Catch up: Big News

While in Florida we found out some pretty big news... We're expecting! March 2013 Baby McNabb will be joining our family. We are more than thrilled and could hardly contain ourselves from telling everyone.

Since being home we found out that it's a BOY! A lot of women say they have a feeling if they are having a girl or boy but I really had no idea. I guessed boy and Keith guessed girl. Either way we knew we wouldn't be disappointed! I can hardly believe that I'm more than half way through this pregnancy already. It seems to be flying with the holidays. We can't wait until he makes his big debut in just a few months!

Catch up: The McNabb's Visit

Keith's family was able to come and visit for a few days while we were in Florida. We had a great time showing them around. We went to the Kennedy Space Center

We couldn't miss the beach while they were here (a first for the McNabb kids!). They were here during the hurricane. We didn't get hit directly by it but got some substantial rain and wind. When we went to the beach the waves were HUGE.

We swam in the hotel pool, ate yummy food, and toured the Ranch. We even got to go on a airboat ride!

They were able to go to Epcot while they were here too. We didn't go with them because Keith had work. It was so nice to have family visit, we loved having them!

Catch up: Annviersary and Birthday Celebrations

I know...it's been awhile. We've been staying busy and having fun these past few months. We have quite a bit to share. We finished our stay in Florida with a huge bang. First we celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary. Keith and I traveled up to Orlando and got Chipotle for lunch, my favorite!!

Then we headed to the temple and did sealings there. After, Keith took me out to eat at a delicious steak house. I claim to not like meat much so I shied away from ordering a steak. Not to mention not much was sounding too good at the time. But one bite had me convinced. Poor Keith shared his steak with me. I think he only got 1/3 of it! Our anniversary was perfect. It's been such a wonderful year together. People kept warning me that the first year is the hardest. I'm not really sure I understand what they meant. We've loved being married and I can't wait for what's in store for us!

A few days after our anniversary is my birthday! Before we got married I made Keith promise me we'd celebrate each thing individually..no lumping celebrations together! Thankfully he fully complied. We went to Orlando to celebrate, saw a movie and then went to my all time favorite Italian restaurant, Maggianos! It was another great day. My sweet mom sent me a birthday package with all the fixings for a red velvet cake and some great gifts. We had our neighbors over for cake and ice cream. It was a great way to celebrate getting another year wiser!

Christmas in July

Keith moves every few weeks to a new area of the ranch to work with new foremen. Each of these areas are numbered units and there are 13 of them. He's been on his new unit for over a week now. It's been a change from the others, I'm seeing bit more of him which has been nice! The new foreman he's working with suggested that we visit Fort Christmas while we were here. I've been to a fair share of historical sites in my lifetime and generally found them to be pretty interesting and informative. This one sounded kind of fun too. I mean it has Christmas in it's name, how could it not be. Without knowing anything about Fort Christmas we drove north to find it. We pulled into Christmas, FL and were welcomed with Jolly 'ol St. Nick and his year-round Christmas tree right away.

Nothing screams Christmas like 90 degree, sunny Florida in July!

We got to the fort we found a map and wandered around. In simplest terms this fort was named Fort Christmas because construction began on December 25th. It was during the Second Seminole Indian War but was only used for storage-not a bullet was shot. It wasn't the most historical of sites we've ever visited... but we had fun none-the-less. 

Within the park there are also seven pioneer homes that they've restored. We walked through a few of them which was fun as well. Then we headed to the gift shop and got ourselves some root beer candy and the game pick up sticks. They had a big map out front that people put pins on where they were from. No one had marked anywhere near Inkom/Pocatello so Keith proudly left his mark!

After we left we headed to the closest theater and used some movie tickets we got for Christmas (Thank you Grandpa McNabb and Mindy!) and saw Ice Age 3. We had a good laugh and it was fun to get out. We enjoyed our Christmas weekend in July!!

4th of July part 2

Lucky for us the rain stopped just in time for the sun to dry everything out a little. The ranch had a Fourth of July celebration planned on the rodeo grounds with food, horse races, and a firework show. We headed over a little early and helped set up. They served hamburgers and hotdogs and they were delish. How could hamburgers not be good on a cattle ranch? There were free treats galore- snowcones, ice cream, and popcorn just to name a few. After, they had the horse races. We had heard a little about them but because Keith doesn't have a trailer and his own horse he wasn't going to participate. Once we got there though, one of the guys he works with talked him into doing a few of the games and races with him.

The Egg Toss

Keith's on the right in the white hat

 He did the egg toss with our neighbor Keenan who is also doing the cattle internship. They didn't last long. The little kids had the right idea, throwing it and not being able to catch it so it landed in the soft dirt.

The Grocery Race

This is a three-man race on a bareback horse. They start standing and once they say go all three people have to get on the horse, ride it to the other end where there is a barrel with groceries on it. A watermelon, an egg, and a cup of water. Once there, they have to get off, get the groceries, and all get back on to race to the other end.

The dream team: Keith (back) Kennan (middle) and Samuel (front)

Here is Keith, watermelon in hand, boosting Samuel with his shoulder. "Push me on!"

 You can see they made it to the groceries before the other two teams, no problem.

 I don't think I've ever laughed as hard as when I saw Keith mount this horse John Wayne style. He claims he's never done it before but it was too perfect for a first time.

Of course they won and each got a hat and shirt out of the deal.

The Sweetheart Race

Sadly I didn't get many good pictures of the next race they participated in. It started getting dark so the lighting was bad. This is a two-man race. One of the two runs the length of the arena to the barrel where he climbs on top and puts on a dress and ties a bonnet to their head. Once dressed the other person on the horse has to go pick up their sweetheart! Keith was the sweetheart and the first boy man enough to put on the dress. Wise move because he smoked the girls to the barrel! Seeing the male-advantage other men were willing to play the sweetheart in other heats.

They won this round too, getting me a hat and a shirt! He makes a good sweetheart if I do say so myself. 

We ended the night with a firework show. We had a ton of fun and some seriously good laughs. It wasn't our traditional 4th of July but this one we'll never forget.

4th of July part 1

We love the 4th of July! Growing up my family always went up to Idaho Falls to celebrate with my grandma because it's her birthday. She used to tell us when she was little she felt so lucky to get fireworks just for her! Keith's family always has a large presence in the Inkom candy parade making it a fun celebration! After we met we convinced our families to celebrate together. Keith and I even got to be in the parade together last year! So when we realized we would be in Florida for the 4th this year we were a little upset to say the least! We didn't have too high of hopes because Keith had to work. He left about 5 and around 10:30 I got a text asking if I wanted a surprise. I knew what it was right away! I was so excited!

To celebrate his workless day we decided to head to the beach! We went to Melbourne beach which is the closest one.

We played in the water for awhile. After, I relaxed and read Keith fell asleep...

Next time his hand won't be on his belly and maybe we'll remember to put on more sunscreen. For now, aloe is his friend.

We spent a few hours there before we were ready to head out. Our timing was impeccable. On the drive home the sky started to look a little gloomy. 

 And by the time we got home it was POURING. We were a little worried the firework show that evening would be rained out!

To be continued.

Busch Gardens

I have a little bit of catch up to do. We've been busy having fun! This past weekend we went to Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay. It was little over a two hour drive there so we woke up early and headed out. I'm not sure we'd get anywhere without our GPS.

Much like Sea World there was a lot to do and see only a whole lot more land to cover. There were some crazy roller coasters--some that go from 0-60 mph and one with a 90 degree drop. They put the Sea World roller coasters to shame! We saw a few shows, beautiful gardens, and a lot of animals!

Sunbathing at its finest!

As we walked around I spied a funnel cake stop. I couldn't help myself! I may have felt sick after but it was so worth it.

We came home exhausted but it was fun!  

Gone Fishin'

Coming to the ranch we had no idea what a big deal fishing is. But it's a BIG deal. After a lot of begging our neighbors got us to go with them one night after they borrowed fishing reels for us. We ended up having a blast! 

While we weren't having much luck in the fish department, we were still having fun. I can't tell you how many times my line got caught in the weeds at the bottom of the river and at least half a dozen times Keith had to come save me. During one of those times he had already cast his line and asked me to hold his pole. After he finally got my line untangled I reeled in his line and much to our surprise we got a bite! Neither of us could take the glory of catching it by ourselves so we shared the limelight.

After another 20 minutes or so I was able to get one more bite before we called it a night.

I was okay with the catching bit but let Keith handle the release. I don't think either of us had been fishing since we were little. Going reminded me of when I used to go fishing with my dad as a little girl. Being the professional fishermen that he is I still like to tease him about the time we went and were even, fish count:10-10 so we decided to call it a day. We reeled in and I got one last bite bringing our final count 11-Maurie 10-Dad. Oh the bragging rights. Good times.

It was a lot of fun, we'll be going back and hopefully have a bit more luck next time!

Sea World

After a lot of research I finally found the best deal on Sea World tickets. Lucky for us the passes are good for the rest of 2012 and into Busch Garden's too. We were really excited, neither of us had been to either park. We packed up our lunch and frozen water bottles, applied a little SPF, and we were on our way! We got about 20 mins down the road when we both realized we forgot the cameras. We were pretty bummed but luckily in today's day we have cell phone cameras. While they aren't top quality they aren't too shabby either. So this post is brought to you via cell phone pictures.

Our visit started out small, and it's a good thing. We weren't exactly sure where we were going or where anything was. Luckily we have this mentality (thanks to our fun passes) that we don't have to stress about seeing it ALL this time, we'll see it next time, or some other time after that!  We stopped by a little dolphin nursery and got excited seeing a few dolphins swim around. Even the flamingos seemed exciting.

That was until we decided to go to see the dolphin and acrobat show. It was so neat! There were birds flying over the audience and people skiing on dolphins. It was a good thing we started small with the dolphin nursery because we would have been disappointed after seeing this! Then it was off to a 3D movie about a sea turtle and to see the manatees.

After a little persuasion we went on one of the roller coasters called The Manta. I love roller coasters but even I was a little nervous. I had never been on one quite like this. You sit in your seat and pull a chest harness over yourself while an ankle harness comes to keep your legs in the "sitting" position. The next thing you know they are tilting you forward so your back is now parallel to the ground, face looking down at the cement! The whole ride you are in this position through loops and twists. We LOVED it. After the first stomach-wrenching loop I heard Keith start to laugh, and he laughed until it stopped. There was NO line so we decided to go for round two. We finished just in time to make it to see the Shamu Show (as I like to call it). It wasn't a let down, that's for sure!

We were wise enough to sit above the first 15 rows dubbed "The Soak Zone". It was fun to watch everyone else get soaked though!

Who knew this little tail...

could make a splash like this?

All in all we had a really fun time and can't wait to go back. We still have 2/3 of the park to see! And this time we'll remember to bring our real camera.