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Happy 3rd Birthday Dempsey!!!

We had a fun evening with friends and family.  Thanks to all who were able to join us.  Dempsey especially enjoyed having her friends Kendyl, Lexi, and Liam there.

We have discovered that Dempsey loves the water and that she is fearless.  We took her swimming for the first time and she had a great time.  She loved the water slide and went down in a number of times.  Then she saw the high dive and took off running.  It was all we could do to catch her.  When we did she tried to pull us into the line.  I actually had to carry her away from the ladder.  Fortunately, I was able to redirect her attention to the slide again otherwise she would have had a melt down.  We did let her jump off the low diving board and Jared was in the water to catch her.

A few weeks later I met my sisters and their kids at the lake.  Again Dempsey had a great time in the water and playing in the sand with her cousins.

Dempsey and I went to the zoo for the first time together.  Dempsey was so excited to get to ride the train.  She was all smiles, that is until I pulled out the camera….

Dempsey loved seeing the animals and learning their names and what sounds they made.  The polar bear was especially interesting as he kept swimming up to the glass to get attention.  At first she was a little nervous but soon was laughing at the bear.

Another highlight was the playground.  She LOVED the big slide.  She did not care that she was competing with 8 to 10 year-old kids to go down.  She would just push her way through them to get to the front of the line and giggle if she ran into them stopped in the slide.

She had so much fun at the zoo that I completely wore her out.  Within a few minutes of getting in the car she was sound asleep (she had barely even touched the sucker in her hand).

We have been adjusting to having a 2 1/2 year old and are loving it!!  I have quit my job to be a stay at home mom.  Jared loves coming home and playing with Dempsey after work.  One of his favorite things is cuddling with her on the couch and watching a cartoon.

My sister sent Dempsey and I matching aprons.   We love them and Dempsey loves wearing hers as she helps me bake cookies.  She had her first taste of cookie dough and wasn’t sure that she would like it until I persuaded her to try it.  She immediately asked for more.

We are so happy.  Dempsey has brought so much joy to us.

We are so excited to announce that we have adopted an adorable 2 1/2 year old, Dempsey.  Words can not express how excited we are to have her in our family!  She is so adorable and she has already become part of our hearts.

We received a call on Friday letting us know that Dempsey’s birth parents had selected us to parent their daughter.  We felt so blessed.  We met Dempsey on Tuesday and fell in love with her.  We spent the next two days with Dempsey and her birth mother and on Thursday the adoption paperwork was signed and we were able to take her home with us.  Our hearts are full!!

I (Erika) took the day off work, borrowed my niece, Chloe and joined my sister-in-law, Sarah and Kendyl for a trip to Cornbelly Corn maze at Thanksgiving point.  Who would have thought that they would be closed on a beautiful sunny Halloween.  So we had to change plans and we took the girls to see the dinosaur museum.

We had a great time with the interactive displays.  The girls especially loved  playing in the sand and water at the “erosion” table.

One area had dinosaur sounds and Kendyl said they were scary.  Chloe who is not afraid of anything quickly covered her ears and made the best facial expression.  She wasn’t really scared 🙂

Next the girls got to dig in the sand for dinosaur bones.  The museum provided paint bushes so they could uncover the bones like paleontologists do when they find real dinosaur bones.

Afterwards we went outside to and had snacks and let the girls run and play on the grass.  We had a great time and the girls are excited to go trick-or-treating tonight!

Mom and Dad Martin were finishing their mission in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and decided that they should end with a cruise since they had been living only 15 minutes from the cruise terminals.  They invited all of Jared’s siblings and Kyle and Elise came.  We of course decided to go with them, although we did not book the actual cruise until a week before we left.  We did not want to schedule too early in case there was an opportunity to be placed with a baby.

Saturday we flew in to Fort Lauderdale  and spent the night with Mom and Dad.  Sunday we went to church and then boarded the ship for 10 days in paradise!!

Day 1 – Ship day.  I enjoyed a good book, sun, the pools, exercising and of course good food.  Jared enjoyed exploring the ship, watching movies on the deck of the pool, exercising and the food.

Day 2 – Ship day.  Relaxing…more of the above.

Day 3 – Antigua – We booked a shore excursion and went kayaking and then boarded a boat to go to bird island to snorkel.  This excursion was too structured for us.  The guides required that we stay with them while kayaking and then when we were snorkeling they instructed those who had no experience stay by the boat and those with experience stay with the guide.  We like being able to explore on our own.  I saw my first squid while snorkeling!

Day 4 – Barbados – Boarded a Submarine and explored the depths of the sea… a coral reef and a ship wreck.  We got down to 142 feet below the surface.  What a great trip!  Next time I want to go scuba diving with Jared.  I just need to get him certified.

Day 5 – St Lucia – We booked a tour when we got off the ship which can be risky, but we had a great time.  We took a catamaran around the island to Soufriere (french for Sulfur Air), boarded a taxi and drove through the active crater of a volcano and then to a waterfall and back to the catamaran.  We stopped by a beach and were able to get out and swim.  As soon as we dropped anchor some of the island natives came up on kayaks to sell conch shells and other items.  I have always wanted a large conch shell to display on a shelf so we purchased one and then went for a nice swim.  It was a great tour!

Day 6 – St Kitts – We found a local taxi driver/tour guide in the port and had him take us around the island.  He took us through town and showed us many of the old churches and buildings and told us of the history of the island.  He took us by some ancient petroglyphs, one supposedly helped with fertility so we got out of the taxi so that we could touch it and take advantage of it’s “power”.  😉  We drove through a rain forest, toured the location where they manufacture Batik fabrics.  We then drove up a hill where we could view both the caribbean sea and the Atlantic sea.

Day 7- St Thomas – It was Sunday so we went to sacrament meeting with Mom, Dad, Elise and Kyle.  It was an expensive trip as the taxi driver charged us $8.00 per person to take us.  We found the local bus to get a ride back to the ship.  It should have cost $2.00 per person but the driver went off his route to take us back and then charged us $5.00 per person.  After we got back, Jared and I grabbed our snorkel gear and took a taxi to a beach with a great reef and spent the afternoon swimming with the fish.

Day 8 -Bahamas.  Spent the day enjoying the white sand, blue ocean, snorkeling, and the sun.

Day 9 – Ship Day and Formal Dinner and enjoying our last second course of dessert, chocolate obsession.  YUMM!!

Day 10 – Arrived back in Fort Lauderdale, disembarked, flight home.

Jared took me to see Mary Poppins tonight.  We had great seats and enjoyed a night out on the town.

Mary Poppins was fun to watch but not our favorite.  I love the Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserable, and Thoroughly Modern Millie.  Jared’s favorites are Wicked, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Jared keeps promising to take me to New York to enjoy the arts.  He lived in the New York area for 2 years after he graduated from BYU and know all the great theaters and is definitely a connoisseur of the arts.

After having a number of problems with our Endeavor we finally were able to sell it.  Happy Day!!

So we needed to purchase a new car, something that would be good for kids and that can handle the canyon.  After being a one car family for about 2 weeks we found the car we wanted but it was in Ohio.

It took a few days to negotiate with the dealer over the phone and Friday morning we finalized the price, booked airline tickets and were on a plane to Columbus by 11:30 am.  (Call us crazy…)

We arrived in Columbus Friday evening and picked up our “new” Rav4 Saturday morning and then we were off on our adventure.

A good friend recommended a deli in Columbus that we thought we would try.  When we got there there was a huge crowd and we both were interested in the same sandwich, a pastrami and corn beef with coleslaw on rye.  Jared suggested that I try another sandwich and we would “share”.    That sandwich was so good that Jared did not want to share, but I was able to get a few yummy bites. 🙂   There pickles were amazing and we ended up going back in to purchase a dozen more to bring home with us.  So if you are ever in Columbus you must try Katzinger’s Deli!!!

The next 3 days we traveled through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming and finally back to Utah.

We spent a good portion of Sunday visiting Carthage and Nauvoo and would love to go back and spend more time there.

We also stopped at Mt. Rushmore.  It was amazing to see the presidents carved into the side of the mountain and learn about the history and the artist.

On the way through Wyoming we stopped and spent some time hiking to Martin’s Cove where the Martin Handcart company stayed during an incredible snow storm.  It made me realize what great sacrifices were made by the early pioneers and what trials some of these faithful saints endured.  It was well worth the stop.

All in all we had a great trip and would happily do it again – and we love the new car!

My sister Lisa is in town still and her kids wanted to hike to the “Y” at BYU. We decided to join them and got up early so that we could leave Mom & Dad’s with the kids and David at 8 AM. Fortunately it was a cooler day which made for a wonderful hike. Everyone made it to the top of the “Y” even Elaine (with Nutmeg’s help to distract her). When we got back to the car we decided that everyone deserved ice cream from the BYU creamery. YUMM!!!

Here is a picture of us at the top of the “Y”.

Later that day Jared and Dad took the boys and Elaine to visit the Copper Mine. They loved it. The machinery was amazing! A boy’s dream to see it up close! It is the largest copper mine in the world and the equipment they use is HUGE!!!

Here is a picture of just the tire for some of the trucks. It is 12 feet tall!!!

Here is one of the trucks that use the large 12 foot tires:

When they came back we had dinner with everyone and then went swimming. Jared and I love playing with the kids in the water. Our nieces and nephews love to be splashed and thrown. It is tiring but we love it too!

We went home exhausted but had a great day!