Spring Break

I am at a library in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina right now. We are here for Spring Break with our friends from our ward, the Roberts. So far, the weather has been overcast and a little rainy and we are wondering where all the sunshine is...I guess back in Florida where we left it! We're going to go swimming in the indoor pool and lazy river after lunch so we'll make the best of this weather that we are not used to! Pictures to come later when I get home or when Brady buys resort wi-fi so we can work from our condo! :)

More Fun Pictures

Here are some more of my favorite pictures from our week of having company here.

We had a lot of fun relaxing on the beach.

Annice's feet in the Atlantic Ocean and

Galen's feet in a borrowed pair of Brady's sandals - a first for Galen!

Where to Start...? Continued - The Lighthouse

One of our favorite activities was going to the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse - about 90 minutes from our house. We met Kelly in Port Orange on Friday and drove out to the lighthouse together where we toured the museums and actually climbed the 215 stairs to the top. It wasn't as hard as I had remembered it being the last time we did it, but this time I didn't have to carry Jordan so I guess that made a big difference! We took a lot of great pictures. Here are some of my favorite.

Galen, Annice and Brady walking the stairs up.

Galen laying down to get just the right angle of the lighthouse.

This is my favorite.

On top of the world, or at least on top of the lighthouse.

These next four are all views from the top.

Where to Start...?

Well, after having Brady's parents here for a week and his Aunt Kelly here for three days, I have a TON to blog about...but where to start? The most exciting part of the week isn't my story to tell so I'll have to wait until Galen and Annice get home and share what they want to with all the siblings, then maybe I can put a few pictures up of that day. Here is one from the evening they arrived. Brady got them home from the airport around 6:30 p.m. and we sat down and had a nice dinner of cowboy stew and breadsticks. The kids were so excited to have them here. Jordan wanted them to sit right down after dinner and read to him.

Wednesday was spent running a few errands in the morning with Annice, then Galen and Annice went to institute with Brady. We hung out with the kids in the afternoon, had dinner, then sent Brady, Galen and Annice off to institute again that evening! They stopped at Jeremiah's for Italian ice on the way home...and even brought one home for me! Yum.

Thursday morning the threesome headed off to Starke, FL. More details of that day later. When they came home, they brought this GORGEOUS and DELICIOUS flat of strawberries from Kelly. Mmmm...we enjoyed them all weekend long. Brady also brought me a beautiful, big Easter lilly.

Annice helped put together about two and a half puzzles while she was here. This is a 1,000 piece puzzle that they all put together...only to find that one piece was missing! Now that has happened before, remember the Mickey puzzle? Aargh! The reward is still out on the missing piece - no one has found it yet.

More later on the rest of the weekend. Here's a picture taken today, just before the West Point Nixons headed home.

Church Magazines!

So many of you have made comments, sent emails, or called Stephanie to let her know you read her contributions to the Ensign last month. "Did you know she was in their twice?" is what I would always ask those who mentioned it to me. I was so happy for her! We decided to rack our brains to remember all the times any of our family have been in any of the church magazines. Here is the list we came up with. I tried to hyperlink to each article. Those published after 2001 are viewable in a .pdf format online so you can see the pictures as well.

Stephanie didn't want to post this as she was worried that you may think she was tooting her own horn. Not only is she a fantastic wife and mother, she is also humble! :) She really does have good ideas and I'm glad I married her! So here it is, the complete listing of Nixon contributions to the Church Magazines

MOM
Christmas Countdown Ensign, December 2007
Dinnertime Discussions Ensign, February 2008
Q&A Feb 2008 Ensign, February 2008
One short piece in a Church News Q&A

DAD
Navigating Turbulent Waters Ensign, July 2000
In the News: Church Assists Floridians Struck by Tornadoes (Quoted) Liahona, June 2007
FYI Three's Gospel Company (I baptized these triplets and submitted their picture) New Era, April 1993
Journal Entry in LDS Living Magazine about hurricane Katrina clean up efforts.


MEGHANN
Better than First Place Friend, May 2005

COURTNEY
Friends in the News, January 2001, p. 19

TUCKER
Friends in the News, July 2004, p. 47
Missionary Bear Friend, February 2007

SPENCER
Friends in the News, August 2006, p. 27

JORDAN
Nothing... yet!

UPDATE: Imagine our surprise when one day after I published this post the April Church magazines came and what do you know... Jordan (and his brothers) finally made it in the Friend magazine. See April, 2008, p. 47