Florida

We spent six glorious days on the beach in Florida. Jake's parents flew all of Jake's brothers and sisters out and we all stayed in condos on the beach. It was beautiful every day and it rained almost every evening. Above are Ruby's feet in the sand. Below is a photo of Ruby and Grace on a kid's ride at Busch Gardens. That was a fun day of riding roller coasters. Jake and I felt so young as we screamed our heads off on the fast ones.

We celebrated our fifth anniversary while we were there. We ate dinner at an ocean-side seafood restaurant that was delicious! We laughed so much and talked about the best and worst things that happened in the last five years! We are so lucky.

A photo of Jake and his cooperative girls! Always.

Ruby likes to take off. Anywhere. Anytime. Especially in a big open place like the shore. I looked away for a few moments and the next thing I saw was her back to me and she was doing the closest thing to a run that she knows how to do.

Me and Rubes. She LOOOOOVES me.

This is everyone together. From left to right, Grace, me, Ruby, Jessie Smylie, Jake, Aliza Smylie, Donna & Steve (the parents), Alex Smylie, Levi Smylie, Rebecca (Levi's fiance), baby Reef, Ashley (married to Austin) Smylie.

Look at all these beauties! Rebecca will fit right in.

We had a great time. We were in St Petersburg, which is on a peninsula close to Tampa. We were on the Gulf of Mexico and the water was really warm and the sand very white. So different from the beaches where I grew up! It's weird to think that we're starting yet another fall. It will be September soon and we have a 3 1/2 year old daughter, my baby Ruby is going to be 2 soon, and Jake and I are entering our sixth year of marriage. Time is flying by. Faster each year. We love and miss all of our families all over the world!