Busy week=No cooking

We have a crazy week. Crazy weeks often equates no cooking. Well, okay, as if I need an excuse. Anyway, Monday, Kayla and Megan had a volleyball game at their school. From there, we rushed down to another school where Hayli was playing two away games. We did not get in until after 9:00. (No cooking for me) Tuesday (last night) we drove about 40 minutes south for Hayli's two volleyball games.(They are doing so awesome!) Tonight is activities at church and we had a quick dinner of sandwiches. Thursday, Hayli has two more volleyball games (which I have to provide meals for the team and coach) about 45 minutes from here and it will again, be a late night. (Thank goodness I have DVR so I won't miss Izzy finally changing out of her prom dress and getting off the bathroom floor!HA!)Friday and Saturday is all day volleyball tournament for Hayli's team! It is actually kind of expensive as well. Not just the eating out every night but it has been costing us about $5 per person to get in to the games. That was $25 just last night. Thank goodness, Meg and Kayla's games are free...as it should be, due to the amount of money we all pay for our kids to attend school there.


Kayla is the captain and is warming up the team.















Meg is improving with every game. She is doing great.
















Hayli at the captain/coach meeting with the ref. before the game.

















Hayli, on left, on her way up for a block.



















Hayli's car.

















P.S. I am just not sure,Finn or Mcdreamy? I think they are both too good for her because, after all, she is dark and twisty inside. There is rumor of Alex and Addison in the near future... and that is just plain out MCcrazy!

Back to reality.

We are back from vacation and back to the real world. We had a wonderful time and the kids needed a break. I am always glad to get back home. We came home and had the Boy Scouts using our house as a camp sight. They were really good, I guess, because I never heard a peep out of them after 10 pm. The next day was packed with things going on. We had a reception to go to and all of Kenny's family coming over for a goodbye gathering for his sister, who is moving to Nevada. The most exciting thing was Hayli getting a car. We bought her an Acura Integra Sport Coupe last week and had it detailed and stuff while we were at Disney. She had no idea. Kenny had taken it down to a shop around the corner and left it. We put a for sale sign in it with her cell number as the call number. We drove by it on the way to the reception and Hayli got out to look and write down the number. She started writing down the number and after a few seconds she looks really confused. She runs back to our car and says that the sign has her number on it...like she still wasn't getting it. So I tell her, well, I guess it is your car then. Finally, after a minute or so, it registers that it IS her car.(I will post pics later) She was so excited. I had been looking forward to that all week. It was great. My computer is dead. Officially. It will not work at all. We have so much info. on there, we are going to have to have it fixed. Luckily, this morning I hooked up my lap top to the ethernet cord and WALAH...access to the internet. I seriously was stressing because I have a lot I need on the internet with my business. What did we ever do without computers?

Counting down the days...

I love to travel. I am a homebody, in many ways, but I love to escape for 4 or 5 days, when the kids have a break. We started a tradition back when my kids were smaller of going to Disney World every fall. It is still hot in down there, however, it is less crowded. It is a trip that we enjoy and has become even more wonderful since my parents, several years back, began going with us. We have an absolute BLAST!!! I think one of the best thinks I ever discovered on the internet was vrbo.com, that is, vacation rentals by owner. Kenny has always said that I am a travel snob...meaning, when I travel I want to stay in very nice accommodations. And I do BUT being a snob means you want to stay in the very best no matter what the cost and that is definitely NOT me. I am pretty darn good at finding excellent deals at incredible places. My case in point, the first time Kenny and I went to Hawaii, we stayed on Oahu for a few days before heading to the Big Island and I found a deal for $67.00 at the Hilton Waikoloa Village!! (normally, a $265 per night room) There have been MANY other great hotel deals but through vrbo we no longer stay in hotels, if possible. We rent houses. We are a family of six and hotels just don't cut it. Take Disney World for example, to stay inside the park it will cost approx. 200-350 a night easy, (although one year I found a deal at the Wyndham Palace over looking Epcot's fireworks for $73.00 a night!) and in a hotel we are CRAMPED or have to get two rooms which is even more $. We now rent beautiful houses for not even a close to that cost. Last year, we stayed in a 7 bedroom 6 bath house for $90.00 a night!!! These houses are VERY NICE. This year, we are staying in a 5 bedroom, 4 bath house and it is just as nice, just smaller.(2700 sq. ft.) Keep in mind, it is just my kids and my parents. We are staying in a subdivision called Emerald Island and it is so nice. On the vrbo website, you can find rentals anywhere in the world, pretty much.




This is part of subdivision entry.




Here are some of the pics of the house...(tip when booking online:always see the inside before you book!)Click on the pic to enlarge image.







This is one of the two master suites. There is one on the main floor and one upstairs.















All the houses have pools and spas which have huge screen enclosures to keep the mosquito's out. Each one of the bedrooms have a TV with DVD/VCR combo and the family room tv has a PS2 with games. The house also has a washer and dryer where I can keep up with my laundry and not come home with 20 loads of dirty clothes! The neighborhood has a big club house, playground, walking trails, fitness center, and volleyball court. It is a gated community about 3 miles from Disney World. I can't wait. The absolute best part is coming back home from the parks and cooking out or ordering in, and just sitting around playing cards or just talking. It is what I love the most about our trip there. The kids are ready for a break. I can't believe they have been in school for six weeks. I know my seminary students are looking forward to sleeping in and so am I!

Aahh! Fall is in the air.

Hands down, my favorite time of year in Georgia is fall. We have had the most intense heat since about June; I am ready for the cool, crisp air of fall. It is so beautiful in Georgia when the leaves begin to change. I absolutely love it!! The Dawgs have officially begun their season (2-0, I might add)..Go Dawgs! I miss Shockley and I guess Tereshinski is out for awhile due to an ankle injury. Poor Strafford ( a freshman!!!) is stepping in for him. No pressure!

The U.S Open sure was exciting. I will truly miss Agassi. He is an excellent athlete but his body was tired. Even though he walks like an old man he can still compete against some of those young fellows. I like Fedderer but he won Wimbledon and I wanted Andy to win in the U.S. Maybe next year.


Today, I got to spend time with my sweet little nieces at my house. They are so precious. I love being with them and just listening to the hilarious things they say! They are so much fun and so silly...but very serious about some things.
















Estella tried to convince me that she was in the process of selling her toys so that she could buy this one toy at my house. (which I bought for her but she already had one, so I keep it at my house) I explain to her that she already has one just like it at her house and doesn't need to buy the one here ..(like I make her buy toys from me) She continues on, very convincingly I might add, that she has already sold some and she will sell more of her toys so that she can buy this one from me because she says mine is... cleaner. But WHO could resist this face?














Amelia explains to me that she is now a big girl. She is a big girl because she is almost three now and is going to pee-pee in the potty. But not right now, she says. However, she has once at the beach...oh, and pooped too! I say, Good job! (and thank goodness she is wearing a pullup)


















Okay, so my house is kind of the place where some people enjoy playing volleyball; young and old. Sometimes, it can get pretty serious. A few weeks ago we had about 30 people on the court and they played in a two and a half-hour, intense game. Friday, after playing a couple of matches, I had an idea. What if we had a volleyball tournament? A real tournament with teams, double elimination, and even a trophy. This was a thought on Friday..by Sunday, I am thinking I might have bitten off more than I can chew. This has become very serious business to a lot of people. I had people asking me for registration forms (which I did have) and they are all talking about who's on their team and this and that...Yikes! One of the smart things I did was make it a Coed tournament, 4 to 5 members per team, and there has to be at least 2 members of the opposite sex on each team. We did this so that some of these guys, who are fabulous, wouldn't dominate the whole tournament. Hayli and Kayla are forming a team with a few of the kids at church and some of her teammates on the varsity team want to have their own team also. So, we want it to be competitive but not a blow out so that everybody has a great time! I think it is going to be so much fun. I can't believe how much interest it has gotten. I did put on the form that GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP IS A MUST...I thought that would be important to mention for obvious reasons. I am excited, it is going to be an all-day event and at the end of the day, there will be a first-ever, Hanekamp Classic 2006 Championship Team...crazy, huh?

FINALLY!

FINALLY! I got my pictures to load! I figured out that my camera takes them at really high pixels and was causing them to be too big to load..I think?! Anyway, these are going to seem kind of random but they would have fit nicely in my previous blog.


Meg ready on the court.


Kayla..the one man volleyball team.










Hayli taking her place on the court. She plays middle hitter and middle blocker.





















Pics from the pool party on Labor Day at our house.The boys pretty much competed on who could do the most life-threatening tricks off the diving board! Honey, are we sufficiently insured?







Next time I am going to have them sign waivers.









Bodily harm was expected if you didn't want to be thrown in.
























Even Hayli was a victim...although it did take about 4 or 5 to get that light- weight in.




It was every man (or girl) for themselves.











Girls are less death-seeking individuals!















I am glad I got my pic problem solved; I was starting to stress.


P.S. I didn't know that C-town stood for CRY! Poor Boogie, your on national television dude, clean it up!

How we love a long weekend!

It was so nice to have a long weekend. Kenny was pretty much busy and gone all weekend but the kids and I got to relax (except for the several hours I spent at the mall with Hayli shopping. Fun..but not relaxing). We picked up my niece Allie for the weekend; her and Kayla are like two peas in a pod. My family came over Monday morning to hang out and through out the day it was shifts of people, as usual. It is always so nice to have my parents down to hang out. It is so enjoyable! We love it. All the teens decided that the party was at our house on Labor Day and at about 4:00 pm the real entertainment began. It is so fun when these young people get together because they are so hilarious! I took some really great pictures, few of which I am going to post today. They are such good kids and really enjoy being together. What I love the most is they never leave anyone out. My younger kids were swimming and so where my neighbors' little kids and what ever they were doing, they included them. Not in a annoyed way or like they had to, they just did it automatically. I think it is because most of these kids come from large families and have either young siblings or much older siblings with little kids. And did I say they are GOOD kids! I am glad these are the kind of people my girls are friends with (and there are actually one or two Hayli wants to date). They stayed probably much later than their parents would have liked for a school night but I think it was a fun day. I know Kenny and I played volleyball with them for about an hour and we were exhausted by about 9:30pm...we're getting old!

I am having a hard time uploading my photos, for some reason. They are so cute. I will have to try again later.

The girls all had volleyball games last night. Megan and Kayla's team won all of their matches. I think they have won against every school they have played but one. Hayli's team won all of their matches (they played two different schools). They are also doing incredible this year! They are a brand new school where there is no senior class (Hayli's junior class will be the first graduating class). They are a very solid varsity team, with a lot of talent. Tomorrow is two BIG games. Hayli's team is playing her old high school where half of her team mates, Hayli included, played last year. Obviously, a big rival! And if that is not enough, they are also playing the team that their current coach coached previously for years before coming to head up Hayli's varsity team! So, the girls want to win against one school for themselves and the other school for their coach. It is going to be super intense but exciting. I will definitely post (hopefully with pictures) about it.

P.S. GO JANELLE!!!