Dale just got back from golfing with his brothers in Utah for 5 days. This is a picture of them with their dad. We decided we missed a few things in Utah - Family, good corn on the cob, crisp fall weather, big houses, our friends, churches on every corner, not feeling out of place with our herd of kids, soft silky grass, and family family family. 
I just got back from a 9 day trip to Utah. This is Max with my parents at Thanksgiving Point Gardens. The weather was beautiful (except for one freezing day) and the grass was like lush carpet. I had forgotten how nice grass could be with this weed grass we get down in FL. I don't think I would fly with Max again though. It was close to torture to try and keep him happy on the plane. I ended up drugging him with Benadryl to get at least an hour of sleep out of him. 
Max started to really take off with his walking skills while we were there. Check out his long hair. He loved the grass too. 
And here he is after his first haircut. He is such a big boy now. He didn't entirely enjoy the haircut as you can see. I actually got my hair done thanks to Dale's mom for treating me to a salon day. I told the hair dresser to make me light and bright. Well I got what I asked for except that I felt like a rock star and it looked very fake. I went back and had her put some darker color back in and I feel a lot better about it. 
After being cooped up in the rain for days while Fay slowing crept across the state, we decided to hit Disney hoping the crowds would be down. It was pouring, but we got a lot of rides in. Max is totally in his element there - outside and completely entertained. This is the kids on the Tea Cups. 
Max on the carousel.
Because we had so much rain (9 inches in one day), our ponds were full. This gator was out sunning himself so we were getting a good look. He was probably 5-6 feet long. He heard us and hurried into the water - wooo they move fast!
Then the boys took a jaunt down to the stream behind our house and found two giant salamanders. At first they thought it was a snake, then an eel, then they saw the two tiny legs in front and (Dale thought it was a giant bull frog tad pole) then I told them it was a salamander. I had never seen a salamander in real life and definately not one ever this big. Oh the adventures of Florida. 
I have to admit it looked inviting, but I had assumed that gators or snakes lived in it so we hadn't explored it before. It was kid heaven!
Here they are trudging up and down the stream while Max and I waited above. 
Amy found little fish
And they also discovered a bank full of clay. Because I was bored I told them to grab a hunk and bring it home to make a sculpture. This is what Taylor made - a turtle. We're letting them dry outside except it's so humid right now, I don't think that will happen. We'll probably have to bring them inside. 
Here is Max's new toy from grandma - the older kids push him around on it which he loves. Thanks Grandma!
Today we decided to take a little road trip to see a state park about 50 miles west of us called Withlacoochee State Forest. We went to a Deep South Barbecue first to eat lunch and had such morsels as boiled peanuts, fried okra, fried pickles, and of course pulled pork sandwiches. We found a cool hiking trail and set off. 
Do you see the spider on Amy's shirt? It was the biggest spider I have ever seen in the wild. It's not really on her shirt, the kids just stood behind it so you could see it. 
Here's a close up. As you could tell, I didn't want to get too close, but wanted you to see how humongous this creature was. 
So we started on down the trail and to our utter dismay, there were huge spiders everywhere. The look on Amy's face explains our feelings. 
So here we are marching back up the trail to the paved trail you see in the first picture which was spider free. Dale says he's bringing the boys back to bike the biking trail. It did look very fun, but I wouldn't want to run my head into one of those spider webs. So after having running races on the paved safe trail, we piled in the car and drove back home to go swimming. So much for our adventursome road trip. 
So I went with some lady friends from my ward to the wait for the new Twilight book "Breaking Dawn" to come out at midnight last night. Go Edward!
Max loves to put everything in his gargantuon mouth. This poor soul of a toy is hanging on for dear life. 
Max has developed a funny face afterall. He scrunches up his nose and makes a little snorting sound. You can almost hear it if you look at this picture. 
It's just Max and I at home now - yippee!