Twenty Years!

Two whole decades!  That's how long we've been married.  I love us.  I love that we want to keep moving forward, improving ourselves, and our marriage.  I love that we can laugh, and have a great time together.  I love that we're best friends.  I love our talks, our time together, all of it.  We were lucky enough to wrangle my parents into taking the kids for a week while we went on a cruise to celebrate.  We owe them forever I'm sure!  

After spending a day in Utah (roller skating with the kids, visiting with my sisters), we flew out to Fort Lauderdale on the red eye.  I just don't sleep well on flights, and he hadn't had much either, but somehow we rented our car and made the short drive over to Miami.  After a quick 20 minute nap in the car so I could function, we parked, grabbed some breakfast and walked all over balmy South Beach  We stopped in at the Marshall's, soaked in the AC, bought Corey a new swimsuit, took a trolley, boarded our ship the MSC Seaside, an Italian cruise line) and saw a show despite our exhaustion!

We slept late our first day at sea, and enjoyed the amazing view from our deck. Our room was awesome, with a very large deck/patio looking out onto the ocean with a table, chairs and a couple of loungers. Loved it!  We hit the gym, lounged and read books on the deck and enjoyed the food and another show.  The shows on this ship, every one of them, were amazing.  It was like seeing mini cirque-esque shows every night.  Really so much better than expected.  

The day we toured San Juan, we worked out, and had room service come by with the BEST pain au chocolate (this ship also did pastries right, yum).  We hit all the waterslides, swam and then spent the evening in Old San Juan.  Our first stop was the Castle San Cristibal, then a cathedral, El Morro.  We walked through the beautiful quaint streets, saw several historic squares with monument, and walked over a million blue bricks that covered the streets.  We saw a view of the ocean and the sunset at El Morro.  The worst part was when I accidentally deleted ALL the pictures on the camera I brought.  Big oops, and so there are no photos, just memories.  One weird thing...there were cats everywhere!  I loved seeing the iguanas, and one in particular just hangs out at the Fort and didn't mind people at all.  We also tried a coconut milk soda that we liked, but couldn't find anywhere else.  Puerto Rico was charmingly beautiful with it's clorful houses, old fort, beautiful views and the interesting mix of American and Spanish influence.  That night we did get to talk to our boys for a bit, and we've decided they're having way too much fun without us!

The next stop was St. Thomas.  We could see the port from our cabin as we arrived that morning.  It was a beautiful, lush, green hillsede studded with colonial style houses with tile roofs.  We took a taxi out to Magen's Bay and spent a beautiful day lying on the beach and swimming in the crystal clear water there.  The morning was fairly peaceful but it became much busier as the day went on.  We didn't end up snorkling, because there just weren't colorful fish, but there were lots of tiny schools of fish swimming around, and some fun top hat shells on the beach.  The drive back to the city had spectacular views.  We went to a small local grocery store (something we love to do) to buy some fun new snacks or foods to try with the boys when we got home.  The island is beautiful, although still fairly roughed up from Hurrican Irma in 2017.  The beach had stumps of former palm trees still sitting in piles, not yet cleared from the old beack park area and overall things seemed somewhat rough around the edges still.  We had a nice lunch with crab legs on the ship while enjoying the views of the bay.  That night we saw another fantastic show.

At St. Maarten, we scheduled a city tour excursion to see both the Dutch and French sides.  We were excited to see it all.  The first stop was Marigot, a city on the French side.  We grabbed a chocolat eclair and a pain au chocolate from a little French bakery (with my very scary middle school French, haha).  The town itself is on a beautiful stretch of wather but is still so depressed and obviously recovering from the hurricane.  During our tour around the island, we saw bats in the bay still overturned or tossed on their sides.  One was sunken completely, with only it's mast still visible.  Crazy.  There were some beautuful homes in the hills, but the ones in town were very shabby with roofs and walls missin, or sets of stairs that go to nowhere.  We did do a little shopping on both sides of the island, drove thru the fishing village of Cole Bay, and saw the airport.  The highlight of the day was Maho Beach which has a runway that is famously close to the ocean, and the tiny beach that people wait on to feel the rush of having an airplane land right over the top of you.  While we were there, at least 7 planes landed, and it really is crazy!  The planes were big, but not the gigantic commercial planes, and I can only imagine what kind of windblasting you'd get from one of those. It was a unique experience!  The beach at Maho was beautiful too.  We loved our tour and seeing the island.  We worked out, saw another awesome show, had a nice dinner then hit the late night White Party onthe back deck.  That was an afterthought really, but we had a fantastic time dancing on the 
deck and covered pool.  

After a crazy night of dancing we slept in.  Yay for us!  After trying to find a great spot to read on the decks, we remembered we had a  nice quiet deck of our very own and went back there instead. We saw a mini opera show that night and had a dress up dinner afterwards (Corey had prime rib and I tried pheasant, yum...and Baked Alaska for dessert). Overall it was a fun day.

The Bahamas was our next awesome stop.  We had decided to hit a few attractions on our own to get as much in as possible, and we walked ALL over the place.  We brought snorkeling gear, but wouldn't you know it, it was a very rainy day!  We'd also brought our rain jackets along, so the crazy rain was fine.  We headed to Fort Charlotte instead of Junkanoo, and had the place almost to ourselves.  The fort was a great place to tour - built in the late 1700's with amazing views to boot.  After we left, it started absolutely pouring rain, I mean torrential downpour.  We found a beautiful old church called Christ Church Cathedral, which was a nice escape from the rain, and then headed over to Fort Fincastle, and walked up the Queen's Staircase (SO cool).  After seeing so much, we headed down to the Straw Market and bought a few souvenirs for the kids, while fending off some rude sales people.  Sheesh!  We were too tired to wait for our late dinner time, so hit the buffet instead and finished if off with some gelato and chocolates.  

And that was it!  Our trip was relaxing, busy, fun, exciting, tasty, and just lovely.  I loved Corey, the balmy air, the beach, the pain au chocolate, our deck, the evening shows, the ship's chopped fruit mix and found a new favorite...burchermuesli, delish.  So much fun and will love the memories.  And a huge and heartfelt shout out to my parents who took such good care of and entertained my kids so well, that I believe they were a little disappointed when we came back, ha! After a week of Lagoon, parks, milkshakes, burgers, baseball games, cousin time, participating in a triathalon,...did I miss anything, oh and each coming home with a scrapbook full of pics from their time, what did we expect?!

We actually ended up being persuaded to let Asher stay an extra week and he flew home alone.  We had to get home for Beckett's All-Star baseball games, and Asher was able to go to the family reunion and enjoy some fun family time.  

Double Digits for B

Beckett turned 10!  Wowser, these boys just keep on growing.  Beckett's birthday was a great day to celebrate.  He wanted crab for dinner!  That was a fun adventure for the whole family.  I think everyone liked it, but Beckett definitely liked it the most.  Dessert was blueberry cream pie (his choice).  He opened his presents and had a fun night, balloons and all.

This boy has so many talents and is passionate about his hobbies.  Cars have become a big love for him this past couple of years and his knowledge of types, and models blows me away.  He also likes math, Legos, star wars, and playing with his buddy Jake.  He scooters like a pro, and loves to be outside.  He's interesting to talk to and always has great and intuitive questions (that I can't always answer).  We sure do love this kiddo.  Happy birthday Beck!

Dawson turns 4

My baby turned 4!  This boy loves life and loves his family.  He has been looking forward to his 'drum birthday' for months now.  Once, a while back when the subject of his birthday came up, he started his big plans for what cake he wanted...shape, color, frosting, all of it.  The specifics were so funny, and I can't say I've ever seen a drum cake before, so kudos to him for originality!

Mac and cheese was the dish of the night, followed by cake and presents.  He was so excited about every single gift, and the whole night was just fun.  Little kid birthdays are the best!!

A few things about Dawson this year:

*When asked what he dreamed about at night, he still says, "Elephant song."  He's been dreaming that since he was 2.  I still have no idea what this means.  It's a secret!
*When saying prayers, he likes to smoosh the family into one word..."Modashabeck."
*He tells me he loves me.  Lots.  Anywhere, anytime.  Sometimes it's in the middle of the night.  He stands at the side of the bed til I wake up (I usually hear him walk in), tells me he loves me, then goes back to bed.
*He loves his puppy stuffed animals, and when he was 2, he named his little bulldog Walrus Puppy, and the other fluffy-ish one 'Hynena Puppy' and to be honest they both look a little like their namesakes.  Funny.
*When I sing to him at night, usually Silent Night, he likes to sing the last line an octave higher, and he's actually on key.
*He LOVES to draw and color.  He'll spend a while just coloring and will then ask me, "Isn't it beautiful, mom?" He also wants them hung up all over the fridge for all to see.
*He uses words like "terrifying" and "torturing" and "frustrating" ….the words that he uses continue to surprise us all.
*He likes to sit on Corey's back for prayers sometimes.
*He loves it when the family is ALL together doing things.  He'll say things like, "Mommy, I love it that we all went to the store together." He'll thank Heavenly Father for it at night too.
*He prefers naps on the couch to naps in his bed and has for over a year.  He just wants to be in the middle of it all and the noise doesn't phase him a bit.  If he's tired, he'll just lay down and sleep.

We sure do love this little boy.  Happy birthday Dawson!!

Teacher and Teenager

Happy 13th birthday Asher!  First of all...just how in the world did this happen so fast. Watch out world, there's a newly minted teenager rearing to go.  For Asher's  big day, we celebrated with dinner at Fuddrucker's followed by pizookies at home.  He's recently decided that burgers are awesome, and has left chicken nuggets behind.  Part of growing up, I guess, but it sure took him a while to come around!  He received some fun gifts, and per Dawson's request, we had some balloons.  The first thing he said to me that morning was, "Mommy, we need to get balloons for Asher's birthday!"  And so we did. He picked them out.  Sadly, the little guy fell asleep at the table before dessert and missed the party, although as I tucked him in that night he asked me about it. Asher is a great big brother to Dawson and they can be such buddies.  I love that.

We had a friend party for him a few weeks later too.  For the celebration, we did an Escape Room at home, pizza, cookie cake and games.  I think everyone had a great time and it's always fun to see a bunch of good kids getting together.

Turning 13 was just one part of his birthday this year.  Last year, at age 12, he was ordained a Deacon and has been passing the sacrament each week at church.  Watching him serve the ward in this way has been amazing as a mother.  With the shifting of youth organization at the new year, and because he'll be 14 before 2020, he was also ordained a teacher in January!  My parents came out for the weekend, and Aaron was part of the circle as well.  What a special day for our family.  We're especially proud of his dedication and worthiness to serve as he continues on his priesthood journey.

It was a great birthday for a great kid.  Some of my favorite things about Asher is that he doesn't judge others or care much about what other's think (I look up to him for that...such a great trait), he's spiritual, kind, tries to do what's right, loves music, sports radio (!), video games, chess, soccer, basketball and baseball (all sports really).  So proud of the guy he's becoming.

Learning to Ski

Boy, oh boy, did we do something exciting this past weekend?  At the end of the summer we had talked a bit about getting the boys skiing this winter, so we bought a few passes and finally did it.  We headed up to Sipapu, a resort a couple of hours away.  One thing I need to remember with experiences like this is to keep expectations low, otherwise frustration ensues!!  

Day 1:  To start with, our expectations weren't low enough.  Once you pull up to the resort, you expect to get out, hit the slopes and let the fun and learning begin!  Except for that important detail of gear.  All the gear.  Skis and boots never seemed so daunting before, but after trying to just get everyone standing upright in skis and boots we were ready to throw in the towel.  We finally succeeded, although it wasn't always pretty, and after enrolling the older two boys in an hour long ski school class the day officially began.  The boys learned basics, sort of.  Dawson hung out with Corey and I on the little bunny hill and basically pushed ourselves down the very slight decline with him in tow.  He thought the magic carpet was great.  After the boys' quick lesson, we realized they still both had no clue how to ski.  So, Corey tried working with them a bit more on the beginner hill (which, for the record was pretty steep for newbies).  After a few hours, some blizzard-y cold weather and a few very defeated kids, day one came to a close.  Asher was frustrated, Beckett wanted to give up, and the rest of us were cold and tired.  We stayed in a little cabin at the resort and had some much needed fun playing card games, eating, drinking cocoa and watching a movie.  Oh, and sleep, also some much needed sleep.

Day 2:  What a difference a day makes.  First thing in the morning I took Asher and Beckett  to the steep beginner hill, worked with them separately for a few minutes (with my extremely limited skiing expertise, yikes), and low and behold, they both picked it up in no time.  It was a miracle.  They wanted the real hills right away, and by days end they were going down blues and greens no problem, and having fun while doing it.  Beckett likes using poles, Asher does not.  Beckett wanted to do black diamond runs but I didn't let him.  The Passey's came up and skied also, so the boys skied with Noah for part of the day and loved that too.  Corey and I did eventually get in some runs ourselves and had some fun. We found that after 20 years of not skiing (and only having been 3 or so times ever anyway) that we weren't any better or worse off, except that we might need to be more careful with our knees! Dawson ended up being pretty good at doing the 'pizza' while coasting down a little hill, and feels comfortable with all the gear, but we'll be doing some more learning with him.  Some funny skiing terminology my boys came up with:  sticks= poles, squad (Dawson)= quad, forklift = chairlift, mobiles= moguls.  

All in all, the weekend was a success!  Thank goodness.  We had lots of snow, red cheeks, hot chocolate and games (I Spy, Snap and Memory with D).  The boys made a snow fort before we headed out, begged for season passes, and nobody wanted to go home. Yay for our little skiers!

Christmas 2018

This Christmas was fun, busy, wonderful, exciting and memorable.  It was our first Christmas in the new house.  There were questions like, "where do we put the tree?" and all of the other things that get strung about during Christmas.  The month was busy with school projects, and wrapping up the semester but the kids finished up ready to go to a nice, long break.

One weekend we went sledding in the Jemez mountains with some friends and had a great time laughing, trying not to get hurt, drinking cocoa and staying warm.  There were also lots of movie nights, endless treats, games, our yearly puzzle, playing with friends, decorating gingerbread cookies and houses.  Phew!  And after the super dry winter we had last year, the nice snowstorm we had was a welcome change.  The boys made an awesome snowman before they clobbered each other with snowballs.  Just being home, cozying up to the fire and enjoying the nice stretch of down time with the whole family was wonderful.




On Christmas Eve, we gathered together to read Luke 2, sing some songs and the boys put luminarias out front while I cooked dinner.

Christmas morning was wonderful, relaxing and cozy, full of fun and surprises. The boys woke up to fun gifts from Santa, followed by gift giving and receiving from loved ones.  We even managed to convince the boys to stay upstairs (and away from gifts) til about 7 a.m. That has to be a record!

It was a Merry Christmas indeed, and we are all so thankful for the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ so long ago. We love this little family of ours and hope they always understand and remember why we celebrate this special time of year.


New Year's was a nice and mellow night at home.  We watched Nacho Libre with the boys, and they all loved it and are constantly repeating punchlines from the movie.  Oy.  While ringing in 2019 we also ate too much fun food!  2018 was a year with ups and downs but mostly ups.  We are looking forward to the new adventures that 2019 may bring!