Cruisin'

David and I went on our first Cruise!!!! It was so fun!!!! We left the kids with David's sister Dorothy and her family in Dallas on Thursday. Then we drove down to Galviston and hoped on our Carnival Cruise ship. We sailed out about 4 pm Thursday and had our first dinner on the cruise. It was great! The service was great! The food was great. Then we went out dancing. They played good music. The next day we were at sea they had lots of fun activited for us to do. The weather was REALLY windy and over cast. So it was too cold to go swimming, but they had a nice hot tub. David doesn't like really hot Hot tubs, and this one wasn't. It was great. They had a running track on top of the boat so we got to run around and look at the sea the whole time. We had late seating for dinner on the ship so we didn't eat dinner till 8:15 so we had about 4 meals everyday. It was great since the food was so good. The 2nd day on the trip we got to spend time in Cozumel Mexico. That was fun too. The weather was in the 70's, overcast and rainy so too cold to go swimming on the beautiful beaches. But we got to walk on the beaches and eat good mexican food and see some Mayan ruins. We had a cool tour guide that told us all about the island. It was great! the next day was at sea agian and then back home. It was a great break from the kids!! There were kids on the ship and it made me realize how difficult it would have been with the kids. We missed them but we are glad that they were with Dorothy, we knew they were in good hands. The kids had fun with their cousins and didn't even miss us. I don't know how Dorothy did it, but I get to find out in a couple months because it will be our turn to watch their kids. Here are some pictures:

Kitchen

Back in August, we decided to redo the kitchen. The company we picked, M&D Construction, came highly recommended, but "took a little longer than they estimated." Last week they finally started. This is what we came back to when we returned from our vacation. We are hoping to have a kitchen again within a couple of weeks. We'll keep you updated.

Palo Duro Canyon

On the drive back, we stopped by the Palo Duro Canyon.

New Year's in Colorado

On a last minute trip we decided to go to Colorado Springs over New Years. We got there Monday. We had a great time. We got to hang out my brother Eric and his wife Lisa, who lives and Colorado Springs. We went hiking, and the kids just loved the snow that somehow remained even though it was 50 degrees.

Then my Mom and her husband came Tuesday Evening. We went to the Olymic Training Center on Wednesday and had dinner at Lisa's parents house one New Years eve.

David found out about a New Years Race on the internet in Colorado Springs. They had kids races and a 10K for David. Ashlee ran in a 40 meter run (with David) She did great, but had to have David hold her hand the whole time. Mara and Ben ran in a 1 mile run. Ben is a runner. He ran a 10.5 minute run. With the altitude that is really good. He wasn't even really tired when he was done. Mara is not a runner. I had to run with her and keep her going. She wanted walk after about 2 minutes. She finished with a nice jog. She was 2 minutes later than Ben but she never gave up, and she kept pushing herself.

That afternoon we drove up to Denver. My Younger brother Eddie was flying into Dever on Fri morning so we spent the day with him in Denver. Overall it was a great trip. The weather was great, and it was great to hang out with my family and brothers who I hadn't seen in 1.5 years. And it was great to see the wonderful Colorado mountians again. Kind of funny that today in Texas was colder than any day during our trip in Colorado.

Christmas 2008

Elaine skipped Christmas on her blog, so I'm taking over again to get some pictures out for you to see.

A few days before Christmas, one of Mara's friends had painted their nose red like Rudolph. Soon, everyone wanted to do it.

Here is the aftermath of opening presents. How do you know you are spoiling your kids with too many presents if you can't see the floor?