For Cora

My daughter has been waiting for me to blog for a long time. She has been begging me on her blog to post something, and asking my sister-in-law to "high jack" my blog:

"so you all know my mom has not blogged in like 5 months and I am not kidding, so julie do me a favor and high jack her blog again,OKAY?"
"please do it I am really tired of reading JEEZ PEOPLE"
"mom you have got to
blog!!!!!!!!!!! I mean you haven't blogged in 5 months!!!!!

so please blog!!!!!!!!!"

Normally, I would not give into this kind of pressure because there is a reason I don't blog-I DON'T HAVE TIME TO!- but I'm beginning to think Cora thinks I don't think our family is that cool and that's why I don't blog, and I can't have her thinking that because our family is probably the COOLEST FAMILY on EARTH!!! So this post is for you, Cora! I love you! So I guess I'll start with Christmas. This year we made the big trip to FL. It's been 4 years since we've all been there together, and we always use the money excuse, but my Dad does our taxes, and knows how much we get back each year, and this year said, "Why don't you use some of that money and come down here for Christmas?"...We thought it best not to tell him we are using the money to pay off my car, and just bought tickets. And we're so glad we did! My WHOLE family was together for the first time in a LONG LONG time. Here are some pictures:

We went to Busch Gardens for FREE, but the Hippos ate our children so the rest of our Christmas stunk.


AJ had actually been asking all day if a Hippo could eat him, so that's why he's so happy...If he only knew.



My sister, Becca, came with us, and my awesome husband got us discounted "go to the front of the line" passes off Craig's List so the adults were able to get lots of rides in. We were there from open to close, and had a great time.

AJ loves maps so he brought that one home to keep forever!

Santa was at Busch Gardens so we killed two birds with one stone!!! The kids don't have on cute Christmas outfits, but guess who does not care...(pick me! pick me!)

Almost every time AJ came around on a ride when he knew Dad was taking a picture, he would make this face after a few passes. Jorie caught on after a few rides so we have a few of these kind of pictures. For example; on the Merry-Go-Round:

Each year we are in FL, we go to Roger's Christmas Village, and this year was no exception. We usually enjoy our trip, but this year WAS the exception. Roger's took us all of about an hour to walk through, but the trip took us 10 hours. It involved a car accident (my sister's car-everyone was fine), and a crap load of driving because there was a HU-MONGO-JUNGO accident on the way home and we had to use alternate routes. But we did manage to get a picture and that made it all worth it...I think...Maybe not. Garret looks like he had a great time! My nieces are in the picture with my sister and Dad in the back.

It was worth it just being together... I think...Maybe not. Yes it was...I'm still not sure if it was worth it, and everyone there would say the same. It was a LONG LONG day.
On Christmas Eve ALL my family came over. My brother in the black flew in with his family from Philly, and I hadn't seen him in 8 years. It was amazing to have all my siblings in one place!

I was so excited...looks like I forgot how to smile or something..But I was really happy. I miss being able to be together. I had to put this next picture up because WHAT WAS I DOING WITH MY HANDS??? WHAT KIND OF PICTURE POSE IS THIS???

That's my "broken" family!
I think in this next picture there was some kind of short joke going on involving me and my Dad. Notice you can't see me. And notice (in the previous pictures), with the exception of my mom, how I'm the runt of the litter. Real funny every one.

We had a great time together!

This little thing had every one WRAPPED around her little finger by the time we left.

Christmas morning!!!! My kids got SPOILED!!!! But I don't have any pictures of it because my Step-Mom did all the picture taking. We did have to buy 3 more carry-ons to get our stuff home.
My brother who I hadn't seen in 8 years has twins who we had never met. The kids really enjoyed getting to know each other.


And no trip to FL is complete without a "we're smiling, but we really can't stand being around each other right now because we're fighting" picture. And here's ours!!! Thanks to Cora for capturing the "moment"!

I think I looked pretty happy. My sister...not so much. No trip to FL is complete without a trip to the beach, either! It was sooooooo cold. The wind was BLASTING us.




My Nephew and My sister!

Look at me...Utah Sweatshirt, all wrapped up in a towel. What a tourist!!!! I was cold....
And that's about all I have in the way of pictures from Florida. But I know Cora would want me to blog about what the kids got for Christmas, and since this is for her...
Cora got a bike from Santa, a pair of awesome roller blades from Papa and Mimi, a peppermint puppy webkinz from Grandma Jan, and this really cool voice changer thing from mom and dad. It lets you record your voice and then you can slow it down, speed it up, or make it sound like an animal. AJ got a lot of geotrax stuff because he loves trains, and Garret got a couple Wii games from Santa, a bath robe from MiMi, and a pillow pet from Grandma Jan. Jorie just got what Jorie got. I can't remember...They got spoiled, but they deserve that once every 4 years I guess!

I better stop there for now or I'll never actually post this. Thanks Cora for keeping on me about blogging, and for being patient with me. I love you so much and am proud of the amazing young woman you are becoming. I can't imagine my life without you, your brothers and sisters, and your Dad. You all mean everything to me!