Our latestet trip home!!!

This summer we decided on driving to Florida since we are now a family that needs 5 tickets and a rental car! Even though we can get great deals, it was more cost effective and more exciting to do the 17+ hour drive!! I hardly get to spend undivided time with Steve and I was really excited for the drive...even though my ankles would disagree!! It went smoothly our kids were AMAZING!! And it really wasn't too bad to be in the car so much! We stayed over night on the way so that helped even more! It was also nice to be flexible on our travel dates and since we were planning to be there for about 3 weeks that proved crucial! I think this may be a summer tradition to drive home! A good memory for sure!

While in Florida we enjoyed PERFECT weather, GREAT company, and all the amenities of being at Grandma & Go-Dad's house!! WE are so spoiled!! Here are some of the highlights...

Cattle Round-UP
What is going to Grandma & Go-Dad's without a little cattle round-up! All the Black Angus needed to get shots and treated for flies so Go-Dad recruited all the big boys and anyone interested to gather the beasts and send them down the shoot!! It was a hot day so the ladies and little kiddies just watched and ate popsicles!!

TRIP TO JUPITER!!!
It was only a few hours south on the Atlantic coast but the trip was OUT of this WORLD!!
(I couldn't help the cheesy phrasing since it is called Jupiter!!)
We spent 3 wonderful days soaking up the sun and deep sea fishing!! It was so fun! And we cooked up all our catches for dinner which was so delicious...even Steve enjoyed it!

(These are some of the pictures from the girls trip out on the boat...I pirated them from my sisters since I accidentally deleted my pictures from the first half of our trip home...I WAS SO MAD!!)

Jordan & Shanda go to the Temple!!!!
We were so happy to be there to attend the temple with Jordan and Shanda! They both took out their Endowments on Tuesday (Steve had to be back at work after our Jupiter trip) and then were sealed for time & ALL eternity on Friday June 19, 2009 (Steve made it in time for this part!!) We are so happy for them and their GREAT decision. WE LOVE YOU!!

HULK PARTY
Duce was going to turn 8 just after we took off back to Ohio so we had his party a little early...Erika and Mom did such an amazing job with the theme and all the little boys LOVED their party attire!! I think they actually wore them for 3 days straight over the course of this party weekend! And even now, my boys still wear their outfits at least once a week!

Miami: Just Steve and Me!!
Steve had to travel to Miami for work and was able to work it out so that he could just extend one of his weekend trips to see us out in Orlando...that meant that I could go with him for the 3 days he needed to be there! We left the kids in the care of my Mom (aka Erika too) and took off to enjoy some peace and quiet!! We didnt' get any pictures other than this which is so weird....but here it is...I took it outside of the Aventura Mall after dinner one night--I thought my dad would like it!

Sleeping over at the Quigley's
We love to go to the Quigs...it is always a highlight of our trip!!
This time the kids & I were joined by Erika and her kids, Jordan & Shanda, and of course the other Melbourne locals: Kara & Shelly and kiddies!!
We swam played games and just enjoyed being with our wonderful Cousins and Aunties!
Only this time I was so sick on one of the days and good Auntie Erika took on the task of putting my kids to bed...here is how we found the boys after a long night of "not being sleepy"!!

We left all the sleeping kids with Calvin and Jamison and took off for a late night Eat Out!! We all packed illegally into Shelly's Truck and could not pass up a chance to document the # of people we can fit in a self portrait!! Laken was sweating bullets that we were breaking the law....it's funny that her mom had to keep telling her we'll be fine it's so close!! nice!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jig!

For the return trip my wonderful, fabulous, generous Mother accompanied me and my little lambs...THANK YOU!! We added a little more time to our return by typing in almost every T.J.Maxx & Marshalls along the way--we were on the hunt for some particular items!! We were very successful and found a stunned Steve at home when he saw how packed our car had become since leaving Florida!! It was so much fun and Thank Heavens for books on tape and dual control sound systems!!

...Until Next Year!!