Monday, May 16, 2011

le cruise!

We had a spectacular time on our cruise. I am going to warn you now that there are a lot of pictures (and I only put a small fraction of them on here). Lucky for us Tyler (the husband half of the couple we went with) had an awesome camera and was will to be our own personal paparazzi...so needless to say we got some great pictures! Also these aren't in order of the week...but I did my best!

The main promenade on the boat. It was cool!
Ta Da!!!!
Mmmmm, where shall we go next?
Our boat....it was HUGE
The second formal night (which we dressed down for a bit). The sunset that night was so pretty.
Scott is holding the sun in his hand...."oh my!" I say...
Jenny and me. She was so fun to vacation with.
CocoCay, Bahamas: This island is owned by the Royal Caribbean. It was really pretty and I loved our day there.
I am not wearing a bikini...that is my knee.
Yipeeeee! We are on vacation!


St. Maarten: This island is half Dutch and half French. It was a really fun place to go. We went to the beach in the morning and the water was AMAZING!!! Then we explored a little. Finally we wanted to get over to the French side to explore, so we hopped on a local bus and went over. It was kind of like a run-down New Orleans. While there we realized we needed to get back to catch the boat, so we found another bus, jumped on and hoped we would make it. Well, as we got closer and closer the traffic came to a stand-still. We were about 2 miles from the dock and we were supposed to be back to the boat in about 30 minutes! We jumped out and ran through town to the dock. We made it with a few minutes to spare and had a great adventure.

Philipsburg; on the Dutch side of St. Maarten. It reminded me a lot of West Africa.
On the beach. This was sooooo beautiful.
The beach we swam at. So pretty and amazing water.
Marigot; the French side of St. Maarten. This was a really cool building.
Back on the boat: Scott climbing the rock wall. He came in second in the climbing competition - he was only 1 second behind the guy who won. Pretty impressive!
The first formal night. I sort of felt like I should have been the "mother of the bride."

St. Thomas: We rented a jeep for the day and drove all over the island. It is tricky driving there because they drive American cars (steering wheels on the left side of the vehicle), but then they drive on the left side of the road. It was really backward. Poor Scott, I don't think he enjoyed it as much as the rest of us because he had the stress of driving the whole day.

This is us at a lookout point we found and we could see our boat parked down in the harbor.

A snorkeling bay on St. Thomas...it was really windy that day and the waves were big, so I didn't even bother.
Karaoke Night...I think I was the only person on the boat that was totally stoked about it...
Scott on the Flow Rider...I like how he is showing a little leg!
Us and our friends the Ploegers during the final round of Progressive Trivia

Ice Skating - the boat had an ice skating rink; that was pretty awesome.

All in all, it was a fun week. I would totally go on a cruise again (although I don't know if Scott would....he wanted more time to explore the islands). It was a great trip. By the end of the week, though, I was ready to get back to real life. I missed my kids and I was tired of eating all the time! Happy tenth anniversary Scott - I love you more than anything in the whole world and I am so grateful that after ten years we still adore each other!!!! I love you!!!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

cinco de mayo...hooray!

I thought I would post some pictures from our fiesta that we had on Cinco de Mayo! It was lots and lots of FUN!!!

These are Palmiers. They are super duper yummy!
El Torro: Scott's Uncle Bob gave this to Lily at a family reunion in San Diego many years ago (June 2006). We decided it was time to use it finally!




The loot!
This is a funny picture....look very closely. Do you see anything strange about this scene? If you look in the background you will see we have an audience peering over the fence. It is the same thing every time we are doing something in our backyard; whether it be a backyard BBQ, a little game of catch, or breaking a pinata...

So here is the newest furniture addition to the house....a bunk bed!!!! The boys are beyond excited and Lily is beyond jealous! Davie has slept there the last two nights with Adam and it has gone remarkably well.

day 25 - a favorite photo...or a few

With four darling children it is hard to pick just one favorite photo. So here are a few that I love!

Lily, striking a pose at the tide pools in San Diego. I think it is so cute when she does this.
Adam's kindergarten picture...is that not the most awesome picture you have ever seen!?
Grace, being....well, Grace.
I just love this little guy. This picture is from last August and I think he is the cutest baby ever in it!

P.S. I am going to post pictures from our cruise eventually. The friends we went with still have them on their camera (we figured it would be easier to just lug around one camera and then share them...plus they have a really nice camera and our is sort of not that awesome). So hopefully by the end of the week...

Thursday, May 5, 2011

day 24 - my day in great detail

Okay, so I think this might be boring to anyone else, but here goes....

6:30 - Scott rolled over and kissed me then got out of bed to get Davie and go let the chickens out of the hen house. I guess you could say I woke up then...but not really
6:50 - Davie came and snuggled with me for a minute (truly a minute since he is usually very busy in the morning)
6:55 - Gracie came to snuggle...still not ready to open my eyes
7:03 (everyday) - Adam comes in to snuggle
7:05 - Adam asks when I am going to roll over and stop snuggling with Grace and start snuggling with him...ahhh my day has officially started!
7:10 - out of bed
get cereal for the kids who are awake
7:15 - stumble out to get the paper; hopefully there are no neighbors out to see me in all my morning splendor
7:16 - dish up some oatmeal that Scott made (he is a good man), gawk at the ridiculousness of the Deseret Morning Paper and wonder when they will start putting news on the front page rather than fluff (clearly another post for another day)
7:30 - call for Lily to wake up
7:35 - Lily wanders up; gives me a hug like always (she is so sweet). I get up to dish her up some cereal (yes, she is capable herself, but then we get a lot cereal that goes to waste)
7:40 - hold Davie for a minute; he is a bit whiny this morning for some reason.
Break up an argument between Grace and Adam
7:45 - Family prayer. Give Scott as many kisses as I can to make him stay a minute longer (I know, I am totally pathetic)
8:00 - initiate getting the kids dressed; inform them that they can wear shorts. I go and put my gym clothes on...shorts vs. capris? Capris seem to always win.
8:10 - chase Davie trying get him dressed; I finally catch him!
Help Grace focus on getting clothes on
8:15 - do Lily's hair; feeling lazy so I don't curl it today so up in a ponytail it goes. She was delighted; that is her favorite hairdo - clearly she is not my clone. Spike Adam's hair
8:25 - make Lily's lunch
dump the garbage
8:30 - inform everyone to get shoes on, teeth brushed, and backpacks packed.
help Davie with his shoes while he chants to word, "GYM, GYM, GYM" - apparently he is happy to be going to the gym today.
8:35 - tell the kids start watching for their ride
8:40 - load David and Grace in van
wait outside with Lily and Adam for their ride
8:45 - ride comes
we leave for the gym
8:50 - get to the gym, check the kids into the playroom.
run to Power Pump class
8:56-ish - get to class
chat with Heather and Masiel a bit while I finish setting up some weights (Heather is so nice, she usually has most of my weights ready to go for me when I get there....and she is 7 months pregnant)
9:00 - class starts - OUCH!
9:58 - give up on the last of the military presses; start putting equipment away
10:00 - quick stretches
10:10 - pick up kids, load up and go home
10:15 - home; get pretzels for Grace and string cheese for Davie.
put Dora on so I can shower in peace
10:25 - shower, get dressed, put on makeup, blow dry and curl hair
10:40 - evaluate outfit....hmmmmm, good enough
10:50 - get a call from Carolyn; she is already at the school and will bring home the kindergartners.
11:00 - put on some tunes, totally lip-synced to Giselle from "Enchanted" and had Davie dancing with me.
cleaned up breakfast dishes
11:30 - copy new recipe into book
11:35 - sweep
11:45 - Adam comes home
talk about his day - apparently some kids kicked him the you-know-where. He cried.
11:50 - made lunch; ham sandwiches and carrot sticks for the kids
11:55 - while kids eat; clean up, refill rice container, try calling Scott...no answer
12:00 - find a PBSkids.org game for Adam
12:05 - put Davie down for a little nap
prepare my lunch; leftover spaghetti....I really dislike leftovers....
12:10 - sit down to eat lunch
Scott called me back - we chat for a second
finish reading the paper all the while shaking my head at the idiocy of people. For example...remember the boy who was dragged out of his tent by a bear and killed a couple years ago. It was a tragedy and now the family has been awarded something like $1.4 million in a lawsuit against parks systems. On top of it they on a tirade that there should be better warnings about bears in the woods. Seriously?! Here's a newsflash; bears live in the woods! It was a tragic accident; move on and stop blaming the world for something that is no one's fault. Okay....clearly I need to stop reading the paper!
12:25 - clean up lunch dishes.
tidy up around the house
12:55 - load up kids in van, wake up Davie and load him up as well
1:00 - drop Gracie and Davie off at Natalie's so that I can take the two big kids to the dentist. They LOVE her house and happily go in to play
1:15 - pick Lily up at school
1:30 - get to the dentist and check in
1:45 - get called back, run into a woman who used to live in our ward; we chat for a while. Small world.
sit and watch the kids get their teeth cleaned, and then examined by the dentist. He informs me that they have perfect teeth and that they are good brushers. Yeah!!!! Adam's six-year molars have come in, so we set up an appointment for sealants to get put on in a month
2:50 - finished at the dentist.
Run to Natalie's to pick up the kids; Davie pooped once while there and then pooped again - Natalie didn't have another diaper, so he stinks. None the less, I still can't resist visiting for a minute - some people are just easy to talk to.
3:07 - Rush back to the school to get Lily's backpack and homework (I didn't think the dentist would take that long)
3:15 - get there right as the bell rings. Tell Lily to run in a meet us in the back of the school.
Drive around back and park.
Change Davie's diaper (I keep an extra diaper in the car)
3:20 - Lily gets to the car.
We decide to celebrate Cinco de Mayo today.
We head to the grocery store to get a few things for the up-coming festivities.
4:15 - get home.
Call Scott to see what his schedule is
4:20 - put groceries away.
Start making preparations for the party
4:30 - get puff pastry out to thaw so that I can make Palmiers (a Mexican pastry we used to buy when we went to Rocky Point)
4:45 - sit down for a minute to catch my breath.
tried to read from my latest novel....no use....as long as someone is awake then someone will always need me.
4:55 - Davie has a major melt-down over who knows what. I hold him. Then we walk around a bit
5:05 - Get Davie settled in the basement with the girls
5:10 - cut open the top of the pinata that we have had for five years now. It is about time we use it. Adam helps me stuff it with candy - he so excited! Candy is his favorite food...
5:15 - realize Lily has a softball game in 15 minutes and help her quickly get her clothes on. Wonder where Scott is....he said he would be home by now and it would be nice if he could take her.
5:25 - call Scott. He is close. I tell him that Lily will be waiting for him. He agrees to take her
5:30-is - I go out to wait with Lily, Davie joins me (of course). I see my neighbor, Wendy, and head over to chat (yes, I know, I chat with lots of people....I like people)
Scott pulls up and Lily jumps in the car. The timer goes off....my pastries are half done.
I ask Wendy to keep an eye on Davie while I go and take care of them
5:35 - I am back outside. Wendy and I visit for a while and walk down to the Taylor's house (another neighbor) to check out the new playground equipment being installed in their backyard. Our boys are drooling - they can't wait to go and play there!
6:05 - back inside. Start dinner (we don't normally eat this late, but with the softball game we put dinner off until later)
6:35 - sit down to eat our Mexican feast!
7:05 - go outside to break the pinata - my kids were in HEAVEN!!!!
7:30 - bath/shower time (all an hour behind due to the game)
7:45 - get on jammies, brush teeth and hair.
Family prayer
8:00 - Grace and Davie in bed.
Adam works on homework with Scott.
Lily finishes her homework.
I clean the kitchen
8:20 - Adam finishes homework
Scott is wiped out on the floor; I think he fell asleep for a minute.
Lily kindly tucks Adam into bed.
8:25 - I sit down to attempt reading. I get about chapter in before I realize there are still dishes that need to be washed. I can't sit still until I know they are done.
8:35 - wash last few dishes which end up being a lot of dishes
8:50 - call for Scott to come and dry them so that I have room to put more down
9:05 - wipe table and contemplate the floors - they really need to be swept again....
9:30 - sit down to type this post...it is taking forever.
10:13 - decide it is long enough...time to go sweep the floor and then fall into my bed!

Somewhere in there I got the mail, ironed a couple shirts, sorted some laundry, made beds, searched the Internet for family reunion shirts, read to Davie, brushed my teeth, and went to the bathroom....although I am not sure where!

Whoever said that being a mother isn't like having a real job is dumb...they obviously haven't walked a day in my shoes. I am tired but I don't think I would choose to be anything else! Happy Mother's Day this Sunday to all the hard-working mothers I know who's days aren't much different than the one I just described.

Monday, May 2, 2011

we're back!

Just a little sneak peek....I will put a full update of our cruise when I have a little more time. Right now I am off to do more laundry and finish unpacking!!!!