Company

Just when I think I'm going to stay caught up on my blog, just when I think I'm going to blog more often, I realize two weeks have gone by without touching my blog. Oh well, if something has to be neglected, better my blog than my children...right?

So, with a few minutes to update, I thought I'd post about our cruise. It was so much fun! But then I realized the pictures were on the family computer and I'm on my laptop so on to plan B. I'm posting pictures of our recent week-long visit by Brady's parents from Utah. What a fun week it was. The kids absolutely loved having grandma and grandpa here to talk to, play the piano for, read books with, take walks with, share their homework with, on and on. I loved having someone clean my kitchen when I wasn't looking and someone to help me with a few projects (picture of that to come later).

Here are some highlights:

Spencer had a school project where he needed to interview someone "older" about their family history. How perfect to be able to interview Grandpa in person! Here they are doing the interview:

Grandma helped put the project together:

The final poster turned out great! Grandpa is now famous (at least with 20 3rd graders).

Five Nixon boys:

Not sure where Jordan was for this picture...off on the playground I think. It was a cute picture anyway.
Here we all were at Lake Mills Park, beautiful weather, yummy picnic, great company - doesn't get much better than that.
Another picture with Kelly. It was wonderful to have her over for the weekend.

Brady, Stephanie, Annice, Galen:

And finally, a few pictures from our airboat ride. That was amazing, more alligators than we could count. On the flip side, more dead fish than we could count too. There had to be thousands of dead fish all along the banks of the river due to the 10-day freeze/cold weather we had a few weeks ago. There were talapia and some other type of fish that I can't remember all up and down the river with about as many vultures feasting on them.

Anyway, off of dead fish and on to some great pictures:




Our "tour guide" was great - he took us out for nearly an hour and knew that river like the back of his hand. He was fun to talk to - a genuine cowboy. It was a perfect airboat ride!

Thanks Galen and Annice for making the trip out. It was a wonderful week and like all good things, it went way too fast.

Powerade!

A few weekends ago, right in the middle of our arctic weather, we were scheduled to volunteer at the Disney 1/2 Marathon. There was about 40 people from our ward all working at Water Stop 6 - the half way point (sort of).

We all bundled up (see picture of my friend Dina below, she looks like she belongs in Alaska!) and braved the cold weather, showed up at Disney at 4:45 AM!!! and had a great time filling cups with Powerade and handing them out to runners as they jogged by.

I was a little worried about someone sloshing juice all over my gloves but stuck my arm out anyway. I definitely got sloshed on a few times, but oh well. It was fun.

Brady was making us all laugh with his shouts of, "Get your Powerade here! My long arm comes to you! Easy hand-off right here!" And sure enough, most people came to him. He's such a salesman.

The perk? Free Disney tickets for the two of us, that awesome orange jacket, Disney rain ponchos (because it was predicted to rain, but gratefully didn't. It did sleet though, just slightly but it reminded me so much of snow!), and Toy Story T-shirts. It was a lot of fun and made me want to be one of the runners next year (maybe the one in the Snow White dress...?).

Farewell Frost

Last night was supposed to be the last time we'd see a hard freeze...at least for this cold snap. The high is supposed to be back up into the 70's by the weekend.

Brady went to Atlanta last week and sent us this picture of him holding SNOW! Jordan was wishing he had been a stow-away in Brady's suitcase.

How handsome is this guy? I love this picture.

So, here are some pictures of our car this morning. Thank goodness for one in the garage that I could take the kids to school with. (Brady wasn't so lucky at 5:00 a.m. when he left to go visit an early morning seminary class. He had to scrape with a credit card.)

Courtney scraped together all the ice off the roof of the car and made a little snowball out of it.

I took this picture of her, then I put the camera away and left to take the boys to school. I left Courtney practicing the piano. When I finally had a few minutes to download these pictures to the blog, I found the following pictures of Courtney. She is the queen of the self portrait.

And she'll probably die that I posted all of these...good thing she's so cute (and forgiving)!

What Freezing in Florida Looks Like

Last night's temperature in Oviedo was 26 degrees - the lowest temp recorded in Central Florida.

It's cold...and I mean cold! The oldest two boys came to me tonight after they'd gone to bed with sore, red, cracked hands and lips. It's cold and dry and their bodies aren't used to it.

Here's the scene you can see at most any house or business around town:

Plants covered with sheets, tarps, whatever you can find to protect them from the cold. Hopefully all those pineapple plants and our robellini palm will survive.

Brady is headed to Atlanta tomorrow where it's even colder and a SNOWSTORM is predicted for tomorrow night. I sure hope he gets to see snow again!

Annual Canoe Trip

Over the Christmas break we made our annual canoe trip with the Shepherd and Bateman families. It's always so much fun - beautiful scenery, beautiful weather, delicious lunch - it doesn't get much better than that. Well...if someone would paddle my canoe for me it might get better. (Brady is probably thinking, "Wait a minute, I DO paddle the canoe for you!)

Enjoy some pictures from our float down the Econlockahatchee River:

One of about 2 turtles we saw. The gang in Tucker's canoe also saw two alligators!

Starting a fire to fry up some mean burgers and dogs for lunch.

Finding relief - the natural way.

Brady roasted these mallows to absolute perfection - then gave them to me on a s'more. Now that's true love (and it was the best s'more I've ever tasted).

It wouldn't be a canoe trip without playing on the "bouncy palm tree." Sight of this tree means we have arrived for lunch!

We call this canoe the "Beauty Barge." Those four girls had a great time together.

Look at the reflection of the trees in this picture! Gorgeous.

My view in front

My view behind. I'm not sure which is better!

The whole gang (minus photographer Kent). Notice - I'm the only wife! How do I get roped into these things???