I LOVE our underwater camera!!!

OK, I am not the salesman of the family (that's Steven's department) but can I just say I LOVE my camera. No it is not a SLR, which Steven really really wants to get. And I wish that I had that special photographic eye that my sister-in law Susan has (her pictures are AMAZING) but my camera is the ultimate young family camera. It is called the Olympus stylus: it is waterproof up to 10 ft; sand proof, perfect for the beach. But my favorite is that it is also shock proof, a must have for me because I am not the only one who likes to take pictures, and not to mention I have a baby who likes to bang everything he can get his hands on. That mean wherever my kids go, our camera can come too. The best part is that they have become so much more affordable. So if your looking for a new camera or one you can take with you on your summer vacations I would highly recommend this one.

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day this year. I woke up (after being allowed to sleep in, always a plus) to breakfast and got to read three most precious cards. Written just for me by my sweet family. Poor Brigham was sick so Steven stayed home from Church with him and I went with Aubrey and McKay. Aubrey had a talk in Primary, about how Jesus set an example for us by being Baptized. As always she did a wonderful job and wasn't the least bit scared. I came home to a CLEAN home, lunch started and a special cake. Over all I just felt so loved.

I am losing my Baby

My baby is 14 1/2 Months old and I have seen him grow more this past week than I have in a LONG time. McKay like my two other children has a mind of his own. He came into this world when HE was ready (I was sure I had a least another week and a half). He does things when HE wants to and not before. He rolled from his tummy to his back when HE wanted to. He started crawling when HE wanted to. And no matter how hard we tried He was NOT interested in walking. McKay would lift up his legs and refuse to stand on them whenever we would suggest the idea. Trying to balance was out of the question. I mean why bother walking when you are a super fast crawler.

As a mom I knew that walking meant the graduation from infant baby to toddler, but on the flip side, no more getting his hands black with who knows what and then putting food and other objects in the mouth with the same dirty hands.

However, this past week McKay (all on his own) started standing up, balancing, and taking steps EVERYWHERE!!! In fact he know does more walking then crawling.

Honestly I just want to cry, My baby is gone, I am looking at a little boy who doesn't look at all like he did when he was born.

Time flies by why to fast

Playing at the Pool

Our little Mermaid

Brigham learning how to swim

Aubrey's hair is beginning to grow again, Yea!!!!

My Two Silly Monkey's, nope take that back, they liked to be called Froggies, well, then again this really is Shaggy (BeBo) and Daphene (Aubrey). Sound familiar? Yes, it comes from Scooby Doo, our family is the whole gang. Steven is Fred, I am Velma, because I am so smart? Nope, because my hair is shorter then Aubrey's. As mentioned Aubrey is Daphene and Brigham is Shaggy, McKay is Scooby. At least I know what we are going to be for Halloween this year.

Aubrey actually, has been telling me these past couple of days that she no longer likes her name and has come up with a better one, she has chosen the name Sarah and has decided that she is going to change it when she gets married.

What do you mean back in Florida?

As if our life isn' t crazy enough we have to uproot our family and move has often as we can. Why? Well..... I really don't know.

Possible Reasons:
- To meet new people (we have loved this part, but on the flip side we have had to leave behind some truly amazing friends)
- Make money, (this really is the real reason but you can make money really anywhere)
- I moved around so much growing up that i probably have some sort of internal clock going off saying it is time to move and not just down the street, though we have done that a couple times. Then again Steven basically grew up in one house. so that should off set my clock.
- At one point Steven applied for the Navy and we knew we would be moving around ALOT so we are still trying to stay in the spirit of it all, i guess.
- We want to experience different parts of the Continental US. States we have lived in so far (combination of Steven and Mine) Arizona (Family), Oregon and Washington (Steven's mission), Virgina (Steven), Missouri (Rachel), California (Rachel), Pennsylvania (Rachel), Indiana (Rachel), Kentucky (Family), Florida (Family), and North Carolina (family).
-We want to move as many times as how many years we have been married. so far we have been married for 8 1/2 years and we have moved 8 times, with another move in 4 months so we are on track
- We love to de-junk and spring clean and the best way to do that is move on a tight budget, or move yourself (which is always our case) towards the end you want to pour gasoline over everything, light a match, and collect on the insurance.

As mentioned before the reason has always been for school (early years) or for a job. One of these days we will settle down and live in the same home for more then two years, then again my parents have been saying that for years and they still are moving.

Looking back the one consistent thing in our life has been change.

So after only 6months in North Carolina we are back in Florida, this time much further south in a city just north of Fort Lauderdale called Delray Beach. We are only 10 min.to the Atlantic Ocean. So far it has gotten pretty warm here but because of the coastal breezes the humidity levels haven't gotten as high,well... at least not yet.

We are enjoying are time here; aka the beach and our apartments community pool. We miss our backyard TERRIBLY!!!!!!! The kids have a hard time understanding not being allowed out of the house when before they were pretty much allowed to roam free. Kinda hard going from almost an acre of land to a 5 ft x 5ft concrete slab for a backyard. But we are adjusting.

Steven is working as a salesman for a company called APEX, they sell house alarms. The company owners are LDS and they do most of their recruiting out of Provo, UT. So after years of working alone or working with individuals that did not have the same standards, Steven is getting some quality guy time. I really do think that he is having a good time. The work can be really hard at times but Steven is good at what he does and I know he is only going to get better.

For all of our Florida friends we can't wait to see you again and hope to be able to meet up in Orlando sooner then later.