FL

I suppose now is as good a time as any to dump my recent pics in here and blabber on about a vacation. Eh?

Since we had no idea what our anniversary trip would look like last time I mentioned it, I'll just start at the beginning: Orlando.  We got a big condo in a posh resort in a great location for $200 FOR THE WEEK (thank you Mom & Dad, and Ultimate Vacations) so the planning went from there.  Kids to Idaho, Thor 2 in IMAX, red-eye flight from Salt Lake, rental car at the airport.

Then we got to the resort and they offered us discounted tickets to venues if we sat through timeshare/travel club presentations.  So, we spent an afternoon at Kennedy Space Center:

they call this the "rocket garden," which does not cease to amuse me

space shuttle Atlantis: coolest exhibit on the island

blurry Slice pretending that he's weightless.....?

 and two days at Universal Studios, mostly in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter OF COURSE:

Early admission tickets!  Score.

I totally went on the ride that is built into the castle.  Twice. Pregnancy what?

Two of the three butterbeers we consumed in two days after dining at the Three Broomsticks.
Magical, I tell you.

AND, lastly, a day at SeaWorld which cost us $20 total.  This is the only photo I took there.  It was actually cold.

Other highlights of the trip included a surprise!! visit to my missionary sister Kiana's ward on Sunday (a two-hour drive from Orlando):

She looks amazing and I look like a chubby 12-year-old

a temple visit that, naturally, came only after much difficulty:

On the only hill in the entire state of Florida

and lots of reallllly good eating.  We frequented The Melting Pot three times (that's where all the money went ...), Hard Rock Cafe, Joe's Crab Shack, and an Italian place with Chicago-style pizza and the best balloon master I have ever seen.  Totally took me back to my college balloon-animal-making days.  Guys, he was UNBELIEVABLE.

Just thought I'd throw that one out there.

FINALLY after 24 hours of traveling we made it back to our frigid home with our little ones who hardly even missed us, and my swelling eventually went down.  Florida was hard on my body.  Maybe it was because we walked for several hours a day and ate for the rest?  Hmmmm?

I have decided the best cure for wanderlust is to take a long trip during pregnancy.  Middle to late pregnancy is best, but first trimester can be effective if the trip is long/strange enough.  By the time we got home I wanted to stay inside these four walls for the next six months.  Not even joking.  Remind me next time to take a relaxing vacay, please?

Also, in case you're wondering, the contractions are coming regularly now and I'm just not listening to them.  Here's a smudgy mirror picture from a few Sundays ago, when I wore my freshwater pearls from SeaWorld and my kids called them "eggs" all day.  Yes, I like to wear eggs to church.

Welcome back to real life.