Orlando Temple

Here are some pictures from around the Orlando Temple. This was my first chance to mess around with my new camera and I love it. Also thought I would pass on some more of our beautiful Florida weather!

I got my new camera!

Just thought I would let you all know I finally got a new camera! Our old camera finally fizzled out Christmas Morning :(. We've been saving and looking for the best camera for our money and this week we got our tax return! So for V-Day Brent surprised me by getting a camera (well surprised me by telling me the North Target had it on hold for me...there was time conflicts with me needing the car so I picked it up myself.) Target had the Nikon CoolPix S202 on sale for 89.99 regularly 130.00! I'm so excited to have a camera so be prepared to be inundated with pictures!

Winter in Florida

I was thinking of all of you north and west of us here in Florida, so I thought I would let you all know about our wonderful weather we've been enjoying! It has been in the high 70's low 80's all week and supposed to continue through next week. We have been opening the doors to our lani (screened in porch) and letting the breeze come through the house and the girls play outside. Today I even put the girls in the stroller and we walked the 2 miles each way to McDonald's! We have been LOVING this weather. Each week we go the park and run around and we plan on walking to more places on our non car days :). I'm taking our loss of our second car and this gorgeous weather as a sign that it's time for me to become more active!

So to any of you who are sick of the snow, the inversion, the cold, and the shoveling....Come on down it's PREFECT down here :P

New Car Seats

Ella has finally reached the weight for a forward facing car seat, so we have been searching for a child/youth seat to move Aspen up to and put Ella in our Graco Comfort Sport. It has been a search and we've been trying to get quality and a good value but had not been able to find anything. Through a friend I found a connection to get a new car seat for Aspen for a VERY good price. Our Fire Safety House in Fort Myers GIVES car seats for a $20 donation to families who make an appointment to be taught/shown how to install the car seat properly. So I called and got the details, they were 5-pt harness convertible to high back booster seats-which is excatly what I wanted for Aspen, so we made our appointment! Yesterday was the big day, we've been talking to Aspen about getting a new seat and Ella moving into her 'little girl' seat becuase Aspen is a big girl. We get there and the lady who does the install is very nice and good with the kids. She get's Aspen all excited about her new Blue Fuzzy car seat (it is pretty soft!) It is a Safety 1st Surveyor. We go over the weight and height requirements, proper strap length, etc the we take the seat out to the car. We get Aspen's brand new seat installed and she hopes right in and LOVES it. The lady helping us say's she'll do Ella's car seat now to make sure it is in properly also. We get it out, move the straps down and try to move the crotch strap back to where it needs to be.....problem...the strap is STUCK I mean we called a fire fighter over to help and he COULD NOT pull it out! The strap has gotten twisted and frayed from us trying to get it out so either way it is no longer safe to use. We LOVE this car seat :(. Then the lady who has been so kind and helpful with getting Aspen a car seat and fixing Ella's says she feels so bad about 'breaking' my car seat. She gave us another car seat just like Aspens FOR FREE!!! And she orders a new crotch strap for my Comfort Sport and having it deliver to my home. When I get my new strap she showed me where to cut my old one out and how to install my new one. This means for $20 I got 2 brand new car seats (that retail for about $80 each) and a new part to my Comfort Sport. It may have been a long morning to get it all done, but a good one anyways!

Funny Ella Moment

Just thought I would share one of the silly things my little Ella Mae has done recently (there are SO many!).

We had pancakes for breakfast this morning, which the girls LOVE. Aspen get's her with syrup and she is learning how to cut them up herself, on the other end Ella gets them plain and I cut/tear them up for her. Well....she was whining for another one and I was busy so I just tossed another pancake on her plate (I was close enough to make sure she didn't shove it all in!) The very first thing she does it pick it up and tear it into little pieces just like mommy does! It was so cute to see her concentrating on her pancake making sure it was all in nice little pieces before she started eating.

We can't believe how much she is growing and learning everyday. We love our little EllaBella Mae.

Tonight's Fireside

Tonight Brent, Dane, and I had the opportunity to see The 5 Browns. We had never heard of this group till word came around they would be doing a fireside for us. They are 5 siblings that are all piano prodigies. They have all studied at Julliard! They are members of the Church and from Alpine Utah. They are AMAZING. Their piano playing was beautiful, they each played a song that meant something to them, some shared experiences and meanings and others scriptures that went with what the song made them feel. They also took about 15 minutes each to share a message. Though they didn't 'plan' their talks together, they all shared about having the Lord and Heavenly Father in our lives through the hard times and in making life decisions. It is amazing to hear such talent on the piano, then they talk to us and we realize they are just like us, they even get nervous still when ti comes to talking infront of people!
They will be preforming at the Barbara B Mann Performance Hall (they local College that is our largest theater) and their performance has been sold out for weeks! They have also been on Oprah, Jay Leno, 20/20 and others. Here is their web site, check them out! The 5 Browns These are the kind of roll models I want my daughters to have to look up to!

Out with the Old in with the New

As much as I'd love to post Christmas pictures, our camera died on us 2 minutes into our morning. I'll have some Christmas Eve pictures from my in-laws here some time thought...

Anyways, here is a summary of the Brent Culbertson Family's 2008

Ella

The youngest member of our family has changed so much. She turned 1 in November and is becoming such a 'little girl'. Now that she is officially walking (started about 13 1/2 months) I'm am suddenly babyless again *sob* Ella loves to cruise around the house, talk, squawk, chase and be chased by daddy, eat cheese, and snuggle her baby doll. She has two bottom teeth now, they cut through at about 11 months and she is now painfully cutting her two eye teeth, gotta loving teething! Now we are counting down the months till she can go to nursery during church (4 months and 4 days...) and we continue to enjoy her spirit and personality and the depth it adds to our family group.

Aspen, oh, Aspen

Our little drama queen, everything is either the most happiest thing or the worst most terrible thing, no middle ground for our Aspen. She turned 3 years old in August this year but if you have a chance to spend anytime with her you would probably think she was closer to 4. Not because she is academically advanced or anything, just spend sometime with a 4 year old attitude and you would know what I mean. She is bossy, and smart mouthed, manipulative, and lazy, and everything she can think of to make her parents CRAZY. She is looking forward to starting VPK-Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten next fall and wants to take dancing lessons. We can't believe how much she has grown and her mother is still suffering bouts of hysterics facing Aspens first Sunday as a Sunbeam.

Dane

Now half-way through his sophomore year is HS Dane has enjoyed 2 season in the Cape Coral Marching Sea Hawks band as a member of the percussion pit(plays on the side line) next season he hopes to move up to the marching drum line. We were able to go and see one of his halftime performance during the football season, and though they are very small (less then 50 members) they have good talent. Dane is now 17 years old (October) and enjoying life. He is the center of the social group in our Young Men in our ward (and for most of our Young Women too!) We love having in our family!

Brent

Now almost 1 year into selling Health Insurance we are getting a grasp on the field and settling into the career. He is working on building his clientele and his own team to sell under him. He is now only working part time from home and part time from an office, instead of full time at home, which was a challenge! However, the girls do seem to miss not having him pop out of his 'office' a few times a day to play with them. Brent is an amazing father, he loves to chase, tickle, and cuddle his little girls, and they love to have him do it. He is still young men's president in our ward and is working hard with the youth and our newly formed scout committee to get the scouting program flowing for our boys.

Sara

Well I'm pretty much the same as I've always been. I am happy to still be able to stay at home with the girls, we joined a play group this fall and have been enjoying making many new friends and going on some exciting outings. I'm still primary president, we have been very excited to see our primary go from about 7 active kids to 15! I am on the Boy Scout Committee heading up the activities/tour permit end of things, something I basically did anyways for Brent! I discovered the Twilight Phenomenon and read the 4 books in the saga and saw the movie Twilight on opening night.

Hope you all have had a great year to reflect on and many blessings and much love for the coming year of 2009!