Part 2- The Florida Keys

After two jam-packed days at DisneyWorld, we decided to head down to the Florida Keys. Our kids were exhausted and slept for the majority of the trip down. We stopped on the way in Miami to go to church and Ethan woke up with some awesome bed head! I guess it was pretty hot in that backseat with a suit on!

We arrived that evening to our hotel in Marathon and decided to take a walk along the beach. The sand in the FL keys is like no where else I have been. It felt like you were walking in flour and everything about this place was just beautiful!

Ellie loved the challenge of walking around in the thick sand..

and squealed with delight as she ran back and forth into the water.

The next day we woke up and hit up some of the pretty beaches in Marathon. We took everyones advice online and went to Bahia Onda State Park. It did not disappoint.

This was a really beautiful little cove enclosed by the two old bridges in the background. The water was crystal clear and so refreshing!

Ellie was quite content playing in the sand

and after swimming with daddy, Ethan joined her.

You can walk to the end of this old bridge and look down in the water at all the fish and sometimes sharks swimming down below. We got a glimpse at a shark! It was pretty neat. I guess this part of the bridge collapsed since you can see the other half of it on the other side. It sure makes for a pretty lookout point though!

On Bahia Onda, there are 3 beaches and the one below was our favorite. There was a sandbar out there that you could walk way out in the ocean with and only be up to your waist in water. It was beautiful!

Isn't the water color gorgeous?!

Our kids are fearless when it comes to the ocean. Luckily, there wasn't big waves since the reef breaks them down. We had to watch Ellie like a hawk! She was so cute though running in the shallow water and laughing at the water coming in.

If we didn't have the kids with us, we would have totally rented snorkel gear and explored the live coral reef! Everyone online says that the snorkeling is so good there. We would have also rented a jet ski and ran around from little island to little island possibly stopping to have a picnic on the beach for lunch and then hop back on and choose another island to explore all while watching the fish and turtles magically swim beneath us. Sounds so movie like, doesn't it? Oh and I can't forget the sunsets. I think I have just convinced myself that we need to go back. Without the kids :)

Anyway, back to reality. Later that evening, we traveled across the 7 mile bridge (that is almost completely over the water) to Key West and visited the southern most point on the Continental US!

And then had some yummy Mexican food after watching all the performers at Mallory Square.

We were sad to leave the Keys but have vowed to come back sometime soon! Minus the hurricanes, I can see why people live here year round when they retire! Part 3 soon to come with more adventures at DisneyWorld!

Florida Trip- Part 1!

Well, we just got back from our amazing, fun-filled vacation to Florida and the Carolinas! This trip was pretty long and there are tons of pictures so I will spare you (and I) the overload and do this in phases. Ready? Go!

We arrived Thursday afternoon to Ft. Lauderdale, picked up our rental car and drove up to Orlando and got the kiddos excited to go to Disneyworld the next day! We woke up bright and early the next morning and headed off to Magic Kingdom!

This has to be the happiest place on earth....Remember how I have an issue with getting emotional with the strangest things? (i.e. broadway plays, concerts, etc)? Well, Disneyworld was no exception. The first worker I saw waving with their big Mickey hand at all the smiling kids coming in started the waterworks and it continued when we saw the beautiful castle. Am I a mess or what?!

Ethan loved the pooh ride and so did we! They have things for the kids to play with while they wait! Ingenious!

Dumbo. It's a classic.

Ethan's highlight of the whole day was getting to see Buzz Lightyear! I'm so glad that he wasn't really into meeting the characters. Only the important ones like Buzz. You wait WAY too long in line for a quick high five and a photo...

It was so, so, so hot and humid. Ellie kept Justin and herself cool by wiping baby wipes on their faces...

The teacups are always fun. Mommy had to accompany Ethan on all the rides that spun around as Daddy's stomach can't quite handle it!

We were really lucky and went on a not so busy day. We were able to ride all the rides and didn't wait for more than 10 min on any of them! Thank you Fastpass!

We were also able to meet up with the Shilligs while we were there! Caroline is from my hometown and it was so great to meet up with them!

We waited around for the Disney's Electrical Parade and were very impressed with it! Justin wasn't so impressed with Prince Charming asking me if the glass slipper was mine. I shook my head yes and then he asked if the guy next to me was my boyfriend and I promptly shook my head no and acted like I didn't know him. At least I thought it was funny :)

After the parade we headed over to the castle for the firework show.

It was pretty impressive! We did find out though that Ethan is not so much a fan of fireworks.....

He screamed in fear the whole time. Isn't that suppose to be like the coolest part for the kids?! Anyways, pretty much the second the fireworks were over Ethan and Ellie both crashed in the stroller and didn't wake up until we woke them up the next morning for our Animal Kingdom adventure!

We LOVED Animal Kingdom!

The tree below is super cool. I think I saw a documentary on it once. It was quite the project to put together!

We even met the big man himself!

We really enjoyed the Lion King show that they put on. Very, very well done!

It was all fun and games until we came out of the Lion King show and saw that our Phil & Teds stroller had been stolen out of the stroller parking area. I was crushed. That stroller was like a member of our family (not to mention, it was expensive!). It went everywhere with us and I was seriously heart-broken. The perpetrators left a junked out, tire slashed, sticker ladened stroller that looked like ours but wasn't in its place. Maybe they felt like they were making a trade instead of stealing? Yeah. Not quite. That was stealing! Disney was really nice to give us a free rental stroller for the day plus 2 free kids meals and water (since our lunch was stolen as well) but I spent the whole rest of the day eyeing down all Phil & Ted strollers secreting accusing people of being the thieves that stole ours... Can you blame me?

So here we are in our not so good Disney stroller.... We tried to make the best of our day from there on out.

We went on a really cool Safari ride and saw animals up close and personal!

Animal Kingdom is beautiful! Doesn't this gorilla look like he just came out of a National Geographic magazine!?

At least having our stroller stolen made for a really cute picture of Ellie sleeping on Ethan :)

Again, we were able to ride all the cool rides here and never waited for more than 5 min for them! The Dinosaur ride was AWESOME! Ethan is such a trooper when it comes to rides. He did so good on this ride while I was the one screaming like a little girl on it!

I though this was a cool picture of Justin on the ride, but an even cooler picture of the guy in the yellow shirt behind him :)

We took a break and let the kids play in the Boneyard area. Ellie loved filling up her water bucket and then wearing it as a purse while walking around everywhere. Everyone though it was so cute.

Justin snapped a photo of me on Expedition Everest. So fun.

After we rode that ride a few times, we left the park and headed over to the Shilligs house for a yummy dinner and some fun chit chat. They were saints and let us borrow their double stroller for the rest of our Disney adventures. Thank you guys SO much for everything! We really are indebted to you!

The cute kiddos enjoying some popcorn and a movie.

Stay tuned- Coming up next...The Florida Keys!

Some Weddings, Some Fun and a Graduation!

Wow. It has been a very fun but very busy last 2 weeks! This post has so many pictures and it is kinda all jumbled together but hopefully I will be able to follow it when I look back on it in the future.

First item of business...

TEXAS!

Call us crazy (or just poor), but we made the long, long drive all the way across Texas with these two little kiddos scrunched in the back seat.

For as long of a drive as it was, they did really, really good. We bought a portable DVD movie thing to strap onto the front seats and I must say that that could possibly be the best money we have ever spent. They happily watched movie after movie after movie for the whole 20 some odd hours in that car. So nice. What did parents ever do on road trips before those were invented is beyond me!

My sweet husband couldn't stay in TX with us (due to not enough days to take off work) and so he drove us all the way across Texas and then in Houston I dropped him off at the airport to fly all the way back to Phoenix so he could make it to work the next day. He didn't want me to have to make that long drive with just me and 2 kids in the car. What a sweetheart, right?!

When we made it to Vidor, the kids played and enjoyed their freedom from the restraints of car seats. It's so nice that my parents have over an acre of beautiful green grass to explore!

Ellie LOVED walking back and forth on the long walkway.

And she adored all the animals there. Those poor dogs and cats were so kind to put up with her not-so-soft petting....

Ellie would laugh and giggle and would run to pet this poor cat when she saw her...

Yes. You saw that cat right. Meet my cat, Pumpkin....

Pumpkin is like 12 or 13 years old and was my cat when I lived at home (although I never really took care of him). Pumpkin used to have beautiful thick, long, fluffy fur until my parents shaved it off for the summer. Isn't that just ugly? Poor thing.

My dad built Ethan a sandbox and he was in heaven playing for hours with his trucks and tractors in it. I love giving my kids opportunities to get absolutely filthy!

Ethan loved playing in the sprinklers to wash off.....

But Ellie wanted no part of it. She was completely focused on torturing the animals...

It was all fun and games until Ethan became very acquainted with fire ants and mosquitos. Welcome to SE Texas buddy! He got some nasty bites from them though. And to top it off he met 2 Mud Daubers (look just like wasp but don't sting) when they landed on his face while he was sleeping one night and so now he is constantly on bug patrol if we are outside. He sees an insect and says "Mommy! I think that's a wasp!"" or "Mommy! I think these are fire ants!" Do you blame him for being a bit paranoid though?! I don't!

Everyday we went over to my grandparents house to visit with them. They don't get to see us very often so we always try to make sure we have ample amount of time for them to get to see their great-grandbabies!

My Gpa used to take me for walks up and down the road when I was little. I was so happy to capture these precious moments on camera...

He thought he could handle both kids though and about 10 minutes later I heard both kids screaming. I looked down the road to see Ethan standing there wailing because of a mosquito bit him and gpa trying to comfort him while chasing down Ellie who was about to run into the neighbors yard and pet a not so friendly german shepherd! My grandparents really are the best!

Their chairs move up and down and are always a huge hit with Ethan

The kids were always pretty rowdy whenever we were visiting them but this was the one time that they were actually quiet and not running around like wild people! They are cute with each other sometimes :)

One day while we were visiting with Great Grandma & Grandpa, Ethan was helping my dad mow their yard and was riding on the lawnmower with him. I was inside with grandma and Ellie and Ethan walks in the house with this long, wiggly thing in his hands. I couldn't see what it was until he stepped out of the shadows but I just about jumped into the next room when I realized that he was holding a snake! My 3 yr old holding a snake and showing no fear about it! I didn't realize that the snake was dead so I was freaking out but even when I noticed its head was chopped off I was still freaking out that Ethan now had yucky dead snake germs all over him. I don't do snakes and I think my dad thought he was pretty funny in making Ethan do that :)

Oh and I just have to add in here how funny it was to watch Ethan talking with Great Grandma Sims and the look of pure terror on his face when she popped her fake teeth out of her mouth! We laughed and laughed until we were crying with his reaction. I would pay money to go back and have it on video. After a little bit of the shock wore off Ethan said, "Grandma, don't ever, ever do that again. That was disgusting!"

The main reason we went to Texas though was for my one and only brother's wedding!

A few days before the wedding, I went with my almost new sis-in-law, Jessica, to get a pedicure and it was so fun to get to know her a little bit better. She is a really nice girl and I am happy that Chad could find someone that we all like so well!

I've never been a part of a normal wedding, as opposed to temple sealings, but it really was a beautiful wedding! It was held at my mom's church and was decorated beautifully!

Jessica was nice/brave enough to let me do her hair for the wedding and I must say that it turned out pretty good! She looked stunning!

Ethan was the ring bearer and Ellie was the cutest little flower girl that you ever did see! They cooperated quite well walking down the aisle and Ellie even threw out a little wave to everyone. So cute!

Justin flew back into Houston the day before the wedding and was the best man. It was so cute to see these two standing up there together.

I guess Justin had never been a part of a wedding either and didn't quite catch the memo that he was supposed to walk the maid of honor both down the aisle and back. After the wedding, he took off and left the maid of honor walking quickly behind him to try to catch up! It was cute.

Here is the happy couple!

Chad and Jessica with my mom and dad

Love this picture. Ellie had that finger up her nose as far as should could get it!

Ellie was SO tired. With the 2 hour time change and busy days, it made for one tired and grumpy baby! As long as she had her freedom to run around and go where she pleased though, she was pretty good.

Ethan and this little girl were so cute dancing together at the reception. Ethan has some killer dance moves that he must have got from his daddy :)

Back to AZ

So after a week there, we made the long drive back home just in time for Ethan's preschool graduation.

Ethan was not cooperating at first and the teacher had to pick him up and carry him up on the stage while they were doing the walk into the gym. It was a little embarrassing but it could have been much, much worse.

Towards the end he started participating more and even said his Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme perfectly!

Here are 2 of his biggest fans cheering him on!

This picture turned out terrible quality but here is our happy little preschool graduate!

That same day, we went with Justin's cousins Austin, Rosanne, and their 2 kiddos Mia and Alyssa, to Amazing Jakes. Austin and his family came down to AZ for Chanda's wedding and stayed at our house. It was SO much fun to have them stay with us!

At amazing Jake's we all had so much fun riding all the rides and playing with the kids. Because of height limits, we adults had to ride most of the rides with the kids and those rides are definitely not built to be comfortable for us adults!

Austin looked so funny riding this ride with 3 year olds surrounding him!

Justin and Austin tried to share a seat on the train. Didn't work out too well, so Justin came to sit with me and Ellie.

Ethan, Alyssa and Mia on the train...

These teacups were so much fun! Ethan and I were spinning pretty fast-

but apparently it was nothing to Austin and poor little Mia.

I laughed SO hard when I saw this picture. I think it's the combo of sheer terror and a sinister smile that makes this priceless!

Cousins going after each other in the bumper cars...

Ellie was done. After the crazy week before and the crazy week going on, she was pretty nap deprived. She finally gave up and slept for a few hours in that noisy place!

Justin and Ethan racing in the not-so-fast race cars...

Blacklight bowling was fun for the kids too.

Later that night, after the kids crashed, we got our trusty babysitter to watch all of our kids while us adults went out for a little fun!

We went out to eat at Chipolte and then headed over to F1 Raceway. This place is so cool. They have a track set up and you drive these awesome go-karts that go about 45 miles per hour around the track and race each other! So, so fun.

Here we are in our awesome hat socks after watching the safety video...

About to race!

We raced twice and the first time I think I came in 4th or 5th out of 6 or 7 drivers but the next race I smoked everyone and got first place with 26 seconds a lap! I was pretty proud of myself until the worker there said, "I hate to tell you this but 26 seconds is our all-time track record and... you definitely weren't going that fast. Something was wrong with your car." Oh well. At least the other guys that were racing with us didn't know that and probably still think that they were smoked by a girl :)

Chanda's Wedding

This last Saturday, Chanda and Nathan were sealed for time and all eternity in the Mesa, AZ temple. It had been a very busy week previously with bridals, couple pictures, reception, etc and doing her hair for each one of them but it was so fun to have that time with Chanda and help her to feel like the beautiful person that she is! She had her bridals and couple pictures on Wednesday, her reception was Friday and they were sealed Saturday morning. I loved how they did the reception and sealing on different days so that the most beautiful part of all of this, the sealing, wasn't overshadowed by other wedding have-to's. It was so peaceful and calm to go to the sealing in no rush and afterwards enjoy a nice, chill luncheon afterwards. If I could do it again, I would do it that way!

Here are some beautiful pictures taken of the bride and groom from Steve Nissle Photography

Chanda and Nate after their sealing. Taken from my camera obviously, not Steve's :)

Ethan and daddy on the Temple grounds..

We just had to get a family picture in this pretty shaded spot!

Poor Ellie. She needs some hair :)

Whew. Well, after 2 weddings in 2 weeks we have been in chill mode around here. I have had nothing planned this whole week and I don't think I have made it out of either work-out clothes or my yoga pants the whole time. It is wonderful to become reacquainted with my kids and husband again!

We have done lots of playing and reading books this week and I'm going to soak it up before we head out to our fun-filled vacation to the Florida keys, the Carolinas and DisneyWorld next week!