The Cruise

As you can tell from my last post, Disneyland was awesome. I guess the third time really is a charm! I kept getting deja vu every time I walked past a bathroom, or a street that I remembered from our last trip. Every time I felt that way, I would get a huge smile on my face and announce to everyone, "This is so much fun!"

Courtney had bunion surgery 2 weeks before we left, so she was in the wheelchair this time. It was actually pretty sweet, we only had a 3-4 minute wait for most of the rides!

Sunday we drove to Hesperia and spent the day with my sister Trish and her family. Monday morning we drove down to San Diego, met Mike and his family and then boarded the ship.

First stop was Tiffany's to have a little lunch and then it was off to the pool.



They spent hours trying to push each other off this board.









There were tons of activities for the kids. Tyler and Andrew loved to play with the giant chess set.





I loved going to dinner. It was like going to a fancy restaurant every night where the food was delicious and free!

Here is the way all my dinners started:







One night, the servers pulled Jess, Andrew, and Bev up to dance with them.





Alisa has a sweet camera and got some great pictures, luckily she shared her photos with me.

Tuesday was a fun day at sea and Wednesday was a fun day in Cabo San Lucas.



The beach was beautiful, I could have stayed there all day.



We played for hours.





Mike is a master barterer. He speaks fluent spanish and the deals he got for us were pretty amazing. After talking for a good 30 minutes, we all boarded a boat and went parasailing. Thanks Mike, but you are probably going to have to accompany us whenever we go on vacation now ;)



Thursday was another fun day at sea. Friday we docked in Ensenada, it was a far cry from Cabo, but once again Mike worked his magic and we all went to the blow hole and did some shopping!









Sean was actually pretty good at bartering too. He doesn't speak as fluently, but he also doesn't take no for an answer.



We got some great deals. Do you like my New York hat?



Tyler was very proud of his purchases.



Mmmm... fish tacos!





By Friday night, we were all exhausted, and a little sad that our cruise was coming to an end. Sean and Courtney had to get in some karaoke before we left. They sang Twisted Sister's "Were not gonna take it".



We played one last game of cards, and stuffed our faces one last time.



It was so great having my kids to myself. No cell phones, not texting, no friends. They showed some signs of withdrawls, but luckily they all survived. This was one of the funnest vacations that we have ever been on. I am so glad Mike and Alisa were able to come with us. Hopefully more members of the family can come next time. Courtney graduates in two years, so start saving!

Disneyland

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess named Julie (okay, she wasn't really a princess, but in this story she is). When Princess Julie was 4 years old, her parents took her and her brothers and sisters to Disneyland. Sadly, since she was so young, she had no memory of this wonderful place.

Princess Julie grew and grew and grew... stop laughing. When she was 19 years and 11 days old, she married a funny prince named Sean. They had 3 cute kids.

Princess Julie and her funny prince saved all their extra gold for years and years. The day finally arrived when they had enough gold to take their cute kids on a family vacation to Disneyland.

The night before their adventure began, Princess Julie started feeling sick. The next morning when the princess awoke, she was more sick than she had ever been in her whole entire life! She boarded the plane, and 3 agonizing hours later she was in Disneyland. The poor princess was so sick, she couldn't even go on any of the rides.

She was very sad.

Her funny prince was very mad.

Hours later, her funny prince finally realized how sick she really was. He quickly went and rented a chariot (wheelchair) for her, and that is where she spent the rest of that miserable day, praying for a quick and painless death.

Years went by and then one day, the princess' oldest cute kid graduated from high school. The funny prince thought it would be great to take the family on a cruise and celebrate this wondrous occasion. To start out their vacation he decided to take his princess, once again, to Disneyland. So they packed up their cute kids and on the very day that the princess turned 39 years old, they spent a glorious, fun-filled day at the happiest place on earth!

The princess was very happy.

Her funny prince was very happy too.

He even gave her a kiss on the cheek!



And they all lived happily ever after.....

THE END

Camping at Woodland

At the end of June we decided to tag along with Sean's brothers and go camping. It had only been a week since girl's camp, so I was a little hesitant, but it was one of the only weekends we had available for the rest of the summer, so we couldn't pass it up.

We went to the Camperworld in Woodland. I love going up there, my mom was borned in Francis. (Lol, I had to throw in a little "Heber" humor.) I love driving through the little town and seeing the ancient houses and barns that are about to fall over.

I'm not really a huge "camper", but when there is grass, shade, showers, a trailer and a swimming pool, you can count me in!

We even got to take our Pam.



My favorite part of camping is sitting around the campfire and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. Unfortunately we were lacking in our fire-building skills. The guys kept blaming it on the wood. I tried to pull out my 3 hour burning log, but they wouldn't let me. Eventually Jeremy got a pretty decent fire going.



Mike sure does love his older brother.



Alisa, Beverly and Mike



Courtney and Andrew



Bev, Morgan, Taylor and Tyler



Jess and Camryn



At night we would cuddle up in the trailer and watch movies.





During the day we played games and went swimming.



Andrew loves to play chess







Robyn and Camryn



Katie asked Camryn to smile at the camera, the sun was in her eyes, but she did her best. What a cutie.



We had such a great time. My kids LOVE their little cousins. It was so beautiful up in the mountains. I found myself wishing we could have stayed a little longer.

Young Women's Camp

Camp this year was cold, wet, and muddy -- and we a blast.

It was a nice, sunny day as we pulled out of my driveway on Wednesday morning.

Look at how beautiful, warm, dry and clean we all are.



It was a fun ride up and would have only taken 2 hours if SOMEONE would have pulled out the map and watched for the exit while SOMEONE ELSE was driving :)



Luckily we were able to set up camp before the first downpour began. It would rain for a few hours and then stop for a few hours, and then rain for a few hours... you get my point.



The Stake had the girls paint picnic tables for their service project.






In between the storms, we made a lot of fun crafts,





ate some REALLY good food,



brushed our teeth with ashes,



(notice there are no leaders in these pictures)





made a few important phone calls,



played "Mafia" around the camp fire (sorry Bro. Dresser, no hard feelings about your multiple deaths, right?)



and laughed until we cried!



Each ward had to come up with a skit. We were given a bag of random props from another ward and had to incorporate them into our skit. The girls decided to make up a song and duct tape the props to themselves. It was pretty dang funny.



Our skit was the best. We had the most laughs and the loudest applause - not that it matters or anything, but we did.

Jana and Amy totally rock! We had so much fun laughing and talking all day.



Jenn was only able to come up and spend Thursday night with us (she's no dummy).



Saturday came and it was finally time to pack up and go home.



I can't even begin to tell you how much I love our Young Women. The girls were so great; I didn't hear one complaint the whole time we were there. Jana and Amy are the best, there's nothing like hanging out with your girlfriends 24/7. I can't wait for next year!

Camp photos

Graduation

Tyler graduated from high school on Friday, June 5th, 2009.

I had mixed emotions waiting for this day to come. On one hand, I was very excited for him to leave high school behind and start college life. On the other hand, I struggle with the fact that he is an adult, knowing I need to loosen the (desperately tight) hold that I have had on him for the last 18 years.

I had to ask Tyler at least once a week if he was sure that he was going to graduate. He would just roll his eyes and say, "Yes MOM!" And then give me the famous exasperated look that always follows what he thinks is a stupid question.

It was definitely weird to see him in his graduation gown.



The school put on a very nice program.







And then it was over.

The proud parents



The proud grandparents



The proud girlfriend

Let's just call this one... May

I thought that life got easier and you had more free time once your children got older...I guess that's what I get for thinking.

Here is where I spent most of May:

Cottonwood







USA U-16







USA U-14







Tyler still has a girlfriend - I know, shocking. I tell him at least twice a week that he better not do anything to make Erin break up with him. I really like her.



Mother's Day the girls baked me a heart shape cake and put trick candles on it. They were my first trick candles ever!



Funny story... You know how there is a picture on the back of the cake box showing the ingredients??



Well, Katie didn't read the part where you put three eggs in if you are doing the whole egg recipe, OR 3 egg whites if you are doing the egg white recipe. She added 3 whole eggs and 3 egg whites. As much as I don't like eggs, the cake was still pretty tasty! LOL

We celebrated Sean's grandparents 65th anniversary. We flew Sean's youngest brother Ben in from Alaska and surprised everyone that night.



It had been about 4 years since we had seen him. Everyone was shocked when he came strolling in.



Jeremy, Mike, Ben and Sean.

Have I mentioned that Sean doesn't like to be touched by other men? No? Have I mentioned that Mike and Ben like to touch Sean because they know Sean doesn't like it?



Here is Ben trying to get another little touch in. Notice Sean is ready to take off running...good times, good times :)


(Yes, Ben is aware that his belly is poking out and his zipper is undone. That's just Ben. Needless to say, we had a lot of laughs while he was here.)

Historian

Katie came home a few weeks ago and announced that she was going to run for Historian at her Jr. High. I thought it was a great idea, I would never have dared to do something like that when I was her age, I am so glad she is such a confident person.

The campaigning began. Courtney came up with a perfect slogan for Katie to use -- JUST DO IT.

We made fliers, posters, and even a stamp.





Unfortunately she was up against one of her very good friends - Erin. They have been friends since we moved into this neighboorhood.

The Primary votes were cast, both Katie and Erin made it through.

That meant we had two days to put a video together. The video was due on Monday and would be shown to the 7th and 8th graders during an assembly the following day.

Katie worked hard all weekend. With a lot of help from friends and family, this is what she came up with.



Everyone loved her video, especially the crazy runner at the end.

Katie felt pretty optimistic, but wasn't quite sure if she was going to win. On Thursday, parents were invited to a reception where we found out who the winners were.

Sadly Katie didn't win. I was very impressed with the way she handled it. I could tell she was dissapointed, but there were no tears. Most of the kids that didn't make it opted to go home after the reception, but Katie wanted to stay at school and go to the assembly so she could congratulate Erin.

It was such a great experience for all of us. I am so proud of her!