Eagle Plaques

In April, Cameron was awarded the rank of Eagle from Boy Scouts of America. He has always admired the Eagle plaque that his dad has and wanted one like it. I emailed Brian's uncle Norman (who came up with the original) and asked him if he was still doing the Eagle plaques. His response was that he lost the person who did the calligraphy so he now just buys a 16 x 20 frame and a mat with a 8 x 10 in the middle and puts the Eagle Certificate in it and the merit badges around on the mat. Well, Sharri decided that if he could do it, so could she. Finding the frame wasn't so difficult, but the mat was. Nobody makes a mat that is 16 x 20 with a 8 x 10 insert. So, we had to pay a little extra and have one custom made. Then we had to un pick all the merit badges off the scout sash and glue them on the mat. This became quite the project, but when it was done it looked great. Cameron was excited with his new plaque that he didn't know where to hang it.

The pictures below are of Brian's plaque and the newly made one for Cameron. They are quite similar, but also quite different. Now, the next project is to do one for Riley for his Arrow of Light Award and all the Cub Scout awards.

Happy Birthday Aunt Jenn

Happy Birthday to Jennifer!! She is 27 years old today. She is Sharri's little and only sister. She is 15 years younger than Sharri. (finally got a little sister). She has been a blessing to our family. She keeps us on our toes. She was a great babysitter to Cameron & Erika, and now in turn Erika babysits for her two beautiful little girls. We wanted to acknowledge her and wish her a great birthday today!! We love you Jenn.

Erika haircut

Erika wanted to blog about her new haircut.

One of Sharri's co-workers daughter cut it for her (Alyson). She cut off 5" and gave Erika some bangs too. It' s not too short, but still long enough to pull back into a ponytail. Doesn't it look cute?

Ye "ELDERS" of Israel

Cameron & his best friend Nathan McGriff were ordained ELDERS today. Where did my little boy go? He was just 5 years old and starting kindergarten. Now he is a big boy, 6'3", 18 years old and graduated from High School. We are so proud of him and his testimony in the gospel. Cameron will be 19 in April and will be starting his mission paperwork in January. It is crazy that in less than 6 months, he will be out in the mission field. Also, Cam & Nate are enrolled at UVU Institute taking 2 classes, Missionary prep and Book of Mormon. They are excited to start a new adventure and hope to be able to grow and learn from these classes. Since Cameron and Nathan have the same birthday, just a year apart (Nathan 1 year older), they seem to do everything together. Eagle Court of Honor, Elders and probably missions. What a great friend and Elder to Cameron. They are examples to all of us and handsome too!!

Riley-1st day of school

Riley is going to a new elementary school this year. He is in 6th grade, so it will also be his last year in elementary. Provo District built a new school in our neighborhood. It is called Lakeview Elementary Lions. He was a little bit excited to start at a new school, but mostly to get to ride his bike to school. It takes him 15 minutes to bike and 30 mintues if he walks. This is a new experience for him as well as the rest of the family. His older siblings were able to ride the bus to all of their schools. We are not sure if Riley will keep riding his bike when it snows or is a bad weather day, but he is enjoying it until then.

Cousin, Nathan Belcher

On Wednesday morning, we received news that Sharri's cousin, Nathan Belcher had passed away at 7 am. He was 37 years old and had a courageous battle with late stage melanoma. We are sad at his passing, but he slipped peacefully into the eternities. He married 5 years ago and has two young sons, age 2 and 4 months old. Nathan was a business school teacher at Box Elder Middle School and Wasatch Junior High School.

He will be greatly missed by all the family, friends, students and ward members. We wish his wife, Julie, and family the best.

Shows at Sea

We had the opportunity to see some really great shows after dinner each night at Sea. The first night, was a comedian named Stephen Thomas. We didn't get to the Orpheum Theater in time to get a good seat, so we had to stand and listen. The second night was the Royal Caribbean Singers & Dancers in "Stage to Screen" Broadway songs from Hairspray and Chicago. We went a little bit earlier to get a better seat, but still not good enough to see the show. The third night, we decided to go quite a bit earlier to the show and we were able to get 5th row seats. This night was a singer, "Travis LeDoyt" that sang a tribute to the King, Elvis. He was really good and sounded just like Elvis. The fourth night the Royal Caribbean Singers & Dancers did a tribute to the movies music, " Can't Stop the Rock" like Shaft, Whitney Houston in the Bodyguard "I will always Love you" and many others that I can't remember. And the last night, was "Howie & Bert, On the Edge" juggling comedians. The kids really enjoyed this show and laughed alot. It was great to hear them laugh and not have to worry about adult content.

Towel friends at Sea

Every night after dinner, we found these wonderful towel animals in each of our rooms. The kids thought they were great, especially Erika. She tried to figure out how they folded them. This was something to look forward to after dinner and before the show. These are pictures of a dog, elephant, monkey, and cow.

Dining at Sea

Every night at Sea, we had the same table and same waiters. Each night is a different theme and if it is formal, smart casual or casual. (Casual usally means no shorts or swimming suits) We had two wonderful waiters. Our Waiter, Joao from India, and assistant waiter, Beli from Peru. They made sure that we were happy and full every night, especially the kids. They figured out that Cameron needed not 1 glass of Sprite, but 2 glasses at a time. Our waiter, Joao, did magic tricks for Riley. Also, every night the waiters would either sing to us or did a dance for us. One night they taught us the Macarana, which was hysterical for the kids to watch their dad try it. These pictures were taken at different nights of our dining experience.

Cozumel, Mexico

Tuesday, July 29, we stopped in Cozumel, Mexico port. We were able to walk right off the ship onto land. We purchased a shore excursion called Deluxe Beach Break. The tour began as we were escorted to the air-conditioned greyhound type bus for a ride to Playa Mia Grand Beach Park. Upon arrival, they let us know of the club's amenities such as beach chairs, beach umbrellas, non-motorized water toys like kayak, Hobiecats, pedal boats, water trampolines, the incredible Water Iceberg, and games such as ping pong tables. Also included was a full domestic open bar and an international all you can eat buffet. We spent our day on the sandy beach and swimming in the waters of the Mexican Caribbean. Riley swam out to the water trampoline, but couldn't make it to the Iceberg without a life jacket. We decided to try the pedal boats, Brian & Riley in one and Sharri & Erika in another. Erika and Riley didn't realize that it would be more work than fun. We spent 5 hours there and then we were back on the bus to the pier. We did some shopping for souveniers and then headed back to the ship.

Georgetown, Grand Cayman

Monday, July 28, we stopped in port at Georgetown, Grand Cayman. We had to ride Tender ships to the island because the ocean water is not deep enough for the ship to dock at port. We purchased a shore excursion called Cayman Jeep 4x4 Wrangler Adventure & Beach Snorkel. We went in a convey of 10 Jeeps with a tour guide(Mason) from Jamaica. Our first stop was at Morgan's Harbor, where we took in the beauty of the North Sound. We then proceed onto Barkers National Park, Cayman's Natural Mangroves where en-route we saw the habitats of the Blue Iguanas. We then drove through local neighborhoods and enjoying stops at Hell and a Rum Cake Factory. Our last stop was at the Beach Club Colony, where we had two hours to enjoy swimming & snorkeling in the azure waters off Seven Mile Beach. The Seven Mile Beach had the smoothest, whitest sandy beach and the clearest turquoise waters. Riley and Brian went snorkeling out further to see some different kind of fish. Sharri and Cameron stayed and sat under an umbrella, because of slight sunburns from Ft. Lauderdale. Erika & Riley collected more seashells to take home.

Bon Voyage!!

On Saturday, July 26th, we embarked the Cruise ship "Enchantment of the Seas" @ 5:00 pm, EST. We found our rooms #2612 & 2614, joint rooms. Cameron, Erika & Riley had single beds with Riley on one bunk bed. We each had a separate bathroom, which was nice, because they don't give you a lot of room in the bathroooms. We started a scavenger hunt to see the rest of the ship and to also put our names in a drawing, but we didn't win. (what do we expect when there are 2500 people doing the same thing) Then we headed up to Deck 10 to see the ship start sailing out of the port. The LOUD horn sounded 3 times, which scared us to death. We were off to cruising for the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday at sea.

Ft. Lauderdale/Harbor Beach Marriott

July 24-26, 2008

We started our family vacation in Fort Lauderdale, Flordia at the Harbor Beach Marriott Resort. We spent 1 day at the Resort beach. We all enjoyed the swimming and playing at the beach & ocean. The kids collected sea shells, snorkeled, made sand castles and enjoyed the nice weather. (even though the humidity was 80%) The ocean water temp was 82. There were also a lot of turtle nest around us, so we had to be careful. This was a preview of what we were to experience on the Cruise ship the next day.