At the beginning of July we left to go to Utah for Grandma Donna's 80th birthday. We all rented a big house to share in Salt Lake. Then we got together with everyone else at Tanya's house for the birthday part. We were supposed to go to a fun campground up American Fork Canyon, but there were fires there, so we all went to Tanya's and she rented an inflatable water slide. We also went to a Rodeo, but only stayed for a little while because we got rained out. And we went to temple square and walked around and went in the church history museum. We got there Tuesday and then Bob and I left the kids with my mom and Kristal on Friday and we drove back to Las Vegas to catch our flight to Tampa that night. Everyone else stayed in Utah and then my mom drove them home on Sunday and stayed with them for the week while we were gone.
We flew all night Friday night and got to Tampa Saturday morning. Bob's aunt and uncle, Judy and Darrell, picked us up from the airport and took us back to their house. We sat around and chatted with them and we went to Cheddars to eat, it was one of our favorite restaurants in Columbus. We love their monte cristo sandwiches. Sunday morning we went to sacrament meeting and then had lunch with Judy and Darrell and then they drove us to the pier to get on the cruise ship.
We had a great room with a window. We had great weather everywhere we went. We heard that the week before there had been a lot of rain, but we hardly had any. Monday we were at sea all day. It was nice to just relax and explore the ship. Bob went to the gym everyday, but I only went twice. I was more excited to read. It's been a long time since I read a book for fun and I read seven this month. We ate so much good food. Our motto for the week was "let's go, we've got things to eat!"
Tuesday we stopped at Cozumel. We got off the boat and walked to town. It was a 30-40 minute walk just to get there and it was HOT. But we walked right next to the ocean so that was nice. Then we did some shopping for the kids and went to their big grocery store. It was fun to see everything. Then we dropped our things off at the ship and took a taxi to a beach we were told was where the locals went to snorkel. And it was great. It wasn't crowded and it was such good snorkeling.
Wednesday we went to Belize. We rode the tour bus for two hours to the Xunantunich Mayan ruins. It's almost at the border with Guatemala. The tour guide told us all about the country while we drove. It was great to see a lot of the country like that. Then we got to the ruins and they were amazing. The only downer was that I'd worked it up in my mind that this was going to be a great Book of Mormon experience and it was great to see how the jungles looked and felt, but then our tour guide started showing us the ruins and talking about the gross rituals they did there and I realized that those big buildings and things were mostly from the Lamanites. We climbed to the top of the big ruin. It was so tall and kind of scary to be up so high without any guard rails or anything, but the views were great.
Thursday we went to Roatan, an island off the coast of Honduras. We went on a big zipline and then they took us to a pretty beach. It didn't have good snorkeling though and there were lots of ants on the beach. And Bob was grumpy that day. It wasn't our best day, but it was still fun.
Friday we went to Grand Cayman. We loved it there! We rode a boat a few miles off the coast to a sand bar where we could hold sting rays. Then they took us to a coral reef to snorkel. That was amazing snorkeling. And Bob found a whole conch shell that we got to bring home. The island was so nice. Bob mentioned there are GIS jobs there pretty often. We think it would be awesome to take a furlough from his job for 6-12 months and go live there. Probably not going to happen, but it's fun to think about.
Saturday we were at sea all day and Sunday we spent at airports with layovers and rain delays until we finally got home at 3:30 in the morning.
My mom did a great job with the kids. They had lots of fun and it was so great to know the kids were doing great with my mom. I think if we'd left the kids with anyone else I'd have worried and missed them more, but it was nice to be able to have a great vacation and be confident the kids were doing great too.
We were home for 4 days and then we left that Friday for Lake Tahoe. We had another great trip there. I love Amanda and Wendy. I'm so thankful for their friendship. They've influenced my life so much. They've been my best friends for 16 years now. They're such a blessing. We went on lots of hikes and played lots of Settlers of Cataan.. The kids rode their bikes on a fun new bmx track, the boys especially loved that. We had two great days at the beach with lots of jet-skiing, kayaking and playing in the sand. We left on Thursday and stopped at Carson City again on our way home.
Today I was called as the Second Counselor in the YW. I'm really excited. Here's what I remember from my blessing when I was set apart.
- I should seek inspiration and inspiration will come
- I should think about the girls often and will get direction for how to help them
- I should study and learn how a presidency works and I'll be able to speak my mind with them
- I'll be able to organize my time to fit young women's into my life
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