Journey of a Lifetime

Hannah is one

2009-03-06T13:16:00.005-05:00

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Hannah is officially one. She turned one on February 21st. We had a small party, just clay and I plus Annie and her three boys. Although Annie's boys are enuogh to liven up any party. We all had a good time.

Ipsen Update: February

2009-03-06T13:06:00.003-05:00

February was a FANTASTIC MONTH! Why? Because we were in CALIFORNIA!!!!

Josh (my younger brother and of course my best buddy!) got married. The wedding was fantastic. Josh and Ashley looked so happy. We didn't get to hang out too much so that was sad, but I did spend the night with him before he got married and that was fun. Like old times, almost....

Of course Hannah got to see all the relatives she has never met. She had tons of Aunts wanting to cuddle and love her. Lots of cousins to play with her and even more grandparents eager to spoil her. We came back an exhausted bunch but we loved spending every minute with the family.

Mom spoiled me too with some new clothes :) THANK YOU MOM!

Ipsen Update: January

2009-03-06T12:42:00.006-05:00

January I found myself ignoring the world while I read and read and read some more. I got some GREAT books for Christmas so I was immersed all during January. I read the Narnia Chornicles and I got halfway through "The Message of the JOSEPH SMITH PAPYRI" by Hugh Nibley. Now that is a BIG book. I was also learning some new songs on the piano by Grieg.

Hananh started talking and talking and talking and she hasn't stopped or slowed down since January. We can still only understand a handful or words, but she is saying enough to fill books.

Clay was working and working and working like a good Scouting professional should :)

Oh and we all took time to go to the 2nd World's Largest Aviation Museum! The planes were bigger than our house. And there were lots of them. It was a fun trip.

Ipsen Update: December

2009-03-05T22:21:00.007-05:00

What have we really been doing these past few months? BUSY

December is always crazy, and 2008 was the same. We were busy with piano recitals, work parties, Christmas shopping, Christmas baking and Christmas decorating. Our favorite part of Chirstmas was the Christmas caroling! We really had fun delivering goodies and singing songs to our buddies.

Hannah really enjoyed her first Christmas, she didn't quite know what was going on but it was fun all the same. After a long day of playing and no napping the poor thing finally crashed around 6 PM and she was OUT FOR THE NIGHT! Here a few fun photos of Christmas.

Hannah's favorite gift the monkey from our REALATOR! The sad thing is, the monkey has been lost during our trip to California. We are all mourning poor George's absence. Although I think Hannah is taking it the hardest. If anyone knows of an identical twin available, please tell us soon! Clay enjoyed his guitar hero and I was glad to repaint my kitchen. PICTURES TO COME SOON!

It's been awhile

2009-03-05T21:59:00.004-05:00

No Clay and I are not dead. Yes we are alive, healthy and happy. Why haven't I posted in anything in three months? Well yes I've been busy. But mostly I have been on strike against the cyberworld. I realized that all these social network places such as Facebook, Blogs, e-mails and surfing the internet in general are all great TIME WASTERS to me. It is really easy to sit down to check out facebook and before I know it an hour has gone by. And also I honestly don't care about the fact that so and so has checked into facebook five times that day and they have just washed their hair. Seriously. Don't care.

In response to my utter disgust with the whole wasting time thing and in my effort to allocate my time wisely I have been immersed in my daughter, the piano, visting friends or calling them on the phone instead of the pseudo cyber stay in touch. Because lets face it person to person is so much better than person to computer. And please don't take offense to my rants.

Now that I have gone to both extremes, I will try for a happy medium. Maybe a short post here and again. Wish me luck! Happy Blogging.

Cedarcrest Community Service Club

2008-12-05T11:22:00.003-05:00

Awhile ago I posted about finding something to do with my free time and looking for a cause, well I've found my cause. Since that post I have tried creating a service club. Our first meeting we had three people interested, the next meeting we had five interested and we recently had our third meeting with 12 people in attendance. It started out with a few ladies from church, but I wanted it to be a community wide service club. Today's meeting we had six ladies from our community in attendance. I am so excited about the growth of this club!

Last month we were able to donate 45 desserts to MUST Ministries for their Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless. This month we are helping to serve breakfast for Families that take in Foster Care Children. I am very excited both about the great things we are doing and the growing interest in our club. I have an e-mail list of 15 peopke, so we are growing. Great things will happen. It feels really great to be involved with something so good.

Won't you be my new neighbor?

2008-11-02T22:28:00.005-05:00

A new neighbor just moved in down the street so Clay and I decided to bake some goodies for them. This is what we made:

A chocolate roll cake with vanilla cream in the middle... Homeade from scratch...YUM YUM!

Don't you wish you were our new neighbors?

Happy Halloween

2008-11-02T22:17:00.004-05:00

Our precious little Halloween Ballerina.

Tragedy hits the Ipsen's

2008-10-29T22:44:00.003-04:00

My dear old cat, TAC, was put to sleep Monday afternoon. He was a good cat, and lived a long happy life, 17 years to be exact. I've had him since I was 11 years old, in the sixth grade, we have been through a lot together. Elementary school crushes, high school dramas, college days, a wedding, a move across the country and a new baby. After I moved out of my parents house, whenever I came home he was always the first thing I called for and the last thing I said good-bye to. When he moved in with us, he would always greet us at the door when we got home. How I will miss that dear old, feisty cat!

A few funny and fond memories of Tac:

The road trip with him from CA to GA.
The time he stared Clay down in the rearview mirror while using the litterbox.
Smuggling him into a hotel in the pretense that he was a baby.
The way he would race up and down the hall, thumping like a racehorse.
The way he always wanted to pounce on things and play no matter how old he was.
The way he would hide in the closet during a thunderstorm, but after awhile he learned that it was safe to hide between my legs and the couch during any storm.
The day we found a dead baby rabbit on our front porch. Yep still a killer at the age of 17, he was so proud.
The way he would race outside everytime I opened the door to get the mail, only to demand to be let inside as soon as I shut the door.
The way he would keep me company during the day, following me from room to room.
The way he would let Hannah "pet" him as long as I was scratching his back.
The way he loved me.

Hannah learned how to crawl!

2008-10-26T21:17:00.003-04:00

Hannah has learned how to crawl this past week and she is so fun to watch moving around. Clay and I are loving every minute of it. We also think she looks precious in her new church dress :)

Pumpkin Huntin'

2008-10-24T20:56:00.002-04:00

We took Hannah to the pumpkin patch to choose her first Pumpkin. She had a good time. We probably had a better time watching her. She is of course adorable. Remember she is the same size as a large pumpkin. She is a little lighter.

As a side bar, I did last longer then Tiff with the Velociraptor but not as long as Kerry. It is all the the rage at my office!

This is funny!

2008-10-14T21:23:00.001-04:00

51 seconds

Created by Bunk Beds Pedia

Thank you KERRY for the entertainment.

Tiff needs a cause

2008-10-01T22:59:00.001-04:00

These past two months all of my spare time has been focused on piano lessons. I've recently began teaching lessons again,and I currently have 11 students. Between buying method books, reseraching adult method books, passing out flyers and figuring a schedule for my students, piano has kept me pretty busy. Now that October has begun it has been a month since the majority of my students started and I am completely organized. I no longer have to make trips to the music store, research methods or do anything else. Ahh... a great big sigh of relief.... I have accomplished much....

With this accomplishment, comes a new sense of freedom and once again more time on my hands. Time for me is both a welcome friend and an enemy. A welcome friend, because it's nice to relax and not be so busy, but an enemy because without tasks to keep me occupied, boredom and genearl dissatisfaction sets in.

Today I had a productive day, I did the laundry, cleaned the kitchen, cooked dinner, went for a walk, did a chapter in my finance class, practiced the piano, played with the baby and organized photos. All in all, a busy, productive day. Yet admist all these activities a restlesness grew in me that I could not shake. It quickly came to an anxious feeling that I have been carrying around in my stomach all day.

Why was I feeling so anxious? The thought finally occured to me, because I need something to do! True, I can stay busy, but it means nothing when filled with meaningless tasks. It isn't enough just to keep busy, I need to do something of value, I need to provide some type of meaningful service for someone else. And then it hit me, I need a cause! I need to find a cause that I can put my energy and efforts towards when I have free time.

I've looked on line for volunteer opportunities within my community, and the only one I was able to find was to help with a Bingo event once a month. So I now put this question to you, what is my cause? What is it that I can do that will make a positive impact on the community, organization, youth etc.? I am open to all suggestions and I would love for any input as I am trying to brainstorm what my "cause" can be.

The Great Northwest Georgia State Fair (Objects may seem smaller up close)

2008-10-01T22:34:00.003-04:00

So here are some photos of Hannah's first forray at the fair. Let's just say that it is not the Big Fresno Fair. She enojoyed her time, as did we. Her least favorite thing: Baby chickens. Their quick moveemnts and looks of hunger and carnage scared her horribly. Her favorite thing: Balloons against daddy's head. Nothing better. Our biggest objection to the fair...NO PIGS! An outrage and I will be writing my State Represenative about this, don't you worry. Without further ado here is what you all really want, cute pictures.

Scrubs or the Office?

2008-09-11T21:29:00.002-04:00

It's Thursday night, I just got home from Enrichment and I have had a very long and busy busy day! Between piano lessons, cleaning the house, running errands, a fussy baby and just a jam packed shcedule I am ready for some R&R. So I turn on the TV with my dinner in hand (yeah I know, dinner at 9 PM, not so good, but considering my breakfast/lunch wasn't until 3 PM I guess it's not that bad) and what is on TV? BOTH SCRUBS AND THE OFFICE! AHHHH! My worst nightmare. My two favortie TV shows on at the EXACT sime time. I tried to flip between the two, but they happen to have commercial breaks at the exact same time. So what do you do? Which show do you watch? Or do you just watch something else entirely different or none at all because you can't pick favorites?

Hurricane Hannah

2008-09-02T22:38:00.002-04:00

FLASH POST ***FLASH POST***FLASH POST***

The Ipsen's and the subsidiaries have nothing to do with Hurricane Hannah. No damage that may occur because of this hurricane is related to our sweet little daughter. We have always thought of her as a Tropical Storm really. Please stay posted...

The Dark Side

2008-09-02T22:28:00.004-04:00

I have been tutoring Hannah in the ways of the Force. I thought she was doing really well with levitating her rattle. She has even learned how to use her Force powers to convinve her Mom she isn't ready for a nap. Her greatest power is her ability to sit up all by herself. She has been clocked at 1:32. Pretty good huh? Olympian? Maybe. But...I am afraid she may have fallen to the dark side. She started wearing this hat around the house the other day.

Here is a game for you, name our little Dark Jedi. You post your name for Hannah and we'll announce the winner next week!

(Non-Editors Note: So, The Editor is a Tyrant!!!!! Curse all of the journalism classes and awards.)

Opryland Hotel

2008-08-08T16:38:00.001-04:00

Grand ol' Opryland in Nashville

2008-08-08T16:31:00.001-04:00

Clay had a national scouting conference in Nashville for all the BSA professionals, and their spouses. The conference was held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. While Clay was busy attending classes and meetings, Hannah and I got to RELAX! THe hotel was HUGE and there was plenty to do. We joked it was like staying at Disneyland beacuse it was so big and there was so much to do without ever leaving the hotel. There were beatutiful gardens with waterfalls to walk through, tons of shops, a huge mall across the street and of course the Grand ol' Opry Country Hall of Fame. There was also golfing, bowling, and movies; you name it they had it. During the evenings we had formal dinners with live entertainment. Monday nights entertainment was Josh Turner he is an amazing singer with such a deep voice. I kept thinking how can such a deep voice come out of such a little guy?

We really had a lot of fun, and we especialy enjoyed spending time with Clay after not seeing him for two weeks. Hannah was so excited to see her Dad, as soon as she saw him she had a big grin on her face and she wouldn't take her eyes off of him. It was sweet.

At the hotel they had the vine lady walking around. She would make a daily apperance, and she was neat to watch! She was one big vine, with stilts on both her arms and legs. She was extremely flexible. It was like watching a big plant move around.

My little baby

2008-08-08T11:46:00.004-04:00

Here is a funny picture of our little Hannah. Last week I took her to the Doctor and she weighed in at 12 pounds, so she is still my very little baby. But don't let her size fool you, she is as active and alert as can be.

Hannah Bear

2008-08-08T11:26:00.008-04:00

Today Hannah and I are practicing sitting up. She is doing pretty good. she can hold herself up long enough for me to take a picture before she falls over again. She has also learned how to throw a tantrum. When I finished washing her, I took her out of the bath she immeaditly started screaming in protest. She wanted me to know she was not done playing. I think while we were swimming in the hotel pool she realized how much fun it is to play and splash in the water.

Quilt just for Hannah

2008-08-08T10:35:00.005-04:00

When I went to get the mail the other day, I found nice package for Hannah. I opened it up and there was a beautiful quilt handmade by all the women in Clay's family. This included his grandmother, aunts, couins, and mother. Each person did a square and Clay's grandmother sewed it all together. It really is a beautiful quilt and thank you thank you thank you to all who helped make it! We love it!

Fire! Fire! False Alarm

2008-07-26T14:49:00.005-04:00

So...Last night at Murray State, in Kentucky, I had a fire alarm at about 2:30 AM. Yeah, it was pouring down rain with thunder and lightning!! For 30 minutes we waited in my car. There was no fire or emergency. It was fun and made me feel like I was in college. One week to go!

all smiles

2008-07-22T22:31:00.001-04:00

Beautiful Murray!

2008-07-21T12:47:00.003-04:00

This is a great Blog. My wife has done a great job. I am here in Murray, Kentucky working on my Masters degree. It is nice and humid here. We are at the White Reident Hall this year. Something new every year. Today has been more of gwetting things organized and then working on our school work this afternoon. Go Racers!

Smile Big!

2008-07-21T08:41:00.003-04:00

Hannah has discovered her reflection in the mirror. I don't think she realizes it is her reflection she is looking at, but she definitely sees another baby looking at her so she grins big every time we step in the bathroom. It is so cute!

First Family Camping Trip

2008-07-21T08:03:00.007-04:00

Clay had a week of vacation, so we decided to go camping. Hannah is probably the youngest baby to ever go camping. She was four months at the time. She did pretty good when it came to hiking. We strapped her on us and she seemed to enjoy the fresh air and nice weather as much as we did.

The night time was a different story alltogether. After the first night we made a new family rule. No camping unless the baby can sleep through the night. We made a little bed for her in our tent, where she eventually fell asleep. Then when she woke up around midnight I brought her to my sleeping bag, bad idea. The sleeping bag was too small for the two of us, so we kept tossing and turning all night. I don't think either of us slept a wink. That made for an extremely tired and CRANKY baby the next day. Our three day two night camping trip turned into two days and one night. I wasn't about to go through another sleepless night.

During our trip we tried to get Hannah to take a nap, so we took her for a car ride. On our adventure we found an old country store, GOATS ON THE ROOF. Funny thing was, there were actually goats living on the roof. It was hilarious! There were two different buildings, and on the roof was some grass for the goats to eat. There was a pen for the goats on the other building. The two roofs were connected by a little goat bridge. It was awesome!

Take me out to the Ballgame

2008-07-20T22:33:00.003-04:00

We took Hannah to her first major league ballgame. The Braves won! I never thought I would cheer for the Braves, but there I was cheering my little heart out. Funny to think, they are our home team, so GO BRAVES! It was a good game, and the best is that my company was hosting a party in a suite. We got to sit in the fancy boxseats. It was great!

Hannah was very good, especially considering it was way past her bedtime. She didn't really fuss to much, as long as Mom was holding her. All in all good times at the ballpark!