We were sworn in.

Our first Christmas

Disneyland
Joni joined Jami, Jana and Joey in the show.

Jami graduated

RIP LOST.

We bought a house.  It was a short sale.  It took 76 days from offer to close.  It was the first house we looked at.

We traveled to the Buffalo, NY area for the wedding of Chris and Lauren.  We took in some church history sites while there.

The Joseph Smith family log house

Palmyra Temple

Hill Cumorah pageant

Niagara Falls (American Falls from US side)

The happy couple
Their wedding, in Lockport, NY, was beautiful.  It was followed by a great reception in Depew, NY.

Anchor Bar
The birthplace of the (Buffalo) wing

American Falls from the Canadian side

Horseshoe Falls from the Canadian side

Newel K. Whitney store

Boulevard of 500 flags in Eastlake, OH
the largest display of flags in the US

Kirtland Temple

John Johnson farmhouse

A Christmas Story house

The internet told us it was the best $8 you could spend in Cleveland.  The internet also told us that the main export of Cleveland is crippling depression.  The house was closed for tours so we just took a picture.  We saw the leg lamp.  While in Cleveland we stopped at a tourist gift shop.  The cashier asked if we were 1) passing through or 2) there on an extended layover.  Noticeably absent from her list of possible reasons for visiting Cleveland: we came intentionally to stay.

Our entry for the haunted gingerbread house competition

The competitors

Mom threw a big party for all of us. Everything was decorated – except the stairs – they were infested. I like that one rat that’s jumping. Great party, Mom!

Gina’s neighbors go all out for Halloween. We went to her neighborhood to trick or treat with the kids. This house, and its immediate neighbors, were totally covered in spiderwebs. They even had spiders that moved and jumped out at people. Joni got spooked.

It’s hard to tell, but that’s a pirate ship in the front yard.

At the end of the night we were back at Gina’s house handing out candy. One tiny little Spiderman was mumbling something to himself as he approached us. When he reached us, he said loudly: I’ll pull down your underwear! The dad had to ask what he said because we all laughed so hard.

Boo!

(Left: Joni’s, Right: Derek’s)

I did it again (unintentionally, mind you) – but went even further:

0.05 gallons = 0.8 cups of gas left in my tank.

Can you beat that one, Mom?

Edit: I forgot to mention… Leigh’s birthday!  We celebrated it in Huntington with her.  She’s so old now.

And with that, I’m caught up on my blogging. Joni says we’re just boring lawyers now, so I’m not sure what I’ll blog about. Guess we better do something.

View from hotel room

Joni at San Cristobal

Enjoying some piña coladas at Barrachina’s, who claims to have invented the drink

We rented a car and drove to the El Yunque rainforest. We saw this thug on a horse along the way.

At (nearly) the top of the mountain

Then we stopped so I could get a picture of a waterfall. It started to rain. A lot. Notice that we’re dry in the picture above.

We were completely soaked by the time we ran back to the car.

Capitol building

Barbados (Paynes Bay)! We took a taxi to the beach and realized we had no money to get back. All I had was an American Express card. So to get back, we said nothing to our taxi driver and when we arrived at the boat we told him we needed to get the money. He was willing to wait because he wanted his fare. I hung out with him while Joni ran back to the boat. Meanwhile, he and the other taxi drivers had some vodka.

On the deck of our suite on the boat

It’s a bear!

St. Lucia:

Rodney Bay

It’s a bat!

Antigua (Turner’s Beach):

St. Maarten (Orient Bay):

We went parasailing. This was our parasail, but not us:

Rabbit!

St. Croix (Rainbow Beach):

This sign proved to be very accurate. The umbrellas kept flipping inside out in the wind.

Monkey!