The Best Gift Ever

The days Jason email me to ask if my best friend, Janet, could come visit is one of the happiest days ever! It was so great to have her come see life in Florida! The weekend was perfect; boat ride through Fort Lauderdale's inter-coastal waterways, watching a guy wrestle an alligator, airboat ride through the Everglades where we saw more alligators, holding a baby alligator, eating out, shopping, Mama Mia, the beach, great talks, & showing her Coral Springs! I realized that Janet must have taken all of the pictures of us together doing things, so this is all I have! Thanks Janet and I love ya!

Growin' Like Crazy!

Little Clara is not so little anymore! We just had her 9 month check-up and she weighed in at 21 lbs, which is what Sammy weighed at about 15 months. Clara is so much fun to have around! Everyone just loves her. Alex and Sammy try to see who can make her laugh the most (Alex always wins). :) Here are a few snapshots of the last few months.

Clara is having a great time feeding herself these days. She loves to eat whatever we are eating and gets mad if you deny her. Her favorite is ice cream with dad.

Clara was so excited when she realized she can make a lot of noise by jumping in this thing. Alex and Sammy would get so mad because they couldn't hear the TV. Clara doesn't spend much time in there anymore...too restricting.

I love pictures of sleeping babies, especially when the sleep with their bums in the air.

Clara thought she had died and gone to heaven when she took her first bath with her siblings. They all were laughing like crazy.

Clara can really get going in this Johnny jump up. Some times I think she'll take it off the wall.

Ohhh, those blues eyes...how they melt my heart!

Clara learned to crawl a few weeks ago. She was a little nervous to venture off the rug, but once she did a whole new world opened up to her. Discovering high chairs can be fun in other ways.

What a sweet smile! We love Clara!

First Day of School for Both Alex and Sammy!

In Florida fashion the first two days of school were canceled for Tropical Storm Fay. We are all a little bummed about it, but made the most of it. We even tried to venture outside during the dry spells. Unfortunately, we got caught once and ended up pretty wet. Luckily Florida rain is warm!

Sammy was very excited for the first day of school. She picked out that headband. They were uniforms to school, so hair accessories are pretty much the only accessory she can choose.

Alex loves school! He also has to wear a uniform, but at least he got his lighting McQueen backpack.

A cute shot of Alex in front of his school. I would have taken a picture of Sammy in front of her school, but traffic was so bad that day we were almost late. Actually traffic getting to her school is bad everyday and yes everyday we are almost late.

Final Utah Vacation-Summer 08

I know it is already September and our vacation was so long ago. But I wanted to create one more slide show to show the rest of the fun things we did. There were hikes with grandma Gourley, Kangaroo jump with grandma Hobbs, playing in grandma Gourley's pool, good old story time with grandma Gourley, boating, sprinklers at Gateway, & visiting great grandma & grandpa Hobbs. So many great memories! And we loved it all!

Update on Comments

So I feel like such a schmuck...I never respond to everyone's comments, but I love reading them and I noticed that a lot of them were about what we are doing living in Florida, so I thought I'd share. George has been thinking of leaving EY for as long as I can remember. Work was long & pay was not enough for Palo Alto. They knew this as well, so back in February they asked him if he would be interested in transferring to Fort Lauderdale. There was a software client threatening to leave EY and EY did not want to loose their business. We came to visit, prayed a ton, talked to lots of people, prayed some more, made a decision then changed our minds, then changed our minds again. It went back and forth like this for a few months. But then we decided to go. So here we are. George is working for EY still and really enjoying it. EY also transfered a partner for Cali and a Senior manager from Atlanta. The 3 guys manage a team of women. I keep telling George that I don't know how he can manage all women and he says he just leaves them alone and lets them do their job how they like. Pretty smart guy! So if any of you are heading down to Florida come stay! We would love visitors!