Florida Family Fun!! (Part 1)

(At the SL airport, waiting for our plane. Jared's mom works in security there, and she came and helped us CRUISE through! It was awesome!!)

We just got back from sunny Florida! It was a great trip. We took all the kids, even though we thought about leaving Lila at home with someone, but I'm glad she went. She had fun, and was really good (for the most part!).
We flew out on Thursday. The plane ride was good. There were small TV's in the seats in front of us, so the boys watched TV most of the time, and played their game boys. Lizzie watched a Dora movie on the DVD player. I even got to watch "The Office" live, but Jared was holding a squirmy Lila, so he didn't get to watch much. Lila finally conked out and gave him a break! So, all in all, the kids did pretty well. A man in front of us told us that he would fly with our kids anytime, because they were no problem. Thanks!
We got to Orlando really late, so we stayed in a hotel there, then headed over to Venice, Florida, where Jared's Aunt Nenka lives. She lives in the cutest house, close to the beach, right by a little park, which the kids loved. She let us stay at her house, and she went to stay with her sister, Gina, who lives close by. Nenka has two cats, and when Lila first saw them, she would just scream and scream, but not like she was crying, more like she was shocked that those stuffed animals were MoViNg!!! She and Lizzie loved the cats, and followed them around the whole time. The kids then got to meet Jared's littlest cousin, Aleks (Gina's son). They hit it off right away. Aleks is a really cute little boy, and the boys loved playing with him.

(Auntie Gina & Lila)

 (Parker, Jase, & Challah-the cat)

On Friday, we headed over to a nearby beach named Casperson Beach. Jared remembered going there when he was a kid, and they have all of these fossilized shark teeth that wash up on the beach (something to do with the tide?). So, we spent a lot of time sifting through the sand looking for shark teeth, and even found a couple. (Auntie Gina then gave us some that she has been collecting for a long time, and they are so neat!). The sand at this beach was really dark, and it was really hard to get off! My swim suit will forever have little tiny bits of sand from this beach in it! That night we headed off tothe the local Dairy Queen for dinner and treats, then back to Auntie Nenka's to CRASH!
 

On Saturday, we totally vegged out. We let the kids go over to the park, explored Nenka's backyard (found lots of acorns and little lizards), had a GREAT BBQ with TONS of food, visited with Jared's aunts, including Auntie Bee who came down for the afternoon from the Tampa area, took naps, let the boys play together and watch TV (their favorite past time!), then finally headed down to another beach. It was named Siesta Beach, and it was beautiful. The sand was white and soft. We went about an hour before sunset and let the kids play. Jase and Parker had tons of fun "surfing". Lizzie and Lila mostly played on the beach with all of the fun sand toys Auntie Nenka gave them. Parker found a dead Jellyfish in the sand, then later was stung by what we think was a jellyfish! Poor guy. He was really in pain, but it didn't last too long. We got to watch the sunset before the jellyfish sting, and as soon as that happened, we headed back to Nenka's. We decided to get up early the next morning and head up to Orlando to start the Disney part of our vacation!!

(Parker after the Jellyfish Episode)

Some Thing

Some of the kids are home sick today, so Jared took Parker to church. I realize that it has been a long time since I posted anything, so Jared suggested that I might want to post something while he was at church. So, here is something.
(I promise I'll post more SOON, but Jared also didn't believe I would make him an apple pie while he is at church, so I am busy making apple pie, as well!)

Hiking to the G

The boys and I got up early to hike to the G on Saturday morning. I woke the boys up at 6:00, and they were excited enough that they got dressed in record time. We even had time to grab a bowl of cereal and still keep our plan of leaving the house at around 6:30. We took it easy with several breaks, and made it to the G in under an hour. It was a good hike and the boys ended up having a great time.

Inventors

Parker and Jason have been really into "inventing" things lately. They have been really creative about it, and somehow they have become the "creative" team and I am supposed to be the "build" team. At this point they think that I can build just about anything they dream up. For example, here is a recent converstation:

Parker: "Dad, let's make a flying skateboard."
Dad: (in my most encouraging voice) "That sounds really cool."
Jason: "And make it so that it transforms into a motorcycle..."
(short pause)
Jason: "...and then pops out Hubba Bubba."
Dad: "Wow...uhh...a flying skateboard that tranforms into a motorcyle and pops out Hubba Bubba..."

I love it! These kids rock! Unfortunately, I don't know how much longer I can go without producing one of these, before they stop thinking I can. Although, they do offer suggestions sometimes. Here is what Parker suggested a day or so later:

Parker: "You need to make a really flat engine...and it has to be really powerful..."

Most of their inventions a have something to do with rockets, flying, and shooting.

gifts...

So, here's what we got Liz, Jared's mom, for her birthday:
For those of you who might not know, that is Liz on the box! Jared thought the lady who was on the box looked like his mom, so he put her picture on it (after a lot of work!!). I thought it turned out funny!
Oh, and sorry to spoil the surprise, but this is what Amanda (Jared's sister) will be getting from us when she has her baby this summer...
Hope you enjoy!!

Lessons learned over Spring Break 2009

Spring Break was last week, and I thought I'd do a quick run-down of our activities, and the lessons we learned:
Saturday:
Baptisms are AWESOME! Our nephew, Tyler, got baptized on Saturday. After the baptism before him, when the little boy came out of the water, one of the kids yelled, "AWESOME"!
"Wicked"ness really is Happiness! Jared and I went to see "Wicked" for our 9th Anniversary. What can I say, it was also AWESOME-in a different way!
Easter Sunday:
Easter was good, the kids had fun (see previous post).
Also, it might not be possible for a persons heart to pound completely out of her chest, but my heart was sure trying before I had to speak in sacrament meeting. Amazingly, as soon as I was finished, my heart returned to it's normal level!
Monday:
A little sun on one day doesn't really make up for rain, rain, and then 6 inches of snow in mid-April during SPRING BREAK! But, give my kids bonus points for inviting themselves to the next-door neighbor girl's 10th birthday party!! Oh, well, they had a blast, even if I was embarrassed about them crashing it (we really need a fence!).
Tuesday:
Dinosaur hunting is fun. We went to the Dinosaur museum, and everyone had a good time, and we all made it home unharmed!

Also, those little glow-in-the-dark bracelets are NON-TOXIC, even for a 10 month-old baby. I know, I called poison control after I found Lila with one in her mouth, and no more liquid inside of the bracelet. They do, however, taste nasty!!
Wednesday:
Watch out when you go in to the library and it's raining, and then you come out and it's a blizzard--not a good sign of things to come!
Also, it was our anniversary, and Jared surprised me with flowers, and a babysitter that night! We went out to dinner at P.F. Chang's, which was great, although a little awkward, considering Jared's new boss and the new executives were all sitting at the table right next to us!!
Thursday:
Just when you think it's safe to put away the snow boots.....think again!
I CAN take all 4 kids to a movie and actually enjoy the movie! We saw "Monsters vs. Aliens" and I really kind of liked it! (I think the kids liked it, too!)
Friday:
Never plan a trip to the park when there is still snow on the ground We didn't end up going, and the kids were all disappointed, but I think the boys made up for their unhappiness by playing tons of Star Wars Lego on the Wii.
Saturday & Sunday:
Relaxation is a good thing. So are birthdays. Happy birthday, Liz! (Friday) We got a GREAT present for Jared's mom for her birthday, but it's a secret....you'll all have to wait and see!

They make us laugh!

Our kids are our greatest form of entertainment--sometimes the show is hilarious, sometimes it is sad, sometimes it is sweet, and sometimes it is frustrating! I think 90% of the time I am frustrated trying to get the kids to DO WHAT I ASK THEM, but I guess that's probably more like 10% of the time, and it just feels like 90%! I have been trying to pay better attention to the funny, silly, happy things they do instead of the things that drive me crazy. Here are a few examples of the good: Parker: The other day I was taking just Parker to a b-day party. I was singing an old primary song, "In the Leafy Treetops." I was just ending the second verse, which goes, "In my pretty garden the flowers are nodding," and Parker goes, "What did they do?" What??? What did who do? And he said, "The flowers. You said they were naughty." I laughed and laughed. I guess they hear about being naughty a little too much!

Jase's new thing is to say, "And Guess What?" all of the time. For example, when I picked him up from preschool the other day, they had just finished an Easter Egg Hunt. He was so excited! He said, "Mom, I found a purple Easter Egg. And Guess What? Then I found a BLUE Easter Egg! And Guess What? There was money inside the blue Easter Egg! And Guess What? Then I found a green Easter Egg!! And Guess What? Green is my favorite color! And Guess What?...." You get the point. It cracks me up! When I was pointing this out to Jared, Jase said it hurt his feelings that I thought it was cute that he says "And Guess What" all of the time. But I still think it's cute!

Lizzie is little miss BUSY all of the time! She is really enjoying her Easter CANDY. In fact, I think she may have eaten all of it already (Good, I'll be glad to get rid of it!). My favorite thing she does is say, "Huuuuhhh?" It is so funny. She will be playing with a toy, and then maybe lose it. She'll look all over for it saying, "Huuuuhhh?" with this funny tone in her voice. So cute!

Lila's new thing is to stick her tongue out constantly. It is so funny. She got her two bottom teeth in at 8 months (the earliest of any of my kids), and I think she is teething, so she always has her tongue out, probably to make her little gums feel better. She is also crawling all over the place. She started army crawling about 2 months ago, and she can crawl on her hands and knees, but she much prefers the tummy crawl. It's much faster and more effective to get her where she wants to go.

The kids all had a great Easter--candy, candy, and more CANDY!! A guy from our ward volunteered to take some pictures of the kids in their Easter outfits. It was windy, and everyone wanted to just go home, but I think the pictures turned out great. They really show my kids personalities! (Lizzie does smile all the time, just never in pictures where we want her to!) Enjoy!!!