Key West Getaway

Since my mom and grandma were here this weekend, Jake and I decided to take a little getaway and go explore Key West. We have wanted to go there for a while, but not conducive when you have little ones. We had a great time. We went snorkeling, parasailing, jet skiing and kayaking. It was beautiful weather, beautiful scenery and great company. Went way to fast, but we were happy to be away and happy to be home.

She's ONE!!!

Brielle turned ONE! I can't believe it! She has started to say ONE when you ask her how old she is. Very cute! We went to the bounce house and ate cupcakes to celebrate. She was spoiled by all the grandma's and loved every minute of it!

Disney, grandma's and birthdays

Busy busy fun week. My mom and grandma are here for all the birthdays. We have had fun celebrating and spending time with them. We did Disney for my mom and Raegan's birthdays. They loved it! We ate at Cinderella's castle and Raegan thought that was the greatest thing ever. She also got her face painted as a kitty princess and looked in every mirror she found.

Raegan's birthday party

Yesterday we celebrated Raegan's birthday with her friends. We played out in the water, had cake, ice cream, water balloons, just fun. She had a great time with her friends and my mom and grandma were here to celebrate with her. She loved opening her presents. Thanks to everyone that helped make her party fun. Her actual birthday is Tuesday and my mom's birthday is Monday so we are spending the next two days making our dreams come true at Disney!

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Jake!!! He is 32 today and has the flu. What a way to spend your birthday! He did get to miss church and sleep all day, so that is hopefully helping. Plus the present I ordered him didn't come and he is also getting a new grill because our other one fell apart and we didn't have time this week to get one, so not really any presents either.... He has just had bad luck in the birthday department the last year or so. His last birthday also wasn’t great because he had to lay tile in our bathroom and broke the toilet so instead of a nice dinner with his wife, he spent it getting a new toilet put together. I was no help because I was 2 weeks from delivering Brielle and couldn’t lift anything.

There is always next year right?

At least he got Upside down German chocolate cake and PB Chocolate ice cream from Baskin Robbins---both are straight from heaven!

Signs of things to come

Yesterday at our ward party we had an Easter egg hunt so the kids have some easter eggs around the house. Logan came in this morning holding the eggs open on his chest, "Look, mom I look like you" Oh great.....he is a boy.


























Raegan had to do it too to copy.

















Raegan said a funny thing yesterday. We were at Target looking for a dress for her and she saw one that she liked that was strappy on top. I told her that it wasn’t one we could get and she sulkingly said “I wish we didn’t know about the Gospel” It took me by surprise. We talked about it later and we talked about how the Gospel helps us, makes us happy and who would we pray to if we didn’t know Heavenly Father. She said, “We’ll just pray to Jesus” I said Jesus is the Gospel. She liked that answer and hopefully starts to understand that the Gospel does make us happy. She turns 5 next week and I think the whole day, clothes and attitude, is just a sign of things to come. Heaven help us!!!
Speaking of birthdays, my mom and grandma come in this week and it is my mom's birthday, Raegan's birthday and Brielle turns 1 all in the same week. She is already 1!!! We are going to have lots of cake and ice cream......


This is the dress we did get. She struck this pose herself. Check out the her face and the shoes are pretty cute........

surf's up

THis was so dang cute. I was riding around on scooters with Logan and Brielle kept holding her hands out. So I put her on and she loved it. She stood there and rode around for about 20 minutes. She is easily entertained. Her skateboarding uncles will be proud.

Singing kids

No one can say dinner is boring at our house!! (We listen to a lot of soundtracks in the car)

Shuttle Launch

The shuttle finally launched today after being called off last week. We went out in our driveway and watched it. That is really neat to see it from our yard. It was just before dark so the smoke trail was really neat. It was all different colors, not just white. My pictures don't do it justice. One day hopefully we will get close to hear the rumble. (We went a few years ago and sat in the hot summer weather for a few hours and then it got scrubbed. Haven't been back since then.)

Better night

Summer fun

Yes, summer has begun here. Hard to believe when I hear reports that Utah is getting snow. We have been enjoying the nice weather here. Today Logan and Raegan flew kites. It was Logan's first time and he loved it. He ran all over the field with a Buzz Lightyear kite. Raegan finally got hers in the air and she had fun figuring it all out. Brielle just ate dirt while this all was going on. Fun all around!

Raegan is learning to ride her bike without training wheels. It is more of a patience thing for me so hopefully we will both survive. I kept telling her even if she falls she is close to the ground because her bike is so small. Oh, the thrill of learning to ride your bike. To be young again!

What about....

One funny for the day: Raegan found her CTR ring and was asking again what it stands for, so I said "Choose the Right". Very seriously and right on cue she asked "Well, what happens if I choose the left?" She was very concerned ;) What they won't come up with.

A weekend away

This weekend Jake's parents came to town and we went to the Everglades, Key Largo, Fort Meyers and Sarasota. It was beautiful everywhere we went. I have posted many pictures. Hope you enjoy them.

Brielle sleeping in the car. She had 2 ear infections the day before she left. She did really well despite all that.
Sunset on Key Largo

An amazing resturant where we had dinner. It was right on the beach with our tables right on the sand. Good food, good music, lots of dancing, exactly what you think Key Largo would be like. We didn't see much else because it was too cold to go snorkling and that is what draws everyone to the Keys. Maybe another time.

The Everglades!!! Too many alligators to even think about. These pictures don't do it justice. Remember, these are alligators in the wild, not a zoo. At anytime they could have attacked us (Jake here- no, they couldn't have attacked because we were on a boardwalk and they were well below us. Amy likes to exagerate the possibility of sure death by gators...). Logan is so used to seeing alligators like this that I think he isn't scared of them. (Besides on Peter Pan whenever Hook gets caught by the alligator, he just jumps out of the alligators mouth, not scary right?) Wrong, very scary for me! We were feet from all these alligators. They called it "Alligator Parking Lot." We were on a dock a few feet above them, but if they would have wanted to they could have put their snouts up and eaten my foot (Jake again- probably not, but we'll let this one go.) I let many people stand in front of me so if that did happen, they would loose their foot, not me. Logan though kept bending down getting too close for comfort. Knowing his luck he would have tripped and been alligator dinner. Thankfully we made it out with all of our arms and legs attached.

We rented some bikes and rode around the everglades. 15 miles of beautiful scenery, scary gators on the side of the road and lots of turtles.
This was a beach in Sarasota. They have a fun little shopping district and then beautiful beaches with gorgeous sunsets. I love the gulf side of Florida!