We have visitors!!!

When our builder confirmed with us back in September that the house would for sure be completed by the end of November there was no question about whether my parents or Sean and his kids should come out during the holidays. Trips had been cancelled or postponed too many times before so how excited we were to finally have people come visit. Sadly, they weren't welcomed into the completed home we had imagined but we didn't let that stop us from having a great time. I may have shed a few tears during the course of their visit with all the house pains but how grateful we were to have them here with us. Here are the highlights from their visit!

Yea! Grandma and Grandpa are here!



A couple days later Sean and the boys arrived! Of course we wasted no time and made our way to SeaWorld for some fun where Teagen and Chaz got to experience everything from petting sting rays and dolphins to riding coasters and admiring orcas!




SeaWorld is always so beautiful during the holidays...




The next day which was New Year's Eve day we were up and at it early heading to Tampa to share with them Busch Gardens! We started by enjoying the Serengeti Safari with the highlight always being feeding the giraffes from the jeep...






Next Jack took us to one of our favorite behind the scenes places...





Busch Gardens has so many awesome coasters. This ride actually is like a typical drop tower but once at the top it turns you down, facing the ground...truly frightening. So proud of Teagen for being so brave...



Like SeaWorld Busch Gardens is done up so nicely for the holidays.





After such a busy day it was hard to stay awake for New Year's Eve. Ty had gone out with friends while Connor had decided to stay back and hang with the rest of us. Jack suddenly aged a decade or two and decided to head to bed...lol!

Here is the true partier!



On New Year's Day Jack had gotten tickets for the boys to all head out to the Citrus Bowl since Notre Dame was playing in it. Of course, the time we have family in town trying to escape the cold of Utah, they found themselves freezing their butts off at the game! In the end Notre Dame beat LSU so the Roddy boys at least were happy!



Unfortunately the sunshine state continued to be shy and not share it's warmth throughout much of the time everyone was in town. Sean still decided to brave the rain and cold though and take Teagen, Chaz and Sage to Disneyworld. Here are the three photos he sent me from that chilly day. One would think from this photo of Sage in front of the castle she was the only one in the park...Later in the day the sun did come out and so did the crowds!



The next day Grandma, Sean, Teagen, Chaz, Sage and I hit up Universal! Despite the abnormally cold temps, we all had a great time. We were especially so impressed with Grandma who rode most everything with us!!!







Not too many people can claim they did SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Disney World, and Universal in one week but Sean, Teagen, Chaz and Sage sure can! We made one last stop at SeaWorld before dropping off Sean and the boys at the airport so they could do a couple last things we hadn't done during our last visit. We loved having them here with us and will look forward to another visit hopefully sooner rather than later!




Once Sean and the boys were gone Grandma and Grandpa spent their remaining time with us relaxing! Something they hadn't done much of in the past week! Here's Grandpa trying to stay warm in Florida...who would have thought...haha!



Goodbyes are never fun! Somehow I missed getting one with Ty! Sorry Ty! We love you Grandma and Grandpa!!!

Trying to get in the spirit...

It's not easy to get into the Christmas spirit when you are moving into a partially completed house a couple weeks before Christmas but we were going to have to do our best to do so. Everything from setting up the Christmas tree to shopping for gifts lost it's luster as we worked amongst the chaos. But in the end we pulled it off including our annual visit to Santa. With only a day to spare before Christmas the kids were troopers and put on their smiles so I could get the overpriced 5x7 Santa photo that I have gotten every year since the boys were born. Of course it wasn't until after I got home that for some random reason they had printed it off in landscape style rather than portrait style...the only one printed that way in the past 15 years...



After a nice Sunday service we spent Christmas Eve at the Morris's.





The funny thing is that in both Ohio and Washington we had several trees with plenty of places to put them. Here in Florida we quickly realized that we really don't even have one great place to put a tree. So for this year we threw it in the dining room since we have yet to furnish that room...



Christmas morning!



Seriously how crazy is this weather on Christmas?!? Here we are out on our lake for the first time. Connor was testing out his kayak and we also blew up our raft. Although the boys can hardly wait to have a couple jet skis sitting on the lift...we had a nice time enjoying the inflatables. Sage also loved being able to test out her new pogo stick. And although Ty managed to catch the first fish from the dock, Sage got outfitted with some cool fishing stuff for Christmas and loves spending time with Jack out on the dock fishing!





Shopping for the kids the week before Christmas was initially feeling a bit overwhelming but thankfully I think we pulled it off. Connor is always tricky to shop for because he likes surprises and really never wants anything. He's really been into health and fitness lately so I thought a kayak would be a fun thing for him to get out in on the lake and work his arms with. Ty didn't really have much he wanted this year either but had mentioned a surfboard. Sadly he got a drone too but on the second trip he managed to take it over the lake and lose reception or something as it disappeared...never to be found again... Jack also decided this was a good time to introduce the boys to their own nice shaving kits from the Art of Shaving. Hard to believe they are at this stage in life already. Sage finally got her first phone! With middle school starting in 6th grade here, it seemed like I had to give in to the phone.




We may not have ended our day with the traditional Christmas Day feast but we did end it feeling grateful for how blessed we are for our family, our health, and the memories we continue to make together. Merry Christmas!

Home Sweet Home...well not so much yet...but hopefully soon...

So after the most dreadful home build ever, on December 6th we finally moved into the house...not to be confused with completed house. It's hard to believe that after going under contract in July of 2016, and living in a place where construction can take place year round, we are still not in a fully completed house. After repeated missed deadlines and a host of unexpected delays, we finally got word from our builder a "to be safe" date of Nov. 30th, which he still was unable to meet. But by this point we had given up our temporary housing, had our Ohio movers scheduled, and had family scheduled to be in town for the holidays, something we weren't about to cancel. We had already missed out on the summer in the house which the kids especially had been really looking forward to, having a pool and dock, not to mention my parents golden anniversary, and a slew of other plans we had made and cancelled, so we were moving in regardless. Through all the stress and frustration though, there is one thing that brings peace and a smile to us and that is this view. From pink skies, to fog over the lake, the morning sunrise never disappoints. It's the one thing in the build that hasn't let us down...besides our fabulous dock builder who we wish could have built our house too...

Thanksgiving 2017

Can I just say again how much I love living in a place that so many friends love to come visit?!? The week of Thanksgiving brought our dear friends, the Habra's out to visit. Of course we had to take them to SeaWorld and with Jen being as big as a marine animal fan as she is, they even returned on their own for a second day. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate very well but that didn't stop us all from having a good time together.




On Thanksgiving we met up with them at Disney Springs for the afternoon. I love that it's just a few miles down the road for us and such a great spot to take friends from out of town. It was done up so nicely for Christmas and walking through the Christmas Tree Trail with all the Disney themed trees was a great way to kick off the holiday.



After a nice afternoon with the Habra's it was time to get cleaned up and head over to our friends the Stroud's for Thanksgiving dinner. We feel so grateful for their friendship. Every couple months they make a point to have us over for dinner, getting us out of our apartment which I especially am grateful for. Not to mention the boys enjoy hanging out with their buddy Will. Apparently it's a tradition for them to take a photo during special occassions with their son's headshot, so Jack captured this for them! haha! Love it.