed the carpet in the living room..and it looks brand new. My house always smells great too.

Karlie is sick today

2008-07-02T17:48:00.003-04:00

Karlie woke up this morning at about 4:30 and right away I could tell something was wrong. She has a fever and has not been herself all day. I could tell she was very miserable, she didn't want to eat or anything. All I can do to console her is hold her as she comes to me as if I have some magic cure. Its funny how a little cold can be so stressful and depressing for a father. As I learn how to be a father myself I have a greater appreciation for my own parents and family. I can't imagine the heartache I have caused them as I grew up. As kids (and even as adults) we truly don't see the efforts that are put into our lives. Nor do we realize the prayers, hopes, and wishes that are directed towards us. I am lucky to have had great parents and family members who have sacrificed much in raising me. Whatever small mistakes were made are overshadowed by the great effort, teachings, and time taken in trying to make a good life for me. I love you all and hope I can come even a little close to raising my own daughters as well as you have raised me.

Laura's Big Sale & New Site

2008-06-25T11:09:00.011-04:00

If you have kids you probably have or know someone who has a bumbo seat. If not here it is..

Pretty ugly looking thing and so Laura has been making seat covers for them. The covers can be ordered premade or you can build your own custom cover. She has been doing pretty good selling over 60 covers since she started. She also redesigned the ugly website I made for her and has a brand new one that she did all herself. Take a look at http://www.bumbocover.com/ and leave a comment below. Yesterday she sold her first wholesale order to a boutique in Canada who needed 24 of them. We are very excited and if you have a bumbo seat and want a cover or want to give one as a gift let us know.

Mom & Gary

2008-06-22T06:52:00.010-04:00

Yesterday we visited mom & Gary's as I had most of the day off. Mom made a great chicken casserole which I ate way too much of. We took some pics below. They have a beautiful flower garden and farther down are some pictures of the flowers.

Janie

2008-06-19T07:33:00.004-04:00

Janie is 2.5 months old now and is at one of my favorite stages. She now notices her surroundings and can see us and will offer a big smile whenever we give her attention. I will make sure to update this post with a pic or video clip as soon as I can but I thoroughly enjoy this time. I feel as though this is the time where she gets to know me and recognize me as being her daddy.

Janie has a very different personality from Karlie. She seems for the most part more laid back and easy going. She definately is alot stronger, already holding up her head and even able to balance sitting up pretty well. Sometimes her strength amazes me. She has this death grip where she will hold onto things or just grip really tight with her fingers and toes that moving her becomes just a little difficult making me laugh. She'll also give out some good beatings with her leg reflex kicks when she is sitting next to you so watch out.

Cat Power & Geekmobiles

2008-06-19T06:49:00.007-04:00

Every couple of weeks my job holds a drawing for tickets to certain events. We ended up winning a pair of tickets to see Cat Power at the Tabernacle in Atlanta. Last concert I went to happened to be there as well. Laura got tickets for us to see Elton John there about 3 years ago. When I went to pick up the tickets they gave me an extra pair and we invited Stace and Robert to go with us. When we arrived there was a whole section reserved for ticket holders only and we were pretty much the only ones in that section. Every couple of minutes someone would try to sit in the empty seats and would get kicked out making us laugh. Anyways, the concert was fun times. We didn't know anything about Cat Power and were not too excited but it ended up being a great evening together. She has a very unique style and performed some remakes of some Fleetwood Mac, Creedence Clearwater and Patsy Cline. Carl, Cathy, & David all teamed up to help watch the babies that night which we are VERY grateful. If you haven't heard of Cat Power and like music you should check them out.

Yesterday we had a meeting to discuss our new services initiative Geeksquad 3.0. After our meeting we did a swarm where all of us drive along in a line. Pretty crazy driving around Atlanta 20 Geekmobiles all lined up going to different Best Buy stores. The reactions were great. Saw everything from cops taking pictures, honking, thumbs up, and flip offs. Here is a pic from my mirror.

Etsy

2008-06-10T07:03:00.004-04:00

"I can spend the whole day on Etsy"-Laura

Etsy is a shop where people can list homemade items for sale and is one of Laura's favorite places to shop online. Laura setup a shop to sell her Bumbo seat covers and has some friends that have shops as well. If you have a homemade item you would like to start selling Etsy seems a great place to start.

Laura's Shop Boutique Sweet Cheeks
Her shop was also featured in a couple of blogs
Boutique Sweet Cheeks Trendy Fav featured on Trendy Tots
Boutique Sweet Cheeks Featured on Blessings & Bows Blog

Laura's friend Kerri has a shop as well
She sells cute custom made baby books and journals.

Stacey, Robert, & Root Beer

2008-06-09T07:28:00.005-04:00

Yesterday we gathered our belongings and trekked our way up to visit Stace & Robert. As always it was a pleasure to spend time with them. They have the Wii and we got to play some Mario Cart using the Wii wheel. For those of you who haven't played the Wii whether you are a gamer or not are missing out. Besides some major team coin collecting and racing we had alot of fun there and enjoyed being with them. Stacey whipped up out of nowhere a couple dozen of the best homemade cookies I have had. Its funny how things change. Laura & I talk often about how we grew up compared to how our kids will grow up. I remember many a meals being prepared from scratch. TV dinners came later but were last resort. Just the other day in about 6 minutes Laura whipped up some salmon and tuna steaks with potatoes and cabbage which tasted amazing. I don't know how our Mothers survived. How did they go without meals in a bag, and how did they raise us without pasta pickups, little puffs, or yogurt melts. This will be a post in its own someday.

Oh yea I had the best tasting root beer EVER! Stacey and Robert got it for my birthday and I don't know how I missed it. It is called Virgil's Root Beer and lives up to its claim of being a "slice of heaven" It is definitely worth trying at least once and can be found at the Whole Foods Market. Here is a review that says it all.
Virgil's Root Beer: A Slice of Heaven

Geneology

2008-06-08T19:10:00.007-04:00

One of my jobs the other day was with someone whom I had the privilege of having an interesting discussion about genealogy. When I walked into his office there were old pictures, documents, and maps all over his walls. On his desk were various family history charts and research papers. As I worked on his system I began asking about his research. I excitedly told him about Geni and how great it has been to see our family contribute and collaborate. He had heard of Geni and was interested in learning more and as I shared my knowledge with him he asked me what research I had done to develop our "Family History." I replied by telling him that I have family members who have researched extensively our heritage. I personally know of family members travelling far to research leads, visit cemeteries etc.

I then asked of his research and found out that he has not gone as far back as his great great grandfather in his family tree. He stated that he has some suspicions of where his lineage goes from there but he cannot PROVE it. He then began admonishing me the importance of discovering your true genealogy based on documented facts and not hearsay. He explained in details about his research, how he had paid researchers to gather information only to find out much of it was taken from sources that did not exist. Specifically he mentioned a man who stated to have found some of his family history and documented in details certain sources. When he went to validate the sources they never existed or were irrelevant. This was very new to me in that my interest in family history has been merely to gather what research has already been done. I never considered that the cited Church history documents may have been fabricated or cited films may not exist and so on. As I have thought about this conversation I have realized a couple of things.

Family history research evolves and in this information age we have the greatest opportunity to gather and share information than ever before. With this blessing comes great responsibility as well. It is important to be as accurate as possible in your research. To detail how you came about the data you are submitting. Geneology.com has a great article on the value of documentation in family history research. They discuss the following benefits of detailed documentation.

· Documentation Will Make Your Research Easier and Faster
· Documentation Helps Prevent Duplication of Research
· Documentation Gives Others Confidence in Your Research
· Documentation Doesn't Have to Be Hard

That said it is also important to realize that Family History is like any History. Not only is it history but herstory too. Some of the greatest moments in history cannot be proven without a doubt but it is these “stories” that create the historical moments that captivate and motivate us. There have been many such stories told to me by my family true or not they are now a part of our family history.

This leads me to my final point. I have a responsibility to document my sources for family history information. I also recognize the fact that my lineage cannot be detailed 100% and that there may be some inaccuracies in my history. My personal goal in our family history is to provide a means for our family to collaborate our own research, “stories,” and histories. Most importantly it is to communicate and share our own immediate family’s history. I hope the work we have done in Geni will provide us the means to do so.

GENI Update

2008-06-07T08:45:00.002-04:00

Thanks to all the family members we have contributing to the family tree. Feel free to update your profile with important dates, add photos, and invite other family members to participate. It has been exciting to see extended trees being added and created. It is amazing how we are all connected. Carl Lee submitted his Gedcom to be imported on the Lee side and Jeff Brown submitted his Gedcom to have merged in as well. If you have a family file you would liked imported contact me and I will be glad to help.

I have removed the screencast from a previous post because it is too small to watch anyways. I know Geni is easy to use but I hope to make a new one that is shorter and larger so I can help those family members who need it in navigating around.

The Greatest Family Collaboration Site...GENI, and you are invited!

2008-05-28T16:50:00.009-04:00

I have been looking for a way to share family photos, history, events, and genealogy data for a while now. I have yet to have found a solution worth employing till now. Yesterday I came across this site http://www.geni.com/. It currently is in beta so it isn't perfect, but its free and offers far superior solutions than other services I have tried and been tempted to pay for and try.

I have imported what GEDCOM files I currently have and what I could find on familysearch.org. I have imported most of the following lines: Page, Lee, Brown, Davies, Emery, Cameron, Sheffield. Because familysearch.org doesn't report living persons information I attempted to enter as much as I know.

Most likely you have already received an invite from me to "View our tree" Follow the instructions below to get started and then come back and view my screencast here which will help you become familiar with our Geni tree.

UPDATED SCREENCAST COMING SOON

Geni invite instructions:

Click the link in your email to "View our tree"
Click YES to the question asked if you are a member of Michael Page's family. Note: Even if you are an extended family member click yes.
The next prompt asks if you would like to invite others to view our Geni tree this can be done at any time later so for now click skip
You are now taken to your spot on our Geni tree. If you have watched my screencast then you should feel comfortable navigating the Genie tree. Genie tree screencast
An email will be sent providing a temporary password for your account, a link to create a permanant password, and a link to view your profile.
This is the most important step. Take the time to finish your profile. Please take the time to include as much information as possible including dates, and photos. This may be a bit time consuming but will be greatly worth it.
Make our Geni tree grow by continuing to contribute and participate in it. This can be done by adding/correcting missing/incorrect information, contributing to family news, calendar, photos, profiles. Inviting other family members to participate in our Geni tree.

Below are the pros and cons I have found with Geni. Please comment about what you think of Geni. I want to know if you find it complicated or simple, useless or usefull. Also if you did not recieve an invite for some reason contact me and provide me with an updated email address.
Pros:

It's FREE! Can't beat that.
Our Geni tree can grow as big as we want it to. If you want to add your spouses family line, cousins, etc. please do. Remember the Geni tree is dynamic and will adjust to your family name.
Quick and easy to use interface
Personal profiles have a familiar "facebook" social networking style to them
Personal profiles provide features such as, easy photo uploading, about me page, timeline of events, guestbook comments, & contact information
Permissions can be managed to only allow family and friends to access our geni tree.
It is easy to contribute your family history to the family tree.
Logging onto Geni tree renames the family tree to yours and your spouses family line.
"The purpose of this is not to label the single page that you're looking at, but rather to "brand" the Geni site with something that's specific to your family. Users who do not have a current spouse will see their own maiden name or last name. Users who are married will see their own maiden name or last name, a dash, and their current spouse's maiden name or last name. If you have multiple current spouses, all of them will be listed."

Cons:

Even though navigating your profile and viewing the tree is very user friendly it does take some getting used to. I will be posting some training screencasts and tips for navigating the Geni tree.
UPDATE: GEDCOM files can be merged into our tree. If you are interested in having your family file merged please contact me on Geni.

Currently a GEDCOM can be imported into a brand new Geni tree that cannot be merged into an existing family tree. This means currently we will have to manually add information. If you have a large line that currently isn't in our Geni tree you may want to wait until direct GEDCOM import feature is enabled. Or send me the GEDCOM and on my spare time I will manually start importing it. What we wouldn't want to happen is to have multiple Geni trees that aren't linked together as it would complicate the purposes of our Geni tree. "Please Note: Importing a GEDCOM will create a new Geni Tree. If you already have a Geni account you must use a different email address for this import. This will start a new Tree which will not be merged into your existing Tree. We plan to enable GEDCOM Import into existing Trees in the future."

Pictures of Karlie and Janie

2008-05-26T10:40:00.004-04:00

We went to Lee & Amy Dawkins house to celebrate Zane's birthday. Zane got some fun toys, and we ate some good food. Lee's sister Jenna (who unfortunately I don't have her website address) makes the BEST cakes and has done lots of weddings and such. She made Laura an awesome chocolate marble cake that didn't last long at all.

For those who don't know Lee & Amy also have their own photography business and are great. They took some time to take some photos of Karlie and Janie for us. Thanks as always for the wonderful job! To see some more of their works visit their website L&A Photography.

Laura's Birthday was Hypnotic

2008-05-26T08:56:00.008-04:00

For those that don't know Laura just had her birthday. For Laura's birthday we went to see a hypnotist show at the Punchline, a comedy club in Atlanta. The hypnotist was Ricky Kalmon who actually lives in Atlanta but is hardly here as he tours around the nation. Some of his shows can be seen here. The show was surprisingly clean and very funny, it's a perfect date idea I guarantee you won't regret. We left exhausted from all the laughing and had a GREAT time together. Thanks to Kevin & Amy for watching Janie, and Cathy for watching Karlie.

Don ended up taking a friend to the show the next day and he ended up on stage hypnotized. They snuck some videos of it and have some clips posted below. So funny!

Janie Lee Page Blessing

2008-05-17T22:38:00.007-04:00

Tomorrow we are going to bless Janie Lee Page at church. This post is dedicated to her.

Janie Lee Page
Born April 2, 2008

Janie was very excited to come into our family and we were blessed to have her 2 weeks early. She was born healthy and strong with BIG cheeks and light brown hair pile on top of her head. Our precious girl didn't hardly let out a peep when she was born and once her little eyes opened has just been wide eyed soaking everything in. It is funny how different siblings can be as Janie is more laid back and alot stronger than Karlie was. She is able to hold her head up by her own, and because of all that kickin' has legs that are small yet VERY strong. She also has very strong hands and when she grips onto something it can only be pried out.
Karlie is very curious of her younger sister and likes to try to talk to her and gently touch her. You can tell by her demeanor that she know thats her baby sister and can't wait to show her how to do new things as she herself learns them. She thinks its funny when we giver her a pacifier and gets so jealous when "her" blankie is use to cover Janie up.