Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Back from Miami!

Well, our Miami adventure has finally ended and we are glad to be back in our home state. We've meant to post a few times about things we did, but lately we've been slacking a bit. Here's a quick catch-up of some of the previously un-blogged things we did in Miami. In the last couple of months we...

...went to the Miami Seaquarium a few times (this is like a smaller, older, less expensive Sea World.)
...spent some time at the beach

...enjoyed a tropical garden place
...went to this cool lighthouse on Key Biscayne
...went to a Monday Night Football game and saw the Colts beat the Dolphins
...went trick-or-treating
...and, of course, went to Disney World. These were probably the three happiest days of Tyler's life so far.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Key West!

A few weeks ago we made the trek down to Key West, which we figured we needed to see before leaving Miami. It's a pretty unique drive - it takes about four hours, and about three of those hours the road is actually off of the Florida peninsula and you drive on bridges over the ocean from island to island. We just went for one day, but we had a great time. Here are some of the things we did:

We went to the Key West aquarium first. It is a pretty unique old place - it was one of the first things built in Key West to try to attract tourists. They have a tank where you can pick up some of the sea creatures, which was pretty cool. Here is a picture of Megan & Tyler holding a little starfish. Tyler did really well and wasn't too scared.

Here I am holding a horseshoe crab, which was very weird to have in your hands. As soon as you put your fingers on the edge of their shell, they would try to push them off with their legs. Very weird sensation.

Family pic by the ocean
When you see giant people dancing in the middle of the town, what else can you do other than join in the fun?
Tyler getting his portrait done...
No Key West visit would be complete without a visit to the "Southernmost Point" marker, which commemorates being the point farther south than any other place in the Continental US.
Another popular photo point in Key West - where the road (the only road connecting Key West to Florida) begins.
At the end of each day, they have what they call the "sunset celebration," where a lot of street performers all come out and do little shows for all of the tourists. There were escape artists, jugglers, magicians, people pretending to be robots, people pretending to be statues (not sure what makes someone decide to be a statue - maybe one day they are thinking: "hey, you know I am really good at holding really still. I need to find a way to make money doing this!" Anyway...) It was a pretty cool atmosphere, with some pretty talented people. The begging for money at the end of the shows was kind of lame, but I guess that's how they make their living...

We took this video of a fire-breather guy - you can watch it as long as you give him a dollar next time you go to Key West and see him perform. Enjoy!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Our little BYU fan!

Daddy has taught him well!
Go Cougars!

Touch Down!

Friday, October 2, 2009

Back in August!

We had our friends Abby and Sean come visit us from Utah! We had lots of fun. Here are a few things we did together....

We went on a Jungle riverboat cruise in Fort Lauderdale.
This is the "Jungle Queen" (the boat we rode.)
This is what most the rivers looked like. They are just like streets through neighborhoods, they all have yachts or boats parked out side.There were HUGE mansions. I can't remember who's house this was, some famous person.This is a large yacht we saw. It belongs to David Stern, the commissioner of the NBA. It cost 30 million dollars! WOW!We thought this sign was great. My little Brothers name is Andrew Cooley!Tyler looking cool in my sun glasses!We stopped at one of the islands(the jungle) and they fed is dinner and had some entertainment, a comedian, and a magic show. There were parrots, monkeys, and other animals on the jungle island.
Sean, Abby, Me, Donny, and Tyler!
We were also about to hit a Miami Dolphins pre-season game. That was a lot of fun. We had seats in the 3rd row. It poured rain on us, that is why we are all soaked! But the rain made it a lot of fun!Our family in front of the field!

Thanks for coming and visiting us Abby and Sean. We had so much fun! And for everyone else, if you come visit we can have lots of fun with you too!! ;) (hint, hint)

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Happy Birthday Tyler!


I cannot believe my little boy is 2 years old. It seems like he was just a baby yesterday.
Now he is so big,
helpful,
and goofy!

We sure love having him in our lives and are so grateful for him.

Here is a slide show of his birthday party, gifts, cake, etc.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Brigham Marcus Lawrence

I am proud to be an Aunt of another adorable nephew. This is my second nephew. He was born September 4. weighed 7lbs 7oz 20 inches long. and has tons of hair. I am so sad I wont beable to hld him until he is almost 4 months old but I am still going to be his favorite aunt!!

Congratulations Emmalee and Rob and Dean!

Dean is so happy to be a big brother. He can't get enough of baby Brig.
Here he is. Adorable. Look at that long hair, he almost needs a haircut already!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Patricia Stoker Steiner

This is my sweet grandma! She passed away last Saturday afternoon with my grandpa by her side. My grandma was so wonderful, crazy, full of life, stubborn, spiritual, and loving depending on the day. I loved her so much! I know that she is happy and in a more comfortable place, with her 2 children that passed on before her. She struggled with Alzheimers the last part of her life and we are all glad to know she is better now. My grandma always wanted to babysit her great grandbabies, but with the alzheimers we were never able to leave them in her care. I like to think that she is watching over our future babies. I know she will do a good job. I am going to miss seeing her at family parties, i'll miss her sense of humor, and most especially her hugs. She was a great example to me and I have so many fond memories of her! The hardest part is not being able to go to her funeral, but I know she will forgive me. God bless you Grandma, until we meet again. I love you!

Monday, August 31, 2009

Discovery Launch

On Friday night we took a drive up to Titusville, Fl to watch space shuttle, Discovery, launch. It was a fun experience. I mean who wouldn't drive 3 hours to watch a 5 minute event just to turn around and drive home another 3+ hours. It was worth it to us. We consider it a once in a life time experience. Here are a few photos:

This is a street lamp behind our heads not the shuttle.
The shuttle, and everyone taking photos of it.
Tyler and I with the shuttle behind us.
the shuttle, almost out of sight.
this is a video of it launching. It is kind of short because we wanted to get pictures of it too. It was so cool to see! Enjoy!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

6 month vacation...

Well, it appears that it's been a month since our last update. (Whoops!) In that month we have been able to get settled in and begin to enjoy some of the things to do around Miami. Here are some slide shows... in no particular order.



I had a birthday on the 14th of August. I'm now 25. I don't feel any older though, yet. Donny took us on a boat tour of the bay and to hard rock cafe. It was a lot of fun. Tyler loves boats and kept waving at all the passing boats.


We got a annual pass to the Miami Metro Zoo. It is large and very fun. Here are some photos of our last trip. We went with some of our new friends, the Tingeys! It was fun and poured rain! We rented a Safari bike to go around the zoo and it was well worth it. While we were there Tyler was playing in the water when he collided with a girl and fell on his face. His bottom teeth went into his upper lip and he was bleeding and got a nice fat lip! Luckily dad saved the day and bought him a 32oz Slurpee in which he consumed himself! At least he stayed hydrated right?


more photos coming soon!!!!!!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Home Sweet Home....for the next 6 months!!

This is us looking down. Way down. Our pool is the one that is L shaped. The other is the neighbor buildings pool. Our pool in on the 11th floor! Our new bed!

The other side of our room.


Living room. Our beautiful couches!!



Donny's new pride and joy!
I tried to get a photo of the whole set up. It is Living room, dining room, and kitchen all in one.



Our SWEET shower!


Comes with this nice baby! I'm so excited to have a Brand New washer and dryer!
All our appliances are brand new as well. We used the oven for the first time today! I don't want to go back to my old hand-me-downs.

My daring child!!! He loves looking over the edge! I am convinced this is a BAD thing!

Night time view to our left!~

Day time view to our right! This is the bay. The Island out there is Miami/South beach.
this is a video of our entire view in the night! You can't see the ocean well but it is the big black area!!!!!