A fun, fast day trip

Today we went down to see Uncle Brant and Aunt Chris and boys.  It was a fast trip, made even faster by Jason's driving, fairly easy traffic, and good tunes.  We ate lunch at Old Spaghetti Factory (yum!) and then spent a little more time with them at their house.  We wish Uncle Brant the best with his new job in Chicago, and pray that Chris and the boys will be able to join him quickly!  We love you!

Our epic Summer 2017 trip. Part 3: Beck Reunion and time with even more Sheens

After 3 lovely days at Bear Lake, our big crew worked fast and furiously to clean up and pack out and get on our way to Burley, Idaho for the Beck reunion.  This is an annual event that's been happening for many years with my mom and her siblings taking turns to organize it.  It was the first time for our family to be there, and my mom's turn to do it.  What an experience!  For Jason, it was the first time since our wedding day that he'd been with Becks, and Rhiannon and Wade's first time ever.   Hindsight is 20/20, and looking back, I wish I'd spent a little less time that afternoon on "reunion details" and a lot more time with my Beck relatives.  It sure was good to see them, though!  And we were very appreciative of Beck family members helping with most of the food since we were travelling the furthest to get there that day.  And kudos to Mom for the amazing family picture booklets she worked so hard to make--they were very well-received that day!

It's a Beck reunion tradition to have a "candy cannon" of sorts for kids.  Since we didn't have access to that this year, Grandma Donna put together a terrific alternative--she glued candy to shirts, and Jordan and Tommy raced around the baseball field, trying to keep away from kids coming after them.  It was hilarious!  They were such good sports!

One final pit stop remained.  And it was the perfect end to our time with family.  We loved seeing Uncle Max, and cousin Raul and his wife Audra there.  Jordan and Amelia and crew were there, too, but had to get on the road before we took this picture.    

I loved walking around the yard, checking old places made new.  What a rush of memories for me and my brothers, especially as we watched our own kids playing around doing the same things we'd done at their age, whether it was playing with dogs or pretend-riding the lawnmower.  What a great afternoon!

We said our goodbyes, sort-of, haha!  After that we went to a Cushing family favorite, Steve-O's, and had a delicious meal with Tom and Lyd and Derrick and Traci and kids.  Then we made our way to Twin Falls where we spent a quiet night before making the return trip the next day, on Father's Day.

For our quiet, mellow family, getting together with relatives can sometimes feel a little overwhelming and loud, haha!  But, boy, are we grateful for the memories and for our time with these people that we love so much.  

Visiting Brant, Chris, and Greyson

I was cleaning out my phone pictures and found these fun ones from a visit we made back in April (!!!) to see Brant and Chris's new home and spend time with them.  

These cool cats recently moved from Crown Point, Indiana to California and have already been to the beach 3 or 4 times!  California agrees with them, haha! :)

We enjoyed some yummy meals, relaxed in their beautiful home, watched Big Hero 6 for the first time, and did a little shopping.  

So fun to have family only 2 hours away!!!

A very special service project!

On February 16th, we drove down to Loma Linda and did a service project at the Ronald McDonald House with some wonderful Ridgecrest friends who also stayed there while their children were at the children's hospital.  Thank you, thank you, to the Kimbler family for organizing it!  We had a great time with them and the Rossers!

It had been 14 years since we'd been back to the Ronald McDonald House, about 6 months for the Kimblers, and 2 months for the Rossers.  I was happy I held it together and didn't get emotional. :)  We were just so happy to be there, providing lunch and talking to the families who were guests there at that time.  One of the men noticed Benjamin's BYU shirt and asked us about that--come to find out, that family was LDS and members of the Victorville stake. Good times!

Rhiannon with Jackie Rosser--I admire Jackie so much!

These kids were a little too young to be in the kitchen, per the guidelines there, but they loved the 25-cent soda machine, the free snow cones, and the play area out back.  I sure was glad the Kimbler kids could come so that Wade wasn't bored!

Rhiannon never stayed here, but her parents and Grandma Donna did!  What memories! Our girl was staying in the Loma Linda NICU--a crazy beginning, but look at her now!  Love this girl--we are blessed!

A very happy day!!!

Daddy Daughter Dance

Jason and Rhiannon went to a ward activity on Saturday night--a Daddy Daughter dance and dinner.  I'm glad they went and made that memory together!

June 2013 Salt Lake City, Idaho, and Provo Trip!

I've been dragging with a nasty summer cold this week and decided to stay home from church today.  It's a good opportunity to pray, read my scriptures, rest, and get caught up on some things, like updating the blog!

Last week we went on a family vacation up to Utah and had an amazing time.  On the 14th we drove to Las Vegas and stayed at some Embassy Suites overnight.  The hotel was great!!!  That night we ate dinner at the famous Rio Carnival Buffet (WOW--pricey but good!).  Wade "had prime rib twice" and liked their fried chicken; Rhiannon and I liked the desserts!  Thanks, Dad, for an amazing, "you only live once" dinner!  We checked into our hotel afterwards and walked down to the Strip--it was a good walk and I had to repent for being grumpy on the way there ("are we there yet?).  Rhiannon took some fun pictures--hopefully she won't mind me "stealing" these from her:

 

 

On Saturday morning we woke up and enjoyed the hotel's buffet for breakfast, then got on the road to Salt Lake City.   We made great time (gotta love those 80 mph limits!) and started off our Cushing cousin time with a bang--pizza from the Pie and Little  Caesar's, and games (Cranium and Wits and Wagers).  We sure appreciated all the aunts, uncles, and cousins coming to spend time with us!

 

Sunday was "The Day of Celebration"--that night Grandma Deb and Grandpa Rod had a big crew over to celebrate Father's Day and Matt and Sam's birthdays.  Dinner was delicious (pulled pork and pulled chicken sandwiches), and we loved catching up with Great-Grandpa Rod, Nan, Nicholas, and Aunt Rochelle, too.

 

Monday we swam at Great-Grandpa Rod's and Nan's condo pool, and that night we celebrated all things Sam at All-Star for his actual birthday.  They had a great buffet there and TONS of games (yay for Laser Tag, mini golf and mini-bowling, not to mention all of the arcade games!)

 

Tuesday Rhiannon and Wade enjoyed some shopping with Grandma Deb, and that night we met up with the Murray Cushings and Murray Croppers for a Salt Lake City Bees baseball game.  The stadium was PACKED, but we had a good time sitting on the grass in the general admission seats.  There wasn't a whole lot of baseball watching going on, ha-ha, but great playtime with cousins and people-watching, for sure!

 

 

On Wednesday we drove up to Paul, ID to spend the day with Grandma Sue and Uncle Max.  Grandma and the dogs met us at the door, and Uncle Max got off work to spend the afternoon with us.  We had a great lunch, good visiting, and lots of fun playing on Uncle Max's keyboard.  Wade brought along his Lego set, and both kids enjoyed the dogs Sally and Hoover, too.  Jason and Max shot some skeet out in the backyard--I know Jason loved that!  We ended our visit with a tasty meal at Steve-O's and said our goodbyes.  I loved being up in Idaho, thinking about old memories!

 

 

 

Thursday was low-key; we got some Crown Burger for lunch (YUM!!!) and went to see Man of Steel--it was EPIC!!! :)  That night we enjoyed some more time with Cushing cousins and GAMES!

 

On Friday we slowly started to pack up and took it easy.  Then we drove down to Provo to have dinner at Jordan and Amelia's new place.  It had been a while since we'd seen them, and it was fun to meet baby David for the first time and play with the cousins.  Thanks for a great visit, guys!

Time with family is so precious.  Thank you so much, Grandma Deb, Grandpa Rod, Uncle Brett, Aunt Jaymie, McKaleigh, Colton, Alex, Aunt Heather, Uncle Matt, Sam, Tyler, Lilly, Charlie, Great-Grandpa Rod, Nan, Nick, Aunt Rochelle, Grandma Sue, Uncle Max, Uncle Jordan, Aunt Amelia, Jonah, Nolan, August, Reta, and David, for the wonderful memories last week!  We love you!

My first girls' trip and first cruise!



Where to begin?  Grandma Deb surprised Aunt Heather, Aunt Jaymie, and I with a weekend cruise to Mexico!  She spent many months planning for it and helping us to get ready, and I am so grateful for her and for the time the four of us enjoyed together.  I had never gone on a cruise before, let alone a girls' weekend, and, well, now I completely understand why people do it.  It was energizing and relaxing and FUN!

 

Our trip started on Friday, April 12th.  (It was a great weekend for Jason to be with the kids--no Boy Scout camp outs, no baseball games, just time to play!)  Mom, Heather, and Jaymie flew into the Long Beach airport and I picked them up from there.  I didn't have too many problems driving down--I just don't like passing semis in LA traffic. :)  From there we grabbed a nice lunch at a Red Robin and then parked at the Long Beach port, where our "terminal" to the ship awaited.  We got there around 1:30pm, so the lines were really short.  (Note to self--get there early!)  We showed our booking passes and passports/licenses and were given plastic cards for use on the ship.  Those little cards were pretty important, like our "ship licenses."  They were our room keys, our entrance to dinner in the dining rooms, our drink cards, etc.  We also had our pictures taken and linked to our cards, so it was a pretty good security system. 

 

We were all pretty happy to find we could take care of our own bags and keep them with us.  Several people used porters who delivered their luggage right outside their staterooms on the ship, which sounded like a good idea until you saw luggage up and down the hallways, free for the taking!  At least one person had their luggage stolen that I was aware of.  No thanks!

We checked out our staterooms on the Empress Level (Deck 7), unpacked, freshened up, and then walked around to familiarize ourselves with the ship.  I remember we took a tour of the spa and gym(fun but pricey), and some of us bought drink passes, for unlimited sodas and juices.  (That cost about $22--if I do this again, I'd probably pass and just drink water the whole time.  I think I got one glass of Sprite and then cranberry juice at dinners, but that was it.)  We viewed art at a gallery on the same level.

One really neat thing about the cruise was the diversity of those employed on the ship.  They all wore tags with their names and country of origin, kind of like missionaries, ha-ha!  Hungary, Dominican Republic, Croatia, Philippines, South Africa, etc!  Most spoke English well, too.

 

  



A view of our ship, the Carnival Inspiration, at Long Beach Port. 

The stateroom I shared with Jaymie.  Mom and Heather were right next door.  I loved the window!!!
 

View looking up from Deck 7
 

For breakfast and lunches we ate very well at buffets, but at 6pm each night we met for a fancier dinner in the Mardi Gras dining room.  The first night was dressy casual.  We were shown to a table set for 10 people--Mom was confused because she'd worked it out through her travel agent for us to have a table to ourselves.  Jaymie and Heather went to try to fix that, but in the end we were glad to be at that table and meet some new folks, who we shared the same table with each dinner.  We met Ryan and Jenny, Keith and Ivy, and Karla and her hubby (didn't get his name).  I think they were all from California, if I remember right.  They were fun, interesting, and polite.  They were amazed that Deb would take her daughter and daughters-in-law on a cruise!  We also had the same servers the entire cruise--Jimmy from the Philippines, Consuela, and a guy who served drinks but I can't remember his name.  They memorized all of our names the first night, so we felt like we were with family.  Heather and Jaymie came up with a "rule" that you had to try something new at every meal, so I went crazy and ordered escargot from the appetizer menu (snails, with LOTS of garlic and butter--they tasted like tough mushrooms).  We were also forbidden to mention weight, calories, or exercise, ha-ha! :)

Mom and I experienced a little motion sickness for the first time at dinner that night.  I think we got pretty lucky--it was a mild, almost imperceptible rocking movement.  I used wrist bands and Dramamine; Mom had a bag full of tricks that she used, too. :)  We got along pretty well!

Before we went back to our staterooms for the night, we enjoyed watching some karaoke. There were a couple people who got up who I could have listened to all night long--they were great! 

That night Jaymie and I experienced what the phrase "booze cruise" means.  Around 11:00pm, some young men started screaming and cussing in the hallway right outside our room.  For 2 straight hours we endured this.  It was so bad, that it got to the point where I was more bothered by the noise level than the constant swearing.  We both thought the other was asleep and didn't want to bother each other, but once we realized we were both awake, Jaymie jumped up and called security.  It died down pretty quickly after that, and we squashed it quick when the same thing happened the following night.  Thankfully Grandma and Heather slept through the whole thing!  It was eye-opening to learn that many people got drunk and stayed drunk the entire weekend, to help them deal with hangovers.  Craziness!  Guest services tried to reach us several times that weekend to check in and see that we were taken care of--I thought that was nice; I just wish there had been some kind of "brig" where we could throw those guys!

Saturday morning Heather and Jaymie got up and hit the gym.  We all had some breakfast, and then we got ready to get off the boat and explore Ensenada, Mexico.  We were in for some fun times that day!

 

We paid a couple dollars to get on this bus that took us into Ensenada.  I'd imagined that we'd just park it there and do some shopping, but there wasn't much to see.  The guide on the bus did a good job convincing us to take a tour to La Bufadora (a famous marine geyser, one of 3 in the world), and some commercial markets.  We paid another $15 and got ready for the ride of our life, about a 45-minute drive.

 

I think Mom, Heather, and Jaymie would agree with me when I say we got our money's worth with the tour guide, Alejandro.  He was fantastic and kept us thoroughly entertained and interested.  I'm pretty sure I would have been throwing up the whole drive over if it wasn't for him--the drive was scary, windy, and the driver was going really fast! 

 

Alejandro taught us how to barter, too--

 

1) First you ask, "How much do you want for this?"

 

2)  Whatever they say, you offer 40% less, and don't worry about the "need to feed my family" bit.  They're still getting a profit.

 

3)  If they don't budge, you start walking away.

 

4)  They'll scramble back to you!  Deal's on!

 

I used this "strategy" to get some nice Mexican blankets, the one item I planned on buying.  One merchant wanted $135 (US dollars) for a large one, and I balked.  We worked each other for about 15 minutes, and I felt okay about walking away with 2 blankets for about $60!  Woo-hoo!  Of course, the rest of the morning I had to lug the blankets around and every other merchant said they would have given me a better deal, ha-ha!

 

We had a great time that morning looking at the marine geyser and shop, shop, shopping.  Mom bought some good Mexican vanilla; Jaymie, Heather, and I purchased things for the kids.  Unfortunately (but still kind of funny), both Jaymie and Heather had to leavesome of their purchases with security on the ship temporarily.  Apparently whips and sling shots send up signal flares!



 

 

Heading into the commercial market area

I thought the pineapples looked cool--I took a picture for my two Psych fans Rhiannon and Wade

Did I mention Alejandro was a flirt?  We learned he has a son and a wife--they've been married for 19 years.

I love this picture--we were so happy and adventurous that day!

Great shot of La Bufadora

What a memory!

This man played music in the background while we viewed the geyser.

Too funny!  Yep, I used it.  And I thought the restrooms were surprisingly clean!
 

There were lots of things to enjoy the last day and a half of our cruise.  We laid out at the pool and fought for a turn in the hot tub.  One hot tub was overrun by kids, but you couldn't blame them because the pool itself was freezing.  We also got a little "entertainment" when this very drunk woman started throwing these large bean bags at people near the pool and hot tub.  I couldn't get out of there fast enough!

We dressed up for dinner Saturday night, took pictures and saw a "Vegas"-type show that evening.  On Sunday morning we treated Mom to a manicure and massage, and we went for a walk on the jogging track at the top of the ship.  It was cold up there, but after all I'd been eating, it felt good to get a little exercise!  We did a little shopping, continued to eat well, saw comedy shows, and sat in an art auction.  There was always something to do--it was great!

On Sunday morning we got a huge laugh when we went to look at all the "professional" pictures we'd taken the night before.  Some of them turned out pretty well, but there was this one, taken by a nice Hungarian woman, that was super awkward and funny.  She'd had us pose in these uncomfortable positions, and when we looked at the photo, it looked like I had an extra thumb growing out of the side of my hand.  You'd have to see it to believe it, but I chose to leave that bad boy on the ship and save $20! I'm laughing out loud just thinking about how weird it was!!!!!!

Yep, I went down this slide really, really slowly.  I felt old. :)

Mom (hidden) dancing with Jimmy at dinner

Looks like she had fun!

There was a different towel creation waiting for us each night in our staterooms.  I liked this gorilla the best. :)

Our last dinner--they were dancing to Gangnam Style.

What fun!

By Sunday night we were pretty much packed up and ready to exit the boat early Monday morning.  We were off the boat in really good time and got to the Long Beach airport by 9, after a yummy iHop breakfast.  Hard to believe it had only been a few days--I felt like I'd had a week-long vacation!

I know I'm missing lots of things, but, bottom line, we had a fantastic, memorable time and had soooooo much fun together.  I love you, ladies--let's do this again someday! :)

Pics from our 2013 Spring Break Camping Trip

An hour north at Tuttle Creek campground--enjoy!

On the ride there--the kids were good sports about Oscar riding in the back with them.

 

 

Beautiful views!

 

Our campsite was clean and quiet, right next to the creek, and close the bathroom! :)  Check out Oscar's dog bed in the tent, ha-ha!

Having fun by the creek!

Good times!  I love that picture of Jason with the kids and Oscar!

 

REWIND: Rocky Acre Farm

Wade and I have a couple hours together on our own every school morning.  He starts school almost 2 hours after Rhiannon does!  I love to sit down over breakfast and visit.  It doesn't happen like that all the time, but we had some fun conversation this morning. 

First we talked about the special people with birthdays today, Grandpa Rod and our cousin Jonah!  Happy Birthday!!!

Then I told Wade about his new cousin born yesterday, David Harrison Sheen, how he was really cute and Aunt Amelia was doing well. 

Wade made some funny remark about how his dad knew someone named David...a character on a video game, of all things! 

Then I told Wade that I had two uncles named David, Grandpa Rich's older brother David Sheen, who lives in Colorado, and Uncle David Funk, a farmer in Idaho. 

That led me to share a couple fun memories I had of being with my Funk cousins, how I was always amazed at their beautiful home and appreciative of how down-to-earth, generous, and fun they were, even though they were "rich," ha-ha!

Then Wade said, "I've never been on a farm."

I said, "What!  Yes, you have!  Don't you remember Rocky Acre Farm?"

Wade:  "Oh, yeah!  I remember having to eat breakfast with all these strangers and how Rhiannon and I didn't like it.  We even had to INTRODUCE ourselves to them!"

We laughed about that trip and all the fun/scary/weird things we got to do there.  What a memory!

Click on the picture below for a link to that old blog post and pictures--great fun! :)  Hard to believe it was only 4 years ago--the kids have changed SOOOOOOO much!