Monday, May 20

We had another fun day at sea. Zack went to Camp Carnival and came back to us looking like this! Look how cute his little rabbit nose is matching his shirt! So fun!!

 

Tuesday, May 21

We got a little adventurous in Puerto Vallarta and went zip-lining. Even Nick braved the heights and came with us! It was fun but a little scary. You are zipping very high through the rainforest and back and forth over a river with boulders as big as my house! I got dizzy trying to look down at the ground, it was so far away! Jenni, Simon, and Mom even went upside-down, which was just crazy to me! It was a blast though and we made it out just fine! Special thank you goes out to Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Jim for staying on the ship to be there for Kendra, Zack, Halle, and Brielle, who were all in Camp Carnival and for keeping baby Ricki by their side the whole time. They are wonderful!

Wednesday, April 22

Happy Birthday Dear BJ! He had lots of fun celebrating in Puerto Vallarta and on the ship. There were just too many pictures from today to choose just one. We got off the ship early to meet up with Hank (Jim's brother) and Conrad who live in PV. They are always so sweet to take us on tours of the city. When it was time for them to leave, we set up camp on the beach and there we stayed for the remainder of the day. Kendra, Halle, and I got our hair braided by a local gal and we all swam a little in the warm ocean water (and got sun burnt).  The kids love all of the towel animals that our room steward leaves so we snapped this gem. I think it was a swan. Oh, how quickly my memory fades. :) Good bye Puerto Vallarta. Until next time.

Thursday, April 23

We stopped at Cabo San Lucas which is normally a beautiful place but it was windy and overcast all day. This wasn't my favorite day for many reasons but the weather didn't help any. We simply walked up and down the tourist/port boardwalk, shopped, and the kids played musical instruments with these locals. They were so cute! I was happy to get back on the ship and enjoy our second formal dinner of the cruise. I love vacationing with family but sometimes, especially with 4 kids in tow, you start feeling the need for a vacation from your vacation. ;)

 

Friday, April 24

The employees on the ship really loved our kids. Saffie, the girl in this picture, just LOVED Rickelle. I think she would have taken her home had I offered. The crew was really fun. I realized with posting all of these pictures, that I didn't put any in of all of us. So here we are, at dinner, eating...our favorite pastime. We had two tables so we rotated every night who sat with whom. (I think that's the proper way to say that...) The 17 of us included our family of 6, the McCullough family of 6, my parents, Grandpa Jim & Grandma Sharon, and Kenny. This is our clan! We are blessed to be able to all go and do this fun trip together!

Saturday, April 25

Tear :*( This is our last ice cream of the cruise. Little did I know when this pic was taken, I thought this ice cream might make a reappearance in a few hours. We had a very bumpy flight home. Scared me to death! Seriously, I was white-knuckled the entire flight! It doesn't make it better that the plane feels like it's swaying back and forth while it is actually bouncing up and down. I was thankful when we arrived safely on the ground in Salt Lake City! We had a great vacation!! Can't wait to go again!

Sunday, April 26

Laundry? Who said anything about laundry!?!? This is probably going to be about 10-11 loads just to catch up. :)

Monday, April 13

I had a busy day of bowling! I bowled 2 games earlier (I had already pre-bowled my first game) then came back tonight to bowl 2 more. Tonight was a party thrown by the Investment Rep in Simon's branch. It was a lot of fun! They provided pizza and drinks and 2 full games. What a blast!

(My mom totally saved my bacon too! She ran Nick to piano and baseball and even bought pizza for my kids for dinner. I couldn't have made today work without her!)

 

 

Tuesday, April 14

It's CRUNCH TIME! I have been so busy doing a million other things, I put off getting ready for the trip until the last second. This is what my 4 kids' laundry looks like when I do all of it in one day. I am so thankful for wonderful friends and neighbors though. Nick and Kendra went over to play with Ben and Kayla for half the day and Zack went to play with Ace. Zacky just loves Ace and I was down to one (sleeping) baby so I could get a ton done. And I did!

Wednesday, April 15

First of all, happy 7th birthday to my sweet Kendra and happy birthday to Grandma Howard! It was a birthday full of traveling for Miss Kendra. We woke up to snow...that's right, snow! It hasn't snowed all winter long and we ended up getting about 7" on the ground the morning we flew out. Of course! We made it to beautiful Newport Beach, California though and the kids got to stand in the cockpit and visit with the pilot for a few minutes. Zack even got to push the "gun button". We also got to enjoy the gorgeous sunset on the beach. The only casualty we had today was when Zack went to dip his feet in the ocean and ended up falling over with the force of one of the first waves. He went all the way under the water soaking his shirt, shorts, shoes, and even jacket. Oops! Glad we just happened to have a change of clothes in the car for him! Here's to the start of a wonderful vacation!

Thursday, April 16

Nick has been talking about going to Legoland for as long as he could talk! We finally made it!! We had a wonderful day as a family going on rides and visiting Mini-Land USA. The park wasn't very crowded so the kids were able to walk right onto rides. They even got to go on their favorites several times. It was wonderful! It was a very good day!

 

Friday, April 17

 The rest of our family met up with us today so we went from a party of 6 yesterday to a party of 17 today. We spent the day in Disneyland and had so much fun! We started out on Indiana Jones then made our way around the park. I forced Kendra to go on Splash Mountain, which she loved but won't admit it. Nick liked Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and we all enjoyed Small World. However, I think everyone's favorite was Pirates of the Caribbean. We tuckered out around 10:30 pm and headed back to the hotel with a crazy but fun day behind us.

Saturday, April 18

Ah, the day finally arrived! This is our floating home for the next 7 days. We boarded the Carnival Miracle around 2:00ish and began to enjoy the ship and all it offered (aka the food!). The kids are over the moon to be back on a cruise ship. This is Ricki's first cruise but second for Zack and Kendra and third for Nick. I hate to admit it but this marks #7 for Simon and I. I don't kid around when I say that this is the only way we travel!

 

Sunday, April 19

We had a fun day at sea. We ate breakfast, had ice cream, ate lunch, had ice cream, went to dinner, then had ice cream. I'm sensing a pattern forming here. :) The kids went to Camp Carnival but didn't seem to have as much fun as they did on our Holland America ship. They would rather be out perusing the ship and swimming - both of which they did a lot. Tonight was our first formal night. It was fun to dress the girlies and boys alike. Poor little Zack though fell off of the top bunk all the way to the floor. We were extremely fortunate that he was okay (no broken bones, no concussion, etc). He was pale and sleepy at dinner but perked up just before we took family pictures. Whew, thank heaven!

Monday, April 6

I took this picture because I've never made deviled eggs before. Thank heavens for Pinterest and Google! I looked up a few recipes and came up with this one. They were really pretty good and used a few of our hard boiled eggs from Easter.

 

Tuesday, April 7

I have been trying to find a time to get together with my old boss and friend from MACU, Pam King. We took the kids to the Living Planet Aquarium and had a blast! It was fun and easy to be around Pam - like we've kept in close touch since I left MACU. I really look up to Pam and it was fun being able to introduce her to all of my kids. Great day!

 

Wednesday, April 8

As you can see, I had a very busy day! We ran a little extra this morning so I hit my 10,000 steps by 7:20 am! Yay!! Running really helps my day start and I usually have a good day once I'm done. In the afternoon, I took Quinn to her eye doctor appointment. I enjoyed this time with her since I don't get to see her much anymore. She's a sweet girl!

Thursday, April 9

I rarely get even one bunco when we're playing so I snapped this pic when I had gotten a bunco and was lugging around the "scrubby". 

Friday, April 10

Our family attended Paige Giles' wedding. It was really fun! It was held at a beautiful reception center in Lindon. They had dancing, desserts, and an Italian soda bar. We all had fun hanging out there and Simon & I reminisced about when Bishop Lee (Paige's dad) married us nearly 12 years ago. 

Saturday, April 11

Today was Kendra's big birthday party day. She was surprised when Princess Anna showed up at the door. She was amazing! She played games, sang, and even did a coronation ceremony with Kendra. I think all of these sweet little girls had a good time and the boys even enjoyed watching her. It was a smashing success! I love birthdays!

 

Sunday, April 12

Our cute neighbors just had 9 baby chicks hatch and invited all the kids in the neighborhood over to see them and hold them. We went on a family walk/bike ride with Dave & Viv and went to see them. They were adorable! My kids couldn't get enough...until Nick got pooped on. Then I think they got scared. :) That was really a lot of fun though!

 

Monday, March 30

We have been taking Nick to baseball practice up to 5 times a week. Of course, he will miss the first 3 games for our vacation...that's Pearson luck! I love how great this has been for Nick. His confidence is increasing, he's doing something other than playing the Wii, and he's building friendships. Those are all wonderful things so this was definitely money well-spent!

 

Tuesday, March 31

Every year, we go through and inventory what the kids get for their birthdays. I just like to be able to look back and remember who gave them what. Here are their treasures from their party on Saturday (minus Nick's new bike - I wasn't willing to bring that in for the pic!). :)

Wednesday, April 1

With Easter coming up, Jenni planned a cute Easter craft for all of us to do. It was make your own Peeps! She had bought a kit from the craft store. It was cute but we did a few of the steps wrong. We didn't even get to find out if they turned out because they had to sit for 12 hours before we could eat them. It was super fun though!

Thursday, April 2

My day started off in the dentist chair for 3 hours. Not my idea of great fun but I survived it. Afterward, I worked for most of the day getting my Scentsy stuff together to go to Shanna Doyle's party. I was there from 6:30-9:30 and it was a great party!

 

Friday, April 3

We had two very fun things today. First of all, it is day 1 of Spring Break. The kids' Spring Break is extra super duper long because it goes right into their off track time. They don't go back to school until the very end of April. YAY! In honor of the break, I made pancakes...for breakfast...not dinner. It was awesome! Secondly, we did our annual family get-together to dye Easter eggs at my parent's house. It was extra fun because we got to have Kristy, Lance, Bentley, Aria and Carolyn join us. It was a great day!

Saturday, April 4

Usually the Saturday before Easter Sunday is a very busy day for us. This year, however, Simon had to work from 9-2 and General Conference fell on Easter weekend. We still went out and did our annual egg hunt at the community church in Sandy but we had to go without daddy. Most of the rest of the day we spent watching Conference and getting ready for Easter. I didn't think I would like to have Conference over Easter but it has actually been a really nice reminder about what this holiday is really all about. I have enjoyed Conference.

 Sunday, April 5

Happy Easter! These 8 grandkids are ready to get out and hunt for eggs and goodies that grandma always puts around the yard. I love Easter!!