Wednesday, July 18, 2012

family pictures

in case you don't already know, my sister alyssa is so talented.  she did such a great job taking our family pictures!  love you lyss!  if any of you in utah need your pictures taken call her, she is amazing!





summer fun

we decided that we would spend a couple months in utah (since we don't have a house and mike doesn't start work until august).  I signed emerson up for tball and he loved it, but is now ready for "real baseball"
 taking the kids to summerfest in orem.  they loved it.
 but not getting their pictures taken:)
 emerson decided that he needed eye black for tball because his uncle ryan wears it to baseball, he decided to put it on himself!
 we got the pass of all passes in utah so we have spent a good amount of time at trafalga. we took the boys on the bumper boats but got put in with a bunch of 10 year old kids that thought it would be fun to spray me in the face the entire time.  this was before the action happened.  i was soaked after, like dripping wet.  i had so much mascara in my eyes i couldn't even see, mike was taking video of it and laughing hysterically the entire time watching from the side!
 we got to go to lake powell with the halls.
 grandpa and emerson
 madden swimming with aunt kristin
 finding seashells on the beach
 the boys loved driving the boat with grandpa!
we had such a good time.  we stayed on a huge houseboat with a slide, had kayaks, fishing boat and speed boat.  mike did a ton of wakeboarding and we loved just relaxing under the sun!

moving to florida

i am usually a great planner but this year i think i have fallen apart in that category.  i can blame part of it on the fact that moving with the air force had me so confused.....anyway we ended up packing up our 24 foot penske truck a couple days before graduation.  as soon as the graduation festivities were over mike and i were on the road to florida.  my parents were kind enough to watch our boys so we wouldn't have to take them with us:)  

this drive was insane.  not only did our penske truck move so slow (it would top out at about 65 mph and it took a lot to get it there) it was a gas hog. i think on the trip we averaged about 6 mpg!  we got started at about 2pm and drove until we couldn't keep our eyes open.  we ended up stopping somewhere off the road past el paso texas to sleep.  we knew we wouldn't sleep for long so we just decided to sleep in the truck.  i probably got an hour of sleep because i was so cold and uncomfortable. mike slept like a baby but after 3 hours i decided it was time to hit the road.  so we drove for another 19 hours.....
 at about midnight we arrived at our good friends house in new orleans.  dave and natalia were so kind to offer us a place to stay the night, especially because they just had baby #2 10 days before we arrived!  as soon as we got there mike and dave headed out to take a small tour of the french quarter and pick up some yummy pastries.  i stayed back with natalia and held their sweet baby girl.  we went to bed at about 2 or 3 and were back on the road at 6 am. 

i can't wait to go back to new orleans.  it was such a cool place.  the homes are so unique.
 we finally arrived in florida after 38 hours of driving and about 1900 miles.  it was an adventure!  i wasn't sure what i would think about living in florida but i must admit these beaches are incredible and even though we are so far from our family i think this 3 year adventure will be so fun!
 a few days after we arrived it was time to unload our truck into a storage unit.  we worked on unloading for a few hours in the morning and then went to look for houses.  by the time we got back it was about 11 pm and we realized we left our lock keys in our realtors car, so at 11:30 we had to meet up with her to get our keys.  the fun began again at midnight and we finished up a little after 4 am.  it was horrible.  we started unloading so bad that halfway through we were deciding what furniture we would just throw in the dumpster because we were sure it wouldn't fit.  somehow, we got it to fit but it was the worst packing job anyone has probably ever seen.  when we finally finished up we had to drive over an hour to get the truck weighed so we could get paid from the air force and then drive another hour back to have our rental truck back at 7am when it was due.  it was a crazy night!
 finally unloaded, huge sigh of relief!
now, i can't wait to find a house so we get to do this all over again....ahhhh!

graduation!

May was a month long celebration (along with a lot of packing etc) but overall so much fun.  To celebrate Mike's graduation we headed out to Fogo de Chao.  We heard it was amazing and it did not disappoint!  
 The week before graduation we went to a MWU graduation banquet.  It was so fun to be with friends and celebrate their accomplishments.  A group shot of some of our favorite people!


The picture of Mike with his suite "B"  he loved these people and became so close to them.  He felt so blessed to be with such a great group of people and teachers!

The graduate!
 both of us....
 parents.....
 and inlaws......
 me with some of the greatest girls I know....
 me and abby my sweet friend
 abby, robyn and I.  I am making such a weird face:)
 the 3 amigos mike-bret-todd
 and us girls me-bri-ashley
 mike-todd-nate-bret
there is no denying how much we will miss all of our dental school friends!  we have so many good memories with all of them!