Bingo...... :)

January 25, 2009

So far so good... I have held Family Home Evening three weeks in a row! I am so happy :). So for FHE this week, we played BINGO! This has been played in my family since I can remember. It was always such a treat when we played for FHE, we would get so excited. Now we play BINGO at every family reunion.

My kids were very excited for BINGO, but I also did a lesson on the pioneers. Daxton just had his kick off fireside for Trek, so I thought it would be a good idea to have this as a FHE lesson. They played some awesome video footage at the fireside about the three 18 yr old boys who carried so many pioneers across a freezing stream. I thought this would be a good opportunity to teach my kids about their testimonies, and making sure to always be building and keeping their testimonies strong. It turned out to be a great lesson. I think we will talk about the pioneers often, to prepare Dax for his Trek. I really enjoy hearing the stories of the pioneers also.

Here is Dave Calling out the BINGO! My Dad used to call out some of the numbers in German, so Dave threw out a few made up German numbers :) He was so funny!

Everyone was so intent on watching their cards!

Brayden picking out one of his prizes!

Dax trying to decide which prize to choose!

These were the prizes they won :)
Fiddle Faddle, a book light, glow sticks, twix, gum and soda!

Here are the kids with their glow sticks.

They were a big hit!

Brayden won Black Out!! He was very, very happy :) I was also happy since he would be very distraught if he had not won. He always thinks he never wins, always gets the smallest of everything, gets the short end of the stick.... you know. So here is future proof that you are a winner!! Ha...Ha.... He won his own big bag of Valentines Reeses Peanut Butter Cups!! Good job buddy! We had such a fun time!!

Here is some funny footage of Dawson using his glow stick as a light saber. It was very funny, especially the light saber sounds he was making :).

Day 3 of our Cruise!!

Day 3

(at sea)

I thought the days at sea would be so boring, but they were great! It was nice to have a few days that you could just sit there. We would explore the ship. It was crazy that even on the last day we would discover new things. There is always something to do on a cruise ship. We saw Broadway type shows (which really were amazing considering we were on a ship), watched movies that were still in theater, saw comedians, saw hypnotists, swam, sat in Jacuzzis, played basketball, etc. The entertainment was never ending!

This night was formal night. I was definitely not excited about having to pack formal clothes, but it ended up being fun. They actually had two formal nights, but we opted to only attend one of them.

The guys ready to enjoy each others company on formal night!

My sister Julia found this dress for me on clearance for $5 :). That is the only reason I agreed to do the formal night. I did not want to go spend a lot of money on a formal dress. So this was perfect!

This is Liz and I in the Piazza. The Piazza was the middle of the ship and it was 3 storys of the ship all opened up. It was beautiful! It was like being on the Titanic. They always had a small orchestra playing, or some form of entertainment. For formal night they had a huge champagne tower, and gave everyone free champagne. Too bad we don't drink...Ha..Ha...

The Piazza was full this night. It must have been the free Champagne.

This is looking down from the top floor to the bottom of the Piazza.
That is the Champagne tower.

Two happy couples without a care in the world!

Kids....what kids :)

After dinner, we went to see a comedian. You had to show up to the lounge about 45 min before the show to get a seat. So we brought the game Minus 5 to play while we waited. Also, they had a band playing, they were trying to get people to dance. No one would go up and dance. They kept saying I guess we suck as a band :(. We felt so bad, so Liz and Brian went up and were the only ones dancing. Then Dave and I got up on the next song, and we were they only ones!

Playing Minus 5

Day 2 of our cruise!!

Day 2

(Princess Cays, Bahamas)

Our first breakfast buffet! It was awesome food, very yummy :).

The ship was almost to our first stop!

Getting ready to be tendered over to the island!

This is what Dave looked like everyday :).

He always had all the snorkel gear on his back, he was so good to carry it all

so we didn't have to rent it.

I had to post this picture, because this is a classic Dave pose.

It always makes me laugh so hard!!

This is on a little boat being "Tendered" over to the island.

They call it being tendered when you take a boat, and can not just walk off the ship.

Here is a view of our ship as we were being tendered.

Here are some views of the island as we approached it.

It was so incredible beautiful!!

We've finally arrived!

Our guys going snorkeling!

We layed out while they were out. I have never been snorkeling before, so they finally dragged me in the water and made me try it. Wow...it was so fun!! On this island there is no sight seeing. You just spend the day in the water or sun tanning. They also have a lunch BBQ. We were there from about 10 am to 3 pm. It was just a relaxing day not having to run around trying to see a bunch of sights.

Just a beautiful picture of the white sand, and our ship off in the distance.

At night to eat in the dining hall, you have to dress up. I was not to happy about this, as I was there to relax. Plus, I was not happy about packing an extra wardrobe just to eat in. Oh well, it was fun, and the dining halls are very formal. They pull your chair out to seat you, place your napkins on your lap, and the meal is very very good. It is placed on your plate so beautifully. Being the picky eater that I am, I at the same thing for dinner ever night :). Oh but it was yummy. They were called beef medallions. It was little steaks! Everyone else tried new and different things each night. They loved it!

All showered, and ready to go eat dinner!

"When in doubt... pinky out!"
This picture is for anyone who watches Sponge Bob...
when he and Patrick are trying to be fancy they say, "when in doubt, pinky out."

We learned that they had Chocolate Shakes (unfortunately these were not a free item). As you can see from my face, I was very excited! I love Chocolate Shakes :). Even though they were not free, Liz and I still managed to eat 4 during the remainder of the cruise. I am surprised we didn't gain to much weight. Chocolate Shake finished...equals one very happy girl!

The service on the ship is amazing! There are so many employees every where to get you what ever you want! If you set any dish down, it was gone within seconds, they are all over it.

At night, we would just relax! Oh, we also played the game Minus 5 a lot. We would just sitting in a dining area at night and play, and we ate lots of Peanut M&M's. Dave had the good idea to bring some treats with us on to the ship. It was a good idea since everything on board costs a lot more.Just relaxing!

Another awesome day!

Finally..... :)

So I am finally getting around to posting about our cruise :). I have been working all day and I am only on day 4 :(. There is so much, and I am not even putting all our pictures on. So I have decided I am just going to post one day of our trip each day for the next few days. So here goes our first day!!

November 6 - 14, 2009

My favorite picture of the whole trip!

Finally.... Dave and I got to take a vacation by ourselves!! Yes, that is right. No kids :). Don't get me wrong, we sure love our kids. However, this was a much needed vacation. We have gone with just the baby, but never by ourselves. We have been married 14 years, so it was about time. WE HAD THE TIME OF OUR LIVES!!

We went on a cruise with my sister Lizzy and her husband Brian. I never expected it to be so much fun. I guess a large part of that was due to the fact that Liz and Brian are a lot of fun to be with, and we get along very well. They are the best! Our cruise went to Princess Cays (the cruise lines private island in the Bahamas), Grand Cayman, Roatan (Honduras), and Cozumel (Mexico).

I was very nervous to leave, since we have never left all our kids at once. I was especially nervous leaving Dawson, since he can be quite a little stink! We were very lucky to have my brother Lorrin and his wife Tahnee come and stay with the kids. They both work, so I had to find someone to take Dawson during the day. A few of my neighbors helped me out, and I was so very grateful. Believe it or not, all of them said how great Dawson was for them :) Lorrin and Tahnee were awesome with the kids. They all had such a great time. I think they did not miss us at all :(. I guess my tears of concern the night before we left were all in vein. Not that I am complaining.

So on Friday the 6th of November, Dave and I flew to Florida. We went the day before, because Dave was very nervous our bags would not make it if we went the day of. It was very fun to go the day before, we got some alone time in a nice hotel :). The weather was very windy in Florida, because hurricane Ida was hitting out in the Atlantic. Which also meant that we would have some very choppy water and rain almost every day of the cruise. Even with some yucky weather, we had so much fun. The next day Liz and Brian picked us up at our hotel, and we headed out to board our ship!!

Day 1
(at sea)

Dave and I getting ready to board the ship,

(you can just see the nose of the ship to the right of Dave)

Liz & Brian boarding!!

Two very excited couples as our ship was leaving Ft. Lauderdale!

Here are a few pictures of when we first got on the ship:

Two happy sissy's!!

Liz and Brian being oh so sexy!

Our hot men :) Oh...La..La..

Notice the awesome big outdoor screen for movies behind us.

We tried to watch the new Star Trek on night, but none of us lasted very long.

Us old folk were all falling asleep :(.

Sampling our first free food :) Pizza!!

One last picture leaving Florida with the sunset!

We're off for an adventure!!

This is what our rooms looked like. They just move out the night stands, and move the beds together. They put the night stands on both sides of the bed, throw on and egg crate to make it a queen size bed. The rooms were small, but actually not to bad. It was actually very nice having an interior room, because it is pitch black with the lights out. So on days you actually wanted to sleep in it was awesome!

There was a little desk and mini fridge, and behind them was a big closet and the bathroom. Liz said she liked the bathroom because she could sit and go to the bathroom, and do her makeup at the same time :). Ha...Ha... The bathrooms were very small.

Two cheesy sissy's!

The first order of business once the ship set sail, was everyone had to find their Muster Stations. They made you try on a life jacket and reviewed in the event of an emergency info. We had a fun first night of eating, exploring, and relaxing!