A Week In Paradise...

Paul and I just returned from a fun filled week on board the ms Veendam. What a great trip! We went with my mom, brother, his wife, and my sister. It was to celebrate my mom's 70th birthday this year. I wasn't sure Paul would survive 8 days with my family stuck on a ship in the middle of the ocean, but he did! The week was full of many great memories! Here are a few of the highlights:

Most Memorable:
Being waited on hand and foot. Dressing up for amazing 5 course meals every night--if you want one of everything on the menu, they will bring it to you!

Spending time with family in amazing and exotic parts of the world!

Most Relaxing Shipboard Activity:

Sitting out on the promenade deck, watching beautiful sunsets over the ocean.

Favorite Treats:
Of course there are always amazing amounts of treats and gourmet desserts on board ship, but one of our favorites, and a daily treat for us was the ice cream bar, practically 24/7! Tastes so good after an afternoon of lounging in the sun!

Another fabulous treat we discovered in Key West was Key Lime Pie on a Stick! It was frozen and dipped in chocolate! Yum!!!


Most Relaxing Excursion:
There we were, in the middle of the rain forest in Guatemala, and what did we do? We went to this really cool, beautiful resort complete with private pools, private beach, hammocks, a turtle and iguana farm, water slides, a light house, and great shopping! It was so fun! We had a riot on the water slides and in the pool, but we also just had plenty of time to lay in a hammock or chaise and just relax!




Place we spent the most time on board:
The lido deck! Yes, they really have lido decks on cruise ships--not just on the Love Boat on TV!



Most Interesting Excursion:
The Mayan ruins of Altun Ha in Belize. Due to flooding, our original excursion to the Xunantunich ruins was cancelled. We went here instead and really enjoyed learning its history and climbing the temple behind us in the photo!

Most Fun In Port:

Here we are in the hurricane ravaged port of Costa Maya, Mexico. We hadn't planned an excursion here. Just planned on enjoying the beautiful beach below! Once there, however, we decided to rent a jet ski for an hour of endless fun and exhilaration! After that, we hopped on a boat that took us out to the reef to snorkel for an hour, and we saw some great fish! Really a fun day!

Funniest Moments:

The day we found out there was a "peasant revolt" in Roatan so we couldn't get off the ship there (that was a bummer, but the peasant revolt cracked us up! Especially since right in our daily program Roatan boasted the fact that there had never been any political uprising in their history!) The next funny moment happened later that day when Paul and I snuck up to the completely empty "Teens Only" area (thus the reason for sneaking as we are clearly past teenage years, though compared to the rest of the passengers, we could pass for teenagers!) to lay in the hammocks up there for a little nap. I very gracefully sat on one and proceeded to do a complete 180 in it, effectively dumping me on my rear end on the floor! Paul wished he had the video camera rolling for it, but he was laughing too hard! He did make me stay on the ground until he could snap a quick photo to document my graceful moves!

Lastly, volunteering my brother and sister-in-law to participate in the Newly and Not So Newly Wed Game. Once up there we learned all kinds of things about them, including my brother's not so appropriate pet name for his wife. But the funniest part came when they had to announce in front of all their family where was the most unusual spot they had a little fun (if you know what I mean)! Poor Todd! Nothing like sharing it all with your mom and sisters in the audience!

All in all, a great vacation! I can't wait for the next one!

A Weekend of Firsts...

Now, nobody faint or anything--especially those of you who know me well and have heard me say many times that this is something I would never do--but I started the "weekend of firsts" off with a little homemaking session. I canned carrots that we grew in our garden!!! I know. Shock and amazement are written all over your face! For those of you not so familiar with my background, here is the long version. I am a California girl. My parents had the brilliant idea one summer to rent space at a farm to grow a garden. Ugh!!! I hated going there every Saturday to weed and take care of it! I hate ANY kind of yard work, especially weeding! So, I really had no desire to have a garden of my own someday. Needless to say, I am still not a great gardener! My kids and husband do most of the work! But, nevertheless, I did have a small part in growing and harvesting these carrots. As for canning....I always swore that I would never do anything so "molly" as canning food! Yuck! I grew up on fresh fruits and vegetables which makes me kind of a produce snob I guess because I really hate canned items. But the bigger reason behind never wanting to can is I'm basically a lazy person, and it just seems like so much work! Well, last week, a good friend of mine mentioned she needed to can her carrots. When I mentioned that Jordan had just pulled up a whole bowl full of carrots out of our garden, she invited me over to can with her. Now that is my idea of canning! Going to someone else's house, making a mess in their kitchen, using their equipment, being told exactly how to do it, and then leaving before the cans actually cool down! Wow! Canning for dummies (lazy ones to boot!) So, long story short, I did something I said I'd never do; they actually turned out; and I am very proud! =)

So the weekend continued with doing new things....A few of my friends invited me to join them at Witch's Night Out at Gardner Village. I've lived here for several years and have never gone. For those of you who don't know what it is or live nearby and haven't gone, it is basically a huge GNO around Halloween when every girl (all ages) dresses up like a witch and heads to Gardner Village for shopping, eating, dancing, and hanging out with all your friends. It was a ton of fun! Here is a shot of the craziness and a couple others of my friends and I in our finest witch's costumes! Great time, girls. Thanks for inviting me!

Family Photo Shoot

Here are some of our favorite shots from our weekend photo shoot with Paul's sister-in-law. She's really been developing her photography business lately, and we think she does a great job! We are really grateful to her for spending part of her vacation working with us! Anyone need a photographer.....? Let me know!

Fall is definitely here!

This past weekend for BYU's homecoming game we were looking forward to a visit from Paul's brother and his wife from California. We don't get to see them often enough, so we were looking forward to it. I've been wanting Alisha to do a family photo shoot for us, and we thought this would be the perfect opportunity! The weather has been fabulous, and there were plenty of fall leaves up the canyon for some great outside shots! Wouldn't you know it....just my luck....the one weekend they are here and able to do the family photo shoot....it is not only supposed to be freezing but possibly raining and snowing! Unbelieveably, the weather held long enough for us to get some great shots, but we froze our toes off while doing it! It was a rude awakening that fall is definitely here! A huge thanks to Matt and Alisha and their thin California blood for enduring the cold with us on not only one, but two separate occassions to get all of our pictures taken! I totally stole this proof from Alisha's blog to post as a little sneak peak of more to come! When I get the DVD full of pictures, I'll post some more! This was one of my favorite pictures of the boys!

A Witch Hunt

It was a mighty cold day for a witch hunt, but we persevered anyway!! Loralie and I decided a fun fall activity would be to head on down to Gardner Village to check out all the witches and other Halloween decorations. Great idea, minus the cold weather. But despite the chill, Eric and Carly had so much fun running from one witch to the next. They really got a kick out of all their costumes and funny poses, however, I think Eric was secretly a little scared of them because when I tried to get him to pose for a picture with one of them by himself, he was having none of that! He did get brave enough to pose with Carly by a few of the fabulous witches. The weather did make for a great excuse to end our outing with some hot chocolate and cookies! Yum!

Great Date Night!

So, as most of you know, Paul and I love to golf. Here is one of our recent outings.

We have been wanting to arrange a couple's golf tournament for our ward all summer. Paul wanted to play at The Bluff, a course he helped to design and build. He then worked there for the first half of our marriage. It's a great course! Well, he procrastinated a little getting it organized (don't know why with all he is dealing with at work, plus all his bishopric responsibilities!). Anyway, when he finally got to scheduling it, the only day available was on a Friday afternoon/evening. We started out with 28 players signed up. It dwindled down to about 16 a day before the event. An hour before leaving, we were down to 12. Two couples didn't show, so we took off with only 8 of us! Oh well. At least all of the main meal dishes were present! We had a light dinner in the clubhouse, and then we played the back nine at The Bluff. Only about 3 of the 8 had ever played more than a couple of rounds in their lives, but everyone did great, and we all had a fabulous time! We played a scramble, so no one had a chance to get too discouraged. My team even used 2 of my drives (over my husband's!!! Had to get that little bit of info in! It doesn't happen often!!)! A good time was had by all, and we hope to repeat it next year and have a better turnout!

The whole group after finishing up.

The amazingly awesome girl half of the group.

Oh,... and the boys.

Our awesome team! (We totally beat the other team!!! There was no unfair advantage, either, like maybe a PGA pro on our team...)

And...the runners up. Better luck next time, guys. Just kidding!! So glad you all came. It was a ton of fun!

Birthday Boy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, JUSTIN!

Can't believe he is another year older--mostly because that means I am also another year older! What a great kid! I just wanted to take a minute to tell everyone I have an awesome kid here. He helps out around the house; he babysits; he mows the lawn; he gets good grades; he's fun to be around; and best of all, he has a good heart! Love you kid!

So, here's a quick shot of Justin the night of his party. Only a couple of his friends ended up being able to come, but they had lots of fun. It was kind of a switch for me as I was gone that night, and Paul got to be in charge of the whole thing. Wow! Way to go, Dad.