Florida- Days 5, 6 & 7

We checked out of our hotel Saturday morning and spent the rest of our trip in Tampa. We were so exhausted Saturday from all the running around, we just took it easy and visited with friends. We had a wonderful visit with our old neighbors that evening. We miss you guys!! The Patels were nice enough to invite us to stay with them. I used to watch their kids when we lived there. They have grown so much! I remember when they were all born and I would watch them as babies. Caleb, their youngest, is 8 months. He and Josie became quick friends. He kept wanting to touch her soft head. I don't blame him. I do it all the time.


Visiting Tampa was very strange. It sorta felt like home since we lived there for most of our marriage. I thought I would leave Florida and never look back. We had great friends there, but I knew I didn't want to raise my family there and I never really loved living there that much. Florida is GREAT to visit, but living there, for me, was a different story. So, I was quite surprised when as soon as we arrived there, I really missed it!! I missed the constant sun and warmth. Maybe it's the long winter we just came out of. Either way, we both looked at each other and said, "We did the right thing moving to Indiana, right?" It's still a little hard because we don't have a ton of friends yet and it's still new, but we both know we did the right thing. We prayed so hard for this opportunity, and when it came up, we knew it was right. Even still, I miss feeling at home somewhere. Hopefully, someday I'll fly into Indiana and really say I missed it.

We went to our old ward which really made us sad. The Tampa 2 ward was such a great ward to us. We miss all our friends there. After church, we had an appointment with our tenants to see our house. We met them for the first time and walked through our house. This was a very bizarre, kinda sad, moment. Even though it wasn't our dream home, this was our first home! We spent 3 good years in that house and had made it ours. It was weird seeing it with other peoples stuff in it. I almost wanted to waltz in, grab a soda from the fridge, and go lay down in MY bedroom. This is MY house, I kept thinking. Even though we still own it, it was a little sad not living there and being able to do what we want in in anymore. The renters seem nice and are taking good care of it. It's a nice couple with 3 (?) kids, I think. They put in a lanai in the back, painted, and put in nice ceiling fans in all the rooms. They are paying their rent, which is all I care about.

We topped off our great vacation with a trip to Clearwater Beach. It was really windy and kinda cold, but so beautiful anyway. Jos couldn't stop looking at the water. She loved the sound it made. We took our friend Kendra along with us. She lives in our old neighborhood and is in our old ward. She's expecting a girl in a few months! It was lots of fun!



What a skinny-minnie preggo lady she is!



We can't wait to visit again and spend more time at the beach. We had intended on having a really relaxing visit, but it ended up being very busy with lots of people to see and things to do. I guess we're never meant to relax! We always have to be doing something!

Florida- Days 3 & 4

After our wonderful day at the Magic Kingdom, we decided Epcot would be the most baby friendly for our 2nd Disney day. Jos was asleep for the first couple hours there, so we decided to start in the World Showcase. We love walking around and eating all the good food there. 
It was such a perfect day! I think it was about 79 or 80 degrees. It was nice to dress Jos up in some sunny outfits for once.

Kevin carried Jos around most of the day so she could see things better. Of course, since she is only 5 months, she will look at whatever is closest to her. I would be trying to show her something really cool and she would stare at Kevin's watch or a trash can or something.


This is how she felt about meeting Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy.

My favorite picture ever. She was mesmerized by all the characters. She would reach out to touch each one.  

We also went on the Nemo ride, saw the China circle-vision movie, and went on Spaceship Earth. 

On day 4 of our trip, we went to Blizzard Beach in the morning and drove out to Tampa in the evening. There wasn't much we could do with Jos at the water park, but it was fun anyway. Kevin and I took turns going on slides and we took Jos down the lazy river. No pictures cause I was afraid of getting my camera wet. It was nice to relax in the water. That afternoon, I visited my voice mentor, Theresa, and had a much needed session with her. Then we went out for Thai food with some old friends of ours, Steve and Christina. Another great day!

Florida- Days 1 & 2

We left Tuesday afternoon for Tampa and arrived in the early evening. Jos went on a plane when she was about 3 months old and did great. Apparently, 2 months makes a big difference with flying cause she she was very unhappy. Poor thing. She cried most of the flight cause she was SO tired. There was this guy sitting next to us that wasn't all there that kept talking really loud and kept her awake. She also likes to be put down to sleep, so since we had to hold her the whole time, she was not happy about it. We spent the rest of the evening getting a rental car, driving to Orlando, and checking in to our hotel.
Some of you may know that Kev and I are big timeshare meeting veterans. We have gotten cash, trips, tickets, etc. from these meetings so we keep coming back. ( If you've never gone, don't go to ones where you have to schedule a vacation for another time. It's always a hassle. Always go to ones where you get the gift immediately.) So anyway, after sitting through a 2 hour time share meeting, we got 5 days 4 nights at the resort, free breakfast, 2 2-day passes to Disneyworld, and 2 passes to one of the water parks for about $300. Not bad, huh?

After going to the meeting in the morning, we headed over to the Magic Kingdom. Kevin and I have been to Disney parks more than we could count. This time was so different cause we had to take it slow and only go on things Jos could ride. It was so much fun! Unfortunately, she slept through a lot of things, but she still enjoyed all the pretty things to look at.

This is Jos watching the parade. This pic was taken just seconds before we noticed she had blown out of her diaper all over her clothes and Kevin's hand. 

Right before the worst ride of her life.

This is a video of Jos's misery on "It's a Small World."  She was exhausted and it was just too much stimulation for her at the time. She really is a good baby, but when she gets tired, she wants to be left alone. You can't see anything cause it's so dark, but you can definitely hear.

Here is Jos trying to keep it together at the end of "Small World"

If you look closely, you can see the small hickey Jos gave me during "Small World" She was trying to comfort herself by sucking on my arm.

She loved Dumbo!

And the Merry-Go-Round!

We also went on "Pirates of the Carribbean," "Haunted Mansion," "Buzz Lightyear," the "People Mover," and probably some others that I can't remember. She actually slept through "Philharmagic" and the fireworks. Overall, it was a great day!

What we've been up to.....

It's been pretty eventful lately. Fortunately, Jos has finally become a sleeping pro. She is now sleeping through the night most of the time or maybe waking up once instead of 4 times. We had to finally do some tough love. I decided she was way too old to be only sleeping 2-4 hours at a time. I decided she was really just wanting comfort even though she would act like she was hungry. After one night of letting her cry a little, she has been great ever since. I don't know why I waited so long, lol! Actually, I really anticipated it being much harder. I thought I would have to listen to her sad, sad cry all night long. We are both happier now!

So, last week I went to the dentist because one of my teeth was hurting. They took an x-ray and saw that the filling had cracked so they fixed it. It stared feeling really sore, but I thought it was just from the visit. Each day it got more and more painful until Friday night I literally wanted to rip it out myself. It started hurting so bad I felt like I was going through labor again but in the form of a toothache. It was THAT painful. My whole mouth, jaw, ear, and neck felt like they were on fire. I didn't sleep at all that night and determined if I couldn't find a dentist open the next day, I would go to the emergency room so they could at least give me pain killers or something. We found a dentist that did emergencies on weekends so we went in first thing in the morning. They found out that when the other dentist did the filling, he drilled right into the nerve and put the filling right on top of it. I ended up needing a root canal. Thank goodness for laughing gas and pain killers! Anyway, things are much better now and I am all recovered!

Also, a couple weeks ago, my friend Rachel and I went with Kevin to see David Cook. We're not really fans, but Kevin works with the drummer so we get VIP passes. I stole these pics from Rachel Thanks!

We are also getting ready for our Florida trip. We are spending several days in Orlando and Tampa. We are going to Disneyworld, of course, also.  I am so excited to be in shorts again! Not sure how Jos will handle it, but I know what she does on rides:

Here is Josie barfing on the "daddy ride:"

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The Office.

If you are an "Office" fan, you will love this post. If not, this post will probably go over your head. Anyway, Kevin and I don't watch much TV, but this is our favorite show. We have a friend who is one of the "Scrantones" and he played the drum part on the shows theme song. We got a "care package" from him that had some of the best gifts we have ever gotten. If you are a fan, prepare to be jealous.

First, a picture signed by the whole cast, Michael Scott included:

Second, a real script from the "Cocktails" episode, also signed by cast:

One of the signs Pam makes to find the predator that flashed Phyllis:

A t-shirt from the "Fun-run" episode signed by Meredith:

I'll have to add them to my collection along with my Dundee award.

Fun Gifts!

I just wanted to put in a quick plug for my cousin Katie's website. She makes adorable hair clips and bows and also makes burp rag sets. Jos loves her bows! She makes bows for adults and kids and is always making new ones. Take a look! They're really affordable too. Her website is here.

She's on the move!

I put Jos down on her play-mat while I got breakfast as I do every morning. I always lay her down on her back in the middle of the mat so she can play with the toys. I came back and she was here:

I was obviously shocked and confused as to how she did it. I put her back and watched. Apparently, she just learned how to turn over from back to front (she has done front to back for a while). She instantly became a pro at it. I witnessed her roll and scoot all over the room. As soon as I put her down, she will roll onto her tummy and scoot to the edge of the mat. She'll then roll whatever way she can. Crazy.

This is her trying to scoot around the wall.

Our house is SO not child safe yet. At this rate, she'll be crawling before we know it!

Every night before bed, Jos lets me snuggle and rock her. She will sit and stare at me and play with my hand. She was sitting there interlocking her fingers with mine. Very cute.

Too good not to share......

We were going through some old photo albums and laughing at how awesome we looked as young people and the crazy style choices we made. I decided to post some of my favorites of Kev. I am also working on some posts containing our history as a couple in old pictures. We found all our old pictures from our early dating/marriage. It's so fun to see how far we've come. So, when I don't have anything else to post about, I'll whip out some old photos!

Ok, so I don't remember why he dyed it red, but the best part is when he tried to get rid of it. He tried to bleach it out which made it bright pink. The only thing that could get rid of the pink was to dye it black. So, he had black hair for a little while. This was before we met, but he had it in his drivers license photo for a while. I dunno, I think it's a great look for him, don't you?

Sophmore Prom, I think?

Again a great look for Kev. (He's the one on the left if you couldn't tell)

My personal favorite. Front and center is the father of my child. Love him.

Winter's almost over........

We are getting exited to spend some time outside for once. Hopefully this is the last month of real cold. We have been having fun anyway and are loving each new stage in Jos' s life. She has such a vibrant personality!

She's always making cute faces:

She loves her cute bows from Katie. Her bows can be ordered here.

She's always smiling:

 

She ALWAYS has something in her mouth:

She loves her Jenny Jump Up. Well, at least she loves sucking on it:

She always looks like a "deer in the headlights," lol....



She's just downright adorable!!!