Dr. Garrett!!!!!!

We had the opportunity to go up to West Virginia for Morgan's graduation! What a great experience. You can tell it really impressed my kids because they both wrote in their school journals that they got to go to their uncles graduation and now he is a Dr. Emma's journal said we got to go to "Looesbrg" for his graduation (Lewisburg). Luke's said that now instead of Uncle Morgan they have to call him Dr. Garrett :) I am sooooo proud of him. I know it was a ton of work and there is still a ton more to come with his residency, but what an accomplishment! The school really did a great job of making it a special event....the first night we arrived there was a barbecue for the graduates and their families. It was perfect so there was a place for all the Gillespies and the Garretts to hang out. Then Saturday was the graduation, then a reception, then Morgan and Kim took us to these cool cliffs for a special presentation to Morgan of our gift to him (an Ipad). Then that night Kim's old bishop's wife and her teenager and her friends watched ALL TEN of our kids while the adults went to dinner! It was such a nice evening!

What a great weekend! CONGRATS MORGAN!

We had collected money from both my family and Morgan's to get the i pad....well who knew that the rest of the world was also trying to get one????? They sold 2 million in the first 2 months! So needless to say there were not any to be found at either Best Buy OR the Apple Store! I called the Salt Lake one, the North Carolina one, and then I called each city we passed through from Orlando to West Virginia! I probably called at least 70 stores! I was on a waiting list here in Orlando. So I didn't have the actual i pad to give him so we came up with this substitute :) A notepad with an eyeball :) ha ha! His i pad came in on Saturday and I picked it up Monday night as we rolled into Orlando!

You are in our prayers Wendy!!!

Tomorrow Matt's mom goes in for surgery on her knee. We love you Wendy and want you to know we are praying for you!

Family Home Evening at it's BEST!

Last night I had to go away to a youth Fireside. As I was leaving I helped Luke pick a couple of things he could work on for Duty to God. He chose to put together a Family Home Evening lesson/activity on Choosing the Right. He worked so hard on it and I think it is the CUTEST thing I have ever seen! He was beaming as he gave the lesson :) Here is what he did..there were 4 sections: a Temple section, the Priesthood section, a Baptism section, and a Choose the Right section. We were each assigned a section and then we had to read the question and answer it. If we chose the right answer then we got to move our button to the next circle, moving closer and closer to the temple. The thing I thought was cute and original was that if one of us got it right then all of us got to move our button with them, so we stayed together as a family and made it to the temple (or back to Heavenly Father) together! Sooooo sweet! I also thought it was so cute and original how he put the answer upside down so you had to turn the paper around to see if you answered correctly! :)

You'll never find a more dedicated Cub Scout!

Cub Scouts has changed Luke! He is not the same person he was at age 7. I think it is a mixture of his baptism, and then the hard work he is putting in with Cub Scouts, and his Duty to God. He takes it very seriously. In fact Sunday he kept begging me to work with him on his Duty to God stuff and he said he was really worried because we hadn't done anything yet. I told him he shouldn't stress because he has 4 years to finish. Later that day he was pressuring me again and finally I sat down with him. He said "Mom we really need to get working on this...I ONLY have 4 years to do it!"

Thank goodness my mom sent Luke his Cub Scout shirt because I had so much going on and never made it to the Scout store. So at least he had his shirt for his first day...but then he wanted the rest. Luckily the leaders were heading to the store and picked up everything I needed. THEN he was bugging me daily to sew on his patches! Everyday we are working on something in his scout book. I LOVE his dedication and wish I could bottle it and store it for when he is older and I have to push and pressure him to get his Eagle. Hopefully he will follow in his cousins Tyson, Danny, & Devin's footsteps and be zealous to the end.

The best was on Saturday morning I was away at a YW thing and when I got home Luke ran up to me with his book and was looking a little concerned. It was a section on First Aid. It said "show how to take care of a cut". It showed a picture of a cut finger and he was supposed to describe how you tell an adult, then wash it with soap and water, and then put on a bandaid. Luke said "Mom....I think I have to CUT my finger!" Luckily I got home in time before he carried it that far :) Then timing couldn't have worked out better, because as I was explaining that he just had to describe what he would do, Emma came in crying with a cut on her leg from her scooter! Thank you Emma for sparing Luke the need to cut himself :) So Luke went right to work like a good little scout and in no time Emma's wound was dressed and taken care of!

I never knew I would love Cub Scouts as much as I do!

Luau!!!!! Polynesian Cultural Center - Florida style

The Hunter's Creek ward in our Stake has a large group of Polynesian members that live there. So every year their big fundraiser is a Luau. We got in on the action this year and I was blown away by how fun it was! We took the Lopez's with us and it was great food and amazing entertainment! They cook a pig out back in a pit and it was delicious! Then at the end they had a cake auction. It was crazy the amounts the cakes were going for. Cooper and Gavin went over to the cake table and were taking a look....the most beautiful chocolate cake caught their attention and they couldn't help themselves, they stuck their finger right in it! Gavin had chocolate frosting on his chin and so he was a dead giveaway :) I told Matt we better try to win that cake....BUT that was the most expensive cake that started at $50 and I think it went for $130 or some crazy amount! So someone out there had a cake with Cooper and Gavin's finger print :)


Some of the dancers were girls from my Youth Conference group. I knew they performed at Sea World and so they were the real deal. It was so fun to see them again and then watch them perform. They just radiated on stage! What a great night!

Field of Dreams

Friday night Luke's baseball team had the opportunity to be out on the field with the UCF Baseball team during the National Anthem! It was such a fun night.

This is Luke's little team on the Jumbo tron!

Emma had a blast acting like a little cheerleader, and then we found out that if you took 5 empty Coke bottles to their recycle area then you'd get a free t-shirt. Well the kids were all over that. They were running around the whole stadium begging people for their bottles, checking the bleachers, and I hate to admit it but even rummaging through the garbage can! By the end of the night all the kids had a t-shirt! It was pretty entertaining!

Then it was so cool because at the end of the game the kids all line up along the fence and the UCF players go through and sign all the kids balls, posters, t-shirts, or whatever! I was sooooo impressed because they got KILLED in the game and yet they took the time for the fans. I told Luke to always remember what good sports they were...when Luke has a hard game he is not the kindest of kids to be around after. Hopefully he will remember these guys' great example!

And then Gavin waited by where they were walking out and slapped five to each and every player. He was so proud of himself that he got them all! :)

Old friends reunited!

Marc & Becca Camp lived here around 7 years ago. They were Matt's close friends at Hewitt and then moved to Texas with a transfer. It was so fun to catch up with them after so long! When we knew them here they were kidless, now they have 2 and 1 on the way! They are such great friends!

Grandma & Grandpa x 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was so cool to have both sets of parents here, not only for Luke's baptism, but for Mother's Day too!!!! Talk about pressure on Matt to deliver a wonderful Mother's Day...and let me tell you he did not disappoint! We had bacon and eggs for breakfast, steak, potatoes, green beans and rolls for dinner, and then Bacardi daiquiri's for desert! He worked his tail off and it was a wonderful day! I don't know if that will ever happen again in this lifetime that we are lucky enough to have both here for that special day, but I feel like one lucky girl to have had it happen! The kids loved every minute of it.


My parents came in on Sunday night, May 2nd, and then Matt's came in on Thursday May 6th. It was so fun to have my parents here when I had an ultrasound scheduled...yes if you haven't seen my past post announcing it...I am pregnant! So we got to see the little baby and it was so fun to have my parents with me oooohing and awing :) The rest of the week I wore them out with errands and more errands. But it was such a blast to have them with me for my day to day running around!

I thought this was the darn cutest picture with the baby crossing it's little legs!

Then after Matt's parents came in town, the next day we went to the FUNNEST Barn dance! Our friends, the Hawkes, had a great party at their house. There were tons of people, great food, and real live square dance callers. I was AMAZED that they taught the whole group of over 100 people to square dance and it was actually working! It was a blast! Gavin cried and cried when we had to leave and he kept saying "I want to stay and DANCE!". He finally settled down and after we got home he asked "Mom can we go back to the barn to dance sometime?" Too cute. The next day my mom wanted to run to the Dress Barn, a store nearby, and we learned real quick you can't say BARN or Gavin thinks we are going dancing! :)


It was so sad to see them all leave and the kids keep asking when they both can come again! What a GREAT GREAT time!

Luke's Baptism...It's GREAT to be 8!!!!

What a special day today was! It was so neat to see my little boy all dressed in white with wide eyes intently listening and soaking in all that was going on around him. And it was especially neat to have BOTH sets of grandparents there to support Luke on his day. I was asked to give a talk at the Stake baptism, which at first I was dreading and hoping it wouldn't distract me from making sure the day was all about Luke and the covenant he was making. But as I was up there speaking I thought what a special opportunity it was to be a part of his day and that I was able to remind him one more time of the true meaning of the baptism. I talked about the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and WHY of baptism. Then we went to the font for the ordinance. There were 7 children getting baptized the same day and we asked to be last so that Luke's little friend Grant would have a better chance of making it in time for his turn. We stalled a little and Grant made it just in time.

Afterward Luke's grandpa Rose gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. Toward the end of his talk he choked up and spoke of how he wanted to be Luke's grandpa for FOREVER and that Heavenly Father has made it possible to make it back to him and have eternal life if we follow Christ's example and live so that the Holy Ghost is with us always. I looked over at Luke and that sweet kid had tears flowing down his cheeks. He was very still and listened silently to the whole talk. I am so proud of him and his desire to learn and follow the Savior and help his testimony grow. What a great kid and what a wonderful day! It was neat to have my dad give a beautiful closing prayer to end the the beautiful ceremony.