Cruise, ah how I miss thee

I thought I better blog some pics real quick about the cruise so I can still make people jealous about how warm and loverly it was.... whilst it's still somewhat cold here.... haha :) Last month we went on a cruise to Grand Cayman Islands and Cozumel with all of Wade's brothers and sisters and their spouses and mom and dad to celebrate Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary!! It was tons of fun and well worth the wait. :) I have to say, a cruise is well worth the money cuz you're waited on 24/7, there's a 24 hour ice-cream and pizza bar, you don't have to worry about transportation, and you stay in the same room the whole time. And they leave the cutest towel animals on your bed at night!!

We went swimming with stingrays in Grand Caymans. I was so mad cuz when we got home we got our water-proof camera developed and had about 30 pictures of stingrays. I don't know why. A little excited, I guess. Haha

This is me saying, "no thanks, I don't really want to hold it." ;) I did touch one, though. They felt like gravel on the top and smooth and slimy on the bottom. The rays were so big and easy going and beautiful to watch in the water. I could have stayed there all day!

Fish we saw whilst snorkeling. No, we didn't touch any. Haha

The next stop (different day) was Cozumel. OH MY LANDS I COULD LIVE THERE. Lol It was so warm and colorful and gorgeous and laid-back and easy going...... when you see pictures of beaches with white sand and gorgeous blue/green water, yeah, those aren't doctored up at all. They are for real!!

Going kayaking and getting ready to snorkel!!

I loved loved loved our cruise!! So much fun and so many other fun things that we did on the boat- we won a Scattergories contest, competed in a bean-bag contest, Wade won a "name that TV theme song" contest, and I tied for first place in a Karaoke contest, but told the judge the other guy could have the prize cuz it was a bottle of champagne, and I'd be happy with a plastic trophy that looked like the ship. :) Our waiters were both from the Philippines, which Wade was thrilled with cuz then he could brush up on his Tagalog. It was so much fun to spend so much time together and nice cuz the day after we got home Wade was asked to be second counselor in the Stake Presidency.... Yeah, we should have moved when we had the chance. Lol

Bedtime.... yawn.....

Oh my lands I hate bedtime. Actually, hate is too nice of a word. I LOATHE bedtime. If I could hire someone to come and put my kids to bed every night and deal with all the bedtime drama and shenanigans, I would take out a second mortgage on my house right now. I put my kids to bed at 8:30 tonight and they all finally fell asleep at about.... ten. Yeah. You know who the worst one is? Yeah, you all know exactly who it is. Little miss Izzy. hahaha

Over the Christmas break we decided to switch the kids's bedrooms. Abby and Ethan were downstairs together, and Olivia and Isabelle were upstairs together. A & E were getting to the point that they were fighting every single night, every single day, Ab wouldn't sleep in her room anymore, yadda yadda yadda. So we switched Ethan and Olivia, and now Liv is downstairs with Ab, and Eth and Izzy are together. NOW none of them will go to sleep cuz they're all too busy talking like they haven't seen each other in twenty years! Lol So back to Izzy- she has now found a gossiping relief society lady in Ethan. As long as she keeps him talking, she can stay awake. And she has to have the lamp on cuz she gets scared, according to her. Hahaha Poor Eth got the short end of the stick, I'm thinking. :P

So tonight I had them all in bed, settled down and quiet. Long story short, (Too late!!) an hour and some later Iz was still talking Ethan's ear off. I finally went in and turned off the lamp, and turned on the night light. Oh man, all heck broke loose. She starts hollering that she can't see, that the shadows are too dark, yadda yadda yadda. I climb into bed with her and try to make her see reason that it's SOOOO late, Ethan has to go to school tomorrow, etc etc etc. She doesn't care. Lol Now, with Izzy, all you have to do is literally get her to hold still for about two minutes and she's out like a light. But getting her to hold completely still is the trick. I told her that I would start counting quietly (and slowly!!) to see how high I could get before she settled down.
I got to 21 before I realized she was mouthing the words..... started again.
I got to 11 and she started singing... started again...
I got to 14 and she complained that this was taking FOREVER!!!
I got all the way to 60!! And just about started to cry when she opened her eyes and told me that she could mouth the words if she wanted....
I kept going and she actually yawned at 79..... she rolled into her favorite position at 120 and was sound asleep at 134.....

Pick your own punishment day!

Tonight Ethan got in some trouble (yes, dad. YOUR grandson) for something I'd already warned him about twice, and consequently got computer privileges revoked for tonight and tomorrow (I was ready to sell him to the gypsies. He's lucky I decided to keep him). He proceeded to get a stool from the kitchen, set it in the hallway, and set the timer on the microwave for ten mintues. He then sat down on the stool with an innocent look upon his angelic little face.

"Whatcha doing?" I asked, pretty much already knowing the answer.

He replied, "I thought I would sit in time-out for my punishment instead".....

I told him if he'd like he'd be more than welcome to do both. Aren't I the nicest mom?? ;)

Good morning to you too!

The other morning Izzy climbed in bed with me at about 6:30 due to a bad dream. We laid (layed? lain? layeth?) there for a while talking quietly and trying to get back to sleep until she piped up with, "Mom.... you look creepy. And you have stinky breath."

Honesty from the pulpit

I heard the best testimony in sacrament meeting today. It was this seven-year old boy in my primary class and he got up and said, "I love my mom. I love my dad. I love my brother...... *BIG PAUSE*...... AND my sisters....."

Weird dream Grand Central Station

I have by far the strangest dreams when I'm really really tired. Considering last night was strike for "Christmas Carol" we didn't get to bed til about one this morning.... Hahaha

Ok, so I dreamt that I had to have some surgery, and for some reason I was at South Davis Community Hospital, and they don't do surgeries there. Any rate, so I check in and the lady says, "Do you have someone to come pick you up after?" and I'm like "No, I just thought I'd wait til the anesthsia wore off and then I'd drive myself home." She then gives me the address of where I'll be recovering.... I drive there and it's this furniture store, but they only sell lumpy matresses. And they're in the process of setting up for a wedding in the side room. And everyone there was a member of this weird "New Worm World" religion, and they had to get into the worm pose, which was like being bent over as if you had a really bad stomachache. And supposedly I was to wait there until the EMTs came and picked me up for my surgery. So there I sat, with my Mary Poppins bag on my lap, watching all these people sit in the worm position....

I must've rolled over cuz the dream changed and now I was in my mom and dad's house and I was in my old bedroom and people kept stacking shoes on the window sill. The doorbell rang and it was these two ladies carrying huge trays of little bowls of ice cream that they were giving out to everyone. And my dad sat and talked to them for so long that the ice cream started melting, and all I could think about was all this melted ice cream.... Then I was on the phone with my "Bob" (my counter-part-hubby in "Christmas Carol this year) and my mom talked to him for like 20 minutes and then Abby talked to him for 20 minutes and then I got back on the phone and he was asleep. Haha And at the same time all this was going on I was sorting out DMC floss for cross-stitch, and I couldn't tell the difference between all the colors..... LOL!!

"Beauty and the Beast" pics

I thought I'd finally share some pics from "Beauty and the Beast"- sorry I've been a little slow on the uptake! This show was so much fun to be in- I made a ton of new friends and am so grateful for my director for casting me! A lot of the people that were cast are some of the "Playhouse elite" meaning they've been doing shows up there forever and are some of the best!! It was so fun to rub shoulders with them and get to know them better. :) And it doesn't hurt to get my name in with theirs, eh? Hahaha :) Enjoy!


The person at the bottom of the stairs is me, in a vase costume. Yes, those are flowers on my head. Haha That costume was so awkward to walk around in! I had to literally walk like Morticia Adams (the Adams family, c'mon people!) and couldn't see my feet AT ALL. On closing night some people who shall remain nameless (yes, my director was one of them) tipped me over to see what would happen. LOL! Yeah, I had to lay there til they picked me back up. ;)


This is me dressed as a napkin- on the far left. We had two fabulous women that played Belle- the one in this pic happened to be Annie, whom I was privileged enough to play Maria with in "Sound of Music". Love that lady!


My friend Kristi- a fellow napkin!

Going on a mob hunt- we never actually killed the Beast, though kudos to us for trying every night for 26 shows.....

Me dressed as a napkin (seriously LOVED that costume- I felt like a Las Vegas dancer!!) with my friend Bree- I think she's a rug, or a table runner.... not totally sure on that one. Hahaha

Gaston attempting to swan dive off the bench whilst singing about decorating with antlers. :) I think I'm looking at Lefou, since he's not in the pic but was on stage.... either that or someone had ice cream.... ;)

This was one of our cast pics- the other Belle, actually! (love ya Jordie!) Funnest show I've ever done!! Really! :)