Tyler is a poet!

Tyler got 1st place in his school's Creative Writing Festival for his 2 word poem called "My Brother." His poem now goes onto the Regional Creative Writing Festival. We will know the results of that probably in December. Here's his poem:

My Brother

Very cute

Crawls fast

Poopy pants

Very funny

Cries lots

He stinks

Eleven months

Drinks milk

Likes me

Eats Cheerios

Stands up

Loves playing

Awesome Baby

Spelling Bee Update

Lindsay went to the Regional Spelling Bee in Tallahassee on Oct. 23rd. She put a lot of work and effort into preparing for it. She studied and practiced everyday! At the spelling bee, she did excellent. She didn't mispell any words, but she got out due to stage fright. It was really intimidating for these first graders! She spelled the first 4 words correctly and then on her 5th time up to the microphone, she totally froze. I think she was a little disappointed because she knew how to spell the word, but she just got scared. Anyway, we are so proud of her and she learned so much from this experience. I think she is glad to be done with all the studying too!

Gettin' Crafty..

We have our ward Super Saturday coming up next weekend. Another lady in the ward and I are in charge of it (well, she's pretty much in charge and I am her main helper...considering I don't have a crafty bone in my body). Anyway, we got together and did a bunch of crafts together to get ready for the big day. Here are a few of the crafts we're doing.

Ribbon Bulletin Boards

Dates to Remember Binder (you can pencil in everybody's birthday/anniversary for every month, plus insert cards)

Scrapbook Barn Stars (you can put pictures of your family on it as well). We are also making little barn star ornaments.

Terra Cotta Treat Jars (I am going to give them to Tyler and Lindsay's teachers for presents)

Family Picture frame (picture is held on by magnets, so you can easily interchange the picture)

We also made Mantle Blocks (not pictured). They spell out different words like Faith, Family, Believe, Home, Love, etc. We stained them a cherry wood color and made the lettering gold. They look really awesome.

Last Weekend

We went on a Florida excursion last weekend. We started out in Jacksonville. While Jon was taking a recertification class, the kids and I went to the science museum, Toys R Us, and Chuck E. Cheese. We don't have a Toys R Us or a Chuck E. Cheese in our town, so the kids were SO excited to go there.

We then headed to Daytona Beach. We have never been there, so we thought we'd check it out. My cousin and his family live there, so we made an unexpected visit to their house. I am seriously against unexpected drop-ins, but that is what we did to them. I felt so bad. We GPSed their address and just pulled up in front of their house (well, we drove by it like 4 times before we actually stopped). They were REALLY good sports about it and it was so nice to see them. They have 4 adorable kids that I had NEVER met. They took us to see the Daytona 500 Speedway. It was spectacular. I couldn't believe how huge it was. We are hoping that we will get to see more of them in the future. I told them that they needed to just show up at my house without calling first!

After Daytona Beach, we went on to Orlando. We spent a day at Wet N Wild waterpark and had way too much fun. Then we drove home, stopping and seeing Jon's brother and his family in Gainsville on the way home.

It was a jam-packed weekend and we were all exhausted when we got home, but it was definitely worth it!

At the Science Museum in Jacksonville

At the Daytona 500 Speedway

All the cousins

My cousin, Steve, and me

At Wet N Wild in Orlando

School Pictures

Lindsay and Tyler's school pictures. Tyler is in second grade and Lindsay is in first grade.

Spelling Bee!

Lindsay won her 1st grade spelling bee and now she gets to go to Tallahassee to compete in the Regional Bee on October 23rd. We are all very excited for her. It will be a lot of work for her. She has to stay everyday after school and study, but she says she wants to do it! We will keep you posted on how she does at regionals. If she places in the top 4 there, then she is on to State in Orlando. Last year, a 1st grader from her school won State, so you never know what could happen!

Subway Convention

Here's some pics from the Subway convention we went to in August in DC. We got SO much free stuff, saw the Subway racecar, and got to meet Jared, the Subway guy, who lost all the weight.

Back to School!

Our first day of school was on August 20th! Lindsay is a 1st grader and Tyler is in 2nd grade. The kids are sad that summer is over, but they were really excited to see all of their school friends. We have made it through the first week and so far they haven't complained once!

Washington D.C.

We had a blast on our trip to D.C. It was a lot of fun just to get away and relax. Here are the highlights:

Jon and I went to the Legg Mason Tennis tournament while his family babysat the kids! It was AMAZING. I am a huge tennis fan: I love to play and watch it on TV. We got front row seats (literally). I got to TOUCH Andy Roddick. We bought one of those huge tennis balls and I got about 10 autographs. It was one of the best days ever!




We visited some museums with the kids. They loved going to see the Smithsonian, especially after seeing Night at the Museum 2.



We went to an Orioles game in Baltimore with some of our good friends, the Lunds. The game got rained out and so we all had to run for cover. It's always an adventure with the Lund family!


It was so much fun just being with family. We spent time with Jon's family and then my family flew in the second week we were there. We even celebrated Jon's mom's birthday with her.




My parents were in town for the annual Subway Sandwich convention. My parents paid for us to go as guests and let me tell you, it was out-of-this-world. Free stuff galore...free sandwiches, soda, Subway paraphenelia, etc. Of course, I forgot my camera, but my mom is hopefully going to send me some pictures and then I'll post them. I even got my picture taken Jared, the Subway guy!

Overall, it was a very relaxing (besides driving in DC traffic) and fun trip!

Outta Town...

We are heading to Washington D.C. tomorrow for our summer vacation. My family will be flying to D.C. for a convention and Jon's family lives in Virginia...so we will get to see both families. Also, Jon went to med school in Maryland, so we have some friends that still live in the area...I can't wait to see them! I will update my blog in a couple weeks with all the details of our vacation!