Baby Buddies!!

The other night at bed time, James and Dorothy start yelling for me to come and see something. I walk into Dorothy's room and see Preston and Dorothy snuggled up in Dorothy's bed. Dorothy asked me if she could have a slumber party with baby buddy! This had to be the cutest thing I have ever seen, so James grabbed the camera and snapped a shot of our two little buddies all cuddled up!!!

Dorothy just loves her little brother!!!

Bear or should I say Burr lake!!!

We visited the beautiful Bear Lake while we were in Utah for the first annual Thomas family reunion!!! This lake, for those of you who have never been, is the most beautiful lake I have ever seen in the US. Now, I have not seen too many lakes in the USA, so really I am speaking with not much experience but still... It has a striking resemblance to the Sea of Galilee which I have been to (study abroad to Israel) and I think that is the most beautiful lake in the World!!

We had a lot of fun with the Thomas family! We went swimming in the lake and pool (I did not participate: too cold), ate, made crafts, miniature golfing, talked, waited hours for bear lake raspberry shakes, and got rained out a few times!!! Overall, we did what families do best and that is bond! It was a wonderful weekend of fun!!

Beautiful Bear Lake!!

James taking Preston out for a "walk!"

Dorothy took this picture of Tommy, Papa, Meg and baby Cort!

"Twinkle Toes!!"

Dorothy and Mommy enjoying beverages by the beach!!
(Dr. Pepper in honor of Heidi and Jen)

Future Olympic gold medalist in water running!

At the farm!!

We visited Utah to attend the "Thomas family reunion" and stopped off in Spanish Fork to see the Mickelsen family along the way. We started off by going to the pool but the lightning storm made us leave. We then had a BBQ which was wonderful!! Then the guys went 4 wheeling with my brother Evan's two new "rides" and well... There was a rather large accident and 2 four wheelers are now totaled!! Thank goodness no one was hurt!! We had plans to go four wheeling the next day but since that was out, we decided to go to the Thanksgiving point farm. Dorothy loves this place. We took her last year and she has been talking about it ever since!! We learned how to milk a cow, saw lots and lots of animals, petted the bunnies, rode horses, and fed the goats!!

Feeding the goats!!

Dorothy riding a pony!!

Preston and Mommy at the farm!!

The Family at the Farm!!!

Cousins, Cousins, Cousins!!!

Russian RUN-IN!!

Now out of respect for my parents and the mission they were on I almost did not do this blog. But because trials are apart of everyday life and sometimes it is really fun to laugh about all the crap we go through I decided to post about my run-in with our Russian landlords!!

When we arrived to Denver anxious to get our new life started here and to stop living out of a suitcase, we found "hurricane Natasha" for us to clean!!
Our landlords had left in a hurry?? I hope so because I don't want to think that they are rude and left this place a pit!!
The house was filled with junk, and when I say junk, I mean JUNK!!! They left for us a pee soaked mattress, a pee soaked futon, pee soaked carpet and all the food they did not want!!! When we asked Natasha our landlord about it she said "anything you don't want just throw away." Like it was no big deal!! So we did: we threw away about 25 large garbage bags full of crap!! We also spent a day and a half cleaning this house!!! James and his Dad spent a day and a half fixing up all of the things on Natasha's "honey do" list that were never done! And my wonderful Mother-in-law watched the kids so that I could scrub, sweep, and sanitize this place!!!

Welcome to "junkville!"

Where did they get this ugly futon??

Who leaves their bathroom like this????

Look at all the food they left us!! (Most of it was expired.)

Who leaves this much crap for someone else???

This is what I saw before going in!!

All in all I was as mad as mad could be and after calling them "dirty pigs" for two days, threatening to move every five minutes, and putting our blood, sweat, and tears into this home, I am happy!! Sometimes I think the trials we have help us to appreciate all that we have. I can honestly say I appreciate having a clean home!!!

P.S. Don't worry we charged them a cleaning and trash removal fee that will be deducted from our next month's rent!!!

New food and bikes!!

Well it's official Preston had food today!! At his last Dr.'s appointment the Dr. said we could give him rice cereal. Well I was not really ready for him to grow up and would not try it until James talked me into it today. He had rice cereal and LOVED IT!!! Dorothy of course had to get in on all the action by trying to feed him as well!
We went to church which was a little interesting... We live in one of those "newly wed/nearly dead" wards. I think after some time we will get to know our ward and some friends but next week we are headed to Bear lake for a family reunion. So it is going to take some time as it always does whenever you move.

Preston getting ready to for his cereal!!

Preston smiling at Dorothy in between bites!

Dorothy helping me feed her little brother!

Dorothy of course had to have her turn being fed!!!:):)

We went on a walk today and Dorothy rode her new Dora bike around. She loved it!! She loves being outside all the time. Papa bought her a new swing set that is out in the back yard and I spend most of the day sitting on the deck watching her play. She has had a little bit of a rough time adjusting to the change, like today at church when she kept asking for "her Florida Kenna." But I think things like the swingset and bike are helping!

























Riding her new Dora bike!

Taking a little break!!

We are adjusting, we really like Denver we just miss our friends. We have a fun week planned with a visit to Utah in store!! We will keep you updated!

Our big move!!!

Well we did it... We moved across the country. The drive was long but beautiful. I think at least once, everyone needs to drive cross country and see how beautiful this country really is!!

What Preston did while we packed!

I am sick to death of packing all this mess!!

At a stop on the road!

We visited some amazing sites along the way. I had to stop in Nashville, being the country music fan that I am. We ate dinner at a "southern restaurant" right in Nashville. I had (please read with a southern accent) pulled pork, beef brisket, sweet bread, sweet potatoes, and green beans. It was actually pretty good!

Our Southern dinner!

We next stopped at the St. Louis arch. Amazing landmark!! We only had a few hours because I was really anxious to get to Nauvoo. But we still managed to see the arch and get some pictures!!

Gateway to the West!

Our last and best stop was in Nauvoo. I absolutely love this city!! It has such a special spirit there. President Hinckley said that every Latter Day Saint should visit Nauvoo at least once in their life. We saw the pageant which was incredible and then visited the sites. We spent three days there. James said his favorite site was the temple as well it should be. So I picked a different one. The Old Nauvoo Burial grounds. This site is not one of the "popular" ones but has such a strong spirit. We went at dusk and as we walked up the path to the graveyard you could see the fire flies (side note it has always been one of my life goals to see fire flies so at the age of 29 I finally achieved one of my goals!!) anyway as we walked up you could see the fire flies flying all around the graves. I looked out over all the countless graves and just thought about how much those Saints sacrificed for us. What a testimony it is to us to see all that they have given to help bring us the gospel. At each site after the tour the missionary giving the tour would bear their testimony of the gospel. One missionary said "to see all that these Saints gave makes you pause and think why?? It was because of their love for the Savior and his gospel." In the pageant Parley P Pratt said "when you're here we're here." I really thought about those words during our stay and how true they are as we visit Nauvoo we can really feel the spirits of those early Pioneers and they are there bearing their testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I truly feel that my life was blessed to be able to visit that special city.

Learning a Scottish jig!!

Preston's favorite part of Nauvoo the sock puppet!!

Our little Pioneer!

Prairie Diamonds for all!!

The Beautiful Temple!

Families can be together forever!!

Carthage, Illinois

Brigham Young's cellar

Preston dips his toe in the Mississippi river!

We finally arrived safely here in Denver. So far it has been pretty nice, not as hot as South Florida but it also is missing some people I love and miss! I really miss all of my wonderful friends and am planning on visiting (hopefully) someday! Then we can go to Pei Wei's and Jen can get us some more free stuff!!