so it's been a while and a lot has happened.......

These photos are all out of order.....again.  I just can't seem to figure it out, sorry!  So here's the real order;  Blaine had a birthday, birthday party, family visit, baptism, ward party, beach, award ceremony.  Got it?  Good!

So here's my sweet sister Becca and I right after the baptism.  It was warm and sunny so we're squinting a little bit.  They traveled down on Friday and were able to stay until Monday morning - it was so nice to have them here!

Here we are pre-baptism.  I was so happy and so proud of my little dude and Mike.  It was truly beautiful!  Blaine had to get baptized in water that was not warm, but he took it like a man lol.  We had a lot of family help out and we're so grateful~

The DeSpains trying not to be blinded by the sun!  They did pretty darn good actually.  And I'm not sure how Trent ducked out of getting his picture taken.  This is the only one I have of him!  Anyway, the kids all had such a good time together :).

The boys getting nervous...almost time!

Blaine's b-day party was more hectic and crazy than anything else put together!  Glad the kids had a good time, glad it's over haha.  It was a spy themed party, we had a little spy training -  a scavenger hunt - a secret color cake and lots of kids.  Lots.

Blaine and Ethnie post-baptism, they're such good friends!!

Same day, different time.  We had a ward party that was tons of fun.  We had hay rides, horse rides, archery, horseshoes, marshmallow roasting.  And we had a great dinner, yum!  Plus, the weather was very pleasant for February and it was great for us to all get out of the house and be together as a family!

This is the only picture I took at the beach....it's of a jellyfish.  Woohoo.

My cutie-pie niece, Ida, sipping on some juice :).

Blaine receiving and award for "Caring" at his school.  They had a little pinning ceremony and it was kind of adorable!

Okay, well I guess that about sums it up.  Can I go to sleep now?

christmas, pre and post

Gingerbread house time!  Well, more like gingerbread carousal and gingerbread train.  The lil' nephews and niece came by for a Christmas FHE, snack and craft, what fun!

Finally, a place to hang our stockings!!

What did Santa leave?

A new off-road scooter, woohoo!

Blaine holding up the solar rover that he got from Oma and Papa....it even works :).

Michael and his new prized possession, a silicon mate gourd and bombilla!

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!"♫