Easter 2011

Finally a beautiful day! We have waited so long for a nice day and it couldn't have come at a better time. :) Easter is such a special day. I am so grateful for the Atonement and the power it has in my life. I love our Savior, Jesus Christ, so much and appreciate his sacrifice for me as well as all of us. Each day I need His love and patience!

It was also terrific to spend time with family. All of the boys except Zac were able to come home for lunch. Richie even came to our ward for church. :) Sometimes I miss the days of wrestling five little boys through sacrament meeting. Okay, maybe I don't miss the wrestling, but I do miss having them around. I'm grateful for the great lives they are living and appreciate that they are learning and growing even though it means they can't always be here.

After lunch Emmy and Eva had a little Easter Hunt in the front yard. Our customary place is the backyard, but it's still just too soggy!! Daren was lying on the couch and Emmy said, "Come and have a Easter egg hunt Daren!" Eva called the eggs "ball" and in the case of a pretty yellow egg, "apple". She and Emmy are both so adorable. We love having them here!

After the egg hunt, the boys took turns sharing their skills. Richie juggled golf balls for Emmy and Robbie caught jello jigglers in his mouth. Richie and Ty both gave it a shot as well, but Robbie is the champion jiggler catcher. We went back out front and the boys entertained us with a game of bocce ball. Robbie even attempted a sky high jiggler catch on the front lawn. It was such a fun day together!

When the girls were saying their goodbyes, I gave Emmy a big hug and told her to come again tomorrow. She said, "Okay!" Sounds like a good idea to me! I love our family so much and enjoy just watching them having fun together. :)

January Cruise

In January Ted and I had the pleasure of cruising to the Eastern Caribbean. The weather was fantastic and each of the islands we visited beautiful and unique. This was our first visit to an Eastern itinerary and we loved it! We relaxed, had fun and ate tons of delicious food. I think it's time to start planning next years trip!! Okay, maybe I'll wait until .........March. :-) We're always looking for traveling companions. The cruise will cost some money, but I can promise you, the memories are priceless!

This picture is of a couple that we met from North Carolina.


This couple was from New Jersey and had the greatest New Yorker accents. We met them at the show one evening and become good friends for the remainder of the trip. One night we saw them, and she said, "We wuz lookin fa yous two!" I hope the spelling helped you catch their cool accent!
These two pictures were taken on a couple of days when I decided to try curling my hair instead of wearing it straight. I've never been able to pull it off before because my layers were too short and I just ended up looking like a porcupine with a perm. But I decided to try it on the trip since if it looked really stupid, I knew I wouldn't be remembered by anyone that I see on a regular basis. It turns out, I kind of liked it and I really enjoyed having a different way to do my hair, especially since down there in the humidity, it wanted to be wavy instead of straight anyway! I've actually curled it a few times since we got back. It's great to have another hair option. :)
These two pictures were taken in the dance club. Very funky, yet comfortable chairs!


We visited five island on our trip. This is St. Thomas. We visited Megans Bay. We had seen it on the Travel Channel's Top Ten Beaches and it certainly lived up to it's billing.
A gorgeous bay with soft white sand. It wasn't as warm that day, but it was perfect for lying on the sand!


St. Kitts was less developed than some of the other islands. We walked into the center of town where there was a beautiful Catholic cathedral. The girls were part of a class that came into the church. I visited with them and asked what they learn in school. She said, "Good Christian living." That sounds like a very good school. They were adorable!



Our next stop was in Barbados. While we were there we went snorkeling with sea turtles. They were fantastic! I'm kind of a chicken, but I finally got up the nerve to touch the shell. It was awesome! I was pretty proud of myself! Somehow, I didn't manage to get any pictures in Barbados. I guess it's because I was busy swimming with the turtles and fish! I really did think I should have gotten an underwater camera, however, it wasn't the case! I'll just have to go back!

These next pictures were taken in Dominica. It's not the Dominican Republic, but a different island altogether. It was definitely a rain forest! They grow really big poinsettia's there as you can see and the waterfalls were beautiful!






This is in St Maarten. Our final and favorite port of call. I would love to spend 5 or 6 nights here. These are our traveling companions. Don & Jayne Knight, Judi and Bob Bliss. The Bliss' are customers of Ted's from Delta. The Knights are their friends. We enjoyed getting to know the Knights and spending time with the Bliss'. Such pleasant company. They didn't even mind when Ted and I slept in on sea days.

A sailboat in the sunset just before we set sail in St. Maarten.

This is our waiter Peter and his assistant Christian. Once Christian learned that I like lemon in my water and lemonade to drink, it was always there waiting for me. On our last night, they had run out of lemonade so he made me a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade! It was a little sour, but my favorite of the entire trip! He was a gem!
All in all a fantastic trip!

Winter. . . . .

Well it's officially winter. Okay, I guess it's been winter for a while. For whatever reason once February comes, it seems like it should be Spring! I know, wishful thinking At least we're headed in the right direction and the sunny days we've enjoyed this week have helped. That is until you go outside and it's only 7 degrees! But at least it looks warmer. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's hard to believe that the holiday season is again upon us! It always amazes me how quickly the years fly by. We had a terrific Thanksgiving Celebration. It started with an Aggie win over the Utes on Wednesday night. What a great way to start the festivities! Then the family all came out for pie night. I heard about another family that had pie on Wednesday night when they could still enjoy it. I have to say, it worked! The pie tasted fantastic! Then Ty and Amanda and the girls as well as Richie, Zac and Daren were here overnight. Robbie and Mari went home to Logan, but everyone else found a spot to sleep. Ted and I had the pleasure of a darling nearly three year old in our room. It was so much fun! We read some of my favorite stories before she went to sleep. It was funny because she picked "Katy and the Big Snow" by Virginia Burton. I always loved to read that especially after a big storm. Very appropriate after our Tuesday blizzard! Which while it was short-lived, was still very ferocious!!

Thanksgiving morning we had Liege waffles, a recipe from a town in Belgium. They weren't quite as good as Bruges in SLC, but they still tasted really awesome! Then on to getting the turkey and all the fixin's ready for dinner. Other than almost forgetting to make the stuffing, the meal was so good! I even ate some of Amanda's sweet potatoes! Anyone who knows me realizes how impressive that is! Then more pie! It makes me full just thinking about it! (Although that could be due to the spudnuts that I made tonight! I need to go back to work and quit baking such delicious treats!) After the dishes were done, we gathered in the living room to share our favorite blessings. It was such a great time together thinking about how truly blessed we are! I for one am so grateful for our growing family. It's such a blessing to add to our already fantastic family such great girls. I love my daughters in law and adorable granddaughters so much and am so very thankful for the beautiful promise that life brings! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Wedding Pictures

Tonight Robbie and Mari brought copies of their wedding pictures. It was so much fun to relive the day through the pictures! What a wonderful day! We love Mari and her family and enjoyed sharing the experience with all of them. I feel so blessed to have another great daughter join our family. We love Mari and appreciate what a great wife she is. I love having Robbie and Mari come visit and look forward to the years ahead. :)

Robbie's Married!

Last week was so awesome! We went to the temple with Mari and Robbie for the wedding on Tuesday. It was fantastic! Such a beautiful ceremony! Afterwards we had a family luncheon at the Riter Mansion. It was so pretty! We took lots of pictures at the temple and in the gardens around the Mansion and enjoyed a delicious lunch. We appreciate the love and support of family and friends on their special day. My camera charger was lost, :( so I don't actually have any pictures yet, but as soon as the photographer has them ready I'll post some.

I'm so grateful for Mari! She is such a beautiful person, inside and out, and absolutely perfect for Robbie! It's so much fun to see them together. It will be so great to watch them grow and learn all about life, marriage and family. I am also so grateful for Mari's family. They are awesome people! When Robbie and Mari were first dating, they told us her mom and I would be best friends because we are so much alike. Well, they were right! I love Michelle! She has been such a joy to plan a wedding with. We are looking forward to enjoying many milestones together with our amazing kids!

Disneyland

The first week of June, Ted and I drove to California with Ty, Amanda, Emorie, Eva, Richie and Richie's girlfriend Sarah. We drove to Hurricane the first day and spent the night with Ted's sister Sonja and her husband Ron. As a bonus, their daughter Stacey was also there! They took such good care of us, including waiting up for us, we arrived at 10:45, feeding us dinner when we got there, finding comfortable beds for everyone and a delicious breakfast of scones and eggs. It was so much fun to be with them.

The next morning we left Utah at 9:30, expecting a six hour drive to Anaheim. We had forgotten to account for Memorial Day traffic out of Las Vegas. It took us 11 hours to make the drive! To their credit, everyone was pleasant and patient. Even the little girls! :) We finally arrived and headed straight for Disneyland. Yeah! We were there until midnight! Ted and I finished the night at Splash Mountain, my favorite ride. :) Since no one was waiting, we got to go again. When we returned from that trip, they asked if we wanted to go again? Ted reluctlantly agreed. As we came back in the third time, without Ted seeing, I motioned to the operator, 1 more time?? And we went around again! It was so much fun.

The highlight of the next day was lunch at Ariel's Grotto where all of the princesses came by our table to see Emorie. It was so much fun to watch her interact with her hero's. She was definitely a little starstruck! After lunch Ted, Richie, Sarah and I went to Laguna Beach for some water fun. It was a little cool, but still fun. I love the beach! After we got back, we returned to Disneyland to watch the fireworks. I hate to say it, but it made our Lewiston July 4th fireworks look a little small. :( It's okay, we still love the 4th in Lewiston!

Wednesday was more Disney fun with lunch at Downtown Disney's Rainforest Cafe. It's such a fun place. The first time a thunderstorm struck during dinner, the girls were a little nervous, but after a while they both started to enjoy all the commotion. Wednesday night we enjoyed the fireworks from the hotel balcony and then went to bed early. Kind of. I don't think we ever went to bed before midnight.

Thursday was more California adventure fun in the morning. I rode the Tower of Terror for the first time. Can I just say, "I WAS TERRIFIED!" but in a good way. I really, really liked it! I love how Disney makes each ride an attraction, not just a rollercoaster. We all went to the beach Thursday afternoon. It was a little warmer, but not much. The waves were really strong, but Richie still braved the surf diving under the waves and also riding them in. After we got cleaned up, we went back for one last evening all together. Ted, Richie & Sarah were leaving Friday morning. I was waiting with Ty, Amanda and the girls to fly home on Saturday. Ty and Amanda didn't know if the girls could take the drive home, so we had planned ahead to fly home Saturday morning. We rode the Finding Nemo Submarine and got off about 8:50 and wanted to get to Pirates of the Caribbean. It's one of Ted's favorite rides and we hadn't ridden it yet. The park was closing early at 9 for an all night Senior Graduation party, so we knew it was our last chance. We ran as fast as we could through the fireworks crowd, dodging and ducking to try to make it in time. When we got there, the chains were up. :( I was so disappointed. Then I saw some people just going through the doors up above for the last ride and we jumped the chains and asked if we could go too. The girl wasn't too happy about it, but she gave in and we made it on the very last boat. It was a fitting end to Ted's time at Disneyland. I've never been able to talk him into more than 1 day at Disney, so this was a big step for him. He actually had a really good time and we all loved watching the girls enjoy the vacation. I was just so glad he got to ride his favorite ride!

Friday morning Ted, Richie and Sarah left about 9 am and the rest of us headed back to the park. We rode the Disneyland train, Buzz Lightyears Astroblasters and then we waited at Pixie Hollow to see Tinkerbell one more time. We were so excited for Emorie when Terrance, the keeper of the Pixie Dust was there! I of course, hadn't realized how big a deal this was, but I was very happy she got to see him when I figured it out! Then we had lunch and went to California Adventure to see Alladin. Can I just tell you, I LOVED IT!! I had seen it before and loved it, but I still loved it! I had forgotten how funny the genie is! They did an amazing job. After a short rest at the hotel, we went back for fish and chips and Fantasmic, just one more time! We were all very tired and ready to climb into bed for our early morning flight. I love vacationing with my kids! Everyone of them helped make it a great trip! I loved how Richie and Sarah enjoyed playing with Emorie and Eva. At the Rainforest Cafe, the got Eva clapping in such a cute way. I guess you kind of had to be there, but it was so funny! Eva was such a trooper going from place to place, and Emorie was so much fun to watch as she experienced the magic of Disney firsthand. Ty and Amanda are such great parents, and so good to bring us all along on their family vacation. And Ted is such a great dad and grandpa. He never complained but just followed along wherever we drug him. :) Lets go again!!