Grandma and Grandpa in search of warmth!

Well, once again the Florida weather didn't cooperate as nicely as it should have for Grandma and Grandpa's visit which was sad since they were so excited to escape the cold Utah weather but that didn't stop them from having a nice relaxing visit with us! They still got in plenty of naps, a visit to the temple with Sage, a ride on the jet ski for grandpa, and a trip to Gatorland...lol!
Here are a few shots from their visit!





Nothing screams red neck like a visit to Gatorland! It was a first for all of us and the perfect way to spend a dreary, cool Florida day and surprisingly it was quite entertaining. Here are a few of the creepy photos we took...




Always love having mom and dad here! Now we'll start planning a return trip when we can guarantee them warm weather... :)

Happy Birthday boys!

Look who's seventeen! Another year in the books. As it turned out this year Connor and Ty's birthday once again landed on a water polo game night so again we celebrated with the whole team! How sweet it was to have Connor's friends from school make a point to surprise him and show up for his birthday game! As a parent there are few things that warm your heart like having sweet friends support your children.




As for gifts, Connor is really into music and enjoys collecting vinyls of some of his favorite musicians which we frame and hang around his room. So he had some new albums he was interested in. He also is really into Superman...and has always reminded us of Superman! Ty is all about swim so anything swim he's into and he wanted a new swim bag. He's also really good at the butterfly so now he has a place to post his goal times! We also got them a wake board since they love to be on the lake. But by far the highlight of the night had to be the sweet power point presentation Sage put together as her gift to them, showcasing their life through photos and music with a sweet message at the end. Now that melted hearts!





Unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts this year a friend party got missed but I have no doubt we will do something big next year! Happy Birthday sweet boys!!!

Visitors!

The #1 reason why living in Florida is so great: You get to see so many old friends because at some point all vacations lead to Orlando!!!

This winter we were lucky to have Char and Melia Olsen stay with us for a couple nights and the Christensen's who stayed a week, both friends from WA! Char and Melia had come for a birthday trip and how fun it was for Sage and Melia to see each other after all these years. Melia was one of Sage's sweet friends back in Snoqualmie! The Christensen's are also dear friends from Snoqualmie and how fun it was to have them stay with us for a week! Jack was in town during most their stay so was able to line up a fun day at SeaWorld for them and then we also spent a day at Blue Spring and the beach with them!

Char and Melia!



The Christensen's enjoying SeaWorld, Blue Spring, and Daytona Beach with us!



Good times!!!

Look who's 75!

I honestly can't think of anyone I'd want to mirror my life after other than my mom. She is kind, compassionate, loving, charitable, and has always put her children above herself. She has the best laugh that puts a smile on everyones face and is beloved by everyone she meets. She's always been blessed with wonderful friends and what a wonderful friend she is to them. She is a blessing to anyone who is lucky enough to know her. I can't imagine my life without her.  And how sweet it was to watch dad secretly emailing us months in advance hoping to surprise my mom with a full house on her special birthday.  Dad has been lucky enough to have all his children surround him on most of his birthdays since his birthday falls on the 4th of July but sadly it's a rare occassion for us to all be around for mom's birthday so what a treat it was for us all to be together with her on her big 75!

With school being in session and the kids unable to miss too much, it was going to have to be a quick trip but it certainly didn't lack in fun and adventure! Saturday morning we all got up and Jack took a group of us on a beautiful hike through a meadow up Provo canyon. While it wasn't a difficult hike there was quite a bit of deep snow and at times we joked about whether mom was going to make it to see her 75th...lol, but thankfully the only casualty was her ankle which she managed to twist a bit in the deep snow but thankfully she lived to enjoy the Cheesecake Factory later that night.



Next was her celebratory dinner at Cheesecake Factory! I don't know how we didn't get one photo at the restaurant of everyone but we didn't!



And the day ended with a surprise party with her dearest friends who surprised her as we entered the house from dinner!



Of course we couldn't be all the way out in Utah during prime ski season and not get in at least one ski day so off to Sundance we went before catching our red eye flight later that night. What a great day we had!. We arrived to empty slopes, fresh snow, and ski school availability! Hooray!!! Ty had been anxious to give snowboarding a try so got in a morning private lesson and Sage also enjoyed a private half day of ski school brushing up on what she had learned last year! Connor and I spent the morning spying on the two of them, impressed by how well each of them were doing! And sadly Jack had to work.





Note to self: Never book a red eye flight again. No one wins.... How I thought we'd be able to ski all day, fly through the whole night and then get kids off to school is beyond me...lol! No one was heading to school that morning...

It may have been our quickest Utah trip yet but what a good time we had! Happy Birthday mom! We love you!!!