Christmas Vacation - part 2

(Ok - so it has only taken me a month to post this - sorry for the late update)

December 30 (Tues.) - We had fun going to the Fresno zoo with Jared, Danielle, Janessa and their families. Luckily we all had zoo passes which made for a free/fun activity. The weather was awesome - how nice to be where the snow isn't and enjoy being outdoors in December. One particular animal that we saw really left an impression. I have never seen anything quite like it and had to take pictures.

Aren't these just weird - Looks like a cross between an anteater and a horse.

Bradley and Tavis enjoying a stroller ride.
All of the cousins in front of the giraffes.

Bradley, Camille, Lindsay, Carter, Parker & Johnathan at the petting zoo.

Hailey, Ashley, Parker, Jared, Carter & Camille enjoying in the play area at the zoo.

Carter & Parker loved the rock climbing wall and were pretty impressive - they could climb up to the top with little problems.

Bradley being cute as always.

Jared & I playing Guitar Hero. Jared was really good and beat me every time. Tanner is holding cute Jade & Bradley.

December 31 (Wed.) - We decided that as a family we wanted to see if there were any dairies/factories that we could tour for free. We ended up getting to see 2 separate dairies. The first place was located about 45 miles away by Fresno. It was called Organic Pastures. They have raw milk which isn't pasteurized. During the tour we were able to actually go out into the fields where the cows were and be right next to them. The kids definitely thought this was cool! The cows were very nice - most of them kept their distance. There was one in particular that loved being by us and was letting the kids pet her - her name was "Holly". She even followed us about 300 yards as we were walking out of the field to leave. This dairy smelled awesome - no awful smells like most dairies. The cows are not herded into a milking area, but actually have a portable milking station where they come around to the cows and milk them in their own environment. After the tour we were able to try some of their whole and chocolate milk. The chocolate milk actually has real chunks of chocolate in them. We ended up buying some of their milk and the kids were in heaven - Bradley especially couldn't get enough of it.

Bradley in front of the dairy.
All of us inside of their offices - Tricia, Tanner, Carter, Parker, Bradley, Camille, Johnathan & Byron.
Carter & Parker enjoying the cows.
Holly - the very nice cow - loved following Parker & I as we were leaving. We had to turn around and take this picture.
Bradley & Byron
Parker enjoying his chocolate milk - YUM!

On the way back we came upon a small orange stand on the side of the road. We ended up buying 2 large bags of oranges. Can I just say WOW - What amazing oranges! They were so good and fresh. I wish we had bought 4 more bags to bring home with us.

We enjoyed playing games in the evening to break in the new year. We played spoons, Wii, and pictionary with the adults. We enjoyed relaxing and spending time together. We definitely had a house full - about 26 people, but fun times! The floors were wall to wall children - my kids were in complete heaven being able to see their cousins.

The adults playing above and the kids playing below. Johnathan, Michael, Tanner, Elizabeth, Camille & Rebekah enjoying playing games together.
Mom using her expert skills to draw for our pictionary game.

January 1 (Thurs.) - Mom, Dad & Michael Jamison came with us to Hanford to watch "The Tale of Desperaux." We had the whole theater to ourselves (never had that happen before.) I was worried about Bradley not behaving, so the empty theater was nice to let him wander. Luckily he ended up falling asleep during it, which added to an enjoyable experience. Very cute show - the kids were quiet the whole time:).
I have never been able to take a picture in a theater before, but enjoyed taking advantage of the moment.

That evening the adults that were at my parent's house all went out to eat dinner together. The older kids were so nice to babysit their younger cousins and siblings. We had so much fun being able to be away from the children for a couple of hours and have really adult conversations without interruptions.

Mitchell, Jared, Danielle, me & Byron eating dinner.
Hethaer, Dallin, Allyson, Dad, Mom & Janessa

January 2 (Fri.) - We went and had a tour of another dairy at 10:00 a.m. near Corcoran. This dairy has around 50,000 cows and milks each of them 3 times every day. It was amazing to see the area where the cows are herded in and milked. The cows knew exactly what to do as they backed up into the milking area ready to get the machines put on them. My kids really loved this part. The dairy was just four years old and so clean. I have driven past so many dairies in my life that have the grossest smell and somewhere I would never want to set foot - so this was a happy realization. We were also able to go see where all of the pregnant cows were at. One of the cows had just had a baby a few minutes before we arrived and we were able to see this small calf take its wobbly first steps. There was also a cow that was in the process of giving birth not far from where we were at. We could see part of the calf coming out, but were unable to see the birthing process since we had to leave before this happened (probably a good thing:). My kids all enjoyed this experience and hopefully won't soon forget it. Behind us are the cows that are going to be giving birth soon. The kids were all so fascinated.
Tanner, Johnathan, Camille, Parker & Carter in front of the cows getting milked. The kids LOVED going over to the church building and playing games. Jared & Byron were nice enough to play with them endless hours.

My brother, Adam, was supposed to return from his mission from Portugal at 9:40 p.m., but due to some weather issues he was stuck in Salt Lake City of all places for 24 hours. Luckily we found out about his change of plans before we headed to the Fresno airport. Him and his companion were put up into a hotel for the night and were able to enjoy Temple Square the following day.

January 3 (Sat.) - The long awaited day had arrived to finally see Adam. After looking at his flight online we realized that he wasn't going to be leaving at the departure time from Salt Lake City. The plane that was coming to SLC from another city was getting maintenance, so his flight was delayed again to come in at 12:05 a.m. Crazy to keep kids up this late, but we all headed to the airport around 11:00 p.m. The fog was really bad, but we made it there with time to spare. The kids had made some cool "welcome home signs" for their uncle and were happily holding them as he walked towards us.

TannerCamille
Johnathan
Carter
Parker
Janessa, Lindsay & Ashley

The long awaited reunion.Adam, Bradley & I - Bradley was fast asleep while at the airport.
Adam talking with Tanner, Parker & Carter

Adam and his companion, Elder Nelson. They both are from the same stake, went into the MTC the same day and then came home together.

January 4 (Sun.) - We got up early to pack up our van, clean up our living quarters and get ready for church. Church started at 10:00 a.m. (such a great time). We took some family pictures before it started. It is always weird to go back to the Corcoran Branch, especially since so many of those that I grew up with have since moved away. There were very few I recognized. Adam did a great job at bearing his testimony about his mission. He has grown up so much while he has been away. I love him and am grateful for his wonderful example to my children. He closed his remarks by bearing his testimony in Portuguese. After he spoke, all of the children sang both verses of "Called to Serve." They sounded great!

The whole crew before church started.

After the kids sang we had to hurry to drive back to Utah. The kid's start school the next day and we had to get back for that. We were sad that we wouldn't be seeing Adam for very long, but are glad that he came up to BYU-Idaho the following day. We plan on going up and visiting him. We also hope that he plans to come down for different holidays/General Conference so we can see him. We love it when family lives close by:).

We had such a wonderful vacation, but after being gone for 12 days we were ready to be home. The weather was great allowing us to make wonderful time. We are glad to be home other than the fun snow we came back to - the weather in California made me anxious for spring to come.

Overwhelmed!

I have had some very stressful days lately and have decided that I miss my unstressful life:). I suppose the older my children become + the more involved they are = STRESS. I have realized that I can't worry about things that are out of my control. I need to find out what I can do and not let those other things get me down.

I have had some amazing "angels" help me out this past week and can't thank them enough for their service to me. I have had to allow others to help me when I literally couldn't do it on my own. I am not a person who can easily ask others for help. I pride myself in being independent so this has been such a hard thing for me to do. I have learned that life is about helping each other and there are so many willing to help at a moments notice.

Thanks so much to my wonderful "angels." I couldn't have made it through this week without you.

California Vacation - part 1

December 24 (Wed.) - We headed out at 2:30 p.m. to go as far as Saint George. Right around 5:30 as we were just leaving Cedar City, a huge blizzard started. We were happy we had gotten as far as we had without any weather issues, but were hoping to get through without any problems. We had some pretty scary moments where we were nervous, but eventually made it to Saint George without any issues. The kids were so excited to swim in the swimming pool at the hotel. The water was the perfect temperature and the hot tub felt awesome! We enjoyed out time at the pool for about 1 1/2 hours. I didn't want to get into the pool, so Camille had Bradley in the water. Every time she tried to have him get out, he would run back to her. He was having such a great time.

December 25 (Thurs.) - We left bright and early in the morning to continue on to California. The kids all did relatively well throughout the whole drive. We made it to Corcoran around 2:30 p.m. We enjoyed visiting with the family that was there.

December 26 (Fri.) - Byron & I left at 10:00 a.m. to head to Long Beach, CA. We were heading out on a 3-day cruise with Carnival Paradise - YEAH!

We arrived in Long Beach right around 1:00 p.m. and could board the ship at 1:30 p.m. The process of getting on only took about 30 minutes. After getting on we headed to our room located at M124. There are 14 levels on the cruise ship and we slept on deck 5. Our room was actually nicer than I had envisioned it. We had two twin beds pushed together to make a larger bed, a TV mounted on the wall in the corner, a desk with mirror above it, two closets, a bathroom, shower, and a small table and chair in the corner. The funniest part was having what looked like a curtain for a window, but after pulling it away discovered that all there was was the wall.

We headed upstairs after settling in and ate lunch. The food was amazing! I can literally say that for 3 days I never felt hungry since I would eat before I even got to that point. There were so many different types of foods to choose from. We decided upon some chicken and potatoes. I went back for some salad afterwards. There were so many fun desserts available also. Byron couldn't get enough of their ice-cream and I enjoyed some chocolate cake.

We enjoyed walking around the ship to find out where everything was. I couldn't believe how incredibly huge the ship was! I am so glad that Byron was able to maneuver around without any problems - I constantly felt like I was lost.

At 4:45 they had a boat drill where everyone was required to attend. We had to bring our life jacket from our rooms with us upstairs to the meeting area for our floor in case of an emergency. The drill lasted about one hour. We had to put on our life jacket and then eventually be led outside where the boats were located. I was sure glad when this drill was over - not a fun part of the cruise, but if there really was an emergency how smoother it would have run.

The ship was supposed to sail away from the port at 5:30 p.m., so we headed to the front of the ship. We wanted to watch it leave. We made it there just in time to see it start moving.

Byron & I were feeling pretty good until we headed down to our rooms to watch some TV. While we were laying on the bed the ship started to pick up speed and we were really starting to feel sick. I could barely move without the sick feeling. We decided to head up to the store to see if they had anything for sea sickness. We ended up purchasing some pills like Dramamine. They really did help. I could still feel slight movements, but wasn't getting the sick feeling any more.

We had signed up for the 6:30 dinner, but ended up being put on the 8:15 instead. We would be eating in the Normandie Lounge. At 8:15 we got there to a huge group of people all waiting for the room to be open. After waiting for about 20 minutes, we were allowed to enter to find out table. The dining area was beautiful. We were seated at a round 10-person table. All of the couples at our table were really nice - it took going back each night to get more comfortable with them. Our waiter, Walter, was amazing! He made each one of us feel so comfortable and was so good at bringing our food in a timely manner. We usually ordered 2 appetizers each meal, one main dish, and a dessert. The food was presented in such a beautiful way. I have never seen such dishes. We both came away eating way more food than we should have. The food was delicious!

After leaving the dining room around 9:30 p.m. we headed over to see the "Welcome Aboard Comedy Show." I have not laughed so hard in a long time. One of the comedians, Seth Buchwald, was hilarious.

I was so tired by the time we finally made it to our room. The medicine we had taken previously had just wiped me out and made me very tired. We both slept great.

Here we are before entering the ship. Below Byron is on the top deck overlooking the water. It was about 60 degrees outside with a light wind.
Above I am also on the deck with Long Beach in the background. Below Byron is in the hallway outside of our rooms. Above is one of the fun towel animals we got on our bed every night. This one was probably my favorite. We also had our bedding pulled down with our schedule for the following day and 2 mints. Below I am drinking our favorite of the trip - hot chocolate. They had the coolest dispensers that we could get hot chocolate 24/7. With the cooler evenings, it really hit the spot.
December 27 (Sat.) - We woke up around 7:30 a.m. to hear that we had arrived into Ensenada over the speakers in our room. We got ready and headed upstairs to eat breakfast. After we ate we got off of the ship. We took a bus into the middle of town where there would be some fun shops to go inside. There were so many street vendors also. We found quite the fun deals for our children while on this street.

We ate some tacos at a street vendor. They had either beef or fish for $1 each. They were absolutely delicious! I got 2 fish tacos and was able to add guacamole, salsa & cabbage to them. Byron got 3 of the steak tacos and later said that his favorite part of our cruise was eating those tacos.

We spent about 2 hours here and then went back to the ship for some more food (like we needed any more:).

At 1:30 p.m. we had a tour planned for the blow hole in Ensenada. This is one of the 3 blowholes in the world. We went in a bus and it took about 45 minutes to get there. Our tour guide was awesome and continually was making us all laugh. When we arrived at the blowhole we found out that it was low tide and never were really able to see it go off. We did get some beautiful pictures of the water, though. We enjoyed shopping some more at some shops and had some really good churros.

I had the hardest time keeping my eyes open both ways on the bus. I think the medicine from the previous day was still in my system.

After arriving back we got onto the ship.

Dinner was elegant attire. We got dressed up and then went upstairs to have some pictures taken. Dinner was fabulous as always. Byron enjoyed lobster and shrimp. I, on the other hand, was the only one at my table that didn't take advantage of this delicious meal. I ate chicken instead. We had some entertainment from the waiters/waitresses. They danced to a song.

After dinner we played a game of bingo and then watched part of the entertainment for the evening "Here's Hollywood." We ended up leaving during the show due to the skimpy women. I was so upset that they would have the performers dress this way when I had heard so many wonderful things about the entertainment on the cruise ships.

We headed back to our room, changed out of our clothes and went up onto the deck to enjoy the night life. We had some hot chocolate and enjoyed talking with each other.

Me outside of the ship - it is absolutely massive.

Me with a beautiful hill with houses all around it in Ensenada. Byron at the taco shop. YUM! Below are the delicious fish tacos.

Byron & I back on the ship after eating lunch. Byron is enjoying his ice-cream cone while looking over Ensenada.
The beautiful view from the blowhole. This was the fun towel creation that evening. Byron & I in our evening attire - it was fun to dress up and be able to go to something elegant for once.

December 28 (Sun.) - Today was "Fun Day at Sea." We were travelling very slowly back to Long Beach, so we couldn't feel the movement on the ship like we had on the previous Friday. Relaxation was the name of the day - we enjoyed going to the back of the ship and relaxing in the sun. We both were able to spend time talking, reading, looking at the water, etc. There was a swimming pool and hot tubs on the top of the ship, but we definitely weren't thinking that at all with 60 degree weather. Since there was really nothing to do we were able to just spend time together without any stress in the world. I don't even think we could have been reached by cell phone.

We went to an art auction and were able to see some beautiful pieces of art on display on the ship. We didn't end up buying any, but enjoyed watching the auctioneer.

After the art auction we headed back outside. We were looking over the edge of the ship when all of a sudden we saw a school of dolphins swimming right below us. I quickly tried to grab the camera and was too late. I actually wish I had just enjoyed watching. Byron & I could see them jumping up and down in the water quite a ways behind the ship. What a beautiful sight! After this we watched in the water for quite some time to see if we could see anything else. All we were able to see were a lot of seagulls flying all around the ship.

We went back to our room to relax and watch some TV. Byron ended up taking a nap and I ordered room service - what an awesome thing! How fun to have food brought to your room for free:).

In the evening, we ate dinner and I remembered to take some pictures of our dishes this time. The food was just incredible. The only thing that Byron got that he wouldn't eat was a dish with raw salmon. I know I gained weight from all the great foods available. Eating a dessert after each meal was so fun - we never order desserts due to being full already and also an added cost. I guess being full didn't stop us each night. Byron always made sure to get this sherbet ice-cream and I would choose something different every night.

We ended up packing up most of our stuff since we would be heading out pretty early in the morning.

I have never been waited on hand and foot quite like this before. We will definitely have to try it again in a few years.

Me relaxing on the deck with a book. Byron over looking the water.
Our beautiful dinner table - notice how many knives, spoons and forks at each setting.
Byron & I before we ate dinner.
Byron's salmon he ordered for his main dish. Byron's appetizer he got with raw salmon - I have never seen Byron not eat something - well this was the dish:).
I got this for my appetizer - it is fruit and salad - it was so good!
Me outside of our room.
Byron relaxing after dinner.
Our bed with the lovely towel decoration.

December 29 (Mon.) - Our morning started early. We wanted to see the sunrise from the ship and get up to be ready to head out as soon as we could. We ate breakfast right next to a window and was able to see the sunrise. It was so beautiful!

We went back to our room to finish packing and wait out our departure. We had to wait until our floor was called so we could leave. Our floor was finally called around 8:00 a.m. - we had to lug our heavy luggage all the way back which made for some very tired arms. Leaving the ship was sad, but such a great break and we were ready to be back with our children.

We headed to Corcoran - which is 3 hours away - to spend time with my family and to see our children again. When we drove up, Janessa brought Bradley out to us. He was anxious to see us, but didn't seem too sad about our departure. He must have had a great time without us there being spoiled by his Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles.

We spent time playing games and enjoyed being with my side of the family for the rest of the evening.

Byron with his breakfast on the ship. Notice the hot chocolate - loved it! Parker with his gift from us - Superman was very high in the tree - maybe he thought he really could fly:).
Hailey and Johnathan playing on the hammock. All of the kids were having a great time in the backyard. The weather was just gorgeous.
Bradley being as cute as ever!
Dad & Mom enjoying some relaxing time.
THANKS DAD & MOM FOR WATCHING OUR CHILDREN!!! What an awesome present you were able to give us!