Scout Cave Hike

We wanted to go on a hike but not one that was too long. I found the Scout Cave hike and we decided to do it. We parked in the construction parking of the Black Desert Resort (which stressed Courtney out) and then walked to the trailhead by the Welcome to Ivins sign.

It was a short hike through a dry wash and then up some steep stairs but it was worth it. There weren't too many people but the view was incredible.

It was definitely worth the time we took to hike it.

Baptisms

I had snagged an appointment for baptisms at the St. George Temple right when the appointments opened up. I was glad I had because they were filled when I looked later. It was fun to be there with all 4 of us. Ethan baptized Courtney and Bryan, then Bryan baptized Ethan and me. 

The workers are still learning so it took a bit longer and there were some funny mishaps but it was a good experience and I'm glad we were able to go. The sun was bright.

Courtney had a cool experience. When she got home, she realized that one of her earrings was gone. She was sure it had come out in the font so she didn't think she would ever get it back. The next day, Hayley called her (which is weird because they only SnapChat or text). I heard Courtney answer and say "No way!" about 500 times. When they finished talking, Courtney came in to tell me what had happened. Hayley had been in the temple doing sealings but had time enough to do something else so she decided to do baptisms. She didn't have an appointment but when there but they fit her in. While she was in the dressing room, she noticed an earring sitting on the counter near the mirrors. Hayley has the same earrings so she recognized it as Courtney's earring. Courtney had told Hayley that she lost it and so Hayley grabbed it and, after she was outside the temple, she called Courtney to tell her. What a blessing!

Christmas

We had a quiet but fun Christmas. Again, I didn't take many pictures. In fact, I only took 2 pictures.

But it was a great day. Ethan got photography stuff, a sushi making kit, and money. Courtney got shoes, cleats, and money. It was a good day all around.

Christmas is great when the kids are home.

Christmas Eve

I was horrible at taking pictures during the holidays. I was so excited to have the kids home that I didn't think to take pictures of what we were doing. I was just happy to have them there.

Since Christmas Eve was on a Sunday, we switched up our celebrations by having pizza on Saturday night. Christmas Eve we had dinner with my family and then opened presents so they wouldn't have to come over early on Christmas. 

That night we did our usual traditions of chimes, stories, and Ethan even put on the costume Jeff and Andrea sent us and read "A Christmas Carol" to us. It was a good night. 

We opened our pajamas, got changed, and then read the Christmas story from the Bible. Courtney was threatening to have us all up at 5 am so we went to bed.

Run Run Reindeer

Nothing says Christmas like spending $125 to get a free run t-shirt. ;) But seriously, this is a tradition that we love. We do the Run Run Reindeer almost every year. It gets us ready for Christmas and is always crazy with the weather.

We woke up to fog, which was crazy. We have run the race in the snow, in the sun, and in the wind. We never know what kind of day its going to be.

Luckily, it had burned off by the time we left for the race. This was the only wisp of fog left.

We lined up at the city park with all the other people. The boys wear their race shirts but, other than that, we don't dress up. Some people dress like elves, some like reindeer, and Santa even runs the race. Ethan and Courtney had smack-talked for a month about who was going to beat whom. They were determined to beat each other. I think this was their downfall.

When the gun sounded, Ethan and Courtney took off. We didn't see them again but I did track them on my phone to see who was going to win. Each time I looked, they were pretty close together. It was fun to track them while Bryan and I had a nice walk.

Bryan and I were about halfway when I noticed that Ethan and Courtney seemed to be together. Turns out, they both started out too strong and tired out so they came to a truce. They went the rest of the way together and finished together. Courtney said she is going to walk with Bryan and me next time. 

They waited for us to finish and then we got donuts and water. We also were given our medals. The medals are always huge!

It's a fun December tradition. 

Paletos

I have seen this little shop being converted to Paletos for a few months now and wanted to go. It just so happened that the opening day was when Courtney and I were driving around St. George doing some shopping. We stopped, got in line (it wasn't very long), received a popsicle stick for a free treat, watched them do the grand opening with a ribbon cutting, and then got our free treat. It was fun. 

I got an Oreo ice cream popsicle dipped in chocolate and Courtney got a mango popsicle without chocolate. Mine was delicious but Courtney's tasted like dirt. So she enjoyed a bit of mine. Now I have been to Paletos. 

Gingerbread Barn

Courtney and her friends decided to make a gingerbread house that looked like the Stoddard Center on SVU campus.  They got a kit, modified it, and it turned out really well.

Unfortunately, it was dropped while they were taking pictures and broke apart. But they had fun while it lasted.

Christmas tree

Our Christmas tree is up!  We thought we may want to wait to put it up until the kids were home for Christmas but Courtney didn't want to come home without it being decorated. So we took time and decorated for Christmas.

Family Pictures

Ethan is now our family photographer so we took advantage of his skill during Thanksgiving. We went out to Fire Lake Park (Ivins Reservoir) and he took our pictures. He did a great job.  I have always wanted pictures taken out there. We tried once but the photographer was new at it and the pictures weren't very good. Ethan nailed it this time!

This could be the cover art for an indie band.

The background looks fake but it is so beautiful!

Grandma and Grandpa Pack were at our house for Thanksgiving so they joined the fun.

This is them to a T!

I love my family. I am grateful for Ethan's talent and that he was happy to take our pictures. They turned out really well.

The kids are home!!

Holidays have a different feeling and meaning now that the kids are in college.  Courtney flew home on Saturday morning. She drove to Richmond early that morning with her roommate and her RA to get on the plane. She was exhausted by the time she got home.

Ethan had a Monday class but it ended up getting canceled so he was able to come home early too! We had both of them for a week before they had to go back and it was so nice. They went right back into their teasing sibling mode, which was fine with me. They are adults so I let them fight it out. ;)

25th Anniversary Cruise

We decided we needed to do something fun for our 25th anniversary. So we booked a Mexican cruise. We found a good deal on Norwegian Cruise Line. We hadn't been on one of their cruises before so there was a lot to learn but we liked it a lot. We didn't have to make reservations for all the meals. We had options to eat whenever we wanted. They had a great observation deck that was quiet and another deck with outside chairs that was really quiet also. The food was good and there was a lot to do on the ship.

Here is a run-down of what we did.

Day 1: We got on the ship at LA. It was different than other cruises we had been on. They let us on the ship in the morning but we couldn't go to our room yet. They had the pool open and it was crowded. They also had the buffet open so we got lunch and decided to explore until it was time for us to go to our room.

We were given a drink package with our cruise so we were able to get as many virgin pina coladas as we wanted and we took advantage of that one!

When we finally got to our room, we unpacked and hung out so we could watch the ship pull away from LA. There were some great opportunities to take pictures and the sunset didn't disappoint.

They had a lot of activities for us to do onboard. We decided to go to the Silent Disco and it was SO MUCH FUN!  We were all given headphones to put on but the music was only in the headphones. The ceiling was divided into 4 sections - 80s, 90s, 2000s, and current. When you walked into a section, your headphones would play music from that time period. As you moved around the room, the music would change. The fun thing was, you could sing as loud as you wanted and everyone else had headphones on so they couldn't hear you. And because no one could hear you, or so you thought, no one was afraid to belt out the music. It was hilarious!!

It was hilarious when a song would come on and everyone in that section would start jumping around. It was so much fun.

Day 2: This was a day at sea. That meant the pool was crowded, but not only later in the day. Bryan and I went to exercise, ate breakfast at the buffet, and then went to the pool to cool off. No one was around and we had the entire pool to ourselves. It was cool to be in a pool on a cruise ship with no one around. When someone else showed up we went to the hot tub for a while. After getting pruned in the hot tub, we went back to our room, got ready, then explored around until we found the Observation Deck. It was like being in a library, it was so quiet. We played cards, Cribbage, and read books. I think Bryan took a nap. 

We took advantage of the virgin pina coladas!

Why go to a pool and not get in?!

We ate a fancy breakfast at one of the restaurants. The hot chocolate wasn't very good but the muffins and the yogurt was really good.

We had a reservation to watch the show "Six" about the wives of Henry the VIII but it was canceled so we watched a Beatles tribute band. They were so good. It was crazy when they were talking between sets because they were from Argentina! So they had strong accents but were singing in British English. It was great.

We also had a reservation at a specialty restaurant. It was a steakhouse.

Day 3: We were getting to the port at Cabo San Lucas. We were excited because our excursion was to ride bikes on the beach. 

We got breakfast and then met up for our excursion. We rode on a bus for a long time (Bryan had his GPS and watched as we were driving. We went the long way around!).

When we got to the place where we would be riding bikes, we loaded off the bus and met our tour guides. They taught us how to ride the bikes and then we took a practice ride where 3-4 people promptly crashed. I wasn't one of them!! 

We then went on a ride to get some practice before going to the beach. I found that my right leg is my balance regulator. When I would get nervous about my balance, my leg would go out. But we had a lot of fun. When we got to the actual beach it was tough. I didn't like the out-of-control feeling of riding fast on the sand. But I did it.

See, the right leg is sticking out and Bryan is really amused at me.

When we finished our ride, they fed us authentic Mexican food. They did a margarita demonstration, which wasn't of any interest to us. But while they were doing that, Bryan and I saw some dolphins off the beach, so that was fun.

We loaded back on the bus to make our way back to the port. We had to ride a tender for this port, so we got some nice pictures of our ship as we were getting back to it. It is huge!

Our daily virgin pina colada!

Day 4: This was our day in Puerto Vallarta. We were going to Sabal Playa which was an exclusive beach club. We had a different excursion planned but decided we wanted to do something different and this one was open. I am so glad we switched although it wasn't all we thought it would be.

We loaded on a bus and were taken to a "beach club" that was just a pool on a beach that had chairs for everyone. It was a nice pool and I loved relaxing in the warm temperatures and with the water close. But it was kind of a tourist trap because the food wasn't free and was super expensive. We knew this before we went so we were prepared but the other people weren't so they were complaining. And then there were a lot of vendors on the beach that would ask you, constantly, if you wanted to buy their things. However, we had a good time relaxing.

We ate dinner and took advantage of the pool on the ship. It was a great day.

Day 5: We were in Mazatlan that day. We got off the ship early to go on a walking tour. It was hot and humid but this was my favorite day. I loved walking around and seeing everything. It reminded me, a little, of Guatemala.

We went to a plaza, a Catholic church, and some other locations around Mazatlan. We were told the history of the area and given some insider information.

The bench reads "Tiny Pack."

The major of Mazatlan is a huge fan of the Beatles. There was a part of the city that wasn't being used and so he decided to make it into a Beatles tribute. It was not only to use the area but to have a place for tourists to come to. It was weird to see England in Mexico.

We watched a cliff diver.

At the end of our tour we were taken for chips and salsa at a beach side restaurant. It was good.

It was then time to go back to the ship. We went to the observation deck to get some quiet and relax. Bryan was pretty tired and got a nap in while we were at sea.

We had a dinner reservation at another of the specialty restaurants. I think they must have been understaffed because they forgot about us and our food was cold. I wasn't very impressed and we left before dessert. Oh well.

Day 6: This was another day at sea. We took advantage of the pool in the morning before everyone else got up. Then we sat outside and watched the waves go by while playing card games. It was so relaxing!

We went to see a comedian that night but he wasn't very funny, and he knew it. His show kind of bombed but it was something to do. 

We ate dinner and then went back to our room to watch movies.

Day 7: This was the day we were in Ensenada. We have been there a couple of times and there wasn't anything interesting to us, so we stayed on the ship and enjoyed having everyone else leave us. We sat outside and enjoyed the quiet. We got to watch a soccer game between (we think) staff from the cruise ships. We spent a bit of time at the pool, had our pina colada, and played games.

We had reservations that night at Tempanaki. It was so loud but the food was good and we got to meet some people. We are the kind of people that don't go on vacation to make friends. We like to go to dinner by ourselves and have our own schedule. But the people we were sitting by were very nice.

We had reservations for the show "Jersey Boys." It was about Frankie Valley and was pretty good. I knew the songs so that was a plus.

Day 8: We were back to LA and had to get off the ship.  It wasn't as easy as we thought it would be and it took a long time. The ship had a hard time going through the port authority, but finally, after standing in line for an hour or so, we were able to get off the ship and make our way home.

We had a great time and are so glad we did it!  Happy 25th anniversary to us!