Don't hate us because it was 70+ degrees on Christmas eve...off to the beach we went.
A Florida snowmanWednesday, December 30, 2009
Christmas - Florida Style
Don't hate us because it was 70+ degrees on Christmas eve...off to the beach we went. A Florida snowman
Monday, December 21, 2009
Life Next Door to Disney World
The first weekend in December we experienced a little perk of living next door to Disney. We were able to go (for free!) to the Magic Kingdom for some filming of the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade. Brady and I went together one day and saw Yanni and Kris Allen. I was so excited when I found out Kris Allen was performing. He was awesome. A few kids from our ward were there and they threw him their Santa hat with a Sharpie and he signed it! Wouldn't you know it, I forgot my camera. But check out this awesome video we found on youtube.
The tall guy in the green shirt and Santa hat who is RIGHT in the way during the performance is BRADY!! (Courtney found me too! I am the one right in front of Brady with the sparkly santa hat.)
The next day we took all of the kids but Meghann. It was opening night of her play and she was stressed about missing school that day. So we took Courtney's friend Kennedy instead.
The forecast was for rain - a 100% chance. The weatherman was right. When we got there we found out that the Jonas Brothers were being taped. Everyone was all excited. About 10 minutes later we were standing in pouring rain, pulling out rain ponchos and we heard the director say, "that's a wrap." No more taping of the Jonas Brothers that day, they were rescheduling them for Sunday. Boo!!! We played around for a while in the park and then headed to the Grand Floridian hotel for the taping of Celine Dion. So did a million other people, or so it seemed. That hotel was packed! But, somehow we worked our way up tothe front and had a great spot. In fact, one of the camera guys loved Brady and Jordan and asked them to get in a certain position so he could tape them. Watch for them Christmas day!
Inside the Grand Floridian - when we were actually dry
The tall guy in the green shirt and Santa hat who is RIGHT in the way during the performance is BRADY!! (Courtney found me too! I am the one right in front of Brady with the sparkly santa hat.)
The next day we took all of the kids but Meghann. It was opening night of her play and she was stressed about missing school that day. So we took Courtney's friend Kennedy instead.
The forecast was for rain - a 100% chance. The weatherman was right. When we got there we found out that the Jonas Brothers were being taped. Everyone was all excited. About 10 minutes later we were standing in pouring rain, pulling out rain ponchos and we heard the director say, "that's a wrap." No more taping of the Jonas Brothers that day, they were rescheduling them for Sunday. Boo!!! We played around for a while in the park and then headed to the Grand Floridian hotel for the taping of Celine Dion. So did a million other people, or so it seemed. That hotel was packed! But, somehow we worked our way up tothe front and had a great spot. In fact, one of the camera guys loved Brady and Jordan and asked them to get in a certain position so he could tape them. Watch for them Christmas day!
Inside the Grand Floridian - when we were actually dry
She was stunning (but I was afraid her dress was going to fall off)
We got rained on, but where else can you actually have FUN in the rain? There was no wait for the big roller coaster rides - the ones people wait an hour or more to ride in the summertime. It was great. And a bonus - we were given 7 tickets to come back on Sunday but sold them on Craig's list. Cha-Ching $$. Here's to keeping the Sabbath day holy.
One more perk of being Mickey's neighbors...Meghann got to perform at Epcot Center's Candelight ceremony. It is basically the reading of Luke 2 by some (not so) famous person with local high school choirs providing music with Disney musicians. The guest narrator on Meghann's night was Kit Kitteridge (what is her real name...? Amanada something I think). The night before it was Vanessa Williams. Brady was able to chapperone her choir so they both earned two free Disney passes.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Introducing Guest Blogger Courtney
Well, I was caught up with my blog for about 10 minutes.
Now I'm behind again with no time to catch up. So, I've enlisted the help of Courtney who is going to blog all about our trip to the Florida Keys before Thanksgiving.
Take it away Courtney. . . .
We'll get the worst out of the way - the RAIN. A camping trip wouldn't be complete without rain, right? Let's just say our trip was very complete. The last night it poured so hard we thought we'd have to row home. This was the road that we normally rode scooters on, but it was flooded with water when we woke up.
This tree provided hours of fun. The ocean was practically out our front tent door, about 100 yards away (along with this tree).
A SHARK? Can you see it in the water down there? We saw it from a bridge.
We did lots of fishing. Meghann caught this beauty - they were actually very hard to reel in because they would drop off the line.
Iguana at Bahia Honda State Park
The dads fixed us delicious meals.
Courtney's catch
Key West, Florida
The Shepherds - our bestest friends
Family at Bahia Honda State Park
The old Flagler Railroad
Meghann, Natalie, Courtney - after a shower and "hair-do"
The family at "Mile Marker 0"
The family at "Mile Marker 0" - the other side of the street
Meghann and Natalie - best friends
There were so many hermit crabs we couldn't count them all. They were great pets for the weekend.
Nixon and Shepherd kids
Bahia Honda State Park - it was gorgeous. We saw a shark and sea turtle from a bridge overlooking the water, plus lots of iguanas on the ground.
This is a HUGE crab I found in the water just walking around a ways down the beach so we picked it up and brought it back to show every one! It was pretty mad! We named it Hue because it was huenourmous:)
The sunsets and sunrises were AMAZING!
When we were roasting s'mores the smoke burned this little guy's eyes and so he ran back to camp and came back with these!
Gorgeous water
The Fam (minus mom who had to take the picture)
Cute Boys!
These were all over the place in the water! pretty huh?
Messy! (But what's camping without s'mores?)
Handsome Boys!
Blue Tye Dye?!?
Key West!
DON'T FALL IN!!! (We saw the most awesome tropical fish from this bridge)
7-Mile Bridge! It's a famous part of the Florida Keys.
Isn't Jordan adorable?
These things were everywhere! It is a portuguese-man-of-war. Thank goodness we were able to steer clear of them.
Now I'm behind again with no time to catch up. So, I've enlisted the help of Courtney who is going to blog all about our trip to the Florida Keys before Thanksgiving.
Take it away Courtney. . . .
We'll get the worst out of the way - the RAIN. A camping trip wouldn't be complete without rain, right? Let's just say our trip was very complete. The last night it poured so hard we thought we'd have to row home. This was the road that we normally rode scooters on, but it was flooded with water when we woke up. 
This tree provided hours of fun. The ocean was practically out our front tent door, about 100 yards away (along with this tree).
A SHARK? Can you see it in the water down there? We saw it from a bridge.
We did lots of fishing. Meghann caught this beauty - they were actually very hard to reel in because they would drop off the line.
Iguana at Bahia Honda State Park
The dads fixed us delicious meals.
Courtney's catch
Key West, Florida
The Shepherds - our bestest friends
Family at Bahia Honda State Park
The old Flagler Railroad
Meghann, Natalie, Courtney - after a shower and "hair-do"
The family at "Mile Marker 0"
The family at "Mile Marker 0" - the other side of the street
Meghann and Natalie - best friends
There were so many hermit crabs we couldn't count them all. They were great pets for the weekend.
Nixon and Shepherd kids
Bahia Honda State Park - it was gorgeous. We saw a shark and sea turtle from a bridge overlooking the water, plus lots of iguanas on the ground.
This is a HUGE crab I found in the water just walking around a ways down the beach so we picked it up and brought it back to show every one! It was pretty mad! We named it Hue because it was huenourmous:)
The sunsets and sunrises were AMAZING!
When we were roasting s'mores the smoke burned this little guy's eyes and so he ran back to camp and came back with these! 
Gorgeous water
The Fam (minus mom who had to take the picture)
Cute Boys!
These were all over the place in the water! pretty huh?
Messy! (But what's camping without s'mores?)
Handsome Boys!
Blue Tye Dye?!?
Key West! 
DON'T FALL IN!!! (We saw the most awesome tropical fish from this bridge)
7-Mile Bridge! It's a famous part of the Florida Keys.
Isn't Jordan adorable?
These things were everywhere! It is a portuguese-man-of-war. Thank goodness we were able to steer clear of them.
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