I Miss My Vacation!

I made it home on Monday, smooched my kids and passed out their little gifts. Josh loves his rasta hat with dreds (they are long and you can't really see them in the photo) and shark tooth necklace. Emma is excited about her "Kate Spade" purse and sarong. The others like all their little trinkets and toys, although both little girls really wanted Emma's purse!

As much as I love being home with my kids and sleeping in my own bed, I do miss my alter-life on Vacation. I miss my friend, Jenny, whom I probably won't see for another 9 years. I miss being crazy and care-free with my sister-in-laws, who are my very best friends! We don't get to act to nuts when we have our 12 combined kids hanging around!

I miss how much fun Damian and I have, when we leave all our responsibilities behind, and how I may never look this dorky again. OK, my kids informed me that I ALWAYS look this dorky, and can they please borrow my cool froggie towel backpack!?

I miss cracking up with Damian's family at all our silly inside jokes, luckily, we can still do that everyday! We won't be able to laugh at Damian's self-application of sunscreen. Poor guy, his wife is too pathetic to help him put his sunscreen on! Now that I'm peeling, I don't miss my sunburn, either!

I forgot to mention one last cool thing that happened to us . . .when we went to church in Orlando, we happened to go to the ward/congregation that a local boy was serving in, on his mission. What a fun surprise! His meeting house is across the street from the Orlando LDS Temple (in the photo).

I'll miss a lot of things about our trip, but not the hot, muggy weather! Now, to start planning where we'll go next year!!

The Promised Speedo & Video

As you know, we were in the Bahamas last week. Our first day was spent on the island of Grand Bahama, and we rode scooters to the Lucayan National Park, 30 miles from our ship. Part of the park is a beautiful white sand beach.


We had the beach all to ourselves until some Speedo-Wearing-Germans showed up, as we were leaving! Some people are very confident about their bodies, and some crop everything from the shoulders down. Here is your promised Speedo! Sorry, Jared was all talk and didn't really have one! And Aaron never showed his birthday suit, like he threatened! So all you get is the German.

The water was warm,




The snorkeling was good,



And the starfish bras were plentiful!

We visited the Epcot Center, before the Bahamas. When Damian leaves the stress of his office behind for a few days, and hangs around his carefree, happy-go-lucky brother, Jared. . .he reverts back to the boy I fell in love with, our freshman year of college (One part obnoxious, one part hilareous and ten parts cute). I hope when we retire, we live next door to Jared. Or maybe Jim & Kate. Jim has the same effect on Damian.

In this video, Damian is dancing along the paths of Epcot. And I'm giggling, like a silly school girl, forgetting that I had to go to the bathroom, as my friend Jenny reminds me at the end! You can see Jared, ahead of Damian. He's crazily approaching people's personal space, then "swerving" to miss them. What a goofball. Our yearly family ADULT vacation is one of my favorite times of the year. I laugh so hard, it rejuvenates me for the upcoming 12 months!

In SLC

We went to Universal Studios yesterday in Orlando and had a BLAST! Today was our last day of vacation. I had a layover in SLC and am staying for my G'pa Goold's funeral, until Monday. Damian went home to the kids. I've enjoyed my day with my brother Paul's kids and just finished visiting with my brother John. Fun day!

We be in Da Bahamas, Mon!

We left Florida on Sunday afternoon and have visited two islands in the Bahamas. I didn't take photos on the first island, the day we traveled around by scooter. Today we were in Nassau and I took a bunch. It's 12:30am and I've left the ship to find a hotspot. The connection is slow, so I can only upload a few.



One of my favorite things about the ship is the maid service. I love having my room tidied up! In the evenings, when I'm at dinner, the man leaves me a towel creation. This elephant is my favorite, but I've also had a seal and a turtle. Christine has had a dog and a pig. Very cute stuff. I'm thinking about bringing that little maid man home in my suitcase.


After a long day snorkeling, hiking, swimming and pool hopping, we look burnt and sweaty, but here we are . . . the Idiart ladies! That reef above my hat is where I stood, feeding a swarm of bright blue/yellow fish that swarmed me. They nipped at the hermit crabs I picked up off the ocean floor, and one nipped my leg!

That evening, Christine and I chanced upon a Lion Fish, with poisonous barbs that isn't skittish, like most fish. Luckily, I didn't try and touch that one, like I had been trying to do with the other fish, or I would be in a Bahamanian Hospital right now!




I love this shot of JusTea & Jared in the hot tub! We don't need booze to have fun! Their wives made me cut them out of the photo . . .



We've eaten so much Bahamanian food, mostly fried fish . . . that we went out to Mexican tonight, at Senor Frog's!



Aaron, Damian and Jared, waiting for dinner. We ALMOST stayed to dance, but the crowd was partying too hard for our taste! Luckily, we didn't and now I'm sitting outside the ship writing to you! We sail all day tomorow, but get back to Florida Thurs. morning, so I'll try and post again!



I know it's a bitter pill to swallow, all of us, lazing about in the Bahamas. . . but Jared has managed to eat that pill, at the end of this perfect day in Nassau.

Epcot Magic

We met my Best Childhood Friend, Jenny, at Epcot Today. It has been 9 years since I've seen her and it was such a fun reunion. She met my crazy husband and I enjoyed getting to know hers more. I hope we see each other again, in LESS than 9 years!! Notice, she still has those cute dimples!

I love that Damian works with his brothers. He loves them so much and is truely happy when he's with them. They have so much fun being silly together. Mostly, Jared is silly and Damian is cracking up so much, he stops breathing!!

We girls have our share of loud laughter. Especially yesterday, laughing at our husbands and when we all doggie-piled inside the sharks mouth!

More Idiart Men Antics! Actually, Aaron isn't an Idiart, but we're trying to convert him. He really should just change his name. We visited Great Britain and the guys tried to call their mommy, but the phone was a fake.

Florida is very muggy, but we've been blessed the last two days with partly overcast weather.
When the sun came out, everyone would head to a sprinkler to get "misted."

Those cute gals in the middle have known each other for 27 years . . . and didn't they marry well? Their mothers must be so proud.


This is Damian and I, in Italy. Epcot has mini-countries from all over the world and it reminded me of a more classy VEGAS. Very fun.

We're so glad JusTea and Tea made it! Life is more fun with them!

Aaron & Allison are so adorable!

We really had a great time on the rides and wished the Epcot had more!!



But who needs rides when you have men that pull crazy stunts, like teen-agers. They pretended to be statues for quite a while, until Allison and I knocked them over!

And now, some commentarty that has nothing to do with DisneyWorld!

I loved aspects of Jenny's life, as a kid. She was the baby of her family, I was the oldest of 7. So hanging out at her house seemed to have a little more freedom, than mine, and no little "Kids" to BUG us. Her Big Sister and Brother were really cool, her mom let me eat as much sugar cereal and brown sugar, packed onto a spoon, that I wanted. Her dad was funny and could talk like Donald Duck. Plus Jenny had STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE DOLLS, and a MONCHICHI. I loved those dolls, but I adored that Monchichi. Sometimes Jenny would let me borrow it overnight and I would pretend it was mine. I almost bought myself one yesterday, but then I realized I'm middle aged, and nothing I do now can change the fact that I was deprived as a kid. Plus, my kids would fight over it. So I took a picture and now, I'll just pretend that ALL those Monchichis are MINE!!

Texas de Brazil

The food last night was amazing! Although I missed the grilled pinapple. Boo Hoo.

Damian's sister, Allison and her hubby, Aaron.

Damian and his red-headed girlfriend (the lighting is off in this pic, I'm really not a redhead, and I weight 30 lbs less!)

Damian's brother, Jared and his wife, Christine. Justin and Tiffany arrive today!

Only 10 More Days!

I changed my blog music to get me pumped for my upcoming cruise. Yeah right, I'm already pumped, it's just to make you jealous, ha, ha!! My favorite song is "Angel" by Shaggy. I like the part about "My Peeps (people) and Incarceration" Too funny!

All of Damian's family came over yesterday for dinner and we made vacation plans . . . decided what we want to do, etc. Then we all went in the backyard and they helped us with landscaping ideas. Tonight, for FHE (Family Home Evening, where we sing, pray talk and work together) we're going to try and start a small garden. I'll take some pictures!!