The Simple Life

(What a dumb show but glad Nicole Richie cleaned up her act. Can't say the same for Paris.)

I was reading Parents magazine at work last week and came across an "Ask a question" type article. The just of the article was a parent wondering how they explained disabilities to their child. I looked at my co-worker, who is also LDS, and I said, "Being a member of the church makes life so much more simple!"

I had the chance to watch a documentary the BBC recently aired, based on Mormons and Mitt Romney. Everything mentioned seemed to be things we CAN'T do and how strict the religion is. It really makes me chuckle because I feel the exact opposite.

How nice and comforting it is to know that Heavenly Father has made us all unique. And that those who may be limited here on Earth will one day have their bodies restored to perfect form.

My co-worker shared a story with me of a girl she went to high school with, and the girls brother. The girl was pretty, smart, well-liked, and the brother had cerebral palsy. Her brother's disability took a huge toll on her, as she couldn't understand why she was given the life she had and he was given his. The girl ended up committing suicide as a result of it, while her brother went on to become a college professor!

So the next time someone says I'm limited in my religion, I'll tell them I may be according to the world's standards, but I've got a lot of hope and faith because of it.

*I was amazed that within 24 hours of writing this, I heard this talk in General Conference. Loved it!

You'd Cry Too If It Happened To You

I thought it was going to be a good day, since I was getting birthday text messages before I even woke up.  But then I went in to get The Lime from his crib, and despite him saying, "Mama!  Wake!", he was not happy to see me.  So I got a blanket and curled up on his floor while he kicked the crib.  He eventually stopped and we were going to eat breakfast, blueberry yogurt to be exact (his request), but once I took the lid off, he freaked again and didn't want  blueberry.  I reminded him it was my birthday and we don't yell at people on their birthdays.  He didn't care.

My visiting teacher saved my early morning by dropping off some Thrifty's chocolate malted crunch ice cream, a sweet card, and darling notecards.  She's the best.  I also got several more birthday wishes which balanced out the being hit and having snot wiped on me.

I needed to go to the post office to get a stamp for a post card, but as soon as I pulled into the parking space, I realized I didn't have the card.  Shoot.

We then went to Ross to get a photo album but barely made it through the door before the security guard reprimanded me for having Dieter hold onto the end of the cart.  "We've had too many kids get hurt doing that," he said.  I sarcastically thanked him as I walked away thinking, "Then will you hold my screaming kid because he won't go IN the cart and refuses to hold my hand?".  Of course we saw a little girl doing the exact same thing The Lime was told not to do, which made it fun to try and explain why he couldn't but she could.  I guess I just like to follow the rules.

The Lime did eat all of his lunch without me having to make multiple items, which was a treat.  And he went right down for his nap, which isn't unusual.

But then I had over 2 hours where I was alone...on my birthday...with it raining outside.  Then I started to cry, while reading about a girl's husband that was accepted to Duke.  Why that set me off, I don't know.  So I thought about my 9th and 18th birthdays, which I believe were the best, and I felt better...sorta.

LaVor got home and we opened my new pair of shoes, a new purse, and a cute sweater, before we were off to Red Robin for my free burger.  Nothing says, "Happy Birthday!" like changing a poopy diaper in a restaurant when your kid hates the changing tables (and the mom, for that matter).

I was happy to finish the night with a note from my best friend and a voicemail of my sweet nieces and nephews, singing to me. It's good to receive a birthday wish when it wasn't prompted by a Facebook notification.

Can you tell I'm ready for a new day?

Birthday dinner - Taken on April 1st at my parents' house.  Isn't Will's face the cutest?

Back In Time

While I was ironing my church clothes this morning, I got a whiff of something that reminded me of a trip my friends and I took down to Southern California to visit Katie.  That then took me back almost 20 years (ugh!) to when we were all in Activity Days.

And that's where it all began.

I want to say late 1994 - early 1995, based on my hair length.

Each week, we'd have a sleepover at each other's house.  I loved spending the night at the Willyerds' house because they had blackberry and raspberry bushes, chickens, tons of kids in their court which turned into hours of Capture the Flag and Red Rover, they lived close to the little league field where all the cute boys played every Saturday morning.

Katie's house was a second home to me.  It's where I had Mommy School, where we made up dances in the backyard and played in the magnolia tree out front, we'd walk to SK Donuts (which we thought was named after their daughter, Sandy Kong) or Brother Barnum would wake up bright and early and have doughnuts waiting for us when we got up.

We had a great time together and created so many memories before Katie moved down South.
   

1996 - we did a "photo shoot" before Katie left.  Katie & I had matching overalls, from Wal*Mart.  Why do I remember that?

Lizzy, Sarah, and I went down to visit Katie for her 15th birthday.  I remember Valentine's Day being on Sunday, which was also Stake Conference, and Sister Barnum having Valentine's on the kitchen table for us.  Lizzy also gave me one of her foil candy wrappers, folded into a heart, which I think I might still have in my scriptures.

We also went to Disneyland on that trip, where I lost an envelope of money.  It was in my backpack and I believe when I took my sweatshirt out, the envelope came out with it.  Sarah was sweet enough to buy a big enough dinner to share with me.

I think that was also the Disneyland trip where we broke down on Splash Mountain so they gave us a pass to be first in line on another ride.  They wrote 4 people on the pass but we ended up meeting some friends later that night so we added a 1 in front of the 4.  We got to the front of Indiana Jones, only to find out that the maximum number of users per pass was 9.  They picked up the phone to verify our pass and we quickly turned around and briskly walked away.

At Ruby's in Huntington Beach.  Don't mind my appearance...blah!

The last time we were all together was in 2004 at Lizzy's wedding.  A lot happens in 8 years; the rest of us got married, moved around the country, had and are having babies, and living life.

And all of this remembering, just from a smell.  Go figure.

Unbelievable!

It's happened to me numerous times; I'm in a parking lot and come to an intersection at the same time as someone else.  They motion for me to go, I motion for them to go until eventually, one of us goes.  Most of the time, it's a silly game and both of us end up laughing.

Not today.

I pull into the Target parking lot and a lady swiftly approaches the road I'm on.  She stops, I stop, she motions, I motion, she gets mad and motions again but I motion.  She then peels out in front of me, angrily waving her arms in the air, yelling something that I can't hear because I allowed her to go first?  I immediately said to The Lime, "Don't end up like that person." 

Times like this make me wish I had a loudspeaker on my car.

If you imagined her to look like this, you're pretty.dang.close.

Tally Mark 26

I've figured unless we have another kid, these things are still going to show up.  Sorry, folks.

-Got a haircut yesterday and even LaVor admitted how dang cute he was with short hair.
-Now says, "(name), help me" rather than just "help".
-Was finally healthy and willing enough to go to Nursery today.
-Didn't want to eat anything while we were gone.  My parents were afraid they were giving him back to us as a picky eater.  Nope.  I think he just went on strike.
-Gets extremely excited when LaVor has a baseball game on.
-Mentions Jared and Great Papa (both just recently had surgery) any time he sees someone with a cast or brace on their leg.
-Likes to put his socks on himself.
-Likes to eat olives off his fingers.
-Tried to eat his blackberries off his fingers today.  Didn't work so well.
-Recently started saying, "Go away, (name)!"  We are NOT fans of this.
-We don't ever plan on going away.  Sorry, Dude.

Brothers

I can remember the days when my brothers left California for their new homes. 

The image of Tommy and Kenny embracing, the day Kenny left, is forever engrained in my mind.  The day Tommy left, I held Baby Hayley as long as I could, shooting for forever, so he wouldn't have to leave.  But they both did.

Becky's picture - Valentine's Day 2011 in San Francisco

As long as LaVor and I have known each other, I've known the Hatch family and boy, do I love them.  There isn't another group of people that I feel more comfortable with, besides my family.  They were the 1st people to find out we were pregnant with The Lime, after our immediate families found out.  They've welcomed all 3 of us into their homes and we truly feel like we're part of them.

One of our last days together @ the zoo

Before we left on our cruise, we had to say goodbye to another brother, John (and his wife, Becky, AKA "Baybay").  We've known John and Becky were heading back to Utah, since they moved here 3 years ago.  But like with my own brothers, part of me hoped and wished for a change of heart.  Didn't happen this time, either.

At Dieter's 1st birthday party.  LaVor was trying to get John to eat more and John was telling him he had enough.

It's been a week and I feel out of my element.  No text messages tonight, wondering where the other couple wanted to eat dinner, no 9:00 trips to the gym for LaVor, no late night runs to Donut Wheel. 

Becky's photo - At John's graduation party.

With more of our friends and family moving to Utah and Idaho, we might have to make a trip out there one of these days.  Maybe.

Going Home

Good morning, Miami!

My alarm couldn't go off soon enough, Thursday morning.  I just wanted to get home to The Lime.

The day dragged on and on and eventually, at 9:00 Thursday night, we arrived at the airport, to find our sweet little boy waiting for us.  The whole way home, we heard, "Mama, Dada, big boat!"  We have a feeling that's what my parents told him the whole week.

He survived, we survived, and we're happy to be home.

Mom, me, The Lime @ the airport

Day 5

Looking back on our photos, I realized there are no pictures from our last day at sea!

We were so anxious to get home but tried to keep busy with a few activities.  First was a cooking competition between two chefs on board, next was watching "Moneyball" which we thought was OK.  We were just glad we didn't have to pay to see it.  We enjoyed our last dinner with the entire group and ended the night watching the "Newleywed Game".  My number wasn't picked to participate in the game, which ended up being a good thing!  Some of those questions were a bit personal!

I did get one picture but the flash totally flushed both of us out.

Day 4

We were anxious to see Grand Cayman, as we were told it wasn't as "rough" as Jamaica.

Our meeting time was 8:30, so we opted for room service, thinking it would save us some time in the morning.  It was quite possibly the grossest room service I've had.  The eggs were super runny, the danish all had some sort of liquor in it, the bacon was fatty, and we think the ham might have gotten LaVor sick (thankfully, I gave him my piece!).

Before tasting anything - still smiling.

The worry wart I am, I was nervous about the tender boats that would take us to land.  I took 2 pills that morning, just to be safe.

Our bus was waiting for us at the port, so we hopped on and went straight to our other boat that would take us to Stingray City.  What an adventure that was!  We waited on the 2nd boat for close to 45 minutes, hoping 2 more buses of people would come.  But they never did.  Finally, the captain agreed to leave and we made the 20 minute ride out to the sandbar.  Once there, the anchor was supposedly placed and about half the boat got into the water.  All of a sudden, we're going around in circles and WHAM!  We hit another boat.  I'm freaking out, naturally, and the boat is bouncing like crazy.  Finally, after about another 15 minutes, two anchors were put in and we were somewhat stable.  I was hesitant to get into the water but I knew I'd regret it if I didn't.  I did opt to not touch the stingrays, though.  They were much bigger than I was expecting and I considered the one that brushed against my leg a "touch".

I'm not a fan of water but I did love how warm and clear it was.

The dark blue water is where the sandbar ends.  We were told it was a 6,000 ft. drop.  Yikes!

With all of the hiccups in our trek out there, we were only given about 15 minutes in the water.  I remember hearing we were supposed to have about an hour.  Believe you me, the ship is going to hear about this.

Our excursion also included a trip to Tiki Beach but we were both tired and so we headed back to the ship where I knew I'd get a lunch that I'd enjoy.

You can't see it here but I got roasted by the sun!

LaVor opted to stay in the room for the rest of the day so I enjoyed some time napping on the deck and our balcony, I caught a quick show in the theater, enjoyed some dinner and captured the sunset.

Day 3

We woke up Monday morning, already in Falmouth, Jamaica.  It was so nice to finally see land!

I figured all of Jamaica would look like this, but I was so wrong.

We quickly ate breakfast and made our way off the ship, to then sit on our bus while the last family was rounded up.

We were planning on getting wet, hence the "no bangs" look.

Our tour guide was named Anita and the driver was Sid.  Anita was a sweet lady that gave us a lot of good tips, especially when it came to people trying to sell us stuff.  Everyone was shocked as to how pushy they were!  Strategically, when we were leaving Dunn's River Falls, you had to walk through the crowded vendor area to reach the exit.  LaVor was constantly referred to as the "bearded man" and was offered some herbal refreshment...if you know what I mean. 

I don't know what I was expecting Jamaica to be like but I was surprised.  Lots of tiny shacks, many homes half built (which we later found out was, they don't get loans to build their homes, they just build as they have the money), lots of goats, cows, and horses along the road, they drive on the wrong side of the road, people pass each other like it's going out of business.

We think the larger homes might have been plantation owners?

Lots of bright colors!

Divide those numbers by 20 and you roughly get the equivalent in U.S. dollars.

Kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

I never got used to seeing cars on the right side.

Goats, goats, and more goats.

Our first stop was at Dolphin Cove, where we waited around for a while, before we got our 10 minutes with the dolphin.

The men in the "Shark Show".  Although they speak English in Jamaica, I didn't understand a word they said.

Better them than me.

This shark was especially fond of his trainer.

We enjoyed the brief time we had with our dolphin!  It danced, clapped, sang Lady Gaga, kissed people (not me!), and let us rub its tummy.  Since LaVor and I were in the water at the same time, that experience wasn't documented on camera (unless we wanted to pay an outrageous fee).

A dolphin.  Not even sure if it was ours.

We were told we'd be getting a great lunch with our package.  I don't know what standards they were basing that on, but I decided to stick with a few bites of salad and 5 hush puppies, with a glass of Sprite.

He ate most of everything.

I did not.

We then traveled across the road to Dunn's River Falls, where we held hands with complete strangers as we climbed 900 feet in rushing water.  Again, no pictures of that since our camera isn't waterproof.

Everyone was pooped on the way back to the ship.  I try to avoid sleeping in public areas because I tend to have my mouth wide open.  So I took pictures instead.

No editing involved.  Love the crystal clear water!

Home sweet home.

Well isn't that a hoot!

It felt good to get back on the ship, take a shower and get into some dry clothes.  I don't remember too much about dinner that night, except that we sat next to another couple that had a 2 year old girl, so it was fun to talk about all the crazy things our kids are doing.

After dinner, there was a dance party out by the pool that I would have loved to participate in, but my partner in crime is not a dancer.  So we watched.

This was only the beginning.

When drunk people started grinding on us, we decided to call it a night.

Peace out, Jamaica.

Day 2

Our second day on the cruise was a day at sea, which gave us a chance to become a little more familiar with the ship.

I remember LaVor waking up around 8 and telling me what time it was but I ignored him completely and went right back to sleep.  I woke up a few more times, thinking to myself, "I'm hungry", but still never got up.  Finally, at 11, we decided we should get out of bed so our day wasn't completely wasted.  We got our swimsuits on and headed onto the deck where we faced, what felt like, hurricane winds.  We stayed out about 15 minutes before we decided to head back into safety.

I didn't even bother doing my hair that day which turned out to be a good thing.

Since we woke up so late, breakfast was out of the picture and we jumped right into lunch.  While eating, we both noticed a familiar face, our cousin Derek, or a guy that just really looked like him.

We almost said, "Derek!" at the same time.

Our drink of choice - a Shirley Temple

Not planning on sticking with the "greasy" look.

The night started off early, with a group photo with all of the Achievers, followed by another cocktail hour and ending with the award ceremony. 

Always throwing in a silly face.

There was no way we were going to pay $20 for a "professional" photo when ours was free.

Getting his award with the Founder of RDO, CEO of RDO, and Vice President of Vermeer Pacific.  All very nice people!

Once again, we enjoyed a great dinner, which we shared with another Achiever and his 18 year old son.  The conversation consisted of a lot of hunting, so I spent my time people watching.

The night wouldn't have been complete without a shot of the moon.

Day 1

We got into Miami on Friday night, where we enjoyed a mingling session with the other Achievers.  I finally got to meet a lot of people I've only heard about for 6 years, and was surprised as to how off I was by what they looked like in my mind.  Turns out Marshall is not a 60+ year old man but a young guy that lives close to Vicki and Tamra from Real Housewives of OC!

Saturday morning, we woke up and made it down to breakfast at 9:00, as the schedule noted.  We also happened to be one of the last couples to breakfast and I learned quickly that we needed to be early for the rest of the trip, not just on time.

At the breakfast, we enjoyed an array of delicious treats but also the talent of a band, who happened to have a lead singer that looked like Huey Lewis.

When we were done, we headed outside of the hotel, where they had a lagoon that supposedly had manatees living it in it.

Lookin' good, my man!

Didn't see a manatee, just a lizard.

The wind was out of control, which threw me off because it was still hot outside.

After walking around for a little bit and getting a chance to call The Lime, we packed our bags and headed onto the bus which took us to our port.

LaVor laughed at me when I took this picture but with so many episodes of "Cops" and "First 48" filmed here, I felt like I had to!

Remember my post about not wearing motorcycle helmets?  It blows my mind!

The view of our ship from down below.

Waiting to get checked into the ship.  The lady that helped us was a real grouch about her pens.

We made it on the ship and immediately went to our room to check things out.  LaVor helped me out with my fear of getting seasick and made sure we had a balcony.

Checking out Miami.

I don't know why I always feel the need to pose for pictures.  Cheesy.

While we were still in the U.S., LaVor finalized a few things while I went buck wild with the self portraits in the mirror.

The director from our group suggested getting something to eat as soon as we got on the ship, to help with any motion sickness.  We never deny someone when they tell us to eat!

I was a frequent visitor to the ice cream station, which is why my jeans hardly fit this morning.

Soon enough, we noticed things moving and put two and two together; we were setting sail.

I believe there were 4 ships total, that left at the same time.

Do you see that huge mass of people on the beach?!  It was nuts!

Since I take a long time getting ready, we had a little free time between taking off and when I had to be back at the room to make myself look cute.  We had a cocktail hour around 7 (which isn't so fun for us) and then enjoyed our first dinner cruise experience.  We took full advantage of being able to order as many food items as we wanted (I might have ordered 4 desserts but didn't finish all of them!) and left the table stuffed to the brim.

The night was still young (not really...we were pooped) so we went back to the cocktail lounge to watch some dancing.

They were pulling people out of the audience to dance with them.  Thankfully, I was not one of them.

This guy was a hoot to watch.

In the elevator, heading back to our room.

Once we got back to our room, LaVor stepped outside to take some shots of the moon, which ended up being a nightly thing.

Our first day at sea was a success; we didn't get sick!  We had to eventually hit the sack, as we had an excursion waiting for us, bright and early the next morning.