dough·nut: a small cake of sweetened or, sometimes, unsweetened dough fried in deep fat, typically shaped like a ring or a ball.

I miss the mountains!!!! I miss the sounds. The smells. The flowers. The dirt. You never realize what you have until its gone. Florida is so flat. I think the highest elevation point is like 80 feet. The only hill close by is the landfill. It is my goal to make it to the mountains at least once during our visits to SLC.

The three of us went to doughnut falls. It was short and sweet but worth it. When I was younger this was the hike that the YW did every girls camp. I even had a b-day camp party and hiked up there once. Oh the memories. It looks a lot different know after the side of the mountain slid off and covered the doughnut. That was the best part of the whole hike, being able to hike up into the cave and watch the water thunder down into the carved out dome. We would eat our lunches up in the cave.

We crossed the river and then waded out onto a little island to throw rocks. Max had fun watching Ben make huge splashes with the big rocks. Max went for the big ones too but then opted for the pebbles because he could actually pick those up.

Nothing going on

The reason for my few and far between posts is because we went to Salt Lake again. It was lots of fun as usual I get to see friends, have babysitters and see family. Max loved being with Grandma and Grandpa Tyler. He got really good at saying 'Sadie', the family German Shepard. He would say it over and over and he even started telling her to sit. Grandpa Derrick took him to the zoo a couple of times to see the 'Li-La's' a.k.a. gorillas. Max got lots of trips to Emo for ice cream and ate just about every last blackberry on the bush in the backyard. I would let him go outside to play in the backyard with Sadie and when I would check on him he would be standing at the blackberry bush with blackberries all over his mouth. He would stand there saying 'cucka' as he was eating because the only berries left were the red unripe berries. He loved jumping on the tramp with anyone who would take him. It was one of the first things he wanted to do in the morning and it didn't matter if the sprinklers were on or not.

Before we left Florida it was still up in the air about where Ike was going(no pun intended). So being kinda paranoid about the rising lake level out our front door we put our piano up on blocks just in case. Well thankfully nothing happened while we were gone and the water is starting to go down. But man is it stinky! There are lots of dead fish and crap all along the walkway and the road. I guess that is better than having stinky crap in your house so I won't complain! So pretty much there is nothing going on.

Day Tripper

On Saturday we decided to go and visit the oldest continuously occupied settelment in the nation, St. Augustine. It was founded in 1565 by the Spanish. 1565! We walked down St. George street and looked at all the old buildings and tourist traps. We also visited Castillo de San Marcos the fort of St. Augustine. The city had pirate attacks! I love the feeling you get when you visit somewhere old and historical. All the building were so neat to look at. Aside from it being a BILLION degrees, paying to do anything and swarming with people it was a fun day. My favorite was the fort. All the walls of the fort were made from crushed sea shells. Did you know that Florida doesn't have any rocks?? It is one big sand box. We got there just in time to see the voluteers, dressed up in costume, fire the cannons from the wall just as they would have in battle. It was really loud. After the cannons fired Max looked at Ben and signed 'hurt' because it was to loud! What a funny guy!




The walls are made out of Shells! Can you tell??

The other day...

Max asked to go for a bike ride! It was so cute we put him in his stroller and he started protesting and then signed bike. Well first he wanted his hat/helmet (which was a surprise. he hates it). Then he signed bike. So we opted to go for a bike ride up to the local DQ. Along the way we took pictures of the neverending rising water in Lake Monroe. The grass, roads and little park ponds have blended into one big mess.

At least someone was having a good time with it.

Here we are a the DQ. Max got his first brain freeze, poor guy. But we had to laugh. His face turned red and he just let out one big scream. Then he was done.

Horay for Dilly Bars!

Yesterday on our before bedtime walk Max turn and looked at me and signed ice cream. Ben and I craked up! It had been a couple of days since DQ and he remembered the sign for ice cream. He kept signing it over and over. If he could talk more he would say 'you don't have ice cream for me? What is the big idea!'. Cause that is what he looked like when I said I don't have any right now.

WARNING!! You might split a gut...

My awesome brother-in-law Tom in on a mission in San Paulo Brazil. Every week the family gets emails from Tom updating us and making us laugh. The one we got yesterday had Ben and I down on the ground crying. I thought some of you could use a good laugh...Ok, im going to let you guys in on some secrets, I have been pulling a lot of pranks on my old comp j silva. When he was here I pulled a prank that I saw on the office, and when he was sleeping I put his missionary name tags in jello, and then told him breakfast was ready in the morning, and he didn’t even see his tags until he hit them with his spoon. I laughed, then I hid all of the things that we had behind our house, like clothes drying, and many other things, and told him we had been robbed, about half an hour later when he was about to call the president I told him I was joking. Again I laughed. One time I woke him up with a fire cracker, he woke up really fast, and I laughed. And there have been a couple other things, all of which made me laugh really hard. And yes, he is really good natured, so he took them all in stride really well, and laughed right along side me. Right now, I am dressed in jeans and dress shoes with long black socks, my byu shirt tucked in, hair parted down the middle, and glasses. A nerd. My new comp thinks I am one of the biggest nerds he has met. And I will let him think that for a little bit longer. I will break the truth to him sometime today. The sisters here almost died from laughter when they saw me.

Blue Steel Baby

Is he cool or what...he sure thinks he is. I just think he is so darn cute! He puts on such a serious face when he has his sunglasses on. When Ben or I make a big deal about the coolness he gets this funny little smirk on his face as if to say either 'I know' or 'you guys are totally lame'. Anyway it is cute...and he loves to put them on when we go running. People get a kick out of it.

Max loves taking pictures of himself. Maybe he is trying to capture his coolness. It almost looks like he is doing the Blue Steel look that Ben Stiller perfected in Zoolander. Anyway, this is what I find on my card when I download pictures. Random, out-of-focus, ???? pictures. He loves the flash...that is what he really attracted to. He points the camera at himself and presses the button and just waits for the flash. He laughs and does it again and again. The below two pictures are when I am trying to get a candid shot. The flash goes off and he zeros in on the camera and is determined to take it away from me. Then the following pictures are the outcome on my confiscated camera.