Dear People's....

I know that most of you and probably all of you are dying to hear from me....but I have been MIA this past week---floating between the Carolinas from Charlotte to Charleston and back to Charlotte again. I promise some memorable posts will be coming your way....until I get some time to really sit down and do those posts, you are just going to have to wait. Sorry peoples, but that is just the way it goes. I promise to get right on it the minute I can. Thank you for your time and patience.

Yours Truly,

ME

Merry Christmas Letter

Due to my high popularity...I am afraid that I wont be able to get Christmas Cards to everyone who is dying to receive one from us...sorry--thats just the way it goes :) Anyways...since the ones that I have sent out are sent, I feel that it is time to post our letter to yall. I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful Christmas season b/c we sure are!! I am proud to say MERRY CHRISTMAS!! B/c this whole "pulling Christmas out of the schools and stuff" is crap!! I am almost tired of watching the news and hearing all these absurd reports of people being offended by the celebrating of Christmas in our schools and such. Its ridiculous in my opinion...but that is a whole other story, right now I am trying to keep the Christmas Spirit within...so again, I am proud to say MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!


Our Christmas Letter for this year:

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family. We are so excited to celebrate this Holiday season once again. We love this time of year because it is such a good time for us to look back and reflect on all that we have been blessed with. 2010 has treated the Turok Family very well and we have so much to be thankful for.

Michael continues on with his schooling to be a Nurse Anesthetist at Union University here in Jackson, Tennessee. He is officially a senior as of this past July. He stays busy with Clinical and has been traveling to various hospitals to perform Anesthesia. His graduation date has been set and we look VERY forward to July 30, 2011. After this date, we shall see where life takes us.

Lynsee stays busy at home with the 2 kiddos. She enjoys being at home with the girls and continues to look for new ways to entertain them. She is the 2^nd Counselor in the Relief Society (a women’s organization in our church) and stays busy planning activities and serving the people of our church. She looks very forward to Mike’s graduation day in hopes of moving to a bigger city with more things to do and better shopping.

Addison turned 3 years old this past September. She keeps her mom busy, busy, BUSY! She loves to sing, dress-up, make messes, and dance. Right now she is taking ballet and tap lessons and loves them. She loves being outside and being in the water. Addison knows how to put a smile on everyone’s faces no matter how angry they may be. She continues to make us laugh every day. She is the “Cajun on the Chicken” in our family and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Zoey joined our family on April 30^th of this year and we just love her to pieces. She is very laid back and is always happy. She loves her older sister and is always watching and laughing at her. She likes to be sitting up and is a big time observer. She doesn’t like being left out of things and wants to be a part of everything that is going on. She has brought so much joy into our family this year and we wouldn’t change anything about her---except maybe her eating habits.

We have had such a wonderful year full of happiness, good health, and most importantly—love. We are so grateful for the birth of our Savior and for the knowledge of a restored gospel that blesses us daily. Merry Christmas everyone.

Children's Musuem--Rochester

Our last day in Rochester, we decided to take Addison to this huge Children's Museum that they have there downtown. It was awesome! It was huge, and had many things to do for the kiddos. We loved it and I think Addison loved it too. In fact, I am not sure who had more fun...Mike or Addison??? But Addie was pretty upset that we had to leave..until she heard that we were catching the airplane--then she was ok with leaving.

I had to add these pictures in as well...it was too funny to watch Mike try to clear the ice off of the windshield wipers and the snow off of the car----secretly: I think he enjoyed every minute of it. But this was the night before we left...I think I was quite enjoying myself watching him fight the COLD wind and SNOW blowing in....

See?? He enjoyed every minute of being in the snow (for now)

yeah baby...thats a lot of snow, eh!!?? We liked it (again--for now)

Addison in the car on the way to the Children's Musuem...she was making a Triangle--she has been learning her shapes

First stop in the musuem...a crazy, tilted house...it was supposed to make you dizzy walking through it and throw off your balance....it definitely worked for me, Addison of course thought it was a blast.

Zoey enjoying herself in the stroller watching everyone

The museum became much cooler to us when they had MANY arcade games that were FREE of Charge!! No extra money had to be put in these machines...you just pushed start and it started...it was great!!! So here is Mike and Addie playing Dance Dance Revolution----lets just say ALL of us were WAY to White to play this game.

A race car game

Of course this game drew Mike to it...it was a thing that tested how "strong" you were.

Sesame Street! This part was awesome...they totally had this HUGE section of the museum that was set up and looked exactly like Sesame Street--awesome job!

A hot dog stand---Addison was trying to sale Hot Dogs to us

Driving in the taxi with Elmo and Cookie Monster in the back

A weather board set up...the screen to the right would broadcast Addison on it...

They had this cute little room with an old fashion kitchen set up in it, an old Victorian Dollhouse, and of course this cute little tea party set up...

She loves having tea parties

Another part of the Museum that had all these plastic rock looking thingys, with tractors and trucks in this huge pit...Zoey enjoyed herself on this part.

As did Addison...I need one of these at home...it was nice!

Again...I think Mike had just as much fun--if not more fun that Addison

They had another part that was the Berenstain Bears Section--it was AWESOME! Of course I thoroughly enjoyed this part b/c I read these books when I was little. They had Sister Bear's Clubhouse, the Grandpa Bear's Farm, EVERYTHING! It was cool.

Sorry for the picture overload...and sadly I have a BUNCH more. It was such an awesome museum!! Well worth my 9 bucks I had to pay to get in--which I thought was reasonable. And that pretty much brings us to the end of our trip. We LOVED it there...lets just see if the job happens...we are trying to not only set our sights on Rochester, but its hard not to, b/c we really did enjoy ourselves. Thank You Rochester for your friendliest and for showing us what you have to offer b/c we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves....Ta-Ta for now and until we meet again.

New York + Snow = Fun

During our recent visit to the Rochester, NY area it snowed everyday we were there (no surprise there). Us being the Southerners that we are, we thoroughly enjoyed the snow. I dont know who enjoyed it more, Addison or Mike?? Myself and Zoey were over playing in the snow after about 3 minutes so we chose to go inside the hotel where it was warm while Mike and Addison stayed out for another 20 minutes or so. They probably would've have stayed out longer if they would've had proper snow clothes on, but oh well, maybe next time we can come more prepared.

Anyhow, before Zoey and mom went inside, we decided to get some fun snow pictures and I think they turned out oh-so-adorable. My little girls make the cutest snow babies---yep its true! No questioning there who are the cutest snow babies b/c my kids are sure to win. Can you tell I am WAY biased?? Or am I just WAY truthful?? I think a little of both.

Mike and the Girls

Zoey

Me and my girls


After Zoey and I opted to go inside...she looked so cute in her little hat and all, I took some picture of her inside our WARM hotel room.....

So cute!! I just love this little girl

We also decided to go exploring all around the city. Rochester just sits right off of Lake Ontartio. The lake and the scenery around it is GORGEOUS! Even with all the snow. We loved it!

This is a big bay area just off of the lake, so pretty! And the houses that sit right on the bay are actually reasonably priced! I was quite surprised at that.

Lake Ontario to your right ahead

They werent kidding around when they named these lakes the "Great Lakes". They are HUGE!! I made me happy b/c the lake reminded me of the ocean.

Another view of the lake...again HUGE!! It seriously is as if you are at the ocean! I love that feeling!!! It made me homesick for Charleston.

Again, gorgeous area--we loved it!!

Palmyra, New York

While visiting Rochester (see post below)...we were able to make the 25 mile trip to Palmyra, NY where a big part of our Church History took place. We got to visit the site where the first 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon were published. I had been there before, about 7 1/2 yrs ago, but this was Mike's first visit and obviously the girls. Once again, it was awesome to see. We also to got to see the Sacred Grove, the Hill Cumorah, and the Palmyra LDS Temple....all of them being neat places to see.

Addison messing with something she probably isnt supposed to be messing with

Proof that we were there.

Addison got picked to be the "special helper' for the Missionary that was giving us the tour of the building. She got pretty excited.

Our girls.

Mike folding a replica of the first pages of the Book of Mormon.

Zoey and Mommy

Mike and Addison in the front of the building.

Trip To Rochester, NY

So this past weekend our family has been hanging out in Rochester, NY. Random??? Yes, yes I know. Here is why we made the trip to Rochester...with graduation day for us being in sight--we have started the almighty Job Hunt. It is a little early for interviewing, but we have been viewing jobs all over the place. We have notice quite a few jobs in upstate New York and they pay good as well--even with the ridiculous property taxes in this state...they are still good paying jobs. Mike got in contact with this guy named Tim who is ahead of the New York State Nurse Anesthetist Association....after talking to Mr. Tim, he is hooking Mike up with some interviews in the Rochester area for possible jobs.

Sooooo after researching the upstate New York area, we came to really like what we saw on the internet about Rochester, New York. Before making some big decisions about jobs and moving, we wanted to make the trip up to Rochester to check out the area and to really get a feel for the people and the area.

CONCLUSION---we came, we saw, we LOVED!! Yes, little ole' Southerners such as ourselves, have fallen in love with Rochester. It is a GORGEOUS area. Even with the snow that had fell all weekend, it was gorgeous. Also, the people have been more than friendly here--no lie. I came up here thinking the whole stereo-typical thing that most people think about New Yorkers...and that is that they are mean, snooty, and not what you would call "nice". Well I am happy to report that the people in the Rochester area have been nothing but nice to us. We have had many "welcomes to the area". We checked out one of our church services there and they were more than friendly and really made us feel welcomed. We love the atmosphere, the people, the houses, the schools, and just everything. We feel like it is a safe city for our kids, clean, and there are plenty of things to do. Now all we need is the job!! We shall see what happens this spring when we find out officially where we will be going.

Doesnt she look so grown up??? (Insert Mommy Sad Face Here)

Cant leave town without Snow White and Belle

7 Months

Our little Zoey turns 7 Months Old today!!! Time is a flyin' by. She continues to always smile and for the most part is a very good baby. She is just getting to the point of being able to sit up all by herself. She is doing a little scootin' when she is on her belly but is no where near crawling yet (thank goodness for mommy). She loves her big sister and she is just as cute as can be. We love you, Zoey!!

Done and Decorated!!

Its finally here again!! Christmas time!! I love it!! We have spent the past couple of days getting all of our Christmas up. Did the tree on Thanksgiving Day and yesterday we put up the lights outside. As previously stated on facebook--we are officially the coolest house on the street past 5:00pm. I think we are like the only ones on our whole street with lights on our house. I swear, people get poopier and poopier when it comes to decorating for the Holidays. Whats up with that, eh?? One of my favorite memories was going out and driving around town JUST to look at Christmas lights on peoples' houses....you can hardly do that anymore b/c nobody puts up lights. Although I must say, I may begin to understand b/c it really is a pain in the "you know what" to do so, but at the end, its worth it. I thought our cute little house turned out pretty good. Happy Holidays everyone! I am so glad the time is here again...YAY!!!

Daddy helping Addison put her ornament on the tree. Every year Addison gets to pick out an ornament at the store and she gets to come home and put it on the tree. They are HER ornaments. This year she picked Belle from "Beauty and the Beast".

Mike had to put the star on the tree...as usual b/c our tree is WAY too tall for Addie to reach....one day she will get to do it.

The house during the day with the lights on...

And at night....apologies for the garage light being on and opened, but it was cold out and I wasnt going back out so this is what you get. I like it!

Happy Christmas Time Everyone!!