Our Unsuccessful Family Home Evening

I'll be honest, most of our family home evenings (FHE) are more towards the unsuccessful side. The definition of unsuccessful is that information goes in one ear (if it even goes in at all) and out the other. Tonight we did a home talk which is a homework assignment for Kelsey. On a side note I hate the home talk thing but we somewhat attempt them anyway. The topic was patriotism and what living in America means to you. We began with the "Star Spangled Banner". We spent 15 to 20 minutes talking about freedom, being a good citizen, how we became a free country, voting, that we don't have a king because of the Revolutionary War, the US flag, etc. Brian showed pictures of when he lived in D.C. We showed them the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial, the Capital Building and the White House. We talked about who lived in the White House and who worked in the Capital Building and what these people did. Then we related it back to the Book of Mormon and why this nation is a promised land and what we need to do to maintain our freedom. We even talked about the Amlicites because in our family scripture reading we just read that story last night. Obviously we were not extremely detailed in everything but we hit the main parts such as freedom, that we don't have a king and how to remain free by being a good citizen and being righteous.

Then came the important part of the evening, treats. We had left over ice cream sundaes from the Sunday Brownie Sundae Social last night (my current calling is the Young Family activity organizer). As we are eating Macy asks "Who is our king?" What the?! Did she really just ask that? So we remind her that we fought the Revolutionary War so we didn't have to have a king anymore. We told her that we have a president and Kelsey had to tell her Obama is the president. So then Braden pipes in. "I want presents." "Braden there are no presents. We said 'president.'" "Oh. Are the presents downstairs?" "There are no presents." This thread of conversation with Braden continues all through the ice cream and our continued conversation with Macy. He went to bed still wondering where the presents are. Back to our conversation with Macy, she asks who is in charge if we have a president. This leads back to the FHE topic of Congress and Senators, people voting and ultimately it is the citizens who rule the nation. She probably went to bed still wondering who was in charge and how she could be in charge of everyone one day.

Melt My Heart

In St. George while swimming crazy man Braden jumps and wraps his arms around my neck and says "I got my bwest fwiend." Then today he grabbed hold of me and told me I was his best friend. My heart just melted. If anyone knows Braden, they know that he is a complete momma's boy. Not sure how I feel about this every moment of the day, especially when I want a break. For the most part it makes me so happy to feel so loved.

Moments like this make me wonder what my relationship would be like with Macy and Kelsey if they were spaced further apart. I loved that they have always had a friend and that they have never really been alone. Before Braden I would have told you that having your kids close was the way to go. But now I couldn't give you a definitive answer of which is the best. Braden has had way more one on one time and I have felt so much joy in that time (frustrations too always the good with the bad). I felt joy watching the girls grow up (and still do) but mostly it was through observing them interact with each other and not the interactions with myself personally. There have been sweet moments in which the joy came from interacting with one or the other but the scales probably fall heavier the other way. I don't think each one of these ways are bad. I just wonder what my relationship will be like with the girls when they are grown. Would it have been easier to get where I want if they had had that extra special time with mom? Will I even get what I want and do I have the personality to have what I want? All deep questions that only time, myself and God will tell. Right now I will savor what I have and hopefully one day I will have 3 best friends (4 if you count my main squeeze).

February

• Taxes complete. Check
• Finances updated. Check
• Get crafty. Check:   Made Valentine boxes with the kids. The idea came from Pottery Barn but morphed into something easier than pulling out the sewing machine. Made a skirt in time for my cruise (actually my sewing teacher did all the finishing work because there were a couple of goof ups that slowed me down and she felt I just had to have the skirt for my trip). Made a Valentine's table runner. Mended some clothing. Made Valentine warm fuzzies with Kelsey and Braden. Started next project with my sewing teacher, a shirt and pants. (Need some luck here folks.)
• Celebrate my birthday. Check:   Kids throw me a chocolate party complete with Braden throwing a bagful of confetti on me and a little limbo. Kelsey and Braden also serenaded me on the karaoke. An indirect present was the gift of vacuuming up the confetti. The vacuum was out of commission for the weekend because I had cleaned the filter and it needed to dry.
• Help at Kelsey's school Valentine Party. Check:   In charge of the treat. Made fruit and marshmallow kabobs for a healthy snack.
• Go to St. George for President's Day weekend. Check:    Brian saved his company $50 by flying into St. George instead of getting off the plane in Salt Lake. To help save his company money and leave earlier I drove by myself with the chitlins. They were really good and we only made one stop. 

  

  The confetti

  






Lots of swimming at grandma and grandpa's





Hiking in St. George



Here is your next pick up line

I am one of the youngest people at the gym I go to. I would say at least half of the members are over 60 at the times I go (kind of like our cruise ship). I really enjoy the older crowd. I loved them when I worked at TOSH and I enjoy seeing them at the gym.

At the gym there are some of the nicest old men. Then there are some nice but quirky old men. For example the other day a gentleman, at least in his 70s, comes up to me while on the treadmill and asks if I received my phone call. I was a little perplexed and said I didn't understand. Then he asked if I had received my call from New York to be in Glamor magazine. Then walks off. This isn't the first old man/high school pick up line. I know they are not really trying to ask me out. They are trying to compliment in their own way but it does sound a little funny. At least men still find me attractive even if they are in their 70s.

Back to Reality

A week ago reality came back to me on an airplane when my stomach started to growl and I had to pay a whole lot of money for half decent food. Reality further came upon me when I remembered I would have to cook a meal for other people the next day and no one would be there to pick up my towels or dirty dishes left in my room. Instead of being waited upon I would again become the waiter. Good thing I like my job most days. The payment of hugs and kisses isn't too bad but I hate when they try to pay with sassy talk and dirty looks.

So where was I relaxing? On board a cruise ship in the Eastern Caribbean, specifically Grand Turk (of Turks and Caicos), Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and Half Moon Cay. It was delightful. A great mix of relaxation, adventure, and lots of sun. Although I am still really white. The day Brian and I got back a friend asked where my tan was. I told her I have grown up and realized I don't want to be really wrinkly or get skin cancer. So I would lather up with my zinc oxide, 50 SPF, kids sunscreen and layout like I was soaking up the rays. I love to lay in the sun and the temperatures were perfect. I could have used a few more degrees on some days but Brian says it was perfect for everyone else. That said I was still happy with the weather.

 Relaxing on the deck during our first sea day. It was actually the only day that the weather was not spectacular. But that is okay because it was Sunday so we rested, heard the Salt Lake Temple President speak (we stumbled upon this large group of Latter Day Saints that included the temple president and his wife and they had a devotional that day), played team trivia with some of the 60+ crowd (80% of the passengers were in that category), Brian beat me in Rummicube (someone tell me how that happened) and then we got dressed up for the first formal night. We ate dinner with a wonderful couple, Don and Stacy. He was a retired evangelical minister who was voting for Romney and she was a busy real estate agent. They were from Florida and loved cruising.

 Our first port was Grand Turk. We kayaked here but have no pictures because our camera was not waterproof and we know our score with cameras. On our kayak tour our guide let us (meaning Brian) hold a jelly fish (not the kind you run into off the shores of Hawaii so it didn't sting you), a sea cucumber, spiny sea urchin, a regular urchin and live conchs. The group voted to let the conch live otherwise Brian could have tried sushi conch. They eat so much conch here that they have tons of shells and they let me bring 2 back for the kids. I was worried about customs but they let me through. The picture above is our own private beach we found. It was so calm and no one was there. That is until...

 2 dogs decided to become my friends while I was relaxing with my eyes closed. I guess they wanted some shade and I had the only lounge chair.

 Another view of Grand Turk.

 Pay no attention to the hair. We had to hurry and get cleaned up once we were back on ship because somehow we were convinced to participate in a jewelry fashion show. I am wearing $80K+ worth of jewelry. We added it all up but one bracelet was missing a price tag so that is were the plus comes from.

 The ring on the right was $15,000 and the left one was $10,500. The necklace was only a mere $35,000. Brian told me "no" even with the discount we were given for participating.

 The next day was Puerto Rico. I want to go back because we didn't have time to really explore the rain forest and we never even made it to the forts or Old San Juan. We did drive through the rain forest and these are the shots of the greenery.

 In Puerto Rico we also kayaked but we did it at night which was a neat experience itself. But we did not go out to the see the stars. We went to see the bio-luminescent dinoflagettes (spell check will not know this one and neither do I). The best way to describe these one-celled water creatures is think of the movie Avatar and the glowing blue. When we would paddle that is what the water would look like. Dipping your hand in would activate just a few and it looked like tiny diamonds sparkling across your hand. It was a neat experience. Returning the rental car was not a neat experience and I will not elaborate. Just know that our $20 car rate quickly became $50 to $60.

The following day was St. Thomas. We didn't spend much time on that island because made our way to St. John's. We were told we had to go there. They were right. We went to Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay. Both were breath taking. The picture above is Trunk Bay.

 Here is the proof that I snorkeled in Trunk Bay. Snorkeling has not always been my favorite activity but I did it twice on this trip.

 This is the view from my lounging spot in Trunk Bay.

 This was another tiny island by St Thomas. There were so many of these right around St. Thomas and St. John. I think this one should be called Neverland. Can you see the skull? Brian took the picture but didn't capture the whole island. I thought the whole thing looked like Neverland. It had one little peek and even a little cave were Captain Hook take Tiger Lily.

 The last stop was the cruise line's private island called Half Moon Cay. Here we went horseback riding. The trail ride around the island was okay. My horse was a little lazy and he knew that I was not an experienced rider so tried to take advantage. The neat part was riding the horses through the water. The keepers said the horses love to swim and in the ocean and my horse seemed to confirm that because he kept trying to get in before we were ready. Of course we don't have pictures because the camera thing and we were too cheap to pay $20 for one picture that we had no digital rights to. So it is only documented in our minds.

 This is the beach we relaxed on and Brian saw his first barracuda (or grouper or tarapin). It was like a giant sea swimming pool. It was really nice.

 On Saturday we disembarked the ship but that did not mean we were done. While waiting for the red eye we rented a car and drove around Fort Lauderdale. The rental car company showed us the way to the everglades, but it was not Everglades National Forest nor was it the road that took you to the airboat tours. It was just one long toll road that sent you to the Gulf of Mexico. We did see lots of alligators as pictured above. In one area alone I counted at least 12 alligators. To see the alligators there was one and only one road to turn onto and it was this road that Brian somehow got out of a massive speeding ticket. He didn't know the speed limit so he went fast. The cop pulled him over but God was watching out for Brian. When the cop came back with Brian's license and registration he did not hand over the ticket instead he told him the speed limit and told him to be careful.

And of course we hit the beach in Fort Lauderdale one last time before boarding the plane. And again it was perfect beach weather.