Eastern Caribbean Cruise 2013

We love CRUISES! This trip was our 3rd time going and it was still as fun and relaxing as ever! Wendell's mom came up to Calgary and stayed with the boys for the week. They had a great time with Grandma and all the little toys and prizes she brought with her! We also had some good friends that took Wyatt for play dates to give everyone a break!

 

So because I know everyone is dying to see pictures (or just Brooklyn) here they are!

 

 

 The first thing you do on a cruise ship is eat. I ate desserts and Wendell ate at "Guys Burgers" within minutes of getting on board. To our defense our rooms weren't ready yet and it was lunch time!

After we ate we were walking around one of the top decks. And lo and behold we see a fellow Cardstonite walking past us. Dayln grew up in Cardston and I went to school with his sisters. So we had an immediate friendship. I mean what are the odds that we'd be on the same ship let alone find each other! We met everynight for dinner and then would go to the shows and perfomances together. It was fun to have another couple we could talk to and get to know both Amanda and Dayln!

 

Stop #1 - Nassau Bahamas. We'd been there before and did the touristy sight seeing things so this time we decided to have fun.

 

We went to the Atlantis resort and went to the Aquaventure water park! This is the hotel. The middle section is where Michael Jackson would stay and spend $25, 000 a night.

 

The Aquaventure Water Park!

(I did not take these next 4 images. I found them online!)

 

 

THE LEAP OF FAITH!

 

Wendell going down the "Leap of Faith" slide.

 So one of the reasons we wanted to go to Aquaventure is because a few years ago on "The Amazing Race" contestants were asked to go down this slide. One girl chickened out and wouldn't do it and I"m pretty sure they got elimiated that leg of the race. I thought she was such a wimp..... until we got there. Notice there are no pictures of me going down it? When we got to the park we went straight there so there was no line up. Wendell went down first which was mistake #1. Then when it was my turn and I was sitting on the slide I looked down. Mistake #2. I freaked out. Literally my kids flashed before my eyes. I slowly inched my way back and got the heck off that slide. I told myself I would go later and work up the courage. So we went on all the other slides and it was almost time to go so we headed back to the Leap of Faith. There was a HUGE LINE! Literally we would have missed our ship. I was happy and bummed at the same time!

 

Going backwards up the conveyor belt on another slide!

 

HASBRO THE GAME SHOW!

Contestants get the chance to play real life Hasbro games! Wendell was selected to play by standing in the aisle and clicking his heels to get the hosts attention. He's in the tan shirt to the left of the stage. He got to click the button when his team was in the right order for "Simon Flash."

His team ended up winning their round. So they got to put their Monopoly cards into this machine and whoever had the highest points on their card won like $200 of Hasbro games. Unfortunately for our kids he didn't win but he did have a blast playing!

Stop #2- St. Thomas, USVI. We've also been here before. It is honestly one of the most beautiful places ever. This picture doesn't do it justice!

 

 We spent the day swimming at Magen's Bay Beach!

 

 Stop #3- San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was our first time there. It was definiltey an old Spanish town (still clean and very cool) and there was a fortress and stone walls all around the city. You could see where the cannons used to be.

We decided to go zip lining. I wanted to get a picture of this bird for my kids but it started getting closer and closer so I was starting to freak out!

 

Getting ready to go up our first line!

 

 Stop #4 - Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos

 This was the view from the boat before we disembarked!

 

Grand Turk is a pretty small little island with about 4,500 resident. They main industry is tourism. They do have a memorial set up to John Glen as he landed his space shuttle nearby after he orbited the earth. Hence my picture with the astronaut!

We spent the day at the beach and at the pool!



Wendell cut up his left arm digging for these seashells!

THE BEST Pina Colada's at Jimmy Buffet's Margaretaville!
(And I don't even like Pina Colada's)

 

Formal night
This is not the best image as it's a picture of a picture! But I had to end with a picture of me and my handsome hubby! We had a great time together and it will most likely be our last trip with just the two of us for a while. I think we've worn Grandma W out!



 

Wyatt's 4th Birthday!

Wyatt turned 4 on January 19!
We started a new tradition last year of putting balloons in the hallway and surprising him when he wakes up! He loved his birthday presents. Yes that is a Tinkerbell DS game. Yes he loves Tinkerbell! He was even more excited to get a new car seat. Now he feels like a big kid!

His birthday was on a Saturday so it was a perfect day to have a party. This was the first year we've done a friends party. We invited a few friends his age from our ward! Before Christmas I was asking him what kind of cake he wanted. I went through the list of possible choices and when I said, "The Cat in the Hat" he was sold! So a "Cat in the Hat" Party it was!

 

The Invitations!
I did not make these! I found it on Etsy!

The Party!

We decorated in red, white, and blue. The kids played "Pin the Hat on the Cat" and "I can do that-Cat in the Hat game!" Wendell was a good sport and pulled out his Cat in the Hat costume. A few of the kids were scared at first!

 

I went on Pinterest and there were tons of links for cute birthday ideas. If I had the time, money, and energy to do it all I would have. I did get this idea from Pinterest though and the kids loved it!

 

The Cake

I did not make the cake either. Every year I stress about a cake and so instead I found someone on Facebook to make it. It was done by Creative Cakes by Kari. She did a great job and Wyatt loved his cake!

Happy Birthday Wyatt!

We've been busy!

We've been busy! I enjoy blogging but I am so far behind. Instead of trying to take the time and energy to catch up I'll do it quick instead!

September

• I took an Institute class for the first time in my life. My old seminary teacher from Cardston was the instructor and I went with my good friend Brooklyn. I was really scared and intimidated to go at first. I was afraid I was going to be the "old" person but in reality there where quite a few people my age and some had children as well. It was a great experience and I wish I could fit it into my schedule to go again this semester!
• We enrolled Wyatt in "Sportball" classes at the Trico. It was a 12 week program and each week the instructor taught them a new sport. It was a parented program meaning that daddy got to go with him and play with him. I can definitely envision sports in his future. I would have to say his favorites were hockey and golf.
• Wendell turned 29! I surprised him by decorating his cubicle at work! I'm already planning his 30th in my mind! I hope it will be great!

October

• Wendell's nephew Derek Redford got married to Maddi. They are both so cute and it was fun to talk to Wyatt about getting married in the Temple. He told me Maddi looked very pretty in her wedding dress.
• We volunteered at the Calgary Temple Open House. Wendell worked in Parking and I was an Usher. It was an early morning and a long day on our feet but so worth it. My parents came up to watch the boys and my sisters family came up as well. The plan was for them to come to the open house after we were done our shift. My dad got really sick and my Grandmother was really ill back in Cardston so my parents left to go back home. Luckily Primrose's were here and able to get the boys dressed and up to the Temple.
• I went to Time Out For Women in Salt Lake City with my mom and 2 of my sisters. We also spent time with my Aunt Brenda and my cousin Chelsey also came to TOFW with us. We left early in the week and spent a few days shopping and touring SLC.
• Jakey turned 18 months and started going to nursery. He did not like it then and does not like it now. They say he is getting better. We've discovered he likes men better than women so luckily there are some men in Nursery and they can usually calm him down.
• For Halloween the boys were a Pirate and a Parrot. I thought long and hard about what I wanted them to be. (it's all about what I want right??) I loved their costumes from last year and felt like I needed something just as great. So Wyatt actually said he wanted to be a Pirate and then I found a cute Parrot costume for Jake. I thought I was so original. But I was Visiting Teacher one night before Halloween and I commented on some pirate swords she had on her stairs. She says, "Ya my girls are going to be Pirates for Halloween and my son a Parrot." My jaw literally hit my chest. So much for being original. The actual night of Halloween was freezing. We bundled them up the best we could and I sent them out with Wendell. Jake was not impressed with is costume. He cried and cried. I kept imagining him saying, "I'm a bird. He gets to be a Pirate and I'm a bird!"

November

• We spent a lot of time sledding and skating. Wyatt is fearless when sledding and will go down practically any hill. Wendell built a skating rink our in our backyard. Wyatt and Jakey like to go out with daddy and skate.

December

• Was your typical busy month. We saw Santa twice.  Once at our ward party and then at our Prete Family Christmas party.
• We went to the live Nativity Pageant with our friends the Wilde's.
• We had a FHE night and invited over the Capps & Wilde families. We made gingerbread houses and ate popcorn & hot chocolate.
• We went to Cardston for Christmas. We had a Prete Christmas Party (my mom's side) at my Aunt Ruby's house. The kids had a lot of fun playing with a few of their cousins and getting spoiled Christmas Day.
• After Christmas my family came to Calgary and we spent 3 days at the water slides. Growing up we went to Medicine Hat for the water slides practically every Christmas. It was fun watching all 20 grand kids go up and down the slides for hours. It definitely brought back memories of going with our cousins when we were little.
• Wendell's niece Tenelle Card got married to Mat Richards in the Calgary Temple. It was the first wedding I had go to at the new temple and it was beautiful. Tenelle looked gorgeous as always!
• We spent New Years Eve home with our good friends Brook & Travis Quinton. We had way too much yummy food and had a nice relaxing New Years with our friends.
• New Years Day was the Walton get together at Wendell's sisters house in Okotoks. They have a skating rink and snow mobiles so most of teenagers/younger kids spent the day outside. Again we had sooo much food! 
• I got called to the Primary Presidency in our ward. I love Primary and the girls I work with. I already somewhat knew all of them and feel comfortable with them. I look forward to the next 3  years!

January

• I started online classes at Red Deer College for my Early Learning and Child Care Diploma. Mount Royal University (here in Calgary) doesn't offer online classes for the 2nd year. So I was easily able to transfer to RDC.  Our textbook is a book by Stephen R. Covey called, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." It's a great read with a lot of useful information. I think everyone needs to read it. It blows my mind that I'm taking classes through RDC and my instructor lives in Vancouver BC. Gotta love technology!
• Wyatt started Sunbeams! The first week was pretty crazy. Wendell was out of town and I had to conduct and teach sharing time. I had to quickly drop Jakey off at Nursery and take Wyatt to Primary with me. I basically threw him in his chair and ran to the back to get things started. He was pretty whiny and kept coming up to the front with me. I feel bad that that was his first experience in Primary but he's doing pretty good now.
• Wendell went to California for 3 days for a work conference. One night him and some people went to Disneyland since they were staying practically next to it. Seriously he went to Disneyland and I was at home with the kids......
• Somebody turned 4!! Mr Wyatt had a Birthday on January 19! I am going to do that in its own post since I'm all caught up!

Now do you understand why I didn't want to start blogging since I was so far behind! I'm pretty sure I missed a ton but now that I'm caught up I can just start from here!

Walton Family Idaho Vacation

We were able to go on another vacation this summer but with Wendell's family this time to Idaho. On the way there we had to stop in Sparwood for a diaper change and since we were already stopped we had to get a picture with "The World's Largest Truck." Not gonna lie it was pretty big!

 

This picture is funny to me because I told Wendell to back up so I could get a picture of Wyatt with the truck and that''s as far as he went! Hmmm??

 

                          My cute boys

The house we rented in Idaho was A-MA-ZING! I totally give props to Wendell's sister Talauna for finding this place because it was perfect for our 36+ family members. It's located between Sandpoint and Coeur d'alene Idaho and about 10 minutes from Silverwood amusement park.

This is the view from the back yard and that's barely half of the house

The backyard. There was this great play structure for the little kids to play on and then 2 play houses. One was a little girls cottage and the other was a fire house with a pole and everything.

This was our cabin. There were 3 cabins that a few of us stayed in but the majority of the family slept inside the main house.

 This was our home for 5 days. Being in one of the cabins worked so great for us because we could put the boys to bed and then go to the main house for playing games. There was even a fridge so we could have milk for Jakey's bottle on hand. There was a fireplace, tv with satelite and dvd player, fridge, and of course A/C!

This house had everything you could ever need in it. I wish I had taken pictures of the kitchen because it was huge. It had every appliance you could want/need and an industrial dishwasher that put a load through in like 2 minutes. I think there was something like 3 fridges and a massive stand up freezer. There was  also an arcade room and a pool table. Wyatt's favorite game was the hunting game. By the end of the week Jakey would go to this game and cry until someone gave him the gun and he would pretend to shoot at it.

 

There was a hot tub....

 

and of course there was KARAOKE. They have a recording studio there as well and so the owners provide one hour of free karaoke for their guests.This is most of the family getting ready to sing!

 

 

So that's just the house! On one of the days we went to a beach in Coeur d'alene. Wendell's bro-in-law brought their boat down so the teenagers did a bit of tubing while the rest of us relaxed at the beach.

 

It was hard to capture this but Jakey was having a blast chasing the birds. Wendell would throw crackers on the ground and the birds would circle around Jakey. He chased them over and over again with a big grin on his face everytime.

Wyatt wanted to be burried in the sand so cousin Ciara started......

and then daddy, Uncle Paul, and Jakey joined in!

So the next shots are continuous shots again. I was trying to get a picture of both the boys but Wyatt was being stubborn...

 

and decided to hide his face until.....

 

I told him Jakey was winning! (He's all about winning and being first) Don't you love the foot to Jakey's tummy! Poor boy is going to have to learn how to defend himself.

 

The next day we went to SILVERWOOD! This was our first time and we loved it! If you haven't been just imagine Calaway Park, Heritage Park, and Big Sky x3 all in one. Wyatt was in heaven all day.

 

Starting the day with his Nadeau cousins. He adores them. They are so great with him and will play with him. All of his Walton cousins are great with both of the boys!

Eventually we split up with the Nadeau's and did our own rides. Their kids are a lot taller than Wyatt so they could go on more rides than he could. Instead of boring you with pictures of all the rides I'll post my favorite one. Wyatt isn't tall enough to go on this ride at Calaway so he was so happy he could go on it with daddy and Wendell was pretty happy too!

 

This was part of the waterpark! A-MA-ZING! We could have spent 2 days at Silverwood because we had very little time to spend at the waterpark. They had like 2 waves pools, a splash park, 2 group rides, 4-5 waterslides, and of course the lazy river. And that's just the parts that I saw!

 

Part of the Walton Family enjoying the lazy river. Jakey cried the whole time. He had just woken up and the water was pretty cold. Cousin Ryan kept trying to talk to him and make him smile. (Like I said their cousins are soo good to them!)

On Saturday I joined my s-i-l's and did some wedding shopping for my niece Tenelle's wedding. (minus Tenelle who couldn't make it down) My family and Wendell's family are at completely different stages of life. Wendell's nieces and nephews are starting to gradute from high school, going to University, and getting married. He has one nephew married and then 2 more are getting married this year. We got to meet Derek's fiance Maddi and Coleton's girlfriend Janeen. It's kindof fun to have more people closer to my age to hang out with!

 

On Sunday we went to church in Sandpoint. Wendell's aunt and uncle live there and we happened to go to their ward. Some of their children live there and some were visiting as well so we got to visit for a bit.After church we spent the afternoon playing games and had a big family dinner. Our favorite game to play was "Werewolf" which was basically another version of "Mafia."

 

We had a great 5 days in Idaho with the Walton Family. We are hoping to go on a cruise in about 2 years with all of them! I can't imagine how many more of us there is going to be as the "grandchildren" start having babies!