Vacation Celebrations

Brett and I celebrated our 14th anniversary on May first!  We celebrated by going to Orlando with the kids and using all of our passes up at the parks.  It was a long, exhaustingly fun time!  We went to Hollywood Studios, Universal Studios, Disney's Blizzard Beach, and Typhoon Lagoon.  We also celebrated and went to Benihana for the first time, delicious. We got home just in time for Brett's 36th Birthday and for him to jump on a plane for a week of travels.  While he was gone our AC broke down so when he came home he swept us off to Sanibel Island for air conditioning, I mean Mother's Day.  It was soooo much fun!  We will really miss Florida's beaches...You can peruse our pictures at the link below.  I know it's the lazy person's way to do it but I couldn't decide what to include.  One reason is that Bryant took the pictures at Universal and Disney, it is fun to see what he thought was picture worthy.  And then Derek took all the pictures at Benihana...mostly of May.  Lots of fun!




https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=cyberstevens&target=ALBUM&id=5742194614391647233&authkey=Gv1sRgCLGu1vrx1-bK6gE&feat=email

Arrow Of Light

Bryant and his buddies, Sam and Spencer, all earned their Arrow of Light award for cub scouting!  Bryant worked so hard for it and was so proud to bring it on home.  Pack meeting was so fun, they tied the arrows up in a tree for the boys to climb up and get.  The award hangs proudly above his bed-way to go buddy!

Derekisms

I need to follow Derek around with a recorder because I cant remember half of the funny things he says...but here's some:

"Mom, this month is awesome because I get to go to Disneyworld, Universal, and I get to go to RYKEN'S HOUSE!!"  (His house is awful fun....)

"Mom, my primary teacher won't know who my new mom is." (When we left to AZ he stayed with his friend Ryken and I think was a bit confused as to the arrangement...and apparently wasn't bothered by it!)

I called Ryken's to talk to Derek to see how he was doing and I was mid first question when he interrupted and said "OK, Bye, Love you!" and took off.  The next time I called he said "Hi mom" and took off.  No love.  Thankfully, my girlfriend did say he missed us that last day and had a harder day.  Stinker.

"Mom, will they have juice in Arizona?"

"Mom, does Kline remember who I am?  I'm going to go draw him a picture so he remembers."

Derek wanted to get a treat for the McOmber's so they would remember him.  He got all the kids Starburst, a York peppermint pattie 'for the mom' and a king size Snickers 'for the dad'.  He was so pleased when he heard they liked their treats and hung his picture up.

He's a good kid....busy but good...hungry but good.

April 2012

Alright, before I start, the R is having trouble on our keyboard so if a word does not make sense see if you can add an R.

This has been  a very busy month for us.  We had Emma's play, Easter, a trip to AZ to find a home and we are finishing it off with a big change in the ward.

Our trip to Arizona was fun!  We were worried because the market there is on its way up so things were coming on and off the market quickly.  We were looking for a traditional sale because short sales take too long...and the traditional sale homes that were updated were selling FAST.  Fotunately for us one of our friends lives in the area we were looking and saw that a home was being flipped.  She and our realtor got us in to see it before it was even listed, we loved it and got a contract on it.  Thank goodness we did because they started receiving calls on it the second they listed!

I attached pictues below.  I think I have them memorized, I look at them three or four times a day and sometimes in the middle of the night =).  I am most excited about the BONUS room because goodness knows there is no bonus in the house we live in now...at least not room wise.

We drove around the neighborhood and there were families out biking, kids on toys, kids with balls, men mowing lawns (little lawns)...it really is picturesque.  Then we looked up the schools....top rated.  Then we attended the ward....EIGHT AM start time!  WHAT?!?!  Thankfully, we were on East Coast time still and only had Calli and ourselves to get ready so we made it.  What will we do with all of our kids?  I'm thinking there will need to be some bribes...Anyway, the ward looks like a great mix of families and lots of families that look just like us.  Our favorite bonus of all is living close to some dear friends from our newlywed days!  Hope they don't mind us jumping right into their lives =).  We are also only 15 minutes away from our buddies from Florida...we can hardly believe our luck.  And lastly, a new temple is being built really close.  PINCH ME!

The builder was really cool and let me pick out our backsplash and some lighting fixtures.  I may not admit which ones until I'm sure I like them.  The backsplash turned out gorgeous, I will try to add a picture.  They will finish by May 9 and Brett will fly in for the walk thru (hopefully).

Sunday was crazy.  Realtors were coming to show this house while we were at church so we had to spruce everything up.  Here are some other happenings that morning:  Emma told us we had to go early to church so she could practice a song with the young women, May told us 30 minutes before church that she had a talk so we hustled and got one ready ...she then forgot her picture and her talk at home so we had to wing it. In church, Calli rolled her sippy cup away from her and before I knew what was going on it leaked on the nice ladies sweater next to me...her sweater soaked it up real nicely...like a sponge.  So after apologizing to her, cleaning up the granola bar mess that Calli made, I gave up and went to the mothers lounge.  This is such a hard age to take a baby to church...and the baby's age ain't great either ;).  But we made it.  I came home, fixed dinner (all freezer and canned items to get ready for the move) and took a nap.  That evening the Stake held a special meeting about ward boundaries.  Our ward was sliced and diced up into all the other wards.  I'd be lying if I said it wasn't shocking...maybe the final nail on the coffin before we go.  I feel for others in our ward who I know it'll be hard for (add in here all that we know we are supposed to say as faithful members).  There are some fun friends in our new ward so it will just be a pre trial on getting to know new people.  We can try out all of our pickup lines here and figure out which ones work and which ones don't.  ;)  Later that night (how many hours do we have in this day?)  we found that our bank account had been compromised AGAIN.  This is the second time in sixth months.  We already went through the agony of switching everything the last time...it is frustrating.  What's crazy is that someone can change the address on our account online with no ID but for us to fix it we have to go to the branch and show two forms of ID....seriously?  Does that seem backwards to anyone?  Anyway, you'd think that we would fall dead asleep in bed after that day but NO, I was up making lists and decorating in my head til late.

And here we are, HELLO MONDAY!!!  Truly we do feel very blessed to have found a home that we love, by friends that we love, who could ask for more?  (Alright if I could take my friends from here with me I would ask for that...)

House Pics 2012

https://picasaweb.google.com/cyberstevens/April2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ_wxJ65s6yrSg#

I hope this works. 

This is the house in the raw.  There will be new hardware, light fixtures, carpet, and counters in the bathrooms.  There will also be crown molding in the kitchen.  I cannot sleep at night thinking about where to put everything...so excited!

Savior of the World

Our Stake put on the play 'Savior of the World' for the Easter season.  Emma landed the part of Rebekah. Here is our friend John playing the part of Jesus.

Here is Emma as Rebekah.  She is picking fruit from a tree.  She had four or five lines and did a swell job.

Hello Rebekah!

Happy Easter All!

Hope the Easter Bunny found everyone happy and grateful for a chance to remember what Christ has done for us all!  We had sick kids on Easter Sunday so I didn't get a picture of us in our Easter outfits...maybe another Sunday.