One of Scott's favorite things in Cocoa Beach was the Ron Jon Surf shop...imagine that :) Here's the kiddos in their Ron Jon shirts since I didn't get one of them on the beach with them

 Kevin and I were asked to be hosts for the Kansas City Temple open house in 2 weeks (link here) and are so excited! They said more than 90,000 people are going to be coming and it's going to be one of the biggest temple open houses in church history. Which also makes it a bit nerve racking that we are one of the couples giving tours! I told Kevin he's doing all the talking!

These were taken with my cellphone, so it's much more beautiful in person :)

Anyway we got to go up to Kansas City to do the training and we brought the kids and had a picnic lunch at my favorite place there- the Historic District

 after lunch Scott was having fun rolling around in the grass :)

feeding the ducks peanut butter and jelly crusts and goldfish :)

Ari and I were standing on a bridge taking this picture of Kevin, Scott and Hailey in the middle of the other bridge- we were waving at each other from the different bridges

We had planned on doing the training all day because we were going to trade the kids off, but thanks to a great friend of mine's mother who stayed and watched the kids in the nursery room, we had the rest of the day to play. We even got to take the kids to the Liberty Jail which they thought was pretty neat, especially Scott. He's been talking about it all week.

The older two were at school and I was doing laundry with the mud room door open while Ari was playing in the garage. I had to take a picture because this is sooo Scott when he was this age... she looks like him and tries to act like him too. Pretty cute.

I put Ari's hair up in a pony and she looked so big! Everybody around here thinks she's 3...she's just extra tall. (Reminds me so much of Mia Candice- she looks so much like her sometimes!)

I'm getting so antsy for the summertime! I can't wait for Scott to be out of school and just enjoy the nice weather. The kids and I planted some flowers in the front yard this week and have been enjoying 80 degree weather. Scott is getting pretty sick of school too with all this warm weather- he just wants to play! Just 2 more months Scott- who hoo!

So while we were in Florida a few times we got some stares and comments about our family being big (now I know how you felt living there Kelli!). Once after getting some drinks at the gas station we were walking back to our car and this man says, "Wow! Big family! HUGE!" We just smiled, but what I wanted to say was, "Yep- and growing!"

That's right...we are expecting #4 the beginning of October.

Thought I'd finally share the news :)

For Spring Break this past week we took a little family vacation to sunny Florida! Ari has flown a handful of times, but this was her first time as a "ticketed passenger" She was so excited. She LOVES to be miss independent and just sits the entire time and doesn't move.

We floew into Orlando, but we stayed on Cocoa Beach, which is just 15 minutes from where Kevin use to live when he was in high school.

As soon as we got there and checked in, we walked down to the beach. The kids played for hours and wouldn't even leave to get dinner...we had to send Dad out to get some food for us :)

Ari is so sensitive to all things, so no suprise that she didn't like the sand on her body...it took her a while to get use to it. 

What she did love was the water though...she couldn't stay out of it! A few times she just walked herself right out to the water and one of us would have to chase her down. 

 

Scott just loves digging. We had a few spectators wanting to come see the different tunnels he had built.

 Hailey was just playing next to Scott and a few girls (probably about 10 year olds) came over and asked if she could play with them. It was pretty cute. She told them all Ari was her little sister and Scott was her LITTLE brother...how funny :)

That first night Scott lost his second top front tooth!

View from our room...you can see the little lit path down to the beach on the left

Almost every morning I took a picture of the kids by the elevator before we began our day. Our balcony had a view of the Atlantic Ocean and the front of the rooms had a view of the banana river...pretty awesome! (you can just barely see the river behind them)

The next morning we drove over to Rockledge where Kevin lived and saw his old house and stomping grounds. Hailey was enjoying picking all the flowers in the yard and found this beauty

Kevin in front of his old house...It use to be a lot nicer, the people lost it during the market crash

Kevin's old highschool

He drove us to the road his football coach use to make them run right along the Indian River. I don't know how kids go to school with a river within walking distance! How fun would that be!

Then ot was off to the Brevard Zoo!

We rented a paddle boat and I thought for sure they wouldn't let Ari on with us because she was too small andd because there was a 4 person limit, but the guy was super nice! Here's the kids holding their little cups of fish food

 We had 2 snapping turtles that followed us around the entire time. Clearly these were well fed turtles :)

Our handsome captain

When we got back to the dock the guy was like, "Wow! You lasted a lot longer than I thought you would...I figured I'd see you back in 10 minutes" LOL

 They had this super cool water lagoon for the kids to play in....huge hit

 It had a huge fish tank and the little stream went all the way around the tank so the kids could swim with the fish

 and tease some sting rays

 Ari finally crashed after 2 days with no nap- Whoo hoo!

  For dinner that night we went to Sunset Cafe which was right on the Banana River

 Off for a morning swim at the pool

 Once again, Miss Priss doesn't want to join in on any fun

Just sit and sip on juice boxes

 But these 2 fish were in heaven!

 Finally talked her into it after about an hour

 Drying off my little mermaid

 We packed up some lunch and decided to go over to Cocoa Beach Pier for a nice relaxing picnic. We found out really quick that's where all the Spring Breakers were hiding out. That beach was so crowded! We were so happy we stayed down the coast and had a quiet private beach ...but we did manage to find a little spot there to enjoy some fun

 This was the day everyone got sunburned. Scott has brown skin that never burns, so he managed to just get a nice tan, besides that he was looking down the entire day digging we decided!

 While Hailey was off doing this!

This girl is such a beach bum...I just know she's going to want to go to some beach town for college!

 Love this picture. If any picture could sum up the personality of this girl- it's this one

 Kevin and I had to take turns taking Ari out into the waves. She did not want to stop. She just laughed and jumped and thought it was the best time ever

 Finally now on day 3 she decides playing in the sand can be fun too

 Scott...digging and digging some more

 Out on the Cocoa Beach Pier

 The coastline with the busy spring breakers

 Hailey looking a bit tired, but you can see just how blue the ocean is behind her- so beautiful!

 Last stop was for some icecream. Everyone in the shop was so sweet...the lady gave us 2 for free, and some guy as we were walking out said, "Does it get any cuter than that? Good job man!" to Kevin.

 You know you're tired when you pass out eating a slurpie!

 For dinner we ate at Coconuts on the Beach which was a super yummy resturaunt right on the beach

Our last day we walked straight out to the beach after breakfast. We were so glad to be back at our quiet little beach after the busy day before. We spent HOURS playing in the sand, splashing in the water, and collecting sea shells along the coastline

 Kevin decided to drag Scott out of his digging hole and force him into the water. Turns out he loved it and just had a blast splashing in the waves with Dad...of course- the last day

 Then Scott and Hailey swam for hours in the pool while Ari took a much needed nap in the room. (Refused to take off her swimsuit or her flipflops)

 so tired!

 After Ari's nap we drove over to Cape Canaveral to walk along the pier and watch the cruise ships go by

 and get some more icecream of course

 Right before this picture Ari was walking along and tripped with her icecream which went flying the opposite direction. Of course it had to be in front of a ton of old fisherman spectators. Kevin and I look at each other like, "Oh well sorry" (our usual aproach) and some old guy yells at Kevin, "OH NO! You march right up there and buy her another one!" LOL...whatcha gonna do?

 Then it was off to dinner and pedicures for Hailey and I. My sisters and I always get pedicures when we go to the beach, so I figured it was time to start that tradition with Hailey. She was sooo excited and just sat there smiling the whole time not saying a word. She chose hot pink and enjoyed every minute :)

It was such a great and much needed vacation especially with Dad traveling so much lately. We had a great time and it will definitely not be the last time we visit Florida if I have any say in it :)