Visiting with one cute niece and meeting a new one (on Skype)!

Just a week before it was time for us to move to my parents' house, we came for a visit so that we could see my brother's family. They were visiting from another state. It was great because my niece and Kevin were born 2 days apart so we had a joint birthday party complete with 2 cakes, a pinata, a sprinkler, and lots of fun new presents. We love to spend time with Ari and can't wait to meet her little sister (more about that at the bottom of the post)
We also went to the beach and Busch Gardens. No surprise there. They are our two favorite places!

Kevin was taking a nap in the stroller while Elena went on the tea cups at Disney World, so we were all glad that he got to have a turn at BG.
Cousins!

My brother and his wife welcomed a super cute new baby girl last week. Keira is beautiful. I'm so grateful that I can see her on Skype even though I only have this 1 hospital photo of her to share. She looked calm and extra cute yesterday in her little pink dress. Maybe they'll send more photos soon... :)

So...we moved last month

It's a been a time of transition. We had to say goodbye to our lovely house (it still has not sold, in case anyone is keeping track), our amazing friends, and a town that had really become home. I am SO grateful to all of my friends that helped out that last week. Different friends offered to watch the kids everyday so that we could pack. The missionaries assisted Dan in loading the truck. Someone else brought us dinner and a dessert our last night in town. Plus, I had 3 awesome ladies show up our last day in town to help me do all the cleaning, so we could leave the house in good shape. They scrubbed the house with me from 8 am until 1 pm! I honestly do not know how people move without friends as incredible as mine. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Elena was extra glad about this show of generosity because it gave her an opportunity to have a playdate with some of her favorite people. I didn't remember to take a picture each day, but here are a few.

Izzy, Abbi, and Caleb

Nathan and Lizzy (with siblings) and Nathan's mom Marianne

Sadie

Reese and Becky (Presley was napping when this pic was taken)

Addellyn

Also, we went to the church Tuesday night before we moved to say goodbye to some of our favorite youth and their families. We miss our Winston friends very much!

Irma, Estela, and Andrea

Elizabeth

Elisa, Valeria, Andrea, Ricardo, Atzyri

Esteban, Ivonne, Anna, Yvette, Abuela Hernandez

Poor Elisa :)

On Saturday, Dan drove the truck and we followed (a couple hours behind). On Monday, Dan put the car seats into the UHaul so that the kids could have a ride in the big truck just like they had been hoping. I think he got a haircut later this same day.
*Among the friends that we miss is the Gasser family. Please keep them in your prayers as they mourn the loss of their beautiful four month old son Beckett. I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge that families can be together forever.

30, Flirty, and Thriving!

Is anyone else a fan of "13 going on 30"? I love that movie.

I turned 30 last month, and I have to say that it was great! I hosted a craft night a few days before my birthday, and then we went to spend time with my brother's family.

Craft Night birthday cake and me making a really weird face:

Unfortunately, I guess I was too busy talking, eating, and crafting to take pics while everyone was there. I snapped this one as Summer (my ultra-crafty friend) was leaving at midnight.

I made one headband (the instructional video is here) and two belts. It was a lot of fun:

We had a great visit with my family. On my birthday, we went to Busch Gardens during the day and went to dinner and a movie that night. It was so great to go out with Dan, my brother, my sis-in-law, and my sister. I have a cute pic of us all at Panera Bread, but my computer savvy brother doesn't like his picture on the internet, so just believe me when I say that we had a good night. :) here is a picture of my desert though. We went to an amazing crepe/gelato place and I ordered the spaghetti. Awesome. It is supposed to be vanilla gelato (that they squeeze through a press to make noodles) with strawberry sauce, a chocolate gelato meatball and white chocolate shavings, but I mixed up the flavors a bit. Try to image how cool it would look if I had done it right. :)
First thing in the morning: Dan was so sweet and went out and bought party hats and a banner. Elena brought me mine to put on while I was still in bed:)
At Busch Gardens: Look how brave my little boy is! He wasn't even 2 yet! He's sitting between my Dad and me. We went on this ride 5 times. He loved it! It's a kid version of 'The Drop Zone' type of ride.
We used to always take pictures together before we went on big dates when we were dating, so I asked my sister to take one. This is what I look like as a 30 year old. :)

Day 5 and 6: Downtown Disney & The Drive Home

Wow, I felt like we took so many pictures during our trip, but I keep thinking of things that we did that we have no photos of. I guess there's no such thing as too many pics on a family vacation. Let that be a lesson to me.
We checked out of our hotel and then drove to Downtown Disney which is full of stores and restaurants and has free parking/admission. Our first stop there was the Lego store. The next few pictures are all made of Legos.
These were taken in front of the biggest Disney Store in the world. The kids got their main souvenirs on this last day in Florida. Elena bought a small Tinkerbell doll with about 20 accessories and Kevin bought a Lego Duplo set of 2 of the cars from the Cars 2 movie.
Sweet little copycat Kevin admires Elena so much.
I bought my souvenir at Once Upon a Toy. Apparently the only photo I took of the store was this train. My most expensive souvenir was actually for the kids, but it was totally my idea because I thought it was so cute. They have a small box for Mr. Potato Head parts. You can fill it for $20. I had a cast member cram the box full for me with the items I'd selected. It was awesome. We now have all these Disney parts - Tinkerbell hair, Buzz shoes, Cruella DeVille purse, etc. The woman must have fit 25 things in there! I'll have to remember to take a picture of it all later.
We also ate good food, shopped in the Christmas store, and rode on the carousel. At about 4pm, we started to drive home. It had been a fun day and worth the late start heading home. We had tried to extend our original room for one night, but our Orlando hotel was booked for Memorial Day weekend. So, we stopped somewhere in Georgia. I'm so glad that we did. I was thinking we just drive all night. That would've stunk. Anyway - we stayed here:
We played in the indoor pool that night. Enjoyed our bigger and super clean room. In the morning we had their awesome free hot breakfast and swam in their outdoor pool. Kevin and Elena loved climbing on this counter and then sliding down the couch in front of it. He's showing off his new cars in this picture.
I wanted to take a picture of the kids sleeping in the backseat on the way home since we started the trip with them awake. Unfortunately, when they were sleeping, I was either driving so Dan could sleep too or else I was asleep in the passenger seat.
We had a fantastic trip and I'm so glad that we went! We are going to have to scrimp for a while to make up for it, but everyone needs an impromptu Disney trip every now and then. It was a great graduation for Dan and birthday for me gift. The best.

Day 4: Magic Kingdom

This was the most magical day. Prepare yourselves for lots of photos! Starting with the first ride of the day...Dumbo! One of my books gave us a tip to wait in line separately about 30 people apart, so when I got done on the ride with the kids, I handed them over the railing to Dan and he went with them on the ride again without them having to wait.
This was E's favorite ride of the day. Kevin was sleeping, so he missed out, but he did like the cups when he went on them at Busch Gardens a few weeks later.
We were able to go on a ton of rides at Walt Disney World, but of course, I don't really have pictures of very many of the rides. I do however have pictures of all the characters that we saw. Elena and Kevin were both very excited to meet everyone. That made it more exciting for Dan and I then I would have thought. For example, here is a photo with a talking robot trashcan.
I took pictures of some of the characters as we walked past, so that Elena will have proof of having seen them. For instance: Alice, Peter, and Rapunzel and Flynn. I know Elena would have loved to take a picture with the Tangled couple, but their line was was really long, so a photo from afar would have to do.

The Fairy Godmother
Mary Poppins was enthralled with Kevin's Lightning McQueen car. :)

The girl pirate from the newest movie. Angelina I think.

Sleeping Beauty has always been my favorite princess. There are a couple of reasons: Her pretty name, the idea that she was raised as a commoner and later found out she was a princess, and she got to marry the coolest prince of them all. Prince Philip is my favorite because he actually had to battle the dragon and he can sing. :) This was one instance where I was as excited as Elena. Aurora was very sweet to her and talked to for a long time before they even started to pose for pictures.

Mini-Belle and Belle

The whole time E was talking to Cinderella, Kevin was fussing to get down (I was holding him), so he could talk with her too. He loved showing everyone his McQueen car that we had bought the day before the same way that Elena showed everyone her new Tinkerbell necklace.

Other fun things that we did or saw:

The afternoon parade was great and we found a good spot again."It's Small World of Jeralls" (Haha - do you remember, Bethany?)

Kevin slept through the Winnie the Pooh ride

In Winnie's house

A robot Buzz we saw while in line for the Toy Story ride at MK

Trying on hats:

A Mater, Goofy, and Mickey combo. Could there be anymore characters on this hat?

Elena got to drive. She had so much fun. It was getting dark, so the picture isn't great, but it was a momentous occasion. Disney is so great, they even gave her a fake little driver's license when we got out of the car.

My little boy is so adorable, I just can't stand it! Seriously - look at this angel sleeping in the stroller!
Does anyone else remember this parade from when we were little? The Electrical Parade music was the same and everything! I used to play the record of the soundtrack over and over. Sorry, Mom, that was probably pretty annoying. :)
After the fireworks, we took one final picture and said goodbye! Isn't my brother the coolest to give us all his tickets?!