Cruise!!!

My dearest Grandma Miskho took my entire extended family on a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas. There were 34 of us... it was chaos. And it was TOTALLY AWESOME!

Here's us being SO excited to go on vacation!!

We spent lots of time on airplanes. Kylie was a trooper. She got a little antsy towards the end of the 4-hour flights, but had no problem on the 2 or 3-hour ones.

She loved pushing the luggage. And unzipping them... including strangers bags... yikes.

Just playing with a thousand luggage tags... no big deal.

Before we left for the cruise we stopped by the Orlando Temple. It was a little stormy, but it was still super awesome to visit!

On our way to the Port. We were a little crammed in our 12 passenger van. :)

There was a little waiting around for the van drivers... but we had a great time.

Yes that is a car seat... it was more comfortable than the ground. haha!

The kids were good as long as they had their electronics... haha!

There were a few days that were pretty stormy, and the boat was SERIOUSLY rocking. But, I popped some dramamine and was fine. :)

Leaving Port Canaveral!!

What's a little wind?!

We went to some awesome shows, ate WAY too much food, spent a few days in the Bahamas (more on that to come,) played some ping pong, went rock climbing off the end of the ship and celebrated Thanksgiving (and my dad's birthday.)

 Fancy Night!!

 

More eating!

 

To say Kylie loved the chilled strawberry soup would be an understatement...

You grabbed fruit skewers out of this... yum!

Kylie was a little wore out...

 The ship!! The Enchantment of the Seas.

Atlantis

Not sure what it is.. but it looks cute in Kylie's sunglasses.

Just a little friendly ping pong competition... there were a few guys who we think came on the cruise for the sole purpose of winning the ping pong competition. They were incredible... and had brought their own personal paddles. Our boys gave it their best shot tho! :)

Meanwhile... Kylie opened all the doors. She was fascinated by the open button.

 Catching a few rays on one of the days at sea...

 And eating some ice cream. :)

 And rock climbing.

Family Pictures!!

Kylie...always the center of attention.

We had Kylie in this fort so she would be "separated" from us. She would poke her head out in the morning to let us know she was up. :)

Thanksgiving aka. Dad's birthday.

Blessed

I know I haven't blogged about anything on our incredible family vacation... but that task seems a little too daunting at the moment. So here is an update from this past weekend.

Friday Dec. 6th - Kylie and I were in Kennewick staying with my parents, after flying back from Orlando on Wednesday. We were helping decorate for Christmas and making cookie jars.

Dallin was in Hillsboro, working and attending the ward party. After the party he was going to pack up and drive to Kennewick to see Kylie and I and spend the weekend visiting family.

Cue the scariest moment of my life. (earlier that morning we had learned that a dear high school friend had passed away... so all during this time similar thoughts are running through my mind.)

Dallin calls about an hour after he had left. I knew something had happened. He tells me he thinks he totaled the car. But that he is ok. He had hit black ice, swerved and went off the road into a tree... going around 60mph. IS THIS REAL LIFE? At first I didn't believe what he was saying... but it sank in eventually. With the realization came lots and lots of tears and prayers of gratitude for keeping my sweet, loving husband safe.

It was too dangerous for us to go get Dallin that night, so he got a room in Hood River and waited out the night. Neither of us slept at all.

Dad, Kylie and I left Saturday morning to pick up Dallin, say goodbye to the Jeep, and return to Hillsboro.

It was so good to be back together, and to all be safe, and alive. I can't imagine if something serious had happened to Dallin.

To get our mind off of things, we had our Christmas decorating party and snuggled on the couch for a while.

Totally random side note... look at this picture closely.. the lights on the tree are sparkling!!

Many prayers were answered in keeping Dallin safe that night. We are so grateful.

Here are a few pictures of Dallin and Kylie playing hide and seek and getting SUPER static hair!

Aquarium, Tropical Toes and Water Golfing

The last few days have been quite an adventure.

We're trying to get ready for our cruise (we leave Friday morning!!! woohoo!) so things are a little crazy at the Hague residence.

Kylie's ready!!

I painted my toes for our trip...

They may be a little out there... but I like them. :)

We did take a break and took a trip to the Portland Aquarium. It was actually a lot better than I had expected. haha. And Kylie LOVED it, which made it worth every penny. :)

 

They had lots of fish, and quite a few interactive places where you can touch the animals.

Kylie was all for touching the sting rays... I however was a little hesitant. haha. And the sharks in the tank freaked me out.

We also got to hang out with the parakeets.

 Kylie wasn't so sure about this little guy eating her hair tie.

Photo opp in a half-boat. Gotta love it.

We finished off our excursion with dinner at Outback. I sure do love me some steak!

AND...This is how you will find Kylie 99% of the time.

She wants to be right by my side and helping with everything. Which lately has included sweeping, making lunch, doing dishes, cleaning mom's face and laundry.

Oh and picking out books of course. I moved the board books down to where she can reach them... and we now read about 1000 books a day. haha!

Can't really get away without doing her hair anymore... it's too long!

she insisted on wearing her church shoes with her jammies... and then "posed." ha!

Dallin had a "quarterly" at work. So his team went and had a fun game day at a Family Fun Center. He had a total blast! And was super excited to show me the pictures of them mini golfing in pools of water, and to tell me about how Darrin "soaked" him during a go kart race. I'm glad he's able to do these fun things to break up the tedious-ness of sitting at a computer every day.

Now if we can only make it through the next few days and the flight to Orlando!