Delli Man

Dellin is a binky-free boy. I'm pretty sure there's never been a kid who loved his binky quite like our Delli Man. He could have it in his mouth all day long and usually did. We decided to get rid of it 2 weeks ago. He cried for over an hour the first night and then for 10 minutes the next day at naptime and then voila... He was done. No more binky for this guy.


He has become even more obsessed with his snugglies then ever before, but that's a trade I was willing to make. He has four snugglies that he loves: Bear, Spot, Grover, and his blanket. He loves to carry them around and then say, "let's snuggle." I love it too. Who wouldn't?!?


He also likes to make sure that Gouverneur has his binky at all times. Someone should have on right? He really is a darling big brother to Gouverneur. I love watching my boys grow up and become friends. They seem to love it too. Dellin refers to his brothers as, "my Sterling" and "my baby". He is such a darling older/younger brother.


Dellin is a silly boy who makes us laugh a lot. He loves to make messes with about anything he eats. Case in point. Jam. The boy is obsessed.

We love you Delli Man and love watching you grow up!

WE LOVE THE ZOO.

We absolutely love the zoo. We try and go every week. In fact, we are sort of zoo specialists if you will. We know where all the animals are. We have mastered the best time to go, which means we go when there are the least amount of people. And we know of great free parking that is always available. Because of the free parking, we only have 2 hours every time we go. I used to feel stressed about only having 2 hours but I've know decided that two hours is the perfect amount of time for me and the boys.

The National zoo is free, which basically means you all pay for it with your taxes. (Thank you!) Parking is where they get you, unless you park on the street like us. They have some really fun animals that we are quite fond of. The boys most favorite are the alligators and crocodiles. They are pretty awesome. I am completely obsessed with the apes, especially the orangutans. They have what is called "O Crossing" at the zoo. It is these huge wires that go back and forth that the orangutans cross each day. They walk right above your head and it NEVER gets old watching them. It's pretty amazing.

Here are some action shots.

This little guy is growing up fast. He was a baby when we first moved here. He used to look so small when he'd cross. I'd always be stressed watching him but now he crosses like a pro. (He easily could be a she by the way.)

The boys really love it too. We always stop and watch.
Come visit us, and we'll take you to the zoo. Our treat. :) The boys really love taking new people and showing off all their zoo knowledge.

Father's Day 2012

We had the best Father's Day weekend this year. We started the celebration early on Saturday this year. Sterling got a new smoker for Father's Day and so it was only fitting that we used it that weekend.

Smoking is a serious activity. It's an all day affair and completely worth every minute of it. Sterling got things going early in the morning with the boys while I was at the temple. The rest of the day was spent doing this. The air smelled amazing. I'm sure our whole block could smell it.

The boys were beyond obsessed. They call the main grill part, "Dad's bbq". The smaller smoker box is the "boy's bbq".

I sat in a chair by the pool and watched the boys do this most of the day. The weather was perfect for grilling and swimming. Gouverneur loved it!

The boys loved being part of the whole process. Here's Little Man spraying it with apple juice. Sterling is clearly pleased that they boys are loving it.

We (it was a family affair) smoked a pork shoulder for our first attempt.

The moment of truth... AMAZING.

Here I am with the finished product. This was by far the best bbq I've ever had. It was so delicious and fresh tasting. Sterling did a great job! It's like he was born to do this sort of thing. Here's my 22 week belly. Comparable to my 32 belly with the other boys. Oh well!

Father's Day dinner. Pulled Pork sandwiches, coleslaw, corn cakes, grilled zucchini, and brownies and ice cream. The pulled pork made the meal.

The boys afterwards giving dad his Father's Day trophies that they made. This was the funnest activities to do with kids and dad loved them.

This last picture is priceless.

It's no secret around here that my boys are serious daddy's boys. I use to feel sort of jealous about it but now I wouldn't have it any other way! It's how it should be. They have an amazing dad to look up and they love him. I hope they all grown up to be just like him.

I love my boy world!

St. Augustine

On our last day, we spent some time in St. Augustine. St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied city in the United States. The main attraction for us was to check out the Castillo de San Marcos. We happened to be there on the day it was free which was a total bonus. Although we wouldn't have minded paying because it was really cool.

Little Man was pretty into the film about the fort.

All the guns were a serious attraction. Little Man could jump on them and shoot them and no one cared that he was touching them.




The fort sits right on the water and the view is absolutely beautiful. Here is the view from the top.

Dad and Little Man. The little boys were both passed out in the stroller so they missed most of the photo ops.

Me and my boys coming out of the fort. This place seriously kicked.

The family next to the water.

Here we are on St. George street. This street had tons of cute shops and eating places. It was 200 degrees that day so we were trying to get to our car as fast as possible. The boys all wanted to be carried. So did I for that matter.

The oldest wood school house int he U.S.A. We sort of stumbled upon this. Pretty cool.
We loved St. Augustine. We only spent 2 half days there but enjoyed both of them. I could totally go back and stay in St. Augustine for a week. The city is really charming and has lots of things to go do and see.

We miss you Palm Coast! We miss you St. Augustine! But most of all, we miss all the Fillmores who flew across the country to see us. We love you!

St. Augustine Alligator Farm

Let me just start by saying that the St. Augustine Alligator Farm was about one of the coolest things we've ever done. Our boys our obsessed with gators and crocs so this was a dream come true. We'd looked this place up before our trip and were looking forward to going to it, but had no idea how cool it was really going to be.

The first thing we saw when we walked in was an albino alligator. Who knew??? Apparently they are really rare and don't have much of a shot in the wild because they have no camouflage and since they are white, can get sunburned. We saw two of these babies. They look completely fake. I sort of thought they were till they moved. Amazing.
They had a huge enclosed area with lots of gators in it. Dellin's face in this picture is priceless.

We were there for feeding time. If you ask me, this guy is nuts. Look how big that gator is.

And that one too.

The boys could not take their eyes off the gators during feeding time.

Dad and his boys. Not sure why this picture is slanted... Maybe because it was a sweltering jungle of heat and I could barely stand up by this point. Cute picture of the boys either way. This walkway was really cool. It had tons of gators in the water below and tons of exotic birds in the trees above.

Feeding the gators. This was one of the coolest parts of the park. A quarter bought a huge handful of gator food. The boys loved feeding them.

They also had a huge snake collection. Yucko if you ask me, but the boys loved it. These are the times when I have to pretend like I like things like snakes.

They had a huge Komodo Dragon. Here is cousin Ezra and Little Man. This Komodo Dragon walked back and forth in front of us licking his chops.

They had tons of exotic birds. I've never been really into birds before but I thought these were pretty awesome.

The boys on a fake gator. I love this picture of the boys. They look so tiny and yet so big at the same time.

This picture is classic. Not sure if Sterling Henry is helping to open or close the mouth. Dellin looks worried either way.

All the cousins minus Eric and Marci's kids. Gouverneur was crying his eyes out by this point.

One last picture of dad and his boys. I love my boys. These boys are pretty lucky to have such a cool dad.
If you are anywhere in the area, you have to visit the St. Augustine Alligator Farm. This place exceeded our expectations in every way. The boys loved it and so did we!

FLORIDA

We just got back from Palm Coast, Florida. A small town just 15 minutes south of St. Augustine, Florida. To say it was dreamy would be a complete understatement. We stayed in a beach house right on the beach and spent most of our time sitting on the beach, enjoying the sand, water, and beautiful Florida sun. All four of Sterling's brothers, and dad met up down there. We had fun with all the family and the boys had an absolute blast with their cousins.

Gouverneur hates sitting on the grass so we were excited to see how he'd do with sand. It was a hit. He sat and played all day. I'm pretty sure he ate a few bucket loads of sand on the first day but at least he was happy. After that, he was happy to play with a bucket of water and some toys.

Dellin loved the beach but we already knew he would.

Gouverneur loved chasing this ball in and out of the waves.

Some of the cousins digging in the sand. Lot of sand castles were made and lots of treasure was searched for.

Enjoying the water with Marci's sisters and kids. The water was the perfect temp. I could have stayed out there all day.

The boys did a lot of fishing although not as much they'd wish they had. We had some stormy nights which made shark fishing not very easy. Here are some of the boys with the bait fish. Little Man was obsessed with bait fish the whole trip.

Spencer kayaking out the bait fish. You've got to get it out there far if you want to catch the big stuff.

This little baby was the extent of the sharks. It was a nice size for Little Man to touch. Sterling's sunblock mustache in this picture is beyond awesome.

We had a good amount of rain while we were there. Enough to keep us cooled off but not enough to ruin the trip. One night we had some serious lighting. Here is one of the cool pictures Sterling took.

Grandpa Fillmore did fun devotionals with the kids most nights. He has a way of capturing the kids full attention. We're so glad he came.

We had a fabulous vacation. Nothing is more relaxing than sitting at the beach with the family. The boys had so much fun with their cousins. It was a sad day when we all went home.

The best part for me was that my morning sickness stopped the day we got there. It took 20 weeks this time, but it's gone.