Westgate River Ranch

For the Fourth of July this year the parents decided to go camping instead of having their big party. I know many of people who were upset, but for us it was enjoyable. Great pictures to share! The best part.......they were taken on my iPhone!!!

O'lena got a new chair from Oma and Opa! Isnt she cut in her princess camping chair just like everyone else!
On dady's head!!
Bryan, Kevyn, and Bryan's girlfriend Ashley went horse back riding. I got this one pic. They said they had a good time. Not too exciting though, they weren't were allowed to go faster than a walk.
We also went on a swamp buggy ride...Well I guess I better fill you in on this place! It is called Westgate River Ranch. It is outside of Lake Wales, FL. It is more of a resort catering to people who want a country, ranch style vacation than an actual camp ground catering people who want to camp. They have a resort part, stables, rodeo, petting zoo, golf, skeet shooting, swamp buggy, air boats, breakfast with the cowboys, cattle, horse, I believe there were buffalo too, but I didnt see them. They also have a camping area which was were we stayed. It was nice, but felt more like and after thought. Normally the places that are built for camping are...built for camping. This was built as a resort and has a camping area. We enjoyed it though. I was impressed that there was hardly any mosquitoes, but the flies made up for it! There were way too many of them. Maybe it was all the cow dung in the fields :)
Here is a pic of O'lena, Opa (Jim) and I on the swamp buggy ride. I am totally sporting my new hat. I love that thing. I love the fact that it keeps the sun out of my face :)
My brother thought it would be funny to put O'lena's socks on her pig tails. Funny Bry....
Kevyn has a secret nick name now....horse whisperer...I guess it is not a secret anymore. You should have seen him...he would walk up to the fields and the horses would line up to get a rub down from him. They would nip at each other to be next. It was crazy. He has really taken to them too. He has a new interest and has pursued trying to get a job at a stable. I think it would be totally cool if he gets it.
Here is Leeny eating her chips and dip. It is one of her new things she likes to eat. She would dip it in, eat of the dip, then stick the chip back in. It was great.
Well what happened was...i was on my way to go swimming pushing O'lena in her car but she had fallen asleep and I got lost and it started to rain, so I found a bench-covered with spiders mind you- sat down and let her take a nap while the rain stopped and someone found me. This place was big and I only knew how to get to the pool from the camp site, but we were someone else when I started out and had no idea how to get where I wanted to go from where i was. I got a bit frustrated too, I admit.

On Saturdays night they have a real rodeo. It was very cool. I haven't seen one in many many years. O'lena loved it. She loved watching all the horses go around the rink. Here is a pic of the family and grandparents just before the start of the festivities. Still sporting the hat.

Daddy and O'lena getting into the show. She was so intent. She also got her first exposure to popcorn and loved that too.
Oh man! I haven't told you the best part!!!! So it came to pass...hahahaha...My mother's mother, sister, her husband, and 3 or their 4 kids came down to camp with us from North Carolina. I knew they were coming but we kept it a secret from Bryan and Kevyn. It was great! You should have seen their faces when we were like..."We better go meet our neighbors because we will be camping right next to them for several days" and out pop their cousins who live states away. They thought it was great too. My other aunt and uncle came out too later that evening. It was one big mini family reunion. It was a blast. Here is a picture of all of us.
Kevyn the hose whisper. Here are all the horses lined up getting ready for their attention.
One of my more favorite moments was watching O'lena playing mini golf. She would just walk around pick up the balls and throw them. She eventually learned to put them in the hole so then she was giving everyone holes in one. It was so funny.
O'lena's great grandmother bought her a pony ride. If she could talk where she was understandable, she would still be talking about it. She had a blast! We must have walked around that circle about 50 times. I was getting dizzy but she was loving it.
Here she is clapping because is having such a good time.
O'lena feeding the baby goat. She was really good about allowing the animals to lick the food out of her hands.

Here is the first thing she saw when she walked into the zoo. Can you believe it?! It is a pony O'lena size. That thing was so little. I think I have only seen them in movies. It took her a while to warm up to him but eventually we got her to pet him. It was really funny too because we had to go into a different gate to get into the other part of the zoo and we guess the mini horse wanted to go into too for he pushed my grandmother right out of the way and barged right threw. We weren't sure if he was allowed to go in or not and there was no one to ask but he seemed he knew what he was doing. I guess it is like anything....square your shoulders, walk right in, look like you own the place and no one will bother you.

Another picture of the rodeo. You can see the people on the horses and flags if you look close.

I love this picture. She enjoyed eating Oreos that weekend. To bad I only bought one package because I think she ate a third of them.T
This was actually on the way camping, we had stopped to eat at pizza hut. I swear she must have eaten 5 pieces of pizza.
Here she is being cute in daddy's hat at the restaurant. This is O'lena version of play Put Put. She was so stinking cute!! Like I said she would pick up anybody's ball and throw it down the hole. Her favorite was the pink one. Everyone did a great job just letting her play. I really appreciated it. I think they had fun too. I know she did. It is kind of hard to see. I need to learn to turn my phone so they record the right way. Still working on that.

I havent forgot about you...

I haven't forgot about you. Actually...everyday I say to myself..."Whitney you need to update your blog." I just have such a methodical out look on it and I cant do one thing out of order. I like having everything chronologically and sometimes that is just a pain. Oh well. I am writing to tell you that I am working on three actual postings at once. SOOOO once they make it up it will be alot to look at.

Graduations!

Can you believe it!!!! I can not! The little pipsqeeks that I used to boss around and get into arguments with when they would hit me have graduated from high school!! I feel so old! And so proud! They both have become wonderful young men and have so much potential to be come great men.
We had a double dose of graduations that day. First was Brannon (my dad and stepmom's son.) He graduated from my Alma Mater. Of course my pictures are backwards. After his was Bryan's (my mother's and step-father's son.) He graduated from a rival school but he graduated. They both did a great job walking across the stage. No one tripped and I think they even smiled. Here are some after pics.

First Bryan's. Picture of the family. Don't you love Derick's purse?!

Bryan with the parents and grand parents.
The brothers! I think this is the best picture of the two of them together I have ever seen. I believe Kevyn was proud of his brother but he wont say it. Maybe he would...they surprise me everyday.
Here are the pictures from Brannon's graduation. He is here with John Howard, the baby cousin in the family. Yeah...Don't tell Brannon but I think John Howard might have gotten taller than him. Brannon always bragged about how tall he was going to be. I think he might have end up being on the shorter side of the Meredith cousins and he is 6-3 or something close to that now.
B&W. He is the sibling I look most like. We have the same bone structure. But I didn't get the height either. I am wearing 3 in heels :(
Brannon with the grand parents. They were so proud.
Brannon and cousin Jacque.
Still cant believe they are going to college! Both of them are going to FGCU next year. Brannon is going into engineering and right now Bryan is looking into teaching. They are growing up!!

Summertime and the living is easy.... Ha!

Oh man have we had a busy summer!!
Let me see....where do we start?..... School ended and I immediately started summer school. Normally I choose to teach the elementary schoolers, but this year I had some of my normal students. I liked teaching the little ones because it always gave me a renewed and good perspective of my middle schoolers. But this year I had a blast with my normal kids. It was so nice because it was just me and my students. There wasn't any interruptions and no one to bother us. We got more done in three weeks than I get done in three months of normal school. It was so much fun!
With summer school finished and a short summer I literately had three weeks off before I had to be back to work. I start back the 29th of July. Can you believe it?! I have about 20 things on my summer todo list that I needed to finish before I go back too. So far so good. I been fairly good. The best part of my summer has been hanging out with friends. It has been awesome spending time with some great women. It really has made my summer.
I have been hanging out with O'lena too. I have been keeping her home a couple days a week. She really has matured. She turned 18 months a month ago. Even since she has really started talking and signing. My new favorite she does is she tells you "bless you" when you sneeze. It is so stinking cute. She has become a bit of terrible two too. But it has been fun.
Man! Everyday I think of something else to post about, but as soon as I sit down to post something I forget what I want to write about. grrrrrrr......
Oh!! probably to most exciting thing that has happened is that my husband surprised me one day with a new phone! I finally got an Iphone!! I couldn't believe it. I about died. I have been wanting one for a long time and it finally came true. My hubby is the best.
I have started doing food storage. For those who don't know what that is, it is the practice of being prepared with food or self reliant on food for up to year. I dont have nearly enough for a year but I have made the first effort. I have cleared space for my build up. I have been researching and reading alot. There are some great websites out there for food storage. It is something that the LDS church teaches, self reliance, not just food but financial too. That may take longer of a time.
Anyways....my cousin is getting married. That is exciting. My cousin Chelsea, my mom's niece, is getting married in October. What else.....I am digitizing all my music. That has been interesting. I burned out my cd burner on my computer and now I am using Kevyn's. My computer is on the way out. It is about 6 years old now and is about to bite it. I have found the new one I want but I am making myself work for it. I have to loose some weight and get a bit more toned up before I am allowing myself get it. I will let you know how it goes so keep your fingers cross. It seems be the only way to get myself motivated.
I just took my interpreting test again. It went okay. You dont have to have certification to interpret sign language around Fort Myers, but it is good to have. I had it before but I let it expire. So I am back at it again. I really dislike the organization that runs it though. They are just not easy to work with. It is like doing 100 different things, pay this, pay that, then do this. Oh and by the way you need to it again in 5 years. It gets a bit annoying. But hopefully in 5 years we will not be in Florida any longer. Yeah, we want out. Real bad. Some days more than others but we are going to go! If not, I might hurt someone soon. No, we dont know where we are wanting to go. I am doing a lot of looking around. It probably wont be like tomorrow, but that would be nice. I wouldnt have to go back to work. hehehehe

Pictures of the life.....
We finally got the "dinning room" into a more open playroom. It doesnt really look like this anymore. It was taken a while ago, but it is something like this. O'lena plays here more than her room and this point I like it better. I can see her when I am cooking and she is not attached to my leg saying "up."
So We have this teacher at school who covers can, you know like coffee cans, and formula cans, with scrapbooking paper and packaging tape to make it look decorated. Well the interpreters at school and I call it Mrs. Philipsborning (that is her name, Mrs. Philipsborn.) Anyways I decided to do it to some of the boxes that the wipes come in. It dresses them up and makes them look better. Now I use them for blocks and her toys and such. I think it is fun.
I rearranged her room too. Her changing table was near the window and her crib we put more in the middle of the wall. She now has a bigger play are than before. She like it i think. Mom likes it better.


O'lena has started to LOVE the pool. She has really taken to it. I really didn't like the life vest but wanted something for her to be able to swim around herself so I got the arm floaties. SHE LOVES THEM!! She is doing great with them. She just swims around kicking her feet and moving her arms. Soon she is going to be all on her own :( When we hang out with friends she likes it even better because she can swim with the big kids. These are pictures of her and daddy swimming.
Our friend's kid turned two a few weeks back. It was O'lena's first real kid birthday party....i think...I am not 100% sure on that but I cant remember anyone else. Anyways she had a great time. Here she is going after the candy that fell from the Elmo pinata. She LOVES Elmo now too. She calls him Melmo.
She also went through this phase of taking my underwear and wearing it as an accessory. Most of the time it was a braclette or a necklace. This time it was a hat. I had to take a pic. She was looking kind of funny.
Remember that she loves to swim...well this is after she fell in the pool...Dont worry we were watching her and knew she was going to do it. She kept wanting to and daddy was right there to grab her out. She has no fear anymore. Time to learn to swim!!!
This is the morning she turned 18months. Didnt she look pretty? I love this picture.
So my friend Cassie and her son invited us to go to lakes park with her. Thay have two fun little water play areas but when we got there one was closed and the other one was PACKED. I was not going to let her go play with the really big kids who where knocking down all the little ones so we went on the train instead. She thought it was fun. She had just got done eating ice cream, that is why she is such a mess. It was blood hot that day too. It was nasty.

I love this picture! She was playing with my computer looking like such a big girl! Yes, she is still using a binky. Yes, we are in the process of getting rid of it. Yes, I know.....Well that is about it on this front. Not looking forward to work, but I know I dont get much sympathy from the general public. On to blogging about camping and graduations.

PS: it is really July 22. I started this on the 7th and it has taken me this long to finish it!