Caribbean Christmas Day 3 -- Sailing Away!

Getting 30 people on the ship... turned out pretty smooth.

So grateful to Grandpa for our gorgeous room with a deck.

Loving the ship -- Windjammer, ice cream and the pool!

Love, love, loving the sun!

First of many fabulous dinners.

Room service ... how many pizzas did you order throughout the week Lauren?

Discovering all of the ways to eat 24 hours a day!

Caribbean Christmas -- Day 1 & 2 -- SLC to San Juan

 SLC to LA -- LA to DC -- DC to San Juan... really long night, but lots of fun.

Jenn just about getting kicked off the plane.

Dunkin Donuts, Subway Sandwiches, Morning Naps on the Airport Benches.

San Juan Marriott -- fabulous beach!!!!!

30 degrees and inversion to 80 degrees & sunny skies...Merry Christmas to us!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was a bit strange this year... we arrive at the airport at 11:54 pm Christmas Eve and finally made it to bed about 2:30 am.  Cam and Dad were pretty sure they saw Santa from the plane as we traveled across the country, but somehow we made it home before he got here.


The kids were great -- the cruise was their Christmas gift from us -- and they just enjoyed a more low key morning with a few gifts from relatives and friends.  As always Cameron loved everything he opened and wandered off playing with each thing. 


BTW -- loved Cameron's homemade gift... hope you can read what it says.  I've already enjoyed the foot rub.


Thanks to the Becksteads we had yummy Christmas breakfast and a good ride home from the airport. 


After a wonderful Sacrament Meeting, we enjoyed some naps and a great dinner with Walls watching the hours and hours of Rob's cruise videos... favorite part was Lauren's hair video. 


I wasn't sure how I'd feel about being gone the week before Christmas, but it was actually fabulous.  If anything wasn't done before we left, it was too late.   I'm sure partially due to my head swimming and my body rocking -- it was nice just not to worry about what was done or not done and just enjoy the day!

Shyguy in Dominica... here you go!

Shyguy -- our dear friend from Dominica -- island's best taxi/tour driver -- most popular person on the streets of Dominica -- if you google your name now you will now find a post written just about you.

Thanks for making our day in Domonica so wonderful!

It's Beginning to Sound a lot like Christmas

Nothing says "Christmas is coming" like taking Kenzi to 3 choir performances in 24 hours... with 4 this week.

Actually -- I love it!  For the past 5 years the Christmas season begins as we start following around the choir.  We enjoyed the FM100 Christmas concert (usually my favorite of the year), the Lights-On Downtown, and the Joseph Smith Memorial Building concert.

Masa is amazing and each and every arrangement is beautiful -- and there is nothing that immediately helps me feel the true spirit of Christmas than listening to sweet little kids singing about the Savior's birth.

17 Miracles of the December 2011 Wind Storm

#1 -- No one got hurt.
#2 -- A 60 foot tree fell into a 30 ft. space and somehow didn't land on the roof.
#3 -- No one (including the dog) got zapped by the live power lines down in the backyard for 3 days.  (Unless of course you count the lineman messing around shocking themselves.)
#4 -- The nice Provo City Power people were willing to come over and reconnect our house even though we weren't on their list.
#5 -- Bishop Pitt driving around at 6:30 am checking the see how everyone was doing in the storm.
#6 -- Cameron Wright and Wind River Excavation and their hard work and charity.
#7 -- Amazing neighbors and friends.
#8 -- Giving neighbors and friends.
#9 -- Neighbors and friends who offered houses, beds and food while we are out of power.
-70 ft. trees falling in the night are scary.
*  Watching power explosions in the night throughout the city is a lot like watching lightening.
*  How a 60 foot tree fell into a 30ft. space and didn't hit our house is really a miracle.
*  People are amazing!  Our bishop in his car driving around the neighborhood at 7:00 am to see how things were and his constant checking over the past 3 days is amazing!  All of the men in our ward who have just dropped everything and started cleaning are amazing!  Wind River Excavation is amazing!  The organization of the church in pulling people together in an emergency is amazing!  The fact Dave and I could find batteries and candles and our crank radio is amazing!  The huge, huge, huge trees gone are amazing!  The massive numbers of holes are amazing!