Makayla's Cruise Performance

When we were on the cruise, Makayla kept begging me to take her to "Camp Carnival" the kids place. I really didn't want her to go. None of the other kids had any interest in going and just didn't want to send her there alone. Finally just to stop her whining, I told her she could go for awhile. It just so happened that when she went they were practicing a performance to be in the Holiday Show that night. She was so excited when I picked her up. That night she got to be onstage with the dancers and sing some Christmas songs. It was pretty cute. There were quite alot of kids onstage, but she was just thrilled with it all. So now I guess she can say she has performed on a cruise.

For my sisters

You have probably already read posts on this blog about my two sisters who have both battled breast cancer this year. They are both amazing women and I am in awe of them as I have seen what they have gone through this past year. Between the two of them they have gone through surgeries, chemo, radiation, and then just last week more reconstructive surgery for Susan.

On the ship one morning, they had a "Susan G. Komen -- On Deck for a Cure". Of course we had to do it! Becky and I and our daughters signed up. The girls were excited to do it. It was windy that morning and a little chilly. We walked around the track at the top of the ship. We did eleven laps which made a mile. Quite a few people showed up to do it. I was impressed.

My mom and dad came up to give us some moral support. Caitlin was a little power walker. She passed us up twice I think so she actually did two extra laps.

So this is for you...Susan and Carol.....our cancer survivors!!

Our Day in Cabo San Lucas

Here are some pictures of our day in Cabo San Lucas. Dean took Logan, Spencer, Caitlin and Stacia on a kayak/snorkeling adventure. They had a blast. Kelly and Braden had gone on a scuba diving expedition. We only saw Grandpa and Grandma Cook briefly in Cabo. They were doing some serious sightseeing!! As soon as I get pictures developed from the underwater camera they took with them, I will post some of those pictures too.

While they did that Becky and I took Makayla and Bryson along with Grandpa Pete and Grandma Sherrie to shop around the pier. We also took a tour on a glass bottom boat which the kids thought was alot of fun. Actually, we all thought it was alot of fun.


While we were on the glass bottom boat ride we went right past the others in the kayaks. We didn't expect to see them on our boat ride!


I think Grandpa Pete really liked being on the ocean.


We saw lots of pelicans from the boat. They were cool to watch.


Here are some sea lions out sunbathing on a rock. I liked them, but they smelled really bad up close.

Bryson and Makayla liked looking for fish through the bottom of the boat.

Dean and the boys on the boat that took us from the ship to the shore.

Makayla with an Iguana on her head. Yes, that is a real iguana. For a couple of bucks you can get your picture taken with one. Thanks Aunt Becky for funding this picture!
Shopping with Bryson and Makayla in Cabo.

Caitlin getting a ride back to the ship after a fun day.
Aren't the sunsets gorgeous on the ocean?

Crusin'

Whew! We made it! Just a few days ago we were wearing flip flops, carpis and shorts. We came home to having to wear snow boots and heavy coats. Bummer!

We went out to Salt Lake on Friday night because our flight left Saturday morning and we didn"t want to chance getting caught in a snow storm. I am so glad we did. As it was, after we boarded our plane we sat on it for 2 1/2 hours before we took off. Talk about frustrating! The kids were sitting by their cousins, so that helped.

We did have a good time. I won't bore you all with a long long post about the trip and a million pictures, so I will break it up over the next few days.

The first full day on the ship was a "sailing day". It was so nice to just relax. The kids swam and played mini golf. I had a good long nap (I know...I am boring. But it was sure nice). Here are a few pictures from that day.







It is funny to think that just a week ago today we were playing in the sun and it was warm and this Saturday it is cold and snowy. I want to go back! I really don't care if I have a White Christmas!!

A special day

Yesterday was Makayla's eighth birthday, and she got to be baptized on her birthday. It was a great day. Since she was the only one getting baptized, we could plan the program. Makayla was quite involved in the planning and who she wanted to speak. She asked her Logan to give the baptism talk. He surprised me by saying that he would do it. He did a great job. She asked Spencer to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. He was more than happy to do it. (This kid loves to give talks.....where did he get that?) He did a good job too. Her dad baptized and confirmed her. Makayla, Caitlin and some of their cousins sang the closing song, "Families Can Be Together Forever". It was so sweet.

We had lots of family come. It was a good day. Afterwards, we all went to Becky's house for lunch and birthday cake. Thanks Becky and Kelly! It was nice. Her Aunt Susan gave her the cutest baptism towel. It was embroidered in purple with her name and CTR with little "rhinestone sparkles" on it.

It is hard to believe that she is my last one to be baptized. Makayla said it was the best day of her whole life!

Christmas Secrets Revealed

A few weeks ago Becky called us and said "Want to go on a cruise with us?" I thought she was kidding. Yeah right. She told me they had decided to take their kids for Christmas. I mentioned it to Dean, and he was more open to the idea. We thought about it and decided that what we want most to give our kids right now are good fun family memories. If you asked them a few years from now what they got for Christmas in 2008, I doubt that any of them would be able to remember. But, they will never forget a family Christmas vacation. I was very reluctant, but Dean, Becky and Kelly finally talked me into it, and I relented. We will cruise to Cabo San Lucas.

We decided to keep it a secret for as long as we could, but it was getting harder not to slip and say something to the kids. Besides, isn't anticipation half of the fun? We decided to get all the kids together to tell them the news. We met over at the Dastrups house. We had all the kids gather in a circle. We told them we had something important to tell them and would give them clues to help them figure it out. I had gone to the dollar store to try and find things that could be used as clues. Now that was difficult! It was hard to find things through all the Christmas stuff in the store. We gave each kid a wrapped present and had them open them up one at a time. Here is what I came up with:

Braden - Clue #1 - Sunglasses

Spencer - Clue #2 - Hot Sauce (with a Mexican guy on the label)


Caitlin - Clue #3 - puzzle of the United States


Stacia - Clue #4 - flip flops


Makayla - Clue #5 - calendar with ocean scenes on it


Bryson - Clue #6 - toy plane


Logan - Clue #7 - a neck think that you can carry your ship ID in. (What is it called?)


(I also got them a sucker from the Mexican aisle in the grocery store. They were nasty. I think the package had been on the grocery store shelf for about 20 years. I am not kidding!)

By this time they were starting to catch on, well some of them were. Then Becky gave them each a ticket she had printed up telling them where they would be going and handed and envelope with the ticket inside to each one.



They excitedly ripped open the envelopes and read their tickets! It was so fun to watch their faces.


We leave on December 13th and return on the 18th. The kids will miss four days of school, come back for one day and then have Christmas break. This IS my kids Christmas. They will probably have just a present or two on Christmas Day and that is it. I have to admit, the thought of not having tons of Christmas shopping to do is quite appealing! I have been having a hard time this year getting excited about Christmas.

I am wondering if the actual Christmas Day will take on a new meaning for them. It won't be all about toys and presents. Hopefully we will be able to focus on the true meaning of Christmas a bit more this year.

Christmas will be quite different for us this year, but I hope it will be a Christmas they will always remember!

Job-Shadowing

Last week, for one of Spencer's classes he had to do a "job shadowing". It is where the students arrange to go and spend the day with someone at their job. They get excused from school for the whole day and "go to work". We thought we had a place all set up for him and he was excited about going. Well, things there just didn't work out. The day before the job shadowing day Dean and I were scratching our heads trying to think of someone Spencer could go to work with.

Well, finally I just had an idea pop into my head and ran it past Dean. He liked the idea and called and made the arrangements. So, early (6:00 a.m.) Spencer went down to one of our local radio stations (the cool one) 94.3 XRQ to spend the morning with the DJ's (Charlie and Brandon) on the morning show. Spencer LOVED it. They talked with him on air a little bit. They showed him alot of the "behind-the-scenes-stuff. It turned out to be a fun experience for him.

Since the morning show is over at 10:00 a.m. Spencer got to hang out the rest of the day with Mom and Dad which was fun too. We took him out to lunch. When you have four kids it is nice once in a while to get to spend time with just one of them.

Pumpkins and Turkeys

This year for Halloween I was a real slacker of a mom. I just wasn't into it at all. We kind of threw together costumes at the last minute for the girls. (I didn't even get a picture of them in their costumes. I'm not sure how that happened). I told the boys that this year they were too old for costumes.

We bought pumpkins early in October for carving, but it never happened. It just seemed like every night there was just something going on. Dean having surgery the day before Halloween didn't help out either. Blah blah blah....excuses, excuses, I know. Anyway, the day after Halloween the kids were kind of feeling bad because we never got the pumpkins carved into jack o'lanterns.

SO...Monday night for family night we made our pumpkins into turkey's for Thanksgiving. We used sheets of craft foam to cut out feathers and the heads. We stuck them in with wooden skewers. We didn't actually carve them but had fun making them anyway.

Here are the results of our efforts.








Please note Logan's turkey. He has an arrow stuck in it complete with blood dripping out. Sheesh...BOYS!










Just remember I am not a crafty kind of person and not creative at at all so this was a big deal for me. But it did turn out to be a fun project, and alot less mess than carving pumpkins and having to scoop out pumpkin guts. That part I didn't miss.

Do you think I can talk them into doing this next year too? Yeah, I doubt it too.

Talk about a "Bad Hair Day"

Oh, have mercy! Every morning, Makayla and I have a fight about hair. She has all these ideas of how she wants me to do her hair. Usually we end up in some sort of compromise, that neither one of us is happy about. But really, her hair ideas are pretty outlandish. Well, today at school it was "Crazy Hair Day". I told her I would do her hair exactly how she wanted me to. She was pretty excited about that. Let me just say...it is pretty crazy! She loved it and thought she had the most beautiful hair...not crazy hair. She said, "Mom, you have to take a picture and then put it on the blog". So, here you go Makayla.....




P.S. --This week at the schools it is "Drug Free" week. Everyday they can do something like crazy hair day, hat day, tie day etc. Caitlin and Makayla have loved it. Spencer makes me laugh, yesterday he said to me -- they have all these crazy things for people to do for drug free week, and it just makes everyone look like they are ON drugs. I kind of had to agree!