Lately

We got our baby ducks again. Raegan loves them. They are too big for her to hold now but she still asks if she can hold them, instead she just chases them aroundI always love going home to visit and live the country life again. John's youngest brother, Luke, got home from his mission on the 22nd of February. John was so excited to have him home!

Our Chirstmas Caribbean Cruise

Christmas 2011(I finally had some time to post about our Christmas this last year....only 4 months late)

Christmas day

We arrived in Puerto Rico on the 24th and boarded the ship. Christmas day was spent cruising from Puerto Rico down to St. Lucia (our first Island destination)

We swam, played mini golf, pool, visited the casino, ate..lots, laid in the sun and spent lots of time together. Our favorite was mini golf we played at least 2 games a day!

Christmas Dinner

St. Lucia

We toured the island than ended up at a beach. The island wasn't as wealthy as some of the others, but it was still very green and pretty. There was tons of locals always trying to sell us their crap which got annoying fast!! I saw my first Banana tree.

St. Kitts

This was my favorite day! Michael and Brittany rented a scooter and went around the whole island, they had lots of fun-some reason I didn't get those pictures from her though...

This beach was a smaller one out of the way. The water was so clear. We found lots of fun shells when we were snorkeling. We also rented a jet ski and that was a blast. The waves out in the ocean made it so bumpy-but that is what made it fun!

The first picture is of the Atlantic Ocean divided by land from the Caribbean. The Caribbean is lots smoother and warmer water.

Antiqua

My parents and Raegan went on a island tour in Antiqua while us kids went ziplining. We all had an awesome time!

St. Croix

It rained on us at the Beach in St. Croix But only for a little, than it cleared up and was a nice day. This beach we went to was know for snorkeling. We rented snorkel gear there. There was a giant reef there, but the catch was we had to swim about 200 yards out to it. This was a total workout--especially the swim back in. Because of the rain, the ocean there was the roughest we had seen it yet. I was not able to stay out snorkeling long cause the waves were making me sea sick-literally! haha We saw a sting ray and tons of bright fish. John, Michael and Morgan saw a sea turtle and John also dove down 20 feet for a really pretty sea shell.

This was our 2nd Formal Dinner....The meals were always SO goodSt. Thomas

This was about everyone's favorite island. We spent the whole day at the beach. There we saw 5 iguanas-wild ones too. Raegan enjoyed our whole trip, but she really enjoyed this day. She played in the sand and the ocean but her favorite spot was where people rinsed the sand off their feet...the water was really cold in there too so I think just the fact that it was her size made it the "hit spot".

Overall, we had a blast soaking up the sun, swimming and enjoying time with family! Best Christmas yet! We loved visiting the West Indies and the US Virgin Islands. We would go back tomorrow if we could. Definitely a recommended vacation spot! A Cruise was the way to go-didn't have to worry about when and what you were having to eat cause there was always a buffet and Dinner was always so good and there was always some sort of entertainment!

Feeding the ducks and geese

Today Brittany and I took Raegan to feed the ducks and geese at the Columbia River park. When we were kids our grandma Anderson use to take us there and we loved it. Raegan loved it just as much I think. I was a little afraid at first when we got their cause those birds see you have food, they go crazy and are not afraid of you and most of those geese were bigger than Raegan. She wasn't afraid though, she feed them a whole bag of hamburger buns and wanted to do more. We will definitely have to take her again. We had lots of fun.

Christmas 2011

We celebrated Christmas a week early this last year because we were going to be on a Cruise for Christmas. This year was alot of fun for Raegan. She really enjoyed waking up to gifts around the tree that she could finally open. Her favoirte had to be a bag of 100 balls that goes inside her pop up tent. It was wierd celebrating it so early but we wanted to do it before we left for Washington, than for our Cruise

I got to celebrate my 24th Birthday while in Washington. We went and jumped ducks along the ditches at my parents. Than later had dinner, cake and ice cream

The next day we went and got our toes done with all the girls. Didn't want to have ugly toes nails while wearing flipflops in the 80 Degree weather on the cruise!

Here is a picture on St. Croix...Hopefully I will blog about it soon. We all had a blast and can't wait to do it again....hopefully one day! Best Christmas yet!!

Snow

This little girl LOVES to eat snow. All day long she asks for snow, good thing there is lots of it outside... I think she will love sno-cones this summer!!

My little girl is growing up TOO fast!

Yesterday we decided to take the side rail off Raegans crib so it was a "toddler bed". She played on her bed and in her room the rest of the day, thinking that her "new" bed was the coolest thing ever. When bed time came, she did amazing She has always been so good when it comes to bed time, no fight at all. We layed her down, said good night, and didn't hear a peep from her till 8am. What a good girl! I thought for sure she was going to excape in the middle of the night and end up in our room, but she didn't. I can't believe she is has gotten so big and will be 19 months in less than a week! We just love her to pieces !!

Isn't this picture (above) the sweetest picture ever! Raegan is such a daddy's girl and she has her daddy wrapped around his finger-no doubt!

*Pictures from Christmas soon to come....I know, I know....its almost february, There is just SO many to go through and choose from!

John and his pets!

One word here people...Nasty! John has about 2,000 of these Dermestid beetles. What are Dermestid beetles u ask?! They eat meat... Supposedly only dead meat, says John. Well if u look at the picture of the deer head than it will explain a bit more why he has these pets. They will clean off a white tail deer head in 24 hours... Crazy! During deer and elk season the bugs were eating very well but now that it is off season he needs to go hunting for coyotes to feed these darn things. How convent, right? Ha ha :) There is no way I'm sharing my steak with the bugs. So if any one is looking for a skull to be cleaned, bring it on over.
Raegan and I occasionally go out to water the bugs with John, but they are so stinky with all the raw meat and the thought of them climbing on us, we usually just wait in the car. The bugs look like rolly pollies that aren't rolly ha ha So they aren't nasty to look at, just the thought of what they do is pretty nasty. I would post a close up picture of the bugs but I'd probably start itching just by looking at it. :)