Visitors

Nothing beats having visitors come to see you when you live far from family & friends. I was stoked for this particular visit because I just love Jamilyn to pieces. We've been besties since college. Even though we've known each other since middle school. We married guys that were friends & we had both our babies just weeks apart from each other. So fun to have such dear friends to share the crazy ride of life with & even more fun when they come to the sunshine state to see us. Woot woot!

Jami & the kiddos were up in Orlando with Clark for a business/family trip. She rented a van & drove down here on Wednesday so we could have some good quality play time.

They arrived after dinner time so we fed them & then this kids jumped into the tub together. I don't know what it is about bath tub fun with friends, but they all love it. :)

 After we got the kids down, Jami & settled in for a good viewing of the Bachelor. Yes! We started watching this together years ago so it was fun to watch it together again. And we tried a new clean version of pnut butter chocolate popcorn. Yum! Sooo good.

First thing to do....the beach! We headed to Dania even though the weather didn't look promising. It sprinkled on our drive there, but cleared up as we arrived & was the perfect beach day. 

 The kids were loving it! Especially her Jayda & Jaxon. Look at those happy faces!

 {Jayda & Gavin - 4 weeks apart}

 {Jaxon & Liam - 6 weeks apart}

We said it multiple times while they were here how it was like we had two sets of twins! :)

After we got tired of playing in the sand we headed over to the famous Jaxsons Ice Cream Parlor.

And it was only fit to eat there when little Jax was with us. :)

 The gang!

 Seriously, the portions are GINORMOUS! 

 Like the size of our heads! Haha! Good thing we all shared & we still ended up in sugar comas.

For dinner we decided to do pizza at the park & let the kids play.

 Our boys just lounging & relaxing n their deluxe swings. Haha! 

 We had some fun play time too on the monkey bars. Who says it's only for kids? :)

In fact, we showed them how it was done & they wanted to be just like us old moms. Haha!

Friday morning Clark flew in to join us for the rest of the weekend. It sure was fun having the whole family together. 

 He was pretty tired so while he napped us moms took the kiddos to the Young At Art Museum to play. They had a ball. 

 Jayda found a kimono that reminded her of Mulan so she wore that the entire time. So funny for me to be around a girl & experience all the girly things like that. All the boys threw their hats off as soon as the picture was over. Haha!

That night when Doug got home from school we barbecued for dinner. The kids play so well together that we actually got to get in good conversations without being interrupted a ton. So nice! After dinner we got the kids ready in their jammies & all set up for a movie night.

Oh the things us moms do to help make the dads role even easier while we go out. Yep that's right, Jami & I were itching to get out on the town & have some girl time together.

We went to the Sawgrass Mills Mall & walked around a bit & did a little shopping at Nordstrom Rack. There really is something about going out with your girl & picking up right where you left off. I love that about my friendship with Jami. We don't have to have those surface conversations to break the barrier of time/distance. We just jump right in where ever we want & have a blast!

We went & saw the NonStop movie with Liam Neeson. When it was over we were NOT ready to go back home. But being old mormon moms & out of the social scene what was there left to do?

Dunkin Donuts baby! And turns out Jami has never been to one ever before so it was perfect. Haha!

We got hooked up with double of what we purchased too. I guess there is perks when you go at 11pm. :) We stayed til almost 1am chatting away. The best & just what we both needed. Pastries, hot cocoa & each other. Haha!

Saturday we were all packed & ready to hit the road for an hour drive to go to Shark Valley. None of us had been so we were all looking forward to it. Sadly, the Bell family got into a little fender bender that put their van out of commission & because it was a rental, it needed to be handled right then. So instead we took the kids & headed off to the Sawgrass Recreational Park while Doug & Clark dealt with the car. (They met us later)

 My favorite picture from the entire weekend. Such cute kiddos!

Even though we've been on this boat ride numerous times we always have fun! There just something exciting about seeing alligators.

And we got to see 3 this boat ride!

I like this park because they have a little exhibit afterwards where you can see more gators, snakes etc. And you get to hold a baby alligator too!

That night after naps we went downtown to catch the Water Taxi. 

 

We saw all the mansions & then got off at the 15th Street Fisheries for dinner.

There were these big pelicans hanging out on the dock waiting to get some snacks. We fed the tarpon which was hilarious & scary at the same time. Those things are huge & nasty.

Dinner was really good! My favorite from the table was Doug's coconut shrimp. Yum.

{Jami & Clark}

{Me & my man}

It's always fun to see the huge mansions on the water. But my favorite is at night after they are all lit up. So pretty!

Sunday we decided to hit the beach one more time before they had to take off for Utah. It was pretty crowded, but that didn't stop us from having a great time.

We love burring the boys!

Such a good time with such good friends. We are so happy that they took the time & effort to come visit us down here in Florida. We sure miss them lots & love the Bell family with all our hearts.