…Where the Orange Blossoms Grow

When I was in second grade, our teacher taught us a song that goes something like this:

 I wanna wake up, Christmas morning,

and Santa don’t you know,

that I make my home in Florida,

where the orange blossoms grow.

I kept singing it over and over, so excited to be home for Christmas, not just in my dreams. No white Christmas dreams for us!

Well, we ended up taking a three week trip there and having been gone so long, it felt weird to be back. Austin said he almost felt as if we moved. But it was a great three weeks and I took WAY too many pictures to post. I thought about doing several posts, but when it comes down to it, I just don’t have the time. So, here you go. Another vacation “snapshot”.

         

Happy 4th Anniversary!

Austin and I left Cadence for about 24 hours and treated ourselves to a night in the Peabody, a hotel we stayed in for our honeymoon but only got to enjoy for a few hours as we had our reception that night and an early flight in the morning.
We had a great time. We enjoyed our hors d'oeuvres and dessert. We found we could see the Orlando temple (where we were married) from the hotel and it was breath-taking when lit up at night. We enjoyed a couples massage (with their signature ginger mango sent), ordered in, and found out that buying a movie on-demand is ridiculously expensive :) The Peabody is known for their little march of ducks and we love it because of the extremely comfortable bed. Since we were married, they added a whole new tower. We stayed in the new tower and our bathroom mirror even had a t.v. in it - very cool (though I wish the tub was nicer because I had no desire to sit on the bathroom floor just to watch the cool t.v.). It was an enjoyable, relaxing anniversary. We are so much more in love than when we first met! Each year just gets better and better. Happy 4th!

Traveling

Here are a couple of pictures of Cadence playing at the Salt Lake airport before we left. It's nice that they have a fun little play place, right next to where Austin can plug in his laptop to work.


He such a good kid when we travel. He spent about 20 minutes on the plane after take-off (which he loves to watch) just cleaning the window and the tray table. He gets a little ansy on long flights because he has to sit still for so long, but overall, I think he does really well. He even took little naps on the plane and for the most part, sat in between us and enjoyed movies. We managed to sneak in this one last freebie before he turns two. Though I'll be sad to have to pay, it'll be nice he has his own seat.

How can I say enough good about southwest? Besides being cheap & my bags flying free, there customer service is awesome! We bought our tickets to Florida in advance so they were cheap & close to the time of our trip, they had an amazing sale! Austin called customer service and we ended up with a credit of the money back that we would have saved.
Another sweet little blessing that came from the deal was that we changed schedules on our way to Florida and had a nice little layover in Chicago. Austin's family came to meet us and we had dinner in the airport. It was a short visit, but so good to see them and such a fun way to spend our layover time.

Pre-Christmas

We had a LONG Christmas this year! We decided to open some presents before we left to Florida (on the 15th) so that we could enjoy them before going on Christmas Vacation.

Thanksgiving in Texas

We haven't been to Texas since Austin and I were engaged, 4 years ago. Austin really wanted to go and spend time with his grandparents and take the opportunity to get to know more about his family history.


So off we went - driving! It was a long drive, so we decided to split it up. On the way there we stopped first in Colorado (after battling really bad snow through a lot of Utah on Sunday evening). Then we stopped the next night in Lubbock, TX. Vic (Austin's mission companion) and his wife Amanda were kind enough to feed us and let us stay the night with them. Amy and Cadence had never met them, so it was fun (though really short).

We drove for a couple of hours the next day, finally getting to his grandparents on Tuesday, early afternoon. It felt so good to get out of the car!

Almost as soon as we go there, Cadence took an interest in grandma's cats (she's got seven I think). For some reason, the most ornery cat of all he was most interested in until... he was clawed pretty good.

He was pretty upset but it didn't stop him from chasing them around the house.
One thing that Austin and Grandpa Cobb have in common is shooting! They both love the sport. Grandpa took Austin out shooting on Friday and they had a blast (shooting a WWII rifle). They also had a good time Thanksgiving day shooting some tannerite, which makes a fun little explosion and LOTS of noise! They also spent some time jammin' on the guitar at Papa Cobb's house on Thanksgiving night.
Thanksgiving day it was fun to see lots of Austin's family in the area.
Aunt Michelle
Uncle Jerry
Here's Austin showing "Plants vs. Zombie's to Cody (cousin) (and Waylen joins in a little later).
Cadence's Thanksgiving Dinner. He ended up sleeping by the time all the adults sat down to eat.
Lindsey (cousin) and the food table

Austin (enjoying not having to work) and Papa Cobb in the background.

Cadence is ready to eat after the table is set (but it was still another 30 minutes-ish until the adults sat down)
Shanelle (cousin) and Grandma CobbAmy's birthday happened to be the day after Thanksgiving this year. We did the big black Friday shopping this year, but took the liberty to sleep in. When we got to Target at around 9 or 10 a.m. we were SHOCKED at how much they still had and enjoyed how calm and casually all the shoppers were browsing the store. No crazies running from item to item and LOTS of helpful employees :) It made shopping enjoyable.
We bought some Christmas gifts, items we've been needing for the baby that were on sale, and Amy's birthday present - a sewing machine! HURRAY! (Now I just have to make the time to learn to use it. I'm excited, but that project has kind of taken a little backseat to everything else going on for now.)
In the evening, grandpa & grandma treated us to Olive Garden for Amy's birthday. After a year of not eating out, it was an interesting experience. We were grateful to enjoy it with them!
More than anything else, Thanksgiving means something when you spend it with others that you love in a spirit of gratitude. We were grateful to spend it with family, thinking about the greatest eternal blessings we have been given!

Our baby boy

Here are some pictures from our ultrasound yesterday. I was surprised how many they gave us! Cadence had a good time seeing the "baby" and it was the first time he didn't holler at the midwife and have to sit up on the bed with me. He's getting used to these visits I think. We are so excited for him to have a brother (especially since he specifically requested one on Sunday night).



FAST FORWARD to my 26th birthday (which happened to be Nov. 26th). Here is pregnant me, just after half way. Don't ask me exactly how far along I am - we aren't keeping track. It's just a guess anyway! If you want to guess, you are welcome too, just don't tell me!
I have to say that while I enjoy being pregnant, I don't enjoy these shots (can't you tell?)! I think I just don't like that you have to stand sideways (who else does that but pregnant women?).