Summer Vacation!!

McBride Annual Summer Vacation: Treasure Island, Florida

August 12-17

After a lovely 4:30am wake-up call, we gathered our belongings, drove to the airport, and boarded our 6:50am flight. On the way our youngest child asked if she would see any of her friends at the airport, we laughed and pointed out that no one else was crazy enough to take such an early fight. Well wouldn't you know it, just to prove parents don't know everything, one of our other children's friend and family were boarding the same flight (with a different final destination). Kid's say the darnedest things!

Above is Glen getting in last minute work (so dedicated!) and the children enjoying a little techno entertainment.
Denver, Colorado Airport, 2 hour layover. Good thing Glen knows all the best places to sit, seeing as this is his home away from home.

As for our home away from home in Florida we stayed at the Residence Inn by Marriott. It had everything we needed to set-up camp, a kitchen (with dishes), separate bedroom for the parents, and immediate access to the beach, not to mention maid service!
We even had a pet! This cute little gecko and his friend lived outside on the balcony.
On Sunday we found the local ward to attend Sacrament meeting. It's great to know you can find the church so many places you go!

On our little Sunday drive after church we found a special treasure! Our third child has been asking for a coconut ever since we went to Hawaii and didn't bring him one (about 2 years). So he still hasn't actually had a coconut because we wouldn't let him climb the tree, but seeing them seems to have satisfied him a bit.

Beautiful Sunsets, hunky guy!

The rest of the gang!

So even though Disney World brings some major tourist action to Florida, we went for the simple pleasure of sitting on the beach, playing in the water, and soaking up the rays!

Scuba Girl!Lucky parents of Scuba Girl!

Dockside Dave's: Old time beach restaurant, with a specialty for cooking Grouper five different ways. We were even privileged to have Dave reminisce at our table while he rested his tired feet.

Kids making friends with the locals!

Last stop, The Pier in St. Petersburg.

August is not the time to visit Florida, it is hurricane season! But we got lucky and only knew Hurricane Bill as a tropical storm that rained on us several times a day. So we went with the artificial hurricane experience instead. Much faster, cleaner, and safer! The kids really liked it!Fun rides at the airport, just like the Disneyland Monorail, but free!

They even have toys at the Tampa airport. Really we could have just stayed there, but we wouldn't have come home with much of a tan!

Fun family bonding time away from the craziness we call regular life is great! We love exploring new places and making memories as our little family grows.

It's a big world out there...where will we go next?!

More Adventure Awaits......

More House...

More House..of course! Well, if you are following our reno fun you know we had some damage from a blown water valve and when it came time to repair the damage we saw on opportunity to work on yet another of our future projects, making it a current project...so we took out a wall, or at least half of it.

Previously there was a full wall between the kitchen a the sunken family room with a set of stairs on either side leading into it. We cut the wall in half, leaving the necessary support columns, and removed one set of stairs.
With our excellent contractor and crew the newly engineered wall and columns look great! Glen make look smug but the only credit he gets for this work is the excellent job he does selling ultrasound to pay for it!
The entrance to the kitchen was made larger as well, flaked with matching columns.

Or course we couldn't stop there! So when the suggestion was make to replace the stair railing we jumped on it! Before we took off for our summer trip, instructions were given and choices made. This will look very different the next time we see it!

The fun continues!

My Most Favorite Author!

Marcia Lynn McClure is So Fun!

It is such a pleasure to meet the author of your favorite books and find that she everything and more that you hoped she would be!

More than a year ago I went to the Internet to find "clean" romance novels and I stumbled across this woman's name. I checked my local library and found a couple of her books. I'll admit the first I read was not my favorite (The Whispered Kiss), but I had checked out two so I proceeded to read the second and have been hooked ever since! I read all the library had then proceeded to order the ones I couldn't find to begin my own personal collection. These are my most prized books! I introduced my "Book Friend" Angela to them and now she is hooked as well. Being loyal McClure followers, when her website announced her "Meet & Greet" to be held in Orem, we made plans to be there. Little did we know we would wait in line for over three hours to purchase even more books and meet the delightful lady. I now have 14 of her books, all signed and cherished! Marcia was so friendly and full of laughter than it will make reading her books even more fun knowing she genuinely is a great person!

Favorite Books: Love Me, The Heavenly Surrender, The Time of Aspen Falls.....

Fun Times!!!!

Check out her website for more info:http://www.distractionsinc.com/

House For Sale!

It is official! Our house is for sale. Whether we will be moved in to our other house before school starts, or camping in the backyard, we have this one listed.

I have loved this house! It will be six years this August since we packed up our little family and moved from Arizona to begin working for GE. Since then we have added one little girl and a truckload or two of stuff!

Entry:

Master Bedroom:

Master Bedroom, Summer Decor:

Girl's Room:

Boy's Room:

Reading Chair Outside Kid's Rooms:

Family Room:

Family Room, View Two:

Kitchen:

Office (Miracle Picture):

Dining Room (Could Be Formal Living Room, Not my Style):

Basement Family Room (w/ Movie Lights!):

One of Two Basement Guest Rooms:

My Craft Room:

The walls are painted a soft blue. The name of the color is Silence!

As with many other major decisions I've made in my life, I'm trusting in Heavenly Father to lead the way. I adore this house and have had fun personalizing it to what our family needed, but I know it will make a great home for someone new. I'm excited to continue work on our next project and see what is in store for us there. Thanks for letting me share my home with you.

The Grand Finale of Birthdays!

She is FIVE!

The little lady was able to celebrated her birthday with family friends. She is unique at this gathering by being the only one not present the last time we were together. Here goes the explanation...The Weeks were our closest friends when we lived in Arizona. They moved to Georgia and we moved to Utah one year later, that was almost six years ago. So they have only seen the little lady in pictures.

The Weeks came our way to deliver their oldest son to the fabulous BYU! Lucky us, it gave them an excuse to come to Utah. While they were here we had a little adventure in the Alpine Canyon. See the smiling faces at the beginning of this uphill climb!

It took one hour and serious courage to reach the opening of the Timpanogos Caves. Once there we waited our turn to be guided through by a forest ranger. The tour was fun and informative but upon its completion we exited the caves to a major down pour! The ranger said we could wait it out since the decent was said to take 45 minutes. After ten minutes of no change in the weather we decided to make a break for it...25 minutes later we had safely, although thoroughly drenched, reached the bottom!

Fun times!

Family Times...

The beautiful new Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

Our family had a wonderful time touring the new building in South Jordan.
Father's Day!

Two Steps Forward, Two Hundred Gallons Back...

It may look like a scary sea creature, but it is actually the last remaining fan currently drying out our house. So here's the thing...

Late one night after everyone returned to their presently occupied homes a newly installed valve decided to become the sole creator of its own indoor water feature.

The valve in the upstairs kids bathroom came loose and allowed gallons of water to flow throughout the top floor before deciding to forge a waterfall down the stairs, onto the main level and then down into the basement.
At 10:30am the next morning our contractor was the first to discover this new development. We heard from him around twleve after he had begun the recovery efforts. He called to inform us and suggest we keep the impessionable ears of our children away until he had further time to cool down.

Upon my arrival that evening I quickly noted that things were in good hands. Thirteen fans and three dehumidifiers were busy doing their best to dry the place out. Sheetrock has been removed in several locations, but it looks worse than it is. Appariently we were not meant to move in right away, but the job progresses!

The greatest blessings appear to be, first, none of the new construction was permantenly damaged, and second, we may get our hardwood floors refinished (which they needed).

The craziness continues!

All About the Big Man!

In May we continued with our birthday celebrations! First dad had to share his special day with Mother's day. He was a good sport and the kids pulled double duty fixing all the meals themselves! Then the big guy turned eight ten days later, and that's a big deal around here!

With his newly acquired age he enters the peculiar world of Scouts, beginning with his first pinewood derby entry. Behold the Manchester United car! Weighing in at exactly 5.0 ounces! (Unfortunately the wheels were not perfectly aligned so it came in the middle of the pack. Still not bad considering it was put together in less than 24hours!)
He won the best Sponsor Award!

The best part about turning eight...Getting baptised!

He was baptised June 6th by has father and confirmed a member of the church and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost by his father again with Bro. Mike Shelley (his Primary teacher) and Uncle Steve.

Our guests included Uncle Steve, Aunt Tonya, cousin Will, Bonnie and Michelle, the surprise guest, Grandma "B" and the Shelley's (not pictured).

What an exciting weekend we had! Growing up can be so much fun when surrounded by people that love you! Happy Birthday Big Guy! We look forward to many more exciting milestones!