Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Caribbean Cruisin


Alright, alright. Here we go with the trip. The first week of September we went on a cruise with the Cottles. It was like our cruise in 2008, except much better. I'll make each stop on the cruise a separate post, so enjoy this post on the most exciting aspect- the boat. Boy, did we keep ourselves busy.

1. Swimming
On our last cruise it was so windy on the top deck that it we got cold. This time it was toasty every day. I got burned on my upper legs on day 1 and spent the rest of the week protecting my thighs.

2. Mini-golf
We played mini-golf a few times, including a time when Nick got screwed out of the ship mini-golf championship. Still bitter about it.

3. Eating
As with all cruises, we ate a lot. The food was pretty good. I had a very hard time coming back home and having to cook food. It's a hard knock life.


Daniel eating his disgusting frog's legs that he voluntarily ordered and ate with no pressure or daring from any of us. 
Nick and his soft serve and his love of everything orange.
*Such a cute picture. I am so disappointed this is blurry

4. Cards
We played cards for a solid 5 hours each day. Lexie and I kind of got owned. I attribute it to pregnancy brain. Not that either of us are pregnant (we aren't), but going through 2 pregnancies each has killed the brain cells that used to help us dominate in Spades.

5. Dancing
Lexie and I did a lot of dancing. We were kind of a big deal. On the beach on Grand Cayman Island some guy yelled out "Hey ladies! Loved your dancing last night!". We went to the club a couple of the nights and broke.it.down. for everyone. While they were busy grinding we were doing such legendary moves as: marching in place, pumping up the crowd, punching the floor, kicking the air, lots of pointing, and much, much more. Oh, how I wish we had video of that dancing. Probably the hardest I have laughed in a long time. 
Personal dance party on the top deck
Waiters dancing. The waiter shows were a bit disappointing.

6. Shows

We went to a few shows. They were mostly hilarious, thanks to our cheeky cruise director, James, aka Mr. Bean. The one pictured above, however, was not great. Marcus Anthony was a flop and we left early. The comedians on board were surprisingly funny and at the newlywed game I laughed so hard my entire body hurt.

We also had our own little magic show at our table. We loved it so much we asked him to come back another night.

Which he did. And we laughed really hard. This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip.

7. Competitions

After winning sports trivia. It came down to a tie-breaker, but we got it. Ignore that it looks like Daniel is picking my nose.

And Lex tried to look tough after winning the movie trivia, but she really just ended up looking scared.

8. People watching


No words needed. So much great people watching on a cruise ship.

Creepy towel creature hanging- supposed to be a monkey, I think?

9. Bromance Rekindling

They are kind of in love. In a brotherly way.

Just a weird picture. I am uncomfortable looking at it.

And a pretty sunset

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

While we were out

Yes, I am avoiding my blog so I can pretend I am still on a blissful and relaxing vacation. But, the reality is we've been back home for a week, so I guess I can acknowledge I am back in the trenches, plugging away at work, taking care of kids and having to actually cook and clean (a little). 

Someday soon I'll share pictures of our trip, but for now enjoy pictures that Mimi and Coco (Daniel's mom and sister Courtney) took while they stayed at our house and watched the girls. They deserve medals for taking care of the girls for 8 whole days. They jam -packed the week with a ton of activities and the girls loved it. 
Awesome face

Love Ron and Lani's deck
 Cousin Jack's toys are so much better than ours

 Movie night

 Labor Day activity was the Highland Splash Pad

 Mimi let Sadie help in the kitchen and she has not stopped talking about it. We made some oatmeal fudge bars the other day and it took us 2 hours since this is all I heard from the Sadie the whole time, "Let me do it." "Let ME do it." "Let me doooo it." "Let me do it!!!!" "Mom! Let me do it." (All of these said in various forms of whine)

Chocolate blueberry pancakes?!? Totally spoiled

 Just our cute Lou

Provo Beach Resort carousel

Our favorite toy store- Blickenstaff's

Partaking in the Nielson tradition of afternoon Sonic drinks

 Sister love

 Park time

BYU campus visit
Creamery on 9th- of course Sadie's ice cream was pink


 Sundance

Gymnastics open gym

Side note: Elise got hand, foot and mouth disease a few days before we left. It wasn't too bad. She had a fever one day and a few days later she started getting bumps all over, which turned into scabs on her face, which looked pretty gross. The picture above is at church the day after we left and the one underneath is the day before we came back. You can see her face finally cleared up. 

Coco and Mimi- thank you, thank you thank you thank you. It was so nice to not have to worry about our kids one bit. We could completely relax on our trip. Grandmothers (and aunts) are amazing!

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Holland's First Birthday

We celebrated sweet Hollands first birthday on August 23rd. She is one very loved and missed little girl. 
I didn't think Sadie would actually let the balloons go, since balloons are one of her favorite things, but she did. And she did so enthusiastically. She yelled "bye balloons! Have fun with Holland!"
Later on that day Daniel and I went to the temple to kickoff our goal of keeping an eternal perspective about our family.