December 19, 2010 Sunday Maui, Hawaii This morning, we got up and ate breakfast at the buffet and then got on a bus to go on a Whale Watching excursion. The bus took us to a small boat that we road on for about three hours. It was a very bumpy ride. We saw lots of whale blow spouts, whale backs and tails flapping. It was very peaceful and calming. I didn't get any whales with my camera. I think Barbara did. After we got back to the ship, we ate lunch at The Cadillac Diner. I ate mozzarella sticks and vegetable lasagna. Then Barbara and I went for the Hula Dance lesson. It was fun. Then at 7:00 pm we went to see a program called Polynesian Dancers. It was great. Then we went to hear Tony Beau sing a tribute to the Beatles. 5 Stars! At the end, he invited people to come up and dance to twist and shout. So Barbara and I got up there and danced.

Hawaii

December 18, 2010 Saturday

My mom, my sister and Barbara started on a Norwegian Cruise ship for our cruise of the Hawaiian Islands. We flew from Las Vegas, Nevada to Honolulu, Hawaii. It took us 6 hours to fly there. We got a lovely lunch on our flight that consisted of Spinach and Egg frittata, blueberry muffin and a soft drink. A girl close to me ordered 'Pog' to drink. I didn't know what that was, but it looked like some sort of juice. So next chance I got I ordered it. It turned out to be a yummy juice called Passion Orange Guava. I thought I would see it a lot in Hawaii, but it wasn't that common. It was the biggest plane I had ever been on. We sat in the middle section, taking three of the four seats. There were two seats on each side and we were i row 35, and there were a lot of seats behind us. Nana and Barbara watched movies on individual screens that were on the seats in front of us. After Nana had watched a movie or two, she traded seats with me and I watched Ramona and Beezus. The reason being, they had paid $15 to watch movies and I hadn't. We took a shuttle from the airport to our cruise ship. It cost us $6.00 each. We got on the ship and went to our stateroom which was 4524. We went to dinner at The Aloha Cafe (it's a buffet) and had dinner. We set sail for Maui at 7:00 p.m.

We are Family

These pictures are from the past week. I was able to see a lot of family in Utah and New Mexico. I love family times we share even if they are brief. I am grateful for all of my family members. I feel blessed being able to see a lot of them near and far.

Watching Wiggles with Uncle Scott.

Papa and Troy.

Standing with Mom on top of the Conference Center in front of the Salt Lake Temple.

Watching the Mormon Tabernacle practice.

Cute Sydney the flower girl.

Kaila and Trever getting married.

Barbara in front of the beautiful cake she and Karen made.

Parents of the Bride-Caroline and Randy-Vera and Clint.

Kaila's siblings-Jeremiah, Aja, and Erica.

Randy and Carolines children.

Sisters, sisters-Barbara, Chyrrel, Vera and Robin. (We missed you Julie!)

The Merrell's-Verenda, Barbara, Chyrrel, Audrey, Karen,

back row-Ron and Allen.

Aunt Pam, Audrey, Barbara, Robin, Karen, Chyrrel, and Aunt Mary.

Robin, Vera, cousin Debbie, hubby Terry, Barbara, Chyrrel.

Vera, Barbara, Robin, Glenda Graves, Chyrrel.

This is us at "Ellis Island".

Double cousins Hailey and Nathan.

Julia, Katie, Karl and Leslie.

Doc Joe and Dav.

Troy, Josh and Melissa.

This past week, I was able to visit with and see lots of my extended family. I flew to Salt Lake for Kaila and Trevers wedding. I got to spend lots of time walking around Salt Lake with my mom. We went to the Temple, toured the Joseph Smith building, the Family History Center, the Church Archives building, the Beehive House, just to name a few.

Gila Valley Temple Open House

Here is a picture of the Gila Valley Temple.

Leslie and Karl kissing.

Brad and Robin kissing.

Scott, Brad, Robin, Karl and Leslie.

Leslie, Jennifer, Natalie and Darla.

Dan and Brad chillaxing!

Scott said something funny and then laughed.

Scott looking so cute!

On Saturday, we went with the Stokes family over to Thatcher Az. to attend the Gila Valley Temple Open House. We had a nice trip. It is about the same distance for us to travel to the Albuquerque Temple as it is to the Gila Valley Temple. We are excited about that. We want to go sometime next month after it opens.

Happy 50th to Me!

So, today when I got into work, there were black posters and black decorations all down the halls and in my classroom. My fellow staff members had decorated in celebration of my 50th birthday (earlier this month). Then after school they surprised me with a cake and a fossil watch. It was a really fun day at work!

Birthday Trip Las Vegas St. George

Hailey said "Grandma, lets go on a road trip!" So We did. Hailey rode in our car for the entire car except for the last 2 hours it was so fun. We took pictures at the St. George Temple, saw Brad's brother Rob and his family, Barbara, Karen and I got to see and hear John Canaan at the St. George tabernacle. He is an LDS singer that had a local hit called "What if I loved you" I have been a fan of his for over 30 years. He sang Christmas songs for us. He was kind enough to let me take a picture with him. Then we went to Las Vegas to see the Blue Man show. It was fabulous. Those who went to the show were: Brad, Robin, Karl, Leslie, Scott, Dav, Barbara, Audrey and Vera. I am looking forward to going back to Vegas sometime to see "Menopause the Musical".

We also saw Santa this year. Ho ho ho!