You Betcha...

I had a really fun opportunity to go to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the National Math Conference. Me and 6 other teachers from Centennial Elementary made the trip. Yes, it was cold! While we were there they had record setting highs for this time of year. It was high 20's in the mornings and low 50's in the afternoons. It is normally between 38-42 degrees in the fall. It definitely felt cold enough to us. The atmosphere of the city was very fun and "holiday-ish." We stayed in the downtown area and it was beautiful. We did a lot of walking between all of the sightseeing and walking to and from the conference center but it was well worth it. The conference was very good. I am excited to try some of the ideas I learned. I have never had an opportunity to travel that far north but hope to do it again someday with my family. It was a really neat city. Of course our Texan accents were a topic of conversation everywhere we went. We thought Minnesotans talked very fast and we heard "You betcha..." A LOT!! I was away from Charlie and Abbye for four days and three nights. I missed them!!! They seemed to do fine without me. Between bible class and the park I am not sure Abbye really even knew I was gone. It sounded like Daddy was very entertaining and I came home to a very clean house!

This is on Nicollet Ave. It was an outdoor that consisted of several blocks and several stories. It was all connected by sky bridges so you wouldn't have to walk outside in the winter. The streets in this area were filled with fresh produce, honey and sweets. Only buses and taxi's can drive down this area.

Cary and Kristi buying homemade chocolate off the street. It was wonderful!
Our group at the Nicollet Ave. Mall

All of the stores were multiple levels. I have never seen so many escalators! Minneapolis is one of the Target "hotspots." This store was huge! We got laughed at for taking pictures of the shopping cart escalator.

The sky bridges connect everything. The walkways go straight through the stores. It is so bizarre.

Downtown with Cary.

Neat Clock

Lots of water = Lots of cool bridges!

Metrodome - We tried to hangout with Brett Favre but no one would let us. Very pretty downtown.

This picture is us standing on a balcony at the Guthrie Theater. It is the #1 ranked theater in the nation so we had to check it out. It was gorgeous. We stayed and saw the play "The Importance of Being Earnest." It was cute.

Great Food!!!

MALL OF AMERICA

Even if you don't love to shop you will have a great time at the Mall of America. There is an amusement park, aquarium and hundreds of stores and restaurants. We went to the Human Body Exhibit. It was VERY COOL!

all the escalators

Nickelodeon Amusement Park

Rainforest Cafe

Lego Land

We really had a good time and yes...we did attend the conference!

Precious Peacock

We had a fun Halloween Day!

This is Abbye eating her breakfast. I woke up excited about the day and tried to make her understand that it was a fun day. It didn't take her long to catch on...

We had to wake her up from her nap and she was dazed as Daddy got her ready for Trick or Treating.
All ready...she is asking her Aunt Starkey for "nandy." Of course, she got it :)

Smiling for her audience (Mom, Dad, Mimzy, Poppy, Starkey and Rick)

Friend Cy the puppy

Friend Addyson ~ Abbye thought she was very pretty.

Zaylee the lion and Reese the Ladybug

Ellie the Strawberry and a sucker...Does Halloween get any better than this.

Kisses!

Eating suckers with Kelby

Kelby the elephant, Abbye the peacock, and Katy the bee (oh...and the suckers)

Hannah Montana (cousin Kaitlyn) Abbye wasn't so sure about her fake eyelashes.

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins

Isn't she precious!!!

We have had a really fun Halloween season. Abbye has loved to see all of the "umkins." We started off going on the Lubbock Pumpkin Trail. We walked through a path of over 400 carved pumpkins. It was really neat. We all enjoyed it.

Dad brought 100 pumpkins to Centennial Elementary this week to our 4th graders. They were SO excited about them! Thanks Dad!!! I brought the extra pumpkins home and Kaitlyn(Charlie's cousin and Abbye's babysitter) came over to paint pumpkins with us and bake cupcakes. Once Abbye realized that it was okay for her to have paint on her hands she had a fun. It was really cute!

Isn't this some talent? Who needs art lessons?

Hard work requires some rest time!


We stopped by a cute little pumpkin place that let us take some pictures. Abbye was loving it all - especially riding in the wagon.

CHEESE

Pucker Up!

Did I ever tell you that Abbye has a love for eating corn on the cob? She could tell this looked familiar...

Happy Halloween! Have fun tomorrow!

Tennessee Trip

A couple of weekends ago we got to fly to Tennessee to see our friends Josh and Evan. We had a wonderful trip but before I tell about Tennessee I had to add in a few pictures of Abbye's favorite things ~ Her Mules cheerleader suit and her toothbrush. She went to a Muleshoe football game and got the outfit. She LOVES it and always wants it ON!

We also got to attend "An Evening with George W. Bush" sponsored by LCU. It was really neat to hear him speak. We weren't supposed to take pictures so I only got these two before I put the camera up. He was very entertaining to listen to.

Now...Tennesse...We left Lubbock on a Friday afternoon and had a straight flight to Memphis. We had to change planes in Memphis to go on to Nashville. Our flight left Lubbock a little over an hour late so we were really rushed to get to our connecting flight. As soon as we landed Charlie took off to the new gate to check us in while I waited with Abbye for her stroller. There was really no reason to rush because our flight to Nashville had been cancelled. We are still not exactly sure why. Something about a crew member not showing up??? Anyway, the next flight out would not be until Sunday so we had to rent a car and drive the 3 1/2 hours to Nashville. The rental car places were LOVING our flight being cancelled. We met a couple coming home from their honeymoon that needed to get to Nashville so we split the cost and drove with our new friends Chris and Megan. We didn't get to Josh and Evans until 1:40 am but we were there!

Charlie and Abbye waiting in the airport. It was her first flight and she loved it all!

Charlie's high school friend Heath and his family (Carrie and Aurora) live in Mississippi and drove to see us on Saturday. While Josh, Charlie and Heath played golf, the girls went sight seeing. These are all from inside the Opryland hotel. It was amazing! Now I see why Mom and Dad loved to go there so much!

Abbye was so excited about the waterfalls!

Josh and Evan took us to a "Nashville Place" to eat called Loveless. There was a petting zoo and everything.

The girls were supposed to be taking a nap but they were having too much fun playing.

Abbye and Evan had a great time playing with the camera.

We were all trying to convince Josh that it was time for them to have a baby. I think it might have worked.

A highlight of the trip: The Titans vs. Colts game. Charlie has been a Titans fan since they were the Houston Oilers. He was really excited. I had never been to an NFL game before. It was great. Abbye loved it too! It did get cold and the Titans lost (I was secretly going for Payton Manning) but we were all so excited and had a blast.

It was "Code Blue" night. Even the bridge over the river was lit with blue lights.

Abbye looking through the binoculars. It was so cute!

Almost home - Abbye was "flying like a bird" but I couldn't catch it on camera.

It was a wonderful trip!

We are now looking forward to Halloween. We are going to have the cutest Peacock in town!

Did I Ever Post About Jenny's Wedding?/Baby Update

Well, baby boy Turner is doing great. We had our "in-depth" ultrasound last week and everything looked exactly as it should have. He is growing right on target to be a Valentine's Day baby.

Abbye had her 18 month check-up yesterday. She is also doing great. She was 25 pounds (70%) and 33 inches long (95%). She is really talking up a storm and is singing/humming a lot of the time. It is SO cute! She makes us smile so much!

I just realized that I don't think that I ever posted pictures of Jenny's wedding. Jenny is Charlie's sister and she got married to Justin in Colorado Springs right before school started. It was so beautiful. It was in a garden with mountains and flowers as the backdrop. After the wedding we took pictures in the Garden of the Gods. It was so pretty. We had a great time seeing family and being in Colorado. These pictures are out of order and are only of rehearsal. I will post more later.

One worn out little girl!!!

FAMILY


Lauren and Olivia

All of the scenery was great entertainment.

Practice ~ Practice

More From Summer

So yes...once again it has been FOREVER since I have blogged. I have been blaming my computer but thanks to my friend Lesley, I have learned it is not my computer being slow but the camera user (which would be me :) So hopefully I will not dread posting pictures so much any more!

Life is in the Turner family has been great. The start of school was very smooth and I am really liking it all so far this year. Abbye has adjusted back to being with the Michaels. She loves playing with her cousins and is getting very good a saying their names. She is great at entertaining herself and finds EVERYTHING interesing and funny these days. Her favorite place to be right now is OUT! (outside) so we spend most of our evenings swinging and roaming around outside. She thinks pulling weeds is pretty funny so our flower beds have been looking better lately. Now only if she could reach the sink to do the dishes...

She is such a doll and Charlie and I just LOVE watching her and playing with her. She is going to make a great big sister to her little brother. Yes, you read correctly. In case you haven't heard ~ It's a BOY! Baby Turner #2 is a boy. We (esp. Charlie) are very exctied. I am feeling much better and am already almost 1/2 way through my pregnancy. It is flying by.

Charlie is doing great too! It so wonderful to have him home in the evenings this year! We are back on a more normal schedule. I cook supper, we go to softball games and we all go do bed a more decent hour. He has recently started building me a rocking chair for the new baby.

I know many of you have missed seeing Abbye pictures so I have attached some from the past 8 weeks or so. Yes, that tall, blonde haired toddler is Abbye (her hair can fit in a ponytail now!)
We spent Labor Day weekend in Muleshoe with the Boyd's. Abbye loved to ride the horse but loved it more when Kenna was riding with her.

She loves to "help" me clean. Don't worry...I don't give her things that are too toxic to clean with :)

Cari and Sheila came this summer to visit. I don't a good pic of Sheila (sorry Sheila) Abbye played peek-a-boo with them for like 24 hours straight. She was highly entertained.

Abbye loves to visit Mom and Dad's new house in Muleshoe. These are from the 4th of July. The house is much futher along now.

Muleshoe parade!

Rangers game!

Gotta love the dot race!

Abbye read books with Gran through a lot of the game.

They convinscated my Lemon Chill.

Summer is going by so fast! I can't believe it! We have been having fun. The past two weekends we have spent in Prosper with my sister and her family and next weekend we are off to Colorado for Charlie's sister's wedding. I know I haven't posted pictures in a while and I thought these were cute. Abbye really has a thing for shoes/socks/toes/feet. She plays with them all the time.

These next few are just an example of how Abbye and I like to spend our afternoons.

I have many more pictures to post. Swimming lessons, Cari and Shelia's visit, 4th of July, Ranger game, Gran's birthday weekend, etc...My goal is to get them all posted before school starts!

By the way...if you haven't heard...Abbye will be a big sister! Baby #2 is due February 14th.