Catch up!

Okay, I'm just going to post things all in one to get caught up a bit.

Hallowee

My little butterfly and Tinkerbell!

Tea Party

Heather invited me and the girls to a tea party and they had so much fun dressing up.

Birthday Party

Pyper's, Bryant's, and Jorgen's birthdays are all around Thanksgiving and within a few days of eachother so we always celebrate together. Pyper had a Tinkerbell cake again this year of course, and Bryant and Jorgen had just gone dirt biking the day before so they got a dirt bike cake.

Preschool Thanksgiving Pow Wow

Here she is in her Indian outfit and drum she made. They had a mini Thanksgiving feast and sang several songs for the parents.

Caribbean Cruise

Okay, okay, I know I'm a little behind. I've been waiting for my cruise pics to be ready, but that may take a while. I forgot to take my camera charger and wouldn't you know it, my battery died and I couldn't find the right size anywhere. So we took most pics with a 35mm camera. I need to scan them all in once I develop them. Anyhow, my sister took some so I going to steal her pics for now and post some more later.

We flew into Miami at around 11:00 pm. It took all day to fly; we had two transfers and two different airlines. My sister, her husband, my mom, and a friend all went on the cruise with us, although we flew separately because we all booked at different times.

Day 1--Sail From Miami

We spent most of the day checking in, getting settled in our rooms and exploring the ship. The ship is so big, I still got lost even on the last day there. We had to take maps with us everywhere, and even then, it didn't help that much.

On deck there were several pools and hot tubs, a water slide, big screen TV, track, a few bars and eating places including: buffets, chinese, 24 hr pizzaria, etc.

Inside the ship there were several more eating places, a casino, a gym, a library, several entertainment areas like karaoke, piano sing along, bands with dancing, grand theatre, etc.

They also provided entertainment throughout the trip like the game-show Jessica was in and won a Ship-on-a-Stick.

Day 2--Day at Sea

The next day was a day at sea and also the first formal night, which just meant we were supposed to dress up nice for dinner and they had photograpers there if you wanted pics. Some people wore tuxedos and stuff. The restaurant was great. We ate there pretty much every night. They had a different menu every night, but there were some things you could order all the time. Our favorite was the Chocolate Melting Cake which we still crave. OOY GOOY GOODNESS!! Suffice to say we stuffed ourselves the whole trip. Why not when it's offered all the time and free!

The people who cleaned our rooms always made litte animal people with our towels. We had a different animal every day and they cleaned our rooms twice a day.

Day 3--Ochos Rios, Jamaica

Bryant and I didn't have anything booked for Jamaica, but we heard the falls were the place to go so when we got off the ship we just hopped on a boat that was taking people over there. We didn't know that the hike was actually in the water going up the falls. We figured we'd get wet, but not actually swimming. It was way fun though. Everyone was supposed to hold hands and make sure noone fell. The guides were so much fun making us hoop, holler, and cheer the whole time. I only have one pic because Jessica already had a tour booked, but just happened to see us when they were coming down.

We didn't do much shopping because, as soon as we went crossed the gate to go to the town, we were bombarded with Jamaicans wanting to sell us stuff. It was worse than Tiajuana. There was one guy wanting to sell pot to us and another guy said some suggestive things to me. So we got back on the ship.

Day 4--Grand Caymen Islands

Grand Caymen was awsome! So pretty! The only thing we booked before we left was a boat trip to Sting Ray City. Stingraycitytrips.com. The boat took us snorkeling to two places and then to Sting Ray City. It's just like a little plateau under the water where the sting rays seem to gather. I'm sure they do something to make them stay there, but I'm not sure what because it's not really by the shore at all. It's out in the middle of the water. Anyway, the stingrays were swimming all around us and it was kindof scary. I would scream when one would come swim up against me. The guide had us hold one, kiss it, then get a back massage from it.

Day 5--Day at Sea

The next day was another day at sea and another formal night. We went and watched some karaoke, did some more dancing, and took some nice pics.

Day 6--Cozumel, Mexico

The last stop we made was in Cozumel and Bryant's company has buggies in a tour company there, so we figured we deliver some stuff for the buggies and write part of the trip off for taxes. We didn't plan anything because we didn't know what was going to happen, we just knew we were meeting one of the owners. We did some shopping and then met the guy who drove us to the tour place. I just have to say, it was awesome, awsome, awesome!! They treated us like royalty. First they gave us a tour of the place where they do the buggy and 4-wheel tours. Then we did the buggy tour with another couple. Oh it was so much fun! It had been raining so the ground was covered in puddles and it was really bumpy; we were drenched in mud! We drove through the jungle to a sinote. This used to be an underground cave with water in it, and it had fallen in to make a sortof doughnut water hole. There were bats everywhere! They had it cleaned so we could swim in it. We swam with the bats!! It was kind of scary but so much fun. Then we rode the buggies to some more caves and learned some history of the Mayans. When we were done with the tour they drove us to their snorkeling beach place. I guess they have a tour where you can ride the 4-wheelers and go snorkeling. The fed us and took us back to the ship. Wow wow! Riding the buggy was definitely my favorite thing of the trip. When I get my pics back I'll post some of the sinote. It was awesome! Wild-tours.com

Day 7--Say Goodbye

The last day we got back to Miami. We actually did spend a little time there this time, but we were too pooped to do too much. We were definitely ready to come back home.

Kokopelli

I'm so grateful that my dad is willing to do these races with me. If not, I would end up doing a lot of them by myself. This race we flopped what we'd signed up for. I did the sprint, while he did the olympic. It was his first olympic race, and he is amazing for doing it! I'm so proud of him.

We actually had good weather this time so none of the race got cancelled. While we were there we spent some of the time at the lake and played. Bryant found himself a new snorkel mask under the water. He tried to find an owner, but no luck. Actually it is lucky because we were thinking of getting him one anyways to take on the cruise. The girls loved it. I think the best, cheapest activity for the kids is at the lake. They could play all day and not get bored.

Share a Smile Tri

Here's just a few pics from the Shareasmile Tri at the Scera. Heather did this with me. It was her first triathlon! Yay Heather!!

Grandpa's Birthday

We went down to Arizona at the end of August to surprise my dad for his 60th birthday. My parents were just getting home from Hawaii and were staying with my sister so they would be in town. My mom had to end up telling my dad, however, that we were there because he didn't see why they wouldn't go home to Yuma the next day. So he knew we were there, but I still think it was pretty much a surprise anyway. We went to Marc and Natalie's to hang out and set up for the party till my parents and Jessica got there. The kids loved decorating and coloring posters! It was almost like a birthday party for all of us, because my parents had a big bag of goodies that they brought from Hawaii.

While we were there we did the slip-n-slide, went to Old Tucson, went to Big Surf, and went to a Sun Devil's game. We were going going going! We had lots of fun and Pyper especially liked playing with her cousins.

6 Things About Me

My cousin Amy tagged me to post 6 random things about myself. So here goes...... The first 3 are things that most of you probably already know. The next 3 are things some people may know, but might not.

1. My sweet husband and my wonderful girls. I just had to put something about my family. I love them so much. My husband is soooo good to me, I don't deserve him. My girls can be little rascals sometimes, but are so sweet most of the time. My mother told me several times when we were growing up that she wished I could have two girls of my own so I could see what she went through. (My sister and I would fight every now and then, okay..., alot.) The girls sometimes fight, but they have a way, though, of making me go from steaming mad to giggly in no time.
2. I am a swimmer. Surprise, surprise. I have been on swim teams since I was 4, and when I got older, I taught and coached it. Now I still love swimming and have started triathlons just so I could keep competing in it.
3. I love crafty things. I scrapbook, sew, make jewelry, make hair bows, make home decor, and anything else I get the urge to do. Recently my sister got me to sell premade scrapbooks on ebay. I don't work on it very often, but it does put some money in my paypal to shop with.
4. I competed in synchronize swimming for like 9 years. I mentioned that I was a swimmer, but they don't really have synchro here in Utah so some wouldn't guess it. They had it at BYU for a little while, but it didn't last, and I tried to start it up at the fitness center, but it didn't seem like there was enough interest in it to keep it. If they had it here, my girls would be in it for sure.
5. Lots of you probably know that I was on the country western dance team at UVSC for a few years, but did you know that I was also on their racquetball team for a year? Just before I got pregnant with Pyper they started a women's team. I saw the flyer so I went to the meeting and joined. My dad has been a major racquetball player for years and years and he had taught me a little bit so I thought it might be fun and it really was. Of course, I couldn't play and be pregnant, (although, I was pregnant at the state championships,) so I was done after a year.
6. I miss Arizona. I lived in Mesa till I was 12 and I hated Utah for years and years after we moved. Utah has grown on me now, but I still hate the cold. Now the rest of my family has moved back down there and I'm still here. I was telling my sister-in-law that it's too hot down there and that I didn't know if I could live there, but she mentioned that in Utah the kids can go outside to play whenever they want like 3-4 months out of the year, but down there, there's only like 3 months when they can't play outside, cause it's too hot. The rest of the year they can go out whenever. I like it here, but if there was any where else I'd like to live it would be there.

So, there you have it. Six things about me.

Now I'm tagging, (DON'T HATE ME PLEASE,) Jessica (whom I totally get along with now that we're older), Heather, Jen Ford, Rachel, Linsey, and Kelli.

The rules:1.Link the person who tagged you.2.Post the rules on your blog.3.Write 6 random things about yourself.4.Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.5.Let the person know you tagged them on their blog6.Let the tagger know when you've posted.

Tiffany!

I have been hounding Tiffany to come visit me the next time she was in town so we decided to take the kids swimming when she came this last week. We both forgot to take pics while we were at the pool so we took some right before she left. It was lots of fun to see and catch up with her and Kaden again.

MY GARDEN

So I got started early on the garden band wagon this year. Last year I was discouraged due to the Japanese Beetle thing, but this year we were told we could harvest even with the spray, we just had to wait a certain number of days after the spray to harvest certain foods.

When my parents lived in this house my dad had put railroad ties around the west edge of the house for the garden. It makes it nice and organized and easy to reach everything.

This year we are growing corn, beans, peas, peppers, squash, zuchini, honeydew, cantaloupe, tomatoes, pumpkins, watermelon, cucumbers, and we even have one artichoke plant, (it doesn't have anything on it yet, so we'll see.)

I admit I don't take care of it as much as I probably should, but it still does pretty well.