I guess I have been overwhelmed with not knowing what to blog. Yes I know, I started the Alaskan adventure thing
and then I did a couple of posts and wondered...hmmm this is silly, no one wants to see your vacation. How dumb to continually put a post together about YOUR vacation. Well, maybe I am feeling down or something...I don't know, I am not an everyday poster but I am an everyday poster reader! Maybe I am feeling sorry for myself about...something...what?? hmmm maybe after I post this I will feel better. I need to practice what I preach to my children...
YEAH, I WILL FEEL BETTER... after all...it is a beautiful day...the sun is shining, it is going to be a warm (hot) 103 degrees today in beautiful St. George and the 4th of July is almost here!
YEAAAAA a 3 day weekend to do whatever I want! Actually I do know what is bothering me...normally this time every year, I have all of my children together. My sweet daughter and her two beautiful girls always visit for 3 weeks and then my son Mike and his family come down from up North, Brad comes over with his family we have a NOISY BUSY BUSTLING HOUSE FULL OF LAUGHTER, SCREAMS, FIGHTING, CRYING, SWIMMING IN THE POOL, PARTY, CRAZY weekend! But...the daughter is not here...Mike is staying up North and doing his OWN family thing, which they so totally need to do, their home is always so busy with guests and people in and out all the time, I am honestly glad that they are taking time for themselves...and Brad...well I probably will see him and his family before his wife and children are gone to Lake Powell with her family for a week. Oh my gosh, I haven't mentioned this...Tera (son Brad's wife) is expecting baby in February. Koltyn just turned 1 in May and has only been walking for 6 weeks or so....let's hope he is out of diapers before the baby arrives! They are excited for their new arrival and we are also very excited to have our 8th grandbaby! Huhoney and I are thinking of going fishing. Yes we should do that. Just get out of Dodge and go fishing. Soak up the sun. OH! I was tagged. I have never been tagged before but I was. I was tagged to tell you 7 random things about myself by Jerelene. so...here goes

1. I am a people pleaser, that is not always a good thing. Huhoney thinks it sometimes gets me into spots because I always want to please and unfortunately some people like to take advantage of people pleasers.

2. I have 5 brothers and a sister. My three older brothers and I were born in Holland . These are 4 of my 5 brothers. and my parents immigrated to the states when I was 6 months old. I never knew my grandparents although I did meet my mothers parents when we went back for a summer trip when I was 8 yrs. I think that is why I want to be the dotting grandmother I never had. I have tons of relatives (in Holland and Canada) that I don't even know! But my oldest brother keeps in touch with most of them so that is good.

3. I love to crochet. When I make something (usually a baby something or other) I love to give it away. Usually it is to someone I don't even know, hoping that one of my "Huggables" will bring a smile to their face and they might remember to do something kind for someone else.

4. I don't like to cook. Never have. Probably never will. Although I can cook and I do make delicious dishes, I just never ENJOYED it.

5. I love a good book. Someone usually needs to tell me about a book before I pick it up to read it. I love books in series because it excites me to think that the story hasn't ended and then I can't wait to buy the others! (silly)
6. I adore my children. HA. I adore my grand babies. HA. No one would ever guess that of me. lol

7. I consider myself a faithful and spiritual person. I love my Savior and Father in Heaven. I am not ashamed to admit that ever. I would be nothing without them. I feel blessed every day that I am surrounded by good people and friendships that share that same love.

8. Huhoney is.....my soul mate. We met when I was 15 and he was in the Marine Corps. with my older brother, ready to be shipped out to Vietnam. I didn't know it then, but he said the minute he laid eyes on me he knew I was the one. Of course I was only 15 and...I was writing many Marines letters (because my brother had them write me)during this Era. 3 years later...we were married.

9. I was a ballet dancer. I always thought growing up that I would dance the rest of my life. I was fortunate to be taught by a soloist with the Utah ballet group called "Ballet West" (John Hiatt) if you look up Ballet West John Hiatt you will find lots of very cool stuff about him. My instructor for 8 years as well as family friend. I danced for many years, and loved it. But my soul mates love won over my dancing career. I was a talented dancer. I cry when I watch a beautiful ballet performance even to this day. There is so much expression in dancing. I think that is why I love it so much. I am addicted to "Dancing with the Stars". I wish it were me....

10. I write poetry. It is an expression of my deepest thoughts. I love to read poetry. I see so much of a person through their poetry. Huhoney has told me over and over again that poetry or writing should be my career. I have considerd my journal as my book and my life....is my poetry. (you writers and journalists out there...now don't you laugh!)....

11. I love junk food. I would rather eat junk food than a healthy meal. Right now I am eating a KIT KAT. lol and will probably polish off more licorice before the day is over!

12. After my children were in their teens, I applied to become a flight attendant for 2 major airlines. In both cases I got to the final stages of the interviews....only to have my dreams (at that time) shattered and not hired.
It broke my heart. In one incident I was at the airport in Los Angeles after the final interview and a young girl who was maybe 19 or 20 was told immediately that she was hired and what the next procedure was. I sat back and listened to her crying on the phone to someone that she didn't want the job...she didn't know what to do....and I was so angry! I wanted the job, I would have been perfect for the job. After all I am a people person and pleaser, how could she take that opening away from ME! I wanted to fly and go places and be able to take my family places. My family was even willing to be relocated to another state. But...God had other plans for me and thank goodness he knew what was best. He always does.

Well that is 12 things about me!

Oh by the way....good news...my daughter called and told me....YES she is coming after all! I am so excited to see my girls. (Now see, if I had been working for the airlines...getting them here would not be an issue!) (But then again my journey would not have placed me here at this moment in time which I would not replace for anything!) It has been 6 months already. Where has the time gone. She will be here on the 22nd of June and get to stay until Aug. 12th. I still have to come to work each day, but....they will be there when I come home. It will be so fun! Madi is now 13, (14) in Sept. Brook just turned 6 in April...Natalie is..in her 30's lololol. OH that makes me .... in my 50's! lol

SISTER OF MINE

I have a sister. I can't say that I really had one until we were both older, were married and started having children. I was 8 years old when she was born and with 6 other siblings in the house I think I didn't want to be bothered with her. (I was a spoiled brat) I was married and started my family before she old enough to babysit for me! Well anyway, I LOVE MY BABY SISTER. She is the most talented and remarkable sister ever! Although we live on opposite poles of the state we do talk often and share lot's of fun sister things.....I just have to boast about her. She works 8 hours a day from her home office and besides that she has so many projects going on it amazes me. I love to crochet, but next to my sister.....LOL....I am totally an amateur! Pleeze check out her web site. She just got it up and running and is so excited about it! Honestly her little granddaughter is the luckiest little girl. I hope she understands and appreciates her when she is old enough to understand the love and time my sister has put into making such beautiful treasures of rememberance. I am sure she will. ALL MY WONDERFUL FRIENDS please check her web page out and if you know of anyone that could benefit from her talent, and appreciate the love and work that goes into her world....I would be grateful! Pass the word along will you! ENTER HER CONTEST! www.alldolledup-dollclothes.com and when you are done there check out the other project that she has started, remember the little dollies called Kelly dolls(?)well I remember the Kiddles....

This is not a paid advertisment, nor did my sister promise me that I would win her contest or even take me to lunch next time I am in town. LOL, It is because I LOVE YOU TERRIE!

DAY AT SEA-THE NORWEGIAN PEARL

(This pic is of the Norweigen Pearl docked in Skagway not Seattle) Going through customs and getting on board ran so smoothly I was amazed. Boy they have the system down to a science! We all gathered around the main lobby of the ship, looked at the HUGE screen (where Ryan was looking forward to playing the WII) and of course they were serving food at the buffett. So we headed to the buffett.


Filled the little ones up with food and then wandered around the ship. Of course we got seperated....Huhoney and I had little Lauren and Mike and Camille ended up with the boys around the pool deck where they had a welcome of some sorts and we missed the whole hoop-la of the conga around the pool. Mike said the kids loved it. Music was loud, people were already in the party mode. We saw them down below as we were somewhere on top...and waved our arms to get their attention. We were finally able to go to our rooms, luggage had arrived...Huhoney was totally unpacked and settled in within 30 minutes! I didn't get to mine until much later in the day.


Of course there is the "MUST" put on your life jacket orientation. Which is a total joke. Everyone gathering in their respective stations in the dining room. Why were we the first to get there? We ended up having to try and entertain the little ones who were wanting to just GET OUT and ABOUT of the formal dining area!


Anyway, we got through that and Camille and I took the 3 little ones to the Childrens Room. Throughout the entire cruise you could drop off your children at this center for someone else to entertain. Well that actually only happend a couple of times. The kids really didn't like it much. I didn't like it much. I was always too worried that they were not happy so I checked on them many times. If they saw me, they wanted OUT! I guess some kids loved it....ours were not to particularly impressed.



The view at sea was beautiful. I love this pic of Huhoney and Owen looking out at sea at the very back of the ship (aft)(ship terms) and the one of Lauren and of the trail at 35 knots(how ever many miles per hour that means!)


LOL Our first port stop the next day was Juneau. We shopped of course...and our first shore excursion was the Mendenhall Glacier. The first pic is of the Glacier itself, the second of a waterfall right next to it, it sounded like thunder, there was SOOOO much water it was incredible. It was beautiful, breath taking and I wish that we could have spent more time there before having to get on the bus and go to our cook out. We had some delicious outdoor BBQed Salmon with all the trimmings. Of course little Lauren had a difficult time keeping her 2 1/2 yr old peepers open. This happened quite regularly every day during our shore excursions. We took a walk up a path...


Ryan did a little gold panning....

ate some yummy marshmellows before heading back to the ship. Not too sure what order these pics below will come out in but I am sure you can sort them out...:^) I have tried to keep them in order but I am not a super star at this blogger picture thing yet.

The walk to the waterfall itself was about a mile away and we didn't have time. This far away picture does not do the waterfall justice!







It was a GREAT DAY!

THE START...

Well, this was a first ride in an airplane for the 3 little ones. They were all so good and Owen loved the "BLAST OF". It was an early rise for little Lala (Lauren) so she took a nap for about an hour. The trip to Seattle was about 2 hours long. Each seat had a little tv screen in front of it so our special Ryan was thrilled to watch cartoons! I was just so excited to see the excitement on the little ones faces and I was 2 rows back so I had to hand the camera to my son to take a few shots! The plane trip was very bumpy so we had to stay buckled into our seats the whole way!
I can't believe I didn't take pics of all the luggage! It was hilarious to say the least. Camille was prepared and had special straps to keep track of the children. Ryan has a tendancy to just run off so this worked well.

Seattle was a fun place to visit. Huhoney and I went there for our 20th anniversary. We left the airport and went to our downtown hotel which was walking distance (downhill) to the waterfront and all the shops.
They were crazy and a lot of fun to visit. Wall to wall people on a Friday afternoon. I could not get over the price of the bouquet of flowers in the flower shops that lined one side of the outside mall....
$15 for a HUGE fresh cut bouquet and $10 for a HUGE bouquet. If I were living there I would be makeing a stop once a week maybe twice a week for a beautiful arrangement! Of couse school is out and everyone is on vacation! There is such an abundance of colorful shops and people to boot! The fish shops were amazing and our mouths started to water just thinking of what we could eat for lunch or ship home!

There is a certain energy that this city has that you feel in your bones. Excitement and hustle-bustle. You really have to like it to enjoy it. Not everyone is cut out for it!

Believe me the 3 $10 strollers Mike ran to Wal-mart for the night before the trip got used to death. The rubber on the tires on this trip actually got worn down! LOL. We had 2 days in Seattle to see sights and enjoy it's old town flare so we ran, ran, ran, and dropped in the evening.

The Seattle Aquarium was a great place to visit. The children had a great time and loved all the fish. It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon for a couple of hours.


My feet and legs were longing for a hot bath after a day of walking and walking and there was NO way I was going to walk UP HILL 6 plus blocks to our hotel......get me on the local transit PLEEZE. Oh...Ryan was obsessed with the escalator. If that is where we spent the next 10 days, he would have been a happy camper. Everyone took turns going up and down the hotel escalator with him. Probably.....100 times.....(not kidding folks!)

The next day to underground city of Seattle was NOT a fun place for the little ones. It was boreing. Very interesting for the big people but not for the little ones. Off to the Aerospace Museum.

It was amazing and we didn't even get through the whole thing even after almost 3 hours! After the adventure there we took the transit downtown and transfered to another transit (underground) the kids loved it.. downtown, to the city and the Space Needle. Twenty years ago, the Space Needle http://www.viamagazine.com/weekenders/space_needle06.asp was surrounded by a beautiful park where you could just walk and relax. Now it is an amusement park where you can't walk and relax. Just spend a lot of money! Mike took the trip to the top of the Needle and loved it. Camille isn't much on heights so she opted to stay below and just watch what was going on around us. She is more into shopping. hehehehe here are a few extra pics of Seattle's visit.

Lauren had just about enough fun for one day!


Above city tram ride to and from the Sky Needle to the center of town

Well this pretty much made my day! Apples dipped in carmel covered with chocolate and drizzled with white chocolate! 10 lbs right there on the ole hips!

Well that pretty much took up our weekend in Seattle. The next day was boarding the Norweigen Pearl to Alaska........(tomorrow)