Good Friends Coming to Celebrate!

One of the surprises that the kids received this Christmas was word that their best friends, Jackson and Mara, (and their parents, Kari & Mike) are coming from Spokane to spend New Year's Eve until January 5. Cole and Morgan are SO excited, and that is an understatement. Since we left Spokane, these 4 kids have continued a wonderful friendship over the miles. We are honored to have them celebrate the New Year with our family!

Merry Christmas

We had a great evening with our neighbors last night. We all went to church at 11PM and got home just before 1AM. The kids were exhausted and fell asleep quickly, but were bright eyed and bushy-tailed after a full 6 hours of sleep! They were excited to see new bikes for both of them sitting by the fireplace. Unfortunately, it is snowing like crazy and the wind is blowing about 40 miles per hour here today (feels like the Hi-Line, Montana), so no bike riding for now. Cole is busy putting together his Star Wars Lego sets and Morgan is busy changing the clothes of her new American Girl Doll. They squealed with delight last evening when they learned that their best friends, Mara & Jackson, and their parents, Kari & Mike, are flying in from Spokane on New Year's Eve!!! What a great Chrismtas surprise. We are just relaxing, enjoying having Grandma here to see how much fun they are having with their new toys, and feeling grateful for all our blessings. Hope you are having a wonderful day, too!

Happy Christmas Eve!

We do have some snow here in Utah and are expecting more, but our family and friends in Washington and Idaho are enjoying record breaking snow totals this year. Guess they were due for a very white Chrismtas. Pictures above are of the kids making a gingerbread house with Grandma Jackie and of Morgan in the snow. They are so excited today, it's hard to keep them entertained. We were playing charades at 9:30 this morning and now we're off to the library before it closes for the afternoon. We will be joining our neighbors for a late dinner and 11PM church services tonight. Hope we are in bed before Santa comes!! We hope you and your families have a wonderful Christmas!

Roatan, Honduras & Last Formal Night

It was pretty windy and "cold" (not cold, but not very Caribbean-like) the day we were in port at Roatan. So, we took a cab and went around the island and stopped at a beach. Morgan played with a little toddler from our ship... while sand fleas feasted on her back. Rich & Cole snorkeled. We headed back to the ship for our last formal night... and more food!

Belize

Cave tubing in Mayan caves, Cole & Rich jumping into the warm Belize River, a bridge in Belize City with some locals, and Morgan getting her hair braided.

Our Vaqueros in Cozumel

These were taken just after Morgan got lost in Cozumel. She wandered off, without us noticing, to look at balloon animals being made nearby the shop we were at, then she couldn't find us... it was scary for a few minutes, but the security took good care of her for those 3 minutes or so that seemed like 100.

Cozumel at Paradise Beach

The tree looks out of place with no snow!! Picture with our ship in the background; kids playing on Paradise Beach with friends, Jonathan and Melanie (Toronto, Canada), from the ship; and the amazing water trampoline and climbing wall that wore us all out!

More of the Caymans

The guy with the conch was our guide on this boat. He found the conch, killed it, and then gave us raw samples. Yum. The kids were wore out after their adventure... Morgan is sleeping on my lap, Cole is just enjoying his boat ride, and I don't know who the guy in the picture was? :)

**As a side note, it is snowing like crazy here in Sandy today. I just got in from snowblowing, and will have to go out again before Rich gets home. We are going to watch the Montana Grizzlies in the National Championship tonight! Go Griz!!!

Grand Cayman- snorkeling and Stingray City

Off the Love Boat and Back to Snow

We had a fantastic time on our cruise last week. It was hard to come back from warm temperatures to snow and cold! It does, however, look like Christmas here. We saw Christmas trees and Christmas decor all over in Grand Cayman and Cozumel... seems out of place with sand and sun.

The first night of our cruise started with the kids eating more than I ever thought they could at dinner. There was no shortage of food during the week. Then, Rich displayed his "never-ending love" for me by going onstage in a Speedo, suspenders, and a bow tie. They brought me onstage, too, and I watched as the kids died of embarassment in the second row. They were good sports though, and got a medal for putting up with their Dad's embarassing behavior! :) Hey, you only live once! The show was played OVER and OVER on the television throughout the cruise. I think everyone on the ship made a comment to Rich during the week-- they loved his incredible dance performance!

Our first port was Grand Cayman. Rich and I honeymooned there 13 1/2 years ago. It has changed somewhat, but is still so beautiful. We headed out to the barrier reef for snorkeling, then to Stingray City. The water was very choppy, so the snorkeling was pretty rough. Morgan freaked out a little at the barrier reef, and wasn't too thrilled about the stingrays either. Cole spent a little more time in the water. Rich and I both smooched a stingray. They are really incredible creatures.

Our next port was probably the kids' favorite. We went to Paradise Beach in Cozumel. It was a day of playing in the sand, and on the water trampolines and water climbing wall. The kids met up with some of their friends from Camp Carnival and they played all day together. I don't know who slept better that night, us or the kids. Playing is hard work!!!

Next, we were in beautiful Belize. We took a bus ride out to the mountains of Belize where we went tubing through the limestone caves in which the Mayans used to perform healing rituals. We wore head lamps, as the giant caves were very dark inside, and floated on tubes on a gentle current. We sampled the jungle cuisine on the way to tubing-- termites (minty fresh) and sugar cane (a sweet treat). On the bus ride back, we drove through very poverty stricken areas, as well as "affluent" areas. We are blessed to live in the U.S.

Our final port of call was Roatan, Honduras. The locals swarm the tourists as they get off the ship, all wanting to be our guide for the day, or sell us their wares. We chose a man named Larry for our cab driver and our guide was a 16 year old boy named John. They took us all over the island, showed us poverty and wealth, and we ended up at a beach. They cut coconuts for the kids to sample and taught us about Roatan. Rich and Cole snorkeled off the beach there, and Morgan spent most of the time building a turtle out of sand.

That night, the kids got to stay up until 3AM for the kids' party at Camp Carnival. They both thought this was cool!!! Mom and Dad also stayed up too late on Friday night... laughing and dancing with new friends from Tampa, FL and Pierre, SD. On Saturday, the kids prepared for their Holiday Show with the Legend Dancers and Singers. It was a great performance complete with Cole's dance moves and Morgan singing several songs with the other children. We ended the evening with a kids' farewell party and us also saying "see you later" to some great folks!!

We returned to a snowy Salt Lake City on Sunday evening. The kids were thrilled to see Grandma Jackie waiting for them! They were also excited to see our pets, sleep in their own beds, and check their emails. We are back to our usual routine... at least for a week, then they are on Christmas break.

I think Rich had a great 40th birthday celebration-- we all had a blast. On the last formal dinner evening, Cole proposed a toast and we raised our glasses (of milk and water) to the fact that we have lived in our Utah home for 3 years and for the fun time we all had together!

California 2008

Kids at Newport Beach, Morgan looking at whales from interpretive center at Palos Verdes, and Cole getting serendaded by "Elvis" at Legoland

Some moments from 2008...

Skiing 2008, skiing with the McKay family, Cole near the top of Mount Timpanogos, and our family hiking in Bell Canyon.

More moments from 2008...

Cole & Morgan in Glacier Park & "bringin' sexy back", and photos of our Vegas trip!

And more moments from this year...

Here are some photos from Lake Blaine and the cousins, Chelsea's graduation, me and the boys, and a hike with the Ous family in Glacier.