Glorified Cruising with the Homokins!

Well, here is our week, told in hard cold numbers ...  The Cruise ship carried about 3,000 passengers, of whom 1200 were under 18 due to the fact that it was spring break in many places and the fact that it included a kid's holiday, Easter.  This meant lots of kids wandering the ship, and the fact that all the icecream cones usually used on board were gone by Wednesday!

 

Just a numerical side note.  The Glory cost 500 Million dollars!! (2003)

 

There were 8 of us on this Cruise to the Caribbean, on the Carnival Glory.

 (Above: Jeff, Robin, Scott, Paula, Barb and Randy ... to the right are additional group members, Jake and Ryan.)

Here we see 2 members of our cruise party doing their best imitations of a poodle and a lab.  This is because we talked a lot about personality theories, and Robin has 1 that has all people falling into 1 of these 2 categories.  (Robin actually characterizes herself as a Lab and Jeff as  poodle, but they imitate the opposite here.)

 

As always, when we spend much time together, we play games, in this case we mainly played 3 games:

 Hand and Foot, The Great Dalmoody (A form of King, Queen, Peasants, Peons that Ryan likes) and Phase 10.

Robin brought along 2 mustaches for fun pics of Ryan and Jake who are celebrating their high school graduation!

 

For those of you who don't know, it was sort of a reunion trip, as 18 year ago, the 6 of us went to Hawaii for a week, and when we headed home, both Barb and Robin carried special souvenirs.

The 8 of us had dinner all 6 nights at this table in the Platinum dining room.  Our head waiter was a very fun loving woman from Romania.

 

Shown above are the 3 party woman at 'tea' ... I got a slice of the chocolate cake shown here with a hug chocolate chard included .... yum. It was 1 of the few times we really got to chat with strangers.

 

Barb met these 2 nice people, and Robin an I chatted with another 2 across the table from us, a mother and daughter from Michigan.

Dad loved the towel origami by our steward.  We came home every night to something different, for a total of 6 different animals.

 

When Jeff and Robin and the boys were otherwise occupied the remaining 4 of us did a tour of the ship and found the adult only serenity deck ... loved the hammocks and later the 4 of us came back for a private hot tub moment!

1 evening when Barb, Randy and Ryan had turned in early, the other 5 of us spent the evening in the karaoke lounge, where Jake sang, backed up by a live band of 4! (Weirdly, one of the electric guitar players look sort of a like a farmer, maybe it was Toppenish Tom?!)

Here are 2 more card playing pics ...  Hand and foot this time ... Jake is shown to the right counting points at the end of a hand, he was my partner and we should have won!

 

As for shore excursions, we took 3!  We sailed on the first one, off  Cozumel, Mexico, then snorkled on the other two, once from shore in Roatan, Honduras, and once from a boat we chartered on Grand Camen for a " 3 hour tour, a 3 hour tour"!  I will be getting pictures from Barb and Robin who both had waterproof cameras of those events.  

Above I am shown here getting my hair corn rowed into 29 rows, which, due to my gray roots, looked awful ... and it took me 30 minutes to take it out that night .... but it was nice to be able to add a bit to the local economy!

This picture was taken on board when we stopped at Grand Camen and did some snorkling.  We had made plans to charter a small boat ... which broke down the day before, so we ended up with a double decker boat that fits 50, all to ourselves.

 

After docking at the end of our cruise, we took a 4 hour tour through the everglades ... it was very interesting!!  The tour bus dropped us at the airport, which was extra nice!

 

Dad and I spent 3 hours reading at the airport, which reminds me that Dad read 3 and a 1/2 books on this vacation, and I read only

2 and a 1/2.

 

2 flights and the rest of the day saw us landing in SLC, where we walked to the gate where the Moes et al would soon be landing.  Matt Heuer came and picked up all 8 of us, and took us to Highland where we picked up our car.  We got home at 2:00 A.M.   with about a Million new and fun memories!

The Week in Which Emily Indeed Popped! Or Welcoming Liam!

Yes siree Bob ... or should I say yes siree Bill Bob!!  Its been an exciting week already... On Monday it was grand kid watching day!! Hurrah!  I watched Beckie while her mom went to her doctor appointment ... can you tell she found an malt ball Easter egg? 

After Emily came back, I ran Grandpa up to Becca's to be watched ... and caught Reagan napping!!  Next it was back home for a minute where I noticed some of Grandpa's decorating handiwork ... (see left) that's always good times!  After a visiting teaching appointment I drove to Nell's to watch those grands for a couple of hours while she ran off to a photography job.  It was fun to visit with Trevor when he got home, and I got to order some cookie dough from the  kids who are doing it as a fund raiser for school, so if you have a hankering for cookie dough (I am getting white chocolate-macadamia nut and Dad's getting oatmeal raisin.)  give them a call and you can get some too!!

 

Tuesday was crazy ... I ran grandpa to Nell's for day care, then hit DI for a half hour, then took the van back to Payson for new brakes at Joel's and walked to Emily's, just a block.  We went shopping (her car) for cruise essentials, then back to her house for a yummy pasta-veggie salad for lunch.  I addressed Brittney's shower invitations, while Emily looked up movies to down load on her Nook for me to take on the cruise.  Next she drove me to PG to pick up grandpa ... Thanks Emily for making my day! Dad came home while we were gone and changed into his clothes for his temple shift ... I saw him for about three minutes that night before we were both sawing zzzzz

Wednesday it was Emily's turn to do day care for grandpa here, while I ran off to mail the invitations for Brittney's wedding shower, then to work. Becca came down to help Grandpa shower, since the Tuesday's shower date was a fail. The shower went well, and since Becca was in town, Emily left her to watch everyone; grandpa, Titan, Reagan, Aunt Cheryl and Beckie, and ran up to get her (sorry guys) membranes stripped, which sometimes starts labor.

 

I got home from work, to the news that Emily was in labor and they thought Beckie might be coming over for a sleep over, which she did.  William Robert Talley was born at the Orem Community Hospital (her insurance doesn't cover Payson, and she wanted a smaller hospital.) at 11:05 PM ... so we now have two March birthdays!

 

Since Emily 'failed to show' to do Grandpa's day care Thursday, I made arrangements with Ashley to do it.  She took it on, at the very last possible moment, and we appreciate her flexibility!! Thanks Ashley!!  Above we see grandpa refusing to get out of the car at her house .... for a half an hour, as Ashley and Zach look on.  I finally called Sam at the hospital (about 2 minutes away) and he came over, between us we managed to 'muscle' grandpa out of the car!  Thanks Sam!  Ashley did a great job with him, and evidently he was chattering all day, which we sort of think means he's happy!

 

After dropping of Grandpa I got to go and meet Liam!! What a beautiful baby ... with downy blond hair!

...and he is smiling already ... as is his mother.

So I was off to work for a very crazy day!!  

I took the LuRay Pastels dishes set, that I brought home to use for our early Easter Dinner, back and set it up for display.  I have had this set for four years ... and wouldn't you know it, a half an hour later a lady came by and bought it!!  I figured that I had dropped the price so many times, that I made $7 on the set ... but boy it feels good to have it gone .  Now I just need to figure out what I am going to see the tables wit for Easter next year!! :-)

 

I had the customer I bought from last week, come in with more to sell, including a chandelier I had agreed to consign for her.  But it was the last minute of the day, and between the buying and the hanging of the chandelier and the fact that a customer had driven over from Helper to buy something, he knew exactly what it was ... etc.... which took another half hour .... I didn't get to Orem to see Emily again until almost 7:00, so Ashley ended up having Grandpa (if you count the half hour in front of her house in the car) for almost 12 hours!!!  What a way to get initiated into Grandpa care!!

 

Friday I spent the day washing clothes, packing clothes, writing up blog posts enough to last for the week we are gone ... etc.  Dad called and asked if he could stop on his way back from Provo to pick me up so we could catch up and make plans for the cruise. 

Of course we first had to run over and see William/Liam ... poor Dad missing all the action.

 

Then we ran up to Bountiful together, where we dropped off the gondola movers at Dick's.

 

When we got home, we worked on packing up Grandpa, as he will be staying with Trevor and Nell .... Dad bought another set of door alarms for their house, as we feel this one tool has been incredibly helpful.  When Dad got back from taking Grandpa up to PG, he started in packing.

 

Brittney's Mom was in town, so she and Spencer brought her down to meet us.  We had a nice chat about the wedding plans.  Its so exciting that we are getting so close .... just over a month now.

 

Saturday we were up early to meet with the Heuers and Moes in Highland at 6:15 A.M. so we could drive to the airport together ...  Two long flights and a few hours in the Dallas Airport on layover took the biggest chunk of the day.  Then off to our hotel for the night ... We checked in then met for dinner at a sports bar in the hotel.

 

Sunday morning, Easter really, saw us boarding the ship ... we will tell you more about our adventure in our next blog post.  Bon Voyage!

 



Waiting for Emily to Pop!

Our somewhat crazy, party laden week, began on Monday with a visit from Emily and Beckie, wherein I was very entertained.  Emily had business in north county and kindly took Grandpa to Becca's for day care, which made it much easier for me to get to the dentist in Provo by nine.  Afterwards, I did some junking in Provo, came home and did one visiting teaching visit, before collecting Grandpa and calling it a day.

On Tuesday I dropped Grandpa off at Nell's before heading to Salt Lake to meet my friend Arlene for a quick lunch, which was cut short by the carpet layers who needed me to open Aunt Cheryl's condo so they could lay the new carpet. More junking rounded out the day in Salt Lake.

 

Dad dashed home from St. George so that he could put in his Tuesday evening temple shift, before heading back Wednesday morning.

 

On Wednesday I had to work which precluded me attending Darby's big birthday bash.  As you can see there was quite the turn out!!

 

I also worked Thursday, as usual and ...

 hurried straight to the Relief Society Birthday party immediately afterwards.  It was actually a couple affair, but fortunately there were other single sisters to hang out with ...

Friday was a little crazy, with me running Grandpa to Becca's before hitting a couple of pathetic sales in PG and AF ...  Fortunately I also had a buying appointment in Springville that day at this house .... please note the striped doors.

I have known Linda as a customer for several years, I just never understood that she was a kindred spirit.  Above is a picture of her fairy room, it opens off her dining room, one of the double doors is open on the miniature room, the stool is for interested grand children's convenience.  I love her play house out back too!  Oh and she gave me great deals on everything I got from her which was about 90 percent of what she showed me, which is very unusual, a typical buying appointment will see me leaving with about 10  to 20 percent of the items I am shown.  Whoa!

Then it was back to pick up Grandpa in Highland , and when I got home Dad had made a very nice dinner for us all.  How sweet is he!!  Next we got to spend a 'romantic' evening getting our accounts ready for the tax man the next day!!

Saturday started early as we had to empty the full van of the results of my buying appointment the day before.  Three pieces of furniture went to the mall, in the snow storm, that morning Thanks Honey.  Then it was back to the house for a waffle breakfast, in which we were joined by Emily and Beckie, what a nice surprise!!

Then I was off with my book club to meet the potter who had written the book, Remembering Isaac, that we had read for March.  We had lunch, and shopped and shopped, but meeting Ben Behunin, and watching him work, was amazing... as was his art!!

When I got home, Scott was back from the accountant, with news of what is likely our last ever tax return ... so sad.  I took Grandpa over to Emily's for the evening, and snapped this cute picture of Beckie!!  I should have taken a picture of the back stair case in the cottage, they have painted it all and it looks amazing!  Then Dad and I were off with the Kews to the Cajun place in Payson, before returning to Kews house to watch the last Batman movie ... compliments of Sam and Emily.

Sunday morning Dad got the eggs ready for the egg hunt to be held that night, before heading out to speak in another ward for High Counsel Sunday.  I worked on getting the tables set for our 'Early Easter Event' and starting the food.  He picked me up after attending his other ward's ward counsel and we headed to Salt Lake.  We attended Kristen's oldest son's missionary farewell.  He is headed to Hong Kong.  Here is Dad with my brother Emory and nephew Jon.  We also saw and talked to my nephew Andrew who was there with his three oldest children.

 

We had just a minute to talk to Kristin, promising that we would be able to hang around and visit when Leah goes on her mission, sometime this late summer or fall.

Then it was back home to finish up dinner, and start welcoming our beloved children and grands.  Here is Dad with Reagan, so precious!

Here is Emily in the last weeks of her pregnancy, feeling very big.  To the right is Titan, who brought his basket, and put in lots of 'little black eggs' with small holes in them ... yummy (olives)

 

Here is Adilyn with her Daddy, wearing pigtails for the first time!

...and here Adilyn and Grandpa get acquainted!

After dinner, it was time to find the Easter bunny and get him to hide the eggs ...

 This bunny looked great but just didn't make the cut ....

 

Instead it was this bunny who did the job!!

Its always fun to see the little one's doing a hunt ... here they are all ready to run ... Do you think Elias is excited?  I loved how the big kids helped the little ones to gather the eggs.  It was all new to Beckie this year, and I am not sure she knew just what to think of it all. 

 

It was a lot of fun to watched not only the grand kids, but to watch our kids being parents, and Aunts and Uncles ... they all do it so well!

So that is it for our week ... lots of fun lunches and dinners and just general fun sharing and caring for each other.