Clara turned 3!

Clara turned 3 last week. This is her Bday video if you're interested.

Western Caribbean Cruise 2019

Western Caribbean Cruise Jan/2019 

(I don't know why pictures look perfectly clear until I add them to the blog and then they're blurry...sorry)

Boarded the Carnival Glory on Saturday morning- 1/12/19. Sunday was a fun day at sea. 

Monday the port was Cayman Islands--We did a tour with three parts -snorkeling, sting ray city, and starfish beach.  We got to hold a sting ray and kiss it and Dad got a neck rub from it. 

At the next stop we got to hold a starfish and see a few of them along the beach. You're not supposed to take them out of the water.

Starfish Point

 Tuesday was Roatan, Mahogany Bay.  Taxi driver took us to an animal place where we got to hold a sloth and let the monkeys jump around on our heads. We also held and fed the Macaws. It was pretty fun. The animals were very tame and friendly. It rained nearly the entire time we were out with the taxi driver. 

After holding the animals, our taxi driver took us to the Pirates of the Caribbean Zip line where we did the Extreme Extreme pkg. it included about 9 zip lines. And although we got super dirty and wet, I thought it was pretty fun.

Wednesday our port was Belize. We took an hour-long bus ride to get to the boat ride which was nearly another hour to get to the ruins.  The boat ride was pretty fun. It took us through a narrow channel at some pretty high speeds at times.  We got to walk through the jungle to get from ruin to ruin. There were three main structures that we got to see. The second one we got to climb to the very top of and look out over the jungle. Belize is very green and jungly.

Mayan ruins in Belize

View from the top of the ruins

Today we took a taxi to Palancar Beach.  We each paid $35 to snorkel by boat and went to a couple of spots, and we saw a lot of fish and even a turtle. Then we went back to shore and lounged on the beach for an hour or two. I enjoyed the day very much.

Palancar Beach

 
Another day at sea and we were back in Miami early Saturday morning to begin the long trip home.
Another great cruise come and gone. I'd have to say out of everything, my favorite spot was the dining room on board the ship! YUMMMM! And so fun to be waited on every day. I'm a fan of cruising!

Tessa's Dance Recital

Tessa had her first dance recital and did great!

I apologize for the unfortunate camera angle... Haha.

Leah's Birth Photos

We hired a photographer to document Leah's birth and the kids meeting her the next day. Here are some of my favorites. I realize these are 10x more special to me than they would be to anyone else, but if you want to see about a million more... I also put together a slideshow, HERE.

Enjoy! ;)

Beautiful Fall Colors

Dad and I enjoyed a beautiful ride Saturday over to Porcupine Reservoir where some salmon were running, and over to Liberty.  Great day with beautiful Fall colors!

Hunter Homecoming Date

Hunter had his first date on Saturday. He went with Chloe Wallentine to the Homecoming dance. When I asked him how it went, he said "there was lipstick and hickeys everywhere". So I guess he had fun! 😄

Hiking in Zion National Park and Cedar Breaks 2018

Cedar City Trip 2018

These girls love hiking!

Annette, Julie, Marie, Dani, Machel

We left home Sunday evening and spent two days hiking in Zions and Cedar Breaks. We also saw The Prince of Egypt at the Tuacahn Theater on Tuesday night. It was excellent! We attended a session in the Cedar Temple Wednesday morning and then headed home. Very fun.

Canyon Overlook trail in Zions

The Narrows

Hiking Thor's Hideout in Cedar City

Cedar City view

Cedar Breaks Overlook Trail

Cedar Breaks

And here's a short video of the trip. You may have to slide the cursor bar over if it's cutting off a side.

Grass Progress

Well I know you've all been dying for an update on our yard ;)

The grass is coming in, slowwwwwly. and the weeds are coming in quickly. It's still pretty patchy but we've been told it will fill in and the weeds will go away after we start mowing. We aren't impressed, so far. We have a neighbor that did their own seed right after us, and their grass is flourishing. They've already mowed it three times.

I'm starting to come around to the idea of having three girls. I think it's going to be alright. Let's hope she takes after Ayla!... ha. jk?... but not really.

I'm getting released as a primary teacher/activity days leader (yay!) And they're calling me to be a primary pianist. I'm pretty nervous since I'm not a very good sight reader. But I guess we'll see how it goes.

Well, That's it. We're excited for Hansen Park! Out of the blue the other day I heard the girls singing the skunk song. it made me laugh. We'll see you soon!

Addi turns 7

https://youtu.be/Q_h7L5wvz7g

Bryce Canyon 6/14/18

We took a fast two-day trip to Bryce Canyon June 14-15, 2018.  Julie, Gregg, Katey, Bryce, Kortney, Ella and Ty came with Scott, Hunter and I.

We spent Friday in Bryce Canyon. We did the Queen's Garden hike and the Navajo trail. We visited the Sunrise Point, Sunset Point, Inspiration Point and Bryce Point. All of which was stunning!

The Clan in Bryce Canyon

Hiking in Red Canyon

Red Canyon

Waterfall by Mossy Cave near Bryce Canyon

We stayed at the Day's Inn in Panguitch. Good choice. It was about 30 min. to Bryce Canyon.  We did a little biking  from Bryce Canyon to the Visitor Center in Red Canyon. I enjoyed the downhill parts, but the paved trail had lots of divots in it which made for a rougher ride on my road bike. Still very fun. Stopped at the petting zoo in Scipio on the way home. That's always fun. :)