Back to real life

Last Sunday, Kyle was ordained a Deacon. This Sunday he had his first experience passing the Sacrament. It was a bad Sunday for this, as our ward had a double Missionary Farewell happening, so there were tons of people there, and extra sections of overlow opened up. Some of the deacons just didn't know how to work it, so they were wandering all around, once two guys sent trays down the same row at the same time. It was a bit sad. Sometimes I want to go explain to them how to read and follow the little passing chart they have. Some of them just don't seem to get it. I wanted to take a picture of Kyle passing, but seeing as how freaked out my kids were when I took of picture of them in the foyer at church, I decided I better not. Also I think it may be frowned on to take pictures during the Sacrament.

Sandra and I made our yearly trek to this wonderful place. Shriner's Hospital in Sacramento. We got some good news, sort of. She has extremely good functionality in her arm and hand, so unless something develops, they don't think they will ever have to do any correctional surgeries in her joints. However, we will need to continue to watch as problems could develop during puberty, and there is a very high likelihood that she will need some cosmetic surgery as a teenager. We don't have to go back for two years. Shriner's is great because we don't have to fight with our insurance to go there. They have some of the top doctors in the area working there. And they don't treat you like an idiot for wanting to know and understand what is wrong with your child.

Cammie decided one day, that it was too much work to carry her baby the normal way.

Mindy and I went to the Stake Activity Day program. She had a great time with her friends and was so excited to finally meet Claire's cousin who was visiting. She also enjoyed the classes.

The boys went on a campout. For the first time Andrew did not go, as he was needed at home to care for the litte girls while Mindy and I were gone. The boys had a good time and survived.

Travis had his quarterly Endocronologist visit. His Hba1c went down significantly. This is great news. He grew over 1 1/2 inches and has now surpassed me in weight. Cammie had her second blood draw at the same visit for the TrialNet Study. Now we have to wait six weeks for the results.

2nd Formal Night

Andrew deciding caviar is better as fish bait.

My favorite pictures

Easter Sunday

We were on the cruise for Easter. I was a little bit sad all day because I was missing my kids get their baskets, and do the Easter hunt, and seeing them in their new clothes for the first time.

The ship had this really cool Easter display. The chocolate eggs were huge (bigger then my head). We wanted to abscond with one, but they were guarded, so all we could do was bask in the yummy chocolatey smell and dream.

Easter was also the first formal night. Here we are at dinner.

Tortola, BVI

We woke up the last day of the cruise, docked on the island of Tortola. The water there was the most beautiful I had seen.

The beach at Brewers Bay had decent waves. We had heard that it had good snorkeling, but when we got there, the waves were too rough for snorkeling. However they were just about perfect for body surfing, and this made Andrew's day. (if you look hard you can find him in the surf)

I actually managed to catch a few and get a good ride. I think this was the first time in my life I have successfully done it. I also had one of my most embarrassing moments and am still hoping that no one related to me actually saw it.

The beach even came complete with cute little critters, and wild chickens.

Sadly for Andrew, it was a short port day, and being the last, all the women decided they wanted to get back early to do some last souvenir shopping, so he didn't get to spend as long as he wanted in the waves, but it was a nice finish to the trip.


(the donkey you were supposed to pay to get pictures of, but I snuck one while walking by.)

St. Thomas

Next port of call: ST. Thomas

Andrew and I rented a scooter and we explored the island on our own. It rained off and on throughout the day.












In the early afternoon we ended up at the same beach Dave, Diane and his parents had taken an excursion to. Magen's Bay, one of National Geographics 10 most beautiful beaches. It just had some mild very calm waves, beautiful water and sand. It wasn't very exciting, so Andrew took off on the scooter to explore some more. He then came back and got me, to go show me the views from the top of the island.

Antigua

Antigua was a restful day for us. Several members of the family had planned a shore excursion to go on zip lines over some canyons on the island. Those of us that were too scared to do such a silly thing, or pregnant, or just didn't think it was worth it, opted to just get off the boat and see what we could do. Mainly we planned on it being the souvenir shopping day. As we got off, Andrew and his Dad saw a church up a hill and decided they would rather hike up to it, then spend time haggling over prices of t-shirts.

St. Lucia

For our second port of call, St. Lucia, the whole family was supposed to go together to a beautiful beach for the day. Because of the sunburns we had received the day before, Andrew really did not want to go spend another day snorkeling in the sun. He had watched a show highlighting this island, and decided that he would much rather go see some of the islands attractions. So we ditched the family and went on our own long bus ride tour of the island.

Along the way, Andrew informed me that pictures are no fun to look at if they don't have people in them, so here is my concession to him, a picture of us overlooking the small fishing village, Anse La Raye. Every Friday, they shut down all the streets in this village and have a big party.

A banana plantation. They put these blue bags over the bananas to keep bugs out, rather than using pesticides.

One of the islands highlights is their "drive-in volcano" Basically the last time it erupted in the 1700's it left a huge caldera. This part of it is still active, it is like a mini-yellowstone. Complete with stinky gas and boiling mud pits.

The boiling water that comes out is very mineral rich and believed to have healing properties. They siphon part of it off to a pool where you can go bathing. The grey color of the water is not because of shadows, it really is a very dirty grey, like the sludge that comes out of my carpet cleaner. I was tempted to try putting one leg in, to test and see if it would heal the sunburn any better, but chickened out because of the intense pain I was already in, I didn't want to heat it up anymore.

The highlight of the tour was this waterfall where you could take a "natural shower" This is what Andrew most wanted to do. The water was very cool and refreshing. The force coming down sure beats the "low-flow" showerheads we have.

This is the cove where parts of Dr. Dolittle were filmed. We got to see it from above, the rest of the family got to go in it on their taxi boat ride.

Along our tour we had to stop and look at trees. Apparently the driver is proud of these trees.

A coconut tree.

a coffee bean tree

and, finally a tree I would actually like to have in my yard, a mango tree.

If you ever decide to go visit St. Lucia, be sure to carry a little extra cash, in case you need to use the facilities.

Barbados

Our first stop on the cruise was Barbados. Here we learned that although getting off the ship and finding your own transportation to places is cheaper than pre-arranging it through a shore excursion, it still seems like a rip-off compared to the way fares are determined in the USA. Lesson learned here, take tons more cash than you think you may possibly need.

Several of the family members decided to just go to a beach someone had researched and heard was supposedly good and had snorkeling.

On the way our driver stopped by the oldest church in Barbados for us to have a little looksie. These are the pipes for their organ. Not quite as impressive as the MoTab's but still pretty neat.

The church had lots of neat decorative touches. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have pretty things in our church to look at when my mind is wandering or the speakers are boring. Imagine if we had these neat chimes that might just end up ringing at random times.

We ended up going to two different beaches per the recommendation of our driver, who was nice enough to come back and get us and ferry us all around. The first beach had some dead coral to snorkel around, but the waves were a bit rough so it wasn't that great. At the second beach we got to go out swimming with giant sea turtles. Andrew actually managed to grab hold of one and get a bit of a ride. Apparently though, the guides on tours there, don't like you to actually get close enough to touch them.

On the beach, there was this nice gentleman who was selling shells he had gathered in the wee hours of the morning. He was also cutting up the meat from the conch shells and sharing it with beach goers. Rich and I were the only ones brave enough to actually try it. Now, I am not much of a seafood eating person, but for some reason when it was offered I thought I could handle it. Just so you know, it is kind of a tough meat, with a salty icky seafoody flavor. I managed about two or three chews, then realized I better just swallow it before I gagged or barfed. Rich also learned how to blow the shell like a horn.

This is also the stop where I got my horrible sunburn. The backs of my legs from my swimsuit line to my ankles were very deeply red, and sore. It hurt to walk, to sit, and to move in any way. The pain lasted all week, then the itch started that lasted over another week. I think it is one of the worst sunburns I have ever had. I was sure to mention it a lot to Andrew and try to get sympathy from him, but unfortunately, he also ended up pretty badly burned and didn't feel to sorry for me.