The rest of February...

The 1st part of February looked like this...

There was quite a bit of sledding...

and playing in the snow with friends.

There was Kenna's school ski day.

Shane is always so good to go to these with the girls.

Not gonna lie... he gets super sad when they get old enough to say nicely, "Hey dad it's OK if you can't make it...."  Which he doesn't get and I have had to translate for him!

There were moments like this where I had to stop to take a picture...

Looks like, "guys day out."

But really when do you see 3 big bucks walking down the sidewalk with NO females around????

Tayler took Garrett D. to Sweethearts Dance.

They were adorable and had a great time.

This was Saturday...

Monday she had her wisdom teeth out.

THAT was NOT a great experience for her.

She had one thing she was worried about...

Having the IV for the sedation.

Unfortunately we figured out later that she was super dehydrated,

the poor dentist tried running the IV in 4 different spots, even her foot.

And let me tell you... Tayler was NOT happy about that.

We could have come back another day, but... we were already there...

Finally we decided to just give her laughing gas and go for it.

For Tayler that was a BAD, BAD, BAD idea.

She couldn't relax enough to even breathe the gas good.

She's never even had a filling so the whole numb thing was completely new to her.

I sat in the waiting room and heard her screaming for all 4 teeth.

That was a HORRIBLE two hours for ALL of us!

The dentist totally earned his money that day.

I felt bad for him... because he felt so bad.

I felt bad for Tayler because she was DISTRAUGHT!!

I felt bad for the other patients there... because they will NEVER want to get their wisdom teeth out!

I still don't know if it was pain, fear, emotions or all of the above.

But that girl NEEDED to be sedated!

An emotional wreck, I have about 20 minutes of video of her after we were out of there.

Video that you'd think she was on drugs in but she wasn't...

a super sad day.

She had gobs of visitors that day.

Later in the evening Hayden (her boy) was over,

She passed out cold and he and Shane helped get her on the couch.

The poor guy kept saying, "um, do you think I should go now?"

He's still around, so I guess it wasn't a deal breaker. hahaha

She recovered quickly except for the swelling and bruising. haha

Even went to school for a few classes after only 1 day off.

She looked hot! hahaha

 The next day...

And the bruising just got worse.

She just loved cheering at a girls AND a boys home Basketball game that week!!

A little infection that antibiotics cleared up quickly but overall a speedy recovery!

We had another wounded girl too.

The annual super bowl party at the Carlsen's ended with a "treadmill accident".

So, so sad.

She looks happy here but that night was awful,

she slept with us and kept waking up shaking and screaming.

This is 3 or 4 days after, but those burns hurt her so bad!

Which is why...

treadmills are not toys.

Lesson learned!

Before that...

Jadyn finished yet another of her hats.

This time for Lydia who didn't take it off all day.

She is one crafty little thing.

Every single stitch by herself.

Love that cute girl!!

Shane and I had our 20th anniversary on the 11th.

No celebration at all since we were leaving a couple days later for the cruise. :)

Jadyn was the only one who was sad about us going.

And she was SUPER sad.

She hates it when Shane is away on Temple trips and not there to tuck her in.

But both of us gone.

Bad news...

I tried a few things to make her happy.

I bought her new elastics and told her to make one of her "loom band bracelets" every day.

And that when she had 8 we would be home.

And that when she wore those bands she would be able to "feel our love."

Apparently that was great,

until one night she couldn't find them.

So Tayler and Saige had to search for a couple hours, because she "couldn't feel our love", and therefore could NOT sleep.

 OOPS, that was not how it was supposed to be.  hahaha

Saying goodbye. :(

Other than that they all did great!

SO proud of my girls for watching out for each other.

They did stuff like this...

An Aggie Game with Grandma, Poppa and cousins...

They helped Lydia with a "prayer" and Jadyn with a "talk".

They all got to church looking cute AND on time.

They made rainbow pancakes.

Had a fun night at the Fun Park.

Saige spent a weekend at "Hollywood Vibe".

(a dance convention.)

Tayler took Kenna to her "5th grade Maturation Program."

Which Kenna told me she, "wanted to die at!!"

She also asked me if, "that was real life."

Yes Kenna... that was real life!

hahahahaha

Sorry I missed that memorable moment with you!

The day after we got home from our cruise Shane turned around and headed to St. George to work on the Temple there...

Jadyn was NOT happy that he left again so soon!

 February like every other month was one to remember!!

The Cruise Video!!

I've had a few requests.

And since my friend Lisa is such a super awesome director.

And her son Josh did such a great job putting it all together.

And it's pretty hilarious.

I'm posting it.

With the disclaimer that sometimes we are strange.

And that most of us weren't super comfortable making fools of ourselves in public.

(except Joe...)

But sometimes we felt forced to.

(by Lisa)

But gosh we have a great time together!

 

Our week on the Caribbean Princess...

Valentine's Day...

Shane and I left our cute girls at home while we ran off to play with our friends the Carlsens and Astles for a week. :)

We flew to Houston.

Shared a hotel room with our friends.

(Every husbands dream Valentine date. haha)

Woke up super excited the next day.

Took our "Limo" to the cruise terminal.

(with a driver who had no idea where that was.  If we were on the amazing race we would definitely have lost, she stopped for directions once and finally with the guys navigating on their phones we got there!)

In no time we were aboard.

and eating...

and eating...

Far more than our share!

The first day was a sea-day.

There was golf for the guys...

and sun for the girls!

Gosh it's been a long winter and we sure enjoyed that sun!

And especially enjoyed being together with good friends.

Cozumel was our first stop

 

 We've been to Cozumel several times...

But never seen the island this way.

A super fun tour.

We made stops along the way.

And spent time at the beach.

A great day with more fun on the ship.

Most nights were capped off the with the nightly shows, definitely more food, a round of cards, dancing, and a large amount of laughter.

Our second stop was Roatan, Honduras.

Probably our most memorable day.

Lisa did great organizing our excursion.

It started with meeting our driver in a somewhat sketchy area.

Which we soon learned wasn't sketchy at all.

Such poverty on this island... so sad.

We had our driver for the whole day so he gave us a tour and took us where ever we wanted to go.

We decided to head to see the Monkeys and Parrots.

For a girl who doesn't like animals.

I have more pictures with animals than anyone I know.

I could do a whole post about animals and birds.

And my face will look pretty close to this in all of them.

Trapped in a cage with two monkeys pouncing all over was cool yes,

but gosh at the time I thought I might pee my pants!

My mom will ask where the hilarious videos of me are... 

this is enough, I think people get the idea of my comfort level!

No I did NOT let them down my shirt like the guys!!

 

I was feeling more comfortable by the end.

Then we went to the parrot cage.

Honestly, I don't know many people that would feel super comfortable in a cage with 5 ginormous parrots flying around!

I was doing OK.

Then this stupid bird dug his huge beak into my shoulder.

Left a big hole in my shirt.

Luckily just the shirt not my skin but it was far too close for my comfort!

After the "animal experience"...

We headed to a local grocery store, picked up a bunch of stuff on a list that Lisa had found on-line of things that were needed at an orphanage.

Our driver took us there to drop it off.

It was sad.

Sad to hear about their situations.

But good people who are trying to help these kids have a better life.

Humbling...

A little awkward at first.

But some of the younger ones were happy to come play soccer with the guys.

And we made some adorable new friends.

They wanted to play games on our phones. :)

An unforgettable experience.

 We left wishing we had brought more.

That we could do more...

We then went to a beach.

A public beach called...

Half Moon Bay... and the 6 of us will NEVER forget Half Moon Bay!!

It was fine at first.

The guys were out snorkeling.

And they came back to this.

Lisa and I receiving an unsolicited foot and leg massage.

Followed by a group of people selling other products.

And other "massage" businesses trying to get in on the action too.

We protested and protested and this lady just plopped right down and started on Lisa with a "guaranteed to be free" massage. haha

The whole time our "masseuse" is yelling at the other ladies "wanting to steal her clients".

It was more like a "sand exfoliation treatment" actually!

So Shane comes out of the water and immediately this woman starts giving him a massage.

Can you tell that...

he did not want a massage from this woman?

Obviously neither of these woman were doing this for free...

and we already were going to have to pay the one who had started on us.

So I told her that my husband would like a massage now.

 I don't think he has ever been less comfortable or less "relaxed."

As she kept spanking his butt saying "relax, relax".

(thanks to the prodding in Spanish of Joe saying, "Spank him, spank him".)

Every time Shane lifted his head she would shove it back down.

He LOVED that massage! hahahahaha.

O gosh... that was FUNNY!

We were laughing so hard!

He kept saying, "Why did you tell her I wanted a massage???"

Shane was totally willing to pay her just to get her to leave.  hahaha

What a memorable day in Honduras!!

 

The next stop was Belize.

Where we went "Cave Tubing".

It was fun.

Reminded me of the good-old days of floating down the canal behind my house.

Except for not in a cave + no life jacket + no helmet.

:)

But the same idea.

It was fun!

We changed for the long bus ride back to the dock.

It took me a minute but then I realized that Shane had changed into his t-shirt that he had worn the day before to wear back on the bus.

The super disgustingly dirty shirt that had been worn for the monkeys + the parrots + the one he sweated in profusely playing soccer at the orphanage + the one he had to put back on after that nasty rancid oil massage.

I think it was definitely dirty "enough".

That shirt will always be dubbed as the "monkey shirt" and I was not pleased with his choice.

Mainly since he had another 5 clean shirts and only 3 days to wear them.

I did NOT snuggle on his shoulder on the 1.5 hour bus ride back!!

The last two days were sea days.

Totally relaxing sea days.

With lots of time in the hot hot sun!

It was super hot.

My girls just looked at me real ticked off like when I told them it was too hot.

That was kind of a mean thing to say since we had left them back in Utah.

Where it was NOT hot.

Sorry. 

Lisa directed us throughout the cruise in a fantastically fun video.

Maybe I'll post it.  Maybe I won't.

It includes the "spankings" from the beach... so we'll see. :) 

Our girls think we are weird when we do stuff like this with our friends.

But I let my girls know that a big group of teenagers took these pictures for us...

and they thought we were cool.

They said they wished "their parents were like us."

AND they were super excited when they saw the "fun group" the rest of the cruise.

So there Tayler and Saige!!

We loved getting to know our waiters.

And other crew members.

Such a fantastic week together filled with amazing memories!

(wished you could have come Heaps :( )

I was SO excited to get home to our girls!

We left Tayler and Saige in charge for the most part.

With help from Kimi and my momma.

They did awesome, so proud of them!

We walked into a spotless house.

Cleaner than I keep it.

So I think they'll be fine if we go again soon!

;)