Life in the Wilde Family

Another Update

2009-06-01T18:43:00.000-07:00

In April we were able to enjoy my uncle and cousins coming to stay for a few days. My Aunt Karen and Uncle Dave are living in Holland and I don't get the chance to see them very often and my cousins are in New Jersey and Washington D.C. and I haven't seen them in 3 three years. So we got to spend Easter Sunday together. My Uncle Dave took Brad and I to Key West for the day in his airplane and we had a BLAST! As long as we've been in Florida, we still had never been. And what better way than to fly! My sweet friends Lindsay and Molly took the kids for us for the day and for that I THANK THEM TREMENDOUSLY! Dave and Brad doing the checklist for take-off.Enjoying the ride!
The pictures don't do the beautiful scenes any justice. The water was SO clear even from the air.Enjoying lunch and our Key Lime Pies. Hanging out on Easter SundayDave HAD to go to Siesta Key Beach(which is actually a GORGEOUS beach) except for the fact the is was lightning and thundering the entire time and we got stuck in a down pour! I guess we still gotta live right? Right!?! All in all I love it when family comes to visit. I can never get enough of it. So THANKS guys for coming! Karen you better come next time. And if anyone else has the urge to visit the Tampa area, you know that you'll always have a place to stay!

Sorry it's been so long!

2009-05-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

I no excuses this time. Just being lazy and ignoring my blog. So I'll do a brief catch up! We blessed Janie in February and had the Hindmans come and stay with us. It was a blast! 4 adults and nine kids all under one roof! Pure chaos and FUN! Abby held Janie the whole time and gave me a short break. And I think she needed a fix. She's so good with babies!
HAD to put this one of Tucker in here! We attempted to put all the kids together sleeping on 2 air mattresses, but slowing they all ended up in seperate bedrooms.Then we had Kelly and the boys come to visit in March. We had so much fun! We miss them terribly and the boys played together like they've never left each other. We were all pretty tired from staying up so late every night.

Janie Wilde

2009-02-02T19:09:00.000-08:00

So, I'm finally to the best part of making up for lost time. Jane LaRue Wilde was born December 27, 2008. She was 8 lbs. 4oz. 21 1/2in. long. Brad was sooo excited to get his extra tax break for 2008. We had a little bit of a hard time with this one. All of my kids have had jaundice to some degree. Owen was the only one that needed to have lights on him, until now. Janie had high bili levels. She was having a hard time breaking down enzymes and so she had to stay in the hospital for a couple of extra days. I had to travel back and forth to the hospital every two hours to feed her. It was not a pleasant experience, but I won't go into details. Then we got to bring her home late Jan. 1st only having to re-admit her on the 2nd into pediatric ICU. I know I should have been taking pictures of her in the hospital, but to tell the truth that was the last thing on my mind. I do now regret it. I was so lucky though to have my Dad and his wife come for a visit while all of this was happening. I hadn't seen him in a year, but was very grateful to them for watching the kids so I didn't have to worry about them. Brad and my Dad and Susie even potty trained Alex while all this was happening. YEAH!!! I got to spend at least one day with them and they got to see Janie before they had to leave. Here is the Wilde kid bunch.
She looks so much like Owen.

My Grandma also died while Janie was in the hospital. I was so upset and wished that I could've made it back home for the funeral. She was such a wonderful woman who I look up to in many ways. She was truly a western, stubborn, strong, faithful, loving,wise woman. I miss her terribly, but she's now with her sweet husband and my Mom. I was so blessed to have her as my Grandma, she taught me so much. I'm so grateful to know that Families Are Forever and that I will see them again in the life to come.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-31T10:21:00.000-08:00

I'm still trying to catch up. The month of December was busy too, but fun. We had tons of parties and play time. Owen had his first School Christmas Program and loved it. He knew all the words to the songs and sang loud. I was a little disappointed though that his class was the only one that didn't sing Christmas songs. There were a couple of kids in his class that were atheist and their parents complained about the Christmas songs. I got really upset. Not all Christmas songs have to be religious, they can be fun winter songs too. ANNOYED! But Owen had fun none the less. We had an adult Christmas party at our house! It was so nice to be able to enjoy our friends without any distractions from our children. "I gotta go potty, I'm hungry, (or my favorites) they're hitting me, they're doing ..." I love my kids really, but it's nice to have an adult break from time to time. These are just a couple of pictures of us playing some games. We played guys against girls a few times and I'm ashamed to say that the girls lost miserably. We even cheated! I guess that's what we get. I got to put up my new Christmas tree this year too. Christmas is my absolute FAVORITE time of year and I love Christmas trees. I wasn't really thinking about height though when I bought it. I bought it when we lived in our old house that had vaulted ceilings of about 15ft. so I bought a 9ft. tree. Luckily our rental house has a high point, so that's where I had to stick it. It will definitely be a check point when we get our new house. My tree has to fit.Christmas morning, the kids got up early as usual and I only got up because they started to open them without us. So I rushed into the room to stop them and made them wait for Mommy and Daddy.
And of course Daddy ALWAYS crashes on the floor when all the presents are finished being opened, the kids are way too busy playing with their new toys and I'm off making Christmas breakfast.
I love Christmas and I love the feelings that it brings. I miss my family most this time of year especially my Mom. She always made it seem so special. I'm so grateful that I can share with my kids the true meaning of Christmas and create those special memories that I grew up with. The traditions kept always bring a tear to my eye and I hope that I can pass those traditions on to my kids.

I Have an Excuse!!

2009-01-29T19:21:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I know that I haven't posted in what? 3 months? So I'm going to try and update briefly what's been going on in the Wilde Home. CRAZINESS! It's been very busy and very exciting. For Thanksgiving we had ALL of Brad's family come and stay with us for a Wilde Family Reunion. 20 people in our home for about a week and everyone had a blast! We had so much food left over from Thanksgiving dinner, it was a good thing that they stayed for that long. We went to Busch Gardens twice and to the beach. The weather was perfect, cool on the days we went to the park and nice when we went to the beach. The little cousins had so much fun playing together. They really have never had the chance to play together until now. The down part of living far away from family. It was so cute to watch them. I miss being around family and having that time together. The kids Thanksgiving morning watching cartoons. Burying Uncle Barry at Siesta Key Beach. The kids wrestling with Uncle Brent. Uncle Brent invented the "Butt Bazookas" which still have not vaded from my children's wrestling with Daddy. Thanks Brent!The original Wilde Children and spouses with Daddy and Renate Wilde. We went out to dinner without any children and it was so nice!!We wore the poor little things OUT!This was the best picture we could get with all the kids looking at the camera. I HATE taking pictures when I'm prego.Nightmare with this picture. Aftering having individual family pictures taken we tried to get one of everyone. It was HOT and the sun was in our eyes and the kids were CRANKY! I LOVE this one of Brad with Alex and Kate walking on the pier. At Busch Gardens, the boys are riding together and Kate was SOO upset that she didn't get to go.The Big Boys chowing down on the Thanksgiving appetizers. I forgot to take the slushy drink out of the freezer earlier to let it thaw in time for dinner. So I had Britt and Barry use my hair dryer to help out.

Which Twilighter Are You?

2008-11-03T07:34:00.001-08:00

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Making Stides Against Breast Cancer

2008-10-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

Don't mind the fat lady in these pictures, she just had to be in them to claim the kids. So I went with a couple of ladies that are in my ward last Saturday to be apart of the annual Strides Against Breast Cancer 5K in downtown Tampa. I look a little rough too, if you can't tell. I had to get up at 6 in the morning to get everyone ready for the day. And that's VERY early for this prego woman. What a great and fun experience I had. I've known a few very close people in my life that have been affected by Breast Cancer and I dedicated my walk to them. I love them dearly and wanted to let them know how much I appreciate them and all that they've done in life. They are amazing women and I pray that one day there will be a cure for this disease that effect so many other women around the world. I was able to take the kids with me and they had a blast riding in the pink parade! Owen did so well riding his bike the whole time and never ran into anyone. There were so many people that showed and walked for the cause, it was wonderful. I do have to say that one of my favorite parts was walking next to some women that were very out spoken whenever they saw a guy running by with his shirt off. I couldn't help but laugh.
Kate and Alex loved being pushed around the whole time with all the drinks, treats and toys they could fit inside the stroller with them. There were several groups of people scattered throughout the walk that would cheer for all the people and the kids thought that they had shown up just for them. It was so cute. This walk also got me a little excited to maybe try a marathon one day, when I'm not pregnant. And that will happen! Me not being pregnant again I mean. And we finished! I just want to say how grateful I am for my TA TAS and pray that all of you and being careful and checking yourself every month. Breast Cancer is spreading fast and starting at an earlier age these days and you can never be too careful. If you catch it at its earliest stage you have a 99% chance of overcoming this type of cancer. I love you all and please remember those who have been affected by this disease. Let them know that you love them and support them.

Our Tampa Bay Aquarium Visit

2008-10-28T10:49:00.000-07:00

I know that I've been majorly slacking on my blog, so I've got a few new posts that I'll do over the next few days to try and catch up. At the end of September, REALLY SLACKING, I decided to take Owen out of school and take the kids to the aquarium in downtown Tampa. They had sooo much fun. We went with some friends who had passes to the MOSI Museum and they got us in for free!! Thanks again Britt! Here are a couple of pictures of Owen and Alex petting the Sting Rays. Kate didn't want to touch them because the water was too cold and they were slimey.

A lot of these animals we see everyday since we live in Florida, but there are a few that got the kids really excited.

So I'm not the greatest photographer, sorry about the flash in the window. Here are the kids standing in front of one of the large tanks.

I got hungry after seeing this one, I just needed some garlic butter to go with it.

Owen and Alex are feeling the different kinds of starfish that live in the ocean. They decided to name the pink one Patrick. Sound familiar?

Kate didn't want to touch them either, so she hid in the conch shells instead.

This one was my favorite. It's called the Dragon Seahorse.

Update on Baby #4

2008-08-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm finally going to let everyone know what is going on with my "unexpected" pregnancy. I'm finally at ease with it and am actually really excited. For some reason I can't not get pregnant even when I am on birth control and I was making sure that I took it everyday and on time. But the box does say that it's only 99% effective, I'm just one of those lucky woman that gets stuck in the 1% profile. The kids are getting excited, Owen keeps asking when the baby is going to come out of my tummy and wants to name it Speed Racer. Well, I'm just over 20 weeks now and I just had my ultrasound this past week. Tell me if you can tell what I'm having.

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

I'm so excited, now Kate will have someone to play with that won't insist on playing cars,transformers, or superheros all the time. She's starting to really want to dress up and play with her babies and stuffed animals and the boys think that that is really boring. So 2 boys and 2 girls in the Wilde family. My due date is January 13, but I usually go a week or two early. Right after I told Brad what the due date was he asked me:

"Can't you try and deliver on the 31st of December"

I said "Why would I want to do that?"

He said "So that we can have a tax write off for the year of 2008."

I could have hit him, if I weren't on the phone with him. He's such a terd sometimes, but I still love him. Here are her two feet crossing each other. She really moves around alot, so I'm surprised that we got so many good pictures. Here are her two hands and you can see her little fingers! I'm so excited to have another little girl, Kate has been so different than the boys. It's really funny, because the boys try everything to be like Daddy like helping with all the power tools and fixing things around the house.And Kate is always trying to help me cook and take care of her babies. It's going to be so fun to have a big family, but we're definitely stopping at 4! My only problem now is trying to find another girl name. For some reason boy names are so much easier for me than girls, so if any of you have any names to throw my way, let me know!

Owen's First Day of Preschool

2008-08-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

For those of you that don't live in Florida, the Florida State Government pays for a year of preschool before they enter kindergarten. And last year Owen missed going because his birthday is one month past the deadline. So this has been looked forward to for a very long time, both by him and Mommy. Owen is so smart and very impatient when it comes to learning. Nothing is ever enough for him, so he was getting quite bored at home playing "baby" games with Alex and Kate. His first day was on Monday and he goes from 12 to 3, Mon. thru Fri. He had so much fun playing with his new friends and learning from a new teacher. He got so upset that school was canceled on Tues. due to Tropical Storm Fay and then we didn't even receive a drop of rain and little wind. Anyway, we've started the long path of kids in school and it's a little weird for me. I didn't think that I was old enough to have kids in school yet. Well, here are some pictures that I got of Owen his first day and pictures of his new school. Walking through the doors of Knowledge.(WOW, was that cheesy or what?) He loved riding the bikes during recess.I can't tell if that kid is looking up that little girls skirt or not, but so help me if Owen ever did...
His classroom. They're class is called the White Tigers.The atmosphere that they have at the school is awesome and makes it fun for the kids to learn. This is one of the little reading hideaways that they have.

Alex's 3rd Birthday!

2008-08-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

Alex's Birthday was August 11th and we decided to throw him a little birthday party with some of his friends. We BBQ'd, had the bubble machine going in the house(yes, I'm a crazy Mom, but in my defense they were Gymboree bubbles and they're sugar based so they don't make a huge mess and they last forever! It's a game we like to play and it lasts all day if you have the fans on in the house because they end up everywhere and the kids have a race to try and pop them all). We also had all the kids do some fireworks at the end and they all seemed to love that. It was so much fun to watch them all play around the house and have a blast! A lot of the pictures didn't turn out because the batteries in my camera were dying, but I did get a few.WE LOVE SPARKLER CANDLES THAT NEVER GO OUT! Is that mean? The kids seemed to love them. I eventually helped him blow out the candles. The wind was blowing so hard, it was hard to get the fireworks lit, but Brad finally got them all going. After the little firework show, we gave them all some sparklers. By the time that was done it was 9:30 and the kids were ready for BED!
All in all it was a great night and we wish Alex many more happy ones to come.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!

Owen's Soccer Banquet

2008-08-13T12:09:00.000-07:00

Wow it's been a long time since I've done any blogging! Sorry about that. Well here is the rest of Owen's soccer games and his banquet at the end. He was soo excited that he got a trophy. "That means I did really good huh Mom!" he said. I smiled and gave him a high five, I'm so proud of him. He starts football the beginning of September and I can't tell who's more excited for that to start, Owen or Brad.Owen scored one goal and assisted in another his last game. He still talks about it.His favorite position was goalie. I think it was because he could pick up the ball and throw it as far as he could down the field.They had the cutest little cheer that they did at the beginning, middle and end of every game.
Kate would sweat like crazy and she wasn't even playing. But at least she would keep busy trying on everyone's sunglasses. These glasses belong to her Aunt Lauren who came to visit.Alex on the other hand didn't even want to watch, so he would go over to the sand box, strip down to almost nothing and throw sand on his head. He's my busy busy busy busy one. Did I mention that he was a busy boy?
Here's Owen receiving his trophy from one of his coaches.And here's his team with their trophies. GO PIRATES!

DRIVE-IN

2008-06-29T20:14:00.001-07:00

We decided to steal the idea from Jared and Brittany and take the kids to their first Drive-In Movie. It was definitely an interesting experience. We took out all of the seats in the mini-van(yes, I have a mini-van. But only until my kids are out of car seats and then I'm getting an SUV) and made a huge bed in the back.
Going to the Drive-In Movies in Florida is a bit different than going in Utah like I remembered it. It's HOT and SWEATY and I can't tell you how many mosquitos there are here. So we had to drench the kids and ourselves in bug spray and we still got eaten alive. Brad got the comfy spot inside the car and I got to stay outside and chase the kids whenever they ran off. This is another reason why Brad doesn't take very many pictures, because he can't remember to put the camara into focus. Brad made it through MAYBE half of the first movie and then he was out! Owen actually made it through all of the first movie (Wall-E) and half of the second one (Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian).

We finally left during the middle of the second movie because even though it was 1:00 in the morning, Alex and Kate would NOT go to bed. All in all we won't go back until the winter time when it's cooler and there aren't any mosquitos.

North Captive Island

2008-06-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

Last week was another busy one for our family. We got the oppotunity to go to one of the small islands off of North Captiva Island with some very close friends of ours. The Poirier's invited us to come and stay with them during their family vacation. They have always been so sweet to our family and we've been so grateful to have them in our lives. To give a short story of how we met them, they were the very first family that we met when we moved down to Florida. We drove in late on Valentine's day 2004 and it just so happens that it was also Daytona 500 weekend as well. So we drove in to town not knowing where anything was and the only hotel that we knew of was completely booked. Luckily I had gotten the Bishop's phone number before we left Utah and we called them to ask where there was another hotel around. Well, they said they knew of a great place to stay and they invited us to come over and stay with them. That made me feel SOOO uncomfortable, but Brad kept saying "It'll be fine, where else are we going to stay, in the car with our 3 month old baby?". So much to my dismay, we went over to their house. It just so happened that it was also one of their sons birthdays and they had family from out of town that was staying with them as well. But they welcomed us into their home with open arms and they've been family ever since. We love them to pieces and were excited to play for a few days at their beach house. I didn't get too many pictures and I'm sorry for that I totally regret it. But the kids had so much fun playing with Alexie(19), Mitchell(17), Max(16), and Cassie(14), my kids love them! So thanks to the Poirier's for the wonderful memories and the great friendship that we've created!!! We love and miss you guys. This is Max(at top), Owen and Mitchell(at bottom) playing dominoes. They played everyday with Owen and Owen loved every minute of it. They had a jacuzzi tub in the bathroom and the kids loved taking baths in it with all the bubbles. The kids were always at the front of the boat sucking in all the fresh air. We saw a lot of wild dolphin pods on our boat trips and some came right up to the boat. I was having too much fun to take any pictures of that (STUPID!) The kids got to sleep in the same room with all the big kids and it was a nightmare to get them to sleep for naps and at night. But all the playing and sun wore them down. Kate and Alex had so much fun playing with Bently, one of the Poirier's bulldogs.

Hubby Tag!

2008-06-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

1-What's your Husband's full name: Bradley Kent Wilde II (I always thought you couldn't be a II, I thought you had to be a Jr.)
2-How long have you been together?: Well we met a couple of weeks before I graduated from High School(cradle robber), but we dated on and off and then on again. So total time I would say is a little over 8 years.
3-How long did you date?: We dated for 3 months then I broke it off. 6-7 months after that we dated for another 16 months.
4-Who eats more?: I would have to say I do right now, because I'm pregnant. But he could hands down always beat me in a Mountain Dew or candy competition.
5-Who said "I love you" first?: I say I do, but of course he thinks he did. I remember the first time I said it and he can't quit recall when he did, so you tell me who said it first.
6-Who is taller?: He is. I love it!
7-Who sings better?: I do. I think that he's a little tone deaf, but I don't mind it when he sings country love songs to me every now and again. DON'T TELL HIM THAT I SAID THAT!!! He's got to keep up that Macho Southern Image!
8-Who is smarter?: I'd have to say he is. Especially now, I feel that with every child I have I get a little more lite headedness. Is that a word?
9-Who does the laundry?: I do. I hate it when he tries to do it, because he packs the washer way too full, trying to save loads.
10-Who does the dishes?: I think we're finally becoming equal at this task. I hate doing the dishes, so he helps out occasionally.
11-Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?: If you're looking at the bed, I do. But really I always have to sleep closest to the door, so the kids come to me first.
12-Who pays the bills?: We both do, but I've been banned from balancing the check books.
13-Who mows the lawn?: That's easy. ME! It's something that I enjoy, and I'll do it until I'm 8 months pregnant. Which drives him crazy.
14-Who cooks dinner?: Me, unless it's some special occasion and then he helps.
15-Who drives when you're together?: He does. If we're on a road trip, I have to beg him to drive so that he can get some sleep.
16-Who is more stubborn?: I'd say we're equal, but he thinks that I win that one by far. Being stubborn can't always be a bad thing can it?
17-Who kissed who first?: I kissed Brad first and he'll be the first one to tell everyone that. He bought me a rose after getting into a motorcycle accident and I thanked him for it.
18-Who asked out who first?: This is a tough one. He asked me out to the movies first, but it took Darise (a friend of mine) to ask him when he was going to ask me out and gave him my phone #.
19-Who proposed?: He did. We had already set a date to get married, but asked the question.
20-Who is more sensitive?: I am. I am a woman right? Why do we have to be so emotional?
21-Who has more friends?: I think that we both have a lot of friends. We just run into more of my friends wherever we go.
22-Who has more siblings?: He does. He has 2 sisters, 2 brothers and a half brother. Then if you count the Elmore Family,the family that adopted him when he was 13 in N.C., he has 4 more younger sisters.
23-Who wears the pants in the family?: We all know the answer to that one, but I like to let him think that he does. It makes him feel better.

Now that I've done my part in completing this, I now tag Katie, Abby, and Kelly. I can't wait to see some of your answers!

Soccer Mom

2008-06-20T06:33:00.000-07:00

I'm proud to say that I'm officially a SOCCER MOM! Owen started his first soccer league yesterday and he loves it. He's the tallest on his team and I'm sure the oldest. Where we used to live in Port St. Lucie, you couldn't start playing until you turned 4 and he missed it last year by a month. Here you start when you're 3, so now Alex barely misses the deadline. I told Brad that I'm hooked, I'm going to be one of those sport Mom's that's constantly running around watching all of her children play in their games. It was so fun to watch all the kids run in a million different directions trying to chase the ball and kick it in the goal. Owen is already telling me that he wants to keep playing soccer and he wants to play football that starts in a couple of months. I couldn't be more excited!
Owen's waiting patiently to have a turn kicking the ball into the goal.

Here's his go at it looking like he's taken a move out of the movie Kung Fu Panda.

And He SCORES!

A Nashville Tribute Band

2008-06-19T12:07:00.000-07:00

Brad and I went to a concert on Tuesday night of "A Nashville Tribute Band". For those of you that don't know who they are, they came out with a couple of cd's called Joseph and Trek. Thanks to Abby, I never would have listened to them if it weren't for her. These cd's have become some of my absolute favorites. Here are some of the pictures that we took during the performances and a couple of real pictures of Brad and I.

Oh and for those of you that don't know, there is a reason why it looks like I'm wearing a maternity shirt. It does say that the pill is only 99% effective. I'll blog later about that exciting news.

Blogging

2008-06-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

I need some help! I keep trying to figure out how to really customize my blog, but I can't figure out how to do it. I keep looking at all the different ways you can customize blogs on all of your blogs and I still can't do it. Can you please give me some pointers! Also for those of you that need my email to add me to your lists (Jamie), it is nikibwilde@yahoo.com. I've also lost some of my blog addresses, so if you don't see your name on my list, please leave it for me again. I'm still very computer illiterate, patience. Also for those of you that want a picture of me posted here you go!!!

Catch Up!

2008-06-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know that I keep promising to update my blog and to put some new pictures on, but I had to update the pictures too. I'll start back on the first of June which is Mine and Brad's Anniversary. I keep telling you all that I don't have very many pictures of me because I'm the one who takes them all. So bare with me, mine will come later. Brad and I went and spent a weekend up in Orlando all by ourselves!! NO KIDS!! I can't tell if we're getting old or just boring, but the first day all we did was sleep, literally. Oh, and got our tire changed because we got a flat on the way there.

We went to Downtown Disney, the Orlando Temple and watched lots of movies. The pictures are of Brad looking at all the antique pictures and books of old magicians and of the Lochness Monster made of small legos, both at Downtown Disney. Yes no pictures of me yet. It was so relaxing. And then we got home and Brad started his new company, I went back to work at home and played endlessly with the kids. Here's a picture of Alex while we're playing hide and seek. He thought for sure that we would never find him.

Computer Crash!!

2008-06-07T07:56:00.001-07:00

I know that I've been majorly slacking on putting up new posts on my blog, but I do have a good excuse. Our computer crashed and it took almost 4 weeks to get it fixed. I've always said how much I've hated computers and this is why! You put so much information into the dang thing and this is how it treats you!!! Oh well, all is well now and we get to start on a clean slate, literally. I'll have to take some more pictures to let you know what the Wilde's have been up to. It's been a crazy month and lots has happened, so once again I'll be posting a ton here in the next couple of days. I can't wait to see what you all have been up to, so you'll be hearing from me soon. Unless you don't have me apart of your exclusive viewers list (JAMIE!!!). It's been fun to hear from all of you and see how your families have grown. Until the next blog...

Our First Trip to the ER

2008-05-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

I knew that it was bound to happen sooner or later, but to my surprise it happened to the one I least expected. KATE! Like Mother like Daughter. For those who know how accident prone I am I certainly hope that she doesn't fall in her Mother's footsteps. Well, I was having a business meeting over at a friends house and I had all the kids with me as usual. They were trying to find things to keep them busy and of course the couch is always enticing to run and jump on. So the three of them were chasing each other, even after I warned them to stop, and Kate started to jump up and down against the back. Well the couch was up against the window and had a marble window sill. Needless to say she bobbed her head and split her nose open from side to side. She screamed for a minute and then she was fine. Acting like nothing happened.
I knew that it needed stitches so I took her in to the ER and waited. Kate was such a trooper. We were there for almost 5 hours and she laughed and jumped around the entire time. The doctors kept coming in and telling me that the ER wasn't suppposed to sound so happy and they loved to play with Kate. I'd say that I'm pretty used to being around things of this nature and that it really doesn't bother me, but watching them stitch her up my heart just ached for her as she screamed. They used a numbing gel instead of a local anesthetic and it obviously didn't work. So after they did 4 stitches they decided that the gel wasn't working good enough and give her a local. I could have yelled at them, but didn't. Finally, 6 stitches later we went home from a long exhausting day. The boys felt so bad for Kate and were soo careful with her for the rest of the day. That didn't last very long!

Camping at the Beach

2008-05-10T08:48:00.000-07:00

We finally went camping at the beach as a family! Our Ward did a family campout at Fort De Soto Beach and we had so much fun. We even brought Daisy, our dog, with us so she wouldn't be by herself all night long. She's part hound so the smells of the campsite were driving her crazy! The kids of course love every minute of it. It only took Alex and Kate about 5 minutes after we arrived to get soaking wet, so they had to play in their pajamas for the rest of the night. Owen went off and played hide and seek with the older kids and their flashlights. Sleeping is always a challenge when it comes to trying to settle the kids down to go to sleep and they're right next to each other. But Brad handled that pretty well. Notice that I don't have any pictures of the camping part of our trip and that's because of trying to keep track of the kids when running in 3 different directions!! Sorry, I'll do better next time.

The next day we went to the beach at Fort de Soto and we found out the this beach was the #1 beach in the U.S. in 2005. It was beautiful and the kids, like always, had a blast. Daisy learned how to swim and that was an interesting experience. We had to hike through a bit of water to get to the nicer part of the beach and Daisy just jumped right in after us. She started to drown at first, so Brad had to help her out. Then she tried it again and she was a pro! She had so much fun running and playing in the water. The boys made a pool on the beach and Kate lounged aroung enjoying the water and sun. It was such a relaxing day!

Visiting Friends in PSL

2008-05-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know that it's been a long time since I've updated my blog, SORRY! Things have been a bit crazy. We went back to Port Saint Lucie with Brad the end of April because he had a meeting to go to for work and we wanted to play with old friends. We had so much fun! We had dinner over at the Hindmans with the Haymores and Wolfes. The kids ran around like crazy and played Wii all night long, while the adults ran after them and got caught up with what's going on with one another.

The next day I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. Which is always an exhausting experience for all of us, but the kids LOVE IT! Abby brought Caleb and Emma, Lara brought Kevin and Jason, and Alyssa brought Dallin and Jillie. It was a party! Chuck E Cheese himself even came out to greet us!

2008-04-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

Father and Son Campout

2008-04-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

Brad loves this time of year when he gets to take the boys camping with him. Last year was quite the ordeal for those who don't remember or don't know. While Brad was packing up camp in the morning Alex decided to go for an adventure walk. Without telling anyone. Needless to say 30 minutes later (felt like an hour) he was found and Brad could finally feel his heart start to beat again. This year they all went scavenger hunting, roasted marshmallows and stayed up late. Not even the Dad's could stay up any later after they put the boys down. The all had so much fun and we can't wait to go camping as a family with the ward next month.

Siesta Key Beach

2008-04-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

Have I said how much I love Florida during the Spring? Because I do. I took the kids to the beach last week while it was snowing in Utah, I don't miss that. They had so much fun playing in the sand and waves. Owen's learning to body surf, Alex loves (not to build) but tear down sand castles, and Kate loves the water and sand. It's a little stressful trying to keep track of all 3 of them since they usually want to go in 3 different directions, but it was a lot of fun. I went with some friends and their kids so they kept busy. The sand is white and fine and the water is crystal clear. It was almost like we were back in the Caribbean. It was Paradise! Except for the birds. I couldn't help but laugh hysterically when Owen was eating his lunch, a bird swooped down and took his sandwich right out of his hands. He was so upset and starting yelling at the bird telling it that it was naughty and it needed to go in time out.

Busch Gardens

2008-04-13T16:13:00.000-07:00

Well we finally got our passes to Busch Gardens here in Tampa and the kids had soooo much fun! There's so much for them to do there and Owen can start riding on the big roller coasters! A little scary for Mommy considering that he's only 4 1/2 years old, but he LOVES it and screams and holds his hands up the whole time.
Alex gets mad because he wants to do whatever Owen does and he's not quite big enough yet. I should have taken a picture of Alex on the kiddie train, his face was hilarious! A look that said,"I'm too old for this little kiddie ride".

And Kate just has a blast doing whatever. I loved watching her in the big blow up tampoline area, she just stayed in one place while the big kids would bounce her up and down as high as they could.

Brad and I love to take the kids to stuff like this and to see their faces just light up with everything. We're also excited to ditch the kids for date nights and just ride the coasters all night long. We live only 20 minutes from there so I'm sure that the kids and I will be going quite often during the slow hours of the day.

And here's Owen trying to decide what rides to go on next time and which ones will be first and last.

Strawberry Picking

2008-04-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

Well we're are finally settled in our new place here in Riverview Florida (close to Tampa). And we've figured out that there are so many more things to do here than over in Port Saint Lucie. Here we are strawberry picking out in Plant City with some friends. The kids had so much fun eating and throwing and stepping on strawberries all day long! Brad's so jealous he wished that he was there with us. We now have loads of strawberries and I'm making jam like crazy. Brad can't wait for me to get more. Kate loves them as you can see and Owen wouldn't stop eating them even after we got home. Alex slept through most of it, but finally woke up at the end.