WHAT!?!

We had the Mabey family over the Sunday after the BYU-UofU game and they had the gall to come over dressed all in red! Of course Marcus wanted in on the picture -- because he was wearing red! Well Mabey family, we won't hold it against you that you are Ute fans. We still like you!But... wouldn't you look so much better in Blue?

and yes I know that Utah beat BYU and that Utah did very well this season. But we still have to joke. :)

Michelle & Jon's trip to Florida

We started our trip in a very dirty and disgusting hotel. After about an hour complaining about the room and not finding it worth sitting through a two hour presentation about purchasing a timeshare, we checked out and headed to Gainesville. We couldn't go to Florida and not visit Natalie, Philip & Max (Natalie is my sister). And feeling like young teenagers without a care in the world (we didn't have the kids with us) we drove until 2 in the morning, checked into a nice hotel and slept the morning away.

The Scherer House

Just like Utah, there is a church on every corner... but unlike in Utah, not all are LDS!

It's so humid moss grows all over the tress

Max & Uncle Jon

We stopped at the Kennedy Space Center on our way back to Miami.

The building where the keep the shuttle - it's HUGE!


A quote I found on a website "Although Canada has been involved with the space race since the beginning, nothing has made our national pride glow like watching the space shuttles and seeing the big letters CANADA written across the Canadarm." Jon had to have his picture taken with the Canadarm and while I was taking the picture I thought...


...oh ya, United States is on the outside of the whole space shuttle.

We had a wonderful time visiting with the Scherer's. Natalie gave us a tour around Gainesville. We saw UF and the many hospitals surrounding it, the fraturnit and sorority houses. We ate dinner on a plantation that had been converted in to a housing development and shopping. It's a fun little college town with more doctors than you would know what to do with (and perhaps a bit too much Gator pride!).

The space center was amazing, I am excited to take Marcus there in February when we go out for a visit.

Miami Beach

Wednesday we headed back to Miami...and the party began. We hung out at the pool, on the beach and eating dinner (thank you Dale & Henry). Our hotel was awesome, we had a beautiful view of the ocean. I loved going to sleep at night listening to the waves crash on the beach. It took me back to my days in Hawaii (attending BYU Hawaii) when I lived on the point and would listen to the waves every night. However, at a certain point the police and ambulance sirens drowned out the waves...

The Groom - Matt & Jon

The Bride & Groom (Matt & Suzette)

The old married couple on the beach :)

Our hotel from the beach

Bachelor Party

When Matt asked Jon to be his Best Man, Jon reminded him that he was Mormon and there where going to be tight restrictions on the bachelor party. Matt had a great idea to charter a fishing boat and spend the day deep sea fishing off the coast of Miami! It turned out to be a great day. Everyone caught something - and don't worry Jon brought home a souvenir - a stuffed fish! Where the heck am I supposed to put it? I'll have Jon write more about it later... here are are some pictures.

The bachelor party crew after a long day at sea!

Jon thinks this was a King fish (at least that's what he was told). It was his third fish of the day!

Matt and his durado (also called a dolphin fish).

The Boat (The Reward Fleet... which Jon highly recommends for anyone charting a boat for 12 or more in Miami!)

The party bus that took the gang to the boat!

The Wedding

Matt & His Parents


Suzette & Her Mother


Matt & Suzette pouring their sand into one vase - becoming one.


The Best Man (At Least I Think So!)

The Beautiful Bride.

Congratulations Matt & Suzette!

2008 Family Photos

What...How...Well, don't fall...

Oh you mischievous little bugger! The stool didn't get him high enough so one day I found him at the sink like this. He climbed onto the toilet, then the garbage can. Sometimes he makes it all the way up onto the counter. He thinks he is such a big boy.

Brothers...

Seth loves his brother. He has to do everything his big brother does. He plays the Wii and computer games with him, he tries to go to preschool with him and the other night he even tried to sleep in bed with him. Marcus had passed out on my mom's couch but Seth wanted to play so he kept jumping on him. He thought it was the funniest thing in the world!

Chalk One Up for Men Everywhere

As some of you may have seen (see the previous post below), my beautiful and loving wife decided to enlist the help of her fellow "mommy bloggers" in persuading me that a kitchen play set would be an acceptable Christmas gift for our boys.

Many comments later you have helped me persuade her that boys SHOULD be boys, even if "some accomplished, (questionably) manly men are successful chefs," "gender roles are (supposedly) out," "you'd (supposedly) buy one for your boys (if you had one)," or "I sound like Tom (who went up a few notches in my book based on that comment)."

Looks like our boys will have a chance to be MEN after all! Chalk one up for the guys!

Next mission: Convincing her Fantasy Football is a wonderful hobby!

*Special props to my co-worker Lindsay (a girl) who was the first to post the idea of a workbench play area for the boys, and provided the link to Toys R Us for this wonderful photo.

All I want for Christmas...

This is what I want to get Marcus & Seth for Christmas from Santa. They loved playing in the kitchen at the Children's museum in Seattle, they enjoy playing with the little kitchen at Amy's house and it would be a great addition to our playroom and I believe that it would encourage their imagination. I especially thought this one would be great because it is not pink or purple and it comes with a BBQ - a very manly kithcen gadget. Jon, DISAGREES! He is trying to tell me that play kitchens are not for boys. SO, I ask all of you - what do you think?