Fun program!

Isaac invited us to his school program. It was all about Utah. He was the first speaker and introduced the program. He looked so great in his Indian gear. We have so much fun going to the school things with our grand children!

10 years!

Happy Anniversary to Jer and Liz on March 16th. It has been 10 years and 3 children! We hope it is many, many more. They did get to go on a little "date" if you can call it that taking all 3 children, but at least it was getting out. Next time they had better leave the babies here and go just the 2 of them. Jer gave me some pictures of Isabelle in her blessing dress. (The website for Liz's sister I listed was wrong--it is Christinahickenphotography.com. Check out her pictures in the newborn section) And I loved these pictures we took last night. All the kids wanted to hold her. She definately is the center of attention. The camera Kim gave us is awesome and takes some great pictures, don't you think?

Averie!

Wednesday the 11th was our little Averie's birthday. She turned a big 6 years old. Averie is so fun. I was thinking back about the things I have loved about her--her big eyes, her love of dancing and dressing up and pretending. Her happy disposition. Her crazy expressions. Her love of her mommy... and their love of shopping She is a sweetheart and we love her so much!

Cruisin...

Well, we finally made it on the cruise Bennie gave me upteen years ago for Christmas. It was the first vacation that we have taken just the two of us that we can remember, so official it could be called our long overdue honeymoon--since the 1st honeymoon was a couple of days in between semesters at BYU. We got to the gate for our departure and there were so many smells around--the smoking room and so many people were eating and I just got feeling so sick, so I told Bennie we had to move away from all that. However, we got seated on the plane and the feeling still continued. He had upgraded with the sky miles to 1st class cause he was worried about his knees being squished, but it was wasted on me. I opened the wrapped blanket and kept the plastic bag close cause I thought I was going to lose everything. I had to fight really hard not to throw up all the way there, so it was a pretty miserable 4 hr flight. We found the hotel around midnight and got settled. The next day we went to Disney World. Dad took this picture to show how long the lines were. We got pretty good at getting fast passes after this ride. It was pretty cold most of the time we were there unfortunately. The next day we went to Epcot and Hollywood studios. Dad was so funny. He yelled and screamed on every ride. When we got to the Hotel of Terror thing we had 2 little kids sitting with their parents in the row ahead of us and they were so scared that they started crying before we even started--so he was threatened not to make a sound. But all he could do is laugh on that one cause it took your breath away. We had fun and went on most rides (dad wouldn't go over to fantasyland though). By the end of the days we were pretty cold, tired and hungry. We had to do a time share thing in the middle of the second day and that was torture. We were there for 4 hrs and they wouldn't let you go and such extreme pressure! They kept bringing more people out every time you would tell them no and then they even offered it for free if you just paid the taxes. It was pretty intense and made us pretty upset. Thursday we went to the Orlando Temple. When dad was in the dressing room a guy asked him if his wife was there and when he said yes, he asked if we would be the witness couple so we were glad to do that. He was asked 3 times before he got up there though if he could kneel and once after I was with him. That was pretty funny. It is a beautiful temple--just tiny though. After that we went to the cruise ship. We found food first and then went to the stateroom. We were supposed to have an outside cabin but of course that fell through, but it was still nice and they kept everything so clean. Our days were filled with eating and more eating. Man I can't believe the food. Everything was so good. We also went to the exercise room, played ping pong and miniature golf, sat in the hot tub (froze when we got out-not worth it) and toured the ship. I am still surprised at the lack of clothes on most people--even when it is cold! Yeesh! On Friday we got off at the Nassau island. Our boat is the one in the middle of the two in the picture. I had my sweater off for 1/3 of that day. Sunday we returned and tried to find a church. Funny thing about this trip was dad writing the directions down--he wrote opposite of where we were supposed to go--just a couple of times, but we went the wrong direction for the temple and then we went the wrong direction for Ft Lauderdale. We got to the church by the temple 15 minutes late for the 11:00 and found out it was a Spanish speaking ward, so we drove on. I had Kim on the phone and she found us a church by the towns we were close too. We were only 5 minutes late for this one but there were no cars in the parking lot. Either they didn't have a 1:00 church or it was Stake conference. While I bemoaned to Kim, dad asked her to find out how much further to our turnoff. Unfortunately she couldn't find it---cause we were going the wrong way. We had gone 2 hours the wrong way! She suggested I get a GPS for dad before we go on another trip. Monday we had to do another time share thing there in Ft Lauderdale. This time it was only 1 1/2 hrs long and not quite as intense. After we went to the beach. We also stopped by the office there and complained and found out they had double charged us for the cruise and gave us a number to call to try and get our money back. That will be a job cause you can never talk to a real person. Tuesday we headed home. After breakfast we were in an airport all day. And, they now make you buy your food so we were unprepared. Dad refused to buy airport food at their prices so he went in to the bathroom and got some hot water in a bowl and mixed up some instant oatmeal that he had brought along. I just had to take a picture. It is such a funny memory. It is hard going on a trip on a strict budget! But we had fun getting away and spending time together. We missed the family so much and were glad to get home as well. It really is my favorite place to be!

Baptisms!

What a special day we had with Jenna and Colton getting baptized. Jenna looked so beautiful--and happy! Colton looked handsome and excited. He didn't know he was going to get triple duty, but it made it all the more memorable. We sure love these two and are so proud of them. It was made even more special with having their cousins there to share it with them. We have such a great group. TJ was sick and Alyssa stayed home with him and Allison, so here you have it--20 of the 26 greatest kids around! Whoops--19, Trey has disappeared! I love these pictures of their families, but we aren't good photographers--we couldn't get away from the window, plus my old camera has a weird white out spot in it, but they are still better than not having anything. The next day we went to Isabell's blessing and she looked so beautiful as well. I forgot the camera, so Jer is going to email me pictures, so maybe next week. But Liz's sister has pictures on her website that are gorgeous of her. It is Krissyhickenphotography.com. Look under the newborn section. (that may not be the right spelling--I'll find out) We had a fun weekend with Trav and Allison's family. I feel bad it turned out to be so busy with us trying to get ready for the trip. However, we loved having them around and visiting and hearing what the kids were doing. Allyson did a great FHE for us on Sunday. It was so good to be together and the kids did pretty good--even the little ones. The boys had this great idea to have a sleep over on Sunday night. Unfortunately they decided after Zack had gone home so he didn't get to come back. Then Logan got sick in the middle of the night(thanks Allison for cleaning everything up), so Jer came and got him and Colton. But the others had a great time and did really good. When I came running in Monday to leave for the airport, the boys were eating ice cream and making a hut. It had 4 standing walls and they had even put pictures on the walls. I wish I had gotten a picture! What a great memory they have though and a fun day. Thanks again to Allison and Trav for doing this for the boys. And, as always, we missed those not here--Kim and Daniel and family!