THE REASON for going

Yes, the trip has been fun, relaxing, exciting and full of laughs but the ACTUAL reason for getting together w/ Brooks family was for his brother Gabe's wedding to Adriana.

On Friday the menfolk went golfing, and we ladies and kids stayed home and watched our kids turn to raisins in the pool........that was newly cleaned, mind you.

Then later Adriana was going through the temple for the first time.

Jodi was so sweet in staying home w/ all the kids while the rest of us went.

I didn't realize how MUCH NEEDED that was for me and it was so fun to meet my new sister-in-law for the first time......the day before the wedding.

Later there was a luncheon at her family's house.

Once there was a Smith family with NO girl children and now there are 3 Smith girls!!!!

Adriana: the sweet, breath-of-fresh-air, bubbly new addition that we all absolutely love.

Jodi: but Brooks and I like to call her the "machine" because she can go and go to parks all day, day after day with all the energy in the world and STILL come home and clean the rental home spotless and not raise her voice at her kids. Not to mention her adding two adoring fans to her list.....my 2 girls, that LOVE "Aunt Jo-Jo" and would go to her before me.

Then there's.....me: nice and refreshed from the day at the temple and chillin' at home.

However, this picture WAS taken BEFORE Emerson came in and announced that Aleeya had pooped on the stairs outside.

SATURDAY: The Wedding

We spent the morning packing the van so we could leave right after the day's events.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful and Adriana's extended family was so nice watching the kids outside the temple for us during it.

(Aren't my kids the cutest?!?!?)

HANDS DOWN my favorite picture of the WHOLE vacation!

RA, Tio Bug and Emerson. These 3 look like twins.....or at least a 3 generation picture.

Here we are waiting outside for the newly married couple to come outside.

All the Smith cousins......STARTING to lose their patience.

UNTIL, Camden caught THIS!!!!!

(after it biting him twice)

And even when the happy couple came out...........

They STILL wanted to be with the snake.

(This was after I told Camden he had to let it go and he's starting to sulk)

Emerson obviously hadn't gotten the memo yet that we ARE NOT taking it home.

Since Emerson and Camden were sooooo mad about letting that snake go free, here's how our family pictures went:

(Notice Bronson. He's such a good kid.)

Aren't they lovely?

But before we left so the kids could FINALLY get a nap and out of the heat, I HAD to get a picture of all the brothers. It seems I got EVERY picture with someone's eyes closed, but I still love how much these 4 love each other and are best buds. Being around them...... I can't help but just laugh.

The girls got a nap in the car while the rest of us ate Slurpees and waited for the wedding luncheon.

It goes w/o saying that I have the BEST mother-in-law in the whole world, but I just love how much she loves her boys and how ALL of them love and respect her back.

I captured her and Brooks walking down the road together. How cute is this?

During the luncheon, the kids actually behaved well. Camden needed to take a break from the social action and go see if there are lizards outside, but other then that it was pretty tame. When it was time to go, I couldn't help but cry.

I was just so grateful to Ron and Pat for all they did to make this vacation/family reunion happen. We just love them so much.

We chose to leave at 5:30 and just drive through the night, so the kids would sleep and that Iris would give us a rest from her long-car-drive screaming.

Aleeya's arm got hyper-extended or something and she couldn't use it the whole way home, so I had fun (sarcasm detected) leaning back and feeding her and handing her things.....her every waking minute.

And for those of you that would think traveling through the night would help Iris' anti-driving attitude.....you would be wrong. Because she let us hear it, know matter HOW many times Brooks and I sang "I am a Child of God" or "Families Can be Together Forever"!

I drove into town around 3:00 am and felt of rush of I-LOVE-where-I-live-and-there's-no-place-like-home

until I opened the garage door and smelled a VERY familiar smell......

the smell of a flooded basement. (here it is after we pulled up the carpet and took out the pad)

The storm that happened the DAY after we left (meaning the water stood downstairs for a WHOLE WEEK), even knocked down my corn stalks in my garden. The nerve.

Welcome home, right?

Actually, considering the water was in our basement/garage for so long, we got off pretty easy with the damage.

But man, what a trip!!!!!

First "policia car" ride

HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN to mention the crowning moment on Tuesday?!?!?

When we got back home from the beach we weren't allowed into the private pool at our house because of algae growing. So Camden went lizard hunting.

Up until this point he had caught 4 lizards, 2 frogs, a walking-stick bug thing and one of those grasshoppers....that apparently bite. He would make their "house" in the home's tea pot.....because really, what else are we going to use it for?

Anyway, I went to go check on Camden and found the Scottish-talking pool guy that asked,

"Are ye looking for a little lad?"

Me: "Um....yes."

The Scot: "Is he holding a litt-ow tea paut?"

Me: "Yes"

The Scot: "I just turned him over to securatee 'cause I fownd him at de end of de road."

So I go hunting for that security car and find it. Flag it down, and the security lady starts laughing when she sees my face. I look in the back seat and there's Camden with his tea pot on his lap with a smile on his face.

(Come to find out he HAD been crying and telling the lady we had a silver van....parked in the garage and hidden from view so that detail didn't help.)

After a talking to, the rest of the trip he DID end up staying by the house, but I can't help but wonder, was that the first of many times of me seeing my child in the back of a cop-like car?

Anyway, on to Wednesday and Thursday.....if you all even still care.

SEA WORLD

Here we are before the Shamu show in the "splash" zone that never seemed to get water on the other times I've gone.

STILL waiting for it to start and STILL handing Iris more and more dum-dums.

The smiles here are funny because then Shamu came and.......

made us look like this..........

We're talkin' soaked.....with cold......salty water (on freshly shaved legs, I might add and THAT did not feel good). Shamu got my cameras too, but that didn't compare to the emotional damage he caused on my girls. Iris did NOT like it (you can see where she was sitting since my shirt is dry in that ONE spot) and Aleeya kept saying after the show, "Shamu mean. Shamu mean."

Bronson had an ear infection (most likely caused by the algae-ized pool) so we went home early, planning to use our free 2nd day pass the next day......on Thursday.

We decided to chill all morning and afternoon though because as you can see by the above picture, I'm starting to get "park-ed" out and so are the kids.

I watched my kids and the Casey's 2 boys for about 5 hours that morning so the brothers/RA could go playing basketball and doing what they do. They had a great time.

But this segment can NOT be concluded without a shout-out to THESE TWO:

Lincoln and Aleeya.

Sweetest little 2 year olds, but together, they are trouble.

(just LOOK at the looks on their faces!)

I sat in the middle of the house the whole time with an eye on BOTH doors because these two could run out one of them or get into someone's room or into food or whatever. They made quite the pair.

That night around 4 Brooks, me and our 3 boys went back to Sea World while the girls stayed home with Grandma (isn't my MIL the best?) to see the Dolphin and the Seal/Pirate shows that I so desperately wanted to see.

We let the boys pick WHATEVER they wanted to do the rest of the time and we did those rides or activities. Camden was the ONLY one complaining that we wouldn't let him "do what he wanted to do!"

Ask me what he wanted to do.........

catch one of the ducks and take him home.

I think we learned our lesson before about that.......plus, the duck wouldn't have fit in that teapot.

It's worth noting that on the way out in the parking lot we saw a police car and Camden said,

"Hey, that's like the car I got to ride in!"

My FAVORITE DAY of the whole week

Tuesday, Cocoa Beach

Not only was it MY favorite day, but every single one of my kids said it was their favorite too!

(when the kids are happy, Mommy is happy, I guess)

Grandma told us to leave Iris with her at home, so the 4 kids, Brooks, myself, RA and Brooks' 2 brothers, "Tio Bug" and "Tio Gabe" all headed off to the beach.

Aleeya LOVES her Tio Gabe.

But probably not as much as Emerson loves his Tios. He would not leave his uncles alone and was happiest when he was with them. Good thing too, because those waves just knocked his teeny body around everywhere but Emerson thought he was just as big as everyone else out there.

I remember playing, Don't-let-the-wave-touch-you-game!

Tio Gabe rented a surf board, and since he does a lot of it in Puerto Rico, he taught the kids how to (don't be fooled, Aleeya didn't like a second of it).

The boys LOVED it and got to standing up pretty good too!

I like the picture of Camden and RA though. This was when RA broke the news to Camden that there just MIGHT NOT be any crabs to catch on this beach. You can tell by his posture how disappointed Camden was.

But don't you worry, the Sneak Man did chase PLENTY of birds around the beach and had an encounter with a jellyfish.....apparently the first animal I have found that he has NOT wanted to catch. Phew. I'm glad to know he DOES have some reservations.

My big boy.

My sweet princess.

Her favorite thing to do was sit on the beach where the waves would come and let it hit her and push her back. She giggled and giggled.

They tried surfing all together.......rather unsuccessfully I might add.

I love this picture, because when we GOT to the beach, they ALL had sunglasses on.

This is RIGHT before we went home and Gabe is the only one with them. Brooks lost his first after jumping into a wave. Bronson/Bug lost his second while wrestling with Brooks in the ocean, and finally RA after he JUST FINISHED telling me he won't lose his too (since I told him that he should take them off before swimming).

Me? I just walked around with my camera, saved Emerson a few times from being swallowed up, sat on the shore with Aleeya, and just enjoyed watching my kids have the time of their lives!

Of course, it didn't help we finished up with a 7-11 slurpee either! :)

Side note: We had a slurpee every day for 6 days straight while down there!

Man, is this what happens when you don't live by a 7-11 for 9 years?!?!?!?

WHERE TO BEGIN?!?!?

And we're off.............. on a 10 hour drive..................to Florida.

See how excited we are for the drive?

Besides Iris screaming most of the time, we were lucky to have such awesome friends let use their van (since ALL the mini-van rental companies were OUT!!) with A/C and portable DVD players.......neither of which our van has.

We got there Saturday and swam and swam. Sunday the WHOLE gang was there.

I just LOVE seeing Brooks w/ 3 brothers and dad!

(Can I just say how much easier church is when you have 6 adults to a 5 kid ratio?!?!?)

Monday- Animal Kingdom/Disneyworld

Ready to go.....with all the 9 grandkids.

The safari is always a hit with my kids.

Here is Bronson with his two cousins, Hallie and Olivia.

The 2 girls in the Tinkerbell dresses I massacred.....I mean, made. They ended up being perfect and lightweight for the day though.

Here is Iris in my favorite picture of the day.

While the older kids and adults went on the "Yedi ride" I stayed behind with the younger kids and Brooks' brother, Casey. Emerson found this HUGE grasshopper.....and I mean biggest I've ever seen with spikes on his legs and very colorful. You can see it on the bike behind Iris and she was scared to death of it.

Brooks, Bronson, Hallie and Casey decided to go on the Yedi ride (mountain behind them) again. Camden wasn't too big of a fan of it. Infact, when he got off he said, "That was the WORST thing EVER!" Apparently he had his head down most of the time. :)

Poor little Iris was such a trooper. It really was soooooo hot, sticky and humid.

We FINALLY found a place that gave both she and I relief.........a water section in Dinoland.

All the kids got soaked and we adults got some MUCH needed sit-down rest time.

(The above picture is me and Emerson on a VERY slow moving dinosaur ride that made me so sick. I don't think this baby likes rides too much.)

My next favorite picture of the day..............

Isn't Camden just so cute? I love that kid and considering he doesn't like crowds and most public gatherings, he was a trooper.

This is REALLY what we wanted to stay by, the WHOLE day......those mist fans.

This picture made me laugh, because we were waiting for the Finding Nemo show to start and Uncle Casey started rubbing Emerson's head and Grandma rubbed Camden's ear (which helped him not get so worked up about us sitting in an auditorium FULL of people). Let's just say, Emerson found a NEW best friend.

Then we came home and let those kids swim to their hearts content!......minus my girls......they went RIGHT TO BED!

MY favorite thing of the day?

-The Bug's Life 3-D show. Let's just say 8 minutes in that air conditioned room watching a HILARIOUS show with bugs flying towards you, stinging you, passing gas in your general direction was the best. I could've kept watching that ALL day.

Bronson's favorite- "The Yedi roller coaster"

Camden's favorite- "swimming at the house" (are you surprised?)

Emerson's favorite- "When the stink bug tooted on us" (3-D show, I'm tellin' ya,

it was classic)

Did I REALLY miss this?

My brothers/sisters and families got together last week for a few days and had an ABSOLUTE blast. (Seriously, LOOK at all those cousins my kids could have a blast with!!!!!)

And yes, they DID have a water sack fight.....without me.

(Seriously, my family is soooo fun....and loud)

Except me and my family and my brother with his family (5 kids).......but STILL it looked like it was sooooo much fun and I miss them like crazy.

(my two brothers are the two on the right side (black shirts), and my brother down front. Then there's my two dear sisters.....the two holding the babies.

At least I'll get to have some fun w/ Brooks' side of the family come this weekend in FLORIDA!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!

My friend died

For a WHOLE week I didn't have my friend because she caught a virus.

Not having my computer was NOT fun, but she's back and says she'll be good to me for a while longer. So here's a few things from this week:

- First of all, did you REALLY think even though I usually feel like....well.....not 100% right now that I would miss free food at Chick-Fil-A if I dress the kids up like cows?!?!!?

Not a chance!!!!

(however, I'm not going to lie and say the thought didn't cross my mind)

But really, how cute are they?!?!?Iris wasn't too sure about it all.....especially the nose painting.

-T-ball season has started for Bronson and Camden, so baseball is ruling our home (not to mention Brooks has weekly games himself)

Anyway, I found the boys in the garage like this:

and this:

I thought it was so clever of them using my laundry basket as a catcher's mask! So funny.

-I've received one compliment a few times that I LOVE getting. You know those ones that make you feel awesome? Well, it's the one when I'm told that
I'm a minimalist.
Once a year the city picks up "bulk items" we want to get rid of and my neighbors always comment how much we get rid of all the time.
I went through everywhere and thought, "Is this worth keeping? Is this worth keeping AND moving a one or a few more times?" The answer was usually no.
This picture isn't all of it actually, because we're taking a ton to sale to the scrap metal place and some random backyard items. Also, people drive by and pick out what they want, but still, I thought it was funny compared to our neighbors across the street.

-Bronson and Camden went to zoo camp last week for 5 hours, so the 3 kiddos and me hung out at the zoo. To say it was HOT would be a complete understatement!!!
I forgot our stroller but don't you worry, that $9 I spent to rent one was the BEST $9 I've EVER spent!
(Iris was ONLY ONLY ONLY happy when we were at the paintbrush place where she could dip it in water! What a stinker.)

I also kept getting comments on how Emerson and Aleeya were such cute twins. :)

Notice the ice cream cone shot though with Iris just eating a cone......did I mention that Iris is allergic to dairy?!?! Yep, she is, and it drives me nuts. But just be thankful I spare my blog of the "eventful" pictures on when I forget and feed her something.


-Like I said, I get "Are they twins?" comments all the time, but the past few days they've been walking around holding hands at the park, the store and around the house.

I took this this morning after they were downstairs doing something they shouldn't, so I called them up to talk to them. They walked up the stairs holding hands and just stood there waiting for my lecture.

(And yes, those ARE cowboy boots with her levi skirt. She's so awesome)