Happy 2023!

 

Fun with friends in the new year! We took a day to play with friends at Burrough's Park and got some beautiful pictures as we finished up Christmas break.

We had a beautiful crop of carrots this year. This is a huge, gnarly purple carrot that came out of Michael's garden.

Fun at Meyer Park.

Sarah was very brave and (with Mom's encouragement) started at a charter school right after Christmas. After a slightly rocky start, she soon settled in and had a great year.

She even participated in the talent show with some new friends. They were great singing "Riptide."

Peter loves puddles... especially big ones!

Ada auditioned for the cast of Wicked at our local DPAC (dance and performing arts center) and got the part of Nessa. She did an awesome job! We were so proud!

Peter and Annie are such good buddies. One day at Nana's they spontaneously started dancing together and it was sooo cute.

Who could that superhero be?

Valentine's Party with co-op.

Zoo Time

We had fun making bee houses at a county program.

Michael had a cool 15th birthday. He now has his learner's permit. Watch out world!

The best present ever --indoor sky diving tickets. 

For our ward talent show, Matt helped out with the water fountain trick.

March found Matt and me celebrating our 16th anniversary --and his younger brother Benjamin's wedding -- on a Caribbean cruise.

We left from Galveston on the Allure of the Seas, the world's second largest cruise ship.

It was huge and had so many fun activities going on all the time: ice skating,

carosel,

water show, magic show, all kinds of music,

and so many romantic views!

Of course the highlight was Ben and Crystallin's beautiful wedding at Roatan.

We enjoyed some amazing snorkeling (my fires time ever!) after the ceremony and dinner before heading back to the ship. Matt and I would love to return here someday! So many beautiful fish, coral, and even a gigantic lobster.

After Roatan, we stopped at Costa Maya where we toured the Kahunlich Mayan ruins.

The final stop was Cozumel where we hung out at a local beach and managed to fit in another round of snorkeling. There weren't quite as many fish, but it was pretty good considering how many people there were around. And a gigantic stingray swam right under us! Yikes!

What an amazing trip! I can't wait to go on another cruise!

Right after we got back, it was the kids' spring break, so we headed up to Missouri with the kids.

Springfield has a great zoo, so we toured that front to back.

Nana has a huge set of dominos, so they had fun those.

It was spring and everything was blooming, especially the daffodils at the K house.

Baker Creek Seed Farm is one of our favorite places to visit. This time, we got to go into their green houses. They were pretty amazing. I think my dad and I were both pretty jealous.