Sweet Home Alabama

Alas, I am a lone in the south again. I am kind of bummed about it and then I think, what unexpected surprises to have 2 of my siblings live so close to me. So instead of being bummed, I try to be happy that I was able to enjoy them for so long. We are really going to miss Wesley and his family. It was so fun getting 2 and a half years to spend time with them. Sage, is especially sad because not only does she love her cousins, aunt and uncle, for some strange reason, she thinks she needs to live in Alabama. I don't understand it. I don't but then again, it is warmer weather (can be a good and bad thing) much flatter (only good when you are talking about your yard), and the welcoming sign even tells you how it is, "Alabama the beautiful". I will even miss my little road trips. On the upside, people there drive WAY to SLOW. There are cops everywhere (GA and TN are that way too)and well, no and, I guess.

As all of my kids cousins move back to UT. we are here in the south enjoying the southern hospitality and no snow winters. (I didn't even need to wear a jacket to church this morning). My kids are excited for our pilgrimage out to Utah this summer to reunite with our loved ones.

Bloggers picture thing won't post so I will try to post some pictures later.

Happy Halloween!

I hope you all have a very scary Halloween!

Beaching It

The day after Labor Day we went to Myrtle Beach in SC. It was so much fun. It was nice because everyone had told us that it would be an 8 hour drive. We made it in 7 without much speeding. Nice surprise. I think we must have gone a different way than other people but it is always better to drop an hour.

By the time that we got there, it was lunch time and then McKelle and Scott took a nap. Will slept with them while Cole, Sage and I explored our little timeshare neighborhood. They had a duck pond right behind our "blue house" and we chased them for awhile. Then we went to find the pool...wait I mean pools. How cool was that?! It had a baby pool (Sage's favorite. The one with the fountain in the picture), a hot tub, a regular hotel kind of swimming pool and a lazy river. That was just on the outside of the club house. You go in the club house and there was another swimming pool and a hot tub. You go to another part of the property and there was another large pool and a hot tub. I don't know if there were more pools over there or not because we just stayed in the other. We loved the lazy river. Cole was kind of swimming before we went out there (doggy paddling) and when we came back, he was doing the underwater breast stroke. It was so awesome! I am so proud of him. Also, Sage decided to become brave too and she was swimming underwater. What a breakthrough. Too bad we didn't have a few more days there and that summer is over and all the pools are closed here. Everyone loved the lazy river the most. Sage gathered all the tubes for the lazy river and stacked them up. Then whenever someone would go by, she would jump out at them and meow like an angry cat. It was kind of funny. She had a blast doing that.

Actually, we spent 90% of our time at the pools rather than the beach. Which was okay because the waves at the beach were too big to really swim in.
My kids keep asking if we can go back to the "blue house". It was a great vacation where we didn't feel like we needed a vacation from our vacation. Very relaxing and we all had a great time.





The water was very rough the whole time we were there. We just mostly waded in it. No one was in it but that was also nice because we pretty much had the beach to ourselves. The weather was warm. It would have been perfect but the wind was blowing so it made wet bodies kind of chilly. It was okay though because the water was so warm and that is more important. Sage had learned how to body surf and she would ride the wave in (sometimes not on purpose). It was hilarious watching the waves knock them over. The undertow was pretty strong though so we didn't really let the kids play very far from us. It was enticing enough to them that they want to go back. That is much better than them coming home scared of the water. Sage was disappointed not to see a dolphin.

In their own words:

"My favorite part was um, my favorite part was the waves in the salty ocean."
"I galloped away from that wave and away and then in and then away and then away again. My feet were in and galloping and splashing."
"The ocean washed me out of sight." -Cole

"The water was not safe."
"My favorite part was not building a sandcastle. My favorite part was SWIMMIN'."
"It knocked me over and Cole over." -Sage





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The way home was a little slower, we got stuck in construction. It was still fine though. It is amazing how having a t.v. in your car makes such a huge difference. Definately worth the investment. Here they are all crashed out! I love these kinds of pictures.

Birthday Girl!

Sage had earned a sleeping bag for finally stop wetting the bed at night and McKelle got one for her birthday and Cole already had one. So Will told them if it wasn't too hot, he would sleep outside with them. (I would but I didn't want to have to come in 3 times to feed Scott). It was blazing hot and they were so excited to sleep outside. I knew that Will would probably not do it so I asked them if they would rather sleep in the living room. That was all it took and Will was off the hook. So I told them that the birthday party was going to be a slumber party. That was the fun birthday activity.

On one of my friends blogs, she put Crete paper over her daughters door so she had to rip it off to get out of her room. I thought that was such a fun idea. Will took the kids to get pizza and I put the Crete paper over the lower half of the front door. I left some of the bottom off because I didn't think it would matter. Will told the kids that McKelle was the first to come into the house....she looks at the paper and crawls under it. Sage did the same thing. I was up on the stairs telling them to rip it down. Cole decided that he would rip it down, well some of it. Will ended up having to rip it down so he could get through the door. My fun stolen idea was not as appreciated at my house. (surprise surprise, my kids are party poopers). They did like the paper hanging from the ceiling though. We did the same ole thing of eat presents and cake. McKelle did try to grab the fire though instead of blow it out. That was a new twist on birthdays. Of course, they didn't want to play any party games.

McKelle, who didn't have a nap that day was so pleasant (sarcasm) come 9:30 that night. She was screaming at everyone walking around throwing everything she came in contact with (mostly balloons) and saying "no" every chance she got. (when she gets that tired, she will not go to sleep unless someone holds her down and won't let her move. If you do that, it only takes 2 minutes before she is out.) So I had to turn off the t.v. and hold her down. She screamed for about 3 seconds and was then gone. Cole and Sage were not long after. Will and I stayed in the living room with them until they were asleep...well, I did and Will came to bed a few hours later, he fell asleep faster than Cole and Sage. Scott woke up at 12 to eat. Sage woke up screaming bloody murder about 2. I went in and calmed her down. Scott woke up at 3 to eat. McKelle was walking around at 4. I got her and put her in bed with us. Scott woke up again at 5 to eat. I decided to sleep in his room in Cole's bed and at 5:30, Sage woke up screaming bloody murder again. I let Will get her. Scott got up at 7:45 for the morning and we played in the bedroom. At 8, the others finally woke up. I got up to see them. Cole was so proud that he lasted the whole night in the living room. I was glad because I got his bed.