Kelsie's 20th Birthday in Mexico

Kelsie turned 20 years old while we were on our cruise. What better birthday hat then a purple sombrero. She was so adorable, our waiters brought her a special dessert and she wore her sombrero everywhere she went we let everyone know it was her birthday hat. When we got back we had a little family dinner and gave her the cutest bike ever. She loved it and it will be so nice to take to college this fall.

I love Kelsie, she is so fun to be with. It has been a wonderful 20 years.. Kelsie has always been my stubborn one, from the time she was 3 when asked to get her jammies on.. Kelsie would just look at us and say NO. But when Kelsie puts her mind to something she succeeds. She has proved over and over that with hard work and dedication you can accomplish anything. I know that this fall they will be a empty spot in our home without her. There will be no one asking me to go to Joann's to shop for hours :( or to just go get a diet cherry limeade. Kelsie you will be greatly missed. Go.... with all of our love, make friends, laugh, have tons of fun... and always remember who you are!

Mexican Riviera Cruise

Mexico

In June we packed our bags and headed for Mexico. We planned our vacation about 9 months ago and then waited for what seemed like forever. When the day finally came we were so excited. The first day we had a few mishaps..We got off the plane in L.A. and got our luggage but when we tried to look up the information on my phone for our rental car, my internet on my phone would not work. After being on the phone with a carrier I won't mention but it starts with a big T... I finally had internet service. We got our rental car and found our hotel. Kayla and Jordon wanted to find a Chik-fil-a so we looked on the GPS and found one at a mall. We ate and shopped and talked about our upcoming adventure... everyone was all smiles, until we walked out to the car and I noticed that there was a huge scratch on the bumper of our rental car. After calls to the rental car agency and to the police, filling out a police report and spending a few hours in the mall parking lot they determined that the car that had matching scratches on their front bumper and was parked next to me...WAS NOT the car that hit us. Tape showed that another car drove in, hit the car and drove off. ???? We left the mall and went to the hotel to rest... the kids decided to go swimming and were very disappointed when the pool was FREEZING! So decided to sit in the hot tub and it was EMPTY. Third try was the sauna which was broken... 3 strikes??? This trip had to get better!!! After dinner we decided to take the rental car back so we didn't have to get up early in the morning. We had to wait quite a while for a shuttle back to the airport then another shuttle back to our hotel..The kids played and laughed and we got a lot of looks...but at least we still had smiles on our faces... what a day!... BUT we were still so excited for our Adventure the next day.

So mad waiting for me to get my internet back

Kayla and Jordon

Kelsie, Me and Kilee

Mom and Dad...

Our rental

the car parked next to us that didn't hit us???

Once we got on the ship it was all smiles.. the weather was nice and we were ready for our 7 days on board. The first two days were spent on the ship, we played miniature golf, worked out, ATE, ATE, and ATE some more, watched some pretty bad shows, laid in the sun, swam, ate some more, played cards, sang karaoke, and just relaxed.

This chocolate molten cake was HEAVEN! Me and Ki ordered it

every night we ate in the dining room.... It may be the

single reason I gained weight!

Creme Brulee

Kelsie LOVES ribs!!!

Still in love

Formal Night....

Our first stop was Cabo... It was HOT... We went on a water taxi out to lovers beach and then to another beach.... we shopped, walked, got lost, had so many people try to sell us their goods and actually bought some from the cutest little Mexican girl. We went back to the ship early and soaked up the sun and then back to sea for the night. The next day Mom and Dad decided to stay on the ship and so Jordon, Kayla, Kelsie, Kilee and I went back into Cabo to go shopping. It was so fun to be with Jordon, and it was nice that we had a body guard. He got called our body guard, our baby sitter... Not too many people bugged us... it was so fun to hear him speak spanish to the locals and watch their faces when this white young man was speaking to them in their language. There were some men talking about the girls in spanish as we walked by.. Jordon turned around to them and in spanish told them that he could understand what they were saying.. they laughed and were shocked and then he said which one do you want. There were people that asked him where he learned his spanish and he told them about his mission. At one little market there was a little girl that was so taken by him she just sat and stared at him while he was bartering for a better price.

Don't drink the water! Drink Diet Coke

Water Taxi

A sale we couldn't resist

New pets????

Our next stop was Puerto Vallarta... It was beautiful, I woke up early and went up on deck in time to see us come into port. It was amazing how the ship pulled in and turned all the way around and ended up parked perfectly next to the dock. The sunrise was amazing and I was so mad that I had forgotten my camera but didn't want to leave the beautiful view to get it. Our day was an adventure to say the least. We drove about an hour into the jungle, on our way we drove past the locals and saw the poverty and shop after shop, make shift restaurants, drought, hungry cows, an LDS church and it made me so thankful for my blessings in this life. We had no idea what an incredible adventure was ahead of us. Zip lines through the jungle, rappelling from high trees, meeting wonderful guides that made us laugh, learning we could do scary and hard things. It was worth every penny and if you are even in Puerto Vallarta, go see the guides at Puerto Vallarta Adventures, you won't be disappointed.

Our last two days were spent on the ship and we were a little sad that we didn't have sun. It was cloudy and windy and cold so we made the best of it. We played a lot of phase 10, relaxed, read, went to some more shows, ate a lot of frozen yogurt and more amazing food... watched movies on the big screen, sang more karaoke and just enjoyed each others company.

Now were back and wondering where to go next... we're ready to start saving and planning... I love vacations but mostly I just love being with my family and the memories we make.

Winter/Spring... all in one

It's been an busy winter/spring.. taking over another Subway and hiring so many new employees has kept me so busy. Sometimes too busy, sometimes I wonder if it is worth the extra money that they are paying me to be so tired and to feel like I'm either at work or on the phone with work. Winter left and Spring came and went. I don't have many pictures of events so I decided just to highlight some of my favorites...

Easter was amazing, I love thinking about the Savior and his Atonement and the chance that it gives me in this life to repent and make it back to my Heavenly Father. I continued to serve in the Young Womens and loved every minute of it. I have since been released but the time that I was able to be with the Young women was incredible. They taught me so much and will always be in my heart. We were able to go to the homeless shelter and serve dinner. What a great experience that every human should take the opportunity to do. We sang them a song and talked to them and on the way home stopped for milkshakes at Fanci Freeze... :) These girls are so amazing... they talked about the spirit that they felt as they served the least of these... how they felt love for these homeless men that they didn't know their stories but felt like they were friends. I will always remember the feelings I felt as I shared my testimony monthly with these girls and the things they taught me. I remember when I first got called 5 years ago... I told the girls that I didn't cry.. well by the end.. I cried and cried.. we felt the spirit, we learned, we laughed, we loved. I had the opportunity to work with the most Amazing women ever. Alaine Buckley, Lauri Gabrielsen, Colleen Richards, Elaine Rudd, Rachel Johnson, Camille Miller, Melissa McComber and many others.. I will always cherish my time in the Hickories Ward Young women.

In April the girls and Jordon finally got their Christmas present... tickets to a Broadway play in Boise... WICKED... We were so excited it was finally here. And our wait was worth it!!! It brought tears to my eyes.. I loved it, they loved it. I would have bought more tickets for another night if I would have known it was so good!

Then there were just some random moments...

Our Adorable Puppies...

Pedicures with Kels and a yummy lunch with Kayla at Eagle High...

The end of May, Kayla and I flew to Portland for her best friends wedding. She was the maid of honor and I was just the mom of the maid of honor. We shopped and ate and laughed.. we cried at things we hoped for and spent most of mothers day together. We rode the escalator at Target and I spoiled her a little.. It's nice to still be able to do that even though she is married and so responsible. It was the first time we spent time just alone since I went to mothers week a few years ago at BYU-I.. Thanks for the weekend Kayla.. You still make me laugh!

Kayla and Darci

I've decided I like baking new things... trying new recipes.. now that I don't have someone to complain about my cooking I rather like it. (did I just say that out loud? oops... ) Kelsie and Kayla have found so many recipes and so I started trying some and found some of my own. We made Lion House Rolls.. to DIE for!!! CKP bbq chicken pizza... Yummm... and a Strawberry cake dessert that was soooo good.. We love the so many websites if you want a list just let me know..