Baptism

One of the most special things that has happened lately is that Jackson and I got baptized.  I have really been feeling God working in my life and drawing me closer these past few years and I just really felt led to be baptized (again).  I was baptized as a baby, but I wanted to make this public statement of my faith and since Jackson expressed an interest in it, too, I was excited for us to do it together.  Our church hosts "Surf N Grill" events one Sunday a month during the summer months and that's when they do baptisms, so we chose the one in June since my parents were going to be here and we wanted them to be able to be there with us.  It was a beautiful day, but the water was actually pretty COLD that day!  I was shocked because I expected it to be warm, but I just chalked it up to God really wanting to get my full attention during my baptism.  :)  Jackson and Emmett both asked Jesus into their hearts and accepted Him as their Lord and Savior back in 2014, but Emmett wanted to wait a little longer to be baptized so I didn't push it.

This is the most unique church we have ever attended.  It's super laid-back and casual and is known as the "surfer church" in town (its real name is Eastgate Christian Fellowship).  There are surfboards and palm trees on the walls and everyone is usually dressed very casually... some people actually walk around barefoot.  Lol.  But I have never been to a church where I have truly felt the Holy Spirit like I do here.  I am really moved every single Sunday and our pastor is the best speaker Phil and I have ever heard.  So I was very glad to be baptized by him at this church.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the day... My mom tried to take a few while we were out in the water, but the waves were roughing her up a bit so she didn't get too many.  So I was super excited when they played the video at the end of this post at church on the day of the July Surf N Grill... What a wonderful keepsake to remember this special day! (Even though we don't really need a video to remember it, but you know what I mean... it's nice to have it and be able to watch it again!)  :)
P.S.  I didn't even realize anyone was filming this!  At one point he/she was right in front of me in the video, but I just didn't even notice.  Too caught up in the moment, I guess (or thinking of how cold the water was at first... Lol).

We all meet up at St. Andrews State Park for the Surf N Grills and the water is always so beautiful.  After each person came up out of the water a woman blew a conch shell really loudly and everyone cheered... It was so neat!

Our family walked out onto the nearby pier afterwards to see if we could see any wildlife from up above.  Nothing much, but we enjoyed the water views and sunshine.  Such a special day!  I loved sharing it with my biggest boy!  :)

Surf N Grill June 2016 from Gilmore Pictures on Vimeo.

Life Lately

Our neighbor, Patrick, texted both me and Phil the other night around 6:30 and asked if Phil was home with his truck because he was out fishing and they needed to "weigh in before 7:00."  Well, dummy me thought they meant weigh the trailer at first so I said that no, he wasn't home.  So then Patrick texted back and asked if I could meet him and his son across the street at the fuel dock and pick them up and drive them to the tackle shop down the street to weigh in and it was then I realized they meant weigh a fish.  Duh!  So I loaded up the boys and we drove over to get them.  Whew!  They were super stinky from fishing all day, but they had caught a big grouper and some beautiful snapper!

This is Patrick's son who actually caught the fish and the grouper ended up weighing 18.5 pounds and won the contest!  Patrick brought us some of that delicious snapper and grouper the next day for helping them out.  :)

The boys loved seeing those "big" fish.

I tell you what, this is just about the best dog ever.  I don't know that I will ever own another dog other than a doodle.  The non-shedding and the sweetness is just too wonderful.  He absolutely loves his boys.  Especially J.

Driving home from Target one day...

And then trying out the new slip-n-slide we bought.  It actually worked so great for just $9!  They literally played for hours!

I discovered that Reid had written this all by himself when I got him up the other morning...

My good friend, Kristen, and her family came to visit us from Tallahassee last weekend for the day.  We took everyone out on the boat and had such a fun day of playing in and on the water!  It was great to see Kristen and have our kiddos hang out together.  We ended the day relaxing in the pool (mainly to rinse everyone off without us having to bathe everyone.. Lol) and eating dinner together.  I didn't get hardly any pictures because we were pretty much in the water the whole time, but on the way home we saw some dolphins and this one was hanging out by this boat just begging for some fish!  I had never seen one out of the water and so close to a boat like that!  It was so cool!

8 kiddos (!!! That sounds like so many!) and 4 adults on the boat was a little of a tight squeeze, but we were pretty comfortable.  The boat has a lot of storage which makes for more room for everyone.

Then the next night the lagoon across the street had a fireworks show the day before the 4th, so we went over to our friends' dock to watch the show.  It was AMAZING!!  The fireworks were pretty much right overhead... I had never been so close before and I seriously got a little adrenaline rush a few times because they were SO huge and SO close!  It was awesome.  I couldn't even crane my head back far enough to get a good pic of this one...

The next day on the actual 4th of July we went out with LB and her family on their boat to watch the town's fireworks.  LB and I were twins without even planning it!

We used the timer on the camera to take a family pic before we left... I love it! :)

My parents were here this weekend (didn't get many pics of them.... sorry, Mom and Dad!), and the last evening they were here we took the boat out after dinner for a little sunset cruise.  The water was very calm (God set that up just for my mom, I'm sure) and we went out to the jetties to let the boys play on the sand dunes while we floated in the warm water and watched the boats go back and forth to and from the Gulf.  It was so pleasant and relaxing!

We ventured out into the gulf for a little bit right before sunset to see if we could see any dolphins, but none were around that we saw.

Last Friday Phil had to do water survival training and the squadron made it a family day on the bay.  We took the boat out and were able to see Phil get pulled out of the water by a helicopter.   Although the boys' favorite part of the whole day was probably the soda.  Lol.

Playing in "the drop-off" area... At one point a barracuda swam right by us.  At least that's what we thought it was.... It was a big, skinny fish with a long, pointy snout.  Luckily it just ignored us.

Around 1:00 Davis said, "I want to sleep like dis" and laid his head down on the seat.  So I got him all comfy and he slept for about 30 minutes.

A few weeks ago Emmett showed me that his front two teeth were loose.  Then I kind of forgot.  Last Saturday he and Jackson were up in their room messing around and at one point E came down the stairs and said, "Mom! Look!  Two little teeth!"  And there they were sitting right in his hand.  I kind of freaked out (on the inside) a little until I remembered they had been loose baby teeth.  I think he was a little shocked, too.  Apparently while they were goofing off E had had a blanket in his mouth and J ripped the blanket out and also ripped out E's two front teeth.   That's one way to do it!  He looks adorable with those missing front teeth.  :)

Davis and LB's son are in deep conversation here.  It was so cute.  They are just about the same age.

Daddy took everyone to DQ one night while I was at a baby shower.

Reid and Davis are starting to play together nicely for longer amounts of time.  It's really great.  Here Reid was giving D rides up and down the street in the wagon.

June Family Visit

Back in the middle of June we were so blessed to have my two sisters and their families and my parents here to visit for a whole week!  We were so excited to see everyone and we had such a wonderful time together.  The week just FLEW by. This is just a mildly funny picture from the first night because Bernie randomly jumped up on the couch and was sitting there just like one of the humans.  Lol. 

On Sunday we rented a double-decker from our friend Caleb and just had the best day out on the water.  The kids especially had such a blast.

Grace was such a trooper!  She loved the boat and the water and took a good little snooze on Mommy for quite a while!  Becky was glad when she woke up, though, so B could regain feeling in her backside from sitting in the same position so long.   Lol. 

The kiddos had just as much fun jumping off of the top level of the boat as they did going down the slides.  Not really sure if you're supposed to do this, but we made sure the water was deep enough and everyone was fine.  

The kiddos really enjoyed finding lots of sea life on the bottom of the bay.  We found two starfish, one of which got a free ride down the slide on his way back into the bay.  :)

Everyone was just pooped at the end of the day!  J even slept a little on the ride home!

Then after showers everyone gathered upstairs to watch a movie before dinner.  

We went to the pool a bunch, and Grace modeled lots of adorable swimsuits and cover-ups for us!

We all enjoyed watching the Belmont Stakes race together...

Davis and Grace loved hearing Olivia read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear..." to them...

On Monday the ladies got to enjoy a shopping day at the outlets and lunch at our favorite little wine bistro place.  Becky and I each got a yummy wine trio...

While back at home the boys (and two girls) did some swimming and then loaded up in the truck in the afternoon to drive across the street and watch the fleet unload at Captain Anderson's marina.

Davis loves his Popeye...

The girls loved the piano...

On Tuesday our homeschool group had a field trip to the NOAA fisheries lab that is very close to our house.  We got to get up close and personal with some adorable sea turtles and even feed them!  It was super hot out, but a really cool experience.  

How adorable are these two?  They just grabbed hands while we were walking up to the building.  

The fisheries lab raises these babies here and uses them to test the nets on shrimp boats to make sure the "turtle release hatch" thingy on the shrimp nets works properly.  Then they release them into the gulf.

Those turtles were SO adorable.  It was so cool to see them up so close.  Then we went outside to feed squid to some of the bigger ones.  I was SO nervous that Davis was going to fall in that water because he was SO excited and kept leaning way over!  They said those turtles would peck him like crazy if he fell in!

The scientist who hosted us said that the turtles aren't really great at catching the squid when they are dropped in... they were very slow about it and those fish you see usually got to the chunk and devoured it before the turtle did.  But every once in a while someone threw one just right and the turtle got it!  The scientist said they're a little quicker when they are hungrier.

Back at the house with Davis doing his favorite thing... Looking at pictures of horses on Popeye's phone...

One of the nights we went to the beach after dinner to play and watch the sunset...

And one day attempted the park for a few minutes.  It was so crazy hot so we didn't stay too long and went to the pool instead.

Fun rides with Popeye...

Becky and Ryan brought their dog, Stella, and my parents brought their dog, Peaches, so needless to say Bernie was one very happy camper that week.  This was the only picture we got with all three dogs because they were usually constantly on the move with each other!

More rides for Grace!  She was so much fun to be around... She is absolutely adorable and is at such a cute, fun age.  Talking up a storm with such a precious personality!  And the best hair and cheeks!  And belly!  :)  Oh, she is just scrumptious.

Uncle Ryan bought fireworks!!!  So on the last night he lit them in the street for everyone to enjoy.
The kids were SO excited.

We caught the attention of the neighbor kids who even got out of the pool to come watch!

And then we all came in to cool off and have dessert.

It was such a wonderful week!  I just love having everyone here and for us all to be able to spend time together.   I'm so thankful to be able to have my children grown up knowing their aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents so well and to be able to make such great memories together.  It is just priceless to me.  Thank you, everyone, for driving up (and down)!  We love you all so much!