Cruising 101!

How to cruise with kids:
#1 Talk all about the kids club before you go. They will be so excited about it, and love it so much they will beg to stay there the entire day, leaving you ample time to sit by the pool and sip margaritas! (no, really they will!)

#2 Let them eat as much ice cream as they want. It keeps them cool and happy! You can worry about cutting off the sugar later- after all you are on vacation!

#3 Keep them up as long as possible so when you put them in bed, they fall asleep before their heads hit the pillow.

#4 Forget the kids menu, order them shrimp, lobster and steak at dinner. They love it and you can eat their leftovers!

#5 Take them shopping! You won't believe how entertaining a puppy in a purse can be! Hours of fun!

#6 Order room service every night before bed. That last little bit of energy they gain from carrot sticks and chocolate cake will keep them sleeping till late in the morning!

#7 Let them make all the messes they want in the room. After all, the room steward will clean it ten times a day!

#8 Keep a sharp eye out for the whales so when they swim by you can run out on the balcony to see them!

#9 And last but not least: Watch them take in all of the magic, laugh together, enjoy the sun and make some memories!

Cruising with the Girls!

We were lucky enough to go on the Carnival Splendor which is their brand new ship. It was so beautiful that Neeley kept saying, "Why is everything so beautiful Mom?" We had a balcony room that was really spacious and the girls were in heaven with their bunk bed and spent hours up there. They also thoroughly enjoyed the kids club. We would read the schedule to Neeley and she would tell us to leave her there for the day. They did all kinds of fun activities like painting t-shirts, pirate games, crafts and songs. It was nice to be able to go and relax just the two of us knowing that if the girls needed us we could be reached on the cell phone they gave us. We really took advantage of eating dinner alone a few times and going to the shows without them. We took the girls to the dancing and singing show and Neeley kept telling me how immodest the dancers were in their dresses. And then she would say, "But I guess they made their choice, didn't they Mom!" I am glad to see she can recognize immodesty and that people make poor choices! (For the record, it was a family show and they had much more cloths on than the "Dancing with the Stars" people!)

Neeley and Kayla learned about the shopping on the ship early. They could spend hours checking out the trinkets and toys and even conned us into a few things. They really caught on fast to the whole cruising thing. Every night they would get shrimp and steak for dinner. They gave up on bringing us the kids menu. They also took full advantage of the round the clock ice cream machines!

Our first stop was Ensinada. Not my favorite place to go but there are so many things you can do on the ship, we didn't worry about that. We dropped the kids off at the kids club and got off the ship. It was still a little early in the morning so none of the shops were open yet but we actually preferred to window shop so we didn't get heckled to death! After a little while, we walked back to the ship to pick up the girls. We tried to go on the ships water slide but it was a little cold out so we opted to explore the ship and have lunch by the pool.  It was so nice to be able to enjoy some down time on vacation and not feel like you have to run everywhere!

Hanging on the beach is one of our favorite things to do. That is the first thing we found when we got to Cabo San Lucas. Lounge chairs near the water, cold drinks, a little sunblock and sunshine is all we needed for a day of fun! The girls enjoyed building sand castles and running in the water, Jer enjoyed his walk along the beach to shell hunt and I sat back and relaxed (well as much as you can with all of the vendors trying to peddle their stuff) on the lounge chairs. After a while of play we had a traditional Mexican lunch of tacos and beans with chips and salsa. The water was perfect and the air was warm. There is nothing better!


The girls thought they were pretty cool stuff in their sunglasses, but they weren't so sure about the sand being everywhere on our way back to the ship!

We were sad when it was time for our cruise to come to an end.  Thanks to Aunt Nikki for watching Lilah, we were able to spend some time giving Neeley and Kayla some special attention!  I don't remember enjoying a vacation so much, and I think they would all agree!

Earning their Wings!

Although it was not their first flights, it was the first that Neeley and Kayla could recall. For weeks before our trip we would go through step by step what we were going to do. First a car, then shuttle bus, plane, bus and then finally our cruise ship! We couldn't wait for our adventure to begin (Or maybe we could have waited a few hours later! That 4 a.m. alarm sure came early!) I thought the girls would be a little more nervous then they ended up being. I guess the anticipation of pop and peanuts along with their little set of plastic wings overshadowed the fact that we were taking off. They loved to look out the window, use the cute little trays and even had a little nap.

Getting rid of the clutter!

With every pregnancy, I go through a major stage of nesting.  This one is no exception!  In fact, this time I really stepped up my game!

I like to think of myself as a pretty clean person, but as I was going through my junk, I felt like I needed some sort of intervention like they do on the show "Clean Sweep".  Jer would be my guide when I was being ridiculous on wanting to keep certain things.  As you have read on my earlier post, I can get really attached to objects, so some things even brought me to tears to get rid of.  Then once I threw them in the garage sale pile I would begin to feel better about it all.  After a while, I really go the hang of things and started tossing like mad.  Here is the picture of just SOME of the cloths we took to DI.  There were several more bags full that were already loaded in the car.  I felt like such a vagabond driving there with every inch of the car stuffed with bags of cloths.  I was glad to get rid of them so I could see that the kids  were actually in the car with me!

Everything else we saved for the garage sale.  I wish I would have taken a picture of the driveway with all of the stuff we cleaned out because it really was impressive!  We made almost $600.00.  It is amazing what people will buy!

Now all I do is go around the house finding more stuff I wish I would have sold!  I feel liberated and so much better now that every drawer, cupboard, closet, garage and basement is cleaned out!  I highly suggest this type of therapy.  It really does work!

Spring Fever!

At our house we are ready for spring.  So ready that we are wearing our flip flops and capris in hopes that it might will it here a bit sooner!  The other day it was so nice we had to get out, so we grabbed a picnic lunch and headed for the park.  The girls were in heaven playing on the toys and riding around on their bikes.  It feels so good to feel the warm sun and and get some exercise outside.

Summer Salsa

I got this recipe in a recipe group I was in several years ago.  I love it because it tastes fresh but it is easy to make!  I know it is almost summer when I pull this out- or at least it feels like it!

Summer Salsa

1 clove fresh garlic

2 green onions

4-5 stems cilantro

1/2 to 1 can El Pato (yellow can in Mexican food isle)  Gives it heat so adjust as wanted.

1 can Mexican stewed tomatoes 

salt to taste

Mix together in food processor and pulse until desired consistency.

What will a penny buy?

We are gearing up for summer at our house and had to do a shopping trip for sandals for the girls.  We stopped first at Payless in the Layton mall.  I found these cute white sandals and they were $7 so I thought that was an ok buy for sandals they could wear around and to church.  Then we found that they didn't have any in the girls sizes.  So the girl called and found out that the store in Clinton had them both and they were going to hold them for us.  She gave me a $3 off coupon for each pair because we had to go to another store to get them.  Well, I debated whether to go there or not but was glad I did when I got to the Clinton store.  The clerk rung them up and said that will be 2 cents.  I questioned her and she said they were on sale.  Yahoo!! Sandals at one cent each, now that is my kind of bargain!  Add that to the $2 flip flops at Walmart and my girls are set with a total of 4 pairs of shoes for $4.02!!