After Nap Silliness

One of my favorite times of the day is right after the boys' naps. I started napping Gavin again since he was getting so cranky in the evenings. After a nap now, he is just the sweetest child to grace this earth. However back to after the boys' nap. We all pile into Gavin's bed for about a half hour of silliness. Tickling, laughing, reading, and sweetness.

The Love of Brothers

These two love, annoy, adore, and bother each other. These two brighten each others' day and can quickly sour their moods too. These two love to make each other laugh and then cry from frustration. These two are brothers, and we love them immensely.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Got to love Pinterest for all things creative these days.

Quiet Time Observed

A few weeks ago during Logan's nap and Gavin's quiet time, I needed to do some work on the computer. Sometimes I keep my laptop slid under the couch and I happened to work from the floor on my work that day. Gavin asked if he could read a book by me instead of his room which is a typical preschooler tendency of needing to be in the same space of their parents. Little did I know that he would proceed to climb on my back and read the book right there. Then as he was flipping the pages to Dr. Seuss' Happy Birthday to You, I quickly opened PhotoBooth and snapped a picture. My hair and makeup were not done for the day, but I did not care. Instead, I captured this tender moment of motherhood and had completely forgotten it until just now.

Mexican Riviera: Day Seven at Sea

Our final day at sea and on the boat. Twenty four hours later, we would have said our good-byes and departed ways. We cherished our time together. We spent much of the day napping, relaxing, and playing about the boat. Then as the day was ending, Tanya, Kristen, and I found the least windy spot on deck to watch the sun set. It was so picturesque. Now I am the shortest amongst the four girls, but in the pictures below I look like a shrimp!

Our last night of someone serving, cooking, menu planning, and cleaning the dishes for us. Cruising can be rough.

A final story for the memory books: We wanted to snap a group shot of our wait staff the final night. However, we were having a bit of trouble finding someone to take the picture for us. I went to ask our super, sweet assistant server and he gladly, humbly, and excitedly thought I was asking him to join in the picture. He was so sweet that we could not refuse. Luckily a fellow cruiser across the aisle saw our plight and volunteered to snap the shot.

The end, or at least until next time.

We're the Miners and We're Mormon

Sean and I recently completed our Mormon.org profiles for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The profiles describe a little about us, our beliefs, and why we choose to be Mormon. Check them out by clicking on our names: Kristen and Sean

Friday Happiness

It's short. It's sweet.

It's not the greatest lighting or the best quality.

But it captures why my joy is always so great.

Mexican Riviera: Day Six at Sea

With our port of calls completed, we were sailing back to Long Beach. We spent the next two days at sea making the journey back. The men surprised the ladies with a spa package which we all happily accepted. I had run 10 miles on the jogging track (100 laps exactly if you wanted to know) that morning, so I was extra excited to have someone massage out my legs. My marathon was the week after we returned home from the cruise, so training still had to take place. Our second and last formal night was that same night, so another round of pampering occurred later to get dolled up. It was a perfect day!

Mexican Riviera: Day Five Puerto Vallarta

Our final stop of the cruise was to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Compared to sandy Cabo, Puerto Vallarta was lush and green. The port is quite populated with a good mix of typical cruise port set-up and downtown city life. We made a group reservation to zip line through the jungle and took a bumpy but pretty van ride to the destination.

Safety first!

I believe there were 27 lines total with many crossing over the river gorge. It was beautiful. My favorite aspect while gliding was watching someone from our group glide above or below me. And someone constantly screamed every time she flew threw the air...

The guides were also comedians and well trained for tips, and they had us smiling the whole time. To clip and unclip from the main lines, they asked for our 'sexy leg' every time.

After our adventures in the air, we played in the swimming hole, ate some chips and salsa, and experienced exotic animals. Tanya was the first brave sole from our group who let the owner place a scorpion on her face. She even managed to open her eyes and smile for the camera. I was next to experience the scorpion but not a single still shot was taken of my bravery. We did, however, mange to capture it on video so see that below. I went with the calm, shut-down approach then escalated quickly to the freak out, I'm done approach. Sean ended with a tarantula experience that I believed he thoroughly enjoyed. I love my husband and the silly things we do together.

Puerto Vallarta was good to us. We loved catching a glimpse of city life amongst this town.

Mexican Riviera: Day Four Cabo San Lucas

Mazatlan, Mexico was suppose to be our second port of call. However the instability of the government led us to spend another day in Cabo. The sun was bright, the water was clear, and the place was familiar so no hurt feelings. The group had a couple different agendas so we split up for parts of the day. After some shopping, we headed to Medano Beach with the Christensens. This beach was full of relentless hecklers and I started to get a little too sassy in my refusals. Kristen and I went parasailing for the very first time in the San Lucas Bay. We were so high and I remember screaming for much of it. A Holland American cruise ship even departed the bay while we were in the air, so as a special treat the ship sailed right under us. It was interesting to note that hardly anyone was out and about on the Holland's decks. Alex and Sean relaxed on the beach which I'm sure gave them the alone time they were craving. Once back on board, we reunited with our crew just in time to bid adieu to Cabo.

Mexican Riviera: Day Three Cabo San Lucas

We finally arrived at our first port of call and were eager to touch some sand. We decided as a group to take a water taxi over to Lover's Beach after grabbing some lunch first. We found this perfect taco stand ran out of some dude's van which was so authentically good. The group was going crazy over the Mexican coke in tall, cold bottles. And during lunch, we even had a band serenade our eardrums with some loud mexican music.

Then we took our water taxi over to Lover's Beach.

The water taxi had no dock, so you had to wait for the right moment to jump ship and walk in with the waves. Well Tanya, Kortney, and Aaron caught the first wave successfully. But soon Chase followed without their same luck. In the top picture below there is a floating backpack attached to Chase's back swimming in the waves. The locals on land then rushed in to save Chase from this craziness. We all witnessed this event, and luckily Tanya snapped some photos for the memory books. We then proceeded to recall this experience, in love and adoration, for the next five days.

Lover's Beach was gorgeous and rightly named.

To our wondrous surprise, it turns out we had a little of our own Lover's Beach love in the mix. Chase took Kortney into this awesome cave formation and put a ring on her finger. However Chase was spared no luck. The waves attacked him again as we all made our way back to this remote section of Lover's Beach. It was isolated and quiet, but took some maneuvering from the waves. He got cut up on his hands and feet from the rocks all while trying to protect a ring on his finger. We then proceeded to recall this second experience, in love and adoration, for the next five days too. After all, there was an exciting engagement resulted from all these crazy experiences!

Back on board, Chase, Aaron, and Alex got temporary pumas on their forearms to which we always spontaneously shoutd 'Puma Power!'

We celebrated the newly couple that night at dinner with a little non-alcoholic bubbly. After all, we had a great reason to celebrate!

We just adored our waiter at dinner, but no one could understand him. I mean no one. I captured Tanya's face perfectly after a moment of language confusion caused by our waiter. He was such a sweet and happy man, but we would have loved to understand him better.

Whew! Seen enough pictures?

Mexican Riviera: Day Two at Sea

The sun and warmth were slow to come out on our second day at sea, so we spent the morning easing into the spirit of cruising. The boys played cornhole while we relaxed as their cheerleaders talking and catching up. Meanwhile, the ship was heading south to the heat and Cabo San Lucas.

Tanya and the boys entered the basketball shootout where she rocked it.

This first true night was formal, but even though we may look nice we were still too silly.

Mexican Riviera: Day One

This week long posts will be dedicated to our October cruise. It's been a long time coming.

At the end of October, we escaped along with some of our favorite people for a week long cruise to the Mexican Riviera. Before leaving out of Long Beach, California, we dumped the boys off with Sean's parents in Utah. I do not know who was more excited for their week ahead, the boys or us. As expected, our week was fabulously spent relaxing, laughing, eating, running, zip gliding, swimming, sleeping, reading, and dancing. Since there are roughly 400 pictures between all the travelers, I will slowly overload you day-by-day with our trip highlights!

Day 1 was spent boarding the Carnival Splendor which was beautifully restored after the fire in early 2010. The silliness started early since all four couples had rooms next to one another this time. Let the good times roll.

We were to happy for this reunion of friends. We are spread throughout the country, so we do not see each other nearly enough. We happily sailed with Kortney and Chase soon-to-be Miners, Tanya and Aaron Smith, and Kristen and Alex Christensen.

Video Killed the Radio Star

Everyday we have preschool, we walk home. Mainly because I have just gone running while pushing Logan in the stroller, and partly because it gives Gavin a chance to move some more in nature. On Tuesday we were walking home and he busted into song from Just Dance 3 on the Xbox Kinect. We love to dance in our house and Gavin has really become a fan of the 'Video Killed the Radio Star' song. He, of course, has his own lyrics to the song. He created something about supper time which was never mentioned in the original song. Everyday is a treat with this kid!