It's amazing how many things can happen in just four months. Since my last post we have celebrated birthdays, Halloween,several visits to Disney,the holidays,and our vacation to Utah. The following is a summary of all our latest adventures.
Lets beginning with Andrews aka Aki's birthday. Aki turned 3 on October 17, 2010. He is such a sweet little boy. We sure do love him. In case you haven't notice his birthday theme was all things Woody. He had Jessie too so Mia wanted to dress up like a cowgirl except the boots were to hot she said. It was a grand party as his grandparents wouldn't have it any other way. Next year Vilma said she is just going to take him to the park! Enjoy it while you can Aki. The kids had a lot of fun and it gave us all an opportunity to get our annual family portrait.
Thanks Aki for turning 3 and allowing us to share this day with you! Oh and yes that cake was as good as it looks. The smell along made you want to just bite right into it.
HALLOWEEN
We spent Halloween in Orlando this year. It is tradition that we bring the cousins together to go trick-or-treating. It so cute to see them all dressed up and excited to get so yummy treats. Craig and Tania also came with us. We all attend the ward Trunk-or-Treat. Mia decided at the last minute that she just wanted to dress up in a fancy dress for Halloween. Aki was a very cute pirate and I did buy Mae an Ariel costume and she loved it. She wouldn't take it off. About a week before Halloween we were at my friend Elizabeth's house . They have lots of dress ups but they are for older girls. Mae did not care that the Ariel costume they had was about three times too big she wanted to wear it anyways. I put it on her and she wore it around the house pretty much the entire time she was there. When it was time to go she was really upset that I took the dress off so when I went to find her a costume I actually found an Ariel costume her size. I am not sure what it is about it but she loved it and wore it for Halloween and wears it around the house any chance she gets. I think she really likes the colors.
Before we headed off to our Ward trunk-or-treat we did go to pick out our pumpkins and Mia asked daddy to help her carve Jack on her pumpkin. Aki carved woody. They had fun cleaning out the little pumpkins. We had a full house that weekend. Tania,Craig, Vilma, Jose,Jenny, and even Angie. It is soo much fun to have everyone with us. We love it when we can bribe them to come visit us in Orlando. We were really lucky to have H.B. home that weekend too.We all had a great time.
DISNEYI really think that Disney is the happiest place in the World! I am sure I have said this before but I really do love Disney. I think I enjoy it more then the kids do.
Mia and Mae love going on outings and H.B. and I love taking them on adventures. We have annual passes to Disney and with the four parks there is never a dull moment. On one of our many adventures there Mia actually asked to take a picture with Pluto and on a different occasions she took a picture with Donald Duck. Since we moved to Orlando we have been to Disney many times. She always likes to see the characters from a distance but never wants to get near them. It doesn't matter who it is. It could be a princess and she still won't go near them not even the sweet fairy godmother.Mia recently went on Splash Mountain with daddy and loved it. I didn't get a good picture of it because it was too dark but she said it was really fun. She has been on it a total of two times. Mae loves the carousel and running free.
This past January our friends the Wilson's came to Disney from Ohio. It was really nice to see them again. Mia and Haley are really cute together. Haley and her family moved from Florida to Ohio a year ago and we miss them dearly.
THANKSGIVING,CHRISTMAS,AND NEW YEARS!
For Thanksgiving Mia had a thanksgiving party at her school. The children dressed up as either pilgrims or Indians. Mia was a Indian. The children all looked really cute in their costumes and they sang thanksgiving songs for the parents it was really cute.
Mia seems to really enjoy her school and all the new friends she is making. For Christmas they also had a party but instead of a traditional Christmas party they had a Holidays around the World party. All the children were supposed to dress up in traditional costumes. We didn't have one so we improvised. She told me that her shoes were Mexican shoes and that she was from Mexico. I tried to explain that our decedents come from China and Honduras but she wasn't buying it. She wanted to be from Mexico. I finally just said that was fine. Her daddy seems to think he is from Mexico so I see why she would say that.
As usual we spent the holidays in Bradenton with my family.H.B. was off on weekends during December which was nice because Christmas and New Years both fell on a Saturday.I don't remember how or why he was off for Thanksgiving weekend but we weren't complaining. It was nice to have him around for the Holidays. Craig and Tania also met up with us in Bradenton during the holidays. H.B. really likes having family around so I am happy Craig and Tania moved to Florida.
We also attended a couple of work Christmas parties. One for the adults and the other one was for the entire family. The one that the ER department put together was held at the Columbia restaurant in Celebration. It was really nice because after we had dinner we all went to the main square and they had snow fall,ice skating,and a train ride that the kids could enjoy all paid for by the department. 
Christmas morning for us came a few days after Christmas since we were in Bradenton for the weekend. The kids got to open some presents in Bradenton but we really didn't have Christmas morning until Sunday night. The kids didn't even notice they were just happy to open more Christmas presents. 
This picture was taken on Christmas morning...really early in the morning. I think it was 12:30 a.m. We still keep the tradition of having Christmas Eve dinner and opening presents at midnight. I grew up doing that so it only seems natural for me. The kids did well this year but with little children Christmas morning seems to work better. Every year is different for us. We make our decision based on how the kids are doing and if we think they will handle staying up that late. Mae received a Minnie Mouse from her aunt Karla for Christmas this year. She loves her Minnie!
A few days before Christmas Jenny came for a visit and demanded that she have a photo shoot with the girls. They love their aunt Jenny and we really enjoy her visits to Orlando. As a side every time I am talking to someone on the phone Mae thinks it's Jenny and she says hi Jenny.
The day after Christmas JP was kind enough to give our family and my cousin's family a tour of Emerson Point...or as H.B. calls it "JP point." This is a picture of us girls at the top of one of the observation point. The kids really enjoyed themselves and it was a beautiful day out. After our tour we went back to his house where he delighted us with some tunes on his new accordion. As if that wasn't enough Jane invited us to stay for Christmas dinner with them. We are so lucky to be surrounded by such kind and loving people. H.B. says that JP and I are his only friends! Not true but he does enjoy spending time with JP.
Ringing in the New Year! For some reason this is the only picture that I have of our New Years celebration. We celebrated with Vilma's in-laws for part of the night and after I sent H.B. home with the kids (don't feel bad he wanted to go home. He was going to the Sugar Bowl the next day. That was the only thing he wanted for Christmas.) my sisters and I went over to Karla's house to ring in the new year. We had a blast just being ourselves. There was music and dancing. What more can I say. I really enjoyed being with my sisters and that includes my cousins. They are like sisters to me.
FINALLY OUR VACATION TO UTAH!
We were so lucky to be able to go to Utah this year to visit with all of our family there. We were super excited to see all our cousins and play all day long for 10 days straight. H.B.'s two week vacation fell at the end of January beginning of February. Luckily for us it was only really cold the last few days we were there. For the most part we had lots of sunlight and very little snow fall. It couldn't have been any more perfect.
We stayed with Kristen and Troy as Grandma and Paka were packing up the house to sell it. H.B. even help with a garage sale to help fund his next step exam. Thank you grandma and paka for that! By the time we left they had officially moved into their RV as their entire house had been cleared out. The last update I got from grandma was that there is still a lot of work to do and they hope to be out on the road in about a month or so. We wish them good luck and hope they can be on their way to their next adventure really soon.
We did a lot in ten days. A lot of nothing that is and it was great. Thank you Zoe for feeding Mae pancakes one morning for us. They are her favorite breakfast food at the moment.Thank you to all the big cousins because they all help us with Mae in one way or another. She is finally quit familiar with them all and she loved having soo many cousins to play with including Marley! As is the norm every time we go to Utah it seems like we never get to really see our children. They were entertained from the moment we got there until the day we left. It was really nice to see them enjoy being around cousins.
Even though she wasn't feeling to good Kristen still managed to put up with all of us and our craziness. Thank you Kristen and Troy for letting us stay with you and being such great hosts. Jenny also came for a few days and it was nice that we could all be together even if it was only for a few days. Paka was kind enough to take us all to Crystal Hot Springs where all the cousins except for Mae and I (because she did not want to go in the hot water) were able to enjoy the springs and it appears as if all had a great time.
During our stay there were a couple of sicknesses going around and by some miracle our children didn't get it. Maybe it was because about a week before we left for Utah I was really sick and I never get that sick. Mae was also sick. I was just happy that it wasn't during our vacation.
It was so nice to attend FHE with all the extended family in Utah. I really miss having family around and I know that H.B. wishes they were here too. I wish we could do it more often. We will take what we can for now.
Helen took us sledding and the girls really enjoyed playing in the snow. It was a beautiful day. The girls had it easy they got to ride the sleds while we pulled them. It was a good work out needless to say. We also had a lunch/play date with the Sulliven's. Uncle B took the kids for an ice cream run and as is par for the course he brought home $30 worth of ice cream for all to enjoy and boy did we enjoy it. Thanks uncle B and thanks to Helen for feeding us lunch that day.
Newel and Karen took us out to dinner at a nice Japanese restaurant. We were lucky to have had an entire room to ourselves which worked out great so that the kids could have some space to roam free. The best part was that the craziness was contained to our room alone. Thank you Newel and Karen for that wonderful meal and even more wonderful memories. That same day H.B. went with Newel to a class he co-teaches at BYU non the less.
Karen invited Jenny and I to attend the Sun Dance Film Festival which was going on in Park City while we were their. We had a really nice time. It was really interesting to me how the entire operation works. We weren't able to see any films but we didn't care. We had a good time and whats more important Karen got to check it off her bucket list. After having read about it and seeing how it all works and having read about the various films they were featuring I came to the conclusion that it would be a really neat thing to experience fully. Next time though we will come prepared. Thank you Karen for treating us to such a nice time. It was nice to be able to catch up. I only wish we could do it more often. Maybe some day we will live close to each other again. I miss you and love you very much!
One of the best days for me was when grandma and paka took time out of their busy schedule to drive us to the Manti Temple. What a treat. It was absolutely beautiful inside and out. The live session was wonderful and the people were really warm and inviting. This might sound cheesy but it was like haven on earth. It was a wonderful experience even if the high that day was around 15. So thank you thank you thank you grandma and paka for taking us to the Temple and buying us lunch too. Thank you Karen for watching our children that day. I only wish I would have taken a picture. It was so cold that day that my brain was frozen I think.
Of course there was a lot of movie watching and the eating of snacks after the kids went to bed. Over all it was a great vacation. We only hope we can visit them again soon.
Our last night with the cousins we spent it bouncing around.To finish the night off Carls Jr. for dinner. Fun times....fun times.
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