DisneyWorld

It only took as 5 weeks of living in Florida before we took our first trip to Disney World. Tim had to go to Orlando for work, we got a super cheap deal on a hotel through my sister's time share ($30/night) and if you are a Florida resident, you can pay for annual passes monthly. So we went for a week, while Tim was at work, I went with ALL 3 KIDS...kill me now. I went back to the hotel and let them nap, picked Tim up from work, then we went back at night. It just so happened that a long time friend I grew up with was there with her family the same week. We met up quite a bit and my kids loved having hers there too.

My camera definitely does not do the castle justice...it is huge and because we went after Thanksgiving, it was all decked out with lights. Disney does everything over the top, just how we like it.



Minnie LOVES Snow White, so when she met her, Snow White kissed Minnie on the cheek. She still talks about it now.

We met all of the characters...A LOT! And, surprisingly, the kids were fine and not afraid at all.
Then we saw the Princesses....Andy was mortified....seriously. Everyone in line was laughing and saying how cute it was when he hid the WHOLE time when we saw Belle, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.

This was the first one, he hid under Tim's jacket and REFUSED to look at the camera. Typical boy...
I think the kids may have loved riding the tram from the parking lot to the park just as much as the rides.
Phineas and Ferb is always a HIT!
For the record, we do have a little girl named Minnie. She is not named after Minnie Mouse, it is after my Great Grandma who was very close to me. And, for the record, I do feel a little weird yelling out, "Minnie" at Disney World or Disneyland. But, it is soo cute when Minnie walks up to Minnie Mouse and tells her what her name is. I love it and it never gets old.

Crazy eyes...
This was probably the most fun I had WITH the kids at Disney Parks ever. My kids have been to Disneyland A LOT and usually we have to have the "stop crying, we ARE HAVING FUN" here talk quite a bit. This time, they loved it. They loved the characters, the rides (for the most part) and the shows and parades. Ivy, the greatest baby of all time, was soooo great. But I must say there is something about Disneyland that you can't beat in my book. Maybe it's that I grew up going there. Maybe it's that everything is packed into one place. Maybe it's that the workers are OVERLY nice and I have my favorite food spots. Whatever it is, I don't know if it will be beat. But, I'll take Disney World any day!

More October Craziness

October was a crazy month. First I went on a girl's trip with my family, Tim's parent's came to town, we met Tim's brother's family in Nashville, I spoke in church (for the 2nd time in 6 months....BOOOOO!), I went to AZ with all 3 kids by myself (almost left Minnie in Phoenix) and then we moved to Florida. Holy crap I need a nap.In Nashville, we went to a train museum and checked out some trains. This is Tim, Tim's brother Matt, and his dad Tom. Nashville is pretty cool and I would really love to go back. Anderson and Minnie LOVED hanging out with their cousins Lexi, who is 9, and Anna, who is almost 7. They loved playing and hanging out in the hotel room.
Tim and his brother Matt...every time Minnie sees a picture of Matt, she says, "Mom, there's dad."
We also had another exciting development...Minnie got glasses. Wow! She starting getting a lazy eye so we had our home teacher check it out, then to the Pediatrician, then the Pediatric Ophthalmologist...and a week later voila! She actually does pretty well with them and really only takes them off when they need to be cleaned. I promised her pink glasses but who'd a thought they wouldn't have ANY pink ones. The selection was rough...plus she's not on our vision insurance (seriously who puts their 2 yr old on their vision insurance just in case), so we just got some to last us till the new year.
Tim's parents came and we went to see the ducks at the Peabody. I love the inside of the Peabody and think it is so cool, a definite must if visiting Memphis.
We went to Boston for our girls trip and it was awesome. One day we drove up to Gloucester and Rockport, then back to Cape Cod. This is a lake we happen to drive by and stopped to take a picture. I have NEVER lived in a place where the leaves change and it is soooooo great! When we drove to Florida, we went through Alabama and it was beautiful!
Probably my favorite part of our trip was a "Ghosts and Goblins" tour we did at night around to the different grave yards in Boston. Our tour guide told us scary legends and tales about the Boston Strangler and places that were haunted. We eat that crap up! Plus, while you are waiting on the trolley, creepy people holding gross creepy animals come up behind you and scare you. It's hilarious.
Me and Kaci on the trolley. Her 4 month old Maggie came and was a trooper!
Kelli, Me, Kaci and Grandma Maxine. She was a TROOPER...she is 82 and didn't miss a beat.(It's not letting me delete this picture for some reason) We ate, laughed, slept, and ate some more. We Coombs' are pros at those 3 things. My dad tagged along too, being the history buff that he is. It was fun to have him come, although I'm pretty sure he won't want to join the next one!

October Craziness

So we moved again...this time to Florida! Tim had a great job opportunity with his company so they transferred us. We were only in Memphis for 7 months! His office is in a place called Destin, FL which is a big tourist place and is 1/2 a mile from the beach. We have to wait a few weeks for the house we are renting to open up so we are staying at a beach condo, 200 yards away from this:So we took a Sunday walk along the beach. We love it. We will be living in a place nearby called Niceville (yes, that really is the name) and went to our new ward today. The kids went to class no problem, Ivy and I roamed the halls the entire time, and we met some really nice people. We will miss Memphis but are really excited!

It's been so long...

So my parents came to visit us at the end of June, and actually were here and had to leave on my 30th birthday. I have to admit, turning 30 was kind of sad...at least more that I expected. Anyway, now I'm 30, still look 16...with 3 kids. So we did lots of fun things. This is us touring downtown in the trolley. My parents got a hotel room downtown so the kids could swim and getaway and it was a hit!

My mom is quite an Elvis fan. We had tickets to go tour Graceland (his home in Memphis) but it didn't work out for us to go as far as weather, babysitter, and kids go. So, we will have to do it next time. But, we did drive by and get out and take some pictures. My mom was so fired up!

This is a park in downtown that was the sight of a civil war battle. They still have the stone wall up with cutouts where the cannons went.

We met Tim for lunch at the Cooky Canucks which was a restaurant on "Man vs Food" (I think it was called Big Foot then or something else). They have like an 8lb burger on the menu that is free if you can finish it. And, they have BBQ pork nachos with beans, BBQ sauce, pulled pork, and a cilantro ranch dressing. They are real good. I like to make them at home with the "Cafe Rio" pork and cilantro lime dressing.

Grandma and Grandpa waiting for the trolley.

"Not so Little" Ivy, I like to call her, is now 7 months. She is sitting up and rolling around like crazy. No crawling yet, which I am TOTALLY ok with. The kids love her and she is the BEST baby.

Andy starts pre-school in September. I can't wait...he can't wait. We all can't wait! He always brings me things and tells me he is going to show his teacher. Good luck Mrs. Gerianne:)

This little one re-visited the Terrible Two stage last week. It seems if you disrupt her sleeping schedule too much, she just can't recover. We went to the Charlotte area for about 10 days to stay with my nieces and nephew, and she had a hard time towards the end. I'm sure the people of the Nashville airport are grateful we will not be returning for awhile!

Still trucking along with the baby food thing. 7 weeks and counting and we are still struggling. But, she doesn't cry the whole time anymore, and for the most part, she'll open her mouth without me shoving the spoon in there. Hopefully she'll get it soon. Ivy is so chill and easy. I've never had a kid that will just sit on my lap in church or where ever and be totally content. I love it! She has chubby cheeks! We used to think she looked just like Andy but she is changing and looks like nobody now...probably more Tim than anyone. She's fun to have around.

We are doing well here. We made it through the Heat Wave, which I like to call Sweat Wave, and it's starting to cool down....in August.....already. I can't believe it. I am going to freeze to death this winter I think! Seriously, never in my life have I lived in snow. My kids have never touched snow and only one has actually seen it in real life. It doesn't snow too much, but more than good old C-Town. I can't wait for fall and the leaves to change!! It will be here soon:)

Don't adjust your eyes...that is Ivy's chins. At least I can make some good milk, right!? We have been busy here with life. Tim turned 30 on May 30th and we celebrated by going to the car show at Graceland (that's right, the one and only home of Elvis) and to the Sunset Symphony on the shores of the Mississippi River complete with the Memphis symphony playing, a air show over the river, and a fireworks show. It was pretty fun. It did take us 45 minutes to get out of the parking structure afterwards though. Happy Birthday to Tim! He does not like cake so we did a brownie cake with candles.

Last weekend we woke up and decided to do a day trip to Nashville. It's only 3 hrs away and we had not been there yet. We really like it there!! I can't wait to go back and visit a lot. They have a temple like ours on the Stake Center parking lot and we went to Franklin, a town about 25 minutes outside of Nashville. It is AWESOME! The main street/downtown area is soooo fun to walk around and we loved all of the cool houses there. It's been fun to be able to go visit new places and have the time to do things like that here. We are sad we missed the Coombs' annual San Diego trip but have already started saving for next year. And we can't wait for Grandma and Grandpa to come soon!!

For the record, it is summertime, and everyone has told us, "Oh, are you guys sooo hot?" or "Oh, the humidity is way worse than the dry heat." Well, as of now, it is not as bad. The kids can actually go out and play outside in the afternoon or evening, it cools down at night and is not 100 degrees at 10:00pm. Today it was 80 degrees. Sure I am more sweaty, and my hair is a permanant frizz ball, but 115 is 115. Hopefully it doesn't get too much worse.

We are alive!

We are alive, we are not underwater like everyone has called to ask! Memphis has been crazy because of all of the floods. Tim and I went downtown last weekend and the Mississippi River is packed with people just taking pictures of how much water there is. It's the highest it's been since like the 1930's. Everyone here does say it is unusual to have this much rain. The weird thing is that it stopped raining like a week ago, but is still getting higher. There is an intersection downtown that is closed off bcause it is half way underwater, and it's started to come up on the street on some parts. I've never seen anything like it. But, we are surviving fine and haven't been directly affected by any of it. So, things are same old same old. These 3 are making me a little crazy this week, not gonna lie. Ivy just started rolling over and the kids get so excited. We chant, "Go, Ivy Go" until she does. Maybe she can start to burn some calories and get that double chin in check:)

We have also been hanging out with these kids. The Thomas family is in our ward, and they have really helped our transition to Tennessee a lot! It's weird to feel so comfortable around people we just met but I am so thankful for them. My kids love their kids, they are close in age, and they know all the ins and outs of living here! Brennon is Minnie's age, Jadyn is 6, and Hadley is 4. They are so fun!

We've also been doing a lot of coloring. Surprisingly, Anderson requests it a lot. He is getting excited about writing letters and his name. I signed him up for pre-school and he asks me alllll the time if he is going yet. I hope the enthusiasm doesn't wear off when he actually starts in September.

This one is hamming it up as usual. If you ask her what her name is now, she says, "Minnie Mouse." I actually heard them call her that in Nursery at church. She's so dang cute sometimes, and is so crazy other times. Last Sunday Tim spoke in church, so , I had all 3 kids on the bench by myself. Happy Mother's Day to me, right. And, it'll be the same this week for Stake Conference...2 hrs...kill me now. Minnie just walks around to the benches behind us and makes herself comfortable with whoever. We are gearing up for summer time, interested to see the dry vs. wet heat! Wish us luck...the Coombs' sweaty genes will not be helpful here...