i need my florida sunshine!

My mom and I were driving home from Salt Lake where we had been at the scrapbooking expo (it was a blast!) On the way home, I took this picture out the car window...of the snow! Needless to say, I was not too excited; but I am excited to go back to Florida and enjoy the next seven months of amazing weather.

the big twisty slide

On Wednesday, the boys and I went to a park to meet a good friend from when we lived in Wymount, Whitney, and her three adorable kids. Kade and Ky loved the swings and the slides. They were so excited when they discovered the big twisty slide at the very top, and even more excited when they discovered they could go down it. I can't believe my babies can climb to the top and go down the big twisty slide all by themselves!

Gavin & Braden

Ky & Braden

Calyn & Whitney--I was so excited that Calyn finally woke up just as we were leaving so I could see how adorable she is!

Life as a bachelor

Ashli and the boys have now been in Utah for over two weeks. Please come home!!! Life as a bachelor was fun for about three days... since then I've been falling apart. I'm ready to have my family back. These last few weeks of "being single" again have made me realize a few things that I'd like to share:

- Ashli must do dishes all the time ... they piled up on me pretty fast!
- Eating whatever I want, whenever I want ... probably isn't that healthy for me.
- I need someone to tell me to go to bed at night.
- Are my neighbors that noisey, or is it just that quiet in our apartment now?
- Growing out my beard was fun ... for about a week and then I had to shave that sucker off. It was too itchy!

- Coming home to an empty house is pretty sad when you're used to Kade and Ky shouting, "Daddy!".
- Watching college football isn't the same with out my family ... although the USF v. West Virginia game Friday night was pretty exciting. I wish Ashli could have been there with me!
-Sleeping without Ashli is pretty much a lost cause.
- There is a different spirit in our house when we are together as a family. I miss that.

Can't wait to see you. Please come home safe and sound. By the way Kade, I am already interviewing golf instructors. Butch Harmon is available now that he is not coaching Tiger.

zoo day!

Last Tuesday, Kade, Ky, Grandma and I went to the Hogle Zoo. It brought back a lot of memories of going there when I was young (although they have fixed it up a lot since I was there last). The boys had such a good time, and it was fun watching them name all the animals. At almost every exhibit, they would point to the animals and say, "Hold you, hold you" or, "hug, hug." They were disappointed when we told them that it wouldn't be a good idea to hug what they thought was a nice, big, teddy bear.

But they were most disappointed when, no matter how hard they pulled on the fence, the zebras were "stuck!"

They loved to watch the zookeepers feed the elephants lots and lots of bananas.

We got to see this really cool, rare, white alligator. When we got to the exhibit with the other alligators, both the boys started doing the gator chomp. Then Ky lifted both hands above his head and said, "Touchdown!" They are such Gator fans that even the real alligators at the zoo remind them of football!

fishy fun

We went to the Living Planet Aquarium with my friends from clear back in junior high, Summer and Jessica, and their kids. It was great to see them again. From the moment I told Ky and Kade that we were going to see fish, they started asking for Nemo and Dory. So once we got to the aquarium, they were disappointed with each exhibit that didn't contain a Nemo or Dory look-a-like fish. It wasn't until they finally saw the Nemo and Dory fish that they began to enjoy the aquarium. My favorite part was the jellyfish. They are so strange looking, but it's peaceful watching the fluid movements of all their tentacles in the water.

Haylee, Ky, Ethan, Bentley, Kade making "fishy faces"

Bentley, Ky and Kade

fall leaves and utah mountains

Ky, Kade, Grandma and I drove up Provo Canyon today and went to the Squaw Peak overlook to enjoy the changing fall leaves today. It's been so long since I was that high above everything and could look out and see so much at once. Plus, the reds, oranges and yellows of the leaves were so beautiful. On the way to the top, Ky and Kade kept saying, "Up! Up!" I think they were amazed that we could keep driving the car up and up the hill. We got out and took some fun pictures, but we couldn't stay outside for long because our Florida bodies couldn't take the 39 degree weather for long. When we were getting the boys back in the car, Kade started throwing a fit, and I thought maybe it was because Grandma was trying to put him in his seat instead of mommy, but when I asked him what was wrong, he kept saying, "mountains! mountains!" I guess he was really fascinated with the concept of mountains. We'll have to enjoy them while we are here.

watch out tiger woods!

Kade and Ky's new obsession is golfing, several times a day. Kade's swing is getting better everyday, and now he even lines up his shot, has a nice swing, and a perfect follow-through. It seems like every time I turn off the camera he hits a great shot, but this will give you an idea of his swing. Now we just need to find some left-handed toy clubs to see how far the ball would go if he was hitting the ball with the front of the club rather than the back! Ky likes to play too, but his swing is more suited for baseball or perhaps tennis. Look out Tiger Woods...here comes Kade!

it's a good thing i live 2,329 miles away

Today Kade, Ky, Grandma and I went to the new IKEA in Draper. It was so much fun! I had never been to an IKEA before, and I couldn't believe all the fun stuff they had, and how cheap everything was. It's a good thing I live 2,329 miles away, otherwise, I would have come out of there with new dishes, new curtains, a table and chair set for the boys' room, several new lamps, and some new rugs. And, the list is that small because I know that we are moving in 9 months, and I don't want to pay too much to decorate our apartment only to move and have to redecorate another house 9 months from now. If I had a house to decorate, I probably would have bought new stuff for every room. But, as it is, I live 2,329 miles from the IKEA, and there's no way I could get that stuff home on the plane. So, it turns out that I only bought some finger puppets, stacking cup toys, kids plates, and some wooden kitchen utensils.
I have decided that when it comes time to decide where we settle down and buy a house, that we have to be reasonably close to an IKEA. I love it!!
Also, there is an IKEA opening in Orlando on November 14th, so you'll know where I'm going to be the second half of November and where I'm going to do most of my Christmas shopping this year.

kade & ky on a motorcycle

Watch how Ky "drives" the motorcycle, points out its color, and tries to convince us that it should crash. Also, watch how excited Kade is with himself when he says "motorcycle" correctly for the first time (and several subsequent times)

flying to utah

Last Friday Kade, Ky and I got on an airplane to fly to Utah to visit Grandma and Grandpa as well as other family and friends. We were quite the spectacle going through the airport. I wish I had a picture of that. Ky sat in the back seat of the double stroller, the carry-ons under the stroller, one carseat balanced on the the front seat of the stroller and the other carseat on the back of the stroller, and I wore Kade in a pack on my back. But, we made it through security with no problems, and through the airport and to our gate easily. We even manged to stop and buy some juice! Luckily there was a play area right by our gate, so the boys played right up until it was time to get on the plane. They were so good on the plane, even when it got to be two hours past their bedtime. It really helped to have them in their own seats, with their carseats. Their favorite activity on the plane, besides the new exciting snacks, was putting stickers all over their notebooks. Here they are with their new airplane and helicopter toys.

what we found today

Look what we found in the pond in our apartment complex. We were just walking home from the gym and there it was. It was swimming towards us, and we got a really good look at its whole body. I'll bet it was about four feet long. I ran inside to get my camera, but by the time we got back to the pond, it was sitting in this junk, and this is the best picture I could get. I was okay with all the alligators in Florida when we saw them in a big lake or on a nature preserve, but this one was in our complex, 20 feet away from the pool! I'm not okay with that. Now I'm going to worry every time I open our front door that there is going to be an alligator waiting to eat my boys!

our first major league baseball game

On Friday, we went to our first Major League Baseball game (well, except for Bart, who has been to some already). We saw the Tampa Bay Devil Rays play against the Toronto Blue Jays. The boys loved watching the batter swing, and would say "Swing! Nice Shot!" just about every time the ball was pitched. They were excited to see the game, eat popcorn, and touch the rays!

They both reached their hands right in and touched the "feesh". After Kade touched one, he decided that was enough. Ky loved it and wanted to keep touching them. In fact, after we went back to our seats, he kept asking to go "touch feesh ogon" (which means touch the fish again; you have to hear how cute he says again!).




Here they are leaving the game. I guess Kade is a die-hard fan and didn't want us to leave during the eighth inning. Sorry Kade!

Devil Rays 2, Blue Jays 7

we're officially web nerds!

We can't avoid it any longer. We had to join the rest of the universe and start our own blog. Hopefully this will keep our friends and family updated on what we are doing, but we can't promise that this blog will be anything fancy. We can promise we will post cute pictures of our adorable boys, and I'm sure we will write some stupid things for you to laugh about!