December til Now

I know once again it has been forever since I have blogged and now I have a bunch of photo's from everything that we have been doing. Well I am going to make this writing short and just go ahead and explain the pictures because different pictures for different things that we have been doing.

Well to start off since I did not post our Christmas pictures yet, here they are. This year we stayed home for Christmas Eve and then on Christmas Day we went up to Bellingham for dinner and then the kids and I stayed up there a few extra days. So on Christmas Eve we had Carlee and Jason over and then some other families from church that didn't have family close by. We didn't do any games or anything like that because we wanted to see how it went in the first place and maybe this next year we can add games and some more fun to it besides just eating and visiting. I hope that who came did enjoy themselves.

We started out the Evening with Carlee and Jason and their kids coming over earlier then everyone else because we did presents with them because they had to leave on Christmas day really early to catch a plane to Texas to see Jason's sister, so we did presents with them and then waited for everyone else to come.

Carlee helping Kenzie with her presents.

Christmas moring came and the kids were so excited. My kids did not get up in the wee hours of the morning like I used to to check their stockings. Maybe they don't realize that they can do that on Christmas. Oh well.

Carson with one of his presents.

Zach with the only thing that he asked Santa for. He got other presents but he asked Santa specifically for that game and nothing else.

This isn't a very good picture but yes we got Madison her own cell phone. I was cheap and just got her a prepaid phone that is like twenty dollars a month with unlimited texting and calls. She has been wanting one and we got it for her because she has been going over to friends houses more and more and I like to be in contact with her and have able to call me if she needs anything and she has started staying after school for the school musical that she is in so she has the phone for that. I don't think that she needs a fancy phone she is only 11, plus we have been leaving her a little more at home watching her brothers and then she will also have it for when she starts babysitting. I could go on and on as to why we got her a phone but I won't.

This is what I got for Christmas, I didn't think that I was going to get it because I told Larry that I wouldn't mind a Kindle Fire because it is just like an Ipad but cheaper but he got me this instead. I love it, and so do the kids.

Me, after I opened it. I don't like pictures of me when I am not ready for the day.

We got Carson his own DS so that he wouldn't be using Madison's or Zachs anymore. When he first got it he didn't want to play with it and I think that is because he was so used to playing with the other kids. So it sat to be charged for a while so he could play with it.

So what does he do, he plays with his brothers.

We went up to Bellingham and I love it there on the the compound. I love the water and the beach and I love that my family is there. I can't wait for summer when I can go up there more with the kids and play outside and go on the beach when it isn't cold, I love that my kids love to go there as well and see their cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents.

One of Carson's Christmas presents that he got. He loved it and I thought that it would be hard to put together but it was not.

This is what he likes to do when I am putting his toys together.

In the middle of January we had a huge snow storm. I didn't think that it was going to last a whole week and when it did happen a whole week all I could think of was "why couldn't this have happend over Christmas vacation instead of in January when now we have to make up the days". Oh well though the kids loved it and I loved it at first and then it got really old really fast. Into the middle of the week I just wanted the snow to go away because larry and I were leaving that Saturday to go away for a week to Mexico and I really wanted our flight to be able to leave Seattle.

This is the begining of the snow storm, Carson is trying to cooperate with me but he was cold.

Missy loved the snow, she was so cute when she went out in it but I think even she got tired of it.

This is what it looked like on day 1

Even though we didn't have alot of snow on the first day they went out and played and Carson really wanted to make a snow angel so he did.

This is day two. It started to snow really heavy on the second day and it kept on snowing bad enough that they had to cancel church because the power wasn't on in the building.

So what did we do, we played out in the snow.

We got the quad out and went for a ride. I think I need my own quad now.

I don't remember what day this is but there is alot of snow.

It is my turn to go for a ride now.

Off we go.

Our snowman we made.

We went to the school one day to sled down the hill that they have there.

Me and Carson getting ready to go sledding down the hill.

Well January 21st came and the roads were getting clear and our plane left Seattle ontime and so we left snowy Seattle for Sunny Mexico just Larry and I with no kids, wow I can't beleive that we actually did it. Thanks to my dad who watched the kids the whole week while we were gone.

Larry and I had so much fun being together just the two of us, don't get me wrong we missed our kids alot but this was a vacation that Larry and I needed. I think that it improved our relationship, not that it was bad before but when all you do is focus on kids, well I think you understand. Anyway our relationship is better because of this, we find ourselves sitting by each other at church now instead of having the kids sit in between us and we hold hands more and well i think you get my point. I think that we need to do that every January.

So we arrived in Mexico and we got around four thirty their time which would be two thirty our time. We got settle into our room and decided to explore the resort. It was an all inclusive resort which was nice.

This is the view that we had from our room. This is no zoom on the camera. We didn't take our better camera because it was too big to carry around everywhere so we took our little digital camera but I was wishing that I could have had by other camera for some really cool pictures.

This is our resort in the morning. It seemed that almost every morning we had the marine layer of clouds and then it burned off shortly, which was o.k with me because I love the sun.

The beautiful flowers everywhere.

The view from the restaurant that we ate at.

Eating breakfast our first morning there. We went and explored downtown after we ate.

The fist they had there in the little ponds. Everytime anyone would walk by they all would come close like you were going to feed them.

In downtown we saw some really cool things. There were people making sand castles and rock art and then the shops.

The rock art, I don't know how this guys did it.

Larry really liked this church and wanted to go and see it. This is from afar.

A sculputure that we saw.

The boardwalk in downtown

I don't know what happend with the pictures above but I will go on. One night when we were there they had fiesta night and it was fun as well. This was the band that they had.

This was one of the three iguana's that they have their on the the resort grounds. This particular one actually got in the pool and took a swim but I didn't get my camera out fast enough to get that picture but he got out of the pool and layed on the edge. I was bound and determined to pet one of these things.

People would go parasailing, but we just enjoyed watching by the pool/beach as everyone else did it.

This is a pirate ship that they take people out on for an evening of dinner and entertainment.

We took a walk on the beach.

We watched the cruise ship leave.

Our view from our table again.

On this day we were on our way up into the jungle to go zip lining and the cruise ship had gotten there in the morning sometime.

Here we go up into the jungle

That is where we are going.

This is a view of how far up we were when we were zip lining.

After ziplining at the bottom we rode mules back up the mountain.

Here is our view going back up the mountain on the mule.

This is what it was like when we were up there ziplining. I recommend that if you every have a chance to do something like this then you need to do it. it was so much fun. I would totally do it again.

When we got back we layed by the pool/beach and soaked up the sun. Here is another iguana that lives around there.

The next day we took an ATV tour and that was fun as well. They just took us on their dry river bed which was fine with me. I was riding on the back with Larry and I though I would be safe from the dust and stuff because Larry was in front but I was mistaken.

This is me getting ready.

This is the dry river bed. Oh but I should tell you that before we got to this point we rode on the street to get to the trail. Apparently riding ATV's is not uncommon here, we saw people just out on the road riding them to wherever they needed to go.

Look at all the dust. I am going to need a shower when we get back.

On our way back our guide took us to a little restaurant by the river and we ate lunch there.

We are almost done with our ATV tour.

I finally got up the courage to pet one of these.

Our last night at the resort and this is our waiter that we had when we went to eat at the restaurant. His name was Alfredo and he was a great waiter.

They had a band there on the last night as well.

The view from where we would sit and soak up the sun.

See that dot out there, that is Larry. I was not about to go into the water. The waves were crazy and for other reasons you will see below.

Oh there he is, I think it is about time he came on shore now.

This is why I would not go in the water.

See the lump in the water that is a crocodile in a river bed on the golf course near by.

Our sunset on our last night.

We left this day but our flight didn't leave until 4 so we soaked up the sun just a little bit more because we knew we wouldn't be going back to nice warm weather like this.

My cute husband.

Me.

We got back really really late on the Saturday and so we didn't see the kids until the next morning but on that Sunday later in the day Zach had is end of season party for basketball. I was glad that his was over because Madison's was still going on. He got a cool basketball trophy and a certificate too.

Well now we are starting the season of baseball. Both kids are playing again this year and are excited about it. I am ready for baseball season to start. They haven't started quite yet they will start sometime in March. Madison is still playing basketball actually right now.

Well you must be wondering why I posted this pictuer of Larry. Well Larry has decided to coach Madison's team this year in baseball. I think that he will do a fantastic job because he has played baseball and knows the game very well and I think that he can really help the girls this year. The only thing is this is girls softball and they are doing fast pitch which he knows not how to show a girl how to fast pitch. He can show a boy how to pitch but not a girl. I think he will do great though because he knows enough people that they can help him with that one part of it. He is excited to coach this year.

This is Larry at the tryouts that the coaches have to go to and pick the girls that they want. You would think that it was that simple but it was not. After you have make notes about every girl that tried out you have to have a coaches meeting and then you get to pick from the girls. We just want it to be evenly distributed.

Here he is again. I think this suits him well.

Madison trying out.