Corona Virus and I Got Hired!

Basically, the world has gone crazy in the past two weeks.
That is all.

Hopefully, I will look back on this in about a month and say, "Wow, that was sure a wild week. I'm glad that's over with." At this point, no one really knows. (The good news is, our snow is finally melting! So at least there's that!)

To sum up the development of Corona Virus... At the end of January, as we were getting ready to fly home from Florida, my friend, Lindsey, told me that her mom had said on the phone that there was this new virus called Corona Virus that people were talking about. She said, "My mom said that there's this new virus coming out of China that the government is worried about. She said they might take our temperatures at the airport when we land!" I thought, "Well that's crazy..." and didn't think too much of it. They didn't do anything to check us when we landed in Salt Lake on January 25th.

Fast forward to now: March 15. Our church meetings have all been cancelled and we just got finished having our own Sunday church service in our living room using the "Come Follow Me" manual with our family. BYUI has cancelled all classes for at least the next two weeks. Many school functions including school plays, dance recitals, basketball games and so forth have been cancelled. The NBA has decided to conclude its season early. There will be no "March Madness," at least not in the basketball sense of the phrase. School for the Rexburg district is still on for tomorrow... but is barely hanging by a thread. Many school districts surrounding Rexburg have decided not to hold classes for at least the next two weeks as teachers scramble to assemble packets and online learning. Fond du Lac is not having school.

Everyone is trying to do everything they can to prevent the spread of this sickness so that America is not affected like other countries, especially Italy. It seems like Italy has been hit especially hard by Corona Virus (or COVID-19 as it is officially called) partly due to their large population of elderly people and partly because they all live in such close proximity of each other. Their hospitals are overloaded with people.

Here in Rexburg, so far the biggest inconvenience is that every store is out of toilet paper. That seems to be the item that people are most panicked about not having should they end up being confined to their homes for three weeks. We were actually the lowest we have EVER been on toilet paper about a week before all heck broke loose. Luckily, we did go and get a pack of 24 rolls right before things really hit the fan. A few days later, as the church announced they would not be holding Sunday services, the population of Rexburg really went into panic mode. I tried to order some paper in a Walmart pick-up order and when I went, they said, "Sorry, no toilet paper in the whole store." Everything else was in my order, as far as food items like bananas, brownie mix, and so on, but no toilet paper.

So then right after that (which would've been Thursday morning, March 12) Josh and I drove to Albertson's, a different store that is right down the road from Walmart. I would say their shelves had about 30 percent of the toilet paper left. I bought about another 24 rolls and Josh was shaking his head the whole time like, "This is embarrassing..." but guess what?! Later that day, you couldn't find toilet paper ANYWHERE in the state of Idaho. And it's been like that for the past few days. I'm thinking that in a week or so it's got to level off. People can only hoard so much toilet paper.

That is the update on the Corona Virus and the toilet paper stock in Rexburg! Other than that, it seems like everyone is doing okay. We haven't felt sick yet. The funny thing is, Josh got really sick right after we got home from our cruise. it was all of the symptoms that describe Corona Virus: deep cough in the lungs, body aches, fever, etc. He had this for a solid 2-3 weeks! In retrospect, we are like, "You probably got it on our cruise and we didn't even know it was a thing yet!"

I'm really happy that our church came out with the new study manuals last year that outline all of the Sunday school lessons for all of 2020. Everything has been done to push the new "home-centered church" over the past year and now everyone is like, "Ohhh... this is why..." It's kind of crazy. Also, last October at the semi-annual general conference, President Nelson announced at the pulpit, "The next general conference (in April 2020) will be different from any previous conference. In the next sixth months, I hope that every member and every family will prepare for a unique conference..."

At the time, we all just thought, "Ooh, maybe there will be a special musical performance or something!" haha Now we are all like, "Ohhh... he meant because they won't be actually holding a conference where thousands of people sit together in the conference center. It will all be done via satellite and everyone will just listen in their homes!" It's crazy to realize, "Wow... he knew."

It makes me think of the time when a flood hit Fond du Lac in June of 2008. Caleb had just been born on June 6th and we got home from the hospital back to my mom's house on June 9th. A couple of days later, on June 11th at about 5pm, Josh got a call from the Bishop of our ward saying that he needed him to come and help unload a truck of supplies that had just arrived from Salt Lake. I was like, "Ummm... I just had a baby and you don't need to go help." But of course, Josh did. When he got home that night I asked, "What the heck was so important that Salt Lake sent a truck with? What was it? What did you unload?" Josh told me it was a bunch of 5 gallon buckets with bleach, rubber gloves, garbage bags, and other cleaning supplies. I thought, "Well that's weird." The next night, a huge flood hit the town. Our church was able to hand out hundreds of buckets with cleaning supplies to people who had been affected and were trying to clean up their homes and prevent mold.  I've learned now to just shut my mouth and listen when the leaders of the church tell us to do things!

The other big news is... I got hired!!! I took my big test on March 2, which I talked about in my last post. I found out that I passed the multiple choice portion right away, but it took about a week to find out about the essay. I found out on March 9th that I passed! I had already been subbing a few times and had chatted with both the principal at the middle school and at the junior high. In Rexburg, we have 5th and 6th grade at the middle school and 7th-9th at the junior high.

The principal at the middle school, Mr. Bone, wanted to meet with me one day after school on March 11th. In the meeting, I walked in and also saw two of Caleb's current teachers sitting there. I found out as the meeting began that the English teacher, Mrs. Jones (Caleb's current homeroom teacher) was planning to take a different job at the district office and they wanted to interview me to replace her. It was kind of funny because I know that "team" of teachers well (from Caleb) and I didn't know that was the team that would have an opening. The other two teachers are both men, Mr. Spencer (math) and Mr. Bloom (science). We chatted for about 45 minutes and it went well. The next day, in between subbing a choir class, Mr. Bone pulled me aside and offered me the job, teaching 6th grade English, officially. I was very honest with him and told him that I had also been talking with the Jr. High principal and was considering working there from the very beginning, so I would have to think for a few days and get back to him.

Two days later, on Friday, the principal at the Jr. High called me in for an interview and at the end of it, he officially offered me a job teaching 8th grade English. So then I had a decision to make! I told him I would let him know by the end of the weekend.

I thought about it and talked with the kids about it and they actually REALLY wanted me at the Junior High. Caleb will be in 7th grade next year and Gabe will be in 9th, so they will both be there. The 8th grade teacher that I will be replacing is actually the one that Gabe has right now for English. She had a baby in January and has been out on maternity leave. I was thinking she would decide not to come back and I guess I was right!

So now I have to officially plan to teach 8th grade in the fall! I am excited and also nervous, but hopefully I can prepare for the next 5 months and feel ready by August! Also, hopefully the Corona Virus gets over with in the next couple weeks and we don't end up having the next month off of school!

In other news, Avery has been getting her two front teeth for the past few weeks and guess what... they are so crooked even I could tell she would need braces right away. So I took her to the orthodontist and YUP, turns out he DOES want my money (shocker). In truth though, they really are turned so bad that they're hitting her bottom teeth and ruining her teeth every time she closes her mouth. So they are going to get braces on her before the end of March. They will also need to pull a total of six teeth and put in space maintainers. It's going to be a great few weeks. (sarcasm)

She also had Dr. Suess week at school a couple weeks ago and she dressed up with some friends as "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish, black fish, white fish...." Here is a picture!

Finally, Caleb finished off his basketball season with the rec department on Saturday. It was a good experience for him I think, but sadly they did not win a single game. Their coach was awesome though and a really nice guy. He made sure they knew it wasn't about winning and they all improved. They had some close games! The game on Saturday (which just BARELY was not cancelled due to Corona virus) was their closest game yet. It would've been awesome for them to win, but in the last 6 seconds they were down by four points. One of their players had the ball way down at the opposite end. He dribbled for about 3 seconds, not even making it to half court, and took the longest Hail Mary shot I've ever seen... and guess what... it SWISHED into the basket! It was INSANE. Seriously the craziest basket I've ever seen. The whole crowd erupted with stunned applause and cheers. They didn't win the game, but it kinda felt like they did. :)

Valentine's, Teacher Stuff, and Please Let This Winter ENNND!!!

Here is what has been going on in the past month...

Valentine's Day

Caleb has this girl in his class named Brylee that he asked to be his Valentine (I guess that's a thing in middle school) so he went to Walmart and picked out a little dog stuffed animal and some candy for her. He even dressed up on Valentine's Day (and by that I mean he didn't wear sweatpants to school) and he decorated her locker with heart lights! It was so cute. He also came home with a stuffed animal and some candy.

I had asked Gabe if he needed to buy anyone anything and he said, "No, I am trying to avoid girls this week so no one asks me to be their Valentine and I don't have to buy anything." (Nice.) I know for a fact there is a girl at our church who had her friend come up to Gabe and ask him, "Do you have a Valentine yet?" (Caleb witnessed this and told me.) To which Gabe replied, "No, and I don't want one." (Again, nice.) So I bought him a big bag of skittles and told him to take it to school in his backpack just in case a girl DID come up and bring him something. I told him if no one gave him anything, then he could bring them home and eat them himself. At the end of the day he sat down on the couch and pulled out the Skittles and said, "I successfully avoided people all day so I could eat these." He's a real charmer that one. I didn't take a picture of him alone with his skittles.

Avery's class had a little party, which the room mom had asked me to plan a game for. I went to Avery's class with Josh, who had off that day, and we did this little hot potato game first and then did a game that's basically like beer pong, but we didn't call it that. They just had to bounce a ball into a cup! They had fun. Her class also had a chocolate fountain and exchanged valentines with everyone.

Avery's Presidential Fair

Something they always do when they are in second grade at Burton elementary is this Presidential Cookie Fair. They do a report on a president (which is chosen for them) and then the parents have to help them make this big trim-fold poster with pictures and fun facts. THEN, the teacher also sends home a recipe that she gets from some cookbook which has what "could have been" each presidents' favorite cookie. In the past, Gabe had Benjamin Harrison (I don't even remember what cookie we made) and Caleb had Teddy Roosevelt (who liked snickerdoodles.) This year, Avery had Franklin Pierce, who was apparently the worst and most forgettable president of all time. It literally said that on many websites. His cookie was the "New Hampshire Seed Cookie" and contained sesame seeds. It was super weird. But we made them and some people ate them and then I threw the rest away. lol
Then she also had to do this square dance thing with her cute little boy partner, Hendricks. (Fun fact: Hendricks is a twin and both of them and Avery were born on July 18th, 2012 in the same hospital in Idaho Falls... They probably laid next to each other in the nursery....I'm sharing that at their wedding some day... if she marries one of them.) It was so cute to watch them all dance together. Then at the end, they did the bunny hop. Here are some pictures!

Caleb has been playing basketball with the rec department team. I haven't really taken many pictures. I have taken a few videos, but they don't really post well on here. His team is made up of sixth and seventh graders, but I think his team is mostly sixth graders. They have been playing most Saturday mornings for the past month or so and they haven't won a single game... so it's been a little rough. They honestly aren't awful and the games are usually pretty close, they just haven't quite gotten a win. They have one more game left, so we will see what happens!

Gabe has been having lots of soccer practices. He is playing on a competitive team again this year that we have to pay an arm and a leg and our first born child for (luckily he is our first born child, so it's okay). He tried out back in November and they started having practices at the end of January. He was pretty excited the other day because he came home from practice and told us that he had been chosen to be a starter and he will be playing "left wing" (whatever that means). I think it means he's not the one that is typically scoring the goals, but he can run up there and score if he wants to. I'm not really sure. He's like, just behind the forwards, kind of in the middle. His good friend, Amos, is on the team too, so they have a lot of fun together. They have their first tournament in Boise in a few weeks.

Avery has been doing tap lessons all year, but she has really been difficult about it lately. She had her performance in February and she's supposed to have another one this weekend in Blackfoot, but I am thinking about just letting her be done after it. The teacher has been a real pill about it though and is telling me that I still have to pay for the months of April and May even if she quits (which I don't really understand...) but whatever. So we will see. I am debating if I should try a different studio with her next fall or try gymnastics or something else. She's kind of a stubborn girl and when she decides she doesn't want to do something it's VERY hard to make her go. Plus, with me starting to substitute teach I am often not home in time to get her to dance class at 4:00.

On Friday, February 21, I worked my last day as a secretary at Burton elementary. Denise gave me this sweet little basket of goodies on my last day!

Then I spent the following week studying. I did also sub at the Junior High on Monday, Feb. 24 but it was super easy because it was the last day of the trimester so they were just watching a movie AND they had a student teacher that basically did everything. I just sat there in the back of the class and watched Zootopia and observed. It was pretty nice. Then I also subbed at the Middle school (5th and 6th grade) for an art class on Friday, Feb. 28. That time I was actually by myself running the class, but it was only from 11:30-2:00 and it was little half hour classes. Then I took my big test the following Monday (two days ago) and I subbed yesterday, March 3, for a 5th grade class at the middle school. It was for a math teacher so I had to quick reteach myself how to convert tons to pounds and pounds to ounces! It wasn't too tricky, luckily, and I was able to figure it out before class started!

But let's also talk for a minute about the big test I mentioned...
I took my second/final big teacher test two days ago!

I had taken the "PTK" exam, which stands for "Professional Teacher Knowledge," in December. Then I enjoyed the holidays and we went on our cruise and I didn't really crack down on studying again until the end of January. Then I started studying for the English/Literature exam. This was the one that I was even more nervous about. I had talked to a number of people who had done this program and many people said they had easily passed the PTK, but then failed multiple times on the second one. A few people I know had actually failed THREE times, which in those cases then you are just done and you don't get a teacher's certificate and you forfeit your money!! So I really didn't want that to happen.

So I studied my little brains out the whole month of February. A lot of it was on poems, novels, dramas, and historical speeches I had never read before. There were also additional sections on grammar and writing, research strategies, speech and debate, and then some more teaching principles.  Simply put, it was a LOT of information. I had scheduled my exam for March 2 a while ago and I debated moving it further into March as the date got closer, but I decided to just go for it.

The day I took it was a crazy day because Josh and I started to drive down to Pocatello and we got about 3/4 of the way there and then some crazy stuff started happening in Rexburg and they needed Josh to come with Drax! So we pulled off the highway and a state trooper that was nearby let Josh hop in and then sped him back to Rexburg with his lights and sirens on! (I think Josh actually secretly likes feeling like Batman in these situations.) So then I drove myself the rest of the way to Pocatello and went in and took my test! The test had 150 multiple choice questions, which they allowed you three hours for. Then right after you finished the multiple choice section, a timer started for one hour for you to write an essay! They had told us in the preparation materials that the essay would involve reading and then writing an analysis of a poem. It was very stressful. I said a little prayer right before I clicked into the essay section that I would be given a poem I was familiar with. Thankfully, it was a poem I had read before and even knew a little bit of historical background about! I was soooo happy! It was called "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar. It's basically about this caged bird that is singing and it's symbolic of African-Americans in the early twentieth century.

But my happiness was short-lived as I started to write and, for some reason, I got hung up on one part about the symbolism. I worked on it for a while, rewriting and deleting, and then I looked at the clock and I only had 19 minutes left!! I quickly wrote the remaining three paragraphs and then looked at the clock. I only had 4 minutes left! And I hadn't even read through the whole thing once! So I started reading through it as fast as I could, catching a few errors and fixing them as I went, and the whole time I'm looking back and forth up at the timer on my screen as it ticks down to 3 minutes.... 2 minutes.... 1 minute... I actually still have PTSD just writing about it now. I was reading back the final paragraph when suddenly by screen went blank and the words, "YOUR TIME HAS EXPIRED" were on the screen. Then it said, "Please alert the proctor that you are finished by raising your hand." So I slowly rose my hand and the lady came over and escorted me out of the room. And that was that!

When I walked back out into the lobby with her, she gave me the little print-out that shows the score and I was like, "I don't even want to open this in front of you in case I need to go start crying in my car." She kind of laughed nervously like, "I hope she's not serious." Josh actually popped his head back into the lobby at that moment and I was like, "How'd you get here?" I guess a co-worker had driven him back down! So then we walked out into the hallway and I said, "That was a really hard test. I don't even know if I want to open this." But then I did and I PASSED! Well, I should say, I passed the multiple choice! The essay needs to get sent to this company that has a panel read it and then give you a score. So honestly, I'm still stressed out because if I end up failing the essay, I have to take the WHOLE thing over again!

And that brings me to where I am now.... anxiously checking my online page every day in hopes that they will post a report saying I passed the essay. I will seriously cry if I fail. I do NOT want to take that test again.

So today I am just here relaxing, cleaning, and writing a blog. I took Avery McDonald's for lunch today at school since she has been missing me being available to chat with during lunch time as the secretary. She also has an orthodontist appointment today for the first time where they will probably take X-rays and prepare me for the fact that she DEFINITELY needs braces. I can already tell her two front teeth are coming in very crooked. Joy.

Finally, I have to show some pictures of the awful amount of snow we have had this winter. The months of January and February were just ridiculous with the amount of snow we had. I mean, it snowed in October, November, and December too, but in January is DUMPED snow by the truckload. Today it is 40 degrees and sunny and so. the snow is finally starting to melt away, but we had such HUGE piles that it's definitely going to take a while to all be gone. At least the sidewalks and the roads are clear! These first few pictures make it look like a beautiful winter wonderland... but I'm sick of it. I'm ready for SUMMER!! Or even SPRING!

Avery's Dance Performance

I literally just wrote like ten pages in my last post about our cruise so this one is going to be very brief. Avery had her first performance since starting clog/tap lessons this fall. She performed in Idaho Falls at Thunder Ridge High School on Saturday. The song they danced to was "In the Summertime" and she wore a cute little yellow costume. Here are a couple of pictures!

 

Florida and Caribbean Cruise!

On Tuesday, January 14th we pulled our kids out of school and hour early and began our drive to Salt Lake City! The weather had been VERY snowy the past couple of weeks and we got lucky with a small window on Tuesday of no snow during the day! However, after we made it to Salt Lake and were safely tucked into our beds at our hotel at 8:00pm, Josh's dad called to tell us that they had just closed part highway I-15 because of blowing snow! We were so happy that we had left when we did and made it down to Utah with clear roads!

We went to bed early that night because we had to wake up at 3:45 am the next morning! The hotel we had stayed at, the Microtel, allowed us to keep our Buick parked there for two weeks for only $30. Then we took their hotel shuttle to the SLC airport at 4:30am in order to catch our 6:30am flight out!

We made it to the airport and got all of our luggage tagged and checked. Then our flight went through Chicago, had an hour layover, and then on to Tampa, Florida. We arrived in Tampa at about 4:00pm on Wednesday, January 15th. It was so nice when we arrived to actually feel WARM!! They were having an unusually warm spell and it was about 80 degrees and sunny!

We got our rental van and headed south to North Port where my dad lives. We stopped for dinner along the way and arrived at his house at about 7:30. Once we got there, we spent some time chatting and then went to bed by 9:30 because we were all VERY tired.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 16

The next day, Thursday, we ate breakfast and then headed to Caspersen Beach. I had read about this online and how you can find shark teeth there, so the kids were excited to go "hunting" for shark teeth. There weren't too many people there, but of the ones that were I would say about 75 percent of them were also looking for shark teeth! It must be the spot!

My kids looked for a little bit, but mostly they were just excited to be swimming in the ocean and playing in the sand. The weather couldn't have been better! It was sunny and in the low eighties. We stayed there until about 3:00 and then our hunger motivated us to leave and get lunch at the nearby Sharky's On the Pier. We ate lunch at a table that was right next to the sand and the view was beautiful. Caleb got the nachos and when they came out before anyone else's, we all were staring at them like hungry piranhas. He did share a few... but not many.

After we finished eating, we walked down to the beach again (this beach was called Venice Beach) and the kids played in the sand and waves some more.

Finally at about 5:00, we headed back to North Port. The kids rode on the golf cart around the neighborhood (it even had Christmas lights in it) and Caleb talked to my dad for a long time about 3D printing and other exciting things. lol Avery loved just sitting with the dog, Arissa, on the couch and watching TV. Later on, Melissa's son, Christian, came and we played cards around the kitchen table and the boys taught everyone how to play "scum." We also talked about how Grandpa Bestor had taught me how to play poker when I was a little kid and my parents would leave me with grandma and grandpa to go out to dinner. Dad thought it was funny that I had never told him that before. (I think I had, he just has dementia.)

FRIDAY, JANUARY 17

On Friday morning, we headed to the Mote Aquarium. Christian came with us too, but Melissa had to work in the morning so she met up with us at about 1:00. It was about 30 minutes north in the Sarasota area and we arrived at about 10:45, just in time for the 11:00 shark feeding. The museum wasn't very crowded at all, which was really nice. We saw sharks, otters, jellyfish, and alligators and were even able to touch star fish and baby sting rays.

After we were done at the aquarium at about 12:30, we went into town and met up with Melissa for lunch. We ate at this little restaurant downtown that had fish and tacos and wraps. After lunch, we drove over to a beach called Lido Key. They weather wasn't quite as warm as it had been the day before, so the kids played on the beach but didn't really get into the water and swim around as much.

We played around on the beach until about 4:00 and then we headed back down to North Port. I don't remember the traffic being as bad as it was the last time we were there a few years ago. It took us a while to get back to his house with all the traffic. My dad said that it has grown so much in the past few years and he is also getting sick of all the people moving there. North Port isn't as bad as the Sarasota and St. Petersburg/Tampa area though. It's also mostly old people.

That night we played cards for a while again from about 5:30 - 7:00 and then we went out to a sushi place for dinner. Caleb was pretty excited to eat sushi, since we usually only bring him home our leftovers from when we go out to Da Pineapple Grill. I have to say though, I have tried a lot of sushi places and my favorite is still the little old Pineapple Grill in Rexburg.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 18

The next morning, we woke up early and got everything packed up again. We had to leave their house by about 9:30 so that we could drive back up to Tampa, return the rental car to the airport, and then take a cab to our cruise ship. So we said goodbye to Poppy and Melissa and Christian (who my boys really loved) and also to the little doggie, Arissa (who Avery really loved!)

At about 1:00 we arrived at the Carnival cruise ship and went through the whole boarding process. This involved showing birth certificates for my kids and passports for Josh and me. Once on board, we texted Cody and Lindsey and found out they were on board already too! Lindsey and Cody Summers decided to come with us when we went out to dinner with them in September and told them all about our cruise plans for January. They quickly booked the same cruise and my kids were really excited about them joining us! They have four kids. The oldest is named Colter and is Caleb's age. He has played quarterback on Caleb's football team (and Caleb is center) so they've formed a good friendship between football and school. They also have a daughter who is 9 named Landyn who gets along really well with Avery. Then they have two little boys who are 5 and 3. They mostly just provided entertainment for us on the trip. lol

The first thing we did when we got on the boat was EAT! (And we ate and ate and ate for the next five days!) One of the best things they have on the ship is this burger place. It has some of the best burgers and fries I have ever had. Overall, Carnival's food was maybe a 6.5/10, but the burger place was like 9/10. So we ate some burgers and walked around the ship and then went back to our stateroom so the kids could get changed into their swimsuits.

Okay, let's just talk for a minute about our stateroom: Room M63 on the Carnival Paradise. When I booked the cruise, one of the first questions it asked online was, "How many people are traveling?" I put down 5. Then I went through the options and saw that they DID indeed have a stateroom that would fit five! So I selected the location of the room and chose M63 and so on. Now, I remember it saying that I DID also have the option to choose to book two separate rooms. So I am aware that I COULD have done that. However, as I crunched the numbers it came out to be about $400-$500 extra to book the two rooms instead of just one. I decided to just do the one, thinking, "Well how bad could it be? We won't be in our room that much anyways, right?" In retrospect... I think I should have booked the two rooms. Was it doable? Yes. Were we packed in there like sardines? Yes. But did we survive? Barely. lol

Basically when you walk into the room, there in a little walkway about 3 feet by 4 feet. That was really the only floor space we had available in the room. The rest of the room consisted of a "king sized bed" (two twins pushed together, because honestly how could they have gotten a king sized into that doorway? They couldn't have), two little beds that pulled down on each side from the walls above each side of the king bed, and then a little mattress on the floor for Avery. Caleb and Avery actually did take turns sleeping on the mattress on the floor. That was nice of Caleb. And honestly, when we were all tucked into bed and sleeping, it was fine! It was the times when it was morning and we were all trying to get up and showered and use the toilet and get dressed in 12 square feet of space! That was when it got tricky! That and trying to find a place to hang five people's wet clothing over the course of five days! But we survived! It should've been a reality show. It was pretty funny. Here is a picture of our little stateroom for five! I didn't TOTALLY cheap out as you can see and i DID get the "oceanview" with a window. So there's that.

So basically Saturday from 1:30 - bedtime was spent eating, swimming, and going on the waterslides. The top deck of the boat was so fun for the kids, although Avery was too chicken to go down the big waterslides. Her favorite thing was sitting in the hot tub (they all got used to just squeezing their way in among 20-somethings in bikinis lol) and just swimming in the pool. We lucked out with weather for the first few days. It was in the 80s and sunny in Tampa and then the first few days on the boat. The second half was a little chillier so most of the swimming was done on Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 19

We were at sea all day on Sunday. I personally would prefer to be docked at an island rather than being at sea. I get kind of board just being on the boat all day. It's fine in the evenings when you want to eat and relax, but during the day I would rather be exploring someplace new! However, with kids along, it was nice to have all day free access to the buffet and have the swimming pool that they could play at while the adults just sat around and chatted. So that's basically what we did on Sunday! We also played mini-golf on the top deck.

Then in the evening, it was the night of the big NFC Championship game between the Packers and the 49ers. And guess what? Our team is the Packers and the Summers family loves the 49ers. So we were in for quite a night of lively game-watching. Unfortunately, the Packers decided to go to sleep and ended up losing 37-20. I also decided to go to sleep at half time, taking Avery back to our state room and getting her tucked in after a long day out in the sun. The boys all stayed up and watched the rest of the game in the Queen Mary lounge on the 9th level. It was pretty awesome that the buffet area was literally just one staircase above them, so I'm pretty sure Caleb made about ten trips back and forth for more food during that game. (At least the stairs gave him a little bit of a workout each time.) So even though the packers lost, at least I didn't have to make any food! Here is a picture of Caleb and Colter, Caleb in his green shirt and Colter in his 49ers hat. You can see from their size difference that Caleb is the center on their grid kid team, while colter in the quarterback. Every time Caleb would eat another burger andI would say, "Caleb!! Slow down!! You're gonna get huge!" Lindsey, Colter's mom, would laugh and say, "NO! I WANT him to stay big! He's protecting my baby on the field!" haha

MONDAY, JANUARY 20

Monday morning we docked in beautiful Grand Cayman at 8am. I was REALLY excited to see Grand Cayman. I wish we would've had more time there. We were told we had to be back on the boat by 2:00, so we were eager to eat breakfast and get off the boat as early as possible.

Let me just note this so I can remember it... taking a cruise that requires a water taxi to get off the boat and over to the island you are stopping at is a PAIN IN THE BUTT! I have never had to do that before. It has always been that our cruise ship docks and they lay down this little platform and you just walk right off. You have to show your little ID card when you get on and off and put your bags through a security belt, but it's just a constantly flowing line of people and it's usually pretty fast.

However, I guess in Grand Cayman they don't have those big docks that can accommodate cruise ships. So basically all the cruise ships just pull up into the bay and park and throw down their anchor somewhere, and then you have to wait for a little "water taxi" to come and take batches of people over to the shore where there is just a small dock.

The problem is, at 8:15 when our cruise ship docks and everyone knows we only have like 5.5 hours to enjoy Grand Cayman, EVERYONE wants to get off the boat right away at 8:15! And you'd think they would have a water taxi READY for us at 8:15! Like they knew we were coming, right? We are a huge cruise ship with over 2,000 people on it! Be prepared!! But no. We stood waiting in a crowded little stairway landing with about 500 other people from about 8:00-8:30. It was such a pain. It was crowded, it was claustrophobic, it was hot, and I was cranky. There was one Carnival worker black lady who was just holding her walkie talkie and keep listening for them to say that had a boat ready for us and she just keep looking at us like, "Sorry.... they don't have one yet."

FINALLY, at about 8:30, she announced, "They have a water taxi!" and we all filled like cattle (or kind of stampeded like cattle) down the stairs and out the little walkway to get on board this smaller boat. The boat had two levels and I asked her "how many people can fit on this boat?" I think it was about 200-250. So I'm sure it still took them a while to get everyone on shore from the cruise ship.

The water taxi ride itself was pleasant, it only took about 5-10 minutes to ferry us over to the island. It was just one of those open-air ferry boats with rows of benches on the top and bottom levels. But the weather was great and we were excited to see Grand Cayman!

We set foot on the island probably at about 8:50 and then started walking towards the little cruise passenger welcome area. Having been on a cruise before, I was prepared for the feeding frenzy that would be happening as soon as our group was seen by the local taxi drivers and merchants. All cruise ship passengers are basically like walking dollar signs to them and they immediately started hounding us with questions about, "Where you want to go? I take you there! You want to go to beach? I know a great beach! You want shopping, pretty lady? I take you to great shopping place!"

There was a lady taxi driver that started to engage with us about this tour she offered and I just said as we were walking, "We just want a cab to take us to Smith Cove," to which she quickly replied, "I take you to Smith Cove! I can do that!" I said to her casually, "Well what does it cost? We have a big group." She seems the big group of 11 people and says, smartly, "It usually is $5 per person but I give it to you for $4." I glanced over at Josh and Cody who were nodding like, "Yeah, let's just do that.

So with that, we all hopped into her big blue van (luckily it fit us all) at she drove us to Smith Cove. I had read about Smith Cove online and had decided it was a place I wanted to check out. Everyone had said it was kind of a "local beach" and that it was good to get there early in the day when the locals were in school or at work and before other cruise ship passengers found out about it. It was only about a 5-10 minute drive from the cruise port down one beachside road the whole way. So that lady made a quick $44 on the way there and then we also arranged for her to come back and get us in about 3 hours at noon. So in total, she made about $88 plus tip for a quick drive there and back! Pretty good for her, I'd say! Maybe I will move to Grand Cayman and become a taxi driver.

When we arrived at Smith Cove, the only other people there were two college girls that were busy trying to take perfect selfies on the beach. They probably loved it when we showed up with our seven kids and started rolling around on the beach and swimming in their background. lol They left pretty quickly after we arrived.

Then we had the whole place to ourselves for a good hour or so, which was awesome. The swimming area was small but perfect for our little group. Avery and the little kids loved just playing on the beach and letting the waves roll them around in the sand. Gabe and Caleb snorkeled out a short distance to this big rock that had some coral reefs around it. I went out one time with Gabe too, using Caleb's snorkel mask. We saw a big school of fish and some other sea life. The full-face masks that I bought worked way better than the old style of masks with a separate mouth piece.

It was a perfect place to hang out for those few hours. I just wish that we had until like 4:00 on Grand Cayman instead of until 2:00. Because then pretty quickly it was noon and the lady was back to drive us to the port again. We debated having her take us to this other beach called Seven Mile Beach, but it was about 20 minutes to the north and I'm sure she would've charged us another $50 each way! And we probably only would've had about an hour there and then we would've needed to leave to catch the last water taxi! So we took her cab back to the cruise port area at about noon and then just walked around for a half hour or so. We stopped in a few gift shops and I bought a Grand Cayman magnet. Avery was on the lookout for a stuffed animal, but she didn't end up getting one until the next day in Cozumel. We were all getting hungry for lunch, so that was another motivation to just get back on the boat where the free food would abound! Cody and Lindsey were also wanting to take their two youngest kids to this "Build-a-Bear" activity that started on the boat at 2:30. So we boarded the water taxi at about 12:45 and headed back. I wish we could've stayed there until 4:00 and seen Seven Mile Beach! Guess I will just have to go back!

So by about 1:00 were were back on the boat. We ate lunch (probably burgers or tacos - my two favorites) and the kids were swimming again. The weather was still perfect and the kids were enjoying the waterslides and I was enjoying being on the top deck watching the scenery and relaxing in the lounge chair. At about 2:30, our cruise ship started to pull away from Grand Cayman and Avery and I stood out on the top deck watching the land get smaller and smaller.

We stayed on deck and relaxed until about 4:00 and then decided we better do at least one nice dinner in the formal dining room since we had brought along fancy clothes. On a cruise, there is the option to eat in the formal dining room every night if you want to. The waiter will come out and take your order and then you will sit and wait and they will eventually bring your food like at a restaurant. The problem is, when you have 7 kids ages 3-13, that doesn't really ever sound that appealing. So we basically ate in the buffet dining room every night except for one.

We decided that night should be our "fancy night", so at about 4:30 we left the pool deck and we all went back to our rooms to get ready. Cody and Lindsey's family had gotten two rooms side-by-side since the max room occupancy was 5 people and they had 6 total. So they were kind of forced to get 2 rooms. Like I said before, we had only gotten one room for our family of five, so they times when we were in there all trying to get ready.... got a little crazy. Somehow we managed though and we were able to go out on the top deck at the very back end of the boat and take some nice family pictures. It was nice having another family along because we always had someone to take our pictures! haha

After we got our perfect pictures, (well... not all of them were perfect.. note Avery in this one....)

then we headed down to the dining room and ate dinner. One of the best things I had to eat on the whole cruise was the appetizer I had for dinner. it was these beef skewers and they only came with two little pieces of meat, but it was soooo good. Then I had salmon for dinner and that was also good. The dessert was the famous Carnival Molten Lava cake, which is good, but honestly the one i make at home is better. Here is a picture of Gabe sitting among Cody and Lindsey's littlest boys, who thought Gabe was really cool lol and also a picture of Caleb and Colter.

After dinner we went to a comedy show and then went to bed! Most nights we either went to a show (there was a comedy one, a Hasbro game night one, and a couple of others) or we played cards sometimes in the dining area while we ate late night snacks. You can never eat too much on a cruise!

TUESDAY, JANUARY 21

On Tuesday morning, our boat docked in Cozumel, Mexico! I was a little sea sick from the night before because it had been really windy and the boat was rocking like crazy. The rest of my family had slept through it (luckily) but I was having kind of a hard time sleeping. I got up one time and used the bathroom and I had to hold on to the hand rail in the bathroom because the boat was rocking so much I thought I was going to fall off the toilet!

But luckily then we docked and I was very happy to be on land! This time, we didn't have to take the water taxi either, so I was grateful for that! We docked a little bit later that the previous day. It was probably about 10:30 when we got off the boat. Then we walked to the little cab driver station and found someone to drive us to this resort called Playa Mia. We had made reservations in advance to spend our day there and my kids were really looking forward to going on this inflatable water playground that was supposed to be out on the ocean.

However, after riding in the cab (which took about 15 minutes) and arriving at Playa Mia, we learned that because of the winds they had pulled the inflatable playground onto the beach and it wouldn't be out for the day! My kids were sooo bummed. That was like, one of the things they were looking forward to the most. We debated not even going in to this resort once they told us that, but the problem was, we had already paid for the cab to take us there and we would've had to pay for another cab to take us anywhere else. Plus, with the winds being so bad, they said all of the beaches were going to be "red flag", which meant you couldn't swim in them. Honestly, I think if we would've maybe found a remote beach on the south side of the island, we maybe could've gotten away with swimming (because honestly there aren't any lifeguards anywhere) but we decided with kids it was probably better to play it safe and stay at Playa Mia. They did have a couple different swimming pools and some water slides, which was good that the kids at least had those! There was also a buffet that was open all day and they could go and get food whenever they wanted, so that was part of what made it less stress. When you travel with kids, you really have to consider what will be the easiest and keep everyone happy. If it would've been just me and Josh and other adults, I probably would've been more willing to be adventurous, but with kids... not so much. Just give a chair on the beach and let me relax. lol

So here are a few pictures of Playa Mia. It really was a nice place and I was impressed with the quality of everything they had there (minus the food... which was about the equivalent of fast food Mexican and some chicken fingers and fries, but the kids liked it!). If it hadn't been windy and the kids would've been able to do the water inflatable course and some kayaking and snorkeling, it would've been like ten out of ten stars. Or maybe still nine because the food could've been better. But because of the wind and it limiting the activities we could do, it was more like six out of ten stars.

Gabe and I also took a little walk down the beach. I wanted to just walk down a little ways and see what else was down there. It was basically a few different beach clubs including Paradise Beach club and one called Mr. Sanchos'. After walking by Mr. Sanchos (which I had also considered booking) I was glad we had chosen Playa Mia. The crowd at Mr. Sanchos was more... how do I say this... white trash. And also some non-white trash. It definitely seemed like a little bit more of a low-class hang out spot. Playa Mia seemed more like a family hang out spot and the facilities were a little cleaner and the chairs were nicer. The beach was basically the same. Here are some pictures of the walk in between Playa Mia and Mr. Sanchos where it was open and unspoiled and we even saw a group of horseback riders come by (right after Gabe had peed in the trees.) lol

So at about 3:30 or 4:00, we decided to start packing up our things and catch a cab back to the cruise port area. We walked around a little bit in and out of some shops. When we first got dropped off, the cab driver I think wanted to drop us at his friends' shop or something because it was across the street from the safety bubble of the cruise port area and all the shop owners were very aggressive Mexican salespeople like, "Come in my shop! Come in here!" Cody and Lindsey did go into one shop and they found some little backpacks for their kids. But then we crossed the street and went into the little cruise passenger shops area.

I thought the port area was really nice in Cozumel. They had some cute shops and everything was really nicely kept. We ended up finding a pink dolphin stuffed animal for Avery, which made her really happy. We also bought Caleb a Nacho Libre mask because I wanted to and it made me really happy to see him put it on. lol

By about 5:00 we were back on board the Carnival Paradise and we let the kids do a little more swimming after dinner. It was chilly that night though and the pool was basically empty except for the crazy Idaho kids!

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22

Wednesday was our last day on the cruise and it was just another day at sea. I think the cruise would've been great if this last day would've been a day at Carnival's private island. I feel like I could've used one more day of just relaxing on a warm beach and letting my kids play in the waves. I was kind of sick of the boat by this point. I honestly even would've been good just being back in Tampa by Wednesday morning. It was colder and windy too, so the pool and water slides weren't that appealing for the kids. We tried mini golfing, but it was tricky with the wind blowing the ball everywhere. We were in sweatshirts on the deck and it was still pretty cold. So we did the only other thing there was left to do... we ate. We also played cards for a while, which was fun. But I think we were all just kind of ready to be off the boat, so it was good that the next morning was our last day!
I didn't really take a lot of pictures the last day, but here are a couple more of the ship and us playing cards!

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23

We docked back in Tampa at about 8am. We had debated sending Cody and Josh to get rental cars and then coming back to get us, but we decided to just all get off the cruise ship at the same time and I think that was the wise choice. It took about a half hour to go through the whole process of getting off the boat. You have to show your passports and birth certificates for the kids, get your bags off, and it's just a lot of waiting in lines and stuff.

Finally, we were kicked to the curb with all our suitcases and ready to go get our rental car at the airport. We decided to just take the big coach bus that was waiting there ready to take people's money. We paid about $40 for all five of us to ride to the airport, which was about 15-20 minutes away. On the way there before the cruise we had taken a Lyft, which was like $28 including tip. But now after the cruise, we were tired and not willing to wait around for a Lyft to save $10.

We got to the airport pretty quickly and were able to easily go in and get our rental car from Enterprise. The Summers and us ended up with identical matching gray Dodge Grand Caravans. I meant to take a picture of Josh and Cody posing in front of each van, but I never did, dang it!

Once we had our vans, we drove south toward St. Petersburg. We decided to drive to the Fort De Soto area. It was just a really scenic, quiet little area right at the southern tip of the Peninsula. There is an old fort there that was used during the Spanish American War. We walked up and down the beach and looked for sea shells. There weren't as  many as there were down at Caspersen Beach with my dad, but it was still really pretty. The weather was probably high sixties with a little breeze, so not exactly swimming weather. But it was sunny and it was still a pleasant day. We stayed down there until about 2:00 and then we headed back north along the coast toward Treasure Island where our hotel was.

We stopped at Chick Fil A for lunch (Gabe's pick) and we all got our soda fix. None of us had purchased the soda package on the cruise, so we were all excited to get that sugar high again! haha Then we drove to the hotel we would be staying at, which was called the Molloy Gulf Coast Cottages and Motel.

I was so glad we booked this place. I had actually booked a different place called Pelican Point first and then when Lindsey ended up deciding they were coming on the cruise, I cancelled Pelican Point so we could try and find someplace together. Later on, we drove past Pelican Point in Clearwater and I said to Josh, "That was the first place I had booked and I cancelled it," and he was like, "That was definitely a good choice!" The Molloy was soooo cute. It was right on the beach and even though it was an older motel it was more south of all the hustle and bustle of Clearwater so it seemed a lot quieter. If I were a millionaire I would've stayed at the Don Cesar. But that was like $400 a night for their basic room soooo Josh said no. (Someday when it's just me and Josh... that's happening.)

But the Molloy was seriously perfect for us. I wish we could've actually stayed there two nights instead of just one. We check in at about 3:00 and went to our rooms. Each family had gotten the same room, which was actually called a "two-room suite." It was perfect for our family. When we walked in there was a cute little living area with a couch that pulled out to a bed (where Gabe slept) and a TV and a little round table. Then there was also a little kitchen area. There was a bathroom that could be entered from the living room/kitchen and also from the bedroom. The bedroom had two queen sized beds so Caleb and I shared one while Josh and Avery took the other one.

As soon as we got checked in though, the kids changed into their swimsuits and jumped into the pool. They were happy that this pool was heated and they swam for a long time.They had their snorkel masks on and some dive toys that were provided by the motel, so they had a lot of fun just playing games in the water. The beach was literally RIGHT there by our hotel and it had been our intention to swim at the BEACH, not in the pool, but it was pretty cold to be swimming in the ocean so we were glad they had the pool.

At about 5:00, we had them get out and shower and change. We drove down to the boardwalk in St. Petersburg called John's Pass Village and boardwalk. There are a lot of cute little gift shops and restaurants down there. We remembered going there back in 2015 with our kids and there had been this taffy shop that was sooo good. So of course we had to go there again. It was called Zeno's Saltwater Taffy and they had about 50 different bins of flavors to choose from. We told the kids they could each get a bag and get 20 pieces. When we weighed them at checkout, Caleb's was definitely more than 20 pieces. The lady laughed and was like, "Yeah... he definitely cheated." The favorite flavors we picked out were root beer, pina colada, watermelon, and I really liked just plain coconut.

After that, Avery convinced us to buy her ANOTHER stuffed animal. This time it was a little corgi dog inside a rainbow-colored purse. Then we drove to a pizza shop called Britt's Pizza. I feel like I was kind of sick of food by that point and I just got a salad. Everyone else got pizza and then we went back to the hotel and went to bed!

FRIDAY, JANUARY 24

The kids swam in the pool at the Molloy again in the morning. Then by about 10am we had to make them get out so they could get changed and we could check out by 11. I wish we would've been closer to the airport because it would've been great to just stay there all day and hang out at the beach and swim. But sadly, we had to leave. We walked down to the beach and took some pretty photos first and then were on our way. I wouldn't mind staying at the Molloy again someday!

When we checked out, we decided to drive north to Clearwater beach. They had a playground there on the beach that we took the kids to for a little while. Then we walked out on the big Pier 60 and bought a couple things in the bait shop at the end of the pier. If you are ever looking for a HUGE selection of shells (like really cool ones to take home or for decorating) this shop is the place. They had HUGE conch shells for like $4 and tons of sand dollars, sharks teeth, and more. I kind of wish I would've bought a few things there. If I had a beach house that I was decorating, I would definitely go there and find some shell accessories. Here are some pictures of Pier 60 and Clearwater Beach.

And here is a picture of Josh and the kids on Pier 60 from 2015 compared to 2020! How have 5 years gone by in the blink of an eye!? 

After we were done at Clearwater beach, we drove inland to the east and towards Tampa again. We decided to get some lunch at KFC as we drove (very high-class lol.) Then we got to our hotel in Tampa (the La Quinta) at about 2:00 and decided to see if we could check in, but our rooms weren't ready yet. We weren't really sure what to do to fill our time, so we googled the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Stadium and decided to drive over there. It was only about five minutes away from our hotel. We had been kind of hoping we could do a stadium tour, but they didn't do tours on Fridays we found out. So then we called the guest services number and they said if we wanted to, we could drive across the street to the practice field area and they had this little lobby where we could go in and see their Super Bowl trophy from 2003 and some other memorabilia. So we drove over there and this nice old man let us in the big gate and we went in and saw that stuff. Caleb and Colter were really excited to see the Super Bowl trophy. I joked that I couldn't believe they let Colter in wearing his 49ers stuff.

After the stadium, we went back to our hotel and it WAS ready to check in. The La Quinta was such a let down after staying the the Molloy. It was run down and musty and everything seemed dingy and dirty. But the main reason we had booked it was because of the location. It was RIGHT next to the airport and there was even an Enterprise car rental place literally two doors down. So it was really convenient that we could return the vans there the night before and then just take their free shuttle van to the airport.

There was also a really nice mall across the street, so since were were all bored and their pool was NOT heated, we all walked over to the mall for a little bit. Lindsey and I got a few things while Josh and Cody sat with the kids at the play place. I got perfume at Zara (my FAVORITE perfume which I last bought in Italy in 2018) and we both got some shorts at Victoria's Secret. (They were $6!) Now I need to plan another vacation to someplace tropical so I can wear my new cute swim shorts! ;)

After the mall, we walked back over to our hotel and ate dinner at the IHOP which was conveniently located in between our hotel and the Enterprise rental place. We had lots of pancakes and bacon and eggs and then went to bed in our hotel by about 9:00.

We had to wake up at 4:20am the next day in order to catch the 4:45 shuttle to the airport. We basically just rolled out of bed and put on our clothes and grabbed our suitcases and went on the shuttle. When we got to the airport, we said goodbye to the Summers family and headed to the American Airlines counter to check in. They were flying on Delta and they had a direct flight to Salt Lake, so they got home a couple hours before we did. We had to fly to Dallas first and then we switched planes are arrived in SLC at about 1:30. When we got to SLC, we thought there was supposed to be a free shuttle that took us back to the Microtel hotel where we had left our car. But after waiting on the curb for about 45 minutes, we decided the shuttle was NOT coming and we called a Lyft instead.

Finally, at about 2:30, we were back to our Buick Enclave and we made the four hour drive back to Rexburg. We arrived back home at about 7:00. Then the laundry began... Our house was in a state of disaster for about the next 24 hours as we tried to put things away and do laundry and get back to life as usual. Luckily, there wasn't any snow coming down as we drove home from the airport. It did snow a couple days later and as I write this (it is now a week after we've been home... I am slow..) my kids are off school again for another snow day!

We have had SO MUCH SNOW this winter! It is February 3, 2020 and I don't even know how much snow we've had so far this winter, but it feels like literally 20 feet. I'm not even exaggerating. Right now I have these huge five foot tall piles of snow on each side of my driveway that will melt a little bit and then it just snows some more! I think it's safe to say... I am definitely ready to plan another vacation. Until then, I will just look over these pictures again and again and pretend I am someplace warm!