Cruise 2014

So I haven't updated this in a LONG time, but I wanted to put a few pictures of our cruise that we took.  I booked the cruise the day after Christmas and we went this last week.  Such a good idea to get out of this cold weather and into some sunshine.  We had the best time!  This is the first time Clark and I have ever flown together, EVER.  Hopefully we can do another trip again sometime soon.

 This is in Ft. Lauderdale, just before we headed to the airport to come home

 Fun little decorations at our lunch buffet in the bahamas

 In the bahamas with our cruise ship the celebrity constellation in the background

 Some of the boats as we were headed over to Paradise Island

 Just look at the color of that water, so beautiful

 The day we loaded on the ship, waiting to leave

Relaxing :)

Sarah is 8!

My sweet Sarah turned eight last week.  We had a fun time.  She had an American Girl birthday party with her friends.  Luckily 11 of the 12 girls invited were able to attend. 
Apple dancing with Bella:

 Having ice cream sundaes with her friends:

 Happy birthday Sarah:

 My parents were able to come up for Sarah's baptism.  This was a huge blessing.  Mom has been sick for a while now and hasn't left town since Sept.  I was worried about her traveling, but she did well, and the kids were so excited to have her at the house.
Helping Ryan read:

Sarah and her Kaya American girl doll (a gift from grandma):

 Dad, me and Jared hanging out:

 

Then we had Sarah's baptism.  It was really a special day.  Sarah looked beautiful in her white dress. She was so excited!  Thanks to all the friends and family who came and made the day special.

Sarah and her grandma:

 Sarah and her daddy:

 Our family: 

Here are the Melinkovich side....we can never get everyone to look at the same time.  Sarah's 91 year old greatgrandmother was able to be there:

 

 

 

 My cute kids, they are getting so big too fast:

 

 

Disneyland/San Clemente Beach

So we decided around Christmas to take the kids to disneyland for a few day.  We had so much fun.  We left Sat. and spent that evenning and Sunday with my sister in Utah.  Monday morning we drove to St. George, had lunch with friends from high school, then drove to disneyland. The next day we went to disneyland all day

 

 

 Riding the teacups:

One of our few character  visits.

Jared's favorite train ride

 The next day in California adventure....the boys LOVED cars land

 The next day we did a dolphin/whale cruise and saw lots of dolpins and 3 grey whales (Sarah loves dolpins)

 Next we hit the beach....the kids first time to see the ocean.  It was pretty chilly out and the water was cold but you would never know it from the pictures:

Then on Fri. we drove back to Utah and the home on Sat.  What a fun trip.  This is really the first family vacation we have taken and it was a blast!

Crazy September

So September came and went and Clark liked to joke that I was gone more days than I was home....while that is stretching the truth a little, I was gone most of the month.  I started the month by taking a trip to Boston/Maine/New Hampshire for my sister's 40th birthday:

 

Enjoying the ocean in Maine:



Navigating the Freedom Trail:

In Boston

Touring a light house in New Hampshire:

 Then the next week I headed to Denver to celebrate my mom's 65th birthday.  It was a great trip!

 Happy birthday Mom!

 After that trip to Denver, we took Jared into get surgery done on his face...He had to be put under since his incision was right by his eye, he did great and everything looks really good.

 The next week to celebrate our birthdays we took a trip to Canada for a few days.  It was a nice getaway.  Glacier National Park:

Going to the Sun Road, Glacier National Park

It has been a busy and really fun month....now I am ready for autumn and Halloween and Ryan's birthday!

Summer Wrap Up

The week before school started we were busy.  We decided to go to Rapid City one day.  It was a lot of fun.  Here is Ryan at Reptile Gardens:

 The kids at bear country:

Jared watching a fish at the fish hatchery in Spearfish:

 The next day we decided to take the kids backpacking.  Sarah was really good about helping Jared.  He looked so cute carrying his little backpack.  We didn't hike in too far, but it was still over a mile and Jared did really good and insisted on carrying his own clothes and bowl and spoon, and water.

 The next morning we hiked to this lake. The view was beautiful:

 Then it was back to school time.  Sarah on her first day of 2nd grade:

 Ryan on his first day of kindergarten.  He was so excited to go:

Denver

We were able to go to denver for two days last week.  We had so much fun playing with cousins. Here are all the kids together:

 Here is Jared going down the "super slide" as he calls it.

 Playing firefighter at the Children's museum

 Jared and the trains....his shirt is really wet because it was pouring rain outside and we had to run it, and everyone got soaked

 The next day we went to a fun park that had water fountains too.  Ryan loved running through these:

 Sarah with her brother and her cousin:

 Jared and Lauren basking in the sun..trying to dry off and get warm:

Brandon and Sarah climbing the spider web...just a little while after this picture was taken, they were playing and Sarah fell flat on her face and her two front teeth both popped out (they were a little loose), anyway we couldn't find either one of them, but she still got a visit from the tooth fairy.

Ryan holding Rosy the tarantula at the Butterfly pavillion

My one picture of Laramie:  Sarah found these out by the dog pen, and we had fun searching for them. We found about 4 of them:

When we left Denver we headed to Laramie for the rest of the week....I didn't get many pictures there, but we had a lot of fun going to the pool, flying kites, walking the dog, fishing and going to the carnival and parade.