our holiday

we had a wonderful thanksgiving holiday this year that was full of family, good friends (we miss you already aprihl!), and a ton of delicious food. 

chris has a brother, doug, who lives in ohio. their family of eight went on a cruise for thanksgiving break. they left from miami so on their return, we drove over to ft. lauderdale to meet them for a morning before their long drive home. it was SO GOOD to see them! jack and ellie loved loved loved being around older cousins. its a good thing those older cousins have a lot of younger siblings or else all that loving attention could have gotten old... :)

here is the group, minus doug, our cameraman. 

this was in a mcdonalds parking lot haha!

the last time we were with these guys was back in 2009! holy smokes, alot changes when kids are involved.

while in ft lauderdale we had to visit the temple to see its progress.

im so excited! 

it is amazing how close it is to the interstate. its probably going to be an interesting sight for people unfamiliar with LDS temples, but we thought it was AWESOME!

 we also found this little gem:

Jaxson's Ice Cream Parlor

it was built in the 50's and smelled like it was built in the 50's. it was so fun and the kids thought all the lights and fun, quirky details were great.

the sounds of an old man playing the harmonica filled the parking lot while we waited in line to go in.

charlie's favorite food right now is popcorn.

does popcorn count as a favorite food?

he polished off this bowl in lightning speed.

nothing beats a banana split!

we had no problems polishing off that sucker.

we saw this beauty in a parking lot.

as chris snapped this picture, the owner walked up and asked him if he had scratched his baby and then had a good laugh. what would cause a person to think that gluing a bunch of fast food toys to their car would be a good idea?

we love trips. but a trip to see cousins takes the cake!