Florida Trip - Final Day

The morning before we drove home, I was able to do a session at the Orlando Temple. Shawn was planning on also going, but he wasn't feeling so well - so we decided to head home. We stopped on our way out of town (since it was only 15 minutes from our hotel) and took some picture. We also stopped at the distribution center and a LDS bookstore.

This temple was SO amazing beautiful and so BIG!!! We have been assigned to the Columbia South Carolina Temple while the Atlanta temple has been closed for the last 18 months. It is a small temple and when I walked inside Orlando I was blown away by how big it seemed.

We are so excited for the Atlanta temple to be rededicated this spring!! We've enjoyed going to Columbia, but look forward to the hour and 20 min. drive rather than the 3 hour drive to get to the temple.

We're so grateful that our family is eternal and for the blessing of the gospel in our lives. Shawn and I were discussing how wonderful our trip was and if we had only attended the temple and didn't worry about the theme parks - it still would have been worth it!

What a great way to end a great trip!!

Florida Trip - Day 2

On Wednesday, the 22nd, we went to Magic Kingdom with Stephen and his family!! WOW - THANKS for all the fun!! It was so great to be with them and enjoy the day together. Here are a few (ok, 17 pictures) highlights from the trip.

Riding the Carousel with Mary Poppins

I loved that they said Adalyn had to be buckled on her own horse. She loved it too!

Stephen and Logan

Andie and Logan waiting in line for the BIG "little kid" roller coaster. We sure had a lot of fun getting to know Logan. The little kid is a stud, full of LOTS of energy!

Meeting Mickey and Minnie! I found the girl's shirts at Target for only $5. I was sad when I could only find Adalyn and Ali's size. They were out, however destiny took over. I called Cammie, who was still in Utah and asked if she was stopping by Target, to see if they had any. Sure enough, they did! So, all three girls were matching! They were so adorable!! Everyone loved the shirts, including Minnie!

Trevor and Adalyn. Trevor is such a little cutie. Adalyn is 6 week older than him, but he is a little heavier. Such cute and fun babies!!

"CINDERELLA, CINDERELLA, CINDERELLA!!!" This is what you heard from little Ali as we entered the room full of Disney Princess'. It was so cute! She was SOOOOO excited!

Belle

Sleeping Beauty! She loved Adalyn and asked if she could keep her till 5pm. :)

Me and my brother

Happy Babies!!!

Here was the castle, all lite up for Christmas. It looked amazing, like it had snowed. We had a great time and were so lucky to spend it with family. The girls had a wonderful time too. It was fun to take them on all the rides. Andie and Ali were even tall enough and brave enough to ride Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. Ali LOVED splash mountain "MOM! We got wet!" While Andie had the look of horror! Andie enjoyed Big Thunder Mountain and when we got off that one Ali said, "Mom, that was too scary for me." Oops. Oh well, how many kids at age 2 1/2 can say they've been on those rides. So fun!!

As you can see, by the end of the day we wore them out good. We watched the electrical parade and then headed home. They fell asleep on the walk to the car. We saw the fireworks as we were walking in the parking lot.

We had a great time. Thanks again Steve and Cammie for coming to our corner of the country!!! We sure love you!

Florida Trip - Day 1

The week of Christmas, we drove down to Florida to see my brother and his family. They were visiting Orlando from Alaska, and we figured this would be a great opportunity to see them. (you know, since Georgia and Alaska aren't really to two closest states in the country!) We had a GREAT time and were so glad we went!


We drove down Monday and little baby looked to cute in the "bath" that I had Shawn snap a picture. The sink in the hotel was just perfect. Speaking of hotel - did you hear of our great deal? I always use price line if we have to get a hotel. We've found that 2 1/2 star is the perfect rating for us. It always includes a HOT continental breakfast and is a good hotel. Well, for this trip - I got our hotel for $27/night. It ended up being at the Marriott Suite, so the room was BIG, with two TV's and a separate room with a couch and a little kitchenette. It was awesome. PLUS, we got an awesome free breakfast every morning and parking was free - so it was a great deal!! Anyway, back to the trip....

The first day we went to Sea World as a family. We saw all of the shows - basically one every hour - it worked out great. The girls had so much fun and we were ALL so fascinated by the animals and what they've been trained to do!


We saw the dolphin and whale show, then Pet's Ahoy! That was an awesome show done by mostly cats and dogs. The routine was hilarious and simply amazing how each animal played their part. I think nearly 50 animals were used in that show.

Then we saw Shamu and his whale friends. I wasn't too impressed with their show. We decided we liked the dolphins better because they flip around and such.

We all LOVED the sea lion and otter show....Clyde and Seamore. It was hilarious and the sea lions are really active and funny too!!

We were excited for the "Polar Express" ride, but you had to be 42 inches tall, so we got to walk it, rather than take the train. Oh well. Andie was a little bummed, Ali and Adalyn knew no difference. The girls have come to love the movie and have watched it many times this month.

Next we got to watch the Sesame Street Christmas Show. This was definitely the favorite of the girls. They were giggling and laughing and singing right along to the Christmas carols. It was great!! It's so fun to see your kids SO happy!!

The night ended watching an ice skating show. It was also very entertaining and fun to see.

We went to other shows and saw other things, but I decided to try and cut back on the many pictures. Maybe once I get all my posts done, I will do a slide show of all the pictures from our trip.

We sure had a great time and really enjoyed Sea World. Great memories!!

Andie turns 4!!!!

Believe it or not - my little girl is growing up!! I deny it fully! It has been the talk of the town (well, household) for at least 6 months now. "I'm going to be FOUR!!!" So, naturally, we tried to do what any set of parents might do - we made her big day as special as we could!

I even decorated a chair, just for her - and of course...

EVERYTHING was wrapped up in PINK!!

Boy oh boy - did we hit it right!! Look at the smile on her face. And she absolutely LOVED the streamers and balloons on the ceiling fan!

She picked out her own birthday breakfast. Waffles from the freezer and "Smiley" juice

Present Time

She was excited for everything....

....and so were her little sisters!!

She got new shoes from Grandma T - and of course had to wear them from the get go. (We didn't even get a chance to take off the bands - she just wanted them on!) Thanks Grandma T!!! (and Grandpa too!)

The big gift, was a "laptop" from Mom and Dad. She loves it - but I think Ali loves it just a little bit more. It teaches letters, phonics, games, music and more. They have had a good time with it so far!

Sporting her new birthday outfit from Grandma and Grandpa! Thanks again!

Of course - we had to get picture with the "birthday" chair. She really thought that was the coolest thing and was so sad when I had taken everything off 2 days later.

We had a RS Service Auction in November and I won a decorate cake. So - I had her make the cake for Andie's Birthday! It was perfect!! Thanks Sara! (They are actually Andie's primary teachers as well - so Andie thought it was extra special!!")

She loved the butterflies!

We invited a few neighbors over for a Wii Mariokart tournament against Andie. She sure loved playing with them. We had dinner, cake and ice cream and a really fun day! Thanks also to Grandma and Grandpa Broderick for her new coloring books and crayons and Grandma Nicholls for her birthday money! She chose to get chicken nuggets on our trip to Florida!!

We sure appreciate all of the support to help Andie have a great birthday!! She is such a wonderful daughter - a great big sister and a wonderful friend! We sure love you Andie!!