Graduation vacation 2012

 With all the graduations and the "fun" of the last year we decided to take the kids on a cruise.  I promised them a few years ago that the next time they would be able to go. 

Here we are waiting to board the ship



Walking the bridge to board

a week later disembarking (a little darker and very well fed)

Watching another ship leave while we were being tugged out to sea

 

The girls loved swimming on the ship. 

They swam every chance they could and loved watching movies while swimming too.

David hasn't had a great year with his ankles.  His senior year he sprained his ankle twice in football, once during wrestling.  He sprained his ankle the second day on the ship while playing basketball. This was a few days later after a lot of ice and ibuprofen.

1st port Cozumel Mexico (David, Krystal and Haley's favorite port)

 Belize we were able to go cave tubing and shopped a

 little before getting back on the ship.  This fun guy offered to take a picture for a tip.

Of course Mike gave him a "great" tip.  He didn't want to leave us alone after that.

The ship has buffet service and Guy Fieri has a hamburger stand on the ship. 

They were amazing and one of our favorite lunches. 

 Even using the stairs didn't help with calories on this one.



Roaton Island, Honduras (Mike and Laura's favorite port)

 Dancing with the waiters!

 Karaoke night was fun especially with Mike and his rendition of "Roxanne" he had compliments the rest of the cruise.

The girls were hilarious performing Ice Ice Baby!

(Colleen Krys said that was for you)

 Grand Cayman was our final port. 

It was my favorite port and we had a lot of fun snorkeling and shopping. 

This is the fountain that I've taken a picture in front of each time we've been able to visit Grand Cayman.  It was amazing to finally have the whole family together and it is not officially checked off on my bucket list.
 

 When we got back to Florida the boys had to have Rock n Roll Ribs owned by the Iron Maiden drummer.  They were the best ribs I've ever had but the music (ughhhh)

 When we returned to Florida we were greeted by Tropical Storm Debby.  There wasn't a lot of beach time but we had fun relaxing a little bit and visiting the shark exhibit in Ft. Lauderdale. 

Who knows when we'll ever be able to do a vacation like this all again. So it is something that we'll cherish for a lifetime.  I'm grateful Mikey finally gave in to my wish of the trip and that it all worked out.  It was amazing even though we realized how much we truly LOVE Colorado and were very ready to come home.  So kiddos in years from now when looking at this blog and our fun pictures...hope you remember the good things of the trip and the warm chocolate melting cake!

May 2012

 Our month of May started busy.  At 4 am on May 1st we left to California . 

We made it back early Saturday morning 12:30 am so that we could start

moving into our new house and get ready for Prom.

 Krystal and Dallin looked so cute and had a wonderful time.  The funny thing is she was able to drive and when she left for prom her room was in tact.  She went back to the old house and we weren't there and neither was her bed.  She did make it to the new home with a bed in her room but when the boys moved in the beds they weren't sure which room so she didn't have her bed but at least had a home and a bed.

We also finished the season of Lacrosse. 

 It is a great sport for Krystal and she is wonderful at defense!

 In addition to clearing out the old house (we rented it back for 3 weeks from the new owner)
We had David's graduation from Rampart.  It was on the Air Force Academy and was amazing!

 We're so grateful to all our family that traveled to come and share this happy day with us.  Aunt Jill or OJ (original Jill) from Minnesota, Aunt Jill from Denver, Nordgrans from Castle Rock, Steffes from Colorado Springs and of course all his siblings.

 My little boy isn't so little anymore. He has towered over me for a while but now is taller than most all the adult men in the family.

 Our next graduation was Laura from Mountain Ridge.  She is so excited to start High School next year and is growing into such a beautiful young lady.

Haley was our final child in Elementary school. She had the most wonderful teacher this year and really blossomed into a happy excited girl this year.  

We know that Mrs. Tucker had a lot to do with that.

 Laura's birthday was May 27 and we had 15 kids over with their parents.  The great thing is you couldn't really tell there was that many people in the new house. 

 Our final graduation this year is Mike.  He earned his bachelors degree in Business Information Systems.  His recommendation is, stick with it and don't change your major more then once!

 Here are some of the projects going on at the new house in May too:

basement finish

 changing the lovely pink dining room wall

Putting up walls where a loft use to be to make a 4th bedroom upstairs. 

Thank goodness for the Rams lineman from the football team helping hold sheet rock while Mike balanced on a ladder to secure the wall.  It was also fun painting the vaulted ceilings in the family room.  They guys are grateful I'm not picking a color too fast in the living room.

We are so happy that May is over and glad that we aren't trying to schedule painting with school, sports and graduations!

Ruca 6/5/2012

Today we had to make the hard decision of putting our Ruca down. She was our escape artist but in her old age she definitely mellowed. No more dog on the roof when we pull up or chewed up fence post. She was 14 yrs old and was the best dog.

Ruca didn't bark and would let the girls dress her up. She would wear hats, handkerchiefs and necklaces for a week. Our favorite is the trip to California when she wore sunglasses like she was a movie star.  If she could have talked we think that Ruca would have sounded like the very intelligent gorilla from George of the Jungle.  She was so smart and such an amazing dog.  We are going to miss our Ruca.

Laura Rose is 14

 Laura turned 14 on May 27.  She is so excited to move up to the Mia Maid class at church and move into high school.  So many big things for her this year. 

 On her birthday she had a lot of cousins come to celebrate with her.

 Laura was able to have her birthday party with some friends from her old school and some cousins and a new friend from our new ward at church.  She was all smiles and loved having everyone share her special time with her.

We are so proud of her and all her wonderful accomplishments this year! 

Good job Laura We love you!