Dominican Republic

Wow, I can't believe we have been back almost 2 1/2 weeks now.

Looking back at these pics makes me sad, I can't believe it's over.

I know there are a lot of pictures, just bear with me.

The resort we stayed at was really beautiful.

We pretty much spent everyday here. . .

and here. . .

We weren't lazy the whole time. We did get away one day to do some scuba diving.

The water wasn't very clear because of the hurricanes that went through, but it was still a dive. Better than diving in Utah.

We had a blast! After the dive we ate at a local waterfront restaurant that specialized in Cuban food. Hopefully the meat wasn't from this place. . .

Then we did a little of this. . .

. . . at the pool.

While getting getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.

At night we would have dinner with the whole group.

The food wasn't the best. I think we all got sick at least once while we were there, but I could have lived off the drinks alone (virgin of course.)

(Me with some of the wives on the trip.)

Then we'd watch some of the resort's great shows (by great shows I mean hilariously horrible shows that totally made us laugh.)

This one was the best.

We really had the best week. It was so nice to relax and not have a place to be, except together.

Nightmare of a day!

So we made it back from our vacation. Luckily Hurricane Ike missed us. We did get to see him though, out of the window of our airplane. We had the best, most relaxing time. I will post about our trip later, but now I have to tell about our crazy day yesterday.

The girls were out playing in the backyard. I heard screaming and looked out the window. They were both in the sand box under their playground. I thought they were just fighting until I saw a swarm of wasps all over my girls. Mari was running for her life, but poor Lucy didn't know what to do, she was just standing there paralyzed in the middle of what looked to me to be hundreds of wasps.

I thought for a split second "I really don't want to run into the middle of a swarm of wasps!!" But being a mother there are certain things you have to do, even if you don't want too(I never thought this would be one of them). I ran to her and didn't know where to pick her up at, her little body was covered with wasps. I finally got her out and we ran to the house screaming all the way. I think I was screaming more than they were. I might have lost my cool a little bit. I thought I would have been more in control, but I lost it. I was running around the house, not really knowing what to do. I called Matt all frantic, he thought someone was dying, from all the crying he was hearing out of all of us. Finally I calmed down, and checked the girls over. Mari and I luckily only had 1 sting each, but poor Lulu had 8 that I could count. They are on her head, ear,neck,lip,chin and hand. I got them cleaned off and gave them Tylenol, when Lucy's face started swelling up (I wished I would have taken a picture,but at the time I was freaking out a little bit. She looked like she had been in a boxing match). We took her to Instacare just to be safe. They looked her over and gave her steroids, and a couple of other medications and sent us home. They are both fine now, but I think they are going to be a little scared of the playground for a while.

Dominican Republic...

here we come!!

Matt and I are leaving for the Dominican Republic tonight! We are so excited to be getting away together. Hopefully by this time tomorrow we will be lying here,

and not in the middle of this.

Hurricane Ike is going to try to ruin our vacation. We are hoping it will miss us, so keep your fingers crossed.

See you in a week!!

I have a couple thanks yous to make, if it weren't for them we wouldn't be going on this trip. Thank you to everyone watching our girls, and Matt's work for sending us on this trip. Finally the biggest thank you goes to Matt, thank you for working so hard and earning this for us!!!

Preschool

Mari had her first day of preschool yesterday. She is in a fun class with her cousin Carter and few kids in our ward.

Is it wrong to be excited?

I took her to preschool and came home and laid Lucy down for a nap, it was a little bit of heaven.

I can get used to a couple hours for myself.

I've been telling her "when you're a big girl, you can go to preschool." So the night before I told her she had school the next day and she said "but I'm not big yet." Then in the morning when we were getting ready to go it finally hit her, she was so excited that she was finally a big girl.

Little Lulu's not going to know what to do with herself without Mari around. Hopefully she will keep up this nap routine so I can keep some me time.

Labor Day Weekend

Labor day weekend started out okay, we hit the dollar night at the carnival. We only made it on to 2 rides before the fireworks began. But the girls had a blast. We have never done the carnival rides before so they thought it was a huge treat.

We had to race to make it to the fireworks, but we made it just in time.

Lucy oohed, aahed, and clapped after each firework. I think that was her favorite part of the weekend.

Sunday we had a big birthday bash for all the recent birthdays then headed to the band concert.

If you're not from Payson, I don't think you would get into the band concerts. Growing up they were one of my favorite things. Everyone in town goes to the park and listens to a band. It's such a small town thing and simple, but I have so many fun memories of this. I know it sounds so dumb. Matt dreads it, but it's a highlight of the weekend. During the band concert is when it all started turning south. There was a torrential downpour, and there we were with all the kids and we had walked to the park. We tried to huddle under the trees to wait it out, but it was getting worse by the minute. So Matt and I made a run for it, by the time we got home we were drenched.

The Parade was the next morning. Mari had said her prayers and asked that there wouldn't be rain for the parade, so we were hopeful. It was looking good when it started, and the kids were happy. Lucy was waving to everyone and everything.

It started sprinkling about 2 floats into the parade, but the kids were still happy.

Then another wave of torrential downpour came, and everyone started scattering. First we hid under some trees. Poor Lucy was not happy!

When the trees weren't enough cover, we went under someone's carport to wait out the rest of the parade. My sister Steph was in the parade, so we had to wait it out to see her. Mari, Cody and Abby were the only ones who braved the storm out on the street. (They are the pink blob in the middle of the street. . .well, left pink blob)

Finally!! She came on the very last float. It was all worth it in the end. The kids all thought it was so fun even if it was cold, wet, and freezing.

The rest of the day was nice after the rain left. And to top it all off my cute Grandma won 3 first prizes in the pie competition, and $150 bucks. She was so excited. Isn't she cute!?All in all it was a good day. Good food, good company. It can't get better than that!

Hot air balloon

2 anniversaries ago Matt and I bought ourselves a hot air balloon ride. Somehow we forgot about it (I don't know how but we did). We remembered this year and luckily got to use it the day before our voucher expired.

It was the perfect clear day, but very cold!!

It was pretty hilarious, we landed right in the middle of a neighborhood in the street. That is after scraping across the tops of trees and almost landing in some one's front yard.

LINDSAY USAIN BOLT . . .

. . . Except with a little less speed and bit more endurance! I'm a proud hubby today. Don't jump on me just yet; I'm proud of her everyday, and the things she does all day outshine something as trivial as this . . . but Lindsay just ran the Friggin Hobble Creek Half-Marathon!!! She only missed two days of training out of about 3 or 4 months, got up and did early morning runs, learned to take gu, suffered through all my running "tips", and smashed her goal of a 2 hour half by getting a 1:53:03. I was able to run with her and pace her for an 8:38 pace she was able to pretty consistently maintain the whole way. When she first started training, she could barely do a mile (at about a 12:30 pace). Last two miles of the race she made it a point that she was never doing this again . . . then at breakfast at Magelby's she was already talking about her next one. I think she's got the bug.

It was a fun day as Heather, Ryan, and our Nephew Elliott ran the race as well. Heather pulled out a good finish with only running 3 miles maybe a couple/few times a week!! I think Ryan and Elliott both ran the thing backwards and with ease. We then finished the day with some hours at the Payson pool, then the Owlz game with the whole Bliss/Konold clan.

Thanks for being AWESOME Babe!! I'm proud of you! (even though you'll look like a dork walking around for the next couple of days).

Kalai

The other night I went to a Kalai concert with Heather, Ryan and Heidi. It was a small get together in someones backyard, the perfect night.

If you haven't heard of him you should check him out at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuR5nRdSL-c&feature=related.

I think he sounds alot like Ben Harper.

Thanks Heather and Ryan for inviting me!!

My Lucy Bug

Just thought I would share this funny picture.

Lucy had this bug on her face, and didn't even realize it was there. Well, it is Lucy the critter lover, so maybe she knew all along.