The beach

I am not much of a beach person and I found out why when we went with our friends. I really liked it this time,but all I had to carry was 1 bag. Russell stayed home with the twins and Em so I didnt have to bring my kitchen sink this time and I loved it. Not to mention...the weather, it was perfect. I didn't like the fact that we carried half of the sand from the beach home with us, which takes days to get rid of because it gets dragged everywhere. But it turned out to be a good visit to Ft. Lauderdale beach. Oh, an NO sharks...that's always a good thing.

Bugs...isn't he cute? I think so but I am his mom so ..there ya go!

gator anyone?

We had visitors for a week. My friend that I grew up with in Utah, Danielle, came to Florida to visit us with her daughter. We took them to the Sawgrass Recreation Center.

(Bad hair day for me)

actually it's called...getting everyone else ready and not having enough time for yourself.

This is Logan (Danielle's Daughter) Jarom, Allie, and Emma. Of Course it would be Jarom distracting the kids from taking a good picture. He has a hard time sitting still.


He wanted to be in the captain's chair.

We went into the wildlife exhibit and were fortunate enough to get to hold a baby gator.

(with his mouth taped shut of course!!)

Jarom loved the gator.....Allie on the other hand......

freaked out when he came close.

This was the first time I was able to hold one!

It feels weird. Kind of like a bag of sand.

Emma didn't want to hold it but she was brave enough to pet it. Can you 'pet' a gator?

It was a fun day. Better yet, we got in free because the lady at the desk said we were the most beautiful family she has ever seen.!!

I don't know about that but hey...was I going to argue? NO!!

(scrapbook night)

Andrea decided that she should bring the candle a little closer that night...oh, and a box of matches was missing off the top of my refrigerator! It happens to the best of us right Janette?

ahhhh....parched. What is in that cup Janette? Hawaiian punch?

Bridget was a little shy about getting her pic taken that night...but then........

She gave us the most beautiful picture of all..!!!

out on the town

One of our favorite restaurants to go to when we go out is Hooters...why?? The wings of course...and they have fried pickles now..Yummy!!!
It's not very often that we get to leave the kids at home and go out together, so when we do....... it gets documented!

Friends

The greatest time I have had here in Florida (besides being with my family) has been with my friends. I can truly say that without friends, I dont know how I would survive the week. It is like going to therapy when you have a friend or many friends to confide in. And the laughter.....love it! The best way to find good friends is to just be real. Nobody likes to be around other people who are putting on a show. Being someone your not...only comes back to bite you in the rear. Because when they find out who you really are..they feel jipped.

So here is to all of my wonderful friends, near and far, and some really far...I love you and Thank you for being so good to me. Thank goodness for the computer so we can keep in touch eh?!

I will have more to say about that tomorrow, for tonight is scrapbook night... (or bring your scrapbook stuff, set it all up, and pretend you are going to scrapbook, but dont really because you are too busy chatting and eating yummy food... night)!! I might even have a few pictures to go along with it.

A bunch about a bunch!

This picture was taken in Atlanta at one of the trail heads up north in the mountains.

November 2007

Today, I was at Target getting a prescription for my little Allie who has an ear infection and I was standing at the pharmacy counter. I had all four kids with me. This older man comes and stands in line behind us. He looks at me, then looks at the kids, then looks back at me and says, "You don't look insane!" That was a big compliment.... because some days I really feel like I am going insane. I told him it's because I am putting on my happy face. (It didn't hurt that I had a minute to throw a little make-up on my face before I walked out the door.) He told me I was lucky. I told him that I am lucky, but not to try my luck in Vegas--(that is what he suggested).


Allie has been sick for the past two days....cutting a molar and a minor ear infection. OUCH!! My poor little girl. She cried most of the night last night. Thankfully I have a wonderful husband who picked up the slack this morning and let me catch some ZZZZZzzz's. He even took Allie to the doctor early this morning!! Way to go Russ. He is a great Dad! His birthday is coming up. (Feb 10th) So I thought I would surprise him with a trip home to Utah. He will be so surprised. I have been saving and saving my hair cutting money for months to buy the plane tickets........just kidding. He knows all about the trip, he bought the tickets, and we are really going for my sister's 40th birthday party. Nice thought though eh? I will have to have a little family party here in FL for him. He will be 35!! WOW! He gets more and more handsome every year.

I was saddened to hear of the Prophets death. I really had hopes that we would see him live to be 100! I am also very happy for Him and the fact that he gets to be with his lovely wife Marjorie. He had a very meaningful life. Can you imagine living a life like the Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley did? What an amazing man. He will be missed!

Pictures

The Girls!! Allie had a sore on her forehead. Believe me it looks better with the band-aid on!

The Boys!! this is right before we buzzed Jarom's hair...he was a little fluffy.

Me and my Bear! I had to post this one because if you look closley at the top of my head...it looks like my hair is sprouting!

This really is how things are all the time.....crazy mayhem!
The credit for the pictures goes to, the wonderful photog that she is,..Andrea Gay!

Eeewww!!

So last night I was walking through my bedroom to the bathroom and I smelled what I thought was a poopy diaper. So I stopped, searched, sniffed some more and couldn't find anything. Last weekend Russ and I had to clean out the garage because we discovered that we had rats. Yes, Rats!! As we were cleaning out the garage I was poking at the corner of my shelf that I have all of my fabric folded neatly on. At the bottom was a bag of stuffing that they had gotten into. So as I was poking at it...out ran a rat. Ahhh! I screamed and started climbing another shelf that was right behind me. Russ didn't see it. So he stood there the rest of the time with Carter's soft-air-shotgun, waiting to see it again. He would tell me..."poke that"...."move this" (Men and their guns!)
Anyway, we set out big traps and put poison out. The very next morning we discovered that we had trapped a momma of a rat. (the one that ran after me with a vengeance! It growled and snapped its jaws at me!!.....It's my fish story.) So we haven't seen any in a week. I got to thinking that since I couldn't find that poopy diaper that I was sniffing..(I have a blood hound nose) I thought to myself. Hmmmm I wonder if there is a rat in the attic?!?! So I made Russ get up there and check and sure enough--a dead Rat. I guess the poison wasn't such a brilliant idea. The next time we might not be able to reach the smell.........Gross!! -Luckily we haven't discovered any in the house. I would have a myocardial infarction FER SURE!

Winter in Florida

Here is what we did last friday.......Yep, 80-something degrees. It gets kind of old in the summer. But when you can do this in the winter..mmmmmmm. Feels nice!!