Dress up fun

We don't really "do" Halloween.  I try to find that balance of loving people, finding reasons to come together, creating fun memories and avoiding the yucky gore and evil of many Halloween activities. We went to the elementary schools parade of costumes and it reinforced my desire to not celebrate Halloween.  We have found a simplified medium ground that lets the kids dress up in costume and enjoy some simply things.

 Jim Craig (Man from Snowy River), a hippie, a newsy, a princess, Clark Kent and a lumber Jack

 The hero fireman, the tree, and the little kitty stuck in the tree.

 And here we have the announcement of a new little member of this cute family that will be coming in April  Boy are we excited!

 This year we invited all the family and a few friends to donuts and chocolate milk.  It was great to reel in some of those cute grand kids.  We discovered easy donuts by buying the 4 pack of cheap biscuits (the kind in the cylinder that pop open) and creating donut shapes, frying them and rolling in cinnamon and sugar.  They are super easy and taste quite good.

When I got the mail today I had a special letter from my grandson.

 It wasn't until I responded to this letter that the rest of the family got the above picture announcing to them of the coming family member.

Harder than it looks

I loved Florida because it was a family vacation and I was able to be there.  It was not always easy and took some patience from my family and from me.  It meant a lot to me when several family members took time to say "Wow mom, you did really well". I did do well and without their noticing I sometimes forgot how very blessed I have been.  It took effort and desire to get up and go with everyone all day long but it was worth it.

There were times when I was a little envious of a wheelchair or a seat.  Times when I just didn't care what anyone else thought and sat right on the floor.  One afternoon I even said, "I've had enough. I'll just stay home for now".

Yesterday I drove myself to an appointment and then stopped at Walmart on my way home to do some grocery shopping. It was my very first trip driving myself so far and shopping alone.  I was a little bit worn out and just plugging along.  I am grateful to push a cart as it gives me something to hang on to.  One aisle I went in part way, grabbed an item and then because the aisle was blocked I backed out and went on my way.  I suddenly her a voice saying "you really should look where you are going when you back out. I almost hit you."  She sounded rather irritated.  I tried to joke and say I needed flashing lights and a beeper for backing up.  She quickly passed by on the other side and moved on.  I felt like I had been yelled at for not being more capable.  Looking backwards is still a bit of a struggle.  I should have been more careful and thoughtful of others.

A long time ago a church leader said we should treat people as if they are having a really hard time because chances are - they are having a hard time.  That always sounded so negative. I am learning that often we are having a hard time.  It is so easy to be impatient and judge another's actions.  As I have struggled with things that are most likely not visible and obvious to people, I am learning that we just don't know what others are feeling or how hard things really are.  I don't look old and crippled and slow but sometimes I feel that way. Sometimes I am extremely emotional and on the verge of tears. Other people don't know the effort I am making just to be "normal". I would love it if all of us could be a bit more patient, assume people are doing the best they can and just love more.  I want to love more.  I want to love those who make me exercise my patience and I want to love those who are short of patience with me.  It goes both ways and takes a little more effort but it is what I want and what I believe the world could use.

Dad's pictures of our trip

It is fun to have to phones for pictures.  Hubby's are a little different than mine and worth sharing.

 First morning thee boys all headed off to do baptisms in the temple then explored some of downtown and Lake Eola.

 How I taught my kids to be good, easy travelers. Sleeping makes the travel time go faster.

 Ponce de Leon Lighthouse was amazing with around 203 steps.  We all made it to the top and enjoyed the view.

 The victory lane at Daytona International speedway. The first and biggest speedway.

 I was quite surprised to find out that Sea World had more than just wildlife and shows. They had some very wild roller coasters that my family enjoyed.  I am sad to hear that animal crazies are making the shows harder to do and animals harder to train with all their complaints and misunderstandings.

 I loved this picture.  I thought how well it could be used as an object lesson on being our own kind of beautiful or accepting of who we are and what we can do or being willing to stand out in the crowd and be noticed

Off to the Kennedy Space Center for an educational day of space exploration and fun.

 This is the gator we saw while touring the church ranch.  He looked so  still that Milt got out to take his picture and make sure he was real.  They may look big and slow but they can move amazingly fast.

 Lone Cabbage Fish Camp where we held an alligator, ate lunch and enjoyed an air boat ride with a fun guide.

 Ron Johns has some very cool cars visiting them today. My boys were pretty cool too.

 Coco Beach and some great waves.

 Henry loves water and is learning to be flexible.

 While the adults got a turn attending the temple Grandpa took the kids to the Marriot water slide.

 We enjoyed an afternoon at Clearwater Beach.  For some reason my kids always ended up swimming by the "No Swimming Strong undercurrents" sign.  We still have all the kids, gratefully.

A trip to Orlando

We enjoyed a wonderful trip to Orlando, Florida.  We started planning a year ago and it was questionable whether I would be able to go or not but I made it, had a good time, and am so grateful.

 Her first plane ride.  We ended up in economy class and a window seat.  It was great.

 First trip to the Atlantic Ocean.  We ate at the North Turn beach-side restaurant and  could run out to the water while we waited for our food.

 So much memorabilia inside the restaurant about racing along the beach and neat old cars.

We visited the Daytona 500 speedway and did a tour of the raceway and stadium.  Isaac wants to be a racer. The rest of us just kept comparing things to the movie "Cars" since we don't really follow the racing circuit.

 We visited Blue Springs state park and the brave ones went swimming.

 The water was so incredibly clear that we felt if there were anything dangerous in the water, they would see it.

 We stayed in a great condo at the Marriot Imperial Palms.  Three bedrooms. There were 9 of us and it had the capacity to sleep 10.  Sure nice to be in a great space together and have a full kitchen too.

Sea World was a big hit.  We enjoyed the sea creatures, the shows and the crazy roller coasters

 A fun day spent at the Kennedy Space Center.  In preparation the night before we watched Apollo 13

 We also toured the church ranch and started in the visitors center with this huge gator. It was on our tour that we saw our first live gator on the shore sunning himself.  He can sure more quick when Milt threatened to come near.

We headed out for an airboat ride and happened on this lecture about alligators and learned some fun facts.  This little gator was actually 18 years old but was a runt that she had rescued and kept as a pet.

The kids voted for me, Mom, to be the one to hold the gator.  It was really cool.

 We enjoyed an exotic lunch at the cabbage fish...place.

 Dining on frog legs

 and gator meat.

 Our airboat ride was quite fun.  They are much louder and faster than I expected.  Because of hurricane Matthew the water level was high and we did not see alligators but we did see cows our in the marshland.

 Our last day we finally spent at a beach, Clearwater Beach.  The sand was amazing and the waves were so fun.

 Half of our crew flew out first thing in the morning. The rest of us had some time to kill so we visited a citrus orchard and had a tour on one of these monster buses.  It was so fun!

 Finally going home and Debbie and Henry got to share the window.

Our Florida trip was organized by Peter and Dane. Both of them served in the Florida Orlando English speaking mission and had their very own experiences without even overlapping any areas. The highlights of our trip involved visiting the families and people they had grown to love in the mission field.  Several of them even fed our crew dinner.  For me as mom it was a payday.  My boys served valiantly. They loved the people and the people loved them.  I got to watch my son as he connected with the people, taught them, prayed with them and encouraged them in their continued journey of conversion.

Grateful

• missionary experiences and missions that help boys become good men
• strength and energy to be with my family
• safety for all
• though I had some major allergy thing going on, it only lasted 2 days
• My family likes being together
• Good food and lots of it.
• happy memories made and remembered