state of sunshine...resumed

we hung out at the, newly renovated, haines city park. it is really nice with 2 huge playgrounds, a little beach, tennis & basketball courts and a nice trail that goes around the lake. it is most certainly the pride and joy of haines city and much different from the place i grew up on.

 ["manny said my gorgeous." -elly. she calls weston manny. that's a big word for a little boy who's not really talking.;)]

 [the lake i used to swim and jet ski in all the time.]

["oh, i'll never get over my disappointment of not being a boy!"]

[where all the cool kids go in the fL mall.;)]

 [madden loves to go outside and pick oranges and then count them over and over again. it's the best thing about this time of year in fL. we are a little addicted to oj at the moment.=)]

 [a typical looking polk county road only this one is special....;)]

now we are back and i must fight through my withdrawals of sugar and publix.;) 

state of sunshine

we left for florida a couple days after christmas and didn't stay long enough.=( it went by so fast even though it was a pretty low key trip. almost everyone was still there from christmas (missed you sitakes and nate & comfort!) so we really just hung out and relaxed, played and overate. my dad and i took the boys to disney which was fun because that was their first time going with papa and his first time going in who knows how long, since before splash mountain was there is all i can tell you. thank you mom and dad for the boys christmas present (i fear when they are old enough to fly alone i may be left out.;)). it's always nice to go home and forget that i'm grown with things i should be worrying about.=)

[boys running to chacha at the airport. "so now i come to you with open arms...";)]

[my little brother man, wes.]

 ["grandma, do you never get angry??" -mad=)]

 [elly jo & addy jo--the jo sisters (who are really cousins;)]

 [the happiest baby in the whole wide world.<3]

 [the craziest baby in the whole wide world! he looks so much like mine at that age with those blonde curls. breaks my heart.]

[oh, marmie!=)]

[elle hanging out with girls on a sunday watching little women and all the other old movies.]

[tay's parents rented a bounce house and invited us to come jump.]

 [i like your shirt chach. it's a shame that some girls got to go shopping with mom lots while other, prettier girls, only got to go once.;)]

 [disney day]

[grandpa took mad on the tower of terror. i would have bought the pic since i'm sure it will not happen again anytime soon but some lady's hand was completely covering madden's face.]

 [we stopped by the lego store in downtown disney. max is beyond excited for the new legoland to open this fall practically down the street from grandma and papa's house.]

love and joy

i know this is way over due, but we have had a busy and exciting couple of weeks.  it all started a few days before christmas.....
we did the traditional stroll through temple square to see the lights followed by some chicken & waffles at bayleaf cafe.

christmas eve we headed up to heber for the pitts' christmas party. we opened gifts, laughed with the family and had some delicious food. plus we saw 2 moose on the way up and that always puts me in a cheerful mood.=)

{sorels from grandma and grandpa!}

{love my cookware! thanks mom and dad!!}

later that night, we read christmas stories to the boys, put out treats for santa and his reindeer and tucked the little ones tightly in bed so that santa could finish everything she needed to do. she eventually got it all done around 4:30am. thankfully my boys are not early risers.=)

{santa felt like peppermint cupcakes...i was just sure of it.;)}

{leaving the carrots out for the reindeer.}

{addy jo's precious christmas card.<3}

we can all pretty much guess how christmas morning went down....

{max and mad loved their gift from skye and sadie.}

{madden's favorite gift from santa was his donkey kong wii game.}

{max loved his space police lego set and his science kits. "why would santa just give us our own suitcases??" -max. hmmm??;)}

{yes, we still play the super nintendo left over from my childhood.=)}

{the boy loves his jerky!}

{then came the big surprise gift from grandma and papa.....a trip to fL!!  the boys were very excited, although you can't tell by mad's face here.}

also leading up to christmas was.....

 {madden's christmas program for preschool that he was very non-participatory in. punk.;)}

 {max's gingerbread house making and polar express days at school.}

{christmas movies morning.=)}

{and lots of loving.<3}