We're havin' us a weddin'!

Tonight, Kyla and I were witness to one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. I knew it would be good when Damon announced that he and Allie would be getting married, but I didn't know the treat we were in for once the "wedding" actually happened.

Damon and Allie changed into their wedding attire. Allie faced a problem I'm sure we all had to deal with on our own wedding day--the purple dress she had wanted to wear was giving off a "uriney" smell, and she had to go with her second choice, her beautiful blue dancing dress. She wiped some of the spaghetti sauce off her face, and put flowers behind her ear so she could look "beautifuller and beautifuller." Damon talked her into wearing sandals, as she had decided to go barefoot after only one of her pink sparkly flip flops was located. She picked several flowers from grandma's garden (don't tell!) for a bouquet and waited for instructions on how to proceed.

Damon chose to wear a long-sleeved blue shirt and blue pants, and was mildly frustrated when he learned that his ties had been left in St. George. He managed to get over it, though, and excitedly put on his own belt, socks and shoes. He was heard to say, "I love marriages!" I hope he feels the same 20 years from now. He was ready well before Allie was (imagine that!). I was shown to my seat, camera in hand, anxious to see what the "wedding" would entail.

Then, the fun started. Because I had been deemed photographer, there was no one to act as minister (or justice of the peace, or whatever they were going for). I gave minimal direction, but most of this was straight from their imagination.

Damon waited for his bride

She came down the aisle

They faced each other

They told each other they loved each other and kissed

They hugged

They kissed again

They held hands and walked past me

And that was that. I wiped tears from my eyes (from all the quiet laughing I had been doing), and thanked them for letting me be a part of that. Damon assured me that they were "really married" and then they proved it by fighting with his new "bride" only minutes later.

Reunited!

We're back together. Our family, that is. We were reunited on July 3, and my body celebrated my contracted pink eye. I'm sure Jeff found that very attractive, as I could barely open my eye, and when I did, it oozed and watered continuously. But a quick course of antibiotic eye drops cleared it right up, and I only had to endure three days of wearing Jeff's glasses (explanation: we have the same prescription in one eye and the other eye is pretty close. Neither of us have gotten a new pair of backup glasses in at least four years and mine were broken beyond repair. Jeff's are missing one arm, which I taped back on with masking tape.). It was a good look. But I'm glad to be through with it.

Damon got to do something he had been dying to do since he learned it was a possibility: he hiked the Y. Jeff said he did great, and even asked to do it again when they got to the bottom. I love that he is old enough to do fun things with his daddy, and I'm sure it made Jeff happy, too.

They are on the Y--that's not snow.

Jeff started his first day as an orthodontist yesterday. I am so proud of him, I can't even begin to describe the feelings I have inside. He has been in school since we met nine years ago (minus one year when he worked for his brothers making teeth models, and made a whopping $12,000. All year.), and has finally come to the end of his education. Now things get real. And real scary. The stakes are higher now, as he gets ready to buy an ortho practice (his plan is to buy the Provo office from his brother in two years), as we start the process of looking for the house we will raise our kids in, and student loans start coming due. It makes me a little sick inside when I think about all the money that entails. But I am optomistic that we will be alright. It's probably a good thing that we are both nervous. Hopefully that will help us be smart and careful in our decisions.

It's great to be back together, and back in our own space. We even have internet down here in the basement, which will make life so much easier. I am itching to get a library card, but the one piece of "official mail" that I got has disappeared and I don't know if I can get one without something else coming. Hopefully that will be soon. I'll have more later (including Damon's sixth birthday) when I get some pics from the Esplin fam.

It's good to be back!

Summer Heat

After a whirlwind trip to Temecula, CA for my uncle's wedding, we're all back home and safe in Utah. Including Jeff, who made it to Springville today. After we celebrate Damon's birthday tomorrow, we will head back home and be reunited for the first time in months!

Here are a few shots of the kids at the wedding (which I must admit, was beautiful and the place to get married if you're not going to the temple).

Damon was infatuated with the butterflies. We were handed boxes with live butterflies inside and released them at the end of the ceremony. Many of the butterflies were reluctant to fly away and Damon couldn't let them out of his sight.

Allie was infatuated with the flowers. And the leggings. Hard to tell, but they are there under the dress.

Kyla was infatuated with the food, but we didn't get any shots of that. This was a cute one of her with grandpa.

I found the pics from Jacksonville. They show exactly how Kyla has become. She is NOT going to be pushed around (she enjoys telling all of us "no no"), and she's NOT going to be distracted from what she wants. She and Tyson fought over this dump truck and neither one was backing down. Like all good parents, we stood back, laughing at them.

And one more random shot of the kids, enjoying the heat.

Apparel

I was telling my mom the other day that I have chosen not to fight with Allie (much) about what she chooses to wear. If I did, we would be fighting every day.

Allie has a few choice things that she likes to wear. Everything else, she doesn't care for much, but tolerates if she is in a good mood. If she's not, it's tears, tears, and more tears. Here are a few of her favorite outfits.

1. Her favorite jammies: the ice cream ones. She would wear these every night if they were clean. Unfortunately for her, she sometimes doesn't make it through the night dry and doesn't get to wear them nearly as much as she'd like. This was taken one morning when we spotted a hot air balloon on the horizon and watched it land a few hundred yards from us.

2. Her dancing outfits. You already saw the purple one in an earlier post, and I realized we haven't gotten a good picture of her in her new blue one (thanks Daisy and Romy!), but here she is wearing it (the kids were watching a show on the littlest tv in the house). She also wore it when we went to Cafe Rio a few nights ago. Like I said, I'm not willing to fight it.

3. Her Leggings. She has two pair of these and will change into them when she gets tired of dancing. One day Kimmy and Heidi helped her get all done up with curly hair and accessories. She did look cute.

For those of you who have boys and girls, it will come as no surprise to you that Damon has worn nothing but a swimsuit since swimming lessons started last week. It's either the orange one or the white one every day. All day. Which is why he doesn't have a shirt on in the picture with the kids or this one with Malakai.

Beach Friday

It's hard to break tradition. We have gone to the beach on Friday as often as we could. So even though we were in St. George, we tried to continue our tradition. We loaded the whole crew (my sis, her twins, another sis, two cousins, my bro and my three kids) and headed to Sand Hollow Reservoir today.

It wasn't the Atlantic Ocean, but it was still fun.

This was our setup. Everyone else there had a canopy. We had an umbrella, and it was missing the bottom pole. If you look closely, you can see Allie lying under it. She had a bit of a struggle at first. She had left her swimsuit at Subway and we didn't realize it until we got to the "beach," and she was left with some unfavorable choices: she could either get in the ocean in her leggings and shirt or take them off and get in in her undies. She hated both options. So, she cried. And cried. And CRIED.

Finally, Kimmy convinced her to put on a tanktop and get into the water. After that, we had a different Allie. A fun Allie. She even sat by me and posed for a picture with the other kids.

Damon spent most of his time hauling rocks out of the water into a big pile (and then made a firepit out of them). I was especially impressed with this big rock. It took him quite a while to get it across the sand, but he was awfully excited about his accomplishment.

Kyla loved it most of all. She is such a water baby, and has stopped eating sand, which makes her diaper changers very happy. She sported a faux hawk long enough for me to get a few pics.

I didn't put her in a swim diaper. Those things are precious! I was willing to risk infecting everyone with crypto and kept her in her regular diaper. She decided to impersonate J-Lo and we all thought she did a fantastic job.

You can imagine how sandy we all were, so we stopped at the bathroom on our way out to rinse off. I loved this picture of Kyla as she sat in the sink with Allie.

We all had a good time. I do miss Florida, but since we are now Utah residents, we will have to learn to make do.

Mom's Gone?

Six weeks is too long to go without seeing your husband. Right? I found a way to get back to Jacksonville for one last visit and only had to make minor sacrifices to get there (red eye flights, Kyla on my lap, arms about to fall off from hauling Chunky plus car seat through three different airports...). It was such a great visit. I took two pictures before the batteries in my camera died, so I will post those later. But I found these pics on my mom's of the fun that happened here.

I left Damon in Tara's care. When I told him, he said to Allie, "Tara is the best." He has always loved her (maybe more than he loves me). Tara told him he didn't have to go to bed at 9:00 (our bargain for the summer, provided he doesn't wake up until 8:00 am) while I was gone, and he said, "That's what I'm talking about!" He had a great time with her. He has been on an artwork kick lately and plastered the fridge with his recent creations.

He also was very sweet with Maddux and Malakai (most of the time, from what I hear). He got to go to chemo with my mom and was much nicer to everyone after that personal attention.

Allie stayed with Heather (a tough job, I know), and only annoyed her occasionally with her constant chatter. She showed off her tricks...

...and got her toenails painted again by our good friend, Holly. She was so excited.

They didn't seem to miss me at all. And honestly, I didn't really miss them much, either. It must be because I knew they were in good hands and I didn't have to worry about them. Probably not because I'm not a good mom. Right?

Do we really have to eat?

Here's what's on my mind this morning:

As soon as my kids wake up in the morning, and make their way bleary-eyed into my room, they want to eat. Kyla starts signing "eat" or "milk" the instant I get her out of bed. Allie, who rarely wakes up happy, is asking for a bowl of cereal and a drink of milk. And Damon, who is usually far more patient than the other two, is not usually far behind. Feeding my kids is a full time job. And it's one I disdain.

Allie, who claims to be starving, will routinely take between 6 and 8 bites of her cereal before deciding she's done. She'll spill her milk as she tries to get down from the table and halr-heartedly clean it up. About 30 minutes later, she will return to the kitchen, hungry again (what? 6 bites of Cheerios isn't going to get you through until lunch?), and will ask for another kind of cereal. I will remind her that she is more than welcome to have something else to eat. Provided she finishes her (now soggy) Cheerios first. Nearly every day we follow this little script, and at this point, Allie will do one of three things:

1. Throw a fit and come up with an excuse why she can't finish it (today it was, "I'm really getting sick of it.")
2. Throw a fit and refuse, resulting in a very sad and miserable girl until lunch.
3. Throw a fit and finally choke the soggy cereal down, resulting in a second bowl for her.

Fun, huh? Kyla will sit in her high chair eating all day long. And when she finally gets sick of something, she'll just toss it on the floor and go back to signing "milk" and "eat." All day long.

Damon appears to have learned a lot from Allie's morning ritual. He skips most of the drama. But he still wants to eat.

It's not long after breakfast ends, the dishes are cleared, the kitchen cleaned, when it's time to start again for lunch. Some days I give in and let them have peanut butter sandwiches. But most of the time I encourage them to "broaden their horizons" and let their body try something else. This usually is met with some more whining and/or impatience, but eventually we make it through lunch, and get it cleaned up. Kyla still sits in her high chair, eating.

Then before I even blink, it's snack time. I scour the cupboards for something healthy to go along with the crackers they demand, and after seconds and sometimes thirds, I finally convince them to stop eating so they will be able to eat dinner.

Dinner is either eaten quickly and very well (depending on what it is and how many crackers I've actually let them eat), or filled again with complaining. "This makes me sick," is something Allie has been known to say often when she doesn't like the meal I have prepared. I remind the children that they can choose not to eat, but that often times that choice means they will be hungry until breakfast. It's not often that they choose this, but it definitely does happen. If there is dessert involved, dinner seems to go over much better. Most of the time, though, it is a fight I am tired of fighting.

Can't we just stop eating for a while? Is that too much to ask? I think the planning, preparation, eating, and cleaning up of meals is one of my least favorite things about being a mother. I propose that we do away with lunch. Breakfast and dinner should be enough. And then I wouldn't feel like I am a slave to the kitchen.

Good ole SG

I haven't lived at home for an extended period of time for ten years. But some things never change. Here's how I know I'm home:

1. My dad saying, "just one more thing and I'll be finished" at FHE. I can't tell you how many times I have heard this in my life. It didn't take long to learn that "one more thing" usually means about 10 more minutes. Allie actually fell asleep during FHE this week. Not that the lesson was boring (it wasn't), but it was probably a lot longer than she's used to.



2. "Sunday music" playing every day of the week. Another thing we all are used to, but my kids have made many comments about it. Usually it's "Turn that off, it's not Sunday."



3. You can see the heat coming off the asphalt, and if you stay outside too long, you feel like you're baking (still better than the feeling of melting I experienced in Florida). Also, the nights cool off and it feels so delicious in the evenings, I wish the sun would never go down.



4. Buffy (our sheltie) still chases rocks (although she does tire out more easily than she used to). She was shaved recently (not because everyone else was shaved to show support for my mom, but because she had a skin infection that required it), so looks a little different, but she's the same old girl we've had since I was in high school.

5. The trampoline is still in the front yard; the park is still in the back. I have more memories than I can possibly write about the park (climbing up on the basketball hoop to tape a square on the backboard, having a snowball fight in high school the one day school got cancelled due to snow (ice, really), several movie nights with dates, night games (pump), rollerblading...the list goes on and on), but it is the one reason my parents will never move. Plus, my mom has a view of the temple from her kitchen window and she doesn't even have to sneak out at night to cut branches of the trees that block the view anymore.

6. My family still loves ice cream. We heard Blue Bunny was having a 50% off sale today and my mom came home with two tubs of ice cream. Three gallons each. That should last us through the week...

I really have enjoyed being home. It's fun to relive old memories while watching my kids make memories of their own. I am anxious to visit Jeff next week, but I have been far less "homesick" than I thought I would be. And that's probably because, in a small way, I feel like I am home.

A few pics from NYC

"The loving mother holds her daughter's head toward the camera." I don't even remember doing this, but judging by Kyla's interest, I think something must have happened right before this. We did enjoy some yummy hot dogs and chicken kabobs from this lovely vendor.

"The kids try to blend into the crowd by acting like they know what they're doing on the subway." Safe to say everyone knew we were tourists.

"Wow, that's a tall building. And a boy who needs a haircut." Damon in front of the ESB. Our best layover ever...

Gettin' here

I know it is well past time I posted the events that led to our missing our flight to Utah, but for the sake of record keeping, here goes:

The morning we were supposed to fly to Utah, my aunt and I had the incredibly daunting task of cleaning the house in preparation for the big move. My cousin was there to help with the kids (and Julie was around the corner when we needed a little extra help) and we started the process around 9:00 am. At 3:00 pm we had finished and, exhausted, left for the airport. We had 8 bags and two car seats to check, a few carry-on bags and pillows, and three small children in tow. We arrived about an hour before our flight was scheduled to leave, not super early, but not necessarily late either. We parked in short term parking (my FIL was flying into Jax to close on the house and would be driving our van to meet Jeff a few hours later), and hauled our load into the airport.

That's when things started going wrong. One of the bags had a broken wheel and was very tricky to roll. The computer at check-in wasn't working right and refused to print the correct labels for our luggage (we were there a good thirty minutes and we didn't even wait in line). The line for security was much longer than it looked. The milk we had bought to go with the Cinnabon had to be put into small, 3 oz containers, so it could pass. And the three kids were slowing us down, too. My aunt started realizing that we weren't going to make it and tried to cut in line, so at the very least she could run down to the gate to let them know we were on our way. She did manage to get a tiny bit ahead of us, although she had my boarding pass instead of hers and had to come back to switch with me.

I started pouring the mouthfuls of milk in each small container into my kids mouths, knowing that any small amount of liquid was going to slow us down, and got the boarding passes wet. We got stopped at security and Damon's bag was searched, revealing three illegal items (play-doh in containers larger than 3 oz). I apologized, not realizing that play-doh was either a liquid or a gel and we all got our shoes back on. At this point, I saw my aunt running back toward us, obviously stressed. She said, "You have got to run!"

I was carrying my purse, Kyla and one large car seat. Damon was dragging his (now play-doh free) bag, Heidi (my cousin) was carrying our mound of pillows, and Allie was slowing us all down by trying to walk by herself. So, our entire party started running. And Allie's shoe fell off, at which point she refused to run without it on. I looked back to see Heidi trying to pick her up, the pillows falling from her arms. My own arms burning, I turned around and ran back to help, taking the pillows myself. We ran for what seemed like ages, finally making it to our gate. And although the plane was there, the door was closed. And they wouldn't open it for us.

Long story short, we were flying stand-by and legally they couldn't wait for us. So, after some heated words passed and tears were shed (by my aunt and Damon, respectively), we rescheduled our flight for the next day. We met up with my FIL, who had arrived, and rode back to Jacksonville, just as we should've been heading to Utah.

We left the next morning, where we turned a 6-hour layover in New York into an afternoon on the subway, and a couple hours walking around Times Square and the Empire State Building. It actually was very enjoyable. And by our night flight to Utah, we were all tired enough to sleep for a good portion of it. Phew. What a trip.

We are glad to be here, and even happier to be spending time in St. George. After some random bad weather nearly chased me back to Florida, it is now incredibly nice in Utah. And my kids are loving the trampoline, the park in the backyard and the fun that just never stops. Allie found this dress at her cousin's house one day (the ones we live next door to in Springville) and she has probably worn it at least three times a week since. I've gotten used to seeing her in it, actually, and am a little surprised at the reaction she gets from other people.

Kyla is practicing her walking, but only when she wants to. She's been a little sad lately, and there have been numerous "diarrhea incidents." For your sake, I won't go into them here, although Heather has one pic on her camera that I may have to post.

I realize that I don't have any pics of Damon or of his recent haircut ("my grandma has cancer" is what he'll tell you when someone notices it), but here is one he took of us girls. No one mourns the wicked! I love this hand me down shirt!

One is the loneliest number

Wow, a quiet moment alone. With internet access. Is it Christmas? This is the best gift I've had in a while. Life for me lately has been anything but quiet. And I don't know if I'll ever get caught up remembering it all.

Let's start with my favorite little girl. Kyla turned one on Saturday. Seriously? My baby is one? When babies turn one it's time to start thinking about another one. That was a quick year. I taught Kyla a few signs, like I did with my other kids. I thought it was so cute how she signed "eat" 800 times a day. It was especially cute when she added a "please" to that. It's not cute anymore. Especially because she's decided that she prefers eating treats and drinking soda pop. Did I mention that I haven't been cooking lately? With my mom's birthday party, Memorial Day and Kyla's birthday, there have been many opportunities for my suddenly communicative child to weasel sugar in all its forms from everyone (including me). It's time to crack down. Just because she looks so cute with frosting all over her face is no reason to let her live on cupcakes.

In addition to her devasatingly adorable talent of eating all day long, she has also finally decided she would like to enter the world of the walkers. Although she started taking steps well over a month ago, she has been slow to give up crawling. Watching her, I have noticed what a cautious little person she has turned into. It's good (for instance, she has learned to go up and down stairs with only minor falls), but it's also bad (she will get excited about walking, take a few steps, fall, and melt down). I love watching her learn to walk. It doesn't get old seeing her let go and venture out across the room. Apparently, it doesn't get old for my other kids, either, as they always seem so surprised that she is standing on her own or walking toward them.

After that last picture, I'm sure the line from Friends was running through your mind. "The camera adds ten pounds." "How many cameras were actually ON you?" No, Kyla is not as chubby as she appears in her "sugar stupor." She really looks more like the picture above.

I was telling my mom and Tara tonight that Kyla has been my favorite baby. She is the baby you would pick out of a catalog if you could choose (wouldn't that be nice!); she's cuddly, she's sweet, she's happy, she's calm, she's excited about life, she's loving, and she's mine. I want to go in and pinch her cheeks while she's sleeping, just because I can. I can't believe how much I love her. And the fact that she's one now is making me a little sad. Maybe it IS time for another one (don't get carried away by that statement--I'm husband deprived.:)

Failure

Still no internet in basement. We're working on that (hoping that the wireless connection from upstairs will reach, thus saving us even more money that we can add to the "house fund."). Jeff is here for the week. He had a conference in Denver over the weekend and already had this trip to Utah planned months ago. It's so nice to have him here. What am I going to do without him for a whole month (I'll tell you one thing I'll do, and that's lay off the chick flicks and romance novels, ha!).

I took a quick trip to St. George last week to surprise my mom. It was her 50th birthday and even though she didn't feel like celebrating, everyone wanted to show their love for her. Seriously, can anyone be more loved than my mom? I doubt it. Check out her blog for details and a seriously awesome pic of Kyla scarfing down some cake. I had a great time with the family and can't wait to be with them again soon.

I nearly failed as a parent this week. Honestly, there are only a few things that parents need to do not to fail their children. Besides the basic things like feed, clothe, shelter, you should provide a good example for them to follow, teach them to love God and never break a promise to them. Oh, and don't forget to leave them money from the tooth fairy. That's the one that got me. Damon lost two teeth this week after months of claiming that they were loose.

The first one was no big deal, I still had a dollar left in my wallet. But the second one took me by surprise. It was Sunday when it popped out and I kept putting off thinking about what I would do once he was asleep, knowing full well that I had already given him my last dollar only a couple nights before. Secretly I hoped that he would forget to put it under his pillow so I could have another day to come up with some money. But he remembered. And I forgot. I woke up at 5:00 am with only one thought on my mind. CRAP! I grabbed my wallet and searched through it, hoping a dollar had appeared while I slept (that can happen, right?). Nothing. I searched the coins and found four quarters (where did those come from?). I wrote a very quick note from the tooth fairy and sneaked into his room. Phew. Catastrophe avoided. But when I saw the note I had written a few hours later, I had to laugh. It was obvious I was half asleep and writing in the dark. At least Damon didn't act suspiscous. And for now, I still haven't failed him as a parent.

Pros/Cons

We still have no internet downstairs so I am sneaking a few moments of computer time upstairs in the "forbidden zone" (forbidden to my kids, not to me) while my in-laws are at the MTC. The kids are supposedly in bed, but I hear all THREE of them crying (Kyla was asleep...guess that is over). I will eventually get to all the stuff I have been thinking about, but here is a quick list of pros and cons of being here in Utah.

Pros:

• My towel is dry in the morning. Wow, I forgot that actually happened!
• My hair dries in minutes, and doesn't have that horrible frizz I have become accustomed to.
• Prime time tv starts at 7:00 and I can go to bed at 10:00. Plus, all the games are on much earlier (which I'm sure not a lot of you care about).
• The grass here is awesome! Two years of living with St. Augustine crap grass have made me appreciate the great lawns in Utah.
• My kids have no shortage of playmates. Three cousins live next door and a ton of kids live in the neighborhood. Jeff called it "instafriends."
• I haven't had to cook yet. Jeff's mom and sister are taking care of me like I'm still on vacation. I don't complain.
• Our bedroom is huge--the enormous king size bed doesn't even factor in to the amount of space I have left over.

Cons:

• Isn't is supposed to be spring? It's freezing here! I mistakenly packed mostly summer clothes and we had to scrounge around to find some warm things to wear. The basement here is also really cold and we've had to crank the heat, which has made my MIL too hot!
• No internet, no satellite service, no high definition...we'll get around to it when Jeff comes back next week, but for now it's not a lot of fun.
• We're still adjusting to the time change and the days seem extra long with those extra two hours. Plus, since I haven't been cooking, I've been a little bored. Oh, and I don't have a library card yet. I need to have something mailed to me in my name...
• That big bed I talked about earlier is only filled by one person--me. I am glad I'll see Jeff again next week, but after that, it may be another month (or a little longer) before I see him again. That makes me sad.
• 
  BUT we're surviving. Life is good. It's good to be close to family. I miss my friends back in Jax, but hopefully I'll be able to come out next month (still working on that).

And now back to the crying kids...

Everything you own in a box to the left

We made it to Utah. It was no easy feat. Details to come later that include a missed flight, a six hour layover in NYC, a late night flight to Utah and Damon starting school less than 12 hours after landing.

Jeff may make it tonight with the moving truck, as long as the trailer doesn't break down again. Stay tuned...

Birthday Girl

Allie turned three yesterday. Not exactly great timing (with the move and all), but with her, that's nothing new.

Three years ago, on April 29th, Jeff and I were sitting in gliders at Babies R Us in Columbus while my mom watched Damon back at our condo. My doctor had offered to induce me that night when he got to the hospital (about midnight), but I told him I thought I would like to just go on my own. As Jeff and I sat there, rocking back and forth with no distractions, we both agreed that we were happy we weren't having the baby that night. We were tired.

A few hours later, my contractions started. Within 15 minutes they were a minute apart. It was just like a scene from a movie as I woke Jeff up, telling him it was time to go. We grabbed Damon from his bed and all loaded into the Honda. When we got to the hospital at 1:45 am I had only been in labor for an hour. And it was time to push. With no epidural. nfortunately, it took a little while for our friend to come pick Damon up and he witnessed a few things I wish he hadn't seen (questions like "is that poop?" only affirm that fact). At 2:45 am Allie was born. And it only took that long because she was facing up and I just couldn't push her out. It was not the greatest day of my life, and definitely not the best timing on her part.

So, April 29 (and 30th) shouldn't have been much different. Allie appeared in our room three times between 4:00 and 4:30 crying. I think she was celebrating her birth in her own (annoying) way. But we love her anyway.

Because of the move, she didn't get a birthday party. She didn't get a homemade cake. Instead, she got a store bought cake to share with some friends at the park. I don't think she minded.

Yum, frosting...


Cole, Allie, Katie Law, Heidi Fletcher

Parker, Sierra Craver, Luke Law

Mason, who was still grinning from his own piece of cake.

Kyla was having a reaction to the sunscreen I had put on her face (second time that has happened) and wasn't having too much fun. But she did enjoy the cake.

Here are a couple of pics from the other day. One thing I'm not going to miss about Florida are the snakes that seem to be everywhere. The black snake that lives between the outside wall of our house and the garage has gotten more bold and has been sunning itself often, and much closer to our front door. And when a neighbor boy came over with this snake he had caught, Damon and Allie couldn't resist getting a closer look.

Damon thought it would be fun to play in the laundry basket later that night.

Kyla showed off her new funny face (remember Damon doing this one, Tara?)

And then all the kids got in for some quality time together. I love this one.