The Scoville's

I miss my friend, Jami. She and her family have moved like everyone eventually does here. We met while we were both pregnant with our boys - it was her second baby, my first. We were VT companions. Since then we've been best friends. Many, many families have come and gone while we've been friends.
It has been two weeks and I still don't feel comfortable with the idea that I can't drop by her house. Or I can't have them over when I feel like not going anywhere but my kids are bored of me. I miss her great advice. I miss being able to talk to her about nothing but her being genuinely interested. I miss going to the beach, the zoo, the park with them. I miss seeing them at church. I miss all her fabulous cooking - especially her homemade tomato soup and her cookies. I know I'm going to miss her when my birthday comes around because she always made it a big deal. I just miss them. Jami, Shane, Isabel, Brigham, and Nolan have been our family for the past couple of years. It should have been a lot harder then it was without my family not being here. They made it easy. Everyone should be as lucky to have such wonderful friends. If anyone else moves, though, I think I'm going to flip out.

Writing on the wall

Jackson has been drawing a ton of pictures. Then he gets the tape and tapes the ones he really likes on the wall next to his bed. This is his bed but Lilly likes to get on it when he's at school.

That's me.

Can you believe I've never water skied? I've tubed, knee boarded, been on wave runners galore but have never put on skis. It always has looked a little too tricky for me and there never seems to be enough time when I've gone out on a boat. So this Saturday a few friends invited me out to a small gathering and I got the chance to water ski. With some good advice, cheer leading and patience, I was able to stay up on my skis, after a few pathetic attempts. It was sooo fun! I also went tubing and went on the wave runner with my dare devil friend, Brie. I loved every minute of the day! Thanks to friends Brie and Adam for inviting me to join them and thanks to John for being a great host and driving us around in his boat at his house. AND a big thanks to my sister, Laura, and BIL, Ryan, for watching my kids for 4 hours.

Swimming

New playground

Due to a recent move of the most wonderful and amazing family we acquired this. The family who moved gave their playground set to a family and that family gave their playground to us. There's a sandbox and a picnic table underneath and we all LOVE it. Especially since the pool is just starting to getting a little colder.

Go Rays!

So I've always been a fan of the Devil Rays, now known as the Rays. I usually go to a game or two during the season but I hadn't been able to go for the past couple years which has been a little disappointing. But yesterday I got a phone call that would change that. My friends had an extra ticket to the Rays v. Red Sox game that same evening and wanted to know if I could go. Needless to say it was awesome. Our seats were maybe 8 rows behind the Rays dugout, I got to eat delicious baseball food, and I got to see some very interesting people. First there were these annoying "cheerleaders" but they didn't do any cool stunts so they were more like a pep squad. It was my first Rays experience with the squad and I found them to be very distracting and I found myself NOT wanting to cheer just because I didn't want to encourage "Team Ray". There was this guy on the cheer team, and I'm all for guy cheerleaders but it wasn't like he was holding up anyone he was just dancing and smiling ... I was embarrassed for him. I was scared they had replaced Raymond with these girls and guy, but no need to fear Raymond showed up. That thing is hilarious. Elvis was there sitting a few rows in front of us. Next time I go to a game I'm going to dress up like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, just for fun. The Rays weren't so hot, it was like seeing my good ol' Devil Rays again. But it didn't matterI had a blast. Thanks to the "T" family for a very needed entertaining night. This family always cracks me up! Even though the Rays totally blew it we were laughing and havin fun the whole time. That was my 2008 baseball season experience. In the mean time, I'll be praying for the Rays to make it to the playoffs.

Sunset

We went to the beach last week for a sunset. I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be than on a beach watching the sunset. I even have a free round trip ticket somewhere but the best vacation would involve sitting on a Gulf Coast beach watching the sunset.

Jackson and Lilly with their cousins.

Jackson was even able to see some Jellyfish (which I've only seen one in my whole life). I guess it must have been a school of them but as soon as the tide went out they were gone, or seemed to be. Jackson has had this obsession or fascination with jellyfish this summer ... we get books at the library on them and he is constantly drawing them or pretending to be one ... so funny. I guess it was a good "end of summer" event to finally see one, well, actually five.
Overall, it was a perfect evening. It really is the reason I want to live where I am forever.

Lilly Jumping

We got this Johnny Jumper out for my sisters 9 month old but discovered that a very-light-weight-almost-two year old loves it too. Its now her favorite toy.