The NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS.....

Speaking of giving my Gingerbread Dolls ALOT of Love....I found her reading them "Twas the Night before Christmas" too! Awe, how sweet! She never wants anyone to be left out. What a girl! :)

Glamour Shot with Tatum!

Tatum was in rare form last nite, and looked so wintery (is that a word) and cute...I grabbed my camera! She had me laughing so hard, my stomach hurt. Yes, those are our Christmas Stockings that Brian's Grandma made us, that she has on her feet. And Yes, Gingerbread dolls that I made, like 5 years ago...and are on their way to their LAST Christmas! They get ALOT of love, during the holidays!

Letters to Santa

Saturday night we went to Dinner and then went to see Santa at our FABULOUS mall over here. It was awesome and over Santa's Village, there was even snow falling (snow machine)... then we went to Macy's there and the kids wrote on the Santa postcards and put them in the mailbox to be delivered to the Jolly Old Man! Gotta love Christmas!

Too Cute!

Oh my heavens, I came across these pictures from like 5 years ago ....and I couldn't NOT post them on here. These sweet little munchkins....they use to be sooo little. :( Awe! Stock is glaring at me (out of the photo)...I was reassuring him that Santa was a "good" man, and he would be ok to sit on his lap. He still is a little unsure of the Jolly old Man, and he is 9 yrs old. Ah, my sweet, cautious little man. :)

A few people to party with!

In attendance: Uncle Brad, Aunt Clarissa, Miranda, Marlee, Daniel, Erin, Brad & Alicia Black, Aubry, Carson, Brooklyn and Aleah, Melanie and Brenden Bailey, Grandma and Grandpa Myers and of course the 4 of us, in our family. :)

More Birthday Party Pics.....

A few party pics...

Something is wrong with Blogger tonite and it won't upload the rest of my pics for you. So....stay tuned, I will try again tomorrow. :)

Tatum turns 11!

Hard to believe it, but our TaterBug turned 11 years old yesterday. Because she got a trip to Utah this year for her BIG birthday present, we weren't doing a friend birthday party, so had some family and our bestest friends in the world come by kwik for a little cake and ice cream with Tater! Couldn't possibly let the day go by, without that. Its always fun to have a reason for a party! :)

Thanksgiving with the Myers!

Thanksgiving this year was with my family, and at my parents. Its always a blast to get everyone together. The kids love it mostly, and played 24/7 the entire weekend...and then some.

Growing way too fast....

For Tater's birthday this year, all she wanted was a plane ticket to Utah. So, this afternoon....we took her BY HERSELF, to catch her "birthday" flight . She has been so super excited and really didn't get very nervous at all until maybe a tad, right before she was to board. I think more so, it was because it was the fear of the unknown....but it all went smoothly. She got to Utah about 10 min after I got home from the airport. Only difference, I had MAJOR rush hour traffic. She flew right over the top of it all. Grandma and Grandpa have a super fun weekend planned for her, and they'll put her back on a plane home on Sunday afternoon. Happy 11th Birthday , Peanut!

Trip to Utah 2009

Our kids stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Mounteer, while we went to Alaska. You can tell by Stockton's face that not only was he DRUGGED but he was very frightened (understatment) to fly. The Pilots were great and gave them a tour of the cockpit and let them both sit in Co-Captians chair. Here they both are safely at Grandma's and playing on the cool rope swing Grandpa built , down by the creek at their house. And here's Tater with her new darling little cousin Jonathan. I've never been more traumatized leaving my children, although they were in fabulous hands, it didn't make it any easier. It was a great great trip and would've been even that much better with our kids with us. We all survived being away from each other. Our 1st trip EVER, for more than overnite, in almost 11 years! :)

At Sea aboard the Princess...

One of the days at Sea, there was a dance competition which my Mom and Dad took 1st place! Yay! It was so super awesome and even took place LONG after their bedtime, so we were very proud! Way to go Mom and Dad!

Skagway, Alaska

Skagway was very cool. This Whites Pass Train was HUGE! And Yes, that is a snowblower on the front of the train! Quite appropriate for Alaska. Of course we had to take Brians pic by the Skagway Harley dealer! Some day, he hopes to be an owner of one, but I am stalling that from happening.

Victoria, BC

Victoria was just absolutely gorgeous! It was gorgeous the second we walked off the boat. We went to Butchart Gardens which was amazing. Makes the temple grounds look pathetic, for sure. It was really cool because as soon as the boat entered Canadian waters, the little yellow boat in the pictures, came up and pulled along the side of our ship....yes, both of us still moving, SLOWLY, but moving....and a Canadian pilot got on the bow of their boat and jumped on ours, to steer our boat into Victoria. It was amazing and definitely had to be a Kodak moment. The copper "statue" in the pics was actually a real lady. It freaked everyone out because she looked SOOOO much like a statue...until she smiled at you and moved ever so slightly. Her gorgeous turquoise blue eyes stood out fiercly too, against all her copper. Definitely memorable.

Tracy's Arm, Alaska

Tracy's arm was a really small fiord between Juneau and Skagway. We couldn't believe our huge ship went in there because it hardly seemed like we'd fit. There were icebergs and everything everywhere and canyon walls as high as you could see on both sides of the boat. We didn't go all the way to the end of the Fiord because there was a huge Iceburg in our way, but it was great to get to see it.
At lunch later that afternoon, as we were just out at sea, Brian and I were sitting eating and watching for dolphins and whales. We saw just pods and pods of dolphins and watched them swimming in and out of the Ships wakes. It was the best thing ever! I LOVE dolphins. I mean we probably saw, 40 dolphin in about 30 min, as we ate, the sun was going down and it was gorgeous.

Juneau, Alaska

Juneua was awesome! We saw the great Mendenhal Glacier which is in the photo behind Brian and I. It was super cold the closer you got to it, obviously because its a huge chunk of ice! And I have NEVER seen leaves as big as they were in Juneau. That is truly 1 leaf, that I am standing next to. Just humongous.

Seattle

We stayed in Seattle the nite before we boarded our ship. I LOVE Seattle. Brian had never been before so it was neat to take him to Pike's Street Market, the home of the famous throwing fish market! I had my brother brad hold up the baby octopus that the had there. It was very dead and very sad. :( I also found out where the term "Holy Mackeral" came from! Ha ha. At the Market they always have the freshest produce ever, and the most amazing flowers to sell. Just buckets and buckets of them. And of course, because of all the sports fans we were traveling with, Brian included...we had to drive by Safeco Field.

Boarding the STAR Princess in Seattle, WA

This is the day we boarded the STAR Princess. The ship was sooooo HUGE! It was awesome and shocking to see in person. I can't even describe its hugeness. Once onboard, each passenger has to attend Muster Training, and demonstrate knowing how to use a lifevest. I was very willing to do that, so no argument there. Then we put our stuff in our room and went up to the Top of the Ship as we pulled out of Seattle. They had tons of stuff for us to do. We golfed (yes, on the ship), ATE, had family round the world PingPong tournaments, swam, hot tubbed, ATE, played family board games, went to shows, watched movies on the deck outside by the pool, ATE, you name it, they had it and we did it! Brian and I had never been on a Cruise, and hadn't really had a strong desire to. Now, thanks to Princess CruiseLine...we are Sold and want to do a Cruise every year....WITH our children, preferably. :) Oh ya, we also watched them make Ice Sculptures. The one pictured is of a swordfish.

Ketchikan, Alaska

Ketchikan had to be my favorite Port of all. Everyone that WANTED to, fished for Salmon. Brian, my brother Brad and my Dad caught the biggest Salmon ever. They were sure ugly fish, but watching these guys reel these huge fish in, was definitely worth attending the fishing trip. My Dad has always had the dream to someday fish for Salmon, which he loves soooo much! So, it was awesome to be there with him when his dream came true, and neat to see him so excited and emotional about it. I love my Dad. In this collage are several pics of the guys catching fish left and right. Theres also a pic of my dad blowing a seaweed horn that our fishing guide sliced apart and made, right there off the boat like stinkin' Grizzly Adams. He was amazing. While we were just sitting still fishing, I hear this loud BLOW and just off the bow of the boat were whales it was soooo cool! We saw a ton of them between ports on the Ship, but this was upclose and personal and was amazing. There were bald eagles EVERYWHERE too. We passed 2 trees that were just chuck full of them, seriously probably 30-40 bald eagles purched on the branches. Its hard to see in the pics but if you click on the pics it will blow them up a little bigger so you can see how many we are really talkin' about. It was so awesome too, because our little Grizzly Adams guide.. whistled at them, then threw fish over the side of our boat and those dang things swooped right down by us along top of the water, dropped their talons, snatched the fish and flew off. He was nuts. He did the hole "eagle feeding whistling thing" several times, to show he was for real. It was awesome!

Back at it!

Oh my goodness, it has been a seriously crazy 3 months, sooo much has gone on and I am so seriously behind on my blogging, I will NEVER catch up! Actually, I will catch up...and within the next few days too...which is why I am letting you know that there will be ALOT posted from us very soon. We have over 3 months of events, 2 super fun vacations, parties, you name it.....I'm going to be blogging it. FINALLY! Sorry for the delay in updating for you all to see. But...have no fear, you will get to see all the fun shortly. Thanks for faithfully reading and keeping up on our blog, and thanks to those of you that have a blog for keeping us current on the happenings in your lives.

Dad's been Kidnapped!

For Father's Day this year, we kidnapped Brian and took him to dinner (his choice) and went and rode Bumper Boats. It was super fun and a REFRESHING bit of fun, at that. Being June, we were ready to be refreshed, that's for sure. It was funny to be able to all 4 be in our own boat and chase each other down. Hope that's not a vision of our kids future driving skills. :0