Dolphins!

Again... not my proudest moment...


Here and at the aquarium was when we were wishing our kids were with us... they would've loved it. They also had sea otters and a few other animals.

The Key West Aquarium

This was the most exciting thing for us down there in Key West was the aquarium. I don't know if it's because our kids are so into animals and stuff, but we just love it. I'm not real proud to post this picture- but I did just for you Sherry!
Kregg thought he was so cool- lookin' like he was holding this crab... but it came out a little blurry. Sorry guys!

It was pretty wild watching these sharks devour that fish. Blood everywhere and everything. It was cool.

Kregg got "hands-on" with a few of the animals... this horeshoe crab was pretty creepy looking- but pretty harmless. Although he is in the scorpion family (ew).

We got to pet this nurse shark (how bad is that when you can't remember what kind of shark this is- you ask your 6 year old who knows?). Anyway- it was a lot of fun!

Key West

It was a crazy windy day (in fact- it was pretty much every day we were out there)...

We are pretty big Jimmy Buffet fans...
I just liked this because my maiden name is Goddard, and this quote was one of many that people would say to me when I was a teenager...

FLORIDA!!

How pretty is this??

Am I not married to the hottest guy EVER????
This is the 7-mile bridge...
What a spaz... it was great that we could act like kids again, though!
This was our backyard- no luck with any bites, though! There were a few needlefish that kept teasing him.

Feeding the ducks

You all know how much I like to take pictures of the backs of everybodies heads... this is at Traci's apartment.

These ducks were insane!! They knew exactly what we were there for, and they weren't shy about taking our food. I loved throwing food at my bro's feet so they could all attack him.
Mary had a blast!! They were all taller than she was- but she had no fear at all. I was sure freaked out for her, though. Ty actually got bit by one, he wasn't too happy.

Being with family

Ayz is getting so big! She sure loves her auntie Traci. It took her a few minutes to warm up to us again.

Introducing my new baby niece Tayvie!! Cute as heck, huh??? She was born on Valentine's Day and it was so great to finally meet her. Mary sure as heck couldn't get enough of her, though. She'll be a good big sister- hopefully!!!
Adorable, huh??
Oh man... Red Robin... You're jealous, aren't you?? I'm jealous of myself just looking at these pictures. Okay- this is what you get- the BBQ Chicken wrap (SO GOOD!!!!) and a strawberry lemonade. This is a serious disadvantage of living in a small town. I want a Red Robin. Okay- sorry about that- I'll get back to the picture. This is my beautiful family... see how Ayz is warming up to us now? I actually think she is mocking her grandma who I have way more pictures of her with her eyes closed than open.

Takin' a stroll...

So I thought I would write about an incident that we had a couple weeks ago...

I was packing up all our stuff getting ready to leave for Utah in a couple hours to drop the kids off at my folks house so Kregg and I could head off to Florida for a week. I went over to my neighbor Kat's house to drop off our keys so she could keep an eye out for us while we were out, and when I came back Mary was gone. I had left the garage door open.

I searched our house hoping that she might have just been hiding or fell asleep somewhere, but no luck. I searched through the neighborhood- looking in people's backyards and talking to neighbors and noone had seen her. My friend Kat was also looking for her. I got in my van and drove around trying to find her and still no luck. I have never been so scared in my whole life!!!!!!

After about 45 minutes I was really starting to freak out, and was wondering if I should call the police. But I never know how long to wait to call!! I decided that I would go take one more lap around the neighborhood and Kat would drive on the other side of the busy street to see if she had crossed and gone over there.

On my last lap around the neighborhood there was a cop driving down the street, so I stopped him and told him that I had lost my 2-year old. He asked me a whole bunch of questions about me- where I lived, what I had been doing, how long I had been looking, and calling it all in... I was like, "Enough about me- can we talk about my daughter???" He said that they had my daughter. I had never been so relieved EVER!! By now there were about 5 cop cars there. Then he said, "She's at the MesaView Hospital." I just froze... and started freaking out. He said, "She's okay... Are you aware that she is swollen all over her body????" Oh man- I said, "Yeah- she has Turner Syndrome!!" I was so relieved- I thought in my mind, I'm going to laugh about this tomorrow!

I guess what happened was that she decided to take a little stroll, and someone found her in the middle of a street just outside of my neighborhood. She picked her up and took her to the Lutheran church across the street, and they called the cops. The cops came out and everyone was concerned about her hands, so Mary got to take a joe-cool trip in an ambulance to the emergency room.

The cop came and searched my house, and asked me a bunch of questions about my kids, then I got to go pick her up from the ER. They had about 5 people huddled around her and a couple cops (remember this is a small town, outside of the casino's there's not a whole lot going on out here). But I'll never forget that moment when I got to give her a big hug and tell her how much I love her (even with a bazillion people watching you). None of them seemed to know anything about Turner's (look it up! You're a hospital!!). They were very concerned that Mary got into the car of the lady who picked her up, went to everyone at the Lutheran church, sat on the lap of the cop the whole way to the hospital, and cooperated with everyone at the ER. That scares me too, that she would go to anyone... but what do you do? She's 2! Especially Mary who is the socialite of the town. I thought everybody knew her!!

The cop asked me why I didn't call them. I just wasn't sure when it was okay to call- you always hear about that they can't do anything until a certain amount of time had gone by. He told me to just call next time the minute you notice they are missing- mental note for all of you out there!!

The police officers really did a wonderful job- I'm glad that they were right on top of the whole thing. But I think what I probably need to do is get Mary an ID bracelet or something so that it will keep me from taking another unneccessary(sp??) trip to the ER.

I also decided that I am the kind of mom who reacts first, then freaks out later. I think that really helped me in this situation. Just find her... and you can break down later!!!

Anyway- I know that Heavenly Father was there with me and with Mary through this whole ordeal, and am eternally grateful to Him. We are so blessed!!!!!

Bubbles!!!

Our Birthday Boy is 32!

Gotta love the fun-fetti cakes... the boys pretty much made this themselves.
Here he is making his wish... What a spaz.
Still taking forever to make his wish...
My adorable family with kool-aid mustaches, Little Ceasar's pizza tattoo's and all!! I can't believe that I lucked out like this. I have the greatest husband in the world- and with out him I wouldn't have these 3 1/2 beautiful children that have turned out so well because he cares about them so much. His family is everything to him- and I'm so grateful for that. I love him more and more every day. I also think that Karson gets his spaziness from Kregg.

Baby Mary

So I thought I would share some baby pics of Mary- since I have kind of a funny little story that happened last night. Kregg and I were sitting in the living room watching TV, and I had Mary sitting on my lap. Then just out of the blue she starts playing peekaboo with someone that we totally couldn't see. She would play a little peekaboo, then start laughing histarically, then play some more peekaboo. She was looking up to someone who was totally there! I turned to Kregg, and said, "Maybe whoever it is she's talkin' to can tell her that she doesn't need her bottle (Mary's being a little stubborn with her bottle)." She she looks for a second, then hides her bottle so we couldn't take it away. Anyway- it was kinda wild. I know we have angels around us, and that babies were always talkin' to them, but Mary's 2, you know?? It was a very comforting feeling to know that someone else is helping me with my kids! BTW- Aren't these pics kinda funny? She looks the EXACT same!! Only she has more teeth!