driving south

 I have been wanting to take our family to Universal Studios/Disney World for years. This past year Brian earned a nice bonus. I knew this might be our last chance to take them with the girls getting older and busier.

Our drive was an adventure to put it mildly. We had been driving less than 2 hours when 65 southbound closed. (Brian got out to take a look and it looks like he's doing something else. LOL)

We had planned on driving to Jeannette's house to visit with them. A 9 hour drive turned into 12. We still met them but it was at a restaurant instead of their home. She has a cute little farm and I was looking forward to seeing it. Maybe another time. We decided to stay the night in Chattanooga. I'm so glad we did. If we had stayed at Jeannette's we would have started our day in an ice storm. Luckily we were just south and didn't have ice. Shortly after we hit Georgia there was a tornado watch. WE just couldn't get a break! Intense rain and wind, but no tornado. We were still able to meet Todd for breakfast. It was great to see both Jeannette and Todd. I really need to try and see them again soon.

This is what the radar looked like before we arrived at the hotel. Crazy bad storms.

A picture of the kids in Mobile where they stopped for the night. 

Left to right, CJ, Hazen, Brie, Mason and Steel.
Below, Karlee, Paige, CJ, Hazen, Brie, Mason and Steel. Our kids weren't looking forward to seeing them. The last time we saw them was at Dad's funeral. The kids ended up having a lot of fun.

Our hotel only had two beds. I was hopeful they would sleep like this but it didn't last. Mason ended up sleeping on the floor.

It was good to see Todd. He's kind of looking old... but he's doing great!

We arrived at our hotel around 5. As soon as McKinzie arrived we rode the water taxi to City Walk for dinner. 

This is what I have to work with when taking pictures. I'm sure this will be an exciting week. 

We swam for about an hour after dinner. This was a very cool pool. All of us had fun, even Dex.

a temple visit

The boys have been going crazy with finding names to take to the temple. We decided to go do baptisms while Karlee was home and could go with us. Carson was very disappointed he couldn't do them with us. I kept telling him he did a big part of the work by finding the names. 

Carson did get a nice visit from the Temple President and his wife. They were impressed that he was willing to sit in the waiting room for us. Sister Doll then brought him a huge donut while he waited. That made him feel special. He didn't mind waiting after that. 

Karlee ended up being baptized and confirmed for 22 individuals, Mason 20. We had even more names but decided to save some to send a few to Bailee and also make sure Mason has names to take with him for the next time he goes on a youth temple trip.  

I love attending the temple with my family. It was a wonderful experience. In 9 months Carson will be old enough to to go in with us. I'm counting down the days with him. 

Christmas jammies

Our trip to Orlando was wonderful! Our Christmas jammies was like icing on the cake. Back in November I found these jammies online and McKinzie and I decided to do this and tell no one. I did tell Dad about it a week before our trip. He might have rolled his eyes. The jammies were a little see through so I told the kids they needed to make sure they had white undies. Carson was going crazy wanting to know why. 

Finally the day arrived and everyone opened their jammies. They were so excited! McKinzie wrapped them all. (I had to make sure she got credit.) And brought them with her. 

We quietly walked through the lobby of our hotel. We got lots of looks and a few people even told us we looked great! One guy walked past us and said, "cool". I had found a few Christmas trees in a quiet hall and that's where we took pictures. 

We got a few normal pictures, above. The kids had decided to pull the face below every 4th picture. (I use a timer to take our pictures in 4 shots each time.) Somehow the grandkids did it too! Crazy kids. I ended up using the picture below for our Christmas cards.

Then it got crazy!!!

We had a lot of fun.

Merry Christmas!!

We've had a wonderful Christmas Day. We woke up at 6 to see what Santa brought. This might be the first year we've set an alarm. We only checked out our stockings and Santa's gift since we had church at 8:30. 

Because of Tank we can't leave food out on the counter. This is the note Carson left for Santa.

These four slept in the same room with big boys on the floor. Karlee ended up sleeping with Kinz.

Davis sent me a picture of Murray and Stella. It sounds like all is going well with them. When I dropped our dogs off I mentioned to Davis that Murray was in need of a haircut. Davis cut his hair! He looks super cute!

Before we got dressed for church I snapped a picture. I didn't know who might wear them later.

After we checked out what Santa brought, we got dressed for church, took a few pictures, then off to church we ran. It was a nice simple sacrament meeting. It was great to see friends in the ward. When we got back home the boys put their Christmas jammies back on to open presents. They sure looked cute!

Carson made this at school. I've always loved their gifts they make in class. He's in 5th grade so this will be my last. This makes me a little sad.

Looking at the mess I would say it was a success!

A little snuggle in the afternoon. 

It sure enjoy when my girls "forget" they're sisters and enjoy each other as friends.  

She's such a cute little ballerina.

I FaceTimed with Bailee this afternoon and we both were a little sad not to be together. I think she has had a good day it was just different then being at home. She's also a little stressed, her luggage was lost on her flight to SLC. She hasn't been able to get a hold of anyone for help either. Hopefully tomorrow she can get some answers. 

I'm grateful we were able to spend Christmas with McKinzie. We've had a wonderful week together. We'll head home to Chicago tomorrow when the kids go to bed and drive all night. One more long drive...