Tortola, British Virgin Islands

Our Second Stop---British Virgin Islands

Lots of little "shops" to buy clothes and typical  touristy items.

I actually bought the black skirt I am wearing in all these pictures!  I had worn jean shorts and it was SO HOT!!!  I changed into my new skirt in this shack with this lady holding a dress around me to cover myself.  

It was MUCH cooler once I changed into my skirt!

Dave and Steve waiting for our "tour bus"

We did a Pub Crawl in Tortola and thankfully we were on the CALM bus.  

The other buses took shots of something the ENTIRE 4 hours.  We did not!  Thankfully!

The tour bus took us around the ENTIRE ISLAND!  It was pretty cool.

We went to this beach for lunch.  It was a YUMMY YUMMY lunch.

Then, we walked along the beach

This was the BAR at the beach. Steve didn't want to be in the sun, so he sat here 

and talked to the bar-tender!

Heather, Amanda, and I!!!

So, beautiful.....

(the beach, not us!!)

Pictures from our bus--on the road.

There are many different islands all around here!

This is "down-town" Tortola----before we went on the tour bus!

On our tour---we stopped at a local bar and down the hill was this construction site. 

Steve went and talked with the construction workers and must have told them he owed a construction business...because they gave him their phone #....in case he had any work for them....

in Kansas??   That's funny!!

The girls---after our tour!!

Then, back to the boat!!!  

Where will we eat tonight and what will we do for fun?

Samana, Dominican Repulbic

We left on cruise ship and took a tender boat to Cayo Levantado Beach!

Upon arrival, we were greeted by Pablo--who would become Dave's FRIEND for the day!

He rented us snorkeling equipment cheaper than anyone else on the island---at least that's what he told us and we believed him!!  He did hook Dave up with some drinks and other things while on the island for the day!!

Snorkeling was pretty fun!

I don't know if I have ever snorkeled before!

Dave took us out to where he found TONS of Star Fish on the bottom of the ocean---

there were probably 15 or so.  That was pretty cool.  

Then, Dave dove down and picked them up for us girls so we could get our picture taken with them!

(Kim has those pictures on her under-water camera!!)

This was a Star-fish I found on the rocks before we snorkeled! 

 It was moving in my hands, that was pretty cool!!

Me and my Brother Dave!!

He's my younger brother, but he takes good care of me!

Some yummy drinks we had made in Pineapples!  yummy!!!

Dave got a drink out of a coconut later, it was not as yummy!

I wanted to swim with the Sea Lions so badly!!  

I decided the $160 was not worth it---I would rather shop.

And, thankfully I choose this option because I got to watch everyone that did pay that amount.  I watched the entire 15 minutes with them---YES, 15 min.  What a waste!!  But, look at this great picture of the Sea Lion.  It was cool to see one close up!!

YES---1 Sea Lion.  Not 8 of them, like the "Ad" showed!!

For $10 you could get your picture taken with this....

So, instead I signaled for Steve to take it's picture from afar!!!

The beautiful scenery!!

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary To US!!  10 years TODAY!!  WOW!!

I always know when Steve is "sincerely" laughing, because he gets CUTE little lines by his eyes!!

Adorable....

I am thrilled that we still LIKE EACH OTHER---

after 10 years!!!  We really do.  We love being together.  

SO---what did we do on our Anniversary??

Paige came into our room at 3am with her ears hurting.

Steve went to the couch to make room for her in the bed!

We took Paige to the Dr. together (how romantic) to find out she has a double ear infection.

Paige wanted a donut after the Dr., so we went to QT to get her a donut...

and decided to treat ourselves to "lunch out"--a Taquito (for Steve) and a corndog (for me) from QT.

**In my defense---the corndogs at QT are really good. They are not on a stick.  They really are pretty yummy!**

Wow---10 years is exciting!!!

Now---Steve is going to go mow the yard.

And, tonight...

We get to enroll Jaden in Kindergarden.

BUT---we are going to go have an adult beverage after that!!!  Can't wait!!!

 Do Not feel too sorry for us though....

We did just go on a 7 day CRUISE---and this was our CELEBRATION

SO---as we handle the "Daily grind" of life today.....

we will remember the FUN we had a few weeks ago!!!

Happy Anniversary Baby!!  I love you lots!!

The PEOPLE on our cruise!

One reason our Cruise was so FABULOUS was the PEOPLE we were with!!

Here's us girls, heading to the boat.

Friday night we stayed in Miami and left from our hotel to the port Sat. morning around 11am!!

Me, Heather, Kim, and Amanda!!

(Do I look like a Giant next to Heather or what!!!)

We would meet up with Megan (and John)--my Premier Mom!! 

The NCAA tournament was going on during our cruise and K-State was still playing...

So we packed our K-STATE gear!!  

It was LOTS OF FUN traveling with Dave(my brother) and Amanda!

I talk to Amanda a lot through Premier, but I don't get to talk to Dave as much, so that was lots of fun!!!

 The girls after dinner one night!!

Hanging out in one of the "lounges" on the boat, another night!!

Pictures with Andy and Joan!--always a treat !

One night (before the last KSU game) we all sat around the table chatting about Premier and planning 

for our down-lines!  I love sharing ideas with others and all working together!!!

My job just does not seem like work, most of the time!!!

And, of course----Hanging out with Steve was super fun!!!

No stress!!!  NONE!!!

Well, we did have to stress about what outfit to put on after being at the pool or beach all day.

And, we did have to stress about if we had time to take a nap or not.

AND...the biggest stress of all....should I eat again??????  

Or, where should we eat tonight and should we eat early or do the early show....

So---I guess we did have stresses while on vacation!!!

If only those were my stresses still when I got home !!

There were 11 of us total, from our Premier family, that met up together!  

Next year I am sure there will be many more!!!

I am Happy!

I am just HAPPY today!

I think it's the weather.  I LOVE the nice weather, 80 degrees is awesome!

The windows are open--the breeze is blowing in.

I cleaned my house---even some of the windows (SOME of them!!)

I went to Target

I had a Sonic drink

My "to-do" list is almost done!

And, we are starting a bible-study (Care-Ring) tonight with 2 other couples--super excited!

I am just Happy!!!!

But, maybe it's also because....

I was on this boat for 7 days!  

And, I'm tan now!!  (for a week at least!)

7 days with Steve!! (and other friends and family!)  

7 days of looking at scenery like this!  

Relaxing, reading, swimming, snorkeling, talking, eating, eating, going to shows, and more!

We had a BLAST!!!

8 days in all---is a long time.  But, the kids did GOOD and we had tons of fun!!!  

We won our CRUISE for FREE!!  We just had to get to Miami and then the trip was paid for! (well, not the shopping, but mostly paid for!!!)

Where will Premier take us next year??

***I have MANY more pictures to share, but I'll spread them out!! ***

Tyler's concert

First Grade Music Concert

Tyler was one of the 1st graders chosen to have a speaking line.

"When it comes to love, we have to talk about our families."

We practiced it so much, Jaden and Paige knew the line, perfect.  We were afraid they would yell it out when Tyler got up there.  But, they didn't.

Tyler said it perfect and you could hear him and understand him.

So Proud!

Obviously, it doesn't take much to make a parent proud!!

Hanging with his friends after the concert.

CJ, Brock, and Jacob!

Great Job Tyler!  You did a great job on your speaking part!  You said it SLLLOOOWW and clear, just like we practiced (or more like...just like we kept TELLING you to do it!!!)

Jaden plays ball

Jaden---another Roth basketball Star!!

This game Jaden kept getting in trouble (from me and Grandpa Balzer) for putting his hands in his pockets.  Really??  Can you play ball with your hands in your pockets?

Needless to say---he was not allowed to wear those shorts again!!

At age 4-- the kids "practice" for the first 30 minutes of their scheduled time and then they scrimmage for the last 30 min. or so.  This eliminates practice and a game in a week--for 4 year olds.  We like this new format.

Here is JADEN and LEAH passing the ball during "practice"

HANDS UP!!!  DEFENSE!!!

Jaden is so STINKING CUTE playing b-ball.  He is 4 and I swear he can shuffle his feet on D!!

Medals!!  Check out how cool they are!!!

The team!

Coach "Dad", Leah, and Jaden!!

It was SO FUN to watch Jaden play b-ball for the first time.  He is SO SERIOUS!  Jaden scored every game and 1 game scored 10 points!!  We are thinking he is a natural---so we'll see in 10 years where he is with sports and/or basketball.  But, for now---we'll just have fun watching him.

Jaden does LOVE basketball.  The season is over and he goes outside EVERY chance he gets to shoot the ball!  He also LOVES to watch b-ball on TV.  Of course he, and Tyler, love to watch KSU, but they will watch any b-ball game.  They just pick a team and cheer for them!!!  It's so fun to watch games with the boys!!!

Jaden's team won 7 of their 8 games!  We are pretty sure Jaden thinks they played the same team each week, because he always tell us, "they only won 1 game and we won the rest."  We've tried to explain to him that it is a different team each week---not sure he's got that concept yet!