10th Anniversary trip

Flying stand by isn't always the funnest way to go! To get to the Bahamas we went: St. George - SLC - Newark NJ- Atlanta - Nassau. Not the most direct route! We "slept" in the Newark airport! We had arrived there a little after midnight & if we left would of had to get back there in 4 hours so we decided to save hotel money & stay there. The eatery was the only part open so we sat there for a while & then finally found some "comfortable" chairs so Trent made the most of them! At least we were in 1st class on the flight to Nassau!

We got off the plane to see the drummer playing, singing, & dancing. Around the corner was a band playing some Bahamian music. It was a good welcome!

We ended up getting upgraded on our room because it was our anniversary. We stayed in the Jasmine Villa. We had our own patio entrance, the bed was covered in rose petals & had swans made out of towels!

One of the nights they left us an anniversary card with chocolate strawberries & cake. We ate SOOO much! even after eating multiple meals, we had room service every night!

The had a Junkanoo - a musical parade with costumes & dancing girls, a couple of the nights that we were there. Its a "Bahamian ting!" They don't pronounce the "h's". I loved their accents!

They put on different types of shows every night & one night Trent & I got to do the Limbo & I was part of a Men vs Women game. It was a lot of fun. We also went to karaoke, comedians, fire dancers, dance show to name a few.

They had this giant pool table & called it Snooker. We also played some table tennis & a lot of beach volleyball.

We also went to see the Atlantis resort. It was huge! Very nice & no wonder it is so expensive!

The last day, it rained all day! It was nice though. We were set to go out to the private island that day but due to the weather, it never happened.

The flight home was horrible! We had planned out all the flights & it was going to work out perfect! Until we got to Denver & it was storming! We were seriously right above the runway within 10 seconds of landing & all the sudden took off again! We were rerouted to Colorado Springs. When we were flying, we were hit by lightning! It scared the crap out of me! I was looking out my window when it hit! It was right there! The thunder was so loud! So several hours later we made it to Denver in a blizzard. Everything was covered with snow. Anyhow, we ended up staying with Susie in SLC & caught a flight home the next morning.

All in all, it was a fun trip! Regardless of the giant fever blistered lip due to too much sun!

Hawaiian Spring Break 3/5/10

So Friday afternoon I get a phone call from Trent posing the question...

"What do you think about going to Hawaii for the weekend?"

Uh, don't have to think twice about that one! So within a few hours we were on our way!

(You've got to love the flight benefits!)

Trent's parents happened to be staying in Vegas for the week so we were able to stay with them at their condo for the night before our early flight. We also ate out at PF Changs. With an early flight, everyone was able to sleep most of the way there. (aside from Olivia's little bout with motion sickness!)

We wasted no time getting to the beach! Rigby squealed like a little girl running out into the waves! It was fun to see them so excited!

We got a two room condo & Lainee was loving it! She was a "queen" in her own room with her own queen bed! Olivia & Rigby loved the Murphy bed that came out of the wall!



We also enjoyed the pool & spent quite a bit of time there as well! Trent got Rigby to "go under" (top left picture) the water but couldn't get Olivia to do it, even after promising her with "scout's honor" (see picture above on the right side) that it would be fast!



Loved these sea shells but decided a picture of them would be better so other people could get to see them too.




More beach! The kids loved the beach! Loved digging in the sand & loved getting buried in the sand!





What are they pointing at???





WHALES!!!!

We wanted to do a whale excursion but got one from shore that was AWESOME! We were driving along the coast & started seeing the sprays from the whales & pulled off at a look out point & there were whales all over! We even saw them swim right in front of us & you could see their whole bodies in the water! It was a major highlight of the trip!

We watched the cutest hula dancers! They were mostly girls but had a couple of boys & they were so cute! Then at the end they brought out a baby dancer! It was fun but Rigby thought it was a little loud! We also found an outdoor market to buy souvenirs & Rigby made a friend who taught him how to slide down grass hills on a piece of cardboard!

Our next stop was at the Aquarium.

We saw lots of fish of all colors shapes & sizes! Including sharks! Black tips (my personal fav), hammerheads, tigers, & a few other kinds that I can't recall. And of course sting rays!

More fish! Loved the jelly fish! So cool!

This is a little game I would like to call "Find the Fish!" Pretty self explanatory! It was amazing how well they blended in!

Nap time!

These guys got worn out! So much fun & sun drained out all they had!

Since the side of the island we stayed on (we went to Maui) was more of the desert side we drove to the other side on the Road to Hana to show them what Hawaii should look like! (Both girls said to us that this is not what we thought Hawaii would look like!) They even got to swing on some vines & see some waterfalls.

Quick 3 days but well worth it!

Second Grade Pet Day 3/5/10

Lainee was sooo excited about Pet Day! Especially since we had 2 pets! Well that was until about a month ago! Lucy, our yellow lab, decided to run away & never came back! (turned out to be a blessing in disguise!) Then the week before Pet Day, our rabbit, Thumpalina, ran away! (for the sake of the kids, she ran away, but, there is no way she got out of her cage on her own! Plus the torn wires from the outside of the cage says otherwise!) So Lainee was left petless for Pet Day!

She was a real trooper though & took Biscuit, our FuReal Loving Pup. I have decided that Biscuit is the only type of pet that we should have! (for those of you who do not know what a FuReal pet is, it is a type of robotic toy pet that moves, talks & acts just like a real pet! Minus the feeding, peeing, pooping & has a turn off button!!)

Lainee telling her class about her pet.

Did I mention that it was also crazy hair day?!

Visit with Brooke 2/24/10

Brooke was in town from Semsales Switzerland so I went over to visit & Amy & Audrey were there too. Amy lives in Japan & happened to be in town at the same time as Brooke! It was fun to see them again! Maybe next time Brooke will have David & Tuan with her!

(Sidenote: Brooke had bronchitis & had coughed so much that she broke some ribs!! She was all bandaged up & on pain killers! She sure looks good considering!)

Snow day! 2/20/10

We had a fun snow day at Pine Valley! When we got there it stormy but warm & we stayed at the tubing hill in town. We paved a trail with our tubes on the side of the road. Soon the sun came out & we were really warm & enjoying ourselves.

My little ANGELS!

Of course the kids made their snow angels & Lainee attempted a snow cave but decided it was good enough as a chair! Rigby enjoyed kicking back & eating snow (not the yellow kind!) & looking at the clouds.


Soon about 30 people showed up at our hill so we left! We didn't want to share! So we went up to the reservoir dam & scored the best spot before another 5 groups showed up there! I was amazed at how brave my 2 youngest were! Going down that steep hill! And climbing back up that steep hill! In fact, it was so steep that they were able to slide down the hill on their bums & they went pretty fast!


In the previous pictures you can see blue skies but that didn't last long! It quickly turned into a blizzard but that didn't phase the kids! They loved it! We figured that they would be done after a few hours but it turned into an all day activity! It was a lot of fun!