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New Year!So I have been the lamest blogger in the world lately!! I didn't blog anything about the majority of last school year! It was kind of an adjustment for me last year with a high schooler, all my kids in school, my baby in kindergarten and early morning seminary! I'm pleased to say that I feel like I'm back to normal and this year has been off to a fairly smooth start! I won't be back tracking into last school year, but I may post some of our summer activities just for my own personal journaling! So hopefully more will be coming soon! Our school started on August 31 this year. It seems to be getting earlier each year. Here are some pictures of the kids on their first day! Morgan and her friend Mandy both Sophomores at Union High School.
Mason is a big eighth grader at Pacific Middle School:
Brooklyn is in the Fifth Grade: (blurry picture!)
Brinley is in Third Grade:
And Maddie is in First Grade:
They all had a great day at school and were pretty excited to go back. 
We have some excellent teachers this year! I think some of the best at Harmony!!! Brooklyn's birthday was the second day of school, September 1! Her birthday always falls on a holiday, or right around when school starts! So pretty much its craziness. She got breakfast in bed..
And then she went about her normal day. School, safety patrol, soccer and then bday dinner with friends. 
She kept on asking me what are we going to do fun for my birthday? Sadly that's all we did.. It wasn't a year to have a party and with school just starting it was very busy. We did take her out to dinner a couple days before her birthday. She had some of our good friends' the Dustins come over for a yummy dinner of ribs, potatoes, corn on the cob, and salad. And then she wanted red velvet cake! Thank you Costco for having an awesome cake!! 
We played a game, opened presents and then had to get to bed at a normal time! It was a low-key but fun birthday for Brooklyn!!!
Brooklyn at Eleven!!!
Brooklyn continues to be my most easy going child and most of the time, my easiest child!! She is very independent and helpful. I trust her more than I do Mason to bbsit the little girls. She loves to play with them still and does a great job at making them dinner while we are out on a date. She is smart and does well in school. She is determined and dedicated to school, soccer, and completing her activity days' goals. This summer her and her friend Cassisdy fully planned a kids camp for kids the ages of 4-7. They planned all the activities, food, and prizes. The only thing Christy and I had to do was to provide the location of kids camp and help out a little with crowd control. They both ended up making about $75 dollars each!! This year she has begun to wear more jewelry and has started to get into her clothes. She is definitely a pre-teen! But she loves to play outside, play with the boys, and kicks butt at Black Ops! We love her dearly and we are so glad she is such a well adjusted middle child!!!
Caribbean CruiseWe had a great time taking our family on a cruise for spring break this year. We went to the Western Caribbean with some of our Jackson relatives. We had been looking so forward to this trip!! The kids had been counting down the days since they received this as their main Christmas present in December! We left Saturday April 2 and flew the red eye flight to Tampa Florida.
My kids are finally at the age that they can pretty much entertain themselves. The flights were a breeze and once we got to Tampa we immediately boarded our boat. The kids were bursting with excitement. They thought the boat was huge,
the rooms were cool, and their first visit to the lunch buffet was amazing. We quickly hooked up with our cousins (in-laws) and began to get settled. We set sail early that evening and traveled to Key West, Florida. We arrived in Key West early afternoon on Monday April 4. While in Key West we went to the beach, 
swam, walked around town, 
and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine! We also ate Key Lime Pie at a local restaurant. We were told it was a must if you visit Key West. It did not disappoint!! The next day we were at sea the entire day. We just relaxed the entire day. We swam in the boats pool, slept in, played ping pong, and ate the whole day. By day two the kids were very comfortable with their surroundings and would visit the bufffet frequently and always get the ice cream. The big kids spent a lot of time in what was called the Loft. That's where all the teenagers hung out and they also had their own tanning deck.
The kids also loved spending time with their cousins. Every night they would hang out together until the late hours and then visit the midnight buffet. A couple of the nights they all slept in one cabin!! That's seven bodies in one little room! They were also thrilled to know that they could order room service 24 hours a day!!!! So they would just do it because it was fun, not really because they were hungry!!!
That evening was our first formal night. Everyone loved getting dressed up and going to dinner, except for maybe Mason! It was a very fancy dinner and we all loved it! Jon took several pictures of the little girls while I was getting ready!
The three musketeers!!
At Dinner:
Family Picture after dinner:
The next day we were in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We first went on a small tour of the island. It was so warm and beautiful. The natives were constantly trying to sell something to us. Our taxi was even stopped by this man who swallowed fire!!
We then went to a local beach where we played in the water with some of the locals, Brinley got her hair braided, and we just enjoyed the warm and sunny weather!!
After the beach we went to Margaritaville. There we swam in their pool and went down the big water slide. The kids loved that slide! 
We did some last minute shopping before heading back to our ship. We got stopped by several locals that wanted to sell us stuff. We were late getting back to our boat and we got in trouble!!! That night at dinner Morgan and her cousin tried escargot! They were both nervous but ended up liking it!!!!
The next day we were in Grand Cayman! The beaches and water there were the most amazing of the entire trip! Unfortunately this was the one day that I didn't remember to bring my camera!!! UGH! Temple and I took the little kids to the beach. We played there the entire afternoon. I sand was white and soft and the water was the most beautiful aqua blue!! Jon and his brother to the older kids to Stingray City. They were able to swim with some stingrays and take pictures with them! (I don't have any of those pictures yet) It was so warm that day that we all kind of got a little too much sun! Every night when we would come back from dinner or a show we would have a towel animal in our room! The girls' loved seeing what creation there and the chocolates. 
Brinley was soooo excited when there was a monkey! For some reason she loves monkeys and thinks that someday she will get a real one for a pet!?!?
Our final stop was in Cozumel, Mexico. This was probably the funniest day ever! We went on an excursion where we got to ride dune buggies all over the island!
We first went snorkeling! We saw some pretty fish and even Brinley and Maddie snorkeled for part of the time. We then drove along the beautiful coast for several miles. I kept on saying this is so awesome! Morgan was taking several photos of the scenery. It was amazing!
We then had a yummy lunch and went to the beach to swim. It was so fun in to swim in the water, play in the sand and relax!!!
Our last day on our cruise was spent "at Sea". We were traveling back to Florida. We took advantage of every last minute of relaxation and sun! We just swam, laid in the sun and ate lots of ice cream! That evening was our last fancy dinner. The dinner staff put on a show with singing, music and dancing. It was a fun way to end the evening and cruise!
Our family after dinner that last evening!
We had such a great time on this cruise! My kids loved every minute of it and still talk about it weekly! They want to go on another one next year! We'll see about that! We loved going with our cousins and creating some great memories!
We got back to Florida on a Sunday but we didn't fly back home until Monday evening since the tickets were much cheaper on a Monday. It was great to spend almost two more days in beautiful sunny weather! When we got home at 1 am we were exhausted. It was worth it though for a great vacation!!!
We went to several Union High School football games. Morgan performed at three of them and Brinley and Maddie both performed during the half time show in conjunction with Morgans Dance Team. 
