February in Review

 

We had a very full February and the days just keep flying by.  Unfortunately, vertigo showed its head again, so we spent a lot of time in February going to doctors (ENT, Neurologist,  Sleep specialist, Urologist, & Dr. Smith) and trying new medications and obtaining MRIs. MRI was all clear, so we are moving on to new medications.  It is a work in progress. 

BBM mini-mission reunion

We have missed Barbados and the people so much.  We loved serving with the young missionaries.  Once a month we host Sunday dinner for any of the young missionaries in the area.  February was a taco bar.  We had 15 missionaries plus President & Sister Bickmore who happened to be in town.  It was a very fun evening.  

Vision concert at the Scera

We are lucky enough to have some cool friends.  We attended a Classic Rock concert at the Scera by Vision.  Ken Shumway, my friend Cynthia's husband, is the rock start along with several of his high school friends who get together and travel around performing.  It was a GREAT concert and evening!  

Greg Cooper, Doug, & Jared Patton

While I was out of town, Doug attended the reception of his childhood best friend's daughter.  He was able to catch up with Greg & Jared all at the same time!

Dinner at AF Chick-fil-A

Milkshake company for the win!

Shrek 2 at the movies

We are trying something new.  We are going to do a Grands-camp sleepover once a month.  It gives us a chance to hang with the grands, but gives their parents a little break as well.  Hudson doesn't sleep well outside of his bed, so he hung with his parents this night.  Sophie was in town, but it was last minute and she already had plans with her Peck cousins.....but next time!  We had a great time just spoiling them and doing what grandparents should....enjoying them!

Outback with Bree & Syd

Doug & I try to go to the temple at least once a week.  We decided to attend the temple at the newly opened Orem temple.  We invited our niece Bree and Sydney to go with us.  Afterwards, we took them out to dinner at Outback!  Great way to spend an afternoon at the end of a long week!

While I was out of town, Doug spent some quality time with the Santaquin grands!  He loves being a Papa!

Christmas & birthdays in February: Mommy, Daughter & Grands Trip

 Before coming home from our mission, I asked Doug if he would like to take the grands to Disneyland for their first time and give this trip to them to combine their birthdays and Christmas presents.  He agreed to the request, but happily suggested I make it a girls' trip and he would babysit Hudson, who is just a little too small to enjoy Disney as he should.  

I presented this trip to the girls.  Alexa isn't a big Disney fan or rather the rides etc., so she respectfully declined but my Disney crazy girls definitely wanted to go.  Luckily, Ashlyn was willing to make the arrangements for us.  A family friend alerted me to the "Child Disney discount" that would be happening in October, so we waited until said date and got a screaming deal on the kid tickets.  The discount was significant enough that we were able to add on Lightening Lane passes and a Character breakfast.  

We decided to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge, which is only 10 minutes or less away from the park.  We got a whole suite where everyone had a bed and we shared 2 bathrooms for less than the price of one tiny room at one of the park hotels.  This also gave us access to the water park on Friday, while we waited to go to the airport for our flight.  We flew out of Provo on Breeze airlines, which made it super convenient for us.  The John Wayne airport is smaller and a short distance to the hotel and park.  Definitely would do this flight again!

Goofy's kitchen: Character Breakfast

  

The Character breakfast was our first Disney experience of the trip.  It was everything we hoped and then some.  The kids got to eat all the breakfast and lunch items they wanted and visit with the characters up close and personal.  They even sang Happy Birthday to Sophie!

Girls Trip: Back to the Caribbean January 25th - February 2nd

 

Laura & I took the red-eye on Delta to Miami

Uber over to the Norwegian Encore

Boarding at the Norwegian cruise port

Cassie, Laura & I bunked together in a cabin for the week

Dominican donkey

Tortola

St. Johns, USVI

It was a week filled with laughter, karaoke (Sweet Carolina & a little Go Go's), Silent Disco, ice cream, beaching, sun, sand, making bracelets, good food, and great friendship!

January: Re-Acclimating takes some time

After living in 2 rooms for 18 years, you come home to a house that is almost foreign yet is still familiar.  Where did all this stuff come from?  Needless to say, we've been cleaning out closets, drawers, cabinets, garages, and storage to streamline everything we have.  Between the kids and DI, we have gotten a lot lighter.  

In the midst of January, we've been making memories with the kids and grands.  

China buffet: first American Chinese visit

Good-bye 2004......welcome Rubi....con 2023!

Jerri-Ann came to visit and we went to Cheesecake Factory with Norma Metz

 

Returning Home: Christmas Wrap Up

 There is nothing more that Doug & I like than to give a good Christmas surprise!  We knew for a couple months that we were planning to return home for Christmas, but we wanted to surprise the kids and grandkids so we told NO ONE!  We wouldn't even let our Travel Secretary input our return flight in the computer, because we waited until 2 days before we came home to call our Stake President and tell him that we were returning.  

A week before we were to return, Blake called to ask if he & Alexa could go to our cabin in Idaho for Christmas.  We hesitated because we had our whole scheme worked out that included him as our second stop on Christmas morning to surprise him on his doorstep.  He noted our hesitancy and said, "It's ok if you tell me no!" to which Doug replied, "I want to say no, but not for the reasons you may think."  At that point to not risk hard feelings, we explained our little surprise and swore him to secrecy.  He completely understood, but we then let him know that he was free to go to the cabin with his own plans.  Luckily for us, he is a quick thinker and offered to pick us up at the airport, instead of us renting a car as we had intended.  On December 25th at 12:35 am, we were met at Salt Lake City Airport by Blake, Alexa & Ender.  Unfortunately, we were all so tired and it was extremely late that we didn't think to get pictures.  We had a nice visit on the way home and they stayed until about 2 am chatting with us.  We all fell into bed, setting the alarm for our 7 am surprise visit to Samantha's house where Sydney and Adam, Cami & Hudson were celebrating Christmas together.  

On Christmas morning with sleepy eyes and excited hearts, we drove ourselves down to Santaquin to surprise Sydney & Sam's family.  Sam had been a little sneaky and had pressured my sister into finding out that we were not on a flight January 3rd out of Barbados.  She was good enough not to share that info with anyone, however.  We knocked on their door with GREAT surprise from the kiddos!

Not all things go as planned, so we learned that instead of a Christmas in Lehi for the Peck Family that Mac had booked a trip to San Diego for Ash & Sophie to spend Christmas and have a little adventure there.  Not to ruin their plans, Doug booked us a plane ticket for the day to San Diego on December 26th so we could surprise them!  We swore the other kids to secrecy and asked them not to post anything on social media of their Christmas day until after we surprised Ash!

We landed in San Diego about 9:30 am.  Sam had Ashlyn's location tracked by phone, so we knew that they were on their way to San Diego Zoo.  Upon landing, we rented a car for the day, mapped the Zoo into the GPS, and headed out.  Luckily for us, the Zoo is within 10 miles of the airport so it wasn't hard to find.  Once we were parked, bought tickets, and entered the park, Samantha picked us both up on the Find my People App and navigated us like a Jason Bourne movie to their exact location.

As the little family were peering over into an animal cage standing side by side, Doug walked up behind Sophie and said, "M'am, could you please have your daughter move over so I can get a better view?"  To which Ashlyn turns to face Doug with full Mama Bear look and about to spew a comment, when the look of sheer disbelief and shock over take her and she squeals, screams, and begins to cry, "What? Why? How?"  At which time, Sophie jumps in her daddy's arms and has no clue what is happening to her mom.  It took Sophie an hour to warm up to us.  We spent a glorious afternoon walking around the Zoo spending time catching up with Ash's little family.  It was priceless.  

On the 28th of December, we went back to the cabin for the first time in 19 months.  Blake & Alexa had opened it up and cleaned a lot of the dust up.  Samantha's family joined us shortly for New Years.  Adam wanted to go to the cabin so bad that he came and spent the weekend before with us and drove up with us.  He was a little angel.  He really likes the cabin.  

On January 12th, we had our homecoming.  The only picture I took from that day was one with some of our young missionaries who came.  It was awesome  

L-R:  Elders Van Wagonner, Roberts, Motley, Parker, us, Sister Bodily
Front: Elders Broberg & Walsh