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Saturday, June 28, 2014

10 Year Anniversary

Last week, June 19, was our 10 year anniversary.  We didn’t really do anything special on the day.  In fact I got home from a special program at the library with the kids and had 30 minutes to make dinner and eat before we had to be at Activity Days, so we had corn dogs (not so special).  So thankfully we had already made up for it by going on an earlier trip in March to Florida to celebrate this years anniversary.  My mom and Nate’s mom were so awesome to take turns taking care of our girls while we were gone.  We also got help from neighbors dropping off and picking up our kids from school.  Thank you all so much.  I love knowing I can count on you.
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On Thursday, March 13 we flew to Fort Lauderdale and went straight to the beach.  We walked around and then checked into our hotel. 
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After dinner we hit the shopping scene at the largest outlet mall in America, Sawgrass Mills.
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On Friday was Nate’s birthday and we went to the everglades.  We wanted to take an airboat tour and maybe see some alligators.  We went to Everglades Holiday Park (The Gator Boys, a show on Animal Planet is filmed here) and we were not disappointed.
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Our tour guide would call the alligators out.  “Come here Bubba, come here.”  I was laughing at how ridiculous it was until the gator crawled right into the water and swam out to us.
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“Come here Little, come here.”
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There were some pretty cool birds out here.
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After the airboat tour we got to see a show with some of the alligators that they have rescued. 
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In the state of Florida, if an alligator ends up in your swimming pool or a pond in your neighborhood, then it is considered a nuisance and they kill them.  So the Gator Boys go get them and bring them to their rescues.  They can not be returned to the wild because they will go back.
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We stopped to see the new Fort Lauderdale Temple and were sad we missed the open house by two weeks.
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That afternoon we checked into our new hotel in Boyton Beach and went walking and exploring Oceanfront Park Beach.  Monstrosities called houses lined the beach here.  We loved watching huge birds dive for fish and the tiny sand birds that always could avoid getting wet by the tide as they ate bugs off the sand.
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We were very careful to avoid stepping on the man o’ war that were washing up. 
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On Saturday we drove up the coast on Ocean Blvd and made our way over to Rodger Dean Stadium for some spring training baseball.  We watched the Marlins play the Nationals.
IMG_20140316_073043On Sunday we went back to Oceanfront Park Beach and watched the sun rise.  This moment reminded us so much of our honeymoon in Cancun of the day before we were leaving watching the sun rise.  Life is so different now then it was then.  I loved what it was then and I love what it is now.
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We went to church and then spent the rest of the day at the same beach. We totally lost track of time and ended up getting a pretty good burn. We drove up to South Palm Beach to Nate’s hotel that he would be staying at for the rest of the week while he was there working.
Early Monday morning he dropped me off at the airport so I could get on my flight home and he could get to work.
A lot has happened in 10 years. I am very grateful for my husband and the love he shows the very imperfect me.

Friday, June 27, 2014

Candy Land 6th Birthday


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For Sadie’s party we did the full Candy Land party.  For each station we had an activity and then a treat for their bag. 
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For the Gingerbread Tree we decorated our treat bags.
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For the Peppermint Forest we played pass the mint lifesaver.
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For the Gumdrop Mountains we had an obstacle coarse they had to go through with a gumdrop on a spoon.
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For the Licorice Forest they had to go through our licorice web without getting stuck.
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For the Lollipop Woods they played balloon tennis.
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For Snow Flake Lake we had cake and ice cream.
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For Candy Castle we opened presents. (Yes that is Katelyn’s leg sticking out of the window)
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Later that day after eating homemade mac n cheese and more cake she got to open her presents from us.
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Sadie loves the monkey bars, the color green (always has been pink till now), dance to music, tease, and laugh.  Happy Birthday my 6 year old!

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Juliette is 3!

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Juliette had a great long birthday.  She got to open presents all week long with different members of our extended family.  She loves owls, so she got some blueberry owl cupcakes.
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Her new backpack.
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On her birthday we played at McDonald’s,
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played with her new water table,
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and fed her new baby doll.
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Happy birthday Miss Juliette.  We all love you so much with all your lion hair and your strangling hugs.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

‘13-‘14 School Year


Summer is here again.  We’ve had lots of swim lessons, fun activities, and “Mom needs some alone” times already.  Can’t believe the 4th of July will be here next week.  Mostly so I can remember, here are some school pictures of this last school year.
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Katelyn’s 2nd grade class with Ms. Simonye as her teacher.
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Katelyn with Mr. Wynn (their awesome new principal) when she got her PAWS award, Always Listening.
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Katelyn at field day.
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Katelyn on her last day of school, June 3.
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Sadie with her Kindergarten class on 100’s Day.
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Sadie at the art show with her alligator that was selected.
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Sadie, the giraffe, at her Africa night.
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Sadie getting her PAWS award, Wise Choices.
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Sadie on her last day of school, May 29.
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Sadie with her teacher Mrs. Howard after her Kindergarten graduation, May 30.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Our December:

I just found this post that I never published.  So here is Christmas in June!
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Sadie brought treats in to her class for her half birthday.
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The kids got to see Santa at our Polar Express ward party.
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We decorated gingerbread houses with our cousins.
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We opened Grandma and Grandpa Thompson’s presents early with them.  They all got new pajamas, books, webkinz, and some money.
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Christmas Eve we went to lunch with my family and then went over to Paula’s for dinner and to open presents.  Poor Katelyn was dragged around not feeling so well. 
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Cousins Neal and Brynlee
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Cousins David and Hudson
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Nate trying to touch his toes.  He is not at all flexible which caused much laughter.
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Our new tree all lite up Christmas Eve awaiting Santa’s visit.
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Christmas morning!
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We went to the Zoo later in the week with Lance’s family.
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