Florida

We went to Florida for a week and just got home yesterday morning. The trip was super fun, but exhausting. We went with Heather's siblings and their families. Dave and two of his kids, Benny and Olive, Bruce (actually we stayed at his house in Orlando), Sarah and her husband Vic and their niece Talia, Rachel and her two kids Bryce and Alice (Mark couldn't come because he had finals for his last year of dental school), Harlow and his wife Katy, and of course Brandon and me.

On Monday, May 19th our adventure began. We drove down to Salt Lake late Monday afternoon after dropping Willow off at our wonderful neighbors home. We stayed at the Ramada Inn mostly so that we could park our car there for free for the week. It ended up being the same price as if we'd driven there on Tuesday morning and paid for parking somewhere around the airport.

We woke up early on Tuesday morning to fly to Orlando. It was a long day, mostly because we had a layover and didn't land in Orlando until after 11. There we met up with everyone that had flown in from Washington. The kids were tired but seemed excited. We then got our rental cars situated and drove to Bruce's house. We were all very hyper and so excited to be together that going to bed just wasn't an option. So we gathered everyone together and went grocery shopping so that we'd have food to feed the thirteen people that had invaded Bruce's. Obviously he didn't keep that much food on hand.

Wednesday was a day of rest, sort of. We had been planning on making this our first day of Disney world but after going to bed at 4 AM no one really wanted to make that adventure. Instead we slept in til Bryce decided it was time to get up. We ate breakfast and then went swimming in the pool outside Bruce's house. Everyone had a blast, especially the little ones. After swimming time we went on a very long walk. We thought it'd be short but it didn't turn out that way. The kids were so tired that they were falling asleep in peoples arms and on their shoulders. Even Dioblo, Harlow's dog got so tired that he refused to walk and Katy ended up carrying him. Mind you it was very hot outside and we didn't bring nearly enough water for all the people. While the kids took naps we lounged around and talked for an hour or two, even some of the adults ended up taking naps. After nap time we went out to eat at El Pollo Tropical.



Thursday was the first day that we went to an amusement park. We went to Disney World's Animal Kingdom. I would not recommend this park for anyone. Basically it was an over priced Zoo with two roller coasters. Not what we thought we were paying for. We did have fun, but only because we were together as a family and we could have fun anywhere being together, but not because the park was fun.



Friday we went to Disney World's Magical Kingdom. This park was a lot like Disneyland with only a couple different rides. The kids had a blast getting to see the Princesses and a couple characters. Olive got a little Tinkerbell costume and kept reminding everyone that her name was Tinkerbell not Olive. She looked so cute and kept getting comments from all the other people at the park. Bryce's favorite ride was the race cars that he could drive. They were kind of hard to steer but he seemed to enjoy them anyway. The kids screamed on the haunted mansion ride but settled down as soon as we told them the ghosts couldn't leave the ride. Bryce had to have his eyes covered for the rest of the week whenever anything got dark because he was afraid it would get scary. While we were there it rained so hard that the park flooded to our ankles, it drained quickly but we walked around in the water for a good twenty minutes, meaning our feet were soaked to the bone for the rest of the day.



Saturday was another recovery day. We went swimming again and lounged around the house resting form all the fun of the previous days. We went out to dinner that night at the Cracker Barrel and enjoyed spending time together as a family.

Sunday we went to the Beach. The waves were beautiful and the water was so warm. We enjoyed swimming and buggy boarding on the waves. Harlow built an amazing sand castle with the kids. We played toe monsters with Bryce and just enjoyed being together.

On Monday we went to Sea World. It was by far my favorite park. I loved getting to see all the beautiful sea animals and watching the shows. They were amazing. We tried to pet the dolphins but non of them ever swam close enough to our hands. We did get to pet the sting rays however. I was amazed at how smooth their skin was, although it still felt slightly rough in parts. We also fed the sting rays and it was cool how they would suck the fish out of your hands.



Tuesday was clean-up and move out day. We had to be at the airport by two to catch our flight so we got up early to pack up all our belongings and give the house a good cleaning. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone but nice to come home and rest from our vacation.

Weeding in the Sun

Heather was asked by an older lady in our ward who is blind to do some weeding for her. She is gone this week for surgery. She asked her to come over three hours a week and she is paying her $10 and hour. Heather goes and takes her i-pod and weeds for about an hour at a time. There are two planting spots in the front yard and one larger one in the backyard. Heather hopes to get a bit of a tan from being out in the sun. As of now all she has done is fry.

Weeding

Sweet Dreams

For the last year or more we have been sleeping on only 4" of memory foam that we had just layed on the floor. A few weeks ago I took some pictures for a firend and instead of him paying me he gave us an old bed frame. The frame had been sitting in the bed of the truck or in the backyard for a couple of weeks now. I had posted an add on the bulitin board that we were looking for two twin or one king boxspring. We got a call a couple of days ago from a family in Rexburg who had some. They had bought them brand new a couple years ago and they had been sitting in a storage closent for most of that time due to the fact they had bought a bunkbed for their kids. We bought both of them for only $50. Now we have a bed that's up and off the floor. We're happy! We may get some cinder blocks and put them under the bed so we can store stuff under it. It is still low to the ground, but it's not sitting on the floor.

A Bed!!!

Family Pictures at the Park

Today after Brandon got home from school we spent some time playing his new N64 and then went to the park. We took a bunch of pictures, mostly because I wanted to get some of my growing belly. I can't believe how much bigger its gotten, especially because I still don't weigh as much as I did before I got pregnant. Where did belly come from? Strange... So in these pictures I'm 22 weeks pregnant, ok technically 21 weeks and 6 days but I'm calling it 22 weeks and you can't stop me. So there.

Baby's Ultrasound II

Sorry it's taken so long to get this uploaded. We're slow. Anyway, Baby is a boy! Let us know what you think? Oh and take our poll about Baby's Name! They're just the names that we're thinking of right now. There will probably be more to follow.

Baby untrasound #2