My wonderful Sunday

Sunday was a bright, sunny day in Seattle. Kelly and I had planned on going to Pike Place Market but Megan convinced me to go wash my car at Mom's. The weather was GReaT!! I was in a halter top and didn't get cold until the sun went down. Even though I know Kelly wishes we would have gone to the market, I was happy doing what we did.

After we cleaned all the cars I put air in all the bike tires and Talia and Jackson went on a bike ride.

Jackson back from the bike ride

Then Kelly brought us Taco Bell (he is such a good husband). We ate in the sun on the grass and enjoyed the weather.

"HI!!"

Family Shot

The sun moved behind the trees and out of mom's front yard to we moved to the street. Not the best location if a car comes, but we survived.

Megan only had 3 camp chairs so she used her stadium chair.

Talia was playing the guitar (with only 3 strings)


Kelly did this to her..

It started to rain today but I am still in a good mood. All that sun sure boosted my vitamin D. I am always vitamin D deficient, even in the summer, but in the winter... I am way too low. I take sunshine in any amount I can.

Kelly and I in the sun

When the sun finally went away :( We all went inside and sat by the fire. Brian and Kain came over and we talked. I played with the kids outside. Pushed Kain on the tire swing. The Kain, Jackson, Talia and I played 2:2 basketball. Me and Jackson vs Kain and Talia. We had to stop when Kain went home, but we were tied 5-5. We'll have to finish soon!

Oh Happy Day!!

Today was a good day. I stayed home from work and spent the day with Kelly. We didn't do too much, just ran errands. After we were done with that we went to my parents. We spent the afternoon visiting with my mom and dad.

I made everyone dinner tonight (shocking, I know!!). After dinner we were all sitting around talking. My mom grabbed her camera. She said she wanted to take a picture of us sitting in front of the fireplace to remeber the day I actually cooked. Kelly was standing up but I started to sit down. I stood up and asked "Do you want to sit or stand?" He said "Well, I was thinking I could do this..." And then he got down on ONE KNEE!!!! He proposed to me in front of my parents!!!!! I said "YES!!!"

I am so happy we are getting married!!!!! And I loved that my parents were there when we got engaged. That was really important to me and Kelly. I can't wait to start all the planning. We are planning on next summer... YAYAYAYAYAYA!!!

Upcoming weekend

I am so excited for this upcoming weekend! For Christmas Kelly bought us a trip to LA, and we leave on Friday. I can't wait to get there and see sun =)

How excited am I to go?? So excited that I took Thursday off too. Just kidding. I took Thursday off so I could spend time with my dad. We don't have the specifics yet, but he will be leaving soon (hopefully) to have surgery and then recover. It is a long process and he, and my mom, should be gone for about a month. I adore my dad and I know I will miss him so I wanted to spend some time with him before he is gone. I love my mom too, but she is healthy and I will be able to call her as much as I like (yay for Verizon Wireless and unlimited IN calling).

Today was to be my last day of the month at work. But after working for about 2 hours this morning I got SUPER SUPER sick and had to come home. I felt really bad because we were so busy and there was some year-end stuff I had to rush thru with my manager that had to be done by end of month. I am starting to feel better. I have been sick off and on all month and it is really annoying. I had my yearly physical with my doctor 2 weeks ago and I am all healthy, so my never ending cold needs to go away =)

So now I am home with my dogs relaxing. I love being home with them. They are so much fun. Buster is calm and happy to lay around with me all day. Maddy is CRaZy but makes me so happy. She is always ready to play. I have already let her out 8 times to chase squirrels. She seems to be able to sense when I am bored or wanting to play because as soon as I realize it, she is bouncing up and down and getting ready to jump all over me. I love that she jumps all over me, snaps at me (playfully) and lets me push her around and never bites me. I think her favorite time is when I dance around like a crazy person (that happens a lot), she gets really excited and tries to bite my knees.

I am really looking forward to getting to LA on Friday. We are having dinner with my friend Michelle and her hubby Chris at their place that night. Chris made a tiki bar a little while ago and IO have been wanted to see it for a while. I just saw Michelle and Chris at their wedding in September, when I went down with Megan & Melissa. We didn't get to see them much because they were so busy with the wedding and honeymoon. It will be nice to spend time with them. Michelle is a great photographer and I am hoping she'll be able to get some nice shots of us while we're there.

Can you have too many?

I just read a story on MSN.com about the Duggar family from Arkansas. Michelle Duggar is pregnant with her 18 child!!! HOLY COW!! I can't even wrap my mind around having one... Let alone 18 (and they want more).

Growing up Mormon you are accustomed to large families (Katie's family has 8 kids). But 18!!!! That is unheard of, even in Utah... Well unless you are a polygamist (which are NOT Mormon), and even then there is more than 1 mother. And this lady has given birth to all of them, no adoption (thoughts of Monty Python's The Meaning of Life where the baby just falls out keep popping into my mind).

This large clan got me thinking... Can you have too many kids? I am the youngest of 5, and I know the joys of having siblings. You always have someone to play with, and when you do something bad you have someone else to blame it on. But at the same time, you have more people to pick on you, tickle you, and take all your stuff (I did this to my sister A LOT). I am not anti big family by any means. I think if you can afford to support a lot of kids, then go for it.

BUT (and this is a big but), just because you can financially support your kids, does that mean you can emotionally support your kids? With that many kids, one mom and dad can't do it on their own. So it falls to the older kids to help take care of the younger ones. Becoming mini parents... Changing diapers, babysitting, doing laundry, making sure their homework is done. Is that fair to them? They have to miss out on normal teenage experiences because mom and dad want more.

And not just that, because maybe the kids like helping, but what about spending quality time with each kid? I can still remember days when I was a kid and would be home from school and spending time with my mom, just the two of us. Or car rides with my dad every morning talking about things that were important to me at the time. Do you think that is possible with that many kids? Say you wanted to spend just 30 minutes a day alone with each child. Well that is 9 hours. And when you have cooking for that many, piano lessons to go to, laundry (they do over 200 loads a week), and other various activities for all the kids, when do you have the time? You don't. Sure home schooling your kids gives you extra time with them, but they are all there... You still can't give them the important 1:1 time that, I believe, all kids need.

Having children, and how many you want to have, is a decision only you and your partner can make. But I think there comes a point where you need to put your own wants a side for a while and think about how it affects the children you already have. I am not condemning them for how many they have, and for wanting more. I know they have their reasons. I guess I just don't understand them. And I am REALLY glad my parents decided to stop with me.

Speaking of mom's... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the mom's out there. Especially my favorite ones.. My mom, Megan, Thelma, Melissa, and Danielle. You guys all do a great job!!!

Mexico part 7

I was too tired last night to post a blog... Sorry. But I am posting it now, so oh well.
It was a full day! We went mini golfing at our hotel. I think dad won (of course). We decided the course needs a lot more shade. Almost the entire thing is in the sun. After mini golfing we had some lunch and the kids swam. Then we caught the shuttle to to Beach Palace. What a beautiful beach!!
The tide was coming in at the waves were really big and really strong, but we swam anyways. I got knocked over more than once. Everytime a big wave would hit me, my swimsuit botttom would almost fall off. Megan said it wasn't a nudist beach and I said "then why does the water keep trying totake my swimsuit off me?" After the beach we swam in their pool and hung out for a while. We took the shuttle back to our hotel. We went to the fancy Mexican place for dinner.
After dinner we went to the Mayan show. The costumes were amazing! They danced and player with fire. It was great.
Today I think we are going back to the Hotel Zone to go shopping and play at the beach some more.


Megan and the kids with the Mayan dancers

Me and mom with one of the dancers The kids were being so cute on the way back. You can tell by my hair how windy it was
Dad and Talia in the pool @ Beach Palace

Me and dad in the pool @ Beach Palace
All the ladies
The Hotel Zone view from the top of the Beach Palace
Me and Megan on the roof

Megan and the kids (with mom in the back) at the beach at the Beach Palace

Mom playing in the waves

Me and Megan in our hats. They were the best at keeping the water from splashing in our face Dad and Megan in the waves
Megan gets hit by a bug one

Mexico Part 5

Hola! Today started out interesting. Megan, Jackson and I woke up to Talia informing us she had puked all over the bathroom. That meant she couldn't go out to Isla Mujeres with us. Sad face. Megan and her stayed at the hotel and relaxed. Jackson, Madre, Padre and I headed out to the island. The water was so beautiful.
Once we got there Madre & Padre went snorkeling and Jackson and I swam in the pool at a hotel there. We saw a couple of sharks. They didn't have teeth or anything. I think they are called nurse sharks or something. That was pretty cool. We also saw a Sloth (a slow moving creature from South America). I had heard of them but never seen one. They are kinda cute but have HUGE claws.
Then we went to Dolphin Discovery and we swam with dolphins. It was SOOOO awesome! Dad and Jackson did their adventure together and mom and I did ours together. We got to kiss it, dance with it, hug it, hold on to it while it took up for a ride and have it push us by our feet. It was great! I am really glad I did it! We bought some pictures of us. I haven't been able to scan them in (no scanner on vaca). But I did take a picture of the pictures... poor quality but you get the idea.
After we got back from Isla Mujeres we went swimming in the pool and then went to a show. It was pretty fun! They made people go on stage and do things like drink as fast as they can ang do music trivia. They asked for 4 people from both team with tattoos to come up on stage. I went up there, not knowing what I had to do. Well I had to dance individually and show of my tattoo as sexy as I could. So... how do you make a back tattoo look sexy? Shake your BOOTIE!!! So that is what I did. The crowd decided I did the best from my team... But the other guy beat me in the end. He took his shirt off and I didn't... I think that was the clincher.
Here are some pictures from today.


Jackson with the Sloth
Jackson on the boat back from Isla Mujeres
Megan and I at the show
Me on stage getting ready to dance
Me and Talia waiting for the golf cart to take us to our room (I do have a shirt on, I promise)
Jackson, Madre and I on the boat

Louis the dolphin is kissing me
Now I am kissing him
Mom is dancing with Louis
Jackson getting kissed by his dolphin

Mexico Part 4

Today's blog is backwards... I am starting at the end of the day and working towards the morning. We went to a Michael Jackson impersonator concert at the hotel today. It was really good. You couldn't tell it wasn't MJ until he started speaking. I am pretty sure MJ doesn't have a Mexican accent. But he nailed the "moon walk." Here are the pictures.

THRILLER!!!!!
Jackson was really excited! He loves Michael Jackson!
Me & Madre before the concert.
Megan is relaxing waiting for it to start.

This morning we were up bright and early to go "Paradise Snorkeling." We took a bus ride out to a marina and got aboard a catamaran. We went out a ways and went snorkeling. Talia and Jackson didn't like it too much and stayed on the boat most of the time. Megan saw a small shark or a baracudda (she isn't sure which). We saw a lot of gross, oh I mean pretty, fish. I freaked out at first but got more comfortable out there. They would get so close. I didn't like that at all.


Talia, Padre & Madre snorkeling

Megan & Madre on the catamaran

After snorkeling we did the coolest thing EVER!!! If you know me, you know I am UBER scared of heights. I dont even like to be up 10 stories in buildings... It is too high. Well I conqured a fear today and went PARASAILING! It was SO amazing! I didn't get scared at all when I was up. You go up 450 feet!!! WOW. Megan, Talia, Jackson & Padre all went up too. The most amazing part is that my mom was going to go too! If you know her... HOLY COW!! She didn't because when Meg tried to go with both kids a robe snapped so she went with Talia and Padre went with Jackson so Madre would have had to go alone (No thank you!). But we were all impressed she even thought about it.

Self shot at 45o feet!
Padre and Jackson in their gear
Megan, Talia and my feet. My toe nails are the same color as the water

Mexico part 3

Today was a great day.
We slept in then when to a breakfast buffet. It was a good meal. Jackson and Talia both have bigger eyes than stomachs and took way too much food. Good thing it is all included =)
After breakfast we booked all of our tours/excursions for the week. Tomorrow we are going snorkeling all day (cross your fingers that I don't have any panic attacks). Megan, the kids and dad will be going parasailing if they can. Tuesday we are going to an island (Isla Mejeras I think) to snorkel. Mom and I will be swimming with a dolphin!! I booked it today. The guy who booked it must have liked me because he gave me a 2 for 1 deal. (YAY!!!) I am really excited. Wednesday we are hanging out here again. On Thursday we are going to someplace with Ryan Mooins (Myan Ruins). I am looking forward to that. Friday we will either be at the hotel or going into the hotel zone.
Today we swam, ate, swam, ate and swam some more. In the process of swimming dad stayed his normal white tone, Talia is sunburned in some strang places (sunscreen didn't really get spread right), I am burned pretty bad for a normal person (pretty average for me) and Megan, Mom and Jackson are crispy as can be. We all wore sunscreen but not enough or too low of a SPF.
We tried out my waterproof bag for my digital camera. It worked great! I have lots of fun pictures. Here are some of them in random order....


Talia hanging out in one of the pools

Jackson and I goofing off. I love the look on his face
Jackson doing his SUUUPPPERRRRMAAANN impression
Mom and Dad relaxing on their patio
Jackson and Tali on our way to breakfast

Jackson really wanted a coconut.
Mom and Dad swimming
Dad is using Jackson as his fishing pole
Me underwater (taken with my camera in my cool bag)