Dear Santa

The kids got to see Santa this year. Jayla is starting to catch on to the idea of Santa but doesn't want to go near his lap. She has seen him twice and both times didn't like it. As you can see Dad was a good boy this year and got to sit on Santa's lap with Jayla! It helped calm her down alittle bit. When asked what he wanted for Chirstmas little Jordan said an Xbox 360. Santa descretly looked over at us, and we were shaking our heads no. Then Santa explained to little Jordan that a lot of kids are asking for that and the elves are working over time so don't be disapointed if he doesn't get one. What a nice Santa!

I just thought this picture was cute and silly!

Sadly this was the best picture I could get of the kids. Jordan couldn't keep his eyes open and Jayla was doing her goofy smile. I took over a dozen pictures and was late to church, thank goodness for digital!

We will be going to visit Jordan's Family in Ohio after Christmas until school starts again. We hope everyone has a happy and safe Christmas.

Jordan's Birthday

Jordan had a pretty good Birthday this year. It kind of sneaked up on us between Jordan's graduation and Christmas. Having a birthday around Christmas is kind of a bummer! This year I decided I didn't want to do a big party. Instead he invited 3 of his friends from church over for a slumber party. He had a blast and it only cost us 2 pizza's, a lot of patience, and a night of sleep!

Make a wish!

All of the boys slept out in the living room on a mattress, but they didn't do much sleeping!

This is what they did ALL night! Played video games. I can't wait to own a house so that we have more space.

Jayla got a little sad because it wasn't her birthday and the presents weren't for her.

Family Pictures on the Beach

Happy Birthday to Jordan. It's his 9th Birthday today!!

We had to take Jordan's parents to the beach while they were here. And of course they needed pictures to brag to people that while it was 11 degrees in Ohio they were on the beach in Florida. Vicki was nice enough to snap a few family pictures of us. I love the pictures, only wished I'd planned ahead and actually got ready!

Gross I know, but I think it's cute!

I need to share a story, it's one of those if it can go wrong it will stories! Jordan's parents were able to fly out later in the evening on Monday so we went downtown to walk around and go to lunch. We printed out a restaurants.com gift card to a restaurant called Florida Cracker Cafe but after we got there the waitress told us that it was only for dinner. I said I would drive to the Library and print out another gift card while they shopped around. Well when I walked into the Library all of the public computers were down. So I went to a nearby hotel and acted like a guest and used their lobby computer. I planned ahead this time and printed out about 5 gift cards. When I got back downtown I realized I had left my cell phone at the hotel so I had to go back. When I finally got back we decided to go to Crab Grabber, but when we walked up it was closed down. We only had one gift card left downtown, it was at a Cafe. Jordan ran ahead to get us a table, but it had also closed down too!! By that time we were starving and everything downtown is expensive unless you have a coupon. So we decided to go to a place along the beach called Beachcomber. When we were getting out of the car a guy came up and asked us if we were with the golfers, no, well we are closed today to serve the golf tournament. By this time we just couldn't help but laugh. Ok we'll go the "world famous" Oasis. I know it's not closed down! As we pulled us there weren't alot of cars in the parking lot and then we noticed the sign that said closed for renovations. Are you kidding me?! We couldn't be mad, it was just crazy. The first restaurant wouldn't take the coupon, the next 2 were closed down and the next 2 were closed for the day. Now we are completely out of coupons and starving!! So we went to Mango Mango's which is always delicious! It's funny out sometimes things just aren't meant to be!

Graduation!!!

Jordan graduated!!! Yay! His Mom and Dad came down to watch him graduate with his Masters in Occupational Therapy. We are all so proud of him. We had a great weekend celebrating his accomplishment. Now only 4 more semesters!

Who's that handsome guy??!

Here's the proof!

Our Whole Family!

That's a good looking Family!

Jordan walking across that stage

Afterwards we went to Yamatos, a Japanese steakhouse where they cook the food on a grill in front of you. Jordan loved it and Jayla freaked out everytime there was fire, but other than that it entertained her. All of us at the Restaurant, and yes, the food was delicous!

Is it a Boy or Girl?!?

Profile of head

Feet, I love the feet pictures!

Face, this one is harder to tell what it is, plus the face pictures are always alittle freaky in an ultrasound.

I had my ultrasound this morning and found out the sex of the baby. After 10 minutes of pushing on the baby to try to get it to open it's legs we found out We are having another girl!! Yay!! I'm so excited for Jayla to have a baby sister. Little Jordan is a little disappointed, I guess he's just going to have to get used to playing with dolls and putting makeup on. Now the boys are out numbered! Jordan and I did have a feeling that this one was a boy so it was a little shock when it was a girl. But the most important thing is it looks healthy and growing good! So excited!!!

Beanie??

I was helping little Jordan with his first report and when I walked by the living room this is what I saw..
I guess Beanie is just getting in touch with his feminine side! Some how he managed to put this on by himself.

Jordan's Mom and Dad are coming in town tomorrow for his graduation on Friday. I'm so proud of him. I know that past 2 years have been hard but he did it! We also find out on Friday if we are having a boy baby or girl baby. So stay tuned for more posts!

We are thankful for....

Our Family!

This is Jayla "helping me" Thanksgiving morning...she did get that spoon very clean!

Here's the turkey that Jordan and I made. I'm always proud when it actually turns out. Jordan did all the hard work pulling out the gross stuff inside and doing all the dirty work and heavy lifting. I just babysat it while he played football. We make a pretty good team!

This year we got together with all of the other PT families from our ward and had Thanksgiving dinner. We were worried there wouldn't be enough food but as you can tell from the picture it looks like enough for a ward party and we only had 8 families. The food was great and it was so fun getting to spend Thanksgiving with our friends, which is the next best thing when we can't get together with family. We are so lucky to have such good friends here while we go through school.

This year I'm not going to do any Black Friday shopping, which is probably why I'm doing this right now! Jordan has to be at his internship today and I've got most of the Christmas shopping done for the kids. I did get my shopping fix last night by going to CVS and getting a bagful of things for free. Since I've started couponing and deal hunting I'm hoping that this year's Christmas won't cost us that much. I would like to step away from the material stuff and get back to what Christmas is really about...our Family and the birth of our Savior.

Now it's time to start setting up then decorations and putting the tree up!
The Holidays have begun!!!

Football is over...

Sadly little Jordan's football season has come to an end. I'm ready for a break from the weekly practices and early morning Saturday games but Jordan is such a sports nut that I don't know what's he's going to do with his time! He'll have to decide what Winter sport he wants to do. For their final game they held it in the High School Stadium. They announced each player's name and they got to run across the field. The cheerleader's held up a sign for the teams to run through. I got it on camera, but I don't know how to transfer it, when I figure it would I'll post it. Jordan got to play center. In the picture he has the ball. Even though his team lost in over time it was a very good game.

(Big) Jordan has good news..he passed his exits!! So that means he's good to go to graduate! He is wrapping up the last few weeks at his internship. His graduation date is for December 11th and we are so excited that his parents will be here to celebrate with us.

Jayla is...well Jayla! The past few months she's gone from sleeping in her crib to a pack and play in our room then to it in her room, then to the toddler bed and now back in her crib! We just want her to sleep! Her vocabulary is growing every day and we are always shocked at the things she says. She is such a sweet girl, always willing to give hugs and kisses. The other day Daddy had a boo-boo and Jayla went to get the "princess ice" and a napkin and then gave it kisses to make it better. We feel so blessed to have her in our lives...now if we can only get her to eat!

And I'm doing good. I'm still in that "is she just getting fat or is she pregnant" stage. I'm 16 weeks and we should find out by Christmas if it's a boy or a girl! I try to keep myself busy by taking Jayla to story time, music time and now once a week my friend is teaching a Yoga class. The kids pay attention for about 10 minutes and then the moms get a workout. Jayla can now do standing tree and down dog and she's definately more flexbible than me! I'm getting excited for the Holidays to come. We are getting together with our friends for Thanksgiving and Christmas is coming soon. I've been shopping throughout the year so I think I have most of the presents for the kids.

Ok I think that's enough for now! Next time I'll try to have more pictures, I know they are so much more interesting!

HaPpY hAlLoWeEn!!!

We had a great Halloween this year! Friday night we went to our ward's chili cook off and trunk or treat. Little Jordan was a ninja this year and Jayla had a few different costumes. For the church party she wore a grass skirt that my mom brought back from Hawaii and Jordan and I wore beach clothes. It was a fun and easy family costume. We won an award, Best Hawaiian costume...I think they just made up the award for us!Little Jordan got to go to his first Haunted House. Our friends took him and said that he did pretty good. One of his coaches from football was working inside and yelled his name, I think that really freaked him out! And then on Halloween we went with our friends out for pizza and then went trick-or-treating. Jordan ran from house to house with the bigger kids and Jayla slowly followed. She LOVED trick-or-treating but didn't like the spooky stuff. But she loves all the candy...now I just need to keep it out of her reach!




We went trick or treating at publix..."where shopping is a pleasure."



The only pumpkin that we decorated this year. The parts just stick in like mr. potato head...so much easier than carving!
Jayla and some of her friends from church...don't they look so cute!
And yes it was almost 90 degrees on Halloween!!

The Fall fun is beginning

We made caramel apples the other day for FHE. I Love caramel apples! We invited our friends over to make them with us. Even though I burned the caramel and my wonderful husband had to make a quick trip so the store...we still had a great time!
Jayla went to a Halloween party at the library today..sorry no pictures the batteries died in the camera!! This year I didn't buy or make Jayla a costume. She has princess dresses and a hula outfit that grandma brought back from Hawaii . She refuses to wear any of it! I had to chase her through the house, put the princess/fairy dress on her wiggling body and then gave her candy to bribe her to be good. But hey, it worked! She didn't mind having it on the rest of the time. I think she will like Halloween, especially after she realizes they put candy in her bag!

Grab your winter gear!

This is the time of year where it is hard for me to live in Florida. The Fall is my favorite season. I love the leaves changing color, caramel apples, hay rides, pumpkin patches, cool crisp evenings...but that doesn't happen here. You see the sweaters in the stores but realize that you don't have a need for a new sweater because you only got to wear the one from last year 4 times. But something amazing happened today! It got below 90 degrees! I think I heard that the high is only supposed to be in the low 70's. This morning for Jordan's game it was actually chilly outside. I got to dress Jayla in a cute little sweatsuit. I'm used to seeing her in a t-shirt and shorts so it's cute to see her in something different. You should have seen everyone at the football game, wrapped up in blankets, hats, scarves, and winter coats. And after the game Jordan wasn't dripping with sweat. Don't get me wrong there are some great advantages to living in Florida during this time of year...we don't have to scrap windows in the morning, kids can play outside year-round, and for halloween the kids can actually wear their costumes without a coat over them. But I'm thankful for these few Fall days that we get, I know soon it will be over.

Big News!!

Read My Shirt!!

...If you can! When Grandma got off the airplane this is the shirt that Jayla was wearing. It says "BIG SIS" It took a second for her to get what that meant. We are going to be having another BABY!! We are very excited. Jayla is going to make a great big sister. I had my first doctor's appointment and the due date is May 5th....Cinco de Mayo. That means that I miss being pregnant during the hottest months in Florida.


Here's a picture of the first ultrasound. I know you can't tell what anything is but when it was being taken you could see the baby's little legs moving around and dancing on the umbilical cord. If this one is anything like Jayla it won't stop moving for the next 8 months!

Grandma's Visit

My mom was able to visit for the last week. It has been a fun and busy week. We have gone to the farmer's market, the beach 3 times, down town St. Augustine, Jordan's football game, the mall to get Jayla's 2 year pictures taken and do build-a-bear (both of which were not a success!), we went kayaking and got to see dolphins and sea turtles, climbed up the light house, and went out to eat a few times (ok I tried to cook as little as possible!)
It's too bad that we don't get to spend more time with family but we try to make the most out of the time we get!