Cruising--Day at Sea

It was nice that we had our Sea Day on Sunday and that it was Easter.  The cruise only does a religious gathering on holidays, so we were able to have a inter-denomination meeting.  The cruise director said a prayer and spoke first then opened it for others to come up and share.  It was cool to see who went up and what they had to say: there was an LDS woman, a Catholic woman who shared a prayer, 2 women sang, a big tall African American, and Dave.  He was amazing.  He started out by talking about leaving Aliyah and apologized if he cried while talking about her.  One woman behind me said, "that's okay baby!"  He went on to talk about how it is through Jesus Christ that we will be able to return to live with our Heavenly Father and connected it to our returning to Aliyah.  There were a lot of people "amen"-ing the things Dave said.  He even shared a scripture from 3 Nephi.  He was the only one to get people crying.  The Spirit was strong.  It was such a great way to feel the truth of the gospel.  So proud of Dave...I guess he couldn't resist a pulpit!

We actually had a number of opportunities to talk about the church throughout our vacation: a man sitting next to us on one of our flights, our dinner table friends who were Jehovah Witnesses and the inter-denomination meeting.  We love those opportunities!

The rest of the day we slept, relaxed, and ate.  We enjoyed our last dinner with our dinner table friends and then decided to go do Karaoke with them.  Dave was a good sport and went up to sing with me...to keep with the spirit of the day we sang...Don't Stop Believin'...see the religious connection!?

You have to admit that Dave and I have some mad dancing skills....

 and that we are really good at looking...cool!

This trip was just what we needed to stay sane!  We were grateful for the time to be able to focus on each other, catch up on sleep, eat lots of food, meet wonderful people, and see incredible places.  

Cruising-Cozumel, Mexico

 We debated for a good long while what to do while in Cozumel.  We ended up doing a cruise excursion that took us to the Mayan ruin of Tulum.  We loved it.  We were able to see a little bit of the culture and history but also got to go to the beach.  We were AMAZED at the water--so clear and incredible blues.  We had a quick ferry ride over to the mainland and a 45 minute bus ride before getting to Tulum...so a bit of traveling but well worth it!

Tulum was built on a cliff and the main building acted as a light house.  

Here's looking to the beach below...

 and looking up at the "light house" building from the beach...

Look at the different blues in the water...seriously so beautiful!

Tulum!

Cruising-Key West

Our first port was at Key West.  Dave and I did some research and found that we could save $140 by not doing a cruise excursion to go parasailing, but by going directly to the company. We were glad we did it!

Here we are waiting for our turn.  You can see our cruise ships "tail" in the far distant background.  

Please note our AWESOME burns on our arms...we are really cool.

And going up...

...getting dunked...

 ...enjoying the BEAUTIFUl view...

 ...the landing...

Seriously, so fun.  It was even better that we got to go up together. It was cool to see where we were and the beautiful water that surrounded us.

After parasailing we walked around Key West.  We debated going on a number of tours, but after looking at lines and price decided to just enjoy the town.

Here we are at the southern most point of the United States.

Then on to get some Key Lime pie.  Dave and I are big fans of Key Lime pie (it was served at our wedding luncheon).  So we were looking forward to it.  Dave got the classic pie, which was pretty darn good.

 And I got the Key Lime pie on a stick dipped in chocolate...it was amazing.  

We walked back to our ship, had lunch and enjoyed the afternoon basking in the sun reading books.  

Before dinner we went to change and found the "housekeeper" dude had left us this little towel creature...wearing my sun glasses.   

Growing Up and Getting Away

It is so sad to see Aliyah grow up.  She is not a baby, at all, by any means, whatsoever, and yet...we still call her baby.  Here she is eating an apple like a big girl--just picked it up from the fruit bowl and started eating--and she loved it.  (and she'll pick up a new one without getting very far on the other, so I have to watch her!)

Here's Aliyah playing with Dave.  She told them where they were supposed to hide and then just laid their and snuggled together.

The Monday before Easter we had our Easter FHE lesson (Dave and I would be gone on Easter so we wanted to make sure we taught Aliyah a little something!)  I filled some plastic easter eggs with scriptures and candy and then "hid" them around the living room for Aliyah to find.  After explaining just once she knew what she was supposed to do and found all of the eggs (except one that even I had forgotten where I had hid).  She loved finding the eggs and putting them in the basket.

                    

                    

After she found the basket we opened all the eggs and read through the scriptures and talked about Christ's last week before His Resurrection.  At the end I asked Aliyah if she would follow Jesus and she said, "No."  We asked her why.  She said, "Because Jesus was crucified."  Uhhh, what! That's a pretty good reason.  We then explained about how Christ was resurrected, perfect, and all better, then asked once again if she would follow Jesus example so she could live with Heavenly Father again.  She said yes!  Whew...

On to the Getting Away part...Dave and I had to get away.  So over Dave's short spring break and in celebration of our 5 year anniversary, Dave and I went on a west Caribbean cruise.  We left Aliyah with Dave's sisters family. We were so sick to our stomach that morning we dropped her off!  We knew she would be fine, but she was out of our control...terrible feeling!  We got over it soon enough.  The 8 hours of flying/layover was even a welcome retreat as were able to relax, read, talk, watch a movie.  The hotel we stayed in not so welcoming.  The room was tiny, had tile floors (so we could hear people rolling their luggage down the hall at 3 and 4 and 5 pm) and thin enough walls to hear people talking on the other side! It was a rough night...but made the cruise itself even that more wonderful!

Here we are on the cruise ship with the Miami skyline in the background.  Do you see how happy we were!  We didn't even leave the port for another 4 hours after this...we just were on the ship, eating food, reading books, and getting burned...it was awesome!

More of March

Aliyah went to her first friend birthday party.  It was for our neighbor with a Tinkerbell theme.  The invitation invited the girls to come dressed up as a fairy or princess.  So we used the ballet costume Aliyah got at Christmas...she was a hit.  Aliyah loved the party and was thoroughly entertained with the  activities, entertainment and food.  I had to do some choreographing so Dave went with her.  She looks all grown up trying to carry the present!

 

We also did a little shopping with some Christmas money (3 months late...we like to lengthen it out and enjoy Christmas longer!)  And by we I mean I bought stuff while Dave and Aliyah played.  They went on the train that rides around the mall.  Aliyah LOVED it and cried hard and loud when she had to get off.  Dave and I are learning how parents can spoil their children so easily--it is purely to see the joy and happiness on their faces.  Unfortunately it only last while she was on the train.  That's the other thing that we learned...happpiness you can buy only lasts as long as you're doing it--at least in a 2 year olds mind!

We also saw the Easter Bunny!

We then went to dinner at Chuck-a-Rama (another Christmas gift!)  Aliyah loved the ice-cream.  She saw Dave's bowl and wanted it for herself.  She ate the whole thing and wanted more.

 Good family, good fun, good food!

Family Home Evening Flop

Our ward has been given an invitation by the bishopric to have each person over the age of 12 find an ancestor to do their work for in the temple.  Dave and I have taken this quite seriously...well, maybe me more than Dave since I have a bit more time on my hands than he does.  Anyway, in one of my family lines we have a good chance to do a lot of work, but I definitely needed to use more resources than what I can get my hands on.  So for a family home evening we decided to go to the Family History Center in SLC.  We invited my parents to come since they of course would be interested in what we found.  We drove up there, found THE best parking spot, and realized that it closes at 5 pm on Mondays!  Of course.  I was a bit disappointed but we made the most of it by visiting the Visitors' Center. 

Nothing like teaching Aliyah about Christ and having all of those wonderful resources...to try to keep her from climbing on…

We've also had the joy of being sick for the past couple of weeks.  It took a good solid 2 weeks for all of us go through it.  Here's some pictures of an exhausted baby who wanted to "snuggle with mama."  (That's one of my weaknesses...and she knows if she says it she gets it!)

But we're all better now (knock on wood!) and are enjoying life much more!

February

This month has seemed crazy, busy.  We've been able to have a number of fun outings...none of which, we got pictures of, but to be mentioned nevertheless.

We went to a BYU game at the beginning of the month.  Our niece was supposed to do a halftime dance with her Cougarettes, but it got cancelled.  We still cheered on.  Aliyah did pretty good; she loves the Cougar Fight Song and the BYU Creamery Ice Cream.   

Each Wednesday for the next few months we get to watch our friends son.  He and Aliyah play pretty good together.  Here are some pictures from a couple of different days...

        

 and add in our cute neighbor friend!

While getting some lunch ready for these two, I heard them talking about hands and look up to see them reach out and hold each others hand.  Aliyah looks a bit more excited about it, but they were in on it together!

Every year CES employees and wives are invited to go to a fireside in SLC.  Elder Oaks spoke--it is always amazing to be so close and hear the words of our prophets.  Then we had a nice dinner afterwards.  It's nice to finally (after 5 years in the system) to be getting to know other couples well enough that I don't feel completely awkward!

I got to go to lunch with my Nauvoo sisters.  It was a refreshing afternoon.  

A family in our ward from Brazil invited us to their daughters first birthday party.  It was impressive how well done everything was--apparently first birthdays are especially celebrated in Brazil.  Dave loved the conversation and food...and I loved the food.  Mmmm nothing like maracuja and paver--both of which were desserts!

A recent thing of ours is to have avocado shakes (another Brazilian thing).  Aliyah had a mustache of it but by the time Dave and I had got ours on too, she'd licked hers off!

Aliyah and I went and had lunch with Dave at work for Valentines Day--it was fun to surprise him.  We didn't see each other that night because of me teaching dance and Dave having appointments.  When my dancers commented on how sad it was that we weren't together I told them that we'd had lunch and that he was with other women!  They didn't understand until I told them he was the bishop...we all got a pretty good laugh.

Aliyah loves drinking the milk out of her cereal bowl and licking her plate clean...especially when there is ranch leftover.  Will she ever be clean in eating!?

We had stake conference where our stake was split.  It was an exciting time with everyone guessing what would happen.  Our little ward was untouched and we are grateful!

This weekend we went to dinner and then the Cougarette Concert.  Our niece was pretty amazing--it's hard to watch the rest of the dance! 

And lastly, this month I got new glasses--I have had my last ones for the past 8 years.  My eyes haven't changed much in all that time!  But here I am sporting the new glasses.  They are basically the same shape as my last ones just bolder frame.

Yeah for March coming soon.  I am ready for warmer weather!