Louise...

When we received orders to come back out to Florida, I was immediately on the hunt to find a place to live. Since we've worked with Prudential in the past I decided to call one of their offices in this area to get set up with a realtor. By dumb luck we got hooked up with Louise. She is such a remarkable, incredible, wonderful, genuine, sweet, loving person! I'm just sorry that it took 5 months for us to finally meet face to face. She will always be a dear friend to me and our family.

While David was in Mississippi the kids and I went out with Louise, Doug, and Daisy on their boat. We had so much fun!

The kids headed for the boat!

Daisy digging for her sand crab...

and she never disappoints!

The kids swimming with "mammal Louise"

Daisy shared her bow of the boat with the kids.

So when David and I had our 2 "kidless" weeks in July, we went out with Louise and Doug. We cruised through Navarre and Pensacola Beach, stopping for a drink at Bamboo Willies and making the occasional stop at one of the beaches. While we were out we found ourselves in the middle of a slew of dolphins! It was the coolest thing!

A washed up boat on one of the beaches.

Louise and me

David and me

Jaelin Jargon

David had just left for the week to go back to Biloxi and Jaelin was distraught. She says, "Mom, can I sleep with you tonight?" Of course, by me deciding to answer either way it poses a problem between whining and the arguing about it with Ayden. I decide on "no" since the whining will probably be easier to deal with. Her reply? "But Mooooooom!! I neeeeeed to sleep with you because I just want to smell Daddy's pillow!"

I made teriyaki pork stir fry for dinner one night. I had never made this particular recipe, and the kids ended up loving it. Jaelin said, "Mom, I want leftovers for lunch tomorrow." I told her I was sorry, but there wasn't any leftover. Wrong answer. "But Mom, when I like something you make for dinner, I want leftovers!"

Happy Digging--I mean Anniversary!

Since we got here just in time for our 6 year anniversary and we have a new yard to landscape all over again, I found it only fitting to plant our "love tree" again! David was already digging the hole for that so I thought, "why not go ahead and get the money corner out of the way too??" heehee. All in all we planted the flowering cherry, an orange tree, and 2 types of hibiscus bushes. Ayden, of course, asked, "what? are we trying to make this house look the same?" Thanks buddy!

Finishing Up the School Year

I know, I'm 2 months behind on posts but better late than never, right? After talking with Antioch Elementary, we decided to go ahead and enroll Ayden to finish up the school year. The teachers and guidance counselor were a little worried since kindergarten was only 1/2 day in Utah. Here it's a full day so they thought he would probably need some catching up to prepare for the 1st grade curriculum. Wrong. He did wonderfully, and quite frankly I think Buffalo Point Elementary exceeded what they teach the kids here. I suppose that's bittersweet in this case.

As soon as we had him registered and started up in school, we got right into the swing of things. The school was having their annual "Aviator Day," so the kids and I decided to go join in. (David was in Biloxi, Mississippi for his instructor course). The kids had fun with the cake walk, ring toss, and a variety of other games the school had put on. At the end of the evening we walked out with a bottle of orange soda, compliments of Ayden, and 2 cakes that we ended up sharing with our neighbors, compliments of Jaelin. Football Toss- He made it through everytime. The girl had to keep backing him up!Before Cake #2...boy oh boy

One last time before it was time to go home...

oooh....yay...hmmm

Every year the Kindergarten classes (9 of them, to be exact, yes 9!) take a field trip at the end of the year to Henderson State Park. They are able to swim, BBQ, and learn about the sea life in our area. Jaelin and I tagged along, and it was a lot of fun. We got to meet so many parents, kids, and get to know the teachers better. It was a great way for Ayden to get acclimated and get to know some of his peers he'll be schooling it up with for at least the next 4 years!

Making their way off the buses and up to the picnic area.

Ayden and Ms. Pratt

Ms. Pratt's Kindergarten Class

Kiddie Quotes...

Four days before we left Utah David and I traded in our 2008 Commander for a 2010 Commander. It's a long story as to why that came about, but the new one has many more features than the old one. The kid's happen to like the live TV since they can start a show in the house and finish it in the car. I swear my kids do not watch that much television, but someone who has no idea would totally think that's all they do! Jaelin in particular missed our TV sooooo much during the move. She especially was unaccepting of the fact that once we unpacked it we still couldn't get cable for some time. While she was pouting on the outside I was rejoicing on the inside, seriously! No Spongebob!!! Tell me, when do they get out of that phase?? About 30 seconds into the realization that she wasn't going to be able to watch TV in the house she asked me for my keys. Oh my oh my...

When we were unpacking Ayden found a note from a friend that he rode the bus with in Utah. I wasn't really aware of who this little boy was so Ayden was trying to explain an instance where I had met him. He asked me if I remembered now, and I said "vaguely." Ayden- "Who's vaguely?" Oh the innocence...I wish I could remember more of Ayden's lines from when he was smaller; they just don't happen as much from him anymore.

Finally, Jaelin had gotten a boomerang in a kid's meal and decided she was going to go out back and try it out. David and I told her if she threw it, it would come back to her. Well, she threw it. Apparently it didn't come back beacuse she came in the house about 10 seconds later and said, "Ayden, you need to come play this with me. I think it's set on 2 players!"

Final Destination (for now)

The kiddos and I left super early from Arizona, heading out for San Antonio to stay the night before driving another day to our destination. Our travels led us through New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. I have to say that I have never been frightened to travel. I've done it a lot during David's deployments and TDY's. However, driving through New Mexico and Texas was a bit shattering. I saw a car on fire in a ravine, multiple people stopped to be searched, and went through a weigh station that was being used as an immigration checkpoint. I have mixed feelings about all the hooplah going on right now, but this really isn't the place. Lets just say it kept me very awake on the otherwise boring stretch of I-10! We reached a familiar hotel at a decent hour, slept well, and got up very early to start all over again. We pulled in our "almost" new driveway, in Crestview, FL, at about 5pm on Thursday, May 6th. We met David there and peeked in windows since there was no key left for us, then we took off for dinner. David and I missed Buffalo Wild Wings soooooo much while we were in Utah!! The franchise won't even consider opening one there because of their goofy liquor laws, but that's a whole other story. So...guess where we went?! :)

Once we finished with dinner we decided to take the kids to the beach and let them look around a bit. We got there at sunset, and it was perfect!

This would be the markings of the "flying rat," otherwise known as the seagull...

On The Road...Again

Next stop- Arizona!

Our trip from California to Arizona was nice and short, for a change! It only took us 5-6 hours to get there. We did lots of fun things with Nana and Jim while we were there; we went bowling, the kids spent every evening in the hot tub, we took a nice walk, and made an ice cream stop. At one point, while we were in the car, Jaelin said she was thirsty. I told her we'd get some water when we got there so she says, "ok, well I'm just going to drink the stuff in my mouth." What? Your spit?? "Yeah..."

During this bowling trip we reinforced the fact that Ayden is super competitive, and Jaelin is happy as long as she has a snack machine close by.
The kids and Jim in the hot tub. The desert tortoise's are a big highlight at Nana's house. I believe she has 6 in all. Papyon is the oldest and the largest. Depending on what time of year we visit, we could find him hibernating in the guest bathroom behind the potty. They all roam around, think they're dogs, and eat out of the palm of your hand.
English teacher Nana isn't following directions...geesh! heehee!! They're going to go check out the red tailed hawk and her nest of babies. This area used to be desert until they put asphalt down for vehicles to be parked during the US Open. Gotta love priorities...
Ayden checking out the bird's nest. We didn't find anything there because they were hanging out with their mama a few trees down.

Jaelin, Nalia, Nana, Angel, Ayden, and Finneas
Me and my babes
It's crazy how something this beautiful has been invaded by a parking lot that's used once a year. Little did we know, the daddy hawk was VERY close, watching me from another tree. Come to find out, they are very protective!

Our DQ visit. Nana was kind enough to drive us around to "sight see" on the way there. I bet Jaelin $100 that she couldn't eat her whole blizzard, and she tried so hard that I think she got a little queasy. She ate about $60 worth...sorry honey, that wasn't the deal! :)

We had a wonderful time on our visits while heading east! We're so lucky to have such a remarkable family!