CHAD IS FORTY!!!

Even though we did a trip for Chad's b day we still had to celebrate him! He got a few gifts and a cool new shirt!

I ordered a ton of Panda Express, invited some friends, made some brownies and held a party! He knew something was up but the panda was a surprise!! We had a good time with friends coming and going all evening!

He really wanted trifle so a few days later I made it for him and we celebrated him again!

Happy Birthday Chad! Can't believe we are here already in our lives. I'm so glad your mine for all eternity because for time would never be enough!! Thank you for the man you are for me and the dad you are for our kids. You mean so much to all of us. Everyone loves you the most! MUAH!
 

Football banquet

Carter is officially done with Rec Tackle Football! He's grown A TON this year and learned tough life lessons and perservered through them. It was a tough season for the whole team which gave him opportunities to step up and fill spots. His team made it to the championship and lost in OT. 

The coaches had a nice banquet and gave out nice gifts. Even though I didn't love them all, I appreciate the time they take from their own lives to teach my son. 

And behind all coaches are great women who do all the behind the scenes work. They were great and  appreciate them!

Love seeing these boys come together as a team. I hope for good things for them in the future! High school ball, here we come!

 

Last Day -Tampa Zoo & Aquarium

We woke up to delayed flights so we went to check out the aquarium. It was nice and fun. A good way to waste some time. 

We got to touch the tops of some jelly fish. Super cool. 

As we walked out of the aquarium ready to head to the airport, we learned our flights were delayed again a few hours. We had more time to kill! So we went to the zoo. And this was AMAZING! 

We couldn't believe how many of the attractions had no cage around them. Like the tiger....there was a big barrier between us but nothing really keeping him in...weird! But cool!

Same with the monkeys.....won't they escape? I guess not! Some of the monkeys I think wanted to eat Mollie. They were watching her like crazy and would follow her. It was funny!

Check out the size of gorilla's hands!

We ate burgers here before heading to the airport and they were SO good! We also discovered our new favorite aluminum cups! HAHA! We were so glad we went to this zoo because it was awesome. We wished we had more time to spend there. 

Carter has always wanted to go to Hard Rock Cafe but we never got to. In the airport he wanted a pic by the guitar. Still never got to eat there though!

Welcome back to UTAH! We missed our littles but were so grateful to get to spend time with our bigs and do something fun! We all had a blast and came away feeling relaxed and ready to get on with life and snuggle our girls! Can't wait til we can go back to FLORIDA!!!

 

Beach Day

Chad wanted a beach day where we could just stay there all day. We hoped to have a full day to just enjoy it but a hurricane was blowing in... what is it with our vacations crossing paths with hurricanes?! We tried to enjoy it but the wind was blowing sand so much we didn't stay long. I was so glad we got that evening at Siesta Key because it was perfect!

We signed up for a dolphin cruise that I was so excited for! I was sure we'd see jumping dolphins and that they'd laugh at us and it would be amazing! I was very much dissapointed! We boarded the ship and they took us out towards the ocean but really just circled around this dirty little bay. We saw a handful of dolphins backs as they came up for air for just a split second. I was very underwhelmed! I guess I've watched too many dolphin movies. Oh well!!! 

We passed this pirate ship and I was wishing we would have done the pirate ship tour! 

The kids and Chad played in the ocean .The waves were getting bigger and the wind was blowing harder but we tried to enjoy it!

Mol lived her best life finding treasures and I sat and put my feet in the sand. 

We did make a little castle with what we had on hand. 

The last night at our house we pulled out everything and tried to eat it all before we had to go home tomorrow. We didn't want to leave!

 With the hurricane coming, we were watching our flights because many were beginning to be canceled or postponed on the east coast of FL. Maybe we'd be stuck a few more days!?

Florida Day 3 & 4

Our house was just around the corner from the Buc's stadium. It was cool to see. There was even a game while we were there but it was super expensive to go 

Sunday we tried to keep low key. We had heard there were some hikes on Honeymoon Island and that it was awesome so we went to check it out. A hike on an island! What could go wrong?! 

We paid to get on the island and we were running off as quick as we could! We found a hike and started it. It was pretty....but it was hot and humid. Then the BUGS came out. OH. MY. HECK! I've never seen so many mosquitos IN MY LIFE! It was a NIGHTMARE! I think i came out of that hike with 30 bites on my body! I was dying and swelling up and getting so itchy! We had to walk in a line and kill bugs on each other to avoid getting more bites! We ran away from that hike QUICK!

We checked out the beach and it was full of fisherman and REEKED of dead fish. The wind came up and it wasn't where I wanted to eat lunch. We looked and looked for a place to have our picnic and finally found a spot by the dog area. We quickly ate lunch and got off that island immediately! Not a fun morning! I ran to Walgreens to buy some bug bite relief and I used it every few hours! Luckily, the mosquito bites magically disappeared but I had also gotten chigger bites!!! Whether they were at the house on the deck or on the hike, I still don't know. But they were the WORST WORST PAINFUL bites I've ever had! I had to wake up at night to put ice on them, take medicine and try not to scream because I wanted to scratch SO BAD! UGH! 

To try to distract myself, we went into a Dolphin Rehab center where Winter, the dolphin, from the movie Dolphin Tale was rehabbed. Mollie had watched this movie over and over and was so excited to know the story and be familiar with the area. It was so neat to see all the things they can do to rehab these beautiful animals! We were just in time for a little dolphin show. Its so fun to watch them flip and talk. 

We then went to a VR thing in the place and it was fun. Reminded me of Soarin' at Disneyland. 

The next morning I was still dying and so I went to walgreens for benedryl. On the way out a weird guy handed this to Chad and asked us to pay him to finish it. .....CAN YOU SAY CREEPY?! He just drew us while we were checking out. He was watching us! Soooo weird. But kinda cool too. We've never had a self portrait...although I think Chad looks like a serial killer with those glasses!

The next day was BUSCH GARDENS! We've been watching YouTube movies to watch all the rides at his park. THEY ARE WILD! We had so much fun going from ride to ride! Again, the park was not full at all and wait times were non existent! I applied medicine between every ride nearly and it got me through. I was able to enjoy the day!

Loved the Christmas tree with all the animal print ornaments! So fun!

Cheetah hunt was such a fun coaster!!!

I captured M's face after one of the rides...or maybe before...i'm not sure. But this one was freaky and her face describes it well!!!!!

Busch Gardens is like a zoo and theme park in one. There were so many fun animals to check out as we walked to the next ride. 

 

Apparently Sesame Street is affiliated with this park. I was taking this picture through the trees and a lizard dropped down right in front of me!! 

We were so happy to find a chick Fil A in the park! I almost died when it cost us nearly $100  for the 4 of us to have a sandwich, fries and drinks! OY!!We got pretty wet on this ride! 

We stayed till close and  had soo sooo much fun together! Carter and Mol were great and enjoyed every ride right along with us. It's so nice to get away and  be able to just have fun with them and not nag them about chores or homework!

Until next time BG! I know we'll be back!!!!!