Airboat

My cousin (once removed? second cousin?) Mariah came to visit and we got to party a little bit before we leave for Utah today! I have never been on an airboat tour, but Sterling has (and the kids are free) so he said I should join her, and I'm so glad I did! It was AWESOME!

Will's cheeks squished by the headphones are HILARIOUS.

It was extremely hot. Luckily, the wind once we started going was so nice, it made it a great ride!

Acres and acres and thousands of acres of Everglades.

Between the wind and the headphones, this is what he constantly looked like, haha! But he was grinning and enjoying the 'boat' SOOO much! He loves boats! It was a dream come true and he was so excited!

Baahaahaa.

Our guide. 

THOSE CHEEKS!

A great green heron nesting.

They fought over who got to sit beside Mariah. She was definitely a hit, haha.

Molly, on the other hand, was her typical independent self and wanted to sit all by herself and right at the edge. Which was a little nerve-wracking when the gators swam up!

See him coming?

Here's one on Mariah's side of the boat!

And another one!

There are only pics of this guy swimming away because he was swimming RIGHT up to Molly, and she was furiously waving and saying "HI!" at the top of her voice. I was not impressed, haha. 

They stuffed this guys mouth full of chicken and let us hold him. I would not have, but they wouldn't let Ruth hold him without my help--in case she jerked or something. I think it was definitely more plausible that I would jerk and she would be fine, haha. Brave girl! 

Will said no, but Mariah gave it a try!

  We had a great time with Mariah! We also had her go to Vizcaya, met up with her after at the beach (it was a gorgeous day!) and then I went with her that night to Wynwood! So much fun! Today she's heading back to the Everglades for some Robert Is Here tropical milkshakes and some hiking, while we pack for Utah. But we loved having her here SOOOO much!!!! Thanks Mariah! And thanks for reading our favorite bedtime stories with the best accents! My kids love you! Will just said "When is Mariah coming back?" I told him she's not, she's going home to Utah after today. "But, after that, will she come back?" I said no, you have to work. "But after work is she coming back?" No, we live a long, long way away. "But, she is my friend! And Molly's friend! And Ruthie's friend! She needs to come back!" Awww. (Oh yeah, we also got some Pollo Tropical so she could have some cheap Cuban. She was a fan, yay!) 

DAD

I jumped over Father's Day in my last post and so we're going to go back a bit. It was a nice Sunday--Sterling had already gotten a jacket and a t-shirt (plus a tv a few months ago that I said was all Father's Day haha) because I cannot wait to save my life to give him things. But we were able to cook bacon for breakfast even though we'd just moved in, haha. And he got to take a nap after church, and then go on a beautiful family walk in the afternoon. This was really, really nice because during the weeks we have being seeing zero of him. He's been given a project that requires overtime, which he agreed to because all the extra income we can get before med school starts up again mid-July is SUPER helpful. Big blessing, even though he's always gone. He leaves before we're really up and going, then stays after work and usually get home at 8pm just in time to kiss the kids goodnight. He might eat, chat with me for a minute, and then he goes and studies from 9pm-11, or that's what he tells me. I don't think he's been to bed before midnight in quite some time. 

But, he has been promising he will go swimming with the kids for a couple weeks now and TODAY was the day! He's gone now to work overtime the rest of the afternoon, but we got him for an entire morning and it was absolutely splendid. It's fun to show off all the kids' swimming skills--and they adore having daddy to show off to!

Those goggles! 

Ruthie can dive under and grab the diving sticks. She was very excited to show daddy. 

Sterling kept teaching him to say "giddyup Gus!" and it was hilarious!

I worked with Ruth a week or so ago on the back stroke. "Tickle. T. Touch." Just like I learned it. She's getting really good now. 

He spun them around until they fell off. It was hilarious. They were laughing SOOO hard!

Will's grin!

I like how Sterling caught the action of them both jumping on at the same time. 

My camera did weird things, but that little burrito is the CUTEST! 

And it wouldn't be a typical Haws pool outing if Will wasn't chillaxin'. Haahaa. 

Those goggles though! I just LOOOVE it!

This was definitely the highlight. I hear this SHRIEKING "MOM! MOM! Look! A mermaid! A real live one! Mom! Look! A mermaid!" as she frantically swims after her. Luckily, the sweet mermaid stopped and posed for us and Ruthie was in seventh heaven. She seriously was so thrilled she could hardly stand it. It was the cutest, sweetest, most magical thing. My heart. I love that girl!

The kids had the time of their lives. Dad is definitely #1 around here and we are so glad we got to spend all of our morning with him. I don't know how we are going to stand being away so long in Utah! He's the best and he works so hard and we are SOOO grateful!

Some fun things from around here lately:

Will, instead of saying 'interrupting' saying 'inter-ing-up' and it is ADORABLE. "Ruth! Stop! You're inter-ing-up me!" haahaa.

Will also says some hilarious things, like instead of diarrhea he says "dee-oh-rye-uh" and I just love how he mixes up those syllables.

Will also comes out of the bathroom every single time, without fail, with his shirt tucked into his shorts because he just pulls them up and it gets caught. Does anyone else just LOVE that?!?! It has got to be one of the cutest things in my life.

All of our kids are scared of the ducks by our house except Molly. She walks right up to them (they are literally as tall as she is) and screams "NO! GO 'WAY! GO 'WAY!" and then swaggers off as if she won something. It is HILARIOUS.

All of our kids do the Baymax hand shake now (from Big Hero 6--if you haven't seen it, check it out NOW!). We got that movie from the library, watched it a billion times because I was packing and the kids needed to be occupied, and then again with Sterling because we all love it so much. The best is watching Molly fist bump and then "Ba-la-la-la-la" into the air. I just die.

I have a washer and dryer. That might be snuck into every single post forever now.

I also have a utensil holder in our dishwasher. It is a beautiful thing.

I only have to clean two bathrooms now. Love.

Our tile is NOT white. I repeat, it is NOT white. There has never been such a glorious thing in my life. I can actually go half a day without sweeping because IT'S NOT WHITE. (If anyone ever loses their head and wants white floor, don't. Just don't. Not ever. It's worse than you could even imagine.) The happiness of this truth just makes me smile.

The cheapest gas station is on the same corner as our house, as is the closest/cheapest grocery store. Which means I DON'T HAVE TO TRAVEL TWENTY MINUTES to shop. This is a rarity in Miami, and trust me, I do not take it for granted. More love.

We don't have to pay water at this apartment. YAY!.

We also get a new 1-yr reduced price for internet because we moved. Another yay!

Apartment--I love you. So much.

Oh yeah. And we live by a Panda Express. I like American Chinese food and at our old apartment, the closest Chinese was this Panda Express--25 minutes away. So it's pretty exciting for me. And yes, yes we did eat there the night we moved in before everything was unpacked. I miss Chinese. I know I will miss Cuban when we move (definitely will miss Pollo Tropical) but it is fun to have some change.

That is all. Have a wonderful day folks!

We moved!!!

 There is tons to say, and this should probably be in about three separate posts, so if you want to just skim through pictures, feel free. :) 

We FINALLY moved! We got HOA approval at 3pm on Friday, I ran to the bank, got a cashier's check, got it in to the office (downtown Miami) by 5pm--so that we could move in on Saturday. Otherwise we would have had to wait until Monday, which Sterling didn't want to do because he didn't want to have to take off work. Then it was a CRAZY couple of hours doing things like switching our mail to the new address, the internet, the water, the power, turning everything off at our old apartment, and getting our move planned--a U-haul, guys to help, boxes finished packing. 

Sterling and I stayed up til midnight Friday night first cleaning at the new apartment and then finishing up all the packing that I hadn't done because we had no idea when we would be moving (mostly the kitchen and main bath) and then got up at 5am. Sterling worked on taking down shelves while I went to the new apartment and finished cleaning a bathroom. Our wonderful Killian Ward elders quorum showed up at 8am (there was a baby shower at 11am that several husbands were watching kids for, so they preferred early. Works for me!!) and we were basically moved by 1030am. We spent the rest of the day unpacking, putting up shelves/beds/tables, and cleaning some more. 

The apartment was actually REALLY clean, but it is Miami. So there were some Palmetto bugs (don't even google that...trust me, they are cockroaches on steroids and you don't want to see) and a TON of ants (everyone has to spray regularly here for ants, it's just the way it is) and then just the usual wiping down of things. It was beautiful. SOOOO beautiful. I kept having flashbacks of showing up to our old apartment, 7 months pregnant, and having six things leaking, dirt and grime ten inches thick, etc.-----and I could not be more GRATEFUL for our new place. Its gorgeous and I love it.

We were basically moved in by Saturday night. We were so blessed that one of our friends took the kids from 8:30am-noon and another friend took them from 2-5 (after their naps) so we really got a lot of time to focus on the house. Sunday we enjoyed a nice family walk and FATHER'S DAY and on Monday I unpacked pretty much everything else. Then on Tuesday it rained ALL DAY LONG. Wednesday we swam, Thursday we swam, and today we went to the beach. True Miami living, right there. :)

Here are some photos, my phone photos are mixed in and they haven't been dumped on here in a while, so it dates back a couple of weeks.

Could our temple BE any more beautiful?!?! I just LOVE it so much!  

Our BEST little friends the Kelloggs finished up residency and moved to Texas for fellowship. As much as we miss them, we are so so happy for them! Before they left we had a lovely primary party and ward party (two saturday's in a row) where we got to spend lots of time with them! YAY!

Ruthie and Claire throwing water balloons. 

Our adorable little primary! Made up mostly by the five Hadley kids and the five Kellogg kids. Haha. The little guy kneeling in the front is Sebastian. He's my lifesaver. He translates for me when the other kids are struggling with English.

Oh I'm just so sad Claire moved! Ruthie and her just had SO much fun together!

And it's definitely summer time. Ugh Miami summer rains.

Before the move there were some lovely tea parties. 

At the ward party we had some three-legged races. Which the Hadley twins won. I think that's an unfair advantage. :)

And some sack races!

The Hadley girls babysit for us all the time. We love them!

Me and boxes and Nemo head phones :)

Driving Sterling to work (he was driving, I was taking photos haha) because in the midst of all this, we were getting our van fixed and didn't have it for two weeks. It's all better now, and I am SOOO glad I don't have to do that traffic four times a day! See all those cars in the distance? 

Saying goodbye to the Kellogg's on their moving day!

Man, I am going to miss that lady. She is an absolute saint. If I can be half as strong and supportive and good a person as she is during this medical journey, I will be doing well. I look up to her so much! (I came straight from the gym. No judgey. )

Molly helping me pack by getting stuff everywhere. HAHA 

Cutest little swimmers ever. Will begged me for this alligator and he was not disappointed--he LOVES it haha.

Park day. We were there at 9am and lasted an hour before we absolutely melted. 

Moving day! 

This was our Sunday walk. Our complex is really interesting. So everything in Miami is gated communities. But usually, like our last place, it's all one set-up. This has condos, townhomes, apartments, and several different HOA's all in one space. But it is beautiful! We had a wonderful time walking around and exploring our neighborhood. 

Daddy caught a frog and everyone got to pet it.

Ruthie helping Molly pray in our new house!

First day swimming in our new pool. It ginormous. Which is actually really nice because there are stairs in every alcove which makes lots of places for my kids to play. The closest area of water in the picture is ALL three feet deep, which Ruth can touch and that makes her LOVE this pool cause she can get around without floaties. It is also nice because if there are lots of people there (which there has been because school is out) it still seems like you have a corner all to yourself. There is also a kiddie pool in the far corner (which felt like a HOT TUB yesterday) which Molly LOVES, so that's fun. 

The super huge frog (its seriously the size of a bowl) that lives in our backyard. Molly, especially, adores this guy. We've named him Jim-Bob and she frequently goes and checks on him. :)

We saw this guy on our Sunday walk. You can see his black tail all the way to the concrete column. He is BIG.

Another MASSIVE frog we saw on our Sunday walk. Those things are SOOO huge it almost seems like they thud when they hop.

 Today my friend Tricia and I called a beach day, because 1)WE LIVE IN THE SAME COMPLEX NOW! which means we will do stuff together every day....oh wait, we already do :) and 2)we are both headed out of town for several weeks and we needed to fit one more in!

That girl!

Our little slice of heaven today. It was HOT but beautiful and serene and wonderful. Oh beach, I love you.

Those two are my favorite girls. 

Sister Hadley said her girls had outgrown this dollhouse (Fisher Price! I looked online and it is pretty pricey!) so we gladly took it off her hands! All three kids have been playing with it nonstop for three days now, so it's a huge win!

Our new front door. To the right there is a duck nesting, her little chicks hatched yesterday and the kids love looking at them every time we go in and out.

This is across the parking lot from us, but it looks the same as our side. We are a corner unit, so we only share one wall. I like that. It's also all one floor--yay for saving on our a/c bill!

This looks small, but it's a pretty big room. This is looking in from the front door. You can see the kitchen on the left. The master bedroom is to the left of that. The kids bathroom is in the center of the photo, one bedroom is to the right, and the kids bedroom is to the left. 

Kids bath.

Living room.

Kitchen.

Backyard. Behind that tennis court is the pool.

Into the master bedroom. Which has a GINORMOUS walk-in closet and a bathroom separated with a door from the sink (which I really love). 

Basically, it's beautiful. We love it SOOOOOO much!!! We even had a broken oven and I was almost happy about it because they fixed it in a DAY! Can you imagine? Our last place would have been five months at least! We also have a FULL-sized washer and dryer. I find laundry to do just for the heck of it. HAHA. 

It's hot and so, as you can see, we are just living in the water, enjoying our new place, and spending one last week before we head to Utah!! YAY!