Trip with Emilee and Matt

Emilee and Matt brightened up our holiday season by taking a trip out to see us.  Mark was studying most of the break for the second part of his written boards so I appreciated the excuse to make him take a break from studying and come have fun with us.  We had so much fun with Matt and Em so it was well worth it!  The Fort Lauderdale Boat Show Parade was going on the same time they were visiting so we brought them over to our friends' place to watch it.    We had front row seats and plenty of space and food.  It was awesome!  Thank you Morgan and Chelsey!!

 

One of the highlights of the trip was staying overnight in Key West.  Matt's mission was the Fort Lauderdale area which included Key West so it was fun to have a real expert on the city with us. We toured around the key on a trolley that was run by a hilarious driver.  We were seriously laughing the whole ride.  

When we got off the trolley we were greeted by a lot of randomness...sea sponge hats, sea sponge monsters, stray roosters--good times!

The joke is true to life!  He really does cross the road to get to the other side! :)

This is in front of the Mel Fisher Maritime museum.  The museum had all kinds of neat treasures from about the 1600s that were discovered from Spanish and pirate ship wrecks.

I couldn't believe the stuff we saw! Among the goods were engraved jewelry, Spanish coins, dishes, inkwells, medical supplies, and pirate treasure.  

This part of the day was also great because Lucy fell asleep for almost the whole time we were in there. Couldn't have been more perfect!

Other great sights we saw included Kermit's Key Lime Shoppe (sorry no pictures--just good tasty memories)...

Ernest Hemingway's House...

a huge banyan tree...

Truman's Little White House (where some of the presidents have stayed)...

The first Pan Am Airways office...

The southernmost point of the U.S......

...and Mallory Square for the sunset celebration.  The street performers that night included this guy who randomly threw candy at people...

...this guy who juggled flaming sticks while uni-cycling...

...and this guy who swallowed a sword.  He even let you touch the sword after to feel the proof--his spit.  The person who felt that sure was lucky! ;)

Mark got some great pictures of the sunset.   This sunset was definitely in the top running for best I have ever seen.  It was just so beautiful to see it go down over the water and with birds fluttering back and forth.    Here's the progression as it went down:

 

The fun never seemed to stop since the next day we arrived at Hollywood Studios in Orlando. 

This was right before our Toy Story competition began.  Whoever won the highest score chose our dinner plans.  It was the funniest thing watching the game faces go on during the ride.  It was a close call but Mark won the privilege--must have been all the dental work he does to work out his hand muscles. You should have seen the rings fly!

My favorite part of Hollywood Studios is the light show they do during the Christmas season.  This year it seemed to be everyone's favorite since it was so crowded. We couldn't even stand still without being moved by the crowd!

The next day we got to go to Epcot.  It was a full packed day with tons of fun to get done!

One of Mark's favorites was hearing the Mexican band play in Mexico.

Em's favorite was the Viking ride in Norway.  I still don't get what the trolls have to do with anything but whatever.  It made for an interesting and fun picture so I guess I'm glad they were included. ;)

Em and Matt were SO cute with Lucy.   She loved them and followed them everywhere.   They were such a great help with her!

The very last day was our beach day and I felt so bad because it was super windy and cold.  I have never seen the waves as big as they were that day.  It was such bad luck!  They were good sports though and still said it was fun. I wouldn't have been surprised if they really didn't mind the cold though.  Matt earned the nickname Frosty the Snowman while here because he seemed to always like it cold.  We turned the air conditioning way down in our hotel room one night and I was cold under my covers.  I could almost see my breath as I talked and Matt still thought it was too warm!:) 

This was definitely one of my favorite trips in Florida!  I love these guys and missed them when they left.  We are looking forward to living closer so we can see them more often!

Visit to the Keys with Jack and Melissa

We got lucky the beginning of December!  We were able to meet up with Jack and Melissa, some favorite Utah friends, for a day while they were in Florida.   Mark wanted to take them snorkeling so we headed down to the keys.  Unfortunately, we found out the snorkel trips had been cancelled for the day once we got there but it turned out to be okay because we still had tons of fun doing other stuff with them.  We started the fun by feeding the huge tarpon at Robbie's Pier. No matter how many times we go to feed the fish, it always turns out the same.  I sit there nervously waiting for the fish to jump up and Mark can't get enough of teasing the fish by moving the food away once they jump up.   He definitely gets his money worth because he rations the food so well. :)

Like usual, there were tons of pelicans hanging around hoping to get some of the tarpon food.  This guy was just standing there posing for us. 

I thought these pelicans were annoying at first because they were getting in the way of us feeding the tarpon but then they just kept hanging around while we were taking pictures.  It made for a perfect Christmas card picture. Thanks to our great photographers. :)

After feeding the tarpon we had lunch on the water.  It was really fun and I thought the food was pretty good until I saw a bird standing on a table and our waiter touching all the silverware.  Mark got really sick that night....sometimes I wonder.

 

After lunch we drove down a little further to the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon.  I loved seeing the dolphins so close while they were performing  back flips, twists, and synchronized jumps for us.  I also loved hearing all the cool noises the dolphins make.  One of them imitated a laugh for us which made me really amazed at how smart they are.   

 

 

We also saw some sea lions which was kind of cool.

 

We spent the rest of the day at our favorite beach in the keys, Sombrero Beach. It was a perfect day and so nice to catch up with Jack and Melissa.  We are looking forward to the next time we get to see them! 

Family Beach Pictures

We tried to take some family pictures at the beach back in December but it turned out to be a rather blustery day. We did get some cute snapshots though that I thought were keepers. Before I go any further, I want to give credit to our wonderful photographers/Lucy entertainers...Morgan and Chelsey Ball! Even though it wasn't the best picture day, they spent so much time taking pictures for us! They are awesome! I really wish we could take them with us when we move. :(
Here they are with their cute newborn Carly.

And here are some of my favorite snap shots...

I Love Lucy

Time just keeps flying by and now Lucy is almost eighteen months! I thought I better write down some of my "Lucy Favorites" before I forget. Let's begin with this little sleeping booty...oh I mean sleeping beauty.


Lucy is very sweet. The first thing she does when she sees a blanket or stuffed animal is pick it up, lean her face against it, and say, "oh, oh". Many times I see her just laying on the floor with either a stuffed animal or a blanket and being totally content.

Her favorite stuffed animal is this puppy. She makes the puppy noise and then gives it a hug every time she sees it.

This one might be more like a favorite of hers since I can only move 2 mph all day. Lucy loves to twirl around, cling, and walk everywhere while holding one or both of my pant legs. It's probably why I am still wearing pajama pants in this picture. It's pretty hard to get much done when I can only go the pace of baby steps!

Lucy LOVES books. Her favorite spot to go in our house is the bookshelf in her room where she pulls down every book, then sits and carefully turns the pages.

Lucy has become quite the dancer. I often think of a programmed robot since it comes on so randomly. No matter what she is playing with, she stops to dance when a beat or music is heard. Lots of times I don't even realize there is music until I see her rocking back and forth.

Lucy loves to pull everything out of containers and occasionally put it back. I wish she did more of the putting back but she probably just wants to make sure I don't get too bored during the day, right?


Besides sitting in containers, Lucy loves to sit on blankets so she can take a fun ride.

One thing that makes Lucy automatically smile is the sound of Mark's electronic toothbrush. She loves when Mark lets her hand "take a ride" on the handle while vibrating. Oh, I just thought of another thing that makes Lucy smile--whenever I say the word no. Why oh why? Anyways, back to teeth...this is Lucy getting her's brushed for the first time.

Mark and I love watching Lucy walk back and forth between us. She gets so happy when she is close and almost jumps for us at the end.

One of my Lucy favorites is having a cute little buddy wherever I go. On one of our walks it was a little colder so she is bundled up in the next picture.

While we were out we saw these big birds by our canal. I know this post is about Lucy but can I just say that I LOVE the birds here!

Now that Lucy is getting bigger, I love any chance I get at cuddling with her.

One favorite that the pictures haven't covered is her baby language. When she says the word, "yeah", she either says it like a sweet little question or makes it sound like I should feel so bad for her. She also loves to be part of funny jokes. She does this fake laugh whenever she sees me laughing. Most of the time it is so forced that she goes straight-legged, clenches her fists, and coughs at the end since she is trying so hard to push as much laugh as she can out of her. :)

All in all I think I just love what a happy and sweet little girl Lucy is!