Back from Mexico



Well a friend of mine asked me to post my pictures here and not just on Facebook since she's not on that huge time waster(but kinda fun) site. So here goes- We visited Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas while cruising on the cruise line Holland America. This was our kids Christmas present. A gift for us all actually. The food was fabulous (a little too fabulous if you ask my pants) and the workers were great. the whole cruising thing was pretty great except for one night of intense winds and a lot of rocking. But no one got sick so all was good. The first stop was PV and we took a smaller boat to a secluded area. My husband and Nick did a little snorkeling. Then we went to a beach area that we had to get on a much smaller boat and wade into the beach(no dock here) Unfortunately getting back on the little boat became a little hazardous to my bag and camera as a big wave came and knocked me and Nick over. I thought my camera might be ruined but after a few days of drying time it seems to be back from the dead. YEA! On the way to the cove we saw a bunch of humpback whales and they came CLOSE to our boat. A little too close for my husband. What an awesome experience. I got some good pics of that. On the way back we saw a bunch of dolphins but with no camera I had to rely on my 10 year old son and his camera abilities to get some pics. He got one good one. After the camera incident I had to grab his camera at various places and snap some more pics. We took a tour of Mazatlan and then went to the beach to relax but the vendors would not let us be so we had to leave. Then at Cabo we went and swam with the dolphins (this was Nicks special request) It was great and we got some great pictures too. The kids said it was the greatest vacations because it was like 4 trips in one (the cruise, PV, Maz, and Cabo) Now my husband wants to go on a Caribbean cruise.

Josh got a spit in the face with his kiss

the whales

The dolphins followed our boat

playing on the beach

Our cabin stewards made new towel animals for us daily

Yum!

Woot Woot

I actually made a scrapbook page. And not one that was premade either. I was looking through my pictures and came across this adorable photo of my kids o so long ago and just had to put it somewhere. So here it is. I used Meredith Cardall's kit "Happy Scrappy"  Last week I printed all the digi scrapbook pages that I've made so far. It was about $140 bucks but well worth it. I had a fear that my computer would crash or something and I'd loose them so I will start printing them off a little more often so there isn't close to fifty to print out at once. It will seem a lot cheaper that way too.

By the way the the saying on the page is a crazy song I sang to my kids. It starts as high a you want (usually 5) and then it goes. There were 5 in the bed and the other one said roll over, roll over. Then they all rolled over and one fell out, there were 4 in the bed and the little one said roll over, roll over, etc, etc, etc. Then when you get to one it says. And the little one said "Good Night."

New Year-Just a little late

I finally got my 2011 digital calendar done. I used a premade one from The Ettes. Now I just need to get it printed and off to Dad, Grandma, Grandpa and one for me. I'm previewing them backwards.

I cheated a little on this one and used a picture from this years sledding trip. Too cute to pass up.

Wow,has it been THAT long?

My poor neglected blog. Well life is happening at break neck speed so I don't have a lot of computer time anymore. I'm barely keeping up with taking my millions of pictures each month(my husband thinks I take a million-especially when I wait until there is about 300 images on my card and take them in to be developed and it ends up costing over a hundred bucks) Well I have to have 2-3 of each picture just in case I need them for scrapbooks for each kid don't I. Well right now I'm on a 3 week substitute job for a 3rd grade class and I love them. It's my kids school so I get to take them to school each day and see them a bit more.

We had a great Christmas- pics to follow someday. And we are gearing up for our Mexican Riviera Cruise at the end of this month. We decided for a Christmas present for the whole family it would be a lot more memorable to take a trip together. Our kids were so excited to get passports. They must want to be jet setters LOL.

Well hopefully I can steal time to finish my 2011 digital calendars that I started in December so I have something to share on my blog and hang on my wall too.

Becoming an American

Well last week I got to take my friend Tina to her citizenship ceremony here in Salt Lake. I didn't really know what to expect as I've never been to one. On the way there she was so excited and yet she said she was so emotional. She started to cry and I finally realized what a great day this would be for anyone. We take our country and freedoms too much for granted.

A little back story on Tina. She is from the west African country of Cameroon. She was beaten and put in jail for speaking against their government. She finally escaped and got to Germany. She had internal injuries that she had some surgery for in Germany. She lived in a refugee house when my father and mother in law met her. They taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ and she got baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. My in laws left Germany and Tina was left there. They got a letter from her telling them that she was deported back to Cameroon. Political refugees can only stay in European countries for so long and then they are sent back. Tina said that she feared for her life so she ran from the plane as soon as it landed and ran into Nigeria, a neighboring country, and was hiding out there. When I heard her letter I just cried. I couldn't believe that is this day and age people still lived this way.

Well luckily there was a woman in Utah who came to know Tina in Germany and she had helped other people to flee their countries. She arranged for Tina to get a passport and a plane ticket to American. Tina told me how scary it was when she came into New York and she was still afraid that someone was going to come and get her and take her back. She finally arrived in Utah. She stayed with some relatives of my in laws and it was arranged for her to have some more surgery. They got doctors and hospitals to donate their services for free. Because Tina had been beaten she had a huge tumor in her uterus. Because she loves children so much she was concerned and told them to save as much as possible so she could have children. Well that was not to be. Tina found out that in Germany they had taken out one of her ovaries. And everything was so damaged it had to removed. Tina had a super hard time coming to the realization that she wouldn't have biological kids as in Africa to not have children was almost thought of as a curse. I told her that in America a man will love you for who you are and not if you can have children.

Around that time is when Tina came to live with us. My daughter was about 3 and my first son was 1. Tina became my son's second mom. He would put his hand up to her and say Tine Tine for her to pick him up. She lived with us for 6-8 months and then went to live in Vernal for a while then back to Salt Lake. She got her own apartment living with a local family. And now has her very own apartment.

She then got her CNA degree and worked in many elder care facilities until she hurt her back. Then she started college and got her Associates Degree this last May. I was at her graduation of course. IT was a hard road but she wanted to get her education.

Tina feels like she's my sister and not just my friend. She's had a hard life but she's pretty tough and I hope that life just gets better and better for her.

I told her that now she's a real African American. LOL!

Here's some pics from her ceremony