Cruisin' the Caribbean

The kids have been begging us to take them on a cruise so we decided to take everyone to the Western Caribbean as an early Christmas family vacation.  We visited Key West, Grand Cayman, and Jamaica.  We cruised on the Carnival Freedom ship.

In Key West we walked to the beach and spent some time there and then went back to town for some shopping.

We spent the next day at sea getting some sun, reading and relaxing.

Then we arrived in Georgetown, Grand Cayman where we swam with stingrays and did some snorkeling.  It was awesome!

Candice giving a stingray a kiss

A stingray backrub!



Our next stop was Ocho Rios, Jamaica.  Mike and the kids walked up Dunn's River Falls and we all rode the Sky Explorer up to Mystic Mountain where we rode a Jamaican Bobsled mon.

Then we spent another day at sea to get back to Florida.  We played a lot of cards on the boat and ate a lot of ice cream (Tyler probably ate about 8-10 cones a day but didn't gain an ounce of weight, of course).

It was a great trip!!!

Volleyball senior night

Well we've come to the end of Megan's volleyball career.  She's been playing since she was about 11 yrs old, so it's hard to imagine not watching her compete anymore.  They had senior night at Logan High on Tuesday, October 26 (not really the last home game, but they were doing a breast cancer awareness benefit game for the last home game).  There were six seniors this year.

She got flowers from her dad and from her younger teammates and she also got a blanket that her teammates made (a tradition since Lacie Johns has been the head coach). 

I'll be sad not to see her play, but not sad to leave the Logan High Volleyball drama behind.  There have been few things in my life rile me more than the LHS volleyball program.  This year wasn't too bad, but the coaching is a far cry from great, unfortunately, and it has been frustrating to see them struggle.  It is a miracle Megan got through all four years with the number of injuries she's had.  We're just glad she's had something to keep her active and involved and it is something she can play with her sister, Candice, until they decide their bodies just can't take it anymore.

This is an expression we've seen several times when she plays, warms up, etc.  It's her "whoops" look.

Aggie Auction craziness

Many of you have heard me say, "The auction is coming up, so I'm a little crazy."  I'm sure you are thinking, "What's the big deal?"  Well, the organization of the event is up to one person, me, and with close to 300 people in attendance, 125 silent auction items, and 10 live auction items, it takes quite a bit of time to pull it all together.  I won't bore you with all the details.  The major problem is I can't do most of the stuff I need to do until the last week because I have to have all of the reservations in and items cataloged before I can prepare all the materials for the evening and of course everyone waits until the last minute to register and finalize their donations, so I work about 12 hours a day during the week before getting all of that done.  I'm not posting this so you think I'm neat--I just want everyone to know there is a reason for ignoring everything else but my family (and they still had to fend for themselves quite a bit during the week) and work.  So, I'm sorry for being out of touch and introverted for a while.  Here are a few pictures so you can see what the event looks like.

Live Auction items and stage set up

My boss, Tom Hale, and Amanda Butterfield (former USU student-athlete, soccer), our master of ceremonies for the event.  She is great!!

Dinner

Our great student-athletes helping with raffle prize distribution

By the way, it was a success as we raised over $90,000 for USU student-athlete scholarships.  I've decided I hate the auction--all the work and worry--and don't want to ever do it again, but like childbirth, when it comes time to do it again I will probably have forgoten how bad it really was.

Fall Sports

Every time I go watch my kids participate in their sports, I am amazed because I have absolutely no athletic ability.  They obviously got it all from their father.  Here are a few pics of the kids participating in their fall sports. 

Heather played powderpuff football at the middle school last week.  She was the quarterback on her team.  She called the plays, cheered on her team and played defense.

Run, Heather, run!

Can't you just feel her intensity?

What a throw!!

Tyler has just finished his second season on the Logan High Golf Team.  He played in several JV tournaments this year, but qualified for the last Varsity tournament to be able to letter this year which made him very happy.  He's gotten pretty good, scoring in the low to mid 40's for 9 holes consistently.

What form!

Trudging on to the next hole

Megan has played volleyball since she was 12.  She is in her senior year at Logan High and is doing very well as the setter and leader of the team.  She'd do much better if she could get some good passes from her teammates.  When I watch her, and get frustrated with the passing, I wish Candice could be in there playing  with her because she was an amazing passer/libero.  Megan started the year doing a jump serve that went out about 90% of the time, so she decided to just serve the ball (with much encouragement from her older sister) and has gotten five serve "aces" in her last two matches.

A backwards set

Serving for an "ACE"

She has to get the second ball no matter where it goes!

I'm glad they all like to be active and involved in sports.  It's good for their bodies (for the most part--Megan has more bruises on her body than Carter has pills) and it is a great social thing as well.

Homecoming Week

It's been a few weeks since Homecoming week at Logan High School (Sept 12-18), but I haven't had time to get this on here until now.  The first activity was the traditional painting the street/painting each other activity.  Megan had a great time, but she had to wash her hair six times to get the paint out.  Because she is a Senior Class Representative this year, she was involved in painting the street in front of the school and on Main Street (at 12:00 a.m.).  What fun!!

Next was the Homecoming Parade.  Tyler was at a golf tournament that day so he wasn't able to participate, but I think he was okay with that.  He'd rather be golfing than act like he's golfing on a truck trailer.



Megan in her Senior Class Officer role



Meg's Powderpuff team













Some of Ty's golf teammates

 Now on to the Powderpuff game.  Meg was one of the quarterbacks for her team and she did great.  She had three complete passes and got her team very close to the endzone and then they pulled her to put the first string quarterback, if you will, back in, but she couldn't get the ball in the endzone.  The other team scored twice to go up 12-0.  Then Meg's team scored one touchdown, but missed the extra point.  Then Meg went in again.  On the second down, she handed the ball off to Ali Norda who ran it into the endzone for a touchdown.  They had to get the ball in the endzone for the extra point (I guess they figure there's no way any of the girls would be able to kick it through the uprights) so Meg handed it off to the same girl and she ran it in to score the extra point.  The Crimson team ended up winning the game 13-12.  It was tense with a very happy ending!!

Winding up for a pass



Meg making the "Crimson" sign
before the game





Celebrating after the game (Megan is #555 with yellow shorts)

Mike and I didn't attend the Homecoming game to get any pictures, but Logan beat Ogden 49-14.  Go Grizzlies!!

Last, but not least, for the week's activities . . . the Homecoming Dance.  Megan went with Derek Larsen.  She was very excited and ended up having a fabulous time.

Nice tan lines, huh?

Aren't they cute!!!!!