One I haven't heard before

Being a girl who is 6 feet tall, you tend to get lots and lots of comments.

Pretty much every single day someone comments on my height.  I have to say no one has ever really been rude. Most people are very nice, or try nicely to hide the shock on their face as they turn around, almost run into me, and look clear up to see what tree they almost hit and see me. :)

Come to think of it, I could probably write a small book on the comments and conversations on my height or appearance.

Thursday I was able to add another to the list.  I have a membership to a massage place, and am supposed to get monthly massages there.  Unfortunately, I just don't find the time to do it, so I have about 6 massages saved up that I want to hurry and use so I can cancel the membership that I am not using!  Anyway, Thursday was the perfect day to get a massage because I was very sore from the 8 classes I had taught that week and the 2 tennis matches as well.  (I know, I'm crazy, but I kinda love it too)

So the lady giving me my massage asked me at the end if I had considered doing a 90 minute massage?  I said I didn't know I could do those.  She said yes - with all the working out I do, she could have spent a lot more time doing more stuff.  Then she said, "Plus, with you being so tall and long, there is a lot more of you to massage!  I could easily take 90 minutes."  What the?????  Now that is one I have never heard before!

However, I did go out and book a 90 minute massage for my next one! :)

Our Amazing and Fun Cruise!

Top 10 things I learned on my cruise:

10)  St. Croix and St. Kitts are U.S. Virgin Islands.  Grenada, Dominica and Tobago are in the West Indies.
9)  Creme Brulee every night tastes as good the last night as it did the first! :)
8) There are 2 nudist colonies in Arizona.  One on the way to Sedona, one by Tucson.  I was invited by a man we met on the cruise to join them, but politely declined. :)
7)  Don't wear new sandals or flip flops when you are hiking and walking all around - blisters, mud and water hurt!!!
6)  Ships sell really pretty jewelry!
5)  I can live 8 days without Diet Dr. Pepper.  ( I already knew that, I just had to prove it to everyone else!)
4)  Family cruises are great because you can be together when you want, and leave when you don't!
3)  Apparently some people are still good drivers when high on pot.  Our driver didn't get in one single wreck with us, and I was told later he was smoking it with our tour guide at each stop!  (What the h????)
2)  When someone passes you at the snorkeling beach and asks if you are celebrity, they mean taking the Celebrity cruise, not an actual celebrity!!!
1)  Cruises are a great way to escape life and reality!  Too bad it is all still there when you get home!

Oh well, we had a blast celebrating Lane's parents 50th Anniversary with all his brothers and sisters and spouses.  Extra credit if you actually watch the whole slide show!

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Daydream about Chocolate, get slim??

That was the title that caught my eye in my Shape magazine on the airplane Saturday.  Of course I quickly read what it said, and I couldn't agree more!!

"If you're trying to stick to a diet, don't block all thoughts of brownies from your brain.  It's natural to assume that pushing away the images of a decadent dessert (or whatever your chocolate downfall is) will help bolster your willpower, but a new study in Psychological Science found the opposite to be true.  Researchers say that's because it's impossible to avoid thinking about the temptation forever - so when the craving comes rushing back, your defenses will be down and you'll be likelier to give in."

So maybe if I just daydream about my silky-smooth chocolate downfall, that will keep me from actually partaking??? Hmm... I'm gonna see if that works.

Oh my gosh - just shoot me now

2 months ago I was talking about how we are going on a cruise to a bunch of islands in the southern Caribbean in one of my aerobics classes.  A lady in there told me she was from Trinidad, and I said, "Hey! I am going to your island on this cruise!"  I had heard from my bro-in-law who planned the cruise that that was one of the places we were going.

Well, this lady later approached me and asked if I could take a laptop computer to her dad in Trinidad when I go there.  Hmm.... strange request, but I figured, why not??  So, we said we would get in touch when it is closer to my cruise.

I was out of town a bit over Christmas, and the poor woman thought I had left already.  She was calling my house, Lane's office, going to the gym to find me, etc.  She really did.  Then one day last week I pulled up to my house, and she had just pulled up in front of it too (she already knew where I lived).  She gets out and was sooooo relieved that I was home and had not left yet!  She desperately wanted to send the computer to her dad and a care package to her son.

We arranged for her to come by today and bring the stuff I am to take.  She came this afternoon, and realized she had forgotten a bottle of Vitamin C, so needed to come back (do they not have Vitamin C in Trinidad?)

In the meantime, she had given me lengthy talks (that I understood very little of due to her heavy accent) about what to do there, what to see, and she kept trying to convince me to let her dad take us around the island.  I finally agreed to let her dad arrange the day for our group on the island.

She came back tonight to drop off the vitamin C, and had a schedule of what we should do/see on her island with her dad.  It also had all his information, etc.  Then, she said, "I need to know what ship you are coming on, and the date and time!"  Oh yeah, that might help!

So, for the FIRST TIME, I actually opened up our itinerary for our cruise and looked at where we are going and what we are doing. (Remember I have been super busy) And, wouldn't you know it - we aren't even going to Trinidad, we are going to Tobago!!!!!  AAAAAA!!!!

What the H?????  I felt so, so, so bad.  This poor lady had gone to all this trouble, only to find out the crazy aerobics instructor doesn't even know where the heck she is going on this cruise!  That is so sad!!!
Let's just say I'm glad she didn't have a gun or any other sharp object.  And, I'm glad she had to come back and have me look up the information.  I really would have gone all the way there lugging her stuff for nothing!

So - I have to pin all the blame on my bro-in-law because he's the one who told me we were going to Trinidad!  I called him to question this, and he said, Trinidad/Tobago - isn't it the same???? Nope - 2 different islands.

I'm leavin' town . . . again

I know I should be excited, and I'm really trying to get there.  We are leaving to Puerto Rico tomorrow, and will spend Friday touring there.  Then Saturday we get on a Celebrity cruise ship to cruise to St. Croix, St. Kitts, Grenada and Trinidad.  All places you've heard of, but never really dreamed of going to right?  We are going with Lane's parents and his siblings/spouses to celebrate his parent's 50th anniversary.

It will be sunny and beautiful and I'm sure I will eat myself into oblivion.   So why can't I be excited about it all?  I have been too dang busy to let it sink in that we are going on this trip, that's why!

We had Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then went to California for my sister's wedding (which I will post about later).  Then I got home, school started, and I have to get ready to go, take down Christmas, and when I come home from the cruise, I have to pack up my house and move in a week. (That's another story too)  Can you say a little stress?  I guess the timing is just bad.  Me and timing haven't had the greatest relationship the last couple years. :(

So, just so you all don't wonder if I fell off the face of the earth - I didn't, I'm just cruising down along the edge of it!  I hope I get tan and don't gain 100 lbs.!

I am looking forward to all the time with no kids, with Lane, and relaxing on the beach.  Hopefully I come home nice and tan!  See you all when I get back!

P.S. - Don't bother coming to rob our house, because my mom and dad will be here with the kids! :)

Santa isn't very obedient!!

So this year Santa and I had a talk.  We decided the kids get too much "crap" every year, and it is a little ridiculous.  Maybe we should tone it down and not have them get quite so much.  We both agreed that is a good idea.

Then we talked about how "Santa" always gives me too much stuff every year, and we don't need to do that this year.  We talked about how we are going on a cruise with Santa's parents and siblings the first week in January, so that can count as our present to each other, because really . . . we don't need anything!

With these deals set in place, I happily went about my shopping, buying things for the kids, but within reason, and for Lane from the kids, and maybe one or two things from me, because we can't have me give him nothing!!

Well, a week before Christmas, I had a meeting with "Santa" in the garage where we opened the closet that has been locked for a while.  We pulled out 4 big garbage bags and filled them up with the stuff for each kid.  Santa then made a chart where we listed everything each kid was getting, and the approximate cost.  You know, Santa wants to be fair! :)

We then decided who needed a little more of this or that and decided who would get it.  That was great until Christmas Eve when we start pulling stuff out, and I see Santa has added a few hundred more toys to each kid's pile.  Oh well, what can it hurt right?

Christmas morning dawns.  The room has been perfectly laid out.

The kids rush in so excited to see their gifts, they are opened and played with.  It took Conner a long time to realize a bike was hiding next to the couch! Then we go eat waffles, and return to the room to open wrapped presents.

That's where I know I am in trouble.  Santa has apparently forgotten that he is giving me a cruise for Christmas.  There are way too many presents for me.  I, however, did not forget that I was only getting him a couple little things because we are doing the cruise!  I guess that's OK, because Santa really didn't need a whole lot of anything.  Maybe he needs a new hobby so I can buy him more stuff!??  I mean how many ties, sports T-shirts and bottles of cologne can a guy need???

When all the ripping and opening and fun is done, this is what our lovely living room looked like.  Keep in mind that we have 2 FULL bags of garbage in there with wrapping paper and boxes shoved in.

So, although Santa totally went back on his promise this year (again), we had a great Christmas, and are so very blessed.  I hope everyone else had a great Christmas too!

P.S. - Santa gave me a new scale - should I be a little nervous?  Is that a hint?  Or maybe he just got sick of listening to me complain every morning that I can't weigh myself because our scale was broken?  I am going to hope it was the latter! :)

Christmas Traditions - warning - kinda full of pictures! :)

Hopefully everyone has family traditions for all the different holidays.  With Christmas being the "biggest" we have tons of traditions that are so fun for us.

Obviously it has been a while since I've updated on here - because we have been so busy, and things won't be any better this month.  So, instead of a big, long, descriptive (a la Kathryn) post about Christmas, I will list our favorite traditions, and a picture of said happening.  OK?

1)  Christmas lights at the temple.

2)  Christmas Eve at someone's house with appetizers, the Cook family talent show, and the nativity by the kids.

Savannah's talent shocked even me - she played Jingle Bells upside down on the piano.  I never knew she could do that! :)

Conner and Savannah got to be Mary and Joseph this year.

Daddy's little Angel! 

My boys

3)  Christmas Eve PJs and ornaments from mom.

4)  A new tradition this year - a Christmas Eve morning hike!

Savannah was the pack mule - because apparently she can't go more than 1 hour without food?

That's my kind of hiking!

5)  Waffles on Christmas morning.  No pictures here folks - believe me - you don't want a picture of me in my jammies with that fresh bed head look and bags under my eyes that could rival any 80 year old lady, making waffles and syrup.  Just know that they taste super, super good!!!