Brielles' Painting & Pastries birthday

Brielle's 9th birthday was approaching and I noticed The Little Mermaid was playing at the Hale Center Theater. I thought it would be fun to take her and my mom offered to buy her ticket as her gift. I told her yes if she would come along! And she did! We surprised her and picked her up from school and took her to see it. 

It was so fun to just be the three of us and get to focus on Bri all afternoon. 

It's such a good show!! I can't wait to go back! ( I ruined a gift Chad was getting me for Christmas by buying my own ticket to go with Brielle!) But seriously its so good, I was happy to see it again!

Her birthday came and she had a new scooter waiting for her in the morning!

She requested cinnamon rolls for breakfast. 

We had her party on her actual birthday and she wanted a 'painting and pastries' theme. It turned out really cute! She invited new friends from her new school and old friends from our old school and neighborhood. 

I was worried what we'd find to have pastries but I soon realized there were tons of mini options and had fun picking out many. These little donuts were the star of the show and ended up being her birthday cake!

We painted first so they could be drying, then played some art games. Here, they are sculpting with clay. 

These are their paintings that were fun to do. Lots of creativity. 

 Happy Birthday Brielle! You continue to be so sweet and happy and I hope you will always be this way. You are my biggest helper and always so thoughtful. Thank you for bringing so much light with you into this world in the middle of December! Love you girly!

December things

As we gear up for this busy holiday, I wanted that we got to the temple early. The kids have made it to the temple every month this year and I'm so proud of them. 

Our ward always has our Christmas party early, which is nice. It was simple and touching and I was happy to not be in charge of it. 

We hit up the Santa parade. 

And did lots of shopping in preparation. 

We got our tree set up...twice....bought a new one and it didn't work so we undecorated it and took it back for another one. Then re-decorated it! There were so many lights on it! Even Jilly loved laying by it!

Got a new do!

And Carter started a job!! He contacted the owner all on his own, who is in our ward, set up an interview and told me he was going to start working! Ok then! Can't stop determination!

Looking forward to the season and the happiness it brings!
 

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!?