Family Vacation in FL

We had a FABULOUS trip to Florida!

The whole family packed up the 23rd of May to head down south to the warm sunshine and get some real summer weather! We had a full week of activities planned and here's how it played out!

23rd Friday: Supposed to arrive in ORLANDO at 11:57...translation...only Gordon got to sleep at all until just 10 minutes before landing then Ellie and Oscar joined the sleep squad, but that was not to be...the pilot landed the plane at about 11:58 then promptly turned on all the lights on the plane...then taxied and waited about 20 yards from our gate for 35 minutes (no exaggeration) for a plane to move. The whole time Oscar's crying because he is EXHAUSTED and is a bear when you wake him up--thanks pilot! Once we get to the gate we are the LAST people off the plane while we try to round up all the junk we had with us to entertain our little ones. Then we proceed to the rental car place...welcome to the world of having to get our OWN car...gone are the days when we could just squeeze in with whoever was picking us up...nope! 1:36 am we pull out of the parking garage with our white MiniVan...thank heavens for on-site Rentals! Finally at 2:08 am we pulled up to Kara and Sam's house (just down the street from my parents) to sleep for our first night.

24th Saturday: TAMPA for BBQ and Sleepover with all of our Friends! Thanks so much Sarah, Suzanne & Jami!! We had so much fun. The food was GREAT! And a special mention and THANK YOU to Shane for saving Oscar from drowning!!

25th Sunday: We went to Church at the Odessa Branch! We LOVE the people in that branch! Really, we looked around and saw so many people that we loved and knew they loved us...it brought tears to my eyes, no surprise I know, to think of the amazing group of people living in that area! We loved our time there and if we can control things we will probably end up there!
After Lunch at the Anderson's we headed back over to the Hacienda to meet up with the Munns family for dinner...no small thing with about 30 people there! Then all the adults talked while the kids entertained themselves...We found a bunch of boys snuggled up to watch a movie in Grandma & Go-Dad's bed (Henry, Gordon, Sam, Jett, Aiden, Duce)...I love having my kids wit their cousins!!!

26th Monday: MEMORIAL DAY BBQ @ Munns Hacienda. All the usual guests and all the usual fun: air boating rides (Thanks Daniel), volleyball, swimming, talking, picture taking and lots of eating! SUCH FUN!!! Who could ask for a better time?

all the kids were milling around while the parents were busy either playing volleyball or sitting and talking so we gave them the charge to dig a hole or something...luckily for them Go-Dad always has shovels by the truckload...so they got their shovels and got SO dirty....but it kept them well occupied!

Gordon was nodding off in the water at the end of the day....Austin (kara & sam) & Gordy were twins from behind!

Gordon and Duce both have deemed each other, on different occasions, best friend cousins! Who cares that they're 1/2 the size of each other...and that on other occaisions tears are shed about having to sleep in the same room...best friends right?

27th & 28th Tues & Wed: Steve had to work so the kids & I played with cousins at the park, minnow hunted, rode the Kubota, and SWAM ALL DAY LONG!!! Wednesday all the sisters & mom took Shanda to get pedicures for the Big Day! Then we all went to dinner at Outback! Yum...I swear I cannot quite understand the allure but we had a platter of Aussie Fries that went in the blink of an eye!! Dang...it's like ordering a platter of heart-attack!

29th Thursday: DISNEY DAY...this one gets it's own post...check back for that one!

30th Friday: Wedding Prep and Shanda's Graduation! Congratulations Shanda! We love you!

31st Saturday: Jordan & Shanda's Wedding! It was beautiful...the lake view was to die for! I was so fun to get to dress all alike again! I love to have everyone match...the outfits looks so good together!

Tiffany & Lucy, Vanessa & Declan, Me & E, Kara & Kate, Shelly & Goldie, Erika & Tee, Heather & Lilly

June 1st Sunday: Church in the Saint Cloud ward with all the family...the nursery had 3 extra kids just from the family that were visiting! I'll tell you that pack of 5 two year olds can be DANGEROUS...but SO SO Darling! Steve left to back to the J.O.B. while I got to stay for almost another week...doing all sorts of fun things: gaming...America's next top model...you name it!

YET ANOTHER WONDERFUL FAMILY VACATION!!!
thanks mom & dad for helping us get there...and thanks Jordy & Shanda for getting marrie so we had a good reason to all get together!

Armor of God Part 1: Girt with truth!

For my final FHE kit for my FHE group from Tampa I did a lesson on the Armor of God. I came up with the ideas but my WONDERFUL, talented, Generous, LOVING, perfectionist Mother drew the pieces and perfected my ideas into a total gem. We made each of the pieces of "the Armor of God" with their corresponding labels: Helmet of Salvation, Sword of the spirit, Loins girt with truth, Sheild of Faith, Feet shod in the gospel of Peace, Breastplate of Righteousness. Then added strings and elastic so that the kids could actually PUT ON THE ARMOR OF GOD! I was so pleased with the result...they really are darling!! We have decidied since our sweet, wild kids have short attention spans and we really want to focus on each of the crucial pieces of "armor" that we would break up the lesson and learn about each piece on it's own week. Here are some pictures from our week on Girting us about with Truth!

signing scripture power...a FAVORITE song...and it talks about the armor of God in the 2nd verse

We as a family have also decided that we are going to invite some friends of ours over to participate in a shortened version of this lesson as a missionary experience. It is a perfect lesson to share with neighbors since its really fun and it's founded out of the bible so it's multi-religion friendly! We'll let you know how it goes!

OH that Eleanor...

...this girl is just so Kissable...Hugable....Loveable

Clever little Birds...

One VERY chilly May morning I was noticing a few birds that kept landing on our grill. I kept watching them on and off as I got the kids breakfast ready and on the table. As we sat to eat Gordon noticed that each time the birds landed on the grill it had some stick or piece of grass or scrap of something in its beak...I wasn't paying attention until Oscar said "the bird goes in"... so we all started watching the little birds to see what they were up to...Well I soon after saw the two birds land with straw in their beaks and duck into to the vent holes in the grill. A few moments later out they hopped empty beaked...I started to wonder so we crept out to see what was happening and when I opened the grill I found this...

I was so shocked and quite impressed at all the hard work they had been doing it was a shame that I had to cover the grill so that they didn't fully build their nest...The kids and I decided to save all the stuff to show Dad what we saw... and we tried to get a few more pictures of our new favorite birds! I must say the grill would have been a really good place for a nest except for the fact it's a grill!

The Bird perched on the grill ...then...The bird after drop off: exiting Right

Grandma turns 61...

...and Leah & Eleanor got to go home to FLORIDA for the PAR-TAY... and Party we did! It was surprise after surprise...and Mom was the center of it all!

April 19th

Surprise #1
Dad takes Mom to Outback to meet "a few" of the kids for dinner after Collin's fishing tournament....SURPRISE...all the "in town" kids are there...and SURPRISE again when Shelly walks in with my little Eleanor...Mom about died....she had no clue that I had been flown in for the event... there were tears and everything at my mother's sheer JOY to have me there....(my mother loves me what can i say) Sam (kara's husband) said after the outpouring of tears and hugs and kisses...."Now i know what to get mom for Christmas, Birthday, Mother's Day....LEAH...holy cow you couldn't buy that reaction!"
April 20th
Surprise #2
The next night my mother "the Gamer" has all her girls playing split to her hearts content...it's rounding the clock at midnight and she exclaims that she is so happy that we are treating her to a night devoted to Split, Cataan and all of her favorite games....little does she know that her sly husband has sneaked off to the airport to retrieve her next surprise...Jacob...her only other out of state child...and this surprise out shone my own surprise arrival...Mom was quick to assure me that it was equal in joy...she was just COMPLETELY happy to know that all of her children were there for her birthday!
April 21st: THE BIG DAY!
Surprise #3
This surprise was the big Daddy...We are having part of our reunion at the Church Ranch out in Florida and for 2 nights the WHOLE family is camping...so they ploy was that we (Mom Dad, Jacob Eleanor and I) were going to go and check out the campsites that dad had pre-arranged to have opened for us to tour. Little did the lady of the day know that all of her kids had set up a big bonfire party for the big Day...we drove up and my mom was initially irked that there were people in the campsite...but quickly noticed that they weren't just some vagrants or vagabonds but all of her darling happy family!
SHE WAS SO HAPPY AND SURPRISED...good thing she had a good heart!

Mom...WE LOVE YOU...you are the BEST!
Thanks for all you have done for me and my family!
Dad you are pretty dang remarkable too....WE LOVE YOU!
Here are some favorite pictures

Eleanor's Birthday

I forgot to include some of these darling pictures of Ellie for her birthday and eating her cake!

Eleanor Turns ONE!!

Our little Princessa girl
Eleanor Rachelle
turned ONE year old on May 3rd!

What can we say...
we LOVE love LOVE this girl!
She is a sweet, smiley, cuddly, BEAUTIFUL, singer girl

the deal...

...now that I have received numerous claims that I am the all time worst blogger...I am going to renew...I have been told that the way to catch up is to post current and back blog but I want my blog to be chrnologically correct so I am going to go from the past forward....Oh and don't be suprised if the dates are totally fabricated...I am going to put the post date as the "should have been posted on this day!" ...here goes...

Oh Gordeler...

So last night I was at my book club meeting and I was talking to the Music Leader from Gordon's Primary at church. She was going on about how funny Gordon is and the hilarious things he does...my favorite...story was of the Sunday after President Monson was announced as the new Prophet. The teachers were talking to all the kids about the new First Presidency and they were naming the new counselors. Gordon was called on to name one of the new counselors and he choose the following response...

"The second counselor is Dieter F. Uchtdorf (split second pause) actually the second counselor is Dieter F. Poopdorf"

Soooooo.....yeah the Music lady went on to say that she was sorry but she could not stop laughing and every time Gordon caught her looking at him he would say something like...

"really his name is Poopdorf"
"did you know I used to know President Poopdorf"
etc. etc. etc.

Oh I just love my little pistol of a boy!

What a big Helper...

I walked out of the kitchen to help Gordon with something and came back to this...Oscar is sure growing up...if I could just get him to change her diaper (or his) I would be just golden!