And We're Back!

Well, here we are back at home. It is nice to sleep in our own beds, and see our animals, but man is it hard coming back to 20 degree weather and a snow storm! When we left Tampa it was sunny skies and 80 degree weather!

I've been told by co-workers that I look tan and refreshed. I don't quite believe the tanned bit, but I do feel very relaxed and refreshed. It was simply wonderful to spend 2 weeks with my family and enjoy the things we did! I can't thank my Mom and Dad enough for such a great trip! That was our family Christmas present...talk about topping it next year, lol! Mom joked that she didn't know who benefited from it more, them or us!

Tonight I had the choice of dusting and vaccuming, or blogging...you can guess which one won out.

We have a serious overload of pictures that I'll have to go through. Jake made a comment on our first day at Disney. It was mid afternoon and he said, "So, you think this trip will be about 12 scrapbook pages?" First, my mouth dropped on the ground, and then I died laughing. Typically, I can get on average 4 photos to a page. Sometimes more, sometimes less depending on the page. When I explained this to him, and said that would only equal about 48 pictures he said, "Well, I guess it's a bit more than that, huh?!"

YES QUITE A BIT MORE! TRY 547 PICTURES DURING THAT TRIP!

Of course there will be those random ones that weren't quite right due to being blurred, etc. but I figure that still leaves at least 480 pictures. Let's say I do 5 pictures to a page...that's still 96 scrapbook pages!!!! SERIOUSLY?!!! I'm sure I'll figure it out, and it won't be quite that bad, but I'll document it as I go! And in all honesty, I really hope I even get to them this year! I'm still so behind on others, but that aside, I need to move on with the rest of our trip!

Previously, I posted our flight there, the boating trip on Silver Springs River, Daytona Beach, and last but not least, Sea World.

So let's start back at Wednesday the 21st where I left off. That was Sea World day and Brady's Birthday! He's having a Monster Truck party with his little friends this Saturday and wanted a Monster Truck cake while we were in Florida!

This cake was just perfect for him! Brady got lots of awesome presents from everyone!

Thursday marked our first day at Disney World. We started off by going to Hollywood Studios. Here we met lots of the characters, went on some great rides, and saw a Lights, Motors, Action stunt show.

The kids loved meeting Buzz and Woody! The funniest thing...Buzz would "turn off" and you had to press his button to make him turn on again. Woody wouldn't let the kids turn him back on! You can tell these guys have a blast at their job!

Mike and Sully!!

Heh, heh, heh. I made the kids stand under this...Gwynie got it! :)

Woot! One of Brady's all time favorite movies! He has so many of the Cars characters cars and playsets that of course we had to make sure we saw these guys!

Then we found the Power Rangers and Brady wanted to meet the Blue one, go figure! When we got up there, the Power Ranger turned Brady's hat around and posed his hands!

Shortly after that we finished up in Hollywood Studios and decided to head over to the Magic Kingdom!

We spent the last half of the day in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom, and managed to get this cool pic of the castle! The colors kept changing and the kids were entranced.

The next day we dedicated the whole day to Magic Kingdom since there was so much to see and do there!

Teacups was pretty much the only thing Brady said we had to do...so of course me and the kids went on it! Jake wasn't about to do it!

Minnie and Mickey's houses were fun!

Then meeting them was even more fun!

On Saturday we had our final day at Disney. We split the day up between Animal Kingdom in the morning, and Epcot in the afternoon.

The Tree of Life

This thing is so freaking cool! They do the Bugs Life show actually under the tree itself, in the roots! It is so neat up close, there are so many animals in the tree bark!

When we met every character they would all put their hands on Brady's head and pretend his spikey hair was so sharp and pointy. Lilo just loved Brady's hair and made Stitch's hair just like Brady's. It was hilarious!!

There was a whole area dedicated to meeting some of the other characters at Animal Kingdom, so we got to meet Jungle Mickey and Minnie!

Then we made our way over to Epcot! They had some awesome things for parents, and some fun, even educational kids programs! Of course there was Honey I Shrunk the Audience, but the kids loved the Finding Nemo stuff the best I think! That and any futuristic type rides they loved!


There is also a whole area that is setup like other countries that you travel through. Here I am trying to figure out how to get down to the Ministry of Magic...they used this in the movie...I'm sure it had to be it!

That Saturday night after we were all done with the parks I got to go with my sis Shae to a Wizard Wrock concert. There I got to meet my long time online friend Mandala! It's so funny, the first thing she said was, "I feel like I know you already!" which was exactly what I was thinking! We have so many things in common, we probably could have sat and chatted for hours!



Sunday was a day of resting and packing as we knew Monday and our flight home would come all too soon...

This was taken on our way to the Tampa airport. Both kids were so tuckered out from 4 days of walking and just a fun, amazing, awesomely wonderful trip!

Sea World

I can't believe it's already been almost 2 weeks! I am so sad our vacation is ending. We have loved spending time with my family and being able to go to Disney World and Sea World. Although I am looking forward to my bed and seeing our pets again, it will be really hard saying good bye tomorrow.

I thought I would get a bit more of our vacation days on here before work and everything starts again! Wednesday the 21st was Brady's 6th birthday, and the main thing he has been wanting to do for ages was go to Sea World. We did that on his birthday (I'll post those pics and Disney later) and had a blast. It was very cold, but we had a fantastic time and saw some amazing shows!

We went to the Dolphin Nursery first thing that morning. Dolphins are my favorite animal, and I'm pretty sure they knew it! They were so playful and kept posing for me! :) This guy here has a leaf that he kept flipping up and catching!

The kids loved the Shamu show, and the Dolphin show had such amazing stunts. The kids loved posing on these little whales!

And so Shae and I decided that we needed to play on them, too! We were going for a whole "riding" them with our hands in the air.

And then of course I had to show my clumsy side....I don't know how I did this, but of course, here is my falling off the whale! I just laughed so hard and the whole family was dying laughing too because they all know me and how clumsy I can be. You would never know I did drill team in high school and college! :P

Brady and the Sea World car

Well, I guess that is all I have for now! I'll leave you with a slide show of several Sea World pics. I have no clue how many we have actually taken this trip...I'm guessing about 300+. I'll let you know the final tally!

Florida Fun!!

Well we are here in Florida, and loving every minute of it! Just to give you an idea...it was 75 degrees today at the beach! :P


We've played at the beach, soaked in Mom and Dad's hot tub, took a spin on their boat, and are getting ready for SeaWorld and Disney World this week. Plus, we've been treated to Mom's awesome cooking! We've had fantastic breakfasts and amazing dinners. Last night we had Steak and Lobster Tails, and for breakfast we had Mom's famous Egg Gravy and biscuits. Yes, we have been spoiled!


Since I know it will take me ages to update everything once we get home, I figured I would do a little at a time!

First, the plane ride on Wednesday! The kids did really well on the flight from SLC to Phoenix, but got a bit restless from Phoenix to Tampa. At least they had lots of entertainment in the electronic form!

Brady took this picture as we were leaving Salt Lake and the snow!

We ordered drinks on the plane and Brady loved his apple juice in a can! That was the best dang $2.00 can of apple juice he ever had!

Then on Thursday Mom and Dad took us out on the boat. It was actually a little chilly (about 60), but we still had fun anyways! We saw lots of cool fish underwater and then got to see them on Dad's FishTV. It was so amazing!

This tree is called The Lucky Palm. It grew in a circle, and local legend says if you stand in the circle and make a wish it will come true.

The kids loved driving the boat most of all!

Me and Brady...I was midsentence, lol!

Jake and Brady

Poppa David and the kids

Grammie Della and the kids (Brady was having loads of fun I promise...)

We saw lots of birds and turtles, but no Alligators or Monkeys (left behind after filming Tarzan back in the day!) because it was just too cold for them.

We did see lots of birds, and this guy was drying his feathers off after fishing.

Look at the cute turtles!

Friday night Shae took Jake and I to see Repo! The Genetic Opera! It was playing in Salt Lake on Tuesday night, but we weren't able to see it since we were leaving on Wednesday. We were so excited they extended the showings in Gainesville!

Trailer for Repo

Me with my Repo ticket and the poster!

"Zydrate comes in a little glass vial!"

"A little glass vial?"

"A little glass vial!"

We loved the soundtrack and it was even better actually watching it! We can't wait for the DVD!

Today we went to Daytona Beach and enjoyed the warm weather! Brady took a spill in the ocean (Why are we not surprised!), but other than that it was a pretty perfect day. Mom and Dad got the kids some tee shirts and hoodies from a souvenior shop and they are so excited to show them off at school!

Here are some of my favorites at the beach, and then a slideshow with about 50 pictures from the beach.

Brady is telling the ocean who's the boss

Gwynie's running from the waves

Family Pic