Josh's Reaction

I really wish I'd had a video camera for this moment. It would have been great. But instead I just have to describe it to you. At breakfast a few days ago (April 7), we decided to let the kids in on a little secret. I asked Josh if he still wanted a little baby... since it's been on his mind a lot lately. Funny the timing of it and all. Anyhow, he said yes. So Peter said, "Well, there's a baby in mommy's tummy." You should have seen his face. He got a HUGE grin and such wide eyes. He's at such a fun age.

Just to make sure he understood, we asked if he remembered when Emily was in mommy's tummy, and he said he did. He asked where this baby would be born, and we told him it would be at the hospital. He asked "Where Emily was born?" So, I think he understands.

For part of the conversation, I mentioned that Elizabeth's mommy had a baby in her tummy, too. Josh asked what kind of baby it was. I told him it was a baby girl. He said "I want a boy!"

By this time, Emily was emphatically signing "baby." I guess she's ready as well. The funniest part was that he looked at Emily then said "There are two babies. One for me, and one for Emily." I guess we'll see in a couple months.

By the way, the due date is Halloween!

Paynes Prairie

On Nathan's last day here, we decided to go see some alligators at a place called Paynes Prairie. It's a place just outside of town. We'd heard about all the alligators there, and thought it might be fun to go check it out. So, we drove down there and found the main entrance to the place. Turns out, that to see the alligators, you have to go to a completely different part of Paynes Prairie. Oh well. Instead, we got to see a prairie. Isn't that exciting???? Sorry about that, Nathan.


Nathan with the kids. This is the top of a tower that lets you see more of the prairie. Lots of tall grass on one side, and a bunch of trees on the other. Oh well. At least now we know. Can you see how much my kids love their uncle? They were so happy to have him here. I actually have a picture like this with me, but Emily's not smiling at all. Oh well.

Here's Nathan. He was taking a bunch of pictures of the area. I forget that Florida looks quite a bit different from the rest of the country. Specially if you compare it to Utah.

For any of you that have not been to Florida. Here is a picture of Spanish Moss. That's the nasty stuff hanging off the tree up there. It's a parasite that will eventually kill the tree. Funny, though, this stuff is protected. It is illegal to chop down trees with the spanish moss on it. Or something like that. I don't get that one bit. I think it's the ugliest stuff. Oh well. We love living here anyway. :)

Retired Horse Farm

A while back, some friends of ours told us about a farm about 20 or so minutes away that's basically a retirement home for horses. Every Saturday, they let visitors come and feed carrots to the horses. We've been meaning to take the kids there for a long time, and we finally got around to it when Nathan came to visit. It was a lot of fun.


This sign is kind of funny. We tried, but they didn't like fingers. JK

This horse really wanted to be petted. Horses scare me, though, so we got no closer than this. It was very pretty. Emily sure enjoyed looking at the horses.

Josh apparently has a little of his mom's nervousness. Look how excited he was to feed this horse. Eyes closed and everything.

Josh was doing pretty well with feeding the horses whenever Nathan was there to help out.

I finally got up the courage and got close enough to help Emily feed a horse. That was a lot of fun! And we thought the fun was for the kids. :)

Josh got up the courage to feed the horse all by himself! Great job!

See, Daddy came too.

Josh got tired of feeding the horses and decided to feed himself instead. He ate the whole thing. When he got to the green part at the end, he even asked if he should eat the "yucky part." I told him he could. Then he looked at it, and decided, all on his own, that it might not be the best idea. Good decision. I'm so proud of him. :)

Nathan convinced me to try to pet this Clydesdale. It was scary, but I did it. What a breakthrough!

Why am I scared of horses? One bit my ear when I was 5. I'd say, nearly 25 years later, I'm making great progress.

Nathan's Little Surprise

When I spoke to Nathan after he arrived in Orlando, he told me he had a little surprise for me. Turns out, he had rented a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder.


This is a nice little picture of one. The one he had was white. It was pretty neat to ride in. I've never ridden in a convertable before. Good thing we're in Florida, otherwise, we may not have been able to enjoy the top down feature. (Since our weather is soooo wonderful here most of the time and all.)

Braves game with Nathan

A little over a week ago, we got to have my brother Nathan come and visit for a few days. It was really great to have him here, and we hope he's able to visit again sometime, in the not too distant future.

Nathan arrived in Orlando on Thursday, March 19 sometime in the morning. He hung out there by himself for most of the day, but he did get a chance to go to the temple, take a little nap, and I believe he even got to catch some of the first round games of the tournament. Unfortunately BYU didn't make it past the first round this year. (I had them making it to the Sweet 16, so that didn't help my bracket. Oh well) Later that evening, we showed up at the hotel and went to dinner, thanks to my grandma :)

Now, my brother has been a Braves fan as long as I can remember. His favorite player had always been Dale Murphy. As far as I know, he's always wanted to get to go to a Braves spring training game. So, with us living in Florida, it was his perfect chance to go to a game and visit us as the same time. So, we headed to the game right after dinner.

Here is Josh just after we got to the game. After this moment, you couldn't catch him. He was having so much fun running all over the place. Thank goodness we got grass tickets, instead of bleacher tickets.

Me, Emily, Josh, Nathan. The grass seating area was actually on a steep little hill. The area was packed. Along the fence was a barrier that you could not see through, so the area at the bottom of the hill was completely empty. We thought we'd try to lay down and watch the game from under the fence. What great seats those were.

The rest of the evening, Josh and Emily were just running back and forth along the grass at the bottom of the hill, having an absolute blast. Talk about a late night, though. Their bedtime is 7:30, and we didn't leave the stadium until 9:30ish. They were so tired. Emily was out by the time we got back, but Josh was having so much fun with Nathan already that he didn't make it to sleep until 10:30. It was so much fun, it was definitely worth it, though.

One Track Mind

Today, we had a ward activity, and they provided nursery. Josh and Emily got to play with some of the other kids in the ward, and had a ton of fun. Anyhow, on the way home, I heard Josh ask something about 2. I thought he had noticed the 2 on the clock because it was 12 something. So, I asked what he said.

Josh - "Why do we only have 2?"

Me - "2 what?"

Josh - "Why do we only have 2 kids?"

Is he trying to tell us something not so subtly?

Funny Topics

Earlier today, I was picking up in the kids bedroom while they played. Out of the blue, Josh starts up quite the conversation.

Josh - "I want a baby."

I was a little surprised. So, I said, "A baby like Baby Molly?" (Baby Molly is Emily's favorite doll.)

To which he replies, "No, I want a real baby."

"Oh? Like Emily was a baby?"

"Yes."

Me - "Why?"

Josh - "I like babies."

Me - "Do you want a baby boy? Or a baby girl?"

Josh (after thinking about it for a moment) - "A boy"

I'm glad he's decided all this. I told him we'd see what we could do about it. Wow, where do they come up with these things? Maybe it's because his cousins are about to have a new little baby boy... in several months, that is.