YES! WE HAVE A NEW HOUSE!

If everything goes as planned, we will be moving into our new home around the middle of July.

Here is a picture of the family room

The kids will be able to bring their scooters and skates, to ride in the back yard

No, there is not a swimming pool.But there is an outdoor hottub.

And an indoor slide!

And a drinking fountain!

And a huge garage for Mike to have fun in!




There is plenty or room for visitors. I hope we get some!

Taylor's Bath

I have found the perfect bathtub for Taylor. It fits her little body perfectly.

She is wedged in and doesn't slip or fall.

She was content as a little clam for 45 minutes the first time I put her in.

The next time, I had to get her out early and she seemed a little shocked that the bath was over so soon. Life is good for this pretty little 10 month old.

30 (gasp! gasp!) Years Old! Happy Birthday, Aspen!

It's only 11:45...so this counts as making it on time for your birthday! (And I did get your card to you early, so that counts for something, too!)

Happy birthday, Aspen. More beautiful with each new year.

A "D+" never looked better!

This is no, doubt, one of the happiest days of my life! We just found out that Mickala passed her on-line Algebra class! We have been sweating this for the entire year, now...longer than that if you count the whole story, but suffice it to say that, after giving up many, many Saturdays to study, spending countless hours of frustration as she and I both tried to learn, relearn and remember simple Algebra (and there was very little that was simple for this 1973 high school graduate I might add) the good news was finally posted this afternoon. Hooray! Hooray! A thousand times over...Hooray! We can now safely send out the graduation announcements!

On another note. This has been a learning experience for me in more ways than one. In high school, I was at the top of my class (even in algebra!) But, as I have aged and the part of my brain that remembers things isn't working as well as it used to, I have experienced what it feels like to genuinely not understand something...at least not without a great deal of work on my part. I think I will be more compasionate in the future. I won't be so quick to judge others as being lazy.

I am grateful, too for the refresher course. In the middle of it, I never wanted to look at another algebra problem again. But, I caught myself telling Mickala yesterday how much easier it was for me to convert the cannery pearl potatoes recipe into a smaller quantity version!

Life is good. And I'm darn proud of that final grade of a "B-" Mickala!

Disneyland!

I don't have time to blog, I am trying to finish the Park history book, but I want to beat Aspen, so I'll just post a couple of pictures.

Here we are, getting ready to go to the airport

Decorating castle cookies that seriously tasted like cardboard.

We got SOOOO lucky! After waiting in a line that took forever to see the princesses, we arrived just at the changing of the shift, so instead of three princesses, we got to see six!

Face painting...

Aren't they adorable!

Okay, Aspen, your turn!

The reasons why I haven't had time to blog

Mom's broken hip and wrist... Uncle Bill's 80th birthday...

An ill son-in-law...

An engagement...

There are other things, too. I'll blog when I have time again!

Cruising!

Mike and I had such a wonderful time on our cruise! We have over 200 pictures,but I will just post a few of my favorites. They are in a mixed up order, but better to finally make this post than to spend another week rearranging.

This was taken just as we boarded the ship.

This was taken the last day of the cruise. It was jacket weather, but not a drop of snow anywhere!

The next pictures are of our day in Jamaica.

Riding the sky tram up to the Jamaican bobsleds. If you enlarge this picture and look closely, you can see Tom and Marlene in back of us. I want to be sure and mention how much we appreciated having those two with us on this cruise. It was like having our own, private cruise directors! They made it so much fun for us. I think we probably held them back a time or two, but they never let on. We have always loved them, but this trip left me with an even greater respect and admiration for them.

My first time down the bobsled!

Tom and Marlene on the bobsleds.

Mike and me.

Waiting for the liquid sunshine to let up so we could ride the skytram back down.

A quick stop at Dunn's River Falls in Ocho Rios.

Marlene and I at the Falls.



And now, backing up a bit...

We attended church at a Spanish speaking ward just before leaving for the cruise. See how cute and thin I look! I gained several inches around the waist and can't fit into my clothes any more.

This nice gentleman rescued us when the taxi didn't come to get us after church. He got us back to the hotel just in time to catch the shuttle to the ship.




We went to this fun little diner called Johnny Rockets where everyone cheers when you walk inside. There are nickels for the juke box and the waiters dance to the music!

Marlene, dancing with the Johnny Rockets people.

Now we are in Cozumel...

Toucans!

Just before we boarded the boat that took us out to the submarine ride.

Inside a submarine at 100 feet down. Not my favorite excursion!
Even worse than the St. Louis arch. (What was I thinking?!)

My handsome husband hanging out with me at the front of the ship on a windy day.

I loved the wind! I was very lucky to be one of only a few that did not suffer from being seasick.


We had so much fun at Johnny Rockets! Mike and I went back a second time!

We shared a chocolate malt!

Our dinner table...one of our favorite daily events.

Sander, our head waiter. Missing from this picture is Arthur, the assistant waiter. We gave them both a Book of Mormon on the last night of the cruise.

Mark created a new dessert, combining a scoop of ice cream with one of the soup appetizers.

These next pictures were taken early in the cruise, on our first land stop.

We filled our day at Labadee with so many memorable events. We started out relaxing in the shade on our beach chairs as we waited for our turn to parasail.

Mike, getting ready to parasail.

That's me on the right, parasailing....Whoopeeeeeee! This was my favorite event. It was absolutely exhillerating!

Just before going down the Dragon's Breath zipline which was abaout a million miles long.

This is Mike as he completes his ride!

This is me being reeled in because I didn't make it to the bottom. Gosh, I must not weigh as much as I thought!

We had a great time in Labadee!

The kiddie pool.

We had a great room,with an outside patio that we thoroughly enjoyed.

Each night our room attendant would make us cute little towel sculpture and put Mike's sunglasses on them!

From the outside patio, we had a great view of the ship captain's lookout.

The name of our ship was the Freedom of the Seas, but Mike and I dubbed it, "The Great and Spacious Building". We are so very glad we went, but we might choose something a little less extravagant the next time. Or maybe not...we'll see!