First Days of School

Ah, it's so nice to have school back in session! Lindsey is still wondering when she gets to go to "the big school", even though we have had her preschool twice already. Since I'm the first mom to teach, I think she thinks it's just a playdate with three of her friends. She is enjoying it, though.

Spencer was pretty quiet the first morning that I dropped him off for Kindergarten, but he was just bubbly afterwards. I think he didn't quite know what to expect, but now he really likes it. He even gets to ride the bus a whole block home.

Miranda and Derek are really enjoying school. I think it's turned out better than either of them thought! Of course, they haven't started having daily homework yet. I'm enjoying the quieter and cleaner house. It will get even better when I get two mornings a week with just Kara- imagine that!!

10 Year Anniversary Trip to Mexico!

After almost a week of getting back to normal life, I've finally gotten the chance to catch you all up on our very fun, exciting trip to Cancun, Mexico! This is the balcony from our little condo. It overlooks the beach and all the other hotels. It was so HOT there- about 95 degrees and 90% humidity. We had fun on the beach and playing in the waves (which knocked Larry and I down a few times-it's pretty rough). Our condo was by all the dance clubs and some malls, so we explored those a little when we first arrived. Our first day of adventures began Monday at an ecopark called Xcaret. They have lots of animals, snorkeling in caves and rivers, and Mexican heritage shows. It was all a lot of fun and it made a very full day. We left at 8 am and got home at midnight.

These guys hung upside down from a giant pole and did all these cool tricks.

Ah! Air conditioning! I felt like I was totally melting a lot of the time we were there. I felt like I was constantly drinking water the whole time we were there. I don't think I've ever sweat that much in my life- I didn't even dare wear makeup because even the sunscreen on my face would drip into my eyes. It was THAT HOT.

This was one of the performers in the huge show that they have at night.

On Tuesday, we did Selvatica. It was a group of 8 of us that did zip lines through the jungle, swimming in a cenote (underground pool), and lunch. Here we are all suited up. We did about 12 lines, and it was fun. Larry did a couple upside-down, and I did a couple "superman"-style.

Larry really wanted to use a Segway, so he rented one to take to the cenote- the rest of us went in the army truck.

The cenote was perfect- nice and refreshing. They had a zipline into the pool and a diving platform. They had a fun rope to sit on and walk on, and even a little bat cave on the side. After the cenote, we had a yummy lunch and then were back to the condo. On this day, we took the bus to the super WalMart to stock up on groceries for the rest of the trip.

Wednesday was awesome. We went snorkeling with Octavio in a reef about 10 minutes out into the carribean. We started with a practice session in a pool for about 30 minutes, then we went out on a little boat to the reef. We quickly got in and descended. Larry was pretty nervous about it, but the practices went so well, that we both felt comfortable quickly. We did 2 dives, the first one was down about 20 -30 feet, the second, around 30-40 feet.

The first really cool thing that we saw was a Baracuda! He even stayed still while we posed.

All the fish swam right by us, and I could ALMOST touch them...

Toward the end of the first dive, I started feeling a little sick and like I needed to eat, so we surfaced and I quickly ate something to calm my stomach. We quickly realized that I was motion sick. After throwing up my little snack over the side of the boat, we suited up really fast to get back into the water (the boat was rocking SO hard, and down in the water, it was nice). On this dive, it got cold, so I stayed a little higher part of the time. The coolest thing we saw on this part was this big sting ray and baby ray. They glided off before we got too close.

We saw lots of schools of fish, lobster, tons of cool coral, and a lot of diverse sea life. It was SO worth the 10 minutes of motion sickness. After coming up, we quickly zipped back to the lagoon, and by the time we got there, I was feeling totally normal. Although, my hair wasn't...

Salt water does weird things to hair...

On Thursday, we went with an LDS tour guide, Helaman to two archeological sites- Equin-Ha? and Chichen-Itza. The first one was cool because we could climb up all the temples. Here was a baptismal font. There were many similarities to see. Helaman was so great with pointing out and explaining the possibilites.

Here's Larry at the top of the main temple. As you can see, there is jungle EVERYWHERE! It was so interesting to also see the mounds of rock and overgrowth on the parts of the temples that they haven't restored yet. At both sites I was amazed at how anyone could fit all the pieces together to reconstruct these sites.

After the best meal on the trip- Lime soup, Chicken fajitas, fruit and lemonade, we visited the main temple at Chichen-Itza. They had all sorts of accessory buildings, including where they play that basketball-like sport with the two tiny hoops up on the wall. It was so interesting to learn about the symbolism.

On Friday, we cancelled our last excursion (another zipline/archeological site/cenote), to just hang out at the beach and pack for our early flight the next day. Larry and I had a lot of fun going out in the early evening looking for shells. Larry loved putting on his goggles and finding shells. We took lots of pictures on our waterproof camera- so we'll post those once they get developed. We also both read a Brandon Sanderson book (Mistborn was so excellent), and I even forced Larry to watch all 6 hours of the BBC Pride and Prejudice!

We left our condo at 5 am, with music from the dance clubs still going strong. We flew into Dallas around 9:30. Larry picked a great hotel, with free shuttles to the airport, awesome breakfast, and within walking distance of the stadium, six flags, and our new favorite place to eat- Steak and Bake. After some yummy burgers, Larry went to Six Flags, while I napped (Heaven!). We met back for dinner, then took a taxi to the stadium. It was absolutely UNreal how huge that place is. We were surrounded by Sooner fans everywhere we went (it was at least a 10-1 ratio). They were all SO NICE to us and many congratulated us afterwards. After wandering around for at least 30 minutes, we found our seats. We sat in one of the corners with most of the BYU fans in the sections surrounding us. It was such a crazy, awesome game!! The perfect end to our anniversary adventure.

Sunday, we picked up the kids from Larry and Lori's house. They didn't miss us much at all- they were having too much fun with grandma, grandpa, Lucy, and Andy. It really was nice to be together again after 8 days. Although, I have to say that I was a little surprised at how little I worried about the kids while we were gone. It was nice to have an adventure with just me and Larry. Maybe in another 10 years we'll get away again...

Summer Sabbatical

This has been one crazy summer for our family. With Larry on Sabbatical (eight week vacation from work), we haven't had any excuses to do our normal summer routines. We've been out and about- just about everywhere it seems. Here are some shots from our adventures, and instead of being in order, they are just about the opposite of that... Last weekend we went out to Yechats, a beach in Oregon, to hang out with Paul and Kari. We got to see some awesome rock/tide formations, play some fabulous Apples to Apples and Balderdash, and have a wonderfully relaxing time on the beach.
On July 25, Larry's sister, Sherry got married to Jeff (he's the tall one). It was a wonderful day with almost everyone in town for the big event. This is a picture of all of Larry's family with all the grandkids and almost all the spouses. Now 8 of the kids are married with 5 to go.
Here are the original Dickinsons!
With family in town, the cousins really got to have a lot of fun together. They went to Enchanted Village ( a small amusement park near us).
Derek and Dallin were best buds this summer. They would even hold hands and talk Star Wars.
While most of the adults were rafting, we had "Cousin Day" at my house with all the grandkids. They had a blast playing together and we had almost no conflicts. It was a fun day for the 15 cousins.
We spent three weeks in Utah, so these next ones are from June/early July. Larry took the kids to the Hill Air Force Base Aviation museum while I had a BYU roommate sleepover. The kids had a blast, and I don't think I've laughed that hard or stayed up till 2:30 for a very long time.
We visited Temple Square and the kids really enjoyed the Church History museum. They have a great kid's section there.
Derek built his own temple.
We took a tour of the Conference center.
We stayed at Paul and Kari's house and were able to go the the Orquirrh Mountain temple open house while we were there. I hope it helps the kids look forward to being in the temple again when they are older.
Miranda just LOVED Paul and Kari's Rex and Roxy. She even brought along Diamond- her favorite stuffed animal dog. Miranda was in heaven with all the pets she met while we stayed at people's houses.
Part of our trip involved two days at Lagoon. I could not believe what Miranda wanted to go on! She is so daring! The kids enjoyed Lagoona Beach, too- especially Derek.
Lindsey and Spencer loved this space ship ride and went on it about 12 times in a row.

We did a campus tour of BYU. I wish we would have began with the Bean Museum because the kids just loved it. We also got to ride in the golf cart around campus, get candy in the bookstore, and drag Jeff along for the ride.
One of the first things we did when we got to Utah was to go camping with my family. We went to a hot springs. Spencer just floated around for a couple hours while Derek did the waterslides over and over. I sat this day out with Kara on deck.

I just had to include this picture of Miranda with her clay cat she made. It is one of her most prized possessions now.
The first day that the kids were out of school, Larry started his Sabbatical. We celebrated by going to the beach. It was a lot of fun.


Here are all the Swansons! Where did all those kids come from??
Miranda and Kenadie sharing a chair at the campout.
Lindsey enjoying a bag a chips. The kids got to eat all sorts of junk food while we've been out and about...


Here are a few more things we've done this summer...

1. Visited the Bonneville Dam and fish hatchery and the Pioneer museum near La Grande- I highly recommend both!
2. Stayed overnight with Larry's cousin, Eric.
3. Stayed with my childhood friend, Lori- toured Idaho Falls, saw a muskrat, visted BYU-Idaho campus, saw the new Rexburg temple.
4. Watched the 4th of July fireworks on my parent's front lawn. Tried to light our own dinky fireworks- Derek's hand burned on a sparkler.
5. Celebrated my grandma's birthday on July 4th- saw the Hyrum parade and had a big family dinner.
6. Visted the Botellos- a family Larry helped convert on his mission. The kids loved their turtle, named Bubbles (she was fast!). We went the Spanish branch with them where the dad is the branch president. They are an AWESOME family.
7. Visted Cove Fort, took the tour. I found out that pioneer girls would save their hair that they cut and put it in a box to later use for their dolls- among other things...
8. Stayed up playing Killer Bunnies with Paul, Kari, Sherry, and Jeff- and heard about Sherry's job doing therapy at the prison (it takes a special kind of woman for that).
9. Had a roommate BBQ at Julie's house after the sleepover- very fun and yummy.
10. Went to the beach for the Dickinson reunion where 32? out of 36 of us got sick. But it was still fun adding ourselves to the throw-up list...

So what now??
Larry goes back to work on the 13th, so we are squeezing in a camping trip before then. We're also getting the lawn ready to seed (it was majorly destroyed during construction). We are planning a trip to Bend on the 21st, then Larry and I leave for a week in Mexico on the 29th- no kids! I think I will need a break by then!!

My dad