Cancun

When Steve and I got married 14 years ago, we went the "budget" route when it came to our honeymoon. We didn't have a penny to our name! We used free airline tickets I'd won on the radio to fly to LA where my Grandma Andrew and Uncle Joel and Aunt Mary Lou lived. Grandma paid for us to go to Disneyland, and we stayed in Joel and Mary Lou's "honeymoon suite" in their house. (Thanks for helping us out, Joel and Mary Lou!) We promised ourselves that one day, we'd go on a second honeymoon to a romantic location.

So, when our friend, Kirk, proposed that we surprise his wife by going with them to Cancun to celebrate her 40th birthday, we didn't hesitate! It was Steve's birthday that week, too. We surprised Nannette at the airport with birthday hats and buttons that said, "It's My Birthday!" Our friend, Brian, was celebrating his 40th birthday, too.

On the airplane, we realized that other than flying to LA on our honeymoon, we'd never flown without the kids anywhere. I actually enjoyed the flight!Steve's mom and sister, Shari, came out for the week and watched our kids. (Thanks again!) The kids had a wonderful time with Grandma! (In fact when we came back, Sophie came and gave me a quick hug, then ran back to Grandma!)

We met our friends, Eric and Minnette, at the airport in Cancun. We spent our first day with them, after which they had to leave to go home. Eric served his mission in Cancun, so it was great to have him there as our personal tour guide and chauffeur. Plus it was wonderful to spend some time with them. They drove us to some Mayan ruins at Ek-Balam where we got our exercise in climbing up and down all of the ruins. There were some amazing views from the highest points.

We stayed at the Cancun Palace, an all-inclusive resort. The package we bought included tours, snorkeling, food, and drinks. There was so much to do! The first day after Eric and Minnette left, we went snorkeling. Steve liked the water so much that he also went scuba diving. (I stayed behind to get a massage.)The food there was too good--we ate way too much! They even had Nutella at the breakfast bar every morning. (Nutella was one of the main causes of my 30 pound weight gain on my mission! And I'm sure it contributed to my 5 pound weight gain on this trip!)
One of my favorite places we went was Tulum. Tulum is a group of Mayan ruins that's built right against the beach. It was absolutely beautiful!

Here's Steve on a wall leading into Tulum. I told him to pretend he was Samuel the Lamanite. He's not as dramatic as my boys would have been!
One night, we got together with the other couples who also went to Cancun to celebrate Brian and Nannette's 40th birthdays. Steve helped design the shirts we wore with Brian and Nannette's faces on them. As you can see, we didn't need the alcohol everybody kept trying to serve us to have a crazy time.
Another night, we had another birthday dinner--this time for Steve. Happy Birthday, Steve!

On our last full day, we went to Isla Mujeros. It is a little island near Cancun where we went shopping and Steve went scuba diving again while I sat in the sun by the pool, listening to Christmas music. It just didn't feel like Christmas!

The last day before we got on the plane, I went down to the beach to lie in the sun. I don't know when the next time will be that I'll see it again!

Now it feels like Christmas. When we got home, there was snow on the ground. The kids had half-days Monday and Tuesday while we were gone and again on Wednesday. They cancelled school, altogether, on Thursay and Friday. Now there's almost a foot of snow! Now I feel bad for complaining about the 70 degree weather we had in Cancun the first couple of days we were there! I'd take that over 20 degree weather any day. But at least it feels like Christmas!One day we're lying at the beach, the next, we're sledding with the kids! Merry Christmas everyone!

Bowling for Turkeys

Ben's school had a "turkey bowl" in conjunction with their book fair last night. The principal brought his Wii and the kids got to try to win a Thanksgiving turkey by bowling 3 strikes in a row. They had 5 frames in which they could try to get 3 strikes.

For the last few days, my kids have all begged me to let them practice on our Wii. Normally, I wouldn't allow video games during the school week, but since they only have to go to school 1/2 days because of teachers conferences (and since I hoped that by practicing they would WIN a turkey,) I gave in and let them practice after school.

The kids really had their hopes up that they could win one for the family. We've been trying to find ways of saving money so we can afford to go to Disneyland in February, and have been recording our efforts at saving money on the refrigerator. Each of the kids wanted to be the one to write down $15 on our Disneyland chart on the fridge!

Ben was the first from our kids to bowl. We were so excited when he bowled a STRIKE and then another STRIKE, and then were bummed when knocked 8 pins down. But then he bowled another STRIKE, and then he knocked 9 pins down. And then, he bowled another STRIKE, and then knocked down 8 pins. So, he bowled a great game, but didn't win the turkey. He was pretty sad. But the principal wrote down Ben's score and the rest of us tried our luck.

None of the rest of us won the turkey either. . . But that's not the end of the story. As I came out of the grocery store (where there's no cell reception) today, I called Steve. He said, "I hope you didn't buy a turkey!" I said, "That's the whole reason I went to the store--it has to start thawing!" He said, "Ben won a turkey!"

So, Ben ended up with one of the high scores of the night, and because they had extra turkeys left over, he won one. I only wish I could have been there to see Ben trudging up the hill from the bus with his 15 pound turkey and huge grin on his face! When I got home from the store, I took a picture of our provider, Ben! Way to go, Ben! (His favorite part, I'm sure, was being able to say, "See, Mom, playing video games pays off!")

Congratulations, Shannon and Brent and Allison!

Last weekend, we had a wonderful trip to Portland to attend my younger brother, Brent's, wedding, and to be in Portland for my "baby" sister, Shannon, as she went through the temple for the first time. We are so happy for all of them! It was amazing to be together with all of my brothers and sisters and Mom, Dad, Grandma, and aunts and uncle. I just wish it could have lasted longer!Thanks to my brother-in-law, David, we now have some family pictures. We hadn't taken any "official" family pictures since Kristy's wedding 7 1/2 years ago! We need to do a little Photoshop/cropping work before we actually print off a picture to put hang on the walls, but here are a couple of our favorites: The kids had fun over the weekend. Ben's favorite part of the day was the wedding luncheon all-you-can-eat buffet after the wedding! Here's the before shot:

And here's after:He was so full that at the reception that night, he was too full to eat the wedding cake!
The kids had fun swimming in the hotel pool, and Rachel had fun playing with her little cousin, Aimee. (This picture's taken at the wedding luncheon--notice Ben in the background stretching to fit more in!)

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween, again! Here are the pictures of the kids. . .

Rachel was a cheerleader.
Ben was Luigi from the Mario games.
Steven was the Emperor, Darth Sidius, from Star Wars.And Sophie was a princess. Grandma Packer had made this cute outfit for Rachel, and Sophie's fallen in love with it! She was a little hesitant about trick or treating at first . . . until we got to the first door and they gave her candy! We had practiced saying "Trick or Treat," but of course when it came time to say it, she just ducked her head into my leg. But after each house, she said, "More house? That house!" and we'd go on. (We went to 6 houses!)I took this video with the camera after we got back and she was eating her candy. If you listen carefully to the video clip, you can hear her say "Trick or Treat." It's a little dark because we were in a room with low light, but she's still so cute. Her mouth was stuffed so full of M&M's at the beginning of the clip that she couldn't talk!

Happy Halloween!

Nerd Day

Today was "Nerd" Day at Steven's school. I haven't seen him this excited in, well, forever! He put this "costume" together by himself.

By the way, I learned there's a difference between a nerd and a geek. Steve (dad) prides himself in being a geek--a geek is a good thing. Steven is just as proud of his geekdom! He loves Star Wars, playing his trombone, reading Lord of the Rings, and playing video games--which is pretty much the definition of a geek. A nerd is something you don't want to be. Socially backward and alone in the world. In this picture, Steven is a nerd. . . When he wears his Star Wars shirts, he's a geek. (And proud of it!)

Happy Halloween Eve!

OK, so it's not Halloween, yet, but I wanted to get the pictures of the kids carving their pumpkins. This was the first year they carved them almost totally by themselves.

Steve sat back and watched. We propped Sophie in front of Dora because we didn't want to deal with the mess! The kids all came up with their own ideas for their pumpkins. Steven even designed his Kirby pumpkin all by himself. (His hair's parted down the middle as a result from "nerd day" at school. He looked awesome! I'll post the pictures tomorrow!)Ben chose Pikachu (we need to doctor it up a little tomorrow when we have more time.) Rachel carved a butterfly.
While we were waiting for the boys, Rachel and I made pumpkin seeds. (Kristy, I thought of you the entire time--yum! yum! She's about the same age you were when Sherry shared the laced pumpkin seeds with your class!)Have a Happy Halloween tomorrow!

Pretty Princess Pink

I got tired of looking at the last post-it was too creepy for my taste, so I have to replace it with something a little cuter. . .We took this picture of Sophie on her birthday. She's such a cutie!
Anyway, I just had to post a couple of cute Sophie-isms. We've been trying to teach her how to match the words for the various colors with the correct color. Most of the time when we ask, "Sophie, what color is this?" she replies, "Yellow." Today, I asked her what color her shirt was. She replied, "Yellow." I said, "No, it's pink." She said, "No, pretty princess pink!" What a girl!

On another topic, I was surprised to find her diaper dry when I got her out of bed this morning, so I asked her if she wanted to go on the potty chair. She was thrilled when she went potty and got candy. Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end of diapers!

Finally, the older kids have been playing hide and seek with Sophie, so she's heard them count. Last night when I asked her how many fingers she had, she counted them out loud, "One, two, four, five, six, eight, nine, ten, lebben." We practiced a little this morning, and she actually got from one to 10 all by herself without any mistakes! I can't believe my baby's growing up!

The Baby We Never Had

So, when we first got engaged, people always wondered what our kids would look like because Steve and I look so different from each other. After having four kids, I've sort of noticed a pattern. . .all of our kids start out with blonde hair and blue/hazel eyes (except for Ben who has brown eyes.)

I love each of our kids and their individuality. But I kind of thought with my dominant brown eyed/brown haired genes, that at least one of my babies would have been born with brown hair and brown eyes. Thanks to VW, I get to see what one of our babies would have looked like with brown hair/eyes without going through the pain of child birth! (The first time I tried it, the baby popped up with blonde hair/blue eyes. I resubmitted pictures, and this is the result.)

I'm glad I never had one with dark hair/eyes. This baby just doesn't look like one of ours!

If you want to make your own baby, here's the link:
http://www.vw.com/vwhype/babymaker/en/us/

An Answer to Prayer?

For the last couple of weeks, we have had family councils, family prayer, FHE, and even a family fast to help us bring more love and unity into our home. Well, to make a long story short, the answer to our prayers came last Thursday when our dishwasher "died."

After spending 3 full hours washing dishes by hand on Friday, I told Steve we needed a new dishwasher now! Then I remembered what my mom would say when our dishwasher broke at home. . ."Why do we need a new dishwasher? I have 7 of them that work perfectly fine."

So, not wanting to spend another afternoon washing dishes by hand, in my most excited voice over the weekend, I asked, "Who would like to help me wash the dishes?" Ben and Rachel immediately and enthusiastically replied, "ME!" I couldn't believe it!
They took turns hand washing and drying the dishes, while joking and laughing as they did it. (These are "real" smiles on their faces! They were having a blast! If only I could get them to do all of their chores this joyfully!)The rest of the weekend they spent playing together. What an ironic answer to prayer. Our kids have really cooperated all week as they've washed dishes together. (But "me" of little faith, ordered a new dishwasher, anyway.)

Happy Birthday, Sophie!

Time is flying by so quickly, I forgot to post the pictures of Sophie's birthday! She turned 2 on September 21st, and we had a little "family" party. We have a tradition of serving breakfast in bed, but we didn't want syrup all over the crib! We actually had waffles for dinner--I had to make something our birthday girl would eat!She is such a girlie girl! She was so excited to get new clothes:
She's had lots of fun with her new ballerina puzzle:
She knew just what to do when we lit the candles. (Note to my sisters who stress out over the cake: By the time you've made a couple dozen "fancy" cakes, you find you're lucky if you get "fancy" enough to put sprinkles on top!)

It surely tasted yummy!Happy Birthday,Sweetie Pie!