The Leake's Week-February 26, 2023

 Hello!

This has been our first week of semi-normalcy in weeks, and it has felt so wonderful!  On Monday the kids didn't have school because of President's Day, but Richard did have to work at home from 10:30-6:30, so most of us did enjoy a 3-day weekend.  We were all able to have a bit of a slower morning; we slept in and had a hot breakfast all together before Richard went upstairs to work.  Bridget's friend Cambria has missed school on and off for the better part of January and February. She has had some intense stomach pain that doctors cannot figure out.  Bridget and two of her other friends have been trying to get their schedules to line up so they could make a care package for Cambria and deliver it to her.  Monday was finally the day.  I took all three girls to Target and dropped them off.  I stayed in the car and worked on some things, but almost one hour later I had to drag them out of Target.  They were definitely enjoying the new-found freedom of roaming the aisles of Target!  Haha!  I brought them all back here so they could make cards and then put their care package together.  Once they were done, I drove them to Cambria's house where they delivered their goodies.  It meant the world to Cambria, she got emotional, and there was lots of hugging and laughing and sweet friend moments.  Later that afternoon, Marshall and Bridget did have a piano lesson and Marshall also had Johnny over for a huge chunk of the day.  Bridget, Cambria, and I were at the farm that night.  Three new baby goats had been born one hour before we arrived!  When the chores were done, the Garlicks let us come in and see the new babies and Bridget and Cambria fed them and Bridget also got to feed Luv Bug's doe and give her some snuggles for the last time.  A tender moment.  When the girls were done feeding inside, the Garlicks asked for their help to feed all the babies outside.  Good golly.  All of this bottle feeding added one hour to our time at the farm, which I do not love, but those girls are in heaven.  I will say, baby goats are darling.  If only they could stay small and darling and relatively clean!  The Garlicks have now had 18 baby goats born the last two weeks and 14 of those are does, which is exactly what they like.  Four more mama goats will give birth in two weeks.  It really is so fun to see all the babies, but milking is back to taking longer and longer!

On Tuesday all the kids went back to school and Richard was at work and in all honesty, it felt great.  Haha!  I volunteered in kindergarten, per the usual that day, and then I finally acquiesced to Gretchen's request to have Charlie and Jackson come over for lunch and playtime.  She has been begging to do this for weeks, but these boys require me to be a little more hands on then when Gretchen just has one girl over to play!  But, it really was a great time and those three kids played and laughed and then we all played Life together (my girls' latest game obsession).  It was actually so much fun and both boys wanted to marry Gretchen, so I had to calm down some sad feelings.  :)  That afternoon Bridget had play practice.  The play is just around the corner, so now all the practices are two hours and she got home after 5:30.  Long day for her!  Rachel also had a dress rehearsal for dance that night.  Competition season is almost here, and I think it is going to be both very fun and crazy.  At 8:00 that night Richard realized he had a bishopric meeting at 8:30...ha!  So, he left and was gone until after 10:30.  I put the kids to bed and enjoyed an episode of The Crown. :)  

Wednesday morning we woke up to inches of snow (expected) and a late start school day for the kids.  Of course they were all elated and I was just relieved that Richard had a late work shift at home that day so he could snowblow!  Marshall left for school just after 9:00 and Richard took Bridget and Rachel to school at 10:30, and Gretchen actually did get a snow day.  As soon as all the kids were gone, she slipped right back into her best life of pajamas and TV.  :)  Ideal, right?!  She did have to do online learning though, and was a good sport about it.  This age of school is fun because you can clearly see how much they are learning one week or one month to the next.  In December kindergarten was cancelled twice because of school, so it was fun to do school work with her in February and see how much she has learned in just two months.  Words that were hard for her or math concepts that were tricky are easy for her now!  Once all the kids but Gretchen were gone I did enjoy a slower school day, which is good, because our afternoon/evening was nuts.  Bridget had horseback riding right after school.  She rode bareback for a while and loved the warmth of the horse's body-helped to keep her warm on such a cold and snowy day!  Bridget and I were home for 30 minutes before leaving again for the junior high for 7th grade registration.  What?!  I cannot believe we will have two kids at the junior high come August.  The roads were terrible that night so it was very, very slow going to the junior high, but I am glad we made it without an accident, which I know was not the case for everyone!  Bridget is so excited for junior high and after we all met in the gym, she and her friends just walked around the school with the parents just following behind.  They seemed so grown up.  That night Rachel had dance, and Marshall went to the combined YM/YW activity, but Bridget stayed home.  She has been fighting a cold all week and I think her busy Tuesday and Wednesday completely wore her out.  When we got home from the junior high she took a shower and went to bed.  Sweet girl.  Marshall had fun at the activity though and then stayed to help shovel.  So much snow!  

Bridget stayed home from school on Thursday.  She woke up with her alarm, but kept falling asleep on the couch that morning, which is very unlike her!  Finally at 8:00 I told her to just go back to bed, which she readily did!  She spent the school day at home relaxing, but I did take her to the school for play practice from 3:30-5:30.  Gretchen had dance class that afternoon and they have started the dances for the spring recital.  She is loving it and now she has new songs to run to!  Rachel had piano that afternoon and Marshall had soccer, but by 5:45 we were all home together for the rest of the evening and that was wonderful!  

Bridget went back to school on Friday and still had her cold, but felt quite a bit better.  I worked in the Charger Store that afternoon and had the best time as always!  The girls had a great Friday afternoon, all went home from school with friends.  Gretchen went to Naomi's house right after kindergarten and didn't come home until almost 4:30.  Rachel walked home with Lily who has new baby chicks and Rachel has not stopped begging for chickens.  Even Bridget has said we will never own chickens, Richard and I are so glad she is on our side with this hard no!  Bridget walked home with Cambria after school, and Cambria is Naomi's older sister so Gretchen was especially excited to have Bridget show up!  I completely lucked out with such a laid back Friday afternoon when I got home from the Charger Store at 1:45.  I was in heaven, not going to lie!  At 4:30, Melanie brought Bridget and Gretchen home and dropped Cambria off too.  Shortly after they got home, I took Bridget and Cambria to the farm.  I am SO glad we are almost through the cold and dark winter months of the farm.  It is so nice to be working in daylight for at least some of the time we are there.  The only drawback is that the farm is a literal mud pit right now, and my van is proof of it.  Once we are in the clear with snow this spring I am paying to get my van detailed.  Between the farm, Ziggy, and horseback riding there is all sorts of stuff in there and the vacuums at the car wash are not cutting it!  Anyway, I survived the farm, the girls thrived, and now there are eight goats to milk and that took the girls a solid 90 minutes.  Bless.  On the homefront, Richard picked Rachel up from Lily's at 6:15 and then came home to tackle dinner.  Gretchen proclaimed she would only eat food from Panda Express, the Disney Cruise, or anything Joe (our server) provided her.  Tough to please!  Needless to say, it was quite a night for all.  When Bridget and I finally got home from the farm at almost 8:00 pm, she took a quick shower and then went to Cambria's for a late night, which also meant a late night for Richard and I!  Oh, one funny thing with Gretchen from Friday.  In kindergarten they were working on the letter Q that day so the kids could bring their favorite quilt or blanket.  Gretchen insisted on taking "old white blankie".  This blanket is now in three pieces.  We tried to talk Gretchen out of it, her response was, "I am taking old white blankie!  I will tell Mrs. Conners that it is half-rag, half-blanket!"  And that is exactly what she did.  

Saturday morning Rachel had a one hour dance rehearsal, but the rest of us were home.  That afternoon we said good-bye to the kids, told them to eat lunch and do their jobs and Richard and I went to my parents' house for a very fun adult Toney gathering.  We have been planning this for weeks and it did not disappoint.  We were only missing Jordan and Meredith, and we definitely missed them.  We had lunch and then played games.  I told each couple to come with a planned game, but it couldn't be a board game or a card game and it had to make us laugh.  All games delivered and there was near constant laughter.  Complete success!  Now I just need to talk everyone into an adult only weekend getaway!  Baby steps.  :)  Richard left a tad early because he ended up having to work yesterday from 3:00 pm to 11:00 pm.  I came home just a bit later and I was over the moon to discover that ALL children had done their jobs.  This is beyond shocking and I have decided I just need to leave every Saturday.  :)  That afternoon Marshall had Johnny over and Rachel had Eily over.  Lots of fun.  The kids and I had dinner together while Richard worked and then Marshall went to Johnny's for a late night and the girls and I watched "Matilda", the new one on Netflix.  My girls have watched this many a time and the music plays nearly on repeat, but I had never watched it with them.  It was fun to finally sit down and watch it!  

We have had a good Sunday.  I realized this morning that today was our first Sunday in five weeks that we were all at church together-it was wonderful!  Our new bishopric has shaken up their meeting schedule and we are liking it with regard to where Richard spends his time on Sundays.  Tonight we went to Toney FHE at my parents' house and had a great time with cousins, though we definitely missed Ben and family.  

Alright, that's it!  Here's to a new week, March...and most likely, more snow.  :)  Spring...where are you???

Love each of you.  

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel, and Gretchen :)  

P.S. What does it say about me that 90% of my pictures and videos from this week are of goats???  Send help.  

The Leake's Week-February 19, 2023

 Hello!

Whew!  It has been a whirlwind of events the last three weeks.  I have been gone more than I have been home, and the kids have been busy, busy, busy.  Here are the highlights from our lives the last three weeks...

*Marshall's soccer tournament in St. George:  Marshall's soccer team played in a tournament in St. George the first weekend of February.  Based on Richard's work schedule and all our other travels, we decided that I would be the one to take Marshall to St. George and everyone else would stay home.  The girls did not love this idea, but they were good sports to go along with it, and I know they had a great time here at home with Richard and my Mom, who was so kind to help out while Richard was at work.  Marshall and I left on a Thursday afternoon at 11:30, and we also picked up my Dad.  We were both so happy that he came along for the adventure!  We had a smooth ride down to St. George, we packed a lunch, didn't encounter any traffic and zipped down to St. George in just over four hours.  We took some downtime in the hotel before hitting up a great little Mexican restaurant for dinner.  We played games for just a bit after dinner, but then hit the sack early for an early wake up call on Friday morning.  Marshall's first game was at 8:00 am Friday morning and it was cold!  Frost was covering the field when we arrived for warm-ups.  Thankfully, the three of us were prepared for the weather.  My Dad had pulled out warm clothes he bought when he was the scoutmaster almost 30 years ago!  Ha!  Marshall's team played great and they won their first game!  Yay!  When that game was done, we went back to the hotel to warm up and relax for just two hours before going to the next game.  Thankfully, it was much warmer!  Marshall's team again played great, but lost 0-1 in the final minutes because of a lame PK that shouldn't have been called.  In this tournament, all games end with PKs, no matter the outcome of the game.  Marshall took his PK at the end of the second game and made it!  I was so proud of him!  We spent the rest of the afternoon back at the hotel.  Marshall worked on homework and relaxed, I napped and worked on a project.  That evening Marshall and I met up with his team for a team dinner at Iceberg.  It was the perfect location because there was seating for all and the boys really had a fun time together and the parents enjoyed talking.  When dinner was done, the boys came up with the idea to go swimming at the condo complex where a couple of boys were staying.  Marshall didn't bring a swimming suit, so he went with some teammates and a mom to buy a swimming suit and then she drove them over to the swimming pool.  This whole thing just about ripped my mother heart in half.  I was beyond proud of Marshall for wanting to go, hopping in a car with teammates to go shopping for a swimming suit, and going to a place he had never been before.  Huge applause, really, huge applause.  But, every new thing for Marshall is a brand new thing for me too and it rocks me!  With Marshall being such a homebody this is a big deal-I honestly would have felt better sending Bridget or Rachel off to do this!  But, I kept a very calm exterior for Marshall as he told me everything he was going to do, and then on my solo drive back to the hotel I gave myself a pep talk while simultaneously giving myself a tension headache!  Haha!  When I got back to the hotel, I took Tylenol and invited my Dad to come down to our room to keep me company.  He listened to all my dramatics, played games with me, and then we talked to my Mom on the phone.  Bless him.  My Dad went back to his room shortly before 10:00 and Marshall texted soon after to say he was ready for me to pick him up.  Whew!  I was thrilled about that!  Turns out, he had a fantastic time, and of course he was so happy he went, and I was so happy I had him back.  :)  Do I have attachment issues???  Marshall's third game was Saturday morning.  It was a rough game, we lost 0-4, but we did win the PKs, so that's something.  Despite the tough loss though, the team never gave up and played hard through the very last minute.  This loss also meant the team would not make the championship game, but the three of us opted to stay in sunny St. George and enjoy the wonderful weather!  There was not a cloud in the sky and the temperatures were in the 60s.  Lovely.  We initially went back to the hotel to give Marshall some time to decompress and I got him lunch from Five Guys.  Once Marshall was a in a better head space, my Dad and I left for an adventure and left Marshall to relax at the hotel.  My Dad and I went to The Cliffside Restaurant for lunch and it did not disappoint with the views or food.  The food was fantastic.  My Dad got a salmon salad and I got a pesto pasta with grilled vegetables and it was so good.  The location is just as it sounds, on a cliff with a fantastic view of the city.  It was fun to have that one-on-one with my Dad.  After lunch, we went on a tour of Brigham Young's winter home.  My Dad had done this before, but it was new for me and it was fascinating!  I was amazed at how much of the home is original and how many personal possessions of Brigham Young's they have there.  After all of that, we went back to the hotel to retrieve the teenager.   :)  We made the short drive to Pioneer Park to hike among the beautiful red rocks of St. George.  This was brand new for all of us, and so cool.  My Dad was a champion and hiked and climbed in sandals!  The views were amazing, the red rock formations stunning, and the weather and late afternoon light were fantastic.  I was also so relieved to make it back to the car without my Dad ever falling...I am sure he was relieved too!  After our adventure, my Dad found a local Italian restaurant for dinner, where we again ate delicious food.  We ended the night with games in our hotel room where we taught my Dad how to play Skip-Bo.  A wonderful, wonderful day.  Sunday morning we were up early.  We planned to get on the road at 8:00, go to a 9:00 sacrament meeting in Cedar City and then continue our drive home.  Marshall didn't love this idea because he wanted to sleep in longer, but he reluctantly agreed.  We were trying to get ahead of snow and rain that would be hitting northern Utah. We were on the road at 8:00, in Cedar City just before 9:00, but both churches we went to had empty parking lots and locked doors.  Marshall was very quick to point out we should have listened to him and gone to church in St. George!  The teenager knows all!  After striking out twice, we decided to just drive home.  We made excellent time and didn't hit bad weather until Provo.  We dropped my Dad off just before 1:00 pm, got home shortly after and then the snow just dumped and dumped.  I was so glad we were at home!  The girls and Richard were at church and we were so happy to see them just after 2:00!  Together again!  

Back on the home front, the girls were so well taken care of by Richard and my Mom.  Richard had to work Thursday and Friday so my Mom spent those afternoons with the girls.  My Mom got valentine sugar cookies and valentines for the girls to decorate and take around to friends and primary teachers-such a delightful idea!  My Mom learned that Rachel hates ringing people's doorbells-sky high anxiety for her!  Haha!  On Friday morning the girls were on their own from 7:15-8:30.  Richard left for work at 7:15 and my Mom serves at the temple on Friday mornings.  The girls did so great though!  They got themselves totally ready and walked to our neighbor's house for a ride to school at 8:30.  Jessica said they were ready and smiling and told her thank you.  The only little slip of the morning is that Rachel left the cheese sitting on the counter, but there could have been far worse!  They are growing up!  Saturday night Richard took them all down to the BYU basketball game.  The stopped at Waffle Love in Draper for dinner and then had a blast at the game.  They had great seats, loved seeing Cosmo, the Cougarettes and the cheerleaders and BYU won.  Rachel says she will never go to a football game again and that basketball is way better.  :)  We were all so happy to be reunited on Sunday afternoon!  Oh, one funny story...it was snowing and raining that day, but Richard and the girls still walked to church.  At one point, Rachel slipped, but she slipped right into the splits!  Thankfully she is incredibly flexible and Richard said she didn't bat an eye, just popped right back up!  

*Rachel's half-birthday:  Rachel got to celebrate her half birthday at school, exactly on her half-birthday, February 7th.  Over the weekend, she decorated a poster and we printed a picture and she just took complete ownership of it.  She wanted the store bought sugar cookies as her treat, so Gretchen and I brought those into her class a few minutes before the end of the school day.  Rachel was so sweet and lit up as soon as we walked in.  She ran to us and gave us a big hug.  Who knows how much longer she will do this, but I hope it is forever!  I cannot believe she is going to be ten this year!  Ah!

*Baptisms for Bridget:  Bridget was able to go to the temple with the young women early in the morning on Wednesday, February 8th.  I dropped Bridget and Avery off in the church parking lot at 6:00 am!  This was the first morning of the new changes in the temple, and even though Bridget had only done temple baptisms once before, she immediately picked up on the wording changes.  After baptisms, the girls had cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate at the church.  Bridget got home just before 8:00 after an excellent morning.  Sweet girl.  

*Disneyland for Bob's 70th birthday:  Last year, Richard started twisting Bob's arm to plan something big for his 70th birthday, which was February 6th.  This trip went through so many revisions and plan changes, but we finally settled on Disneyland the end of December and it stuck.  We opted for no kids, so it was a trip for just the eight of us:  Bob, Becky, their three sons and the three wives.  My parents were so wonderful and came over at 5:45 pm on Wednesday the 8th so Richard and I could head to the airport.  We said good-bye to all the kids and we were off!  We met Bob, Becky, Joe and Aubri at the airport and had an uneventful flight to California.  Nathan and Nina had arrived earlier in the day.  Since it was late, we all just got to the hotel and went straight to bed because we had three huge days of fun ahead of us.  To sum up our three days in California, I will say we ate delicious food, did new rides together, had fun doing old rides together, and had a great time!  We walked about ten miles each day and always fell into bed exhausted.  Richard managed all our lightening lanes for us, and while we had to do some waiting in long lines, overall, it was pretty good!  We were in the parks all three days for rope drop and for two morning we walked right on to Pirates of the Carribean.  Thursday morning we all did Rise of the Resistance together.  This was new for all of us except Richard and Becky.  It is so cool!  Nathan especially loved it.  We rode it two more times during our trip, both at night, which made it extra cool.  The second time the cast members were completely in character, and we also got stuck in the huge room with the storm troopers for a handful of minutes, so it all just added to the ambiance and it was pretty amazing.  Almost makes me want to become a Star Wars fan!  :)  We also did a brand new ride, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway.  It was darling and made me miss my kids!  Thursday was our hottest day there-mid 80s!  So of course we had to ride Splash Mountain, which is always a hit.  Thursday was also a delicious food day.  It started with a red raspberry Mickey Macaron at 9:30 am.  Divine.  Lunch was at Cafe Orleans, which is one of my favorites anyway, but Joe and I tried the mint julep drink and could not get enough.  Later that afternoon we all stopped for dole whips and I got the strawberry dole whip sundae which consisted of dole whip, strawberry syrup, fresh strawberries and crumbled strawberry shortcake.  I was basically in heaven.  Fridays highlights were Radiator Racers, Incredicoaster, Guardians of the Galaxy and Soarin'.  That night we ate at a fantastic restaurant in California Adventure and we all loved it.  Saturday's highlights were riding in the canoes!  Bob remembers doing the canoes when he was a little boy at Disneyland.  We tried to do them on Thursday afternoon, and were loaded in the canoe and everything, but then that big riverboat broke down and was blocking our way so we had to get out.  We were all happy to finally experience the canoes on Saturday!  By that afternoon, we were all pretty wiped out, so we did Small World and took a couple of laps on the monorail for some rest and recharge!  After dinner, Nina went back to the hotel, Aubri went shopping, Richard and Bob rode Webslingers, and the rest of us, Becky, Nathan, Joe and myself waited in a 60 minute line to ride Guardians of the Galaxy with the promise that I would not hold on to anything.  Let me tell you, that scared me literally to death with the first rise and drop and I screamed Becky's name, but I never held on!  Usually I have a death grip on any handle I can get my hands on, but I was true to my word and never held on.  Completely changes the ride and I cannot believe how long you are airborne on that thing.  It is wild!  When that craziness was done, we said good-bye to Joe who went back to the hotel with Aubri and Bob, Becky, Richard, Nathan, and I walked all the way back to Disneyland to ride Rise of the Resistance one more time.  Such a fun ride!  On our way out of the park that night, Richard and I stopped in a store to grab one last thing and then we watched the entire firework display.  It is Disney's 100th year this year and it seems they have improved their firework show to celebrate.  They projected pictures from movies on all the buildings of Main Street and of course it was all perfectly synced with the music and fireworks.  At one point it reminded me of my favorite restaurant on the cruise, Animator's Palate and I started to cry!  Richard thought I was crazy.  :)  It was just a magical moment and I was missing our kids and remembering wonderful moments with them.  Disney is magic, that is for sure.  It was a great end to a great and memorable trip!  Oh, one other thing I cannot forget is Saturday morning Bob, Becky, Joe, Aubri, Richard and I slipped away from Disneyland for a bit and took a Lyft to the Newport Beach Temple and did sealings.  It was wonderful and rejuvenating in more ways than one.  

My parents did an awesome job holding down the fort here at home.  Our kids were busy with double-header soccer games, extra dance practices and the farm, but my parents helped get everyone where they needed to be, and all went well!  My Dad worked on jigsaw puzzles with the kids and they finished two entire puzzles!  We still have one puzzle set up that has hardly made any progress since my parents left, I think we just need them to move in with us.  :)  A huge thank you for my parents, and especially my Mom for helping two weeks in a row.  Richard and I got home Sunday afternoon shortly after everyone got home church and we were SO happy to be together.  We had a very relaxing Sunday afternoon and evening all home under one roof together.  

*Visit from the Hassells!  A handful of weeks ago I got a text from Anna asking if they could stay with us the night of February 13th.  Of course my answer was a resounding YES!  We have spent so many nights at the Hassell home and all the kids have been begging to have the Hassells at our house one time and Monday was the night!  I had promised my kids I would check them out of school if they were going to arrive before the end of the school day, and the timing could not have worked better on Monday.  Marshall actually didn't go to school that day because he was up in Layton at the district STEM fair.  Gretchen and I picked him up at 2:00, drove home and as soon as I pulled in the garage I got a text from Anna saying they would be to our house in 45 minutes.  I dropped Marshall off at home and went and checked Bridget and Rachel out.  The excitement in our house was surely at an all time high.  The Hassells arrived right at 3:00 and everyone was in heaven.  Georgie and Gretchen immediately started playing together and they were all over the house:  Gretchen's room, the living room, the loft, the big family room...they were having fun!  The other five kids picked up right where they left off this summer and played all afternoon and evening.  I gave Tim and Anna the grand tour of our house and before the evening was up Anna had sent us all her Pinterest board ideas for our master bathroom.  I told them they can come back next summer and just take care of the whole job for us.  Basically any house project Tim and Anna touch turns to gold.  Richard got home from work just after 5:30 and the wonderful Irion family, minus Grace, arrived just after 6:00.  We had the best evening together, reminiscent of so many dinners we shared together in Milwaukee.  Adults gathered around the kitchen table, kids running around playing, albeit much bigger kids now, but still having so much fun together.  We don't often see the Irion kids, and we need to change that because they are so fun.  The only bummer of the evening was Rachel had to be gone for dance from 5:00-7:15.  She was so disappointed to have to leave, but we compromised and I let her miss ballet which shaved off the first hour.  At 8:00, Xavier, Madie and their darling little Xailie arrived.  We had a house full and it made me so happy.  I hadn't seen Xailie since she was a brand new baby and now she is walking like a pro.  It is too bad it was a week-day because our fun had to end at a somewhat reasonable time.  The Irions left right around 9:00 and Xavier and his family stayed until almost 10:00.  Gretchen and Georgie had a sleepover in Gretchen's room and Gretchen was on Cloud 9 about it.  She has been asking me for weeks how long until her sleepover with Georgie.  After a story from Anna and a story from me those two girls fell fast asleep and both slept all night in their beds, which is nothing short of a miracle for both of them.  We put all the other kids down in the movie room and before all the adults went to bed after 11:00 pm I went down to check on them only to find that Fitz was the only one asleep!  Needless to say, we were all very tired the next morning!  Our timing worked perfectly with the Hassells that morning though.  We all had to be up early, but not too early, so our kids were getting ready for school and the Hassells were getting ready to fly back home and we were all awake together.  The kids all ate breakfast together around the table and it honestly made me so happy.  Our kids have shared so many breakfasts together through the years and it just made me happy to have them all around our table!  At 7:30 we took pictures and said our good-byes and off they went and the rest of our day went on without them.  We wish they could have stayed longer, but we loved the time we had with them!  Lifelong friends for sure.  That afternoon my kids asked me when the Hassells could come back.  :)  

*Other random highlights...I helped with Gretchen's and Rachel's class Valentine parties.  It was fun, but also exhausting.  I always say yes to these things, and then regret saying yes during all my preparations, and am so glad to have it done!  But my kids love it, and our elementary school days are numbered, so I guess I will keep doing it!  And speaking of elementary school days being numbered, on Wednesday evening Marshall and I went to a meeting at the junior high all about registering for high school classes, AP classes, CE classes through Weber, etc.  I cannot believe that Marshall will be a freshman in the fall and in September he gets his drivers permit.  What?!  Also, Bridget is picking her classes for junior high and this coming Wednesday I go back to the school with her to get her registered for 7th grade.  What is happening?!  I had a delightful evening on Thursday night.  I went to the Olive Garden with my parents for dinner and then my Mom and I went to Ballet West to see Sleeping Beauty.  Dinner with my parents was so wonderful.  I basically did all the talking and pretty much lost my voice, but it was so great to catch up with them.  Sleeping Beauty was exactly that, beautiful.  The costumes and sets were brand new and they were stunning.  The dancing was superb.  At any given moment, there were so many dancers on the stage and I was just captivated with the weaving in and out and around they did to get around each other.  There was so much color and movement and the dancing was pristine.  Such an elegant evening.  My Mom and I loved it, and I loved that time with her.  On Friday evening Richard and I went to the temple for an endowment session for ward temple night.  We made this appointment weeks ago, and then all the temple changes happened, and I was so happy we already had an appointment!  We both loved the new changes and I can honestly say I learned more in that endowment session than I have learned in the previous 18 years.  So, so good.  

And now I do have to write about a sad event, despite all this happiness I have written about.  Baby goats are being born at the farm and it really is such a happy time.  On Friday eight baby goats were born, and two of those babies were Luv Bug's.  Luv Bug is the goat Bridget has shown the last two years.  On Friday Cindi Garlick was texting out pictures of the new little goats and Bridget was beside herself with joy.  Late Friday night Cindi texted to me that Luv Bug had a boy and a girl, but the girl was born with a cleft palate and is not going to survive.  Also, this means that they will only keep Luv Bug for one more season.  My heart dropped when I read this text.  On Saturday morning I talked to Cindi who gave me an update on that sweet little doe.  She was still alive and had eaten well that morning and she said that Bridget was welcome to come down to see her.  After I talked to Cindi I talked to Bridget and broke this awful news to her.  She just laid on me and cried for a solid hour.  It was heart wrenching.  She did eventually calm down and spent the afternoon playing games with her sisters.  At 4:00 I told her that we should go down to the Garlick's to see that baby goat.  She wanted to go, but also didn't want to, and that brought on a whole other round of tears.  Finally, at 5:00 she and I drove to the farm.  All eight baby goats are in the basement in bins of straw and we got there right at their dinner time.  Bridget was able to feed a few of them bottles of milk, and that did her a world of good.  Luv Bug's little doe was in a bin by herself.  She is the tiniest out of all the goats, and significantly weaker than all the rest.  She did not eat well last night, but she sure is darling.  She has all of Luv Bug's coloring with darker fur and long, white speckled ears.  She is so fluffy and so soft and just completely darling.  When Bridget was done feeding the babies, she held and snuggled that little doe and I know it did her heart good.  We spent a full hour there and it was tender and sweet.  At one point Bridget was playing with some other goats and that little doe walked on her wobbly legs to Bridget and just nuzzled right into her legs.  The sweetest.  Bridget kept it together until we got in the car to drive home and she cried all over again.  The harsh realities of farm life are very real, and it is her first major experience with it.  She works at the farm tomorrow night, so we will see what that visit brings.  Sweet girl.

And on that note, I will sign off.  Here is to a new week, taking whatever comes!

We love each of you.

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel, and Gretchen :)

The Leake's Week-January 29, 2023

 Hello all,

It has been a week.  Busy, busy, busy.  Lots of snow.  No one putting napkins on our laps and cleaning up all our dinner dishes.  Sigh.  Yesterday we were trying to figure out lunch and Rachel put her hand on my arm and said, "Mom, just call Joe (one of our servers)!"  How I wish we could!  Needless to say, we are still adjusting.  :)  

Monday morning dawned bright and early for all of us.  Richard left for work at 6:00 am-lucky guy!  The kids reluctantly went back to school and I spent my school day writing last week's family email!  Ha!  I did get out on a walk with Ziggy while Gretchen was at music class, and he and I both enjoyed that.  After school for the big kids, Marshall went to soccer, Bridget and I worked at the farm (that's a slap back to reality for me!) and Rachel had dance.  Rachel's competition season is quickly approaching and that night all the competition teams performed their dances for each other.  We all went to bed completely exhausted that night.  Oh, I also had parent teacher conferences that afternoon with Bridget and Gretchen.  Both got rave reviews from their teachers.  They are learning, progressing, kind, respectful, friendly, and quiet.  :)  

Tuesday was just as busy.  Richard left for work at 6:00 again and presented at Tumor Board before he started working at 8:00.  I volunteered in kindergarten and Gretchen finally passed off all 70 of the pages in her skills book.  Hallelujah!  This means she gets to move onto reading books and she has been loving that this past week.  It is so fun to see her learning this new skill!  Soon we will have a family full of readers!  After school I chaperoned the musical rehearsal.  One of my friends was also helping and it was fun to catch up with her when we weren't helping kids.  The songs are sounding SO good.  The kids sing with great volume and I am excited to see this all up on stage in just a few short weeks!  Gretchen didn't want to come with me, and arranged to spend her afternoon at Charlie's-she had a great time!  Rachel had dance that afternoon and Marshall and Bridget had piano that evening.  

On Wednesday I helped set up the book fair at the elementary school so Gretchen went home with Mary Grace and played at her house that afternoon.  She had a blast, with her only complaint being that she didn't like how her mom made the macaroni and cheese.  :)  As soon as I was done helping with the book fair, I checked Rachel out of school because she had to go get two small cavities filled.  The Leake dentist saga continues.  It is nuts.  Rachel was a trooper though, it was fast and easy and she did a great job.  Here's to flossing!  The girls had early out that day because of parent teacher conferences, so once we were all home, I let them watch one movie while Rachel recuperated, and then it was back to our busy life.  Marshall, despite his best efforts to not make it into the school STEM Fair, was selected to participate.  Last year Richard did major hand holding through his entire project, but this year, Marshall did it all on his own.  It caused him quite a bit of stress at times, but he did it all by himself.  He wanted a good grade, but just didn't want to be one of ten chosen for the school fair.  Anyway, the fair was on Wednesday after school.  The judging went from 3:30-4:30 and then there was an open house at 5:30.  I zipped over to the school after I got Bridget home from horseback riding and Richard met us there after work.  There were some really cool projects and it was fun to walk around and look at all of them.  Much to Marshall's chagrin, he placed third!  Haha!  So, off to the district STEM fair he goes in a couple of weeks.  He is happy though because this gets him out of the semester project and he gets to miss a day of school-always trade offs!  We are proud of him though, and reminded him this actually means more than last year because he did this solely by himself!  The three of us got home just before 7:00 that evening and then I dashed off to the church for as FSY meeting, picked Rachel and Sara up from dance and finally walked in the door, completely exhausted, at 8:45 pm.  It had been a day!  Thankfully, Richard had cleaned up the kitchen and moved the other kids towards bed.  

Thursday was early out again and Rachel had her parent teacher conference.  Gretchen was at dance, but I met Bridget and Rachel at the book fair to get books and then we went to Rachel's conference.  She is crushing 4th grade and I am beyond proud of her.  I was just thinking back the other day how challenging first grade was for her, but she has completely caught up and is above all benchmarks and juggling everything in her life so well.  We enjoyed a bit of downtime at home with the earlier school schedule, but once 3:30 rolled around, we were back in it.  Rachel had piano and Marshall had soccer and then YM basketball.  He wasn't able to play in any games last year because of his soccer schedule, and he has missed the first two this season, so this was his first ever experience with church ball.  In these new situations, he hangs back and is so timid.  I am sure this email audience knows it is a killer to watch your child under-perform in something you know they are actually pretty good at.  Ah!  Richard and I were dying!  But, it was still a great experience for him and there were two high school aged-boys there and they were so good with these little 8th graders.  Bless them.  Marshall started to come out of his shell the last few minutes, so I fully anticipate he will get more and more comfortable.  

Friday I worked in the Charger Store.  It's been awhile, and I loved being back.  One kid brought us $5.50 in dimes, nickels and pennies in a ziploc bag!  I work with my friend, and I love hanging out with her in between the two lunches.  And of course, I always love seeing Marshall!  Since I was at the junior high, Gretchen went home from kindergarten with Naomi and had a ball at her house.  She approves of her mom's macaroni and cheese.  :)  Bridget and Rachel were forced to walk home from school that day, a complete travesty in their eyes!  Later that afternoon, I took Bridget and some other student council kids to the school to help clean up the book fair.  It went way faster than setting it up, so that was very nice!  That evening after dinner, we dropped Rachel and Gretchen off at our neighbor's and we took Marshall and Bridget up to the Bountiful Temple to do baptisms-Bridget's first time!  It was a lovely night in the temple and so wonderful to be there with Bridget!  It was actually really cool to see so many youth in the temple on a Friday night at 8:00 pm.  It was a special evening and I hope that Bridget always remembers it.  Even though we got home at 9:00 pm, we watched a one hour show about the building of Disney's newest cruise ship, The Wish.  Richard and I watched it earlier in the week and we knew the kids would love it.  It is so fascinating!  We all went to bed late, but got to sleep in Saturday morning!  

Saturday morning I made sourdough waffles and they were AMAZING.  All children also approved, which is amazing in and of itself.  We had Ziggy's bestie over for the day, Leo, so that is always fun.  He is such a good dog!  If only he could train Ziggy for us.  :)  Marshall and I went to his indoor soccer game.  Richard worked from home 10:30-6:30 pm.  All the girls played with friends in the afternoon, which was lovely.  The minute Richard finished work last night, he and I hopped in the car and zipped up Millcreek Canyon for a work dinner at Log Haven.  Neither of us had been there before and it was delicious and charming.  We both enjoyed visiting and talking and eating delicious food.  When we left the kids at 6:30 I didn't realize how far up the canyon this restaurant was and we didn't have any cell service.  I didn't notice this until about 9:30 pm, and we left at 10:00.  I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we got out of the canyon and we were not inundated by texts or missed calls from the kids.  When we got home, all was well and they were happy, despite still being awake at 10:45 pm.  We have become those people who put their six year old to bed at 11:00 pm on weekends.  

We have had a good Sunday today.  Richard had to work again, but at least he was at home.  We got a new bishopric today, so church was very exciting.  For now, Richard is still the clerk, his dream calling, so he is hoping that lasts for quite a while longer.  :)  The kids and I went to Toney FHE at my parents' house tonight.  It was loud and wild, but fun as always.  

We are gearing up for another busy week.  Marshall and I take off for St. George on Thursday for soccer and Richard will stay home with the girls.  The girls are less than thrilled with this arrangement, but they will still have a great time at home.  

I hardly took any pictures this week.  I am still in partial denial that we are home.  I keep listening to island vibe playlists on Spotify!  Ha!  

We love each of you.

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel and Gretchen :)

The Leake's Week-January 23, 2023

 Hello!

Our vacation has come and gone and we are back to the hustle of our daily life...sadly!  Our vacation was wonderful and a vacation is exactly what it was!  So relaxing and so much fun, which has made our re-entry into real life that much harder!  But, before I jump into all of that, I will write some about our days leading up to leaving because they were laden with stress!  

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, Rachel got a stomach bug right as Christmas break was ending.  Well, that stomach bug found Richard and he had a rough Saturday and Sunday before we left.  He has not been that sick in years.  Unfortunately for him, he was also working that weekend.  But, on the positive side, he was at least working from home.  He muddled through, and thankfully, he had that Monday off.  By that Sunday night I was a stress-case.  Seeing Richard so sick and needing to stick VERY close to a bathroom, I was seriously paralyzed in fear about one of us being sick during our travel days of Thursday and Friday.  

On Monday morning I woke up and realized that my temporary crown was gone.  Completely gone!  I am convinced I swallowed it in my sleep!  Ah!  I called my dentist that morning and thankfully my permanent crown had arrived and they squeezed me in that afternoon.  A miracle!  It was quick and painless and I am SO happy to have all of that behind me-it has been a long and drawn out ordeal!  

Thankfully, on Tuesday I woke up in a better and more optimistic mood.  I just decided we were going to be very specific in our prayers and pray our hearts out for good health for Thursday and Friday and then just hope for the best!  Richard was back at work that day, and while he was doing better, he was still feeling pretty crummy.  That afternoon I was taking some stuff down to the basement and I had my hands full.  As I started down the stairs, I had the thought to turn on the basement light, but I decided not to (of course all of this happened in a split second of thought) and before I knew it, I had missed the last stair and my big toe on my left foot took the brunt of the impact.  Oh my goodness.  I was in PAIN!  I immediately just laid down in the hallway and tried not to pass out!  It was immediately swollen and started bruising.  Not the best sign!  Ah!  I decided to assume it was just sprained/jammed, and worry about it after we got home if it wasn't doing better.    

Our Wednesday was packed full.  Richard had a late work shift that day, so he was able to be home that morning and try to recuperate.  He brought all our suitcases upstairs that morning and then had to lay down!  He had hardly eaten anything since Saturday afternoon and he was wiped out!  I just kept busy doing laundry, running errands, checking things off my packing list, and running the kids all over the place!  All while hobbling around with my hurt toe!  I finally let Richard look at my toe before he left for work.  As soon as I took my sock off he told me it was broken!  What?!  We agreed though that everything was properly aligned, so waiting to get an x-ray would only slow down the healing and not be too detrimental.  For the record, he thought my whole approach was unwise, but I could not be swayed!  Richard left for work at 2:00, I picked up the girls from school at 3:30, took Bridget straight to horseback riding and then afterward, she and I went to go get our nails done!  That was the highpoint of my day, and I am sure glad I got those 45 minutes of pampering in!  That evening Rachel had dance, and Marshall and Bridget went to YM/YW.  Just before 9:00 pm that night, Richard texted me to tell me that one of his teeth had been bothering him that day and that night at work he realized his small crown on that tooth was starting to crack!  What?!?!  This same thing happened to him years ago when Bridget was a baby and within days the whole crown and tooth was literally falling apart.  Of course, this was the last thing we wanted to have happen while we were on the cruise!  I immediately began calling dentist offices to see if anyone could get him in that night for an emergency or at 6:00 am the next morning!  I had zero luck, so he stopped at a Walgreens at 11:00 pm that night to get some stuff that might help.  We fell into bed after midnight that night very stressed about what the next day would hold!  

We woke up at 6:00 am Thursday morning and I had decided that I was going to try and get Richard a dentist appointment around Murray between work and our flight.  Fingers crossed!  I texted the wonderful Katie Irion that morning because her brother is a dentist and I was hopeful he could help.  Richard's work schedule and availability did not line up with her brother's, but they did give us an excellent recommendation that completely worked out!  Richard had to work until 5:00 in Murray and I got him an appointment at an office very close by at 5:30 and our flight was scheduled for 9:00 pm!  The kids were so helpful that afternoon as we wrapped up everything at home.  Gretchen was able to go to dance and Rachel was able to go to piano as well.  I had dropped Ziggy off at doggy-day care that morning, and I will admit, it was nice to have him gone for most of the day!  At 6:00, my Mom came to pick up the kids and me and take us to the airport so that Richard could use our parking reservation for his car.  This was a last minute change, and I was so grateful for my Mom's help!  We loaded all our suitcases and backpacks in the car and were off!  The kids were amazing at the airport.  It was not busy and we got all our luggage checked and breezed through security.  We got dinner at Shake Shack and Panda Express and eventually made our way down to the gate around 8:00 pm.  Things went well for Richard at the dentist.  Turns out, it is a pretty posh practice and he was in exceptional hands!  They were able to take care of his tooth, put on a temporary crown, and sent him with some cement in case the crown fell off on the cruise!  Ha!  Luckily, all was well on the cruise and he got the permanent crown on the day after we got home.  What is happening to our teeth?!  Anyway, Richard finally met  up with us at our gate about 8:30, just before we boarded.  We all got on the plane, and it looked like we were ready to leave early, but then they came on the speaker and told us there was a problem with the plane, we all needed to get off, and they would find us a different plane.  Ah!  Not what you want to hear at 9:00 pm.  So, off we went and thankfully, we were able to use the plane at the next gate over.  We were on the plane by about 9:30, but didn't take off until close to 10:30.  It was a night.  We landed in Houston about 2:00 am, got our bags, caught the shuttle to our hotel and literally fell into hotel beds at 3:00 am.  It had been a day.  

We all slept so well that night, even though it was very short!  We were up at 8:30 to get dressed, eat breakfast and catch the Disney shuttle to Galveston!  Yay!  Our excitement was very high that morning!  The drive to Galveston took a little over an hour and it was so fun to see the big cruise ship in the distance as we were coming into the port.  Ah!  So exciting!  Our check-in process was so smooth.  A porter took our suitcases from the bus to the ship and then they were delivered directly to our room.  The line for security and to check in with our passports was smooth.  Every employee was completely delightful and all smiles.  They had a picture area set up for us to get our pictures taken and then we walked down a long terminal to the ship.  Just before we got to the entrance of the ship, they asked us our last name, and then they announced, "Hello Leake Family!  Welcome to your Disney Cruise!"  We walked into the tall and beautiful atrium of the ship and Daisy Duck was there to greet us and it was so wonderful!  By this time, it was about 1:00 in the afternoon and we were hungry, so we went up to Deck 9 to Cabanas, which was a lunch buffet.  We were greeted with endless delicious food and ate out on the deck.  It was a little chilly and pretty windy, so we didn't last long, but we were grateful for the food!  We did a little bit of exploring around the ship and then went to our rooms.  We had two adjoining rooms and they were perfect.  Each stateroom slept three people, so we just divided that way and always kept our interior doors open and it was great!  We were on Deck 2 of the ship, so lower down, but both our rooms had big porthole windows and we loved having those windows.  After exploring our room, we met up with our friends, the Atkinsons who are pros at cruises and they showed us all around.  It was wonderful!  They took us to all the kids clubs and we got the girls all set up with their bracelets so they could check in and out of the clubs.  They took us up to Deck 9 to show us more restaurants and the pools.  It was so helpful.  I still felt so completely turned around on this big ship, but the kids had it down!   At 4:00 we had a safety drill real quick to find out where we would line up if we needed to get in a lifeboat and then at 4:30 we went to the Sail Away Party on Deck 9.  It was SO fun!  All the Disney characters were there and there was singing and dancing and streamers and music and before we knew it, the ship was moving!  We got some ice cream and enjoyed watching Galveston drift away from us.  Our assigned dining time was 8:15, so we had some time to kill.  The girls went to the movie theater with the Atkinson kids to watch a movie and eat buckets of popcorn.  Richard, Marshall and I explored the ship, went up to Deck 10 and saw the end of a gorgeous sunset and played on the sports deck.  When I was up on Deck 10 with those two, I was just overwhelmed with joy, and also complete shock!  Here I was on a cruise ship, with my family, including Richard, and things were wonderful!  We had dinner that night at Animator's Palette.  This was our most favorite restaurant of the cruise.  Such a fun atmosphere.  It is black and white and there are big screens all around the room.  Throughout the dinner, sketches of Disney characters would appear on each screen.  It was so fun to watch them during dinner and guess which character was being drawn.  Later on, the sketches started to move and dance.  Then, as we were eating dessert, the sketches began to be filled in with color and then they completely came to life with music and full animation and then Mickey Mouse appeared and danced around and greeted everyone and it was nothing short of magical.  That night we also met our waiters who would take care of us for all our dinners:  Beethoven and Joe and we LOVE them both.  Beethoven is from the Philippines and Joe is from Thailand.  They were the kindest, most fun people and made every dinner a true delight.  They played jokes on my kids, Beethoven always had riddles for us, Joe made beautiful origami creations for each of the kids, and he made a darling little mouse out of a cloth napkin for Gretchen named Momo.  Momo is currently her most prized possession.  Those two took such great care of us.  They called us family and cut up my kids food, always had a booster seat for Gretchen, kept Richard and Marshall well stocked with their drinks, and were so fun.  A handful of times we saw Joe earlier in the day around the ship, and that was always a treat!  We are still hopping we wake up one morning and they are at our house!  After dinner that night we were all so tired we went to our rooms and went straight to bed.  We all slept SO well that night and SO long.  All of us slept between 11 and 12 hours!  Ha!  The beds were so comfortable, the rooms so dark, we were so exhausted and I am certain the rocking of the boat lulled us all into the deepest sleep of our lives!  

Now, in an attempt to shorten this up a bit, I am just going to hit some highlights:

*Cozumel:  Our first port was Cozumel on day 3-we loved this day!  We had to get up early and have breakfast and were off the ship about 9:00 am.  It was SO well organized.  The transition from Disney people to our tour guides was seamless.  We had two tour guides that day who took excellent care of us.  They led us through the port area, a shopping area, and eventually to a bus.  We had a 20 minute drive to some Mayan ruins and they talked to us the whole time about Cozumel and the history there.  It was fascinating.  80% of the island of Cozumel is preserved as vegetation.  It is incredibly green and pure jungle.  We all commented to each other that we all thought Wisconsin was green, but Cozumel is green times ten!  The Mayan ruins were fascinating.  And it was so interesting to learn all about the Mayan culture.  The kids especially loved it and have retained so many details that they learned!  After the ruins we got back on the bus and drove for quite awhile around the island following the coastline.  Such beautiful water.  Our next stop was a short chocolate tour and 90 minutes at a beach.  The water around Cozumel was beautiful light blue and so crystal clear-water I have only ever seen in pictures!  The water was only shallow for a little bit, and there were life jackets available at the beach, so we got all the kids in life jackets and then lived it up for 90 minutes.  There were two inflatables for kids to play on.  Bridget and Rachel played with Avery and they spent time on the inflatable that was close to us and they also just had so much fun playing in the water.  Marshall, being so brave, swam out to the inflatable that was quite a ways off.  And it was huge.  It was so fun to watch him swim out there and play!   Once again I had this moment of, "We are swimming in the ocean, in the Caribbean, and Marshall is playing on a giant inflatable and having the time of his life!"  Wow!  Gretchen had a ball in the water.  She spent some time playing in the sand, but for the most part she and I were in the water and she was splashing and laughing and having so much fun.  Even Richard came and joined us in the ocean!  A miracle!  I could be wrong, but I don't think he has ever gone in the ocean.  It was such a fun, fun excursion.  When our beach time was done, we got back on the bus and they drove us back to the port.  We were starving when we got back on the ship-we had been gone most of the day.  We dropped our bags off in our room and then went straight up to Deck 9 and we ate whatever the heck we wanted!  We ate and ate and sat at a table overlooking the ocean and it was just dreamy!  We loved our day in Cozumel and has us all sold on going back to Mexico one day.  

*Grand Cayman:  Our next port was the very next day in the Cayman Islands.  We had a shorter excursion, so we didn't have to get up quite as early, which was nice!  There are protected coral reefs all along these islands, so the big cruise ships have to anchor down away from them.  When it was time for our excursion, we took a tender boat from the cruise ship to land.  It was just a few minutes, but I loved it.  We were speeding through the ocean, still in the most gorgeous water I have ever seen, and it took us right up to the island.  This excursion wasn't quite as well organized as Cozumel, but we eventually made our way to a bus and had about a 30 minute drive to our dolphin swim.  Grand Cayman was much more Americanized, if that's a word!  We saw familiar stores and restaurants as we drove around.  We drove past huge, beautiful mansions, and very small and humble homes.  The Cayman Islands are a British Territory, so you drive on the left side of the road.  That was fun to experience!  We eventually made it to our dolphin swim.  It was right on the coast, but we were at a center that had several pools of various sizes and there were dolphins in all of them.  We got to watch the group before us for a bit and we loved watching the dolphins jump and dive and play.  When it was our turn to get in the water, we got paired up with a family of five.  We all got our life jackets on and walked to the biggest pool.  All 11 of us got in with the trainer and two dolphins.  The water was deeper than I was expecting and Gretchen couldn't touch!  This unnerved her a little bit, even though she was wearing a life jacket.  She spent most of the time clinging to me and Richard, so she didn't go out to do any swimming, but she still got to pet the dolphins and do tricks with them, and the highlight for her was making the dolphin "fart".  She giggled and giggled and loved it.  Our family was actually the first to swim with them, right off the bat.  The other family started with the touching and tricks, but there was no warm up for us!  Within minutes of being in the pool, the trainer told me to swim out and wait for a dolphin.  I was equal parts excited and terrified.  I was the first one so I had no idea what was going to happen.  He sent a dolphin out to me, she came around behind my back and when she was on my right side she flipped over to her back and I grabbed on to both her fins and she pulled me back to the wall!  It was exhilarating!  Richard went right after me and he did great!  When he got back to the wall he said, "Wow!  That was actually really cool!"  Victory right there folks!  Richard in a pool swimming with a dolphin!  After all of us got a turn to dance, kiss, and do a trick with the dolphins, as well as pet them...side note...dolphins shed their skin every two hours!  They are so, so soft.  It is amazing.  Anyway, after all of that, we each got a turn on a boogie board.  We kicked out to the other end of the pool and then the dolphins came for us!  For adults, the trainer sent two dolphins, for kids he sent one.  We had to keep our legs straight behind us as we waited and then the dolphins would come up from behind and push our feet with their noses.  We were flying through the water-it was incredible!  Once everyone had their turn with the dolphin, our time was done and we had to get out.  Sadly!  I would have loved to do more, but it was surely a highlight!  

*Highlights from the ship:  There was so much to do on the ship, you could be as busy or as laid back as you wanted to be.  All throughout the day and evening there were fun games going on all over.  Disney trivia, Marvel trivia, music trivia, and all other sorts of games.  Some were for the whole family, others were just for adults, and there were games going on in all the kids/teens clubs.  Something for everyone!  We did several of these and loved them all.  The staff running them were so fun and always had us laughing.  Richard and Marshall took second place in a Marvel trivia.  We found out we are terrible at Disney trivia and literally know nothing, but we are pretty darn good with music trivia!  After dinner on two nights Richard and I met up with the Atkinsons in the adult lounge and played games in there and had a ball laughing and laughing.  There is a movie theater on the ship and the girls watched Disenchanted one night and one afternoon Richard and Marshall watched Black Panther 2.  In the evenings, there were live shows in a different theater.  We watched "Twice Charmed" a Cinderella story, "Tangled" and "Disney Dreams".  These were all exceptional, but Disney Dreams was especially amazing.  Maybe because it was our last night on the ship, but I honestly cried seven times during that show.  It was incredible!  They had snow falling on the audience while Olaf was singing, confetti shooting out during "Under the Sea", beautiful dancing and music from the Lion King.  I also loved watching Gretchen during this show, she was enamored by it all and it was magical-a theme of the trip!  The stage is incredible for all of these shows, not quite Hale Center Theater, but sections of the stage move up and down, the scenery is incredible, actors are flying, it's just amazing to think this is all happening on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean!  We spent one entire afternoon just swimming and hanging out on Deck 9.  We just lounged around, ate, slept, watched the movie playing on the giant screen, swam, ate some more, it was SO relaxing and wonderful.  The ship has a slide called "The Aquadunk".  Marshall, Bridget and I all did it.  Marshall once, I did it twice, and Bridget did it 42 times.  :)  The Aquadunk is a slide that you go into a tube, standing up, and the floor drops down under you and you fall almost straight down before leveling out, making a couple of turns and then coming out the end.  It is wild!  The turns take you out over the ship, 100 feet above the ocean.  You can't tell this because you are going so fast and water is just shooting up into your face, but a thrill nonetheless!  Richard took a video of each of us going down the slide for the first time and you can hear my scream on that first drop!  Ha!  I am proud of myself for doing it twice...I was more nervous the second time!  Clearly, Bridget loved it and she and Avery were up and down that thing.  On our last afternoon, we were all up on Deck 9 swimming.  At one point, I was in the pool with all four kids.  We were playing motorboat (Gretchen's new favorite game).  We were holding hands and going around in a circle and I just had this moment where I looked at those four kids and I was just so overwhelmed with love for them and gratitude and amazement that here we were, playing in a pool together on top of a cruise ship in the middle of the Carribean.  It's what dreams are made of.  I hope to remember it forever!  We loved the restaurants where we were able to eat dinner.  There are three restaurants and because the cruise was six days, we got to eat at each of the restaurants twice.  I already wrote about our first dinner at Animator's Palette, but our second one was equally fun.  Before dinner, we each drew our own character and then before dessert all our characters were displayed and animated up on the screen.  We found all six of ours and it was so fun and creative.  We ate at Rapunzel's Royal Table twice and that was a party both times and so interactive.  Lumiere's was the third restaurant.  It was so elegant and just a lovely setting.  And while we are on the topic of food, we all loved the constant access to soft serve ice cream.  I don't even know how many ice cream cones we consumed!  Gretchen and I loved a restaurant on Deck 9 called Daisy Delites.  They had an abundance of sandwiches and wraps, but Gretchen and I especially oved their fresh fruit.  Pretty much every afternoon she and I would go there and get a plate loaded with watermelon for her and pineapple for me, complete with a bowl full of cookies.  Balance in all things!

Lastly, I just want to end with everyone's favorites...

Gretchen:  making the dolphin fart, taking pictures with Minnie, Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Tiana.  The beach at Cozumel, Joe and Momo.  And the hot tub.  :)

Rachel:  the dolphins, Mayan ruins, chocolate tour, beach in Cozumel.  Going to the front of the ship on Deck 10.  All the live shows.  

Bridget:  swimming with dolphins, beach in Cozumel, Aquadunk, unlimited ice cream and Deck 9 in general.  Live shows.

Marshall:  beach at Cozumel, Mayan ruins, playing with Dad.  Love.  All the trivia games.  

Jenny:  sunsets from the ship, swimming with dolphins, Mayan ruins, swimming with kids, naps on Deck 10, Disney Dreams show, games on the ship.  

Richard:  Mayan ruins, dolphin swim (what?!  a miracle), all the activities and games on the ship, meals with Joe and Beethoven.  We MISS them!

And lastly, I am so glad we did this trip and that it went so well.  This was our first foray into international travel and we all loved every minute of it.  I love that our kids got to experience different parts of the world.  They got to hear different languages, different accents, and meet and interact with people from all over the world.  When we got home, we made a list of all the countries we met people from, and we came up with 22 countries!  We can't wait to keep exploring together!  

And if you made it this far, thanks for reading my journal entry.  :)

We love each of you!

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel and Gretchen :)