Cancun 09

About a month ago Lane and I went to Cancun with our friends. An adult only vacation. Very awesome. My wonderful mother flew in from California to take care of Sophia and Grace while we were gone. We enjoyed 6 days on no kids for the first time since they were born. We stayed at the royal in Cancun. It was all inclusive so we only left the resort one time for an excursion. It was so nice to be with all of our great friends.
Through out the week we enjoyed loads of great foods and drinks (I love virgin Pina coladas). Lane and I got a couples massage (very romantic and relaxing). We went on a Jungle tour/snorkling adventure (yes I did see a shark). And Lane played lots of volleyball while I got an awesome tan. It was a wonderful vacation.


Me holding parrots. Very cool.


The guys playing volleyball.

All of our friends that went with us.

It was so humid that our camera kept getting all fogged up.

The trip back home with my wonderful husband. Can you see how tan my face is.

Cruise and more 2009

We started our Journey on February 14th. We drove South all the way down to Tuscon and then headed east towards Texas. Here are some prisoners in front of the Alamo in San Antonio, TX.

In Texas we visited with Lane's cousin in Corpus Cristy for two days. From there we drove to New Orleans where we spent a day and a half. We stayed in the historic french quarters.
We visited the famous Oak Ally plantation home. A very beautiful antebellum home.

The girls sitting on the famous Bourbon Street. We were in New Orleans just four days before Mardi Gras. It was so alive while we were there, I couldn't imagine what it gets like for Mardi Gras.


Most of the time driving was spent like this.

This is Sophia on the beach in Pensacola, Florida. Grandpa Shepard spent every summer here while he was growing up.


Sunset on the Cruise.

On one the Islands of the Bahamas with our cruise ship in the back ground.

Doing the beach catwalk thing with Lane's brother and wife. We are on the Island of St. Maarten.


We partied it up at Boo Boo Jams beach in St. Maarten. I ended up loosing my eye glasses to the ocean here.

The kids on the beach on the island of St. Thomas. This was by far the most beautiful Island I had ever been to. The water was so clear and warm and the beach was amazing.

We swam with the sting rays on the island of Grand Turks.

Grace gave the sting ray a little kiss.

While Sophia got a little back rub.

Sophia in the kids pool on the ship. She looks so funny in her goggles.

Yummy cruise food.

We also went to the Everglades. Since out Cruise left from Ft. Lauderdale. We went on a swamp boat tour. It was really fun.

After the boat ride Lane got to hold a 4 year old alligator.

We also did the whole Disney World thing. We went to the animal kingdom park.

Blizzard beach water park. It was freezing that day, but it was part of a great package we purchased.

And we went to the Disney Hollywood studio.


On our drive back home we stopped very briefly in Memphis to catch a glimpse of Graceland. We didn't go inside but we paid homage to the king.



We also made a brief stop in st. Louis, Mo to visit Lane's brother Dave. They don't live there,but their son was in the hospital there so we stopped to visit with them.

We also went up in the gateway arch while we were there.

It was a wonderful trip. I know most of you think we are crazy for driving, but we got to see so much of our wonderful country and visit so many wonderful family members.

Vacation pictures.

I finally got my computer back and now I can post some pictures from the last month. We were pretty busy in August. We went to Canada, California, and Mexico. And the girls started school. Here are some pictures to highlight our trips.
One last Canada picture:
I couldn't get a better picture, but here is Lane and Grace on a tube. I am really happy that she enjoyed it.

Our trip to California:
Sophia is trying to style the hair that my dad has left.

My mom in the Kimono that I bought for her in Japan.

My dad dancing with Grace and Sophia.

My BFF Lynn and I at the shop she works at in San Fransisco. I always love getting together with her when I am in town.

My sister Susie with Grace.

Activities in between California and Mexico.
Sophia Rock climbing. Lane was so proud of her.

Grace and Sophia with their cousins outside the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point.

Sophia's first day of school.

Sophia at the Gardens at Thanksgiving point.

All the cousins at the Gardens.

Our trip to Rosarito, Mexico:
I love this flower in this setting. Mexico is so beautiful.

Grace in the pool at night. I love the glow of the pool behind her.

Sophia playing on the beach.

Sophia asleep after the beach.

Our last meal in Rosarito Mexico. The famous Lobster meal. This will probably be the last time we go down there for a very long time. I will miss everything about Rosarito Mexico.

Back in America!

Wow, I am just going to say it, I am so tired. We just arrived in Mainland America two days ago and this is the first computer time I have had since the 10th of July. We moved out of our apartment on the 10th and headed to Tokyo the next morning. We spent four days in Tokyo before catching our red eye flight to Honolulu. Lets just say, Tuesday July 15th was the best day ever. First of all we spent it at Tokyo Disneyland which was so much fun and then when we arrived in Honolulu the next morning it was still Tuesday July 15th. We had two Tuesday. We spent the second Tuesday swimming at the beach in Hawaii. What could get better then that. The second day in Hawaii we boarded another plane and went to the big Island of Hawaii to catch a glimpse of the volcano there. I didn't realize how diverse the big Island is. We started calling it the Continent. It had every climate you could have. From the rain drenched coast of Hilo, the freezing cold volcano basin to the black sand desert beaches of the south. It was quite the trip. We went swimming at one of the most beautiful beaches on the west side. The water was so warm. After spending four days there we boarded another plane back to Oahu. Since it was July it was so crowed in Honolulu and thankfully Lane's cousin lives there and she took us to the most beautiful beach in Kailua(I hope that is spelled right). Waikiki beach was just too crowed. We had a wonderful relaxing time in Hawaii. Then tuesday the 22nd we left Hawaii to head back to the mainland where we had a over night lay over in Seattle. Our plane got in late, but we were on Hawaii time so we were not too tired. The next morning we had to catch to separate flights to SLC where Lane's flight terminated and Grace and Grandpa Shepard caught a flight to Minnesota. While Sophia and I left later in the morning from Seattle to SLC and had a nice 5 hour lay over. By the time we landed in SLC, my Jet lag finally kicked in. I couldn't keep my eyes open. By the time we boarded our flight in SLC to go to Minnesota, I was ready to sleep and low and behold, I fell asleep. This never happens. For some reason I can't sleep on a plane. Then about an hour into the flight we got drinks and I woke up to get one and I finished right away. We then hit really bad turbulence. So bad I thought we were going to die. The plane jerked really hard and it immediately dropped 200 feet in elevation. It sent every one's drinks and other stuff flying everywhere. People screamed and I got into crash position along with others around us. I was so scared, because when planes crash I don't think that anyone ever survives. The rest of the flight was so shaky and nerve recking. I was just great that this was the last flight of our trip. Sophia who was with me was just fine and didn't realise that it was a pretty scary situation. After the flight the pilot told everyone that we were flying through a lighting storm and that the plane which is flown on auto pilot the whole duration of the flight, switched to manual drive and she had to take over. I am just grateful she knew what she was doing. We are now safely in Minnappolis visiting with Lane's older brother's family. We are going up to canada in a few days. So I probably wont post any picture until we get home from Canada. I am happy to be back in America and I can't wait to see all of our family and friends. We will be back in Utah on the 5th of August. I am sorry if something in this blog doesn't make sence, My jet lag is really bad right now.

Nikko

This last weekend we had the opportunity to go to the Historical town of Nikko. Nikko is situated in the mountains about 2 hours north of Tokyo and 2 hours south of us. Nikko is considered a world heritage site and so we had to see it before we left Japan.
I am so glad we did make the drive to go see Nikko, it was absolutely beautiful. I have been to lots of famous sights in Japan and I think that this was my favorite sight by far. Nikko is surrounded by the most beautiful forests and rivers. And all the temples and shrines are surrounded by huge red wood trees with moss all over them. The stone walls around the temples and shrines are aged and blend in with the surrounding forests. Its just absolutely gorgeous. We stayed at a little b&b called the Hatori Turtle Inn. It was along the river at the end of a street. It was in a very secluded spot and they had a private onsen (naked hot tub). This was the girls favorite part. I would highly recommend staying there to anyone traveling to Nikko.
Besides the great B&B we enjoyed the hiking around the rivers and around the temples and shrines. We were told before we left on Friday that it was going to rain, but we lucked out and we had sunshine on saturday and mist on Sunday, but no rain or at least the need use an umbrella.
On Sunday we drove up the mountain to a lake town called Chuzenji. Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera died that morning and so I didn't get any pictures of our day at the lake. It is home to the beautiful waterfall called Kegon (one of the top three water falls to see in Japan). And since I didn't have my camera we paid to have our picture taken in front of the waterfall. The lake and waterfall were formed from a volcano that erupted a long time ago. This town was just as beautiful as Nikko. It was really cloudy that day, but it created a mist that lingered over the lake and made the atmosphere very peaceful. Overall it was a great two days.

The first thing we saw when we arrived in Nikko was this beautiful Japanese garden. I love the style of Japanese gardens so much. I want to create one in my backyard some day.

The girls are praying at a shinto shrine or at least pretending to pray.

This is the most colorful pagoda that I have seen in Japan. I imagine that most of them use to look this way.

Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil. You've got to love this famous Buddhist teaching. These monkey's were carved into one of the buildings at the world heritage site.

Trying to recreate the monkeys. We were missing Sophia monkey.

Its the amazingly ornate buildings like this one (which was built in about 1630) that they made Nikko into a world heritage site. Some powerful man back then had these buildings made in honor of his death before he actually died. I think that is the correct story.

We had lots of walking to do that day so Lane did a lot of this. We do have a stroller but with millions of stairs its more of a pain to bring it. And the girls love to ride on Lane's shoulders.

Lane is a good sport to carry the girls. I believe that their combined weight is about 70lbs.

As we climbed a ton of stairs to get to the last temple, Sophia kept turning around and saying ok mom take another picture. So I took advantage of that.

This is one of the many demons that guard the gates of the shrines and temples. This one didn't look so scary to me. To me he reminded me of a mad dance teacher trying to teach a cool dance move that the students where just not getting.