Sea World and the kids

My parents came and visited us last week. We had such a fun time! We went to Sea World for two days... It was awesome!

Petting Sting Rays 

Killer Whale Show 



Pirates with a very large walrus 



I realized that it is very difficult to take pictures of underwater animals when you are not underwater yourself. I tried to capture a baby dolphin in this one. 

Looking at the baby dolphins.

I have to say that I was so engrossed with some of the aquariums that I forgot to take pictures. The shark exhibit was so cool! You walked through a clear tunnel underneath a gigantic tank of various sharks and sea creatures. It was truly incredible!

(We have unlimited tickets to Sea World for the rest of the year. If anyone wants to come we would be more than happy to go again)!





Audrey is a great helper in the kitchen. In fact, she loves to lick the sugar off the counter for me. :)

My kids are growing so fast. They are starting to play together. It has been so fun to watch Lincoln's personality start to come out. I can tell you that he is loud. I mean, REALLY LOUD! I have people stop me all the time in the store and tell me what a happy and loud little boy I have.

Audrey is big into letters. She knows almost all the capital and lower case letters now. We recently have started working on the sounds they make. She has such a great desire to learn!

Tim is plugging away with school. It is very intensive. We have recently found out that we will not get any breaks until graduation. Not even Christmas break. He will get the actual holidays off though. Hooray! For at least that.

I took Audrey to the BYU Ambassadors concert on Saturday. She LOVED it. There was lots of music, dancing and dresses. So, it was right up her alley. As a side note: I tried to endure the best I could. It was a lot too much for me...

Hope everyone that reads this, has a good day!

Here

Audrey's Artwork - She informed me they were the following... Audrey Sad, Audrey Happy, and Mommy

Carseats make awesome obstacle courses.

Double boxes equal DOUBLE the fun!

Lincoln is pulling himself up to a standing position now. He is REALLY happy about it!

The other day Audrey dug out all her winter clothes and asked me to take her to the place with snow.

Audrey LOVED dying easter eggs! I think she did a really good job!

Mom took way too long getting his dinner ready...

Universal Studios and stuff

Tim had last week off for spring Break. We decided to go have some fun. We went to Universal Studios for two days and had a blast! The kids did a lot better than we thought they would. :)



We saw the Cat in the Hat. Audrey didn't want to get too close though...




RRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!




Spring is in bloom. Thought this tree was gorgeous!


They had a Dr Seuss area for little kids. We had a lot of fun there. We discovered that Audrey likes rides a lot more than we do.



Cool Carousel!


There was a lever inside this ride so you could chose when you wanted to go up and down. (Audrey had fun!!!). Needless to say, we got a bit wet!



Cool gadgets to explore.



We thought this was awesome! There were animals carved in the bushes all over.



Cool fountain/mountain thing. There was a restaurant inside.

Here is where the real fun began... at HARRY POTTER WORLD!!! This park was packed (as I am sure you can tell).


Hogwarts Castle


Some performers



Hogwarts Express



Hogsmeade



We had so much fun at Harry Potter World! We got to eat at the Three Broomsticks, had some Butterbeer, went to Honeydukes, ate a chocolate frog, and lots of other stuff. We got brave and went on the ride in the castle which was REALLY scarey. Moaning Myrtle came out while I was in the loo. It was just so well done. We had a blast!

For any Simpson's fans, here are some pix we got of the Simpson's area...




The ads for these items were in the windows of the Kwik-E-Mart. Tim loved it!

The following are just some random shots of the kids.






Lincoln is all boy and really likes his car.



Audrey falls asleep waiting for dinner sometimes. It makes a laugh really hard!

Life as we know it

Last week, we uprooted ourselves and moved across the country to Winter Springs, a suburb of Orlando. We have had an adventure so far and look forward to our many adventures in the future. Thanks to everyone that helped us in some way! Whether by letting us sleep at your house or eat your food or driving 40 hours in the moving truck, we are truly grateful! Thank you!!!

We have mostly gotten settled in to our new place. We like the area and the apartment so things look up in that regard. The kids are slowly, but surely adjusting to the time change. In fact, they seem to be adjusting into it better than I am. I find myself still sleeping in late and having a hard time going to bed. I am sure we will all adjust in a matter of time. While Tim's family was still here, we took the opportunity to have some fun. Here are some pix.

We went to the Leu gardens on Monday. They were beautiful! I can't wait to see them in full bloom in the summer!



Our special turtle friend in the water.



An "interesting" name for a plant.



Beautiful tropical trees.



Some cool plant. I don't remember the name of it...


On Saturday, we went here. But only saw the outside because it was REALLY spendy to get in.





Rockets



More rockets.


We also went to Cocoa Beach on Saturday. It was 75 degrees and beautiful. We had a wonderful time!



My sweet baby boy!



Sandcastles are so fun!!!







Amid the chaos in December, we got to celebrate our special little Audrey's birthday. She turned 3. She had a very fun birthday!



Audrey still talks about her pink birthday cake and the scary candles. Oh, well. We will try again next year.



Eating homemade pizza on her birthday. I love this picture of her . Too bad, it is blurry.



Back in November, we decided to take the kids to temple square one last time before we moved. We had a wonderful time!



Our sad attempt at a family photo.



Nativity


That has been our life the last few months in a nutshell. Several of you have asked me to be better about posting pictures on my blog now that I am far away. I promise to try and do better (please get off my case). :)

Tim left this morning to drive to Miami, for a couple of days of orientation. He officially starts grad school on Monday. Adventures and lots of school work to be had there. Take care everyone!!

Love,

ME