This One's For You, Ambyr

So after a week of trying to tame Hannah's unfortunately ridiculous hair, Ambyr suggested that we consider giving her bangs. Ever since Hannah was a baby, I have assumed she would want her bangs grown out, so that thought has not crossed my mind in three years. Still, I didn't have to think twice about it -- the day after we got home I chopped it all off. What do you think?

These other pictures are just for fun.

Hannah is pretty sure she's Betty Boop, her new idol. That grimace is supposed to be some sort of sexy Betty Boop face -- I haven't figured out where it came from yet.

Four of Joshua's favorite things to do: wear a hat, sit in a chair, blow on the recorder, and dance to his own music (even though you can't see that in the picture).

I know I always do a lot of posts in one day. Sorry. That's to make me feel better about not posting very often. I'm not sure how many people actually even look at this, so I don't feel too pressured to do it very often :)

Florida Fun

Seth and I spent the beginning of the month on a fun-filled trip to Florida that we have been planning for over a year. It was our very first time away from the kids, and I feel bad saying it, but it wasn't that hard to leave them behind! Probably because it was a much-needed break for me, and I didn't have to much to worry about because we had great babysitters lined up -- much thanks to Debbie and Ambyr for devoting the whole week to watching the kids for us! I'm sure it wasn't easy, but the kids had a great time and so did we.

We started out the week in Orlando, which we absolutely loved, and spent a couple of days at Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios. Despite the hurricanes (or maybe because of the hurricanes?), this was the perfect time of year to go -- we waited in line for about 5 or 10 minutes for almost every ride both days we were there. The roller coasters there are awesome. And we saw where they are starting to build the Wizarding World of Harry Potter -- can't wait for that one to open up! We also got a quick tour of Celebration, the literally picture-perfect town owned by Disney. I'd like to live there someday. Okay, Seth?

Our last night in Orlando we got all gussied up and went to the Dancesport Championships at the Leows Hotel. We were there for the Professional Latin and Standard finals and they were so awesome. It made us feel right at home to see some of the same professionals that have attended the Dancesports of the past at BYU, and even some (maybe all, I can't remember) of the same judges. For those of you who are familiar with the tv show "So You Think You Can Dance?", Mary the judge sat three rows behind us! (With almost no one in between because it was a very small, intimate crowd of professional-ballroom folk in attendance.)

The next day we went down to Ft Lauderdale to board the Regal Empress for a two-day cruise to Nassau -- but because of Hanna, we didn't actually go to Nassau, but instead enjoyed a "Cruise to Nowhere". We sat in the sun and got burned despite our SPF 55 sunscreen, took a salsa-and-merengue dance class and then enjoyed a late night of Latin dancing on the rolling seas, watched a fruit carving demonstration (pictures below), and Seth learned how to fold the towel animals typically found on cruise ships.

Once we landed in Ft Lauderdale, we stayed there for the last two days of our trip and did NOTHING! It was nice. I read almost two whole books just in that little portion of the trip. Since we got kicked out of our hotel long before our flight left Sunday, we headed over to Festival, this humongous indoor flea market in Pompano Beach. I could have stayed there for days. It was amazing.

Anyway, we had a really great time and I hope we get to go back to Florida someday because I loved it there. And I still haven't seen an alligator. Or Disneyworld. Or the completed Harry Potter world.