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.

A Typical Day in the Life of Hannah

Getting married (usually in the San Diego temple, usually to Aunt Darlene)



















Dressing up...



















...or down...






































...or as Tinkerbell (notice the "strapless" leotard...)



















Rocking Joshua and singing songs to him before bed/naptime














Trying to read a story to Joshua

A Typical Day in the Life of Joshua

Hats...

































...hats...














...and more hats (and panties, buckets, etc.)

Happy Birthday, Rebecca!

As most of you know, Rebecca's birthday was on August 2nd. Since we were out of town, I was unable to make her our traditional birthday cake on the day of her birthday, so we had it the week after. Since we've been married, I have made her a variety of birthday cakes, but they always include strawberries and real whipped cream (from a carton). The reason for these two specific items is simple. 1) Strawberries are one of her favorite fruits and 2) when we were dating, whipped cream and Cool Whip basically were the same to her. So, for her first birthday after our marriage, I made a cake with the real stuff in order to show her otherwise and it's been her birthday tradition ever since.

Anyway, this year I made a cake from scratch (not my own recipe of course). It was a lot of work and I had to wear an apron that was a little tight around the middle, but . . .





















I think it turned out pretty good.














However, the real reason I love celebrating Rebecca's birthday, is so I can celebrate the life of my most favorite person in the world. There are so many things I love about her, but there's just not room on this blog to name them all.

Even though the cake was hard work, Rebecca is definitely worth it. I mean . . . just look at her.














Yowza!


Happy Birthday!

A Day at the Beach

Sorry about the lapse between postings. Here are some cute pictures from our weekend trip at the beginning of the month to Irvine and San Diego. Below we are spending the day at Newport Beach, and visiting the Newport Beach Temple with Seth's sister Darlene and her husband Greg. We had a fun time with them, and a great day in San Diego while they watched the kids for us! Thanks again, guys.

We're on TV!

So apparently CNN did a story on the flood we had on Sunday and a friend of ours spotted us on the broadcast! If I'd known, I would have done my hair :D Okay, it's not very much, but it's kind of fun. Here's the link to watch the story. At about 40 seconds of playtime, you can see me hanging over the fence taking that picture of Seth wading in the street.

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-48192?ref=feeds%2Foncnn

Monsoon Season: Part II

So today a thunderstorm started while we were in church. When you look at this, you'll understand why I now feel stupid for being impressed by the pictures in the previous post! Thankfully the water was not this bad when we were driving home, although there were a couple of parts of the main road that were completely flooded.

Although the sidewalks are more than covered, fences have been knocked over, and small cars driving down the streeet look more like boats, people seem to be enjoying the flood. I keep seeing the same huge truck driving back and forth, enjoying the torrents caused by the wheels (pictures below), and yes, those are kids in their swimsuits behind that fence, and we even saw a couple of kids tubing down the street when we pulled up at the house, but unfortunately they left before I got the camera out. We just put together some major 72-hour kits last weekend, so we are mostly prepared for disasters like this, should it get any worse. Maybe I'll go put the finishing touches on the backpacks just in case...

Sorry about the weird spacing, we can't fix it!