March Mashup

One Saturday morning I took the girls in their jammies to a garage sale over by liberty park, and we stopped by ready to play and looking good.  C and V are turning into quite the climbers!

I came down stairs to find these goofs cutting all the hair off of their trolls... At least it wasn't their own hair!!

Myla rocks the slides at parks. She is a little dare devil.

Myla loves carrying sticks around. Cambry came to tell me that Myla is trying to stab her and Veena with her sword. I came out to find her clutching ever so tightly this sharp broken croquet stick. She is so good at finding all the dangerous objects in any given space.

Devin decided to grow a beard for a minute. He couldn't stand it and shaved it off after a week.

Myla was recovering from a little croup so we played hookie from church and went for a bike ride instead.

These guys were so excited to get Uncle Derek's favorite crackers from our Costco trips. Cheez it's for weeks!

Devin flew to Tennesee for a few days to present to the government body that is funding him to tell them why they should keep funding him. They're still giving him money, so I guess it went well.

Our neighbor has puppies (again) and Myla particularly was so happy to snuggle it up.

On the hottest day of the year so far, Veena says, "I'm ready to go outside and play" in her mittens, snow boots and beanie! Ha! Spring is confusing!

Cambry decided to join in the fun. Poor girl has allergies so bad, all around her eyes is so red! But she'd rather be outside with itchy eyes, than be left behind inside.

Ensign Peak & Temple Square

We took full advantage of a gorgeous March Saturday afternoon and went for a hike up Ensign Peak. We were all excited to be outside in nature.

Towards the top Cambry and Vienna decided to rearrange the mountain and brought as many rocks as they could carry to the top.

Just a couple of beauties on top of the world. They could be angels!

We enjoyed the view at the top, and chased Myla around a little more (pretty sure we're all track stars after months of trying to keep her safe). 

Despite Cambry's expression, she was ecstatic about finding a rock that looks like a glass slipper!! It's the little things! Another fun little outing. I'm so grateful we live close to such a variety of exciting places!

Since we have 1pm church, and kids that won't sleep in, we take regular trips to Temple Square Sunday mornings. This was the last Sunday in March and the flowers and blossoms were in prime time! It was absolutely gorgeous! Darn blurry camera!

We loved it so much, we came back 2 days later with Myla and Michelle and her boys, Jess and her girls for a picnic in the flowers.

Cambry kept singing, and it was driving Vienna crazy. This picture is hilarious to me.

The Rest of Orlando

Sunday we met up with Devin's cousin McKay and his family. We went to church with them and spent the afternoon with them. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture with them!!

Monday, Devin went to his conference and I slept in, lounged by the pool and read my book, paddle boarded around the gorgeous lake we were staying on, went for a run, took a nap, and had the most relaxing day I've had in years. It was amazing.

I loved this reminder on my board as I paddled around the lake that had alligators living in it. You Only Live Once!!

I couldn't get over how gorgeous the scenery was, spanish moss swaying in the lime green mangroves, Lily pads spread over the lake (with alligators underneath probably! EEk!).  

Tuesday I dropped Devin and his colleagues off at their conference, then spent all morning inside the Orlando Temple. I took family names of women that were so prepared and excited to be in the temple with me. It was one of the most spiritual experiences in the temple I've ever had and so happy the veil was thinned enough for me to feel their presence. 

That night I picked up the boys and went to Giordano's- best chicago style pizza.

Devin, Mike Simpson, Milan, Mario 

Wednesday Devin presented at his conference and I got to come and see. I am so proud of him, he did so well (from what I understood... which wasn't much). I read the body language in the room, and people understood what he was saying, and Devin seemed confident in his presentation.

After lunch we went out on a stroll on the boardwalk with these clowns. It's so funny to see how intelligent these men are inside, then they come outside and were at varying degrees of social incompetence.  For example the guy on the right and the guy next to Devin were trying to figure out why they can't get a date, and they turned it into a big complex equation giving different values for looks, work ethic, net worth, and overall self confidence. I did my public duty to tell them through my fits of disbelief and laughter that "this whole conversation is why you can't get a date." You're welcome public.

Later that evening we boarded our plane, happier, less sleep deprived, and more in love than ever. Thanks for letting me crash the work trip Mr. Rappleye! 

Potterworld! {aka Universal Studios}

The next morning started bright and early again. We took a very short moment to take in the sunrise from the balcony of our hotel room then we were off to Potterworld.

We got stuck in Suessland waiting for Potterworld to open.

We made it to Hogwarts!

We rode the Forbidden Journey first which pretty sweet. We were attached the end of a mechanical arm that swung around with 3D screens and props all around us. We flew with Harry Potter all around Hogwarts trying to evade a dragon.

The ride made Joslyn sick so we took some time to tour the castle after the ride.

Dumbledore's Office

The portrait of the fat lady.

Joslyn explored Hogsmeade while I rode the Dragon's Challenge rollercoaster. I giggled my head off next to a complete stranger the whole ride. It was that great. Joslyn took a stab at it later in the day.

Honeydukes was done really well and made our mouths water. We had to remind ourselves that it wasn't magical candy. J.K. Rowling was in every detail in the making of this whole place to make sure Universal got it right. It's obviously evident.

Zonko's joke shop had some really fun wands that turned to piggmy puffs, exploding fireworks, and the works.

We both shared a frozen butterbeer at 3 broomsticks. Absolutely delicious.

When we were done exploring Hogsmeade, we headed over to platform 9 and 3/4 we took the Hogswart express over to Diagonalley

Weasley's Joke shop. Hilarious that the muggles worked so hard to make it look and feel magical. 

The dragon escaped from Gringotts!

We went in to open an account inside Gringotts. Weird, I thought goblins were supposed to be cunning and ugly.

...but, got tied up with Harry Potter, Voldemort and others as they stole the Horcrux from Bellatrix's vault.

Stan Shunpike helped us aboard the night bus as soon as we stuck our wands out.

We took a turn at Grimmauld Place but didn't have the secret magic password to get in, darn it.

In Universal Studios, we actually didn't take too many pictures. The rides were explosive and crazy fun- it has 7 of the top 20 roller coasters in the US. 

Oh gosh, this ride called Dudley Does Right- is like Splash mountain, except the story line is crappier, and the splash is longer and way better! We were completely drenched! 

The Hulk is probably the most intense ride. Feet dangling, faster than fast, loopty loops, twists while already going upside down. Man, if the line wasn't so long, we would've gone for round 2 (then lost our lunch in the bushes).  We called it a day early evening. What a great weekend!