Cruise, Birthday, and Christmas!

WARNING: This Blog contains a lot of pictures. So much to cover over the last couple of weeks.

We went on a cruise with my Mom, my sister's family and my brother's family. It was 5 day cruise to California and Mexico-and it was a blast. So many memories were made and it was great to spend time with all of my family. Unfortunately it did rain most of the time but we didn't let that get in the way-plus it was warmer than Logan! If you ask Bailey what her favorite part of the cruise was, she would say the food (among other things). She loved that she could eat whatever she wanted whenever she wanted and as much as she wanted. Great for a growing girl (that girl grows quicker than a weed!). Erin loved being with her cousins, being crazy, and having everyone's attention. She is a nut. My niece got some great pictures of Erin on her camera so I'll post psycho Erin soon.

Our first stop was to Santa Barbara, CA where we walked through the rain (notice Dave's wet clothes) to the Ty Warner Sea Center. It was a small aquarium but it had a lot of interactive activites which were great. Here is Bailey petting a shark while my brother holds it.

Erin LOVED playing with the sea stars, sea urchins, and other creatures in the tank. She stood here playing for over a half an hour. She didn't really care about anything else at the aquarium.

Our next stop was Ensenada, Mexico where we took a bus tour to a Blowhole (la Bufadora) which was neat to see the natural water geyser.

Londa and I

The best part of Ensenada was the flea market type shopping we got to do. Bargaining for items was great fun and we got some really great souvenirs. Definitely a different lifestyle than what we are used to.

Formal night on the boat. It was great to get in our really dressy clothes and enjoy yet another yummy dinner!

The girls spent a lot of time on the boat at Kid's Club where they had activities all day for the kids to do. It was great to be able to drop them off so we could go to shows, etc. and they could have fun as well. One evening at kid's club the leaders took all the kids to the adult dance level before it opened and let them have a disco night. When we were ready to go pick them up we watched for a few minutes-it was great to see them movin' and a goovin'.

One morning we got breakfast in bed. Granted it wasn't as good as going to the unlimited buffet for breakfast, but when else can we get breakfast in bed for free (besides tip)? Bailey thought it was great fun. Josh and Erin were sharing a room so I didn't get a picture of their breakfast in bed.

One of the few times we could do out on deck because of the rain. We went out while the boat was passing by some islands near Mexico. On this island there is a little fishing village where 15 men live there all year and 30 families live there during the fishing season. After we passed the island a little fishing boat came out to us asking us for help. There was someone critically ill on the island and they couldn't fly her out because of the weather. So we turned around took the person on board. Then we started heading back to Mexico instead of L.A. to get the lady help. We were going so fast and the boat was rocking a LOT (thank goodness for motion sickness meds!). Thankfully the lady stabilized and we could slow down and just take her with us to L.A. It felt great to be able to lend a hand to this remote village.

Christine, Josh, Ray, and Londa

Our last evening...we didn't want to see any of the shows that evening so we played some fun group games. It was a lof fun to be together.

Bailey is 8!!! My girl is getting so big. She wanted to get her ears pierced for her birthday so we had a girls day. Bailey, Erin and I went and got manicures, then met Josh for lunch and then got Bailey's ears pierced. She was a little nervous and 2 tears ran down her checks after but she loves them and looks so big!

Happy Birthday to the both of us! I made a palm tree/flip flop/beach cake remembering our cruise.

Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful Christmas. Erin asked Santa for a Pillow pet, which she LOVES, and Bailey asked for a watch. The holidays are so much fun. Below is a pic of Bailey filling out her All About Me book. Josh had one of these that he filled out years ago that Bailey loves looking at. We got her one exactly like it and she has been having fun filling it out like Josh did when he was her age.

It's has been forever...

But we have been SUPER busy. As you know we moved about 2 months ago and have been fixing up the new house. Things have been really chaotic (and similar to a construction zone) but at least things are starting to come together a bit and even though it has been insane everything is looking great. I don't have pics yet, I want to get a little bit more done before I do the after pics, but watch for the before/after pictures soon! We are enjoying our new neighborhood/ward, everyone we have met is really nice. The girls have adjusted really well to their new school and neighborhood too (they especially love riding the bus).

So, I thought I'd go back and catch up a little bit of what has been going on (besides house stuff which pretty much has consumed our lives). Let's go back to the fall.....

Bailey and Erin's school picture day. Don't they look so cute? They are both growing up so fast, it amazes me everyday the things they do/say. They are the best of friends which is great, I love watching them play together.

Before we moved we did our annual gingerbread house for Halloween. Josh thought I was crazy making sure we did it since we had so much going on, but it wouldn't be Halloween without our gingerbread house. It was great this year because the girls are old enough that they can do it pretty much on their own now. Erin did the front, Bailey the back, and Josh and I each took a side.

Thankfully this year for Halloween the girls didn't have any crazy costume ideas like in the past since I needed something simple this year. Bailey was a darling witch and Erin was a pirate (sounds like her, doesn't it?). We did a little trick-or-treating around our new house, but then went trick-or-treating in our old neighborhood with our good friends the Crockers. We had a TON of trick-or-treaters come to our house, it was insane. The girls say the best part of Halloween is handing out the candy so they were happy to oblige so many kids.

Everyone (including Josh) thought we were crazy but we had Thanksgiving dinner at our house with my Mom and my sister's family. We had enough of the dining/kitchen done to make it work, and it was great. It was a wonderful day with family.

Mason, Bailey, Cassie and Erin

Ray, Londa, Mom, Ky (who just got his mission call to Russia), Cavin, Marissa, Me, and Josh

The last part of November we had a blizzard hit Logan. It was crazy, they cancelled part of school and closed down the county early so people could get home before the storm hit. Thankfully we were all home before it came because for about 6 hours it was insane outside. We got about a foot of snow and the wind was sure blowing. We live up on the benches now so I was glad to be home safe and warm. These pictures I took about an hour before the blizzard. The girls love our new big yard and they built 2 big snowmen and below they are working on Erin's "snow camel". When she told me she was making a snow camel I cracked up. The best part is, after the blizzard it turned into a dinosaur! :)

Bailey lost her two front teeth about a week apart-she can officially sing: "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" now! She was excited to have them come out and she looks so cute with the holes in her mouth. She turns 8 years old next week and she is excited for her baptism coming up and getting her ears pierced.

Well, there is a bit of things going on. I'll keep up better on my posts now that things are settling down a bit. Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

We still exist!

Yes we still exist. Life has been crazy. Our house sold and we are moving--this weekend is the plan assuming all the paperwork gets worked out in time. I'm ready to not be living out of boxes and be settled in our new place. Although change is hard and we will miss our neighbors.

More to come soon of our new house! We are doing a TON of work on it (new flooring, new countertops, paint, sink/faucet, etc. etc. etc.) So I will post pictures soon!!

First day of School

Summer Vacation is over, they girls started school already this year. Bailey started 2nd grade and Erin started Kindergarten (When did my girls get so big?). They are both LOVING school. Here are the pictures I took of them on their first day of school. I had to include the goofy one of Erin. I told her to say: "I'm going to Kindergarten!" and of course she had to do a little dance as well. :)

This past weekend my sister and her family came up for an evening of fun. We left all the kids at home with some pizza while we went to dinner. Afterward we all went to the Demolition Derby-such a blast.

It was a fun filled evening full of fires, crashes, disqualifications, cookies, odd people, and good company.

Camping and Erin's Birthday!

My Little Girl is 5!! Crazy how time flies, doesn't seem that long ago that Erin blessed our family and now she is 5 years old. We had a lot of fun for her birthday: a friend party, went to IHOP for lunch (her choice), and then went camping. She is such a happy, energetic, lovable girl-we love her so much!

She picked out horses for her cake decor this year, and I think I did a pretty good job depicting water, field, mud, etc. If you are wondering what the chocolate chips stand for...well, they are the 'mud pies' that horses leave laying around. :) The girls got a kick out of that part.
For Erin's birthday party with her friends we had a water party; with pool, sprinklers, slip n' slide, bubbles, etc. It was a fun time for all, but it was hot! We did it the day before since we were heading out camping on her actual birthday day.

My wonderful girls! Bailey was super excited about Erin's birthday, such a great sister.

The official birthday! I know, she has great hair. :)

We left for camping in the afternoon and had a beautiful campsite right by the river. There was a little path right down to it with a wonderful shallow area for playing in. We spent a lot of time throwing rocks in the river that weekend.

Our really good friends, the Jasper's, came camping with us for the first night. This picture was taken right before a downpour of rain hit us for 45 minutes. It's a little crazy that we don't get ANY rain for 2 months and then the time we really don't want it to rain it does. Oh well, we took cover and thankfully it stopped so we could do Erin's special dutch over birthday cake.

Since you can't put frosting on a dutch oven Pineapple Upsidedown Cake, she wanted gummi worms on it. She had fun putting most of the bag on top of her cake.

Best picture!!

The girls spent a lot of time gathering sticks and wood, and the 3 girls found an area back in the bushes that they called their "hideout club."

Camping wouldn't be camping without mud I suppose--nice feet, huh?

The next day we went to feed the ducks and then on a hike, it was a beautiful day for both.

Ths is after the hike, before we headed back to our campsite. Josh is laying down on the other side of the table and if you look closely you can see Erin and him holding hands-love this picture.

We played a TON of cards as well, it was fun teaching the girls some new games--older games not kid games (added bonus).

There were a ton of mice by our campsite which at first freaked the girls out a bit, but then they would watch for them to come out. We put a piece of twizzlers by a bush and this mouse came out a few minutes later and had a feast! The girls found holes in the ground that they decided were mouse holes (probably not) so they filled them with rocks.

The last night, both girls were pretty tired. Erin was getting pretty comfy by the fire-Bedtime!

It was a fun weekend to say the least. Looking forward to even longer camping trips next summer!

Busy Month of July

Doing Sparkler's....

Waiting for fireworks....

Lewiston Parade...

Erin loved playing with the wet sand and throwing it on herself...

Bailey collected a bucket full of seashells

Well, it has been a super busy month. After we got back from Chicago we did a lot of 4th of July activities-city fireworks, BBQ with neighbors, fireworks with the neighbors, parade, etc. Great times, and since July 4th was on a Sunday, our celebrations were from Friday-Monday.

Then July 6th-9th I went to Girl's Camp with our young women. I thought I was off the hook for being one of the camp directors again this year since I did it last year but boy was I wrong! :) It was an amazing week to spend with the young women of my ward and some of their leaders. Girl's Camp planning has been consuming a lot of my life the past couple months though, so it was a relief to get it over with too!

For July 24th (Pioneer Day) we went to Bear Lake with our good friends, the Jasper's. It was a great day to go, a bit crowded but we still had our own little spot on the beach to play on. We packed a picnic dinner and spent several hours being beach bums and enjoying the water and sun. And of course on our way out of town we had to stop for Bear Lake's Famous shakes. The girls had a blast digging for seashells and playing in the water. We had a little hiccup coming home though because we needed gas before we left town-and who would have thought that getting gas would be troublesome? Well, there are only 2 gas stations in town and we went to the one that was out of town a little bit to avoid all the boats, etc. at the main gas station. Well, the pump wouldn't work and then all gas was turned off for the whole station! Argh, we waited there for 20 minutes with still no gas, so back into town we went to juggle with everyone else. We might have had enough gas to get home since the you coast most of the canyon home, but we didn't want to risk it.

And last, but not least our house is for SALE!! Crazy, I know. It still feels weird to have a sign in our yard. We have debated about it for quite some time but it never felt completely right. Well, when we got back from Chicago it suddenly felt right and we knew it was time for us to move on. We love our ward and our neighborhood, but it is exciting to think about a new place. We will stay in Cache Valley, but looking for a bigger yard, bigger house, etc. I was worried how the girls would take the news, but they are both really excited about the idea, and to me that is a huge sign in itself. Bailey especially has a really hard time with change (she cried for 2 hours when we got rid of our old couches a couple years ago) but she is wanting to be involved with every step of the moving/buying/selling process. Such a relief to have the girls wanting this change too. Now hopefully we won't have our house for sale forever.