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!!

What?...

....monkey bars aren't for 3 year olds?
While it was really kind of Gordon to offer to be Oscar's "spot" on the monkey bars....it didn't fare too well a plan...I literally made it to the scene (haulin' my 7 month prego booty) to have him slip through my fingers to the ground!
SO SAD!!!

Initially he was pretty sad about his "falling like an airplane" but got over it pretty well and relatively quick....I was not really worried about him being really hurt even thought he was not walking on his right foot...I wanted Steve to come home and look at it. It didn't swell up or start to bruise so I/we thought we'd see how it went through the night....well...that was miserable...he was up A LOT...and then the next day he still wasn't walking on it but all the "tell- tale" clues for a break were not there...however after talking to the girls and them all encouraging me to get it looked at (and Steve who had been wanting me to "just" take him in--like hauling a not-walking 40 pounder and 2 other kids to the pediatrician's office is "just" easy!!) Well basically I did and once the doctor looked at it she got out her pad and began writing the STAT X-Ray request...(which we took directly to the lab and as it turns out our little party was the Radiologist's nightmare....2 extra kids and the one "helper" adult is pregnant...so poor oscar's leg was "secured" to the table by an extensive ammount of tape!) It turns out the poor kid fractured both the 1st and 2nd bones of the foot and needed to have it looked at by the pediatric orthopedic surgeon...which is what we did today...

He sure was cheerful to be going to see the special "bone doctor" who was going to fix his foot!

And since he loves orange these days....

and one more shot of the cutest casted boy in the whole world....
He wanted me to take a picture of his "sweet boot"

Gordon's a Graduate

The Proceedings (they did a little musical program for us all....and our little Mr. Cool, Handsome, Smart, Kind, Graduate Gordon

Between both these boys it was impossible to get a good picture of them both so here are my attempts...and since apparently good pictures were hard to come by today here is Steve's attempt to get one of G & Me!

However, THIS IS ADORABLE....so it's not a wonder I want so many kids...they are just too dang cute!

The Highlight of the event according to 2 out of 3 ward kids....cake!

Gordon's little class minus a few kids who were already out of town!

The BEST teachers...Mrs Mitchel, Mrs. Swonger & G's favorite Mrs. Wyrick!
Thank you so much for all your hard work with these kids!

EASTER....EASTER....'09

We love Easter and not just the Bunny....we love dying eggs, "the hunt" which could happen every single day according to our kids, Easter Clothes...and most importantly we love this special time to remember and cherish the life and sacrifice of our Savior!

We had a GREAT Easter weekend and we'll prove it...

Dying Eggs

THE HUNT



Easter Morning!!

I am so sad that I didn't get a picture of all the kids in their Easter outfits...we had a little too much fun before church and then they were a wreck by the time church was over....apparently there was an Easter Party in Nursery--YIKES!!