October and stuff

I really love having a blog to record things that our little family is up to but why does it have to feel so overwhelming when I haven't blogged in a few weeks and all of the sudden I have a million pictures and no time to spend writing about them? Story of my life right now. Let's quickly get caught up October, shall we?

A few days after Trav and Em left us, Tyler was leaving us for ten days to go cruise on the Oasis (lucky dude... sometimes I really want his job), so my mom came in to keep me and the kids company for a few days. 

We beached:

We met up with friends and did some Halloween stuff:

We spent some time at Jungle Island:

On Tuesday, Mom was leaving us. We hadn't gotten enough of her so we decided to jump on a flight and head back to Utah with her. 

The day after we got to Utah, we woke up to snow.The first day of snow fall is my FAVORITE day of the year and since I never get that in Florida, it made the entire trip worth it.  Me and the kids were so pumped to be able to play in it all day. I really miss winter so much. 

So many pictures of the kids in the snow. But really I feel like there might be nothing cuter than kids all bundled in winter clothes, playing in the snow. I mean really, look at this:

Am I right? Nothing cuter.

The next day we hit up the Dinosaur museum with my sis-in-law and some of her friends:

We did the annual Cushing Halloween party (my mom REALLY knows how to party):

Yes, this is the best picture I could get of all the kids. Pathetic.

 My mom is such a great sport and never disappoints with her costumes.

 Monster cookies

 Making frames

and we went to the Children's museum. How great is it that I could use my science museum pass from Florida to get into the children's museum in Utah for FREE?! 

 Owen couldn't get enough of the helicopter.

We wanted to be back to Florida for Halloween so we headed back the following day. On Halloween we went to the library for a storytime and trick or treating:

That night we had our traditional chili, breadsticks and homemade donuts (YUMM)

For trick or treating we hooked up with some friends and headed out for a couple of hours. I didn't get one good picture of Owen and Collette in their Halloween costumes together. I really want to be one of those moms who takes amazing pictures and has super cute posed pic but it's never going to happen. I'm too super lazy and never reach for anything more than my phone to take pictures. 

Alright... that feels good to get October all blogged about  now that we're almost through with November. 

Hooray for Family Visits!

I know I've mentioned it before but man it's rough when you've looked forward to something for SO long and then it comes and goes in one second (or what seems like a second,  even though it was seven days). Trav, Em and four of their five children came to see us last month. It was so so fantastic and we are missing them like crazy  around here. They arrived on a Wednesday night super late so we got up the next morning and decided to take it easy and just head to the beach for the day:

 Aren't they the cutest? Together for over 20 years and still so in love. 

We spent hour and hours there and I'm pretty sure that when we said it was time to head out, the kids still would have loved to stay longer. I  really love the beach. So do these people.

I also really love ice cream so that night we headed down to Las Olas to hit  up Kilwins for the good stuff:

The next morning we got up and headed to South Beach to get ourselves some tasty burgers and do some shopping. If you ever find yourselves in Miami, you should definitely hit up the Shake Shack. It is so fantastic. I promise you won't be sorry.

Later that afternoon, we decided to beach it again and headed to Miami beach for a change of scenery from the day before.

We were so exhausted that night that we just ended up chillin at home for the evening.

Saturday we got up and went to hang out with some
of these guys:

We also took the boat out so the Cushing fam could check out the everglades and one more gator.

That night we decided to show them Ft. Laudy by moonlight. The kids weren't as impressed by the giant yachts or gorgeous houses as they were by the large fish they got to feed.

On Sunday we went to church in the morning and then went straight to Orlando to spend the next couple of days at Disney! We decided to go straight to Downtown Disney for dinner with the dinosaurs and sea creatures on  Sunday night.

 How cute are these faces???

Monday we spent the day at Magic Kingdom.

 I can't get enough of this little pirate.

 Sadie was amazing to have around. She basically took care of Collette for seven days straight.

 I love this lady!

Thank goodness for Fast Passes. Those had to be the best idea ever.

Tuesday we spent the day at Animal Kingdom. It was perfect weather and there were no lines.
I love having nieces and nephews  who love rides like I do. Carter and Kate could not get enough. I also love having a brother who hates rides and wants to spend the day hanging out with our children while we were climbing Everest a million times.

That night we had to head back home.

The Cushing fam was leaving Wednesday around three and the kids hadn't had enough of the beach  so we decided to head there for a few hours before they had to fly out. 

Then it was time to say goodbye. We hated HATED to see them go.
Thanks so much for coming to Florida to see us Em, Trav and fam! We miss you so much and can't wait to see you in a couple months for Christmas!