Two Videos of the Girls

Abigail is talking much more but it's mostly gibbergabber. We think it's adorable.

Film disclosure: I wanted to get in on film but it was hard because she wanted to hold the camera. So I tried to distract her with questions. Anyway-- Sorry my voice is loud probably because I'm so close to the camera.

Here is Samantha who is singing her favorite song:

Her version of Jingle Bells

Anticipation

All week we have been speculating and guessing how our ward will be reorganized. Last Sunday, they day we came back from the cruise they announced our ward will be split. We have been her for 7 years and it will be hard to say goodbye to those you have served with. I have loved our ward but for the past year it has gotten so large that it's hard to get to know everyone that moves it. I use to be able to go visit everyone that moved in. It became some a job that I just stopped. I know that pathetic but really we have two or three new families read in every week. They said we have over 700 people in College Ward right now. We have over 200 in primary. Primary is so full we hardly have enough seats to fit.

There has been lots of thoughts that the new ward that is created will drive to the stake center in Mendon to go to church. I hope that is the case. Our building is very small and to hold four wards would be crazy. But I also heard that the new ward may go to a Nibley Stake ward. I think I will be in the new ward but we will see. I will support the new decision and do my best to make the transition easy. Here we go!

Getting ready to go!

Part of the fun of going on the cruise was getting ready to go. Picking what I would wear, buying new clothes, shoes, going to my Grandma's where she lent us luggage and gave me a bunch of jewelry and shoes. If was fun imagining I could wear my sandals and swimsuit in a few weeks and then days even though there were days I didn't see the sun in Logan.
A couple weeks before we went we started working out at Golds Gym. They have a place you can tan right there. Devin thought that would be so great. I wasn't convinced I really wanted to tan. But after some research we decided to give it a go. The first time we went tanning, Devin convinced me to go first. So I'm standing there (it's one you stand in not lay down) I push the button to have it start and big flash and light and a boom happened and then all the lights went out and cold fans are blowing on me. After a minute of this I yell out, Devin, I don't think this is working. So I got out and the lady explains they have had some trouble with it. They will get an electrician there to fix it. So we try it again 3 more times and it never worked for us. The weird thing is people would use it right before with no problems and then it was our turn and it would break. Sometimes it would flicker lights, sometimes it would go for one minute and then turn off. We decided it must not be for us and got all our money refunded.
I got a hair cut and a pedicure which was really fun. Then we did a lot of dancing to the song, "Lets Go" by Lionel Richie. Really fun song that helped us get in the mood. In these pictures is the airplane pizza, Deonne and Greg eating their burgers, the airplane trip. Greg and his checked luggage (yes he checked his beach paraphernalia). We got lots of pictures of the boys and their shirts, my cute toes. And Devin and I posing outside the ship dock.
Off all the things we brought with us on the trip we didn't lose a single thing. That is amazing for me.
One thing I bought before we left that was really nice to have was a little purse that held my money, passport, Drivers Licence, Sign and Sail card. It was small and I hung it around my side. I found it at the Logan Regional Hospital gift shop. I shopped at 5 other shops before someone told me to go to the hospital. Random place but it was the perfect size and I felt like my money was safe. Its on me in the pictures if you can tell.

More Pics-Slide Show in Belize

I just got our disk of pictures from the waterproof camera we got for Cave Tubing. What an awesome excursion. We booked our excursion through cavetubing.com. They were really fun. The water was really low during some of the river so they would yell, "Cave Tubing" and we would yell back "Butt's Up" This way they could find us in the dark cave and it was also a warning to keep your bum up. The rain forest we walked through was magical. I loved every minute of the hike up to the caves. Our guide showed us some awesome trees, he even stirred up a termite nest and invited the brave to eat one. We saw Poison Oak, Coconut trees, Inside out tree and lots of other foliage. The caves itself were really cool. Lots of Stalagmites, stalagtites and Columns. It was really wierd to see water bottles that were up at the top of the caves. When the river was so high the water bottles got lodged up at the top. Anyway enjoy the fun pics (I just wish the pictures would really capture how beautiful and green it really was).

The Amazing Cruise

We took over a hundred pictures of our cruise. Most of them won't mean anything so I have to be choosy.

We had the greatest time! We went on the Carnival Dream Ship which is less then a year old. Its the largest ship that Carnival has. We went to the Western Carribean. Our Ports were, Cozmel, Mexico, Belize, Isle of Roatan, and Costa Maya.

We have been married for almost 12 years and this is the longest time we have been away from our children ever. We have taken two other trips in our married life, one was to see David and Bonnie in D.C. which was a really fun trip without kids. Then this summer we went back packing in the Grand Tetons for three nights. So this was a late 10 year anniversary gift to ourselves. We really had to splurge to afford this trip but now that we are home with all the memories and reconnectness as a couple-it was worth every penny.

Here we are in the Carnival Lounge ready to sign up to get on the boat! We have no idea how much fun it will be but way gity with excitement!

Out of order but this is us in the airplane. I'm reading and Devin is listening to tunes and the TV. We also had fun doing Trivia on the Delta Flight. This was my third flight ever and the most turbulence I have experienced. The landing was a little scary too but we survived.

The men in their matching Clark Patrol T-shirts. Clark (back row in the middle) needed a patrol to keep him in line. His bishop wanted to be sure he kept his clothes on. =)

Lots of Iguanas in the Mayan Ruins of Tulum. Devin got a picture of me kissing one. Their pretty good kissers.

First Formal night on the cruise. Dinners were so much fun. It took two hours to eat dinner with appetizers, main course and dessert. We just visited and enjoyed eating the yummy food. My favorite was the Prime Rib and also Lobster.

Zip Line on the Isle of Roatan. This was our favorite Port. We zip lined in the morning (I was a little nervous so the group had me go first. After the initial screaming I really enjoyed it!) After we went to a private beach. It was absolutely wonderful.

Our group at the Isle of Roatan. Look how beautiful the background ocean and green is!

Costa Maya--We rented a golf cart to travel to the nearby fisherman village. We ate Conch Shell at a local "restaurant" It was cooked with butter and garlic. This day was unplanned and we really enjoyed going where the cart took us.

2nd Formal Night. Devin looks so great in a tux. We saw this chair one night and thought it would be fun to get our picture in it.

The whole group with our amazing waitress Ramona. She has been with Carnival for a long time and she gave us such great service. I was so impressed with all the staff on the ship. They were so accommodating and always ready to served. The ship was so clean and beautiful.

On the ship we enjoyed going to most of the Comedy shows, the musical shows (especially Dancing in the Streets), Karaoke, playing cards with the group, hot tubing and going down the water slide, taking midnight walks on the outside decks (sometimes the wind was blowing so hard you could barely walk), hot cocoa with ice cream before bed, learning the Thriller Dance, and dancing in the Caliente Disco Dance Room.

We are so glad we went and are so grateful for my parents and Brenda and Ryan for watching our kids for the week. It was nice not to worry if our kids were doing well. We knew they were in good hands. Our kids really missed us and by the end we were very ready to be home as a family.

If you are going on a cruise anytime soon, make sure you budget for the ports (excursions). I had no idea how much money you spend on the excursions. You could just stay on the boat or just walk around but you really wouldn't get to see the beautiful places you are visiting if you don't schedule to do something each port. Also plan on bringing lots of cash for tips. If you go to the bank you can get a book of ones. It a hundred dollars in a tight pad of paper. Then you just rip them off when you need them and they are much more compact. Of all the things I did to prepare to go on the cruise, the funnest was getting a pedicure. I wore sandals all the time so it was fun to have cute toes. =) We didn't tan and we were just fine. We just made sure we always had sunblock. If you love to swim or get in the hot tub you really should have more then one swimsuit. Then the other one can be drying while you are wearing the other one. Bring a couple good books to read for the plane ride and just for down times in the sun. I would bring a couple Book of Mormons. I brought one and gave it to our waitress and wished I had another one for our tour guide in Roatan. We didn't use our Visa card hardly at all because most places didn't take a credit card. So be prepared to pay most everything with cash. It helped us budget too. When the cash was gone we were done. Take your journal. You will not want to forget some of the amazing first time experiences you will have. Just by not drinking alcohol we probably spent half the amount of those that do. I was taken back by how many and how much people drink. It was eye opening to me. I'm grateful I didn't have to waste my money on it! =)

Tons of Snow!

Yesterday we shoveled 4 inches of snow before church. It was the most snow we have had at one time this winter. It was nice that it was on Sunday because everyone comes out and helps shovel.

Devin gave the combined lessons for YM/YW yesterday. I didn't have any responsibilities in Primary so I was able to hear his lesson. He is such a great teacher! He introduced the 2010 Mutual theme which is Joshua 1: 9: Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord they God is with thee withersoever thou goest.

The church put out a video to help introduce the theme, it is so well done. He showed about 5 minutes of it. I was lucky to watch more at home. I think you can watch it online at lds.org. Anyway, having an 8 year old it makes me think about how soon it will be when he will be in Young Mens. That will come before I know it. I'm so relived to have the church who will help guide his life. You do as much as you can at home and I think mutual really helps youth strengthen their testimonies and find the support and friends they need to stay strong.

We went to Crystal Hot Springs with Deonne's family on Saturday Night. It was great fun. We also shared a treat at Peaches. It's neat that our families have really gotten close in the last couple years. Abigail and Cody hug and kiss each other every time they see each other. It's way cute.

The boy's are way excited for us to go because they get to spend the time with Grandma on the weekend and then with their best friends during the school week. I wonder if they will even miss us.

We just booked our hotel and vented a SUV to drive to Disneyland last week. Like I mentioned before we will be going the last week in October. This was the kids Christmas present from Mom and Dad (us). They didn't really miss the presents at all. Sometimes I think we make to big of a deal over how many presents their going to get. We thought, will they be disappointed? We didn't have any of that, so that was refreshing.

I lost my camera for a while so now I need to upload Christmas pictures to share. So that's my goal for the next post. Happy February!