Family Cruise 2009

We started out in San Diego. We drove down to Jill's house after work on Tuesday and spent the night, then we drove down to the dock on Wednesday morning. It was a long drive, but we all felt it was worth it. From the top of the ship we had a great view of the city.

This is the Midway. Matt wishes we had more time so we could have gone aboard that ship too. Very cool to see all the aircraft parked on the deck.

Brin and Ethan are ready to go!

We decided not to wait around...we were in the hot tub before the anchors were even up!

As we were leaving the bay we went down to the Helicopter pad at the front of the ship. We were either "King of the World" or "I'm Sailing!"

Beautiful sunset for our first night out.

Ensenada

We hopped off the ship at Ensenda and were met by a local Inca Princess.

We posed by one of the many statues in front of the many bars in town.

Lexi got some cool 80's retro sunglasses. Alyssa and Lexi stuck together the entire trip.

Matt's favorite, Fish Tacos!

Girls just wanna have fun

Ensenda was full of color, colorful bars and colorful people.

Brinley got all her hair braided. We just sat down on a bench on the sidewalk and off she went. She did a great job and the girls loved their hair.

Jordan getting her hair braided by a speedy quick local. This lady sure had some fast fingers!

They look Marvelous!
This baby was just too cute! Had to take a picture of her.

This is literally a drive thru convenience store. Funny.

Fancy Dinner Night

Each night we got to sit in the nice dining room and our waiter Eduardo would tell us all the Chef's specials. We ate some really, really great food. LOVED the souffle...someday I'll make one. The kids really enjoyed the dining room, but dinner was @ 8:30 (9:30 pm Utah time). Our goal was to keep the kids awake until dessert. Much to our amusement that didn't always happen!

The rolls were always a hit with the kids. I like the savory bites!

Waiting for Prime Rib, or Lobster, or Steak, or something else yummy

We dressed up for fancy night!

Here is me and my boy!

Really loooong play date!

So the Hansen family came with us and the kids got to play everyday. They had mini-golf...

(Brinley's new friend Katherine from Minnesota)

rock wall climbing...

water slides...

and the pool!

Our day in Cabo San Lucas

We had a taxi driver by the name of Cowboy or Caballero, who only spoke Spanish. Thanks to Brinley we were able to talk to him and she had a ball practicing her skills. She has quickly picked up Spanish and it was cool to hear her communicate! Go Brin!

We kept hearing, "Are all those kids yours?"

Caballero gave us bread to throw in and feed the fish. The fish went crazy and were jumping all over the place. My favorite moment was when Alyssa accidentally threw a piece of bread on the glass of the glass bottom boat. The fish were a little confused, so funny.

Scooby-Doo rock

The beautiful arch

We took a wild ride over to the beach. We had a fun day in the sun and I think everyone got a sunburn. By the end of the day I think I had said "NO Gracias" about 75 times to all the vendors who spend the day walking up and down the beach. They really don't take no for an answer! Here we are on the water taxi with our good friends the Hansens.

Alyssa and Jordan learned how to snorkle...so so cute!

CRaZy!!!

Our 2 dare-devils decided to try para-sailing in Cabo. Yes, they are crazy, but they both survived and had a fabulous time!

Fun day for Brin and her daddy :)

Food & Fun

Food on the cruise was the best...anything, anytime, anywhere! Notice the giant brownies in front of the girls....Yum Yum Yum
All of us went up the rock wall. It was a fun afternoon of climbing. Matt was the fastest, but Brin did the hardest wall. Jordan and Alyssa both went to the top, I was so proud of them.

Next day

Here are a few pictures of the day after the race. We took showers and naps and felt much better. Stairs were still difficult, as was getting out of a chair, bending over to tie your shoe, driving a car, sneezing...... Way to go Jill and Matt. Hope you liked your first marathon!!!!!!

St. George Marathon 2009

St. George Marathon 2009 was fantastic. It was a beautiful day and we felt great. We survived (only lost a couple of stretchy gloves) and we even did pretty darn well! Emily & I ran in 3:36 and Matt ran 3:56. I am so proud of Matt. He is so awesome and I am so happy for him. Brian was the fastest at 3:34. I can't believe Em and I almost caught him! My darling sister Jill ran her first marathon and had a time of 4:29.

I felt really good during most of the race. The uphill was hard. Matt and I got massages 2 days before and I think that actually hurt our times. My glutes were so sore on the uphill, dang! Good thing Emily was there to keep me moving. By mile 23 I was so ready for it to be over. The crowds in St. George are fantastic. It's like being in a parade and everyone was cheering for us. Little kids held out their hands for us to high 5 them, bands were playing and everyone was yelling for us. That helped so much! I sprinted the last 25 yards and the crowded cheered even louder, it was great.

After the marathon is a different story. I am pretty sure I got dehydrated, because I felt so sick. The worst feeling was waiting in a long line for the porta-potty and just hoping I wouldn't barf on the lady in front of me. I laid down on the grass for a while and my sweet husband got me more water and I was OK after an hour.

All in all, I felt so great about my race and loved that I met my goal of qualifying for Boston. Not sure if I'll go this spring or next, but that is something I would love to do at least once.

Thanks so much to all my family and friends for the phone calls, texts and e-mails wishing my good-luck. You are the best and I love you all.

Brin Cheering at the Mascot Bowl

The 8th grade football team played the local mascots on Tuesday night. The cheerleaders cheered their little hearts out. As you can see, Brinley made a new friend.