SEPTEMBER 2022

SEPTEMBER found us still in FLORIDA with our trip.  It was our second day headed to theme parks...but every morning it was fun for the kids to find the ducks at the pond by our condos.

This day, we separated into two groups:  One group went to UNIVERSAL to both of their parks for high adventure rides...

...and one group went to DISNEY'S EPCOT CENTER for PRINCESS DAY!!

Both of us had really great days full of things that all the kiddos loved!

The goal for Epcot was to find as many characters for the girls to meet and greet and do some fun activities there.

Minnie was a huge favorite!  Clara was especially excited to meet her, it was adaorable!

Meanwhile, our other contingency were exploring Hogwarts and Hogsmeade.  Wands were purchased at Olivanders and could perform spells at all the shops around the park.

We waited in line to meet and greet Anna and Elsa dressed in princess finery!  Then we went on the Frozen ride.

Braden and McKenna at Universal in their Harry Potter theme shirts.

At the end of the day, just like the first day, we got rain!  We went into our last ride and came out to a huge storm!  But we donned our ponchos and put on our crowns to hold them on our heads and away we went!

Honestly, the best thing of the trip was just being together.  We loved seeing the cousins have time to just hang out together!

It was pretty great having Amanda and Jimmy's place to rent on the main level and then the unit directly above it for the other part of the family.  The other unit had a loft with this foosball table so that was also fun.

Friday morning Bennett went out birding around the pond by our condo...he is a really good spotter!

We spent all day at KENNEDY SPACE CENTER and loved it!

What a blessing to get to be with all our grandkids!!

We had the best day learning all about the space program and seeing some cool displays.

And lots of films to watch and things like moon rocks you could touch and a floor you could make moon steps on.

The kids got to sit inside a real space shuttle cockpit.

It was really amazing to see rockets and shuttles life sized.

There were lots of fun things to explore and play in like this clear tube that made it feel like you were crawling through space.

We loved our time there and wished we had a few more hours to stay.

Saturday we headed to the beach near Tampa for about 1 1/2 hours.  Just enough time to either walk and look for shells or play in the water.

Scott walked with Braden and McKenna and I chose to get in the wonderful warm water with the kids!

It was just the right amount of time to play.

Sand castles were also a fun activity!

Then, we changed into our BYU clothes and headed to the stadium...

...where we ended up waiting 2 1/2 hours for lightning to stop so we could start the BYU vs SFU game.  We just played around and talked so it was no big deal to us.  We were just glad it was not cancelled!

We had a wonderful time there and enjoyed the game a lot!  It was an exciting game and we won 50-21.

Here we are greeting all the BYU players after the game.  They went all around the stadium greeting us all and thanking us for coming.

And Bennett and Klay were given a glove by a couple of the players, and Evan got a wrist band from another.  Super nice of them!

Sunday after church, we changed and got ready to leave but stopped at a nature preserve to show the kids alligators and birds.

It was beautiful there and shady enough that we survived.  This whole trip was SO HOT and HUMID!  I literally dripped sweat all day long.

We loved this place though!

We saw Great Egrets and lots of other cool water related birds.

And, we finally started seeing ALLIGATORS and it was really creepy.

Here is part of our crew!

We saw tons of Osprey here!

And unfortunately, we saw tons of huge SPIDERS here as well!

This is creative Bennett creating a little friend while waiting on a delay in their flight home.  HA!

Scott and I went on our Ward Campout this month but did not take photos of us there...it was really fun though!

This is my Pre-K class this year on our first field trip to the park!

This is a beautiful evening shot of flying pelicans over Utah Lake.

My friend Fia is a Provo Police Officer.  She not only came to show us her police vehicle, but brought a motorcycle and bike and school police along too!  She said she did not want the fire station to show them up!  No chance!  It was wonderful!

Here we are at the Fire Station afterwards though!  It was also pretty great!

We had our Fall APM BBQ and just had a wonderful afternoon with many old friends!

This is Jason and Yessica Young.  They live in Tremonton of all places and he serves in a local bishopric.  They have 3 little girls.

This is me with Joe Cannon's little guy Wade.  It was the best baby therapy ever!!

And this is Scott with Joseph and Amy Barley's little guy Sawyer. And Caleb Brown who is so good to keep in touch with us often.

Catie Paulsen with John and they brought their 3 girls and her famous chocolate chip cookies...Mmmm!

Here is Joseph and Amy with Sawyer.

I did not put photos here of all our visitors, but we had about a dozen families come visit.

And Juan and Monica Castanos came late with Eleanor and caught us just before we left for the BYU game.  It was such a great day!

We spent a lot of time this month helping both Breanna and Braden with their new home projects.  We have loved being able to be helpful that way!  

It was a month full of family and friends!