ALASKA

I have never really considered that I have come from a wealthy family, but my sister and I have always had what we needed and received fun and wonderful toys at Christmas. I always considered ourselves average, but we never went without and we were usually able to get things we wanted.

We always went on vacations, pulling our home along behind us. I had a great time traveling that way and getting to spend time with our brother who we usually only saw during the summer. I have many great memories of traveling with family and doing fun things. My parents have always been able to save money without denying us any opportunities, or at least it seemed that way to me. I wish that I could be a little more like them in that way and learn how to save our hard earned money. They have also been able to help many people out in their lives and they still manage to take care of themselves too.

Well this summer I felt like I came from a wealthy family because my dad invited us all on a cruise to Alaska. He had some extra money and he decided that he wanted to spend it by inviting all of his kids and their kids on a cruise to Alaska. He paid the basic room costs for everyone and anything extra was on us. I had a really great time!! I probably spent more money than I really needed too, but that is another story. I had never been on a cruise before and I was pretty excited. If it had not been for my dad I can honestly say that I would probably never have visited Alaska, but it is a beautiful place and it was great to spend time with family.

Jeff did not like the motion of the boat at first, but I think that we all had a great time, including the kids. Blayke loved pulling his little Diego backpack around the ship everytime we went anywhere and everyone seemed to know him from his bag. Seeing all the beautiful nature made me appreciate Gods wonderful creations more than I have in a long time when I am surrounded by the hustle of life. It was nice to just relax and spend time together without any deadlines or places to be.

There was some beautiful scenery there and we actually had really good weather. We did not get rained on once. We saw some shows on the ship and Jeff and I even went dancing. That was actually fun. Brittany helped out a lot. She slept in the same room with the kids. It was nice to not be waken up at least once during the night, but I know she did not enjoy getting woken up.

They had many picture taking opportunities everywhere on the ship and off, almost too many, but we did get some fabulous pictures of our family on the "elegant night" on the cruise. These pictures really turned out great and now I can check off getting family pictures on my list of things to do this year. They really did a nice job and I am very pleased with the ones we chose. Here are some.

After the cruise we saw a little bit of Seattle. Jeff went up in the Space Needle and Brittany and I took the kids to some fare games that were at the bottom. It was nice to get home and then my family came for a little visit on their way home. (It ended up being a longer than expected visit, because my entire family decided to start throwing up the day that they were supposed to leave.) My sister is amazing and she took good care of us. One of my friends also brought over some homemade soup and jelly and it was great!