My AWESOME Vacation!!

How do I even begin to do my vacation any justice. It was one of those vacations that I wasn't ready to leave. I was gone almost 3 weeks and I could have easily stayed 3 more!!! I figure that I will update 1-2 days at a time over the next week or so. Enjoy!

We essentially took a red eye flight down to Florida and I have to say that our boys handled the trip like true champions! They were happy, fell asleep easily, and weren't even too disturbed by the continually interrupted sleep when we got off the plane in Orlando at 2AM, rented and loaded a van, then drove to Gainesville. We rolled into Gainesville at about 4:30AM.

It was 2:00AM and the pilot stayed back an extra 5 minutes to let Evan sit and play in the cock pit. It was so cute and Evan was so excited to have the pilot show him everything. The pilot even gave Evan his own set of pilot wings!!

The Da Costa's got up with our baby who doesn't like sleeping and let the rest of us sleep in a little bit. When we woke up we got ready and went to one of my FAVORITE places in the world ... the Itchetucknee river! It is a spring fed river that you can tube down. I wish our water proof camera had been working because it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life (one of the reasons I love it so much) and I want to share that beauty with my Canadian friends.


It was glorious to be able to spend that time with our friends like we used to talking, splashing, watching Justin and Walmir make fools of themselves and roping Joe and John into their nonsense :-) It was fun to watch little Joseph enjoying the river like only little boys can, and to see all the big boys jump into the rafts when a water moccasin was spotted (cool to watch from a safe distance). It was the best start to our wonderful trip!

Being the kind of family that thrives on tradition we HAD to hit our favorite Itchetucknee burger joint "Bev's Better Burgers". I couldn't wait to get my hands on some of those corn nuggets!
The lack of sleep caught up to my boys on the drive home!

We were back at the Da Costa's only about an hour before it was time for the BBQ that we set up. We knew our time in Gainesville was going to be limited and we wanted to make sure we saw as many people as we could. Our dear sweet friends helped to organize a BBQ/pool party that night. It was so sweet to be reunited with so many people that I love!


This has got to be one of my all time favorite pictures!!
Joe, Justin, and Walmir
I love this woman more than words can express! When I saw Sharyl I burst into tears!
It was so fun to introduce her to Landon.
When I lived in Gainesville I worked with the Young Women of our church. Many of them came to the party and it was so crazy to see how much they have grown into beautiful women.

Chandlar was Evan's primary babysitter
Some of my girls!
Bit, Me, Chelsea (another fabulous babysitter), and Irene
Maren and Chelsea
When Justin went to BYU he lived in the dorms his first year and was lucky enough to make some fabulous friends. They all went on their missions and lived together when they came back. Everyone graduated and Gainesville seems to be another gathering place for these men that we love. When we were living in Gainesville Justin, Joe, and John all lived there as well. Since we have moved Dave has moved there as well. We are so grateful that we were able to see him and his family despite him and his wife's insane schedule!!! (They are both in a medical residency and have a baby!!)
The Young Women presidency that I worked with the whole time I lived here.We were playing around with crazy settings on my camera.
It was so great to spend a whole day in my swim suit!! Man I miss that!!!!