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!

On The Road...

First stop- California!
The kids and I decided that we would be over the top and travel coast to coast- literally! We started in Southern California to visit with Grandma and Grandpa. On the way, we did our usual stop in Vegas at In-n-Out off of Tropicana. It really made it feel like we were just vacationing. I'm sure I'll be in and out of reality for a little while to come. Anyway, we had a wonderfully relaxing few days! Great Grandpa came in and stayed the weekend, and Boma and Bompa stayed an evening as well. We kind of had a photo op as we were leaving, so I'm just going to warn you now! Lots of pictures on this post! Jaelin sobbed because she didn't want to leave her BFF, Angel, and Ayden just wanted to get on the road to our next stop...he's such a guy! So P90X is kind of a big deal right now! I mean, come on, even the pup does it! Every other day you do abs at the end of your normal workout. If any of you have the dvds, you'll understand. Jacqueline and I were getting ready to excercise and Ayden said, "Sciiissor...get it??" We had a good laugh!
My son is totally the scrawny kid in the movies who stands in front of the mirror checking to see if there's any muscles there that weren't 5 seconds prior. He's all about flexing his "muscles" anytime he can!

If a video tape could have done the walkie talkie conversations justice, I would have video'd! It was hysterical! Jaelin never held the button down the whole time she was talking, so we got half the conversation over the radio and the other half we could just hear directly since she would scream everything anyway!
Oh yeah, these are the "war faces!"
Jaelin NEVER eats string cheese, except when we're at Grandma's house! I think she just likes to secretly torment Angel. It took Jaelin the better part of an hour to get through one thing of cheese. Angel never failed to let her down...she followed her around the whole house hoping for her to drop some.
Yep, cheese still in hand while having a nice sibling moment.

Mark and Jacqueline ordered some things so the garage became the construction site of a cardboard playhouse. Seriously, why do we even bother with wrapping presents? This kept them entertained far longer than anything they would unwrap!
Jaelin and Great Grandpa. Little did they know, they were about to eat a LOT of bread!!

Despite this picture, she really does know how to use utensils! I guess she just loves this pie that much! Everytime I make it she asks me why she can't marry it.

Let the photo op begin! You'll notice that we try to mix things up a bit by moving to different locations in the house. For a minute there, I thought we were going to have to change our clothes! haha!
The kids with Boma

Kids with the Grandpas

All of us with Bompa and Grandma Jacqueline
Grandpa Howell and Me. It was so good to see him and actually get to spend some time together! It doesn't happen enough!

The last pic...until next time! Get ready Howell men!! I'm coming to Maine armed! haha!!

Moving Days...

The past couple days have been quite entertaining, to say the least! David's 30th birthday was Monday, along with the closing on our home in Utah and the arrival of packers to box up all of our household goods. Tuesday, the big Mack truck came to load up all of our things. It is on its way to Florida as I write this!

At some point during the day another moving truck pulled up with more supplies for the guys who were packing us up. It was much like the truck in the picture. Jaelin started jumping up and down and took off running toward the curb screaming, "ICE CREAM, ICE CREAM!! I WANT ICE CREAM!!" I'm not really sure what ice cream truck she remembers being that large.... It's so weird to see the house so empty! Brooklynn, Ledger, Ayden, and Jaelin- where the couch used to be!This is how I will think of Maisie always and always no matter how old she is! She loves her skirts! The girls were cute- they took off for Ayden and Jaelin's room looking for toys. I will miss these little munchkins! I can't wait for them to visit us..hint hint ;)

This is our "love tree" that David and I planted on our 3 year anniversary. It's a flowering cherry, and it's still not in full bloom, but we needed a picture by it since we've never gotten one. Little does he know, we will continue the "love tree" planting in each new home that we have. Besides, isn't digging that big hole for it so romantic honey??

Such a wonderful, funny, strong, truly remarkable woman! You are not only a neighbor, but a friend who I will miss dearly!

The kids in front of the big Mack while it's backing down the street will all our stuff!!

Little Tidbit

Jaelin and I were running errands this morning and she wanted to watch tv in the backseat. Since I haven't really had a chance to play with the settings yet I just kept hitting buttons on the remote to see if I could tune it in while I was driving. I asked her if she could see the picture yet and she said, "No, but it says something." Well what does it say? "I don't know, I can't read!" Excuse me...

One Last Hoorah With Many Lessons Learned...

Words of Wisdom...
Florida is highly susceptible to TORNADOS- the kind that form water spouts! All this time I was worried about hurricanes- what was I thinking??
Kids should not have waterbeds!
Nude Art is now referred to as "humping." Who knew? I will never be able to watch Titanic again without laughing during the "humping" scene!
Cows are just gross...
Finally, girlfriends are irreplaceable! Of course, I knew that already, but last night just affirmed it even more!

Everytime I look at this I will think of our waiter! LOL No words...

Doh duh doh! Okay so we were a little challenged here...
"A wise one once said..."

I had so much fun last night, once we actually got there, of course! Terryn and I almost ate at Chili's since we were so enthralled in conversation that I drove there for whatever reason. During the laughter and chit-chat Melissa says, "Wonder what it would be like if we weren't all friends?" Well, even though it has only been about 5 years, we have all become quite close. I am very blessed to have good girlfriends and am a better person because of these 4 remarkable women!