About Me

The Trip :o)

Mon, 8 Mar 2010 18:44:55 -0700

Well, I’ve been yelled at TWICE already for not having posted pictures of our cruise to the Carribean. Needless to say it was super fun and we had such a good week together. Here’s a summary and then PICTURES you can go to with captions. A huge thank you goes out to all the Angleseys who helped make this trip possible by watching the little kiddos for us. Thanks again!
Day 1 (March 21): flew out of SLC to Ft. Lauderdale. Went on a wild goose chase looking for sushi and ended up at the Hard Rock Cafe.
Day 2: Headed down to Miami for the cruise takeoff. Yucky weather, anticipating more bad weather the rest of the week but it wasn’t as bad as expected. Left the port, etc. Sailed around for the rest of the day on our way down to Grand Turk.
Day 3: “Fun Day at Sea” Sunned, ate, went to a show (the comedian was absolutely HILARIOUS, best we’ve ever heard). No wait, the comedian was the next night, oh well. Still awesome. Fun relaxing day! Beautiful weather too, just right. :o) Played cards on deck. Kevin debuted his “This Big” shirt (I’ll have to find a picture of it somewhere . . . he was pretty excited.
Day 4: Grand Turk. SO beautiful. Talk about the crystal clear waters and fine white sandy beaches. A small island with not a lot to do but oh so relaxing and beautiful. We went snorkeling and snuba-ing. (The snorkeling was actually better than the snuba, so now we know!) Found nail polishes for the girl from Del Sol (which is actually a company based out of SLC we here, funny yes?) that change color in the sun! And yes, they were absolutely thrilled and kept running inside and out once they put it on. Gorgeous weather, absolutely perfect. Formal dinner night (I think, maybe the night before?).
Day 5: Supposed to go to Half Moon Cay, but the weather was not agreeing with us so we had another inproptu day at sea. It was pretty rocky at times, but it was still fun just to be with adults for a whole day! :o) So we ended up playing Phase 10 with 8 of us which took somewhere around 7 hours or so. Had snacks (several rounds of the plentiful ice cream, haha), talked, played, talked more, etc. Not too exciting but like I said, I was just excited to be with adults (and super nice ones too!) so I feel I still thoroughly enjoyed myself. Came back to our room and something had flooded it. We found it dripping from the ceiling. Rude front desk lady Aida wouldn’t give us a new room “they are all full.” Asked to speak to manager in the morning.
Day 6: Nassau. We walked a little downtown and decided we did not want to be around all that pollution all day so we headed out to Atlantis Resort for the day. SO worth it and absolutely a total blast. Kudos for Andreas for wheeling and dealing us in for only $56/person (vs. $150/per from the ship or $110/person at the gate). We are kaniving? tourists now. Woohoo! Anyway, total blast. Enjoyed the water rides, private beaches, and yummy Marina’s Pizza. Hit the straw market on the way back and got a few more little souveneirs for the girls. Got back on boat, headed home that night. Got upgraded to a new room, balcony suite, because they (amazingly) had an extra room we could move to that wasn’t leaking. So we enjoyed that and the $45 they gave us back very much that night! :o)
Day 7: Back in Miami! Left the boat, headed back up to Ft. Lauderdale to wait for our 5pm flight. Went to Kev’s favorite beach there, which would have been perfect except for the bad weather. :o( Changed minds and went to a movie, Valentine’s Day. Headed back to airport to ride worst turbulence rides of our lives back home! Made it home safe and sound. :o) PS-We learned to beware the Haitian yellow taxi drivers, but the Jamaican ones are awesome! Respect mon!
Hmmm, other little notes to remember (for me I guess): Kevin really liked shopping at the cruise ship’s store (much to my dismay) hehe. All the cute little towel animals got me to buy the book for the girls and sleepovers/visitors/etc. If I think of anything else I guess I will just have to add it later. Oh, and somehow the world’s greatest homemade tortilla chips (and likely most unhealthy) happen to be made on that boat. Oh, and Kevin worked out at least once every day and gained 5 lbs (even with all of his judgmental dessert deprivation) and I worked out once and only gained 2 lbs. That’s right. Not to brag, I just guarantee this will never happen again and I don’t want to forget it. Also, there are some really good little kareoke singers we were with. Kudos Cory! Oh yeah! And beware of offending foreign waitresses (namely from Bosnia . . .). Thanks Andreas.

Congratulations David!

Thu, 4 Mar 2010 16:53:31 -0700

We are so excited! David is getting married April 16 to Amy from Maryland. (We haven’t met yet, but he’s absolutely crazy about her and she seems plenty nice on the phone!) We love you Dave and am so excited for you! I guess these two “other” ladies in your life will have to wiggle over a little bit eh?

Little Cuties

Thu, 4 Mar 2010 15:11:26 -0700

So I’ve been making nursing covers for baby gifts lately, a lot! Ka’s been asking for her own so she doesn’t “have to use the apron” for a while now and today turned out the be the perfect day to do it! So thanks to a lot of scraps laying around, both the girls have their own nursing covers to be little mamas with (complete with the boning peek window, Ka was very specific about that). Gotta love ‘em! Kaylee immediately ran upstairs and put hers to good use. And despite the adorable cover Miss Belle got (which will have to be pictured later), she saw her Halloween costume and insisted on being a bumble bee this morning. What a diva. ;o)

Bathtime Babies

Wed, 3 Mar 2010 15:16:42 -0700

I’m sorry, but I don’t care how old they are, but as long as these girls are taking baths, they will be my babies. It’s been funny the past couple of nights. Ka painted Daddy’s fingernails (what a good sport!), silly faces, and E was a poser a couple nights ago and last night I came home to the camera on the bed and checked the pics and found that after their swimming date with Daddy (while I was at symphony - I know, he’s the best right!?) they had some pretty amazing hair-dos for bathtime! I was totally cracking up! What adorable little sisters that love eachother so. (That’s right, I have to remember this in writing, hehe.)

Congratulations Rebecca!

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:23:09 -0700

Yet ANOTHER nursing cover. (They’re just the best though!) Rebecca had her little boy Logan Tyler early so I’m glad I got this done early! We love ya Rebecca! You’ll be the best. :o)

Sweet Belle

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:26:15 -0700

Lately I’ve been pondering my smallest, yet often greatest challenge and blessing. She is so sweet, yet so stubborn. I’ve had to completely revamp my parenting strategy with this one (as I’ve heard is done with every child). Ka was so guidable. Let her know what she couldn’t do and she wouldn’t. Let E know what she can’t do and you’ve just given her ideas. Well, although not guidable, she is teachable. She is highly motivated by being a “good girl.” She’s been saying that more often “me me good girl!” when she’s trying to actually be one or when she’s having to be reminded how. It’s so good for me to hear that she really does just want to do the right thing and be good. You can all see the gleam in her eye (and that’s the one with her smile, not the evil one . . .) but her little twinkle shines just as brightly and I am grateful (most of the time) for a little ray of sunshine who warms our home and occasionally burns me to keep me on top of things. Little Belle . . .

Baking Day

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:32:42 -0700

Mmmm!!! Little fingers at the this house had a pretty exciting afternoon making cookies. I love the Usborne’s Children’s Book of Baking! All the recipes that call for mixing ingredients have the kiddos put little chunks of butter in the flour mixture and mix it all together with their (CLEAN) hands! They love it, I love that cooking is an all inclusive sensory experience for them and that I don’t have to worry about them getting in trouble with the mixer. Silly I know, but still super fun. Yes, it was messy, but not hardly as much as I thought it would be (it was a more complex recipe). It’s hard for me to do stuff like this because it’s (obviously) easier without “helpers” but it makes me remember to let them experience the things I love too! Here’s to a day of baking babes!

Valentine’s Treats!

Mon, 8 Feb 2010 15:38:27 -0700

Mmmm, yummy yummy! Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE to bake and LOVE to make treats so what better occasion than the day of LOVE! Above are the treats we made for Kev’s work, friends, and neighbors. The girls helped me make crayon hearts and put them in cute little baggies for Kaylee’s preschool class and they turned out super cute! We also decorated their Valentine’s mailboxes tonight for FHE and they had a total blast. (Thank you Target $ aisle!)

Apple Pie!

Wed, 3 Feb 2010 15:44:31 -0700

The first two-word phrase she ever said and by far her favorite, Apple Pie! Miss Belle LOVES apple pie! We literally drive into the WM parking lot and she starts into “apple pie! apple pie!” (Yes, I am the mother who bribes her children with McD’s “apple pie!” sometimes to get through a shopping trip. Her favorite food must forever be remembered as “apple pie!”

What?!?!

Wed, 3 Feb 2010 15:41:25 -0700

OK, so I know all of you are laughing just as hard as I was when I took this picture. I have no IDEA what E was thinking, but I saw what she was doing and had to snap it quick! She was yanking her panties (which she is still trying to earn BTW, uh.) up to who knows where and running laps around the kitchen with the biggest grin and giggles. I hope you all have strange hilarious moments like this because I smile everytime I see this and think I will for a very, very long time. Ahhhh.