Paradise

 We were able to take a fun little graduation cruise thanks to my parents and their offering to watch our kids.  It was the weirdest experience to fly without kids and to only have to pack for myself.  I find that my stuff doesn't really take up that much room in a suitcase...and I felt so big to not have a lid on my drink on the airplane.  It was so relaxing to nap and read and listen to other people's kids scream.  Bliss.

We stayed a night in Coco Beach before our ship left from Fort Lauderdale.  Other than the huge dead cockroaches on the floor of our hotel room when we walked in and the accidental death we witnessed, the night was uneventful.  Oh, except for going to see The Avengers.  We took a little walk on the beach the next morning and go ready to live it up on our ship.

It was Benny's first cruise, so it was super fun to see him be wowed by everything.  Our ship was really nice, and we were overall very pleased with Royal Caribbean.  There were a lot of things to do on the ship including mini-golf, a rock climbing wall, Flowrider, lots of pools and hot tubs, a movie theater, and an ice-skating rink.

After we got on the ship we called home to talk to the kids one last time since we would be out of contact for the whole week what with being out of the country and all, and we found out E had been throwing up all night the night before.  I felt terrible my parents had to deal with that, and I was worried about him and then Sammi getting it the whole week, although that didn't stop me from having fun.  I was worried something like that was going to happen.  I think I may have had a touch of the same thing because I got really sick the first afternoon and it didn't subside until the 3rd day on the boat.  Luckily we were just at sea and we didn't have to miss any of our shore excursions.

 

We had these little towel animals to look forward to each night from our room steward.

 Our first stop was Labadee, Haiti

We just decided to make it a beach day, since it was a beautiful beach.  We slathered on sunscreen about 4 times and still got fried.  It was so nice and relaxing.  I kept feeling like I'd left something behind because I had no kids to keep track of.

 Ben with our ship, Freedom of the Seas

Our next stop was Falmouth, Jamaica

We signed up to climb Dunn's River Falls.  You are required to have water shoes to climb the waterfall, and apparently this foreign guy thought that meant jelly shoes.  He seriously was wearing clear sparkly man-sized jelly shoes.  We sneakily took a picture.  He paired them with a speedo that was barely covered by his soccer jersey.  Let's just say those shoes didn't help him on those slippery rocks all the way up the falls.

 Climbing the falls

 So cold, yet so refreshing

 We did it!

After we climbed the falls, we went White River Tubing.  I was a little nervous because I thought it meant there would be rapids and stuff, but no...actually the river is named the White River.  Makes sense. 

When we got off the tour bus, this crazy drunk guy was holding a bottle of rum and a torch and said he wanted a picture with me, so naturally I obliged since I'm always letting drunk guys take pictures with me.  Little did I know he was going to breathe fire!  It was crazy.  He wanted a tip afterward (just like every other person in Jamaica) but I was able to slink away without giving him one.

 Here we are with our river tour guide, George.  He called himself George of the Jungle, and sang songs to us the whole time we floated down the river.

 Swinging in the middle of the river

Our next stop was Grand Cayman

We signed up for the snorkeling and Stingray City tour.  They took us a ways out on a little boat to a sandbar in the middle of the ocean where a bunch of huge stingrays congregate.  Then they make you hold them and pet them and kiss them.  They are creepy.  Here I am, trying not to look nervous.  I don't like them sneaking up from behind.

 Ben kept trying to catch one on his own.

 Our tour guide caught one for us and made us all take pictures with it.  It was sick.

 It was even sicker to have to kiss it for 7 years good luck.  But I did.

Our last stop was Cozumel, Mexico

We signed up for the jungle ATV and snorkeling tour.  Here I am waiting for our group.  We got so dirty riding those ATVs through the mud and got absolutely eaten alive by the mosquitoes.  The little private beach we went snorkeling on afterward was really nice though, and we saw some neat things like a spider-crab thing, a mean stingray, and lots of colorful fish.

 Home Sweet Home

 We took some pictures around the ship our last 2 nights aboard.

 The main drag

 At dinner

 Our dinner group.  They were so freakin' cool.  We all had a lot in common and had so much fun every night.  We had never met before the cruise, and I think we were all dreading having to be assigned who we would eat with, but it turned out great.  We did lots of things together after dinner each night including games, shuffleboard, mini-golf, and shows.  By the end, we were all unashamed to order more than one thing off the menu to try.  It was awesome.

 Here are our waiters.  They were way cool up until the last night when the girl showed us some nasty napkin folding.

 The obligatory King-of-the-World shot.  Isn't he handsome?

Here I am at the bow as well.  And I know what you're thinking...and no, I'm not pregnant.  My dress was billowing in the wind, and let's face it, I got fat on the cruise.  I have a cruise-baby in this picture.  It's like a dinner-baby, but much worse.

I think my favorite thing about the cruise was the leisurely schedule.  We would wake up, go have fun for most of the day, do a little shopping, get back on the boat, shower, nap, go to the nightly entertainment, dine in style with cool people, play until late, finish up with some light reading, and then get lulled to sleep by the swaying of the ship.  Heaven, I tell you.  We had an absolute blast on our cruise without our kids and yet missed them like crazy all at the same time.  I hope we get to do it again sometime. 

Farewell to Ohio

I have been dreading the move from Ohio for a long time, yet also looking forward to moving back to Utah.  I feel like I said goodbye to my friends about a million times and I kept feeling sadder and sadder as E and Sammi had their last playdates with their little buddies.  I cried a lot.  Luckily we did a lot of fun last things, and soaked up our time in our cute little house.

Here are the puppies pretending to take naps.  I love how clever they think they are to be pretending.  They didn't pretend too long though because they were worried I would make them stay there.  I'm mean like that.

 Here is Sammi with her best friends, Boomer and Kay.  They lived next door to us and were so good to us.  One of my favorite things about Ohio was sitting out on our back porch in the evenings and chatting with Kay while Sammi went back and forth between playing with Boomer and sitting on Kay's lap.  Kay likes the same shows I do and is always up for chatting about Sister Wives and My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding.  (Confessions, anyone?)

 Sammi and "Ruff-Ruff"

 This is how I like to think of my girl-- On her third bowl of cereal, wearing her shades, bananas untouched.

 Thinking she's big stuff on the swings at Homestead Park

 This is Emerson's favorite outfit these days.  Did you know that boots and a John Deere hat go with absolutely everything?  Well to E they do.  He makes us refer to him as "The Cowboy" or "The Puppy" or "The Train" or "The Lifter Truck" depending on what he is being that day.  He also refers to himself in the third person all day every day.  For example, "The Cowboy misses his mommy."

It's so bright outside!

 The adventurers

 Here is a picture of the four buddies in our neighborhood.  It's hard to believe that four years ago E was only 4 months old, and Taylee was 16 months old and Mathis and Sammi weren't even around!  These kids look so big.

 Here are E and Tuck (with Grayson in the background) on their last playdate.  (I stole this from your blog, Britni!)  It makes me tear up every time E asks for Tucker.  They have been buddies their whole lives!

 Sammi in her favorite spot in the house.  She went in the pantry whining for a snack and she got a big surprise when it was all cleaned out.

 Our last picture before we moved away from 4771 Perlman Street.

 We've loved this house and have so many memories.

It made me cry to see it empty, but I started crying the hardest when I vacuumed the kids' room for the last time.  

It sounds funny to cry about vacuuming, but I think it's just because this is the only house my kids have ever known and we've grown so much as a family here.  We've met and grown close to so many amazing people who have taught us so much.  We're so happy to be close to our families again, but it felt like we were moving away from our family too when we left Ohio.  Thanks everyone for being our family away from home.  We miss you dearly.

Where to Start?

We have had quite the busy month, and it isn't over yet.  We thought we had sold our house in Ohio and eagerly awaited the closing date until we found out that the property management company failed to file some important paperwork on behalf of the whole neighborhood, so it is no longer FHA-approved.  This caused us to lose our sellers and have to leave our home behind empty, just praying someone will buy it.  We're still holding out hope that someone will want it.  We've had quite a few showings since then, but no buyers yet.

We had been going a little bit crazy with packing, packing, and more packing, but my dear friends tended my kids LOTS and helped me in so many other ways.  I'm so lucky to have such sweet friends.  We had a few last hurrahs sprinkled in there and I shed a few (a lot) of tears at the thought of leaving all of them.  We're really going to miss our neighborhood and our ward.

We packed up our huge truck, cleaned and painted like crazy, and sent Ben and his Dad on their way while the kids and I flew on the airplane instead.  I was very happy with that choice, and I don't regret it one bit.  A cross-country drive would be a little bit of a nightmare with them.

We moved into our new house in Provo and our awesome new neighbors helped unload the truck in a flash.  Our families helped us get things unpacked and organized and tended the kids for us. I think we're going to enjoy our new neighborhood a lot.

Just days after moving in, we left the kids and went on our graduation trip, a cruise to the Western Caribbean.  Much more on that later!  Unfortunately our kids were sick and throwing up pretty much the whole time we were gone, which was exactly what my worst nightmare was.

And lastly, in 2 more days I will be flying back to Columbus with my parents to meet up with Ben for Medical School Graduation.  I can't believe we are really at this point.  I'm sure pictures will follow of that too. :)

Family Pictures 2012

 We had our pictures taken by the lovely Tamara Jacobs.  I really wanted them in front of the Ohio barn before we move away.  We will miss Ohio a lot!

Preschool Program

 This little guy had a "Special Friends Day" at preschool.  I guess they had to be politically correct so as not to discriminate against those that don't have parents.  Losers.  Couldn't call it "Parents' Day".

We got to watch a slide show of the kids throughout the year while we were waiting for everyone to arrive.  It was fun to see how much bigger they've gotten.  I did notice that Emerson had two picture attempts every time he appeared in the slide show.  That's the way he rolls.  Can't make a normal face, so I'm left deciding which is the best of what I've got.  I guess the preschool teachers haven't learned the art of discrimination yet.

We got to make a fish craft (like a craft of a fish...not with fish.)  My child hates crafts of all kinds so I got to hone my foam-cutting skills with those safety scissors.  I sort of felt like the preschool teachers were judging me as my child stared off into space while I made a perfect fish craft.  I just know they were thinking, "Well that's why he doesn't know how to use scissors.  She is such a control freak that she won't even let him hold them!  Look at her!"  I invited Emerson to participate several times, but he very politely declined with a "No, thank you" every time.

After I proudly finished my fish craft, the kids sang all their songs from the year for us.  They included You Are My Sunshine, The Days of the Week, The Months of the Year, I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee, etc.  Emerson was an absolute stinker.  I don't know what my face looked like, but I was dying inside.  I didn't know whether to laugh or be mortified.  He thought he was living on the edge and being very clever when he started singing the word "not" before everything.  "I'm NOT bringing home a baby bumblebee, won't my mommy NOT be so proud of me..."  And he beamed while doing it.  Just as pleased as punch with himself. 

I wish I would've had my video camera.  I'm sorry to all those parents who brought video cameras to film their children and ended up not being able to watch them because my son was so entertaining (read: naughty).  He knew all the words and was doing pretty well until we reached new lows of pelvic thrusts.  See here:

I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE LEARNED THIS!  Anyone who knows Ben and me knows we are not dancers, nor do we pretend to be.  Oh well, I guess it was memorable.  He thought he did a great job and was really happy I came.  So was I.  Despite his silliness I was very proud of my little guy.