ON THE WAY HOME

Our original intent was to start the drive home Sunday after the cruise (we were very glad to find a church near our hotel where we were able to attend before and after the cruise which starts and ends on Sundays) and arrive at Rich's on Monday, then home on Tuesday. Well, first Pam asked Gary if he wanted Jay's Blazer tickets for Wed. night to go with Rich, so we decided to stay a couple more days. Then Austin used his heart-melting look to ask if we could stay for his basketball game on Sat. morning which added another couple of days at Rich's. We enjoyed being there although we didn't get home until Sat. afternoon with a SS lesson and a talk to prepare, a car to unpack and hundreds of dirty clothes.

Our first activity was a treasure hunt for a Valentine bag of stickers, candy, and balloons. Each kid followed a series of clues to finally find their "prize."

They were upstairs and downstairs and all over.

All the grandchildren get Valentine packages, but it was fun being with these kids at their house doing the treasure hunt. Wish I could have done that for all the rest of them.

Jessi and "Shoo Fly."

Little Ella, the very daintiest of 10 month olds.




Here Jessi gets the camera bug and below are a few shots of the 25-30 that she took.

I will spare you the rest as they were pretty bad...people making faces, big feet, and the ceiling.

The game!!!!

It's hard to get a good picture at a ball game, but here's Austin in black #1...rebound...

...and on the run. He scored 6 points.

Vacation is over!!

ANNIVERSARY AT SEA

Another cruise? We wanted to so something special for our 25th wedding anniversary, so off we went!!



Our ship sailed from Long Beach so we drove down to CA...and there's always a picture of Mt. Shhhhhaaaaaaaasssssttttaaaa.



Our ship was the Carnival SPLENDOR...



...and we took a break from the buffet to go up on deck for departure.




This ship was the most wildly decorated of any ship we've ever been on...no rhyme nor reason to the decor. One of the comedians described it as "Aladden throwing up" but it was sure colorful.




These are the members of our party for six...Jim and Carlene and Todd and Sandy.




This was right after Gary presented me with my anniversary silver jewelry gifts.

Women were invited to dance with the waiters.

The video of the anniversary song by the waiters was too long, but this is how it ended.

Our anniversary cake. We were too full to eat it after a huge dinner, so it either went to the fishies or was served at the dessert buffet. :0)

Out on a boat ride in Cabo San Lucas...

Passing by the arch...

Sea lion sunning himself...how in the world did he get up there?

Some of the weird characters in port :0)

Beautiful weather in Puerto Viarta...

Seeing the sights...

No picture, but Puerto Viarta actually has a Walmart. Did we go? What do you think?

Our waiters bidding us goodbye..."Justin Beeber", Ali, and John. These guys were the greatest but that's what all the passengers think about their own waiters.

After Christmas

First, Gary added several nutcrackers to his new collection and I didn't have the heart to pack them away with the Christmas decorations.


So I generously :0) created a shelf in the bell cabinet for the smaller ones, and the tall ones that wouldn't fit are on top guarding the plant which is obviously too large for its pot and may fall over any minute.

JANUARY'S wreath...a little windblown...because...

...the wind and snow came a little late after the holidays. We had to work real hard to lift the lid and get into the hot tub wearing boots to make a path.

The wind fairy kindly turned over the picnic chairs to "protect" them from the elements.

And, by the way, where's the swimming pool?

This was treacherous to drive in for a few days...snow, ice, melting, more snow, ice, and melting.

Eat your heart out, you Texans.

MORE HOLIDAY FUN WITH FAMILY

The day after Christmas we drove to Western Washington to visit with Keith and Melora, Sophie and Sam for a couple of days.We exchanged Christmas gifts, ate fantastic food, and just basically hung out. Nice rest for me not having to cook.


See the DVD in Sophie's hand? She and I have a common interest.

Judi and kids came over to watch BYU win their bowl game Friday and we did fun stuff all day.

Some of our projects were more entertaining than others; I guess it depended on how much time was needed to complete them. This one didn't take too long.

Rich and Andrea brought their kids Saturday and we had a great New Years and football weekend. Gary loves having someone to watch football with and Harrison and Rich were the perfect ones.

Ella (8 months) has mastered pulling herself up to anything within reach so she had to help Grandpa run the train controls and was fascinated by the train going around and around. Actually so am I.

The kids started with the noise makers and hats way before the new year started because they all went to bed. Jessi started out with jeans on...I don't know what happened here but obviously the New Years toys took precedence over getting her pants back on. Thank goodness Harrison was dressed.

Finally she has her pants back on and it looks like she found an extra hat.

This was, and is always, the favorite place to hang out...young or old.

CHRISTMAS WEEKEND

We began by making a list of projects for the weekend...beginning with making a new "Don't Eat Pete" board. Who is that hiding behind the artwork?

Here's dinner and the cook. We ate it Christmas Eve, Christmas, and we're still eating.

Here's before we got up Christmas morning. Since the visiting kids aren't little anymore, we got to sleep until 7:00 am.

Here's some pictures of unwrapping and new clothes and toys.

These two weren't the only ones who got BYU stuff for Christmas, but of course Harrison got the most.

Here's some of the favorite gifts.

We lucked out with 1:00 church so we had a great morning with our new gifts and Mickey Mouse pancakes on my new griddle.

It was a good day!