Raining

It's been raining. I've been walking the dogs with an umbrella. Yesterday R went fishing after work, despite the drizzly weather. He caught two fish. 

This morning I went visiting teaching. Our message was about the Saviors role as Redeemer.

We shared this favorite scripture: 11 And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath^asent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls.

 12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the^arock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your ^bfoundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty ^cstorm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Tonight we are having chicken spaghetti for dinner. The kids have scouts/YW.

the weeks starts off well

Grace and her daddy last weekend

Monday is a pretty good day.  The start of a new week.  Jodie and I had a YW errand to do (we had to go to Costco to pick up the TREK poster for our building) so we made it a day and went to the movies first.  We saw Draft Day, which I liked. 

It's my carpool week so  we had to pick up the kids on the way home.  

It started raining yesterday around 3 30, and it's supposed to rain all week.  This is a bummer because we missed riding and soccer.  It was nice because we could go to Target all together for some things Hannah needed and then we had dinner at home and FHE before it was late. 

For FHE we talked about Prayer.

I love this from the Bible Dictionary on prayer:

As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are His children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.

After I cleaned the kitchen while R & G walked the dogs and E and H did homework.  

It was a movie kind of day for me, at night after we got Lu to bed we watched "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" which was cute.

gerbil update: Kristine died.  This was epically tragic and now we are searching for  replacement rodent.  

Sunday

I am a poor photographer.  I should have noticed the shadows on the girls faces.  Still their smiles are beautiful! 

We had a big meeting at church today to realign our ward boundaries. Our ward is now much smaller, and the Lexington Park ward grew.  Change is always hard.  We will miss worshiping weekly with many of our friends who are now in the other ward. We are growing though and I know this was down prayerfully and with much thought and consideration.

After church we had a belated Easter dinner at the Ray's. It was a lot of fun.  We always enjoy getting together with our little LG families and spending some time together.

Busy dad

After work today super dad was double booked, he had a daddy daughter dance to attend and a scout camp out.  It took a little juggling but it worked out.  He went to the camp site and set up his tent before coming home.  Then came home and got little miss.  I drove Ethan to meet the other scouts and they took off (in pouring rain) for their adventure.  Meanwhile Lu and her daddy danced and ate and had a wonderful time together!  We have amazing activity day leaders who go all out and they made it a special evening.

While they were all occupied Hannah and I went to Joann's, Marshalls and Panera.  We had a fun time together.  We met Gracie at the church when their evening was over and R took off to meet the boys.  E requested that he make his famous apple cobbler so they did that.  I haven't heard how everything is going but I think they'll have a good time.  It stopped raining and it's a bunch of boys out in the woods so how can THAT go wrong? :)

In other news today is Abba's birthday.  He is awesome, huge shout out!  We love our Abb's.  I knew R would grow up to be a great man when I met his dad.

Also other news Clayton graduated from BYU today!! Yay Clayton! We're really proud of him and his hard work.  They are moving to Niagra Falls NY this summer.  Jenna graduates this summer. Busy, exciting times!

Mid week

I decided to enjoy an island memory and make a Jamaican dinner. We had jerk chicken and rice and pineapple and bananas. It was very yummy!

Jodie and I walked the dogs today. Grace had chess. Ethan had scouts. For YW Hannah had an outdoor blindfolded obstacle course to enjoy.

Spring is in the air!

Grace finally got her much longed for gerbils. Living with a future vet is a messy affair:)  Welcome Kristine and Mercedes to the zoo.

Birthday lunch

My sweet friend Chrissy arranged a birthday lunch for Lisa and I. We met at Okada and had a wonderful time.

In other news: I've been doing laundry and there is much wondering about Sundays upcoming meeting regarding our ward boundaries.

cruise wrap up

Rob trying the wave rider

We are home, the car is unpacked, although the suitcases are not, and everyone is tucked into bed.  We are happy to be home.  Dorothy had it right, there really is no place like home.

We took a ton of pictures on our cruise, and all of them are so fun to look at but I chose just a few more to share.  The ship was amazing.  We loved all the activities available and the decor.  I loved our room.  Loved, loved the balcony and looking out at the stars and the water or watching the approach to an island destination or seeing something far away, like Miami or Cuba.  We liked this ship so much better than the Carnival one we went on 5 years ago.  We went to several shows and I really liked them all.  They had a movie theater on board and showed movies on deck.  There was ice skating, an ice show, a rock wall, a dance floor, shops and restaurants, a kids club, a spa, a work out room.  There was literally something going on at all times.

mini golf fun

One of the best parts was being there with Val and Ryan and Kelly and Alec.  You are a different person when you are with your siblings, more complete.  It was such a treat to hang out and have all the time in the world to talk and do fun things. We got along great and there wasn't a single moment of conflict or trouble.  If someone wanted to do something they said "I want to ______" and the rest of us said, Okay and off we went.

the show on the last night

I know this is silly but I loved the towel creations.  The food was pretty good. I found that, like our first cruise, we both thought the food was good.  Plenty of it.  We were not hungry but it was also not spectacular. The service was very good though and we had no complaints.

towel ninja

This cruise I felt the motion of the ocean a lot more than our first.  Interestingly the first time I had to take Dramamine so I wouldn't get sea sick. This time even though it rocked quite a bit I felt fine. Who knows why?

my talented BIL

We laughed every day.  Everyone was such good company.  We did some remember when-ing. Read some good books.

what our faces looked like a lot of the time

My least favorite excursion was Telum.  Now it was neat and I am glad we went.  It was historically amazing.  It was hot hot hot and from were were docked at Cozumel we had to travel pretty far for a fairly short visit.  I think it may have been Ryan's favorite stop though and I am definitely glad we did it.  By least favorite I mean it was an 8 out of 10 instead of a 10.

the temple in Telum

elephant

The ocean is so amazing in the Caribbean.  I love the color.  If I could buy a paint that was the exact shade of turquoise with living sparkly magic in it I would paint my whole house!  We all loved playing in it and looking at it.

On Grand Cayman we first swam with the dolphins then with the sting rays.  I was a little apprehensive about how the rays would be.  I didn't want to step on one and I definitely didn't want one harpooning me with it's stinger.  They were amazing though.  We throughly enjoyed holding them, feeding them squid and seeing them.  They were beautiful.  Rob got bit by one on accident but wasn't permanently injured.  The dolphins were my favorite excursion of the trip.

Look how big this girl is.  It was crazy!

me and Val

Rio Blanco

Another favorite was riding the horses in Jamaica.  We rode them way out in the surf and it was amazing.  They cantered and hopped through the waves and it was so much fun.  My horse was named Atlas.  He was a gentle boy.  Rob did really well on horse bak and enjoyed it.  That afternoon we went tubing on a gorgeous river.  It was cool under the trees and shady and the little "rapids" were lots of fun.  Jamaica was so poor.  We drove by tiny homes and saw goats and chickens wandering around. It was a beautiful place but I felt very grateful for what I have and very spoiled at the same time.  It seems unfair, the discrepancy.

Us in Haiti in front of the ship.  Our first stop.  We played in the water, looked at the fish.  Enjoyed every second of being there. I was so happy to spend the whole week with Rob.  We've been married almost 16 years now and this is the best time yet, not the cruise, this time in our lives.

I have to say, it was in every way the most wonderful, fun, relaxing vacation.  I would go again next week if I could :)

Easter

 We're home! The kids had a great time with the grandparents and UB.  We came home and they were full of the news of their week.  They went to the movies, went to a game center, went shopping, went to church, went out to eat and generally had a wonderful time.  The Easter Bunny found them and spoiled them and when we got home we had an easter egg hunt.  I missed those little buggers. It's good to be back :)

Favorite Activity

day at sea

 Today was a day at sea.  It was perfect weather.  We lay around and tried some of the on board sports.  It's been a lovely cruise.  I wish it could go on forever... and I'm ready to get back to my little chickies.

I'm excited to post more pictures and write down some more words but for now I'll just say it couldn't have been better.

Tulum, Mexico

Grand Cayman

 Another perfect day! We swam with the dolphins, so amazing! Swam with sting rays! Did some shopping.  Having a ton of fun!!

Jamaica

Haiti

day at sea

 We had a great first day!  We slept in, ate breakfast, sat by the pool, Val got burned, we ate lunch, we went to an ice show, sat in the hot tub and ate dinner and now we're going to another show.  It's been SOOO fun!! Love my sibs!