oodles.....

Busted out our fire pit again, it was perfect for the chilly night.

Ida and Uncle Mike chilling on the couch.

Getting ready to dig in, so thankful for family!

A traditional hop onto the cannon in St. Augustine.

Becca and Ida at the fort.

Cheesin' hard by the water lol.

Crazy palm growing through an oak.

Blaine and Leo loving on Baymax.

Putting the star up on our tree....ornaments came later :).

we are spoiled.....

Aunt Satha with the boys....

The boys and their daddies....

The Hogwarts Express,,,,,

Blaine with Hedwig....

The Three Broomsticks, where I downed some Butterbeer....

Getting some love from my favorite kid!

This was probably my favorite picture!  I don't think Blaine and Andrew knew that Megatron was NOT a statue.....  This is their reaction after he called them "cretins" and made a grab at 'em. Lol!

remember this?

Do you guys remember my heckish adventure with wallpaper in the kitchen?  It looked so terrible!  Michael painted the walls in a nice light tan.  We decided to put up beadboard and a chair rail.  

Look ya'll.....look what Michael did!!!!!!

Didn't it turn out beautiful?  He's been working so hard to make it perfect and it looks like he succeeded!  It's very satisfying to get a big project like this done....yay!

Next step, new light fixtures...stay tuned!

halloween and other things....

Blaine was Ash Ketchum from Pokemon this year.  We purchased the hat online for $5.00, but the rest we scrounged/made ourselves.  It worked out better than we hoped it would!

Here's Blaine with his cousins Carter (Anakin) and Sophia (a kitty cat).

And here we have Ash with his cousin Captain America, I bet you didn't know that they were related!

This is one of those "other" things.  Blaine participated in his school's 2nd grade program.  He had 2 lines and did so well :).  I'm glad he enjoys things like that!

Here's our pumpkin.  He wasn't that hot really.  No actually, he was TOO hot and did not survive our Florida October temperatures.  We had to throw him away before the big day.  Too bad!

Blaine and cousin Andrew getting in some Mine Craft time.

A hawk!!  

Playing a little b' ball in the bounce house.  This was at Blaine's school carnival :).

The after-school science club gave us some of these cool water globes.  They're silicon and expand when they're placed in water.

Now that's a pumpkin!

And yet, he chose this little warty one.  Go figure!

Blaine in the patch wagon with his pumpkins.

Blaine's close-up coming down the slide, hilarious!

a liddle of dis, a liddle of dat

Michael and Blaine went camping this last weekend....and this is Blaine doing his fire dance.  His fire dance................his FIRE DANCE, lol.

Went to see the Boxtrolls (super cute and fun) and Blaine tried out their caption glasses.  He really liked them and seemed to pick up more from a movie in the theater than he ever has!  Wish they made some child-sized though :).

We always have our picture taken with the displays......♪"Tradition.....tradition!"♫  

a very special day....

My niece, Ethnie, was baptized yesterday.  And how special it was!  She's the first grandchild (on my side of the fam) to be baptized as a member of the church, can you believe it?  Blaine will be next and it was great for him to see the example that she set.  It was so nice to be able to drive up and be there with her and our family!

This is a picture (post baptism) of Ethnie and Blaine...She looked so pretty!

The original plan, was for my parents to be there.  They got medically sidetracked (so sorry dad, feel better!!) and were unable to come :(.  My mom was going to speak on baptism, so Michael stepped up and spoke in her place...I thought it was sweet that he and I could both participate (I played piano,,so fun!).  Rebecca was kind of nervous from the on-set, but it went well and she should be proud!!  She also handled my parents not being able to come, rather gamely - kudos Becca!

You'll have to forgive Michael for his rather grumpy-looking photo.  He was not grumpy at all, lol, just tired from the drive.  He loved being able to snuggle with lil' Ida.  

Here's Ethnie and me :).  Can I reiterate how great it was to be there?!  There's something about watching a baptism and confirmation that makes you feel great!  I only wish we could have stayed longer~

We were able to go to the temple and see one of my favorite people get sealed for time and all eternity!  Little Emma (she will always be little to me :) married Sweet Joshua last week.  The irony is that I first remember meeting Emma at my own reception 13 years ago!

As you can see, this is NOT the happy couple.  But it is a cute picture of my kid in front of the Orlando temple.

And here they are!  Joshua and Emma Gathrow.  They were absolutely beaming...doesn't she look beautiful?!

Michael always loves an opportunity to meet up with his cousins, Seth and Nathan :).  It was really good to see family, especially at the temple!

After the tiemplo, we decided to take a little detour to Downtown Disney.  We'd been there once before and there were like 5 people.  This time, not so much.  But it was fun and exciting, I'll say that much!

since we've been back....

A lot has happened since we've been back from Oregon.  We celebrated our anniversary (posted a little on that before) and Michael had a birthday!  Our family took a little day trip to St Augustine....it's been kind of busy.  So without further ado, may I present to you our pictures;

A plane went in to land right above us as we were coming into St. Augustine...it was pretty neat.

Our traditional carousel ride...

Couldn't resist taking a picture of this bride, thought it was sweet that they'd get their photos done here...

We stopped in at this fantastic pizza parlor for lunch.  Two giant slices and a drink for $5.  Not bad!  We were having such a good time that I said, "Even if it started raining right now, this trip will have been worth it.".  I kid you not, the heavens opened up and it started pouring!  Tried to stick it out but we eventually had to go home.  Carousel and some pizza...not too shabby.

So we went to Kan-Ki for Mike's birthday.  Quelle surprise... Here's a lovely picture of Blaine stuffing his face.

Our awesome chef...what a photo op, lol.

He lit a fire right in front of Michael's plate....it was a birthday candle!

Michael wanted a cheesecake for his birthday, so et voila!