Brianna and Parker playing in Cabo

We Love Cruisin'

We recently got back from a wonderful cruise to Mexico. We spent 5 days on the Carnival Elation ship with around 30 people to celebrate Sheri's 50th birthday. The first morning at sea we had to turn around so that the US Coast Guard could get a passenger with a life-threatening illness to a hospital in San Diego. It was interesting to see the helicopter hover over the boat and dropping a basket to rescue the man. I've attached a picture of it. Because of that we were about 4 hours late getting into Cabo San Lucas. In Cabo, we rented a van that took us to a beach. It was a bit of a party beach with lots of music and bars. The girls had a great time playing in the water even though it was a little cold. Unfortunately, that morning Bill threw out his back so he just sat on the beach and watched. We stayed for a couple of hours and then headed back to the ship.
Brianna and Alyssa really enjoyed Camp Carnival. We would drop them off to play for a couple of hours at a time. 2 of the nights we took them there instead of the fancy dinners where they got very ansy. They had a lot of fun playing with their cousins, Natalee and Parker too who they don't get to see very much.
On Friday we went to Ensenada. We took a great tour to La Boufadora (it's a natural water spout). There are only 3 in the world. The weather was beautiful the whole trip. Not a cloud in the sky. A little cool at times but we weren't complaining. Overall, we had a great time. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Sher's birthday. Our friend, Nicole did an awesome job planning the trip and coordinating everything. Thanks again, Nicole!
Bill and I are really enjoying our new church. We are planning to join a small group on Wed. nights. It's supposed to start in a couple of weeks. Hopefully we'll be able to meet some new people and really grow in our faith.
After the cruise and all of the overeating we did, Bill and I are trying to be good and hopefully lose some weight. We only have dessert once a week. Brianna and Alyssa have been pretty good about this, even though it isn't always easy. I sure miss ice cream!

Visits and Valentines

Last week we had a wonderful visit with Shannon and Chad. They first went to Lake Tahoe and Grass Valley and then came to see us for the second half of their trip. They spent 4 days at our house. We did lots of visiting and catching up.
(Side note- I was just helping Alyssa go potty. I sat her on the potty and she said, "We don't touch the water because there's germs and crocodiles and snakes." After sitting there for a couple of minutes she changed her mind and said, "There's no crocodiles or snakes, just germs." Oh, the imaginations of 2 year olds!)
Back to Shan and Chad's visit... the most exciting part was that Chad got to meet his dad who he hasn't seen since he was 1 year old. His dad, stepmom, brother and his family all drove from Las Vegas to see them. Chad's dad is a born again Christian and sells supplies for homeschooling. Chad and his brother had quite a bit in common and Chad looks a lot like his dad. Shan and Chad have been married for 5 years and before this she had only met one of Chad's brothers.
I took Shan to yoga with me. She almost passed out because she got too hot. Poor girl! We had fun though. We went shopping one day at the outlet malls and Shan convinced me to buy a Coach purse. I'm moving up in the world!
Brianna finishes school on Friday and then she is out until the end of March. We are getting ready for our cruise in less than 2 weeks. There are 30 of us going to celebrate Sheri's Big 5-0!
We had a nice Valentine's day. Bill had a dozen red roses delivered to the house and I had bought him some too. Then on Friday night, we dropped the girls off at the new church we've been going to. They have a big multipurpose room and they had music playing and a bounce house and games set up. There were kids of all ages. The girls had a great time. They even fed them dinner. Bill and I went to one of our favorite restaurants, Wood Ranch BBQ. We had a great conversation. It had been awhile since we had such a meaningful and deep discussion. It was really good.
Bill's mom called him today and said that his grandpa isn't doing very well and could we come out to see them in Arkansas. We are going to try to work something out without taking too much time off work.
I just got a really good book called, "Eat this, Not that". It tells you lots of ways to save calories, fat, sugar, etc. by eating different things when you go out to eat. It also says there are 8 foods you should eat every day.. Spinich, Carrots, Tomatoes, Black Beans, Yogurt, Walnuts, Oats and Blueberries. It also says America's 20 worst foods. I'm trying to be healthy lately. I just wish I didn't like chocolate so much. All in moderation right? One piece a day won't kill me. I got the book at Walmart.com for around $10. Well spent money! I've attached some pictures of when Shan and Chad were here. Enjoy!

A Beautiful Winter Day

The sun is shining and the mountains are covered in snow. I never really notice the mountains around us until they are white. It's beautiful! The hills are finally green. For the past year they've been brown from lack of rain. God is good. Last week I tried yoga for the first time. (Jess, you should be proud! I was thinking of you while I was in class.) I was really nervous about going. All of my old cheerleader friends probably remember how un-flexible I am. This isn't your typical gym yoga, this was an actual yoga place. My friend, Michele, from work invited me. I loved it! I haven't felt so relaxed and energized in a long time. It was a 90 minute class and let me tell you, I was hurting the next day. But it was a good hurt. After class, Michele told me that I was right next to the most flexible guy. Just my luck! I'm going to try to go once a week or once every two weeks. I only have one morning a week without children so we'll see how it goes. It is expensive but I figure it is good for the whole family if mommy is happy, right!
We tried out a new church on Sunday. It is called South Hills. A friend at work told me about it. We really liked it. It is a lot like Harvest, minus the huge crowd. It was so nice to pull right into the parking lot and park, instead of sitting in a traffic jam to park. The worship team was great and the pastor was really interesting. I think we are going to start going there and hopefully can meet some people and get involved. The girls both really liked their classes too.
Bill is home sick today. He had an upset stomach in the night. He's been in bed all morning. Hopefully it will pass soon and nobody else will get it. It has been an especially bad cold season. My parents are sick too. Another reason I need yoga!