Disney World!!!!

We traveled to Florida March 23rd for nine days!!! This was the kids first plane ride and major vacation and it was awesome! We rented a condo the first 4 nights in Orlando with a great kitchen and really warm pool. I was floored by the amount of time it takes to get into the park- you are directed EXACTLY where to park, then you take a commuter train to the tram which is a another fast moving train to the park entrance, then you purchase you tickets (yikes!) and stand in line yet again to have you bags inspected. After all this hoopla you are finally in Disney World! Unfortunatly Ben was ill the first couple days but he was a trooper and just pressed on (he said he didn't travel that far to go hang out in the condo by himself). Once there we rode its a small world, saw the philharmonic mickey show, stared in awe at the castle, got pixie dusted and walked our tales off! We ended the day with the wonderful fireworks show and then it took an hour to get back to the condo. Phew I get tired just thinking about that first day!

Zumba!!

the valley YMCA Zumba crowd.

Me and Megan- the Best Zumba instructor!!

If you know me at all you should know I have a new love- its called Zumba and I have to admit I've become a bit obsessed! Its mostly latin dance music with some hiphop and rock mixed in but mostly its a ton of fun! I usually make 4 classes a week and now even Audrey is wanting to go to the classes. As for Ben he says no way no how will he ever go to a class unless Lucas goes--- hhmmmm what could I bribe them with?? JK!

Jackson is FOUR!!!

How is it our baby boy is 4?! We had a great time celebrating this weekend with family and friends. Friday my family, included Grandpa Norman joined us for pizza- one of Jack's favs and we had carrot cake cupcakes. Saturday we swam with friends at the Ymca then make a pancake feast here at our house. Its so amazing that we have such love surrounding our family. God is Good! We are so thankful for our little man :)

Love

Oh I heart Valentines Day!! It was always one of the best days at school and it just keeps getting better! Yesterday I woke up to roses, a hand made super sweet card promising me a Wii and some cute cards from the kids and roses! Then he made us all heart shaped pancakes! He bought Audrey some tulips and Jack a froggy baloon. Then we had a great sermon at church , a nap for everyone and then Ben took me out to Chinese food and Baskin Robbins- yuumy! I made some cards for the kids and got them each a craft project. I'd say we are feelin the love- there are cards all over the place today! Love it, love is an awesome gift from the Lord and a great reason to celebrate!!!

Audrey and Mommy go ice skating

This year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day ( try and have Audrey say that it's too funny!) Audrey did not have school but Jackson did. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to spend some one on one with my girl. Because the national championships for ice skating are in town there was free ice skating at Riverfront park. She hadn't been since she was 2 so I really wasn't expecting much. She did great! Even Mandy was impressed and she's been skating for a long time. We'll definately have to go again soon.

October Happenings

October was a crazy busy month! Ben was still making the drive out to 7-Bays on Lake Roosevelt every day (he still is) which means he comes home pretty wiped out at the end of the day. We got the permit to start building our shop, visited Greenbluff and our kids were in my cousin Mandy's wedding. We also had a nice time celebrating Bens birthday with family n friends on the 27th. It seems like every year once we hit Bens birthday its time to hold on for the ride because the holidays are just around the corner......... here we go!

Oregon Coast Trip

We had such a great time on vacation with our good friends the Hopsons. We left at 5am on a Wednesday. We almost got out of town before Jackson had to go potty (Luke was so happy it was our kid that had to go first!) We made it to Portland by 1130 and toured the Portland Zoo. It was nice and warm and we saw so many animals! We ate some lunch and continued on towards Lincoln City where we had rented a house right on the ocean. That first night was probably the warmest weather we had the whole trip and the view of the ocean was clear which we soon found out was really rare. Over the next 4 days we collected sea shells, built some amazing sand castles, toured the aquarium, swam, well sort of swam, in the freezing ocean, soaked in the hot tub and had an amazing time. The drive home was long but overall went really well considering we were traveling with 5 kids. We are already looking forward to our next vacation!