buckeyes in the sunshine state (part uno)

aunt amy and uncle tyler came to florida!!!

our kids had never met these cousins before, which is just sad.

so they made the 17 hour drive from ohio to visit for a week and we all had the best time ever.

seriously, the kids had such a blast and it was wonderful to get to know their beautiful girls.

we crammed each day full of fun activities and then at night the kids all packed in together and laughed and giggled and had a grand time falling asleep while the adults stayed up talking, eating key lime pie and chips and salsa, and watching youtube videos. it was awesome!

are you ready for a picture overload?

here we go!

after dinner the first night, we went for a walk on the beach to see the sunset.

chris didnt want the kids to get wet, so we decided not to wear swimsuits. 

HA. HA. HA.

no trip to sw florida is complete without a visit to our favorite crazy, cheap, red-neck petting zoo: skunk ape.

hadley and ellie

kate holding the gator

amy

lauren

dont let their sweet looks fool you-

kate and lauren were brave little chicas!

 go amy go!

i still havent worked up the courage to hold that big boy

tyler and madeline riding the tortoise

 charlie was.not.happy.

 this cockatoo curled right up and started purring

picnic time

it rained a couple times, so we had to get creative. good thing amy is awesome and has a billion fantastic ideas! like soap snakes...

lauren was the champion of our egg game!

her egg cracked all the competition

bo and larissa invited us all over for cake and ice cream on sunday evening after conference. we took full advantage of their beautiful backyard and played red rover, tag, and the kids all took turns on the swings.

on monday afternoon we were lucky to use a nice (heated!) pool courtesy of our dear friends the tucketts. kate and lauren got the hang of swimming and may have even sprouted fins :)

buckeyes in the sunshine state (part dos)

chris and tyler spent a morning at the golf course, played basketball at the church and went out to dinner before the priesthood session of conference, so after all that manly time, amy and i went and got pedicures one evening! wahoo! the moms also took the little ones to the park and had a fun adventure "opening" the disney store.

it wasn't all fun and games...

sometimes it was fun and movies too!

we spent saturday at the beach.

it was a tad chilly for us florida folk, but that didnt stop us from having a grand time!

i've never been to the beach with so many kids and not have any grumpy or unhappy little people. it was awesome.

on tuesday morning we picked up a (couple) dozen donuts and took them to riverside park.

oh these two!

charlie and madeline teased each other relentlessly

and it was very entertaining for the rest of us... most of the time.

i guess thats understandable when two two-year-olds are squished together in close quarters.

the boys found this little gator right outside the park while geocaching. 

pretty sure it lives in the canal. 

thats a comforting thought.

 before making the long journey home, chris took part of the group out for a boat ride and luckily a dolphin was out and came right next to the boat. couldnt have planned it any better!

we love you seaver family!

thanks for one of the best vacations ever

hiatus

our computer took a trip to the apple store for a week, we had guests for a week, and i was not feeling like blogging for a week, so all those weeks added up to a month long hiatus from the blog.

but we're back!

we had a fantastic easter!!!

minus charlie's throwing up at the ward easter breakfast. 

throwing up in public = no bueno.

 sunday we decided that he better stay home from church, which meant he missed out on wearing his sweet new shirt to church, but jack and ellie loved their special new Easter duds.

jack picked out his tie... it has pink marlins on it :)

jack had a school concert last month which was... as entertaining as watching a bunch of kids fight for the front row can be i guess! jack made it to the front and the whole program he searched for us and looked like this:

in other news,

we are updating our kitchen!

finally!

i've been waiting 5 years for this and it feels so so so good to make it happen.

we've ordered new cabinets, which are on their way, picked out our new granite counter, and have a shiny new sink just waiting (in our bedroom) to be installed. its the size of a small tub. i love that sink.

i have a feeling it will be my pride and joy.

eeeek! 

we are excited

it's been a lot harder than i thought it would be to make decisions. i always thought i knew what i liked and what i wanted, but when it came down to it (not to mention trying to combine two different peoples tastes) it hasnt been easy! but we are almost done with all the little decisions and excited to get busy installing it all and see it come together.