It's great to be 8!!!!

Happy birthday to Jackson!! Our big guy got even bigger this week and turned 8. Every year on January 24th I am reminded what a beautiful experience it was to have our very first child...... Beautifully painful. Jackson's birthday is actually on January 25th. I went into the hospital to have him early morning on January 24th but he didn't come till late the next morning. It was quite the experience. If you want the full account I would be more than happy to share. Enough about me.....

Jackson was so excited to get some 4-wheeling gear! Now he is ready to ride safely. My fabulous cousin hooked us up with a chest guard, boots, gloves, goggles, and this sweet jersey. Thanks Jess!

We went to Classic for Jackson's party. It was a Monday night so we thought we would take advantage of "Family Night" pricing. Little did we know that we wouldn't have to worry at all.... So we get to Classic and the line is going out the door. "Wow!" I thought, "never realized how popular family night at Classic is." We stand in line and as we walked in there were some friendly girls asking how many people we had. We told her, she gave us a ticket and we went in. Right when I walked in I ran into a neighbor who asks me, "Do you go to Dr. Ellison too?" I reply, "Who is Dr. Ellison?" She proceeds to tell me that the facility is closed for a private party. Well, I couldn't very well spoil Jackson's 8th birthday party, "Sorry kids, I guess we will just go to McDonald's. This is a private party." So....thanks Dr. Ellison! You are the best orthodontist we have ever had. For the record, though, we did not eat any of the food they provided.

The birthday party was a smashing success! Much fun was had by all!!

Crusin' in St. Thomas

What can I say about St. Thomas? Ummm. Can I move there? In fact, Devin and I spent our entire day making plans to move to our new home. Just think...we can have all the perks of being Americans, but pay no taxes! Sign me up.

Here I am waiting for our realtor to pick us up from the ship.

We were famished from looking at all the expensive

real estate so we stopped by the beach to relax and have a nap.

Here is the pet we will be getting once we move to the island.

Pelicans are great with kids.

Here is the view I gazed up at while I sipped my

Pina Colada and rested in the sun.

Here is the boat that we decided to purchase so that we can sail to all

the islands whenever we please. Small, yet practical.

We were smart not to blow the budget on the boat because this house is going to put a dent in our pocket book. Oh well, you only live once, right? So if we like you and you are our friend come on down to St. Thomas to our imaginary house and our imaginary life. Carpe diem!!

Cruisin' (part 1)

So....many of you have been asking....where are all the pictures from the cruise?

Well, here are a few, and there will be more later.....so get excited!

Here is a picture of our lovely night spent in Miami. It's a good thing the view was good from our room because it was too cold to go outside, or was it warm? Mid-forties. Warm for Utah....freezing for Miami.

Here is our ship. The Pearl....not the Black Pearl, the Norwegian Pearl. It was a fun ship with a very friendly crew. And with fourteen stories I wasn't too worried about her sinking....as long as I can get to the top faster than the others. Hee, Hee. And for the record: I did not see any icebergs in the caribbean.

Here is the happy couple. This was one of our first nights at the Summer Palace (dining hall). Almost every night we would dine by these windows and watch the sun go down. I even saw a humback whale one night as we sailed away from Dominican Republic. Magical!

Here we are resting in our favorite seats in the Spinnaker Louge. One of the things I loved about this ship was the furniture, reminds me of Austin Powers. Yah! This was also taken just moments before Devin and I got up to do the Electric Slide during the "Sail Away" party. When was the last time YOU did the Electric Slide?

So much fun had...and there will be more to come!

Who are these people?

Well, that was a long and short 10 days. It was a long time away from the four little people that I adore. It was a short time to spent basking in the sun....the warm, warm sun. We arrived home late at night and the kids were sleeping. I wanted to wake them up and squeeze them, but decided that would probably backfire. Griffin was the first to wake this morning and didn't really know what to think about his new caretakers. " Who are these people?" I am sure he was thinking, at least the look on his face said so. 10 days doesn't seem all that long when you say it out loud or when your kids are annoying you, but it really is a long time. And then he said "turtle." So I leave for 10 short days and now he speaks, and he is bigger. The other kids woke up one by one and were thrilled to see us (naturally, who wouldn't be). Dylan came out and held on to me like a spider monkey and wouldn't let go. It was like Christmas morning again, especially when we pulled out the presents we brought for them. I am so happy to say that the trip was a success and everyone here survived! Thanks to all those who helped with the kids, they had a great time!

Happy New Year!

Happy new year to all. I've been thinking alot about this holiday. Should I make a resolution? Have I been waiting to change just so I can make a resolution. I like to think that changes should be made daily, then again, the feeling of clearing an entire year and starting over sounds pretty good too. I just think that life is to complicated to make resolutions just once a year. I resolve daily to be a better parent....I screw it up....then I resolve again the next day. So I guess my New Year's resolution is to be mindful about my actions each day. Another reason for NOT making a resolution is that I know I won't keep it and I don't like failing. Therefore, I will not resolve to BLOG more frequently. If it happens it happens.

Here are the first Gorringe pics of the new year.................