Springbreak Part 4

Final pictures of our cruise. We had a wonderful time with each other and tried many new things. It was fun to watch Marissa and Charles scuba dive for the first time. On Sunday when we were to leave the boat in Galveston we found ourselves in the bay waiting for the fog to lift. We were to get off at 8am but ended up not making it to the car until 6pm that night. So we stayed an extra night in a hotel before heading back home. We were the lucky ones. Many on the boat had missed flights. Then there were the people outside on the sidewalk waiting to board the boat that was suppose to be leaving at the time we were just walking off. Our favorite way to travel is by cruise. Everything is taken care of and you just relax and enjoy.

Spring Break Part 2

We ate our first dinner at 6pm. The kids loved that it was fancy. When we went back to our room we found an elephant on our beds. Every night the kids were excited to go to bed to see what towel animal we would find for that night. The guy that took care of our rooms started to hangout in the hall so he could hear them laugh. Dad got yelled at by Zach the first night because he pulled the elephant apart. After that we would carefully move the animal to a chair or counter.

The next morning after breakfast the kids went to camp carnival to meet their camp directors and new friends. Marissa's first activity was a scavenger hunt with a camera. They were to find locations and meet crew members in different areas. The kids ended up knowing the boat better than us after the first day. That night was a formal night. Charles, Marissa, Rachel, and I dressed up and had dinner together while the other kids had dinner with their friends at camp. We were sung to by the waiters. They sang "when the moon hits your eye like a big piece of pie...." Marissa and I were singing that the rest of the cruise.

On Tuesday, a sea day, Marissa, Charles and I enjoyed the sun. The rest of the kids had activities such as face painting, bag decorating, ice cream eating contests, and hanging out with Freddy. On Wednesday Charles and I went shopping in Jamaica and tubing down a river. When the boat was getting ready to leave a band came to play us off.

Spring Break Part 1

On Friday, March 27 we locked our doors, sent Lupita to our friends home, and started our journey towards Galveston Texas for our spring break vacation. Our first day was a 9 hour drive from Queretaro Mexico to Brownsville Texas. On Saturday, March 28 we drove the 7 hours from Brownsville to Galveston but along the way we stopped to watch the Blue Angels from our car in NAS Kingsville, TX. It was so awesome to see them.

We stopped on the east side of Houston to see the space center. The kids loved the McDonald's there because of the space suit. It was interesting to learn a little about space and the shuttles at the space center.

The kids did very well on the ride because they couldn't wait to see the cruise ship. We took a cruise out of Galveston on March 28 through April 4. The Carnival cruise has a great camp program for the kids which they really had fun with. The boat left port about 5pm and then we went to dinner. To be continued......

Oops I missed some

I was going through my camera's memory cards and realized that I had missed a lot of things. All these pictures happened in January except Charles Birthday which was in March.

Trip to Puebla

We took a weekend trip to Puebla. It is a beautiful city filled with history. Wonderful market streets with artists. We drove to a city next to Puebla called Cholula. It has an amazing pyramid and many smaller ones too. The original one was smaller and built for the god of the rain. They then built over that a much larger one for the god of the sun. When war was coming they covered the whole thing with dirt and planted crops so the enemy would not know it was there. It just looks like a small mountain. It made a fun weekend for us.

Joshua's Baptism

On January 2, 2010 Joshua became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was baptised at 10:30am on a cold but beautiful morning. His Uncle Scott and Grandpa Nelson Witnessed the baptism. His Grandpa Leishman, Grandpa Nelson, Uncle Scott Leishman, Uncle Ted Vielstich stood in the circle while his Father performed the confirmation. Scott and Carrie were very kind to let us use their home for the baptism luncheon. Congratulation Joshua!

Jeffery's Wedding

My brother Jeffery was married to Rachael on December 30 in the Vernal Temple. We are so excited to have her. Congrats you two. Melyssa had the great idea of making it a girls trip so we load the van with her three girls and I brought Marissa and Rachel. It was about a four hour trip but we had fun. They went swimming in the hotel pool, ate dinner with Grandma, Grandpa Nelson, Great Grandma Pat and Michael at Golden Corral. We then saw "Run don't walk" an old Cary Grant movie. What a fun girls night. In the morning Melyssa and I went to the wedding and the girls joined us for the wedding dinner. Thank you Melyssa for making this possible for us to attend. We had lots of fun.

Christmas in Utah

This is the first part of our trip visiting family in Utah. At the Mexico City Airport we ran into Santa and his elves. Santa spoke in Spanish and then English, wished them a Merry Christmas and a fun plane ride. Then the elves gave the kids Santa paper to write their Santa letters. After writing their letters they mailed them in the special mail box the elves had. They each got a bag of candy. What a way to begin our trip.
When we arrived in Utah it was quite cold but we hoped that some snow would come to warm things up a bit. Out of the two and a half weeks we were there it only snowed two days. I was surprised a how much our bodies had gotten use to the weather in Mexico. At least the buildings, homes, and cars are heated.
The next set of Pictures are of us in SLC to see the lights. Then of Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning. Carol Ann and Arvin Leishman let Santa leave the presents for the kids at their home. Santa was quite noisy, grandma said. We had a wonderful Christmas.

Happy Birthday Emmalee!!!

Emmalee is now 6. Can you believe it? She decided for her special day that she wanted to go bowling with her family and friends. We invited the Verhaal family to join us. They gave her farie wings and wand. She wore it the entire time bowling and until we left for Utah a week later. Emmalee Bowled a strike her first roll!

Bowling Anyone?

We had a fun Family Bowling Time. Everyone did very well. Zachary would NOT let us help him. A couple people could bowl in the time it took his ball to roll down the lane.

After bowling we went to San Miguel. These are some of the alters they put together for their "Day of the Dead" which they celebrate November 1st and 2nd. We had trick-o-treaters from October 30th to November 2nd.

Happy 11th Birthday Rachel!

Rachel's birthday came and I told her she couldn't have one this year. I decided my kids would no longer get older so all birthdays are now canceled. But I was over ruled. We had a lot of fun watching "Back to the Future" as a family. Happy Birthday Rachel!!!

Brownsville Texas

Charles had a business trip to Brownsville Texas so he asked if we wanted to join him. We packed the car on Friday and drove the nine hours there. The kids were so excited to go somewhere before school started. We had Charles with us on Saturday and Sunday to shop at the mall and go to the beach. Then while he was working on Monday through Wednesday we went to the zoo, museum, swimming at the pool and shopping. It is hot and very humid there. So everything we did outside had to be in the morning. We had so much fun and enjoyed being in the states for a little while. On Thursday we drove the nine hours back and towards the end of the trip Zachary kept repeating "My bum hurts".

ENGLAND

My Wonderful Husband bought me a round trip ticket to London England to visit my sister, Cheria. I had a ton of fun and even got to listen to my niece, Danya read to me. Nicole showed me her baby brother, Jack. She loves him very much. Mel and Cheria are very happy and doing very well and I was grateful they took time out of their busy schedules to let me stay with them and show me a part of England. A special thanks to Charles for giving me such a gift.