And now for our cruise...

I don't have tons of pics to show off, seeing as how this was our 8th or 9th cruise and we've kind of been there, done that. So I stole some pics from Angela's facebook...and here we are.

Here's our ship: Definitely the largest we've ever been on. The majority of rooms have a balcony, and there are hardly any rooms that just have an ocean view. We got a great rate on an inside view cabin, and arrived the day of departure expecting a room similar to what we always have. When I saw our cabin assignments the week before our cruise, I noticed that mine and Nic's room was different than others. Instead of being oriented vertically, like they usually are on the deckplan, our room was oriented horizontally. I was worried that our room would be smaller than normal, or louder, or something and considered asking to have it changed, but I decided to wait it out. I was SO GLAD I did!!!! This was the best room we've ever had...It was HUGE!!! If you ever have a chance to stay in a room like this, take it!!



Here's a random formal night pic...aren't we cute???


A group pic...on a water taxi in Cabo San Lucas...my favorite port on this trip


Here's a couple of pics from one of our favorite shore excursions, and something we've never done before. We did a zipline tour in Puerto Vallarta and it was really fun. I'm not scared of heights at all, so if you are, don't try this one at home. weeeeeeeeee........


I had a blast, but not as much fun as Nic did! He was the craziest one out of all of us. Here he is hanging upside down on a run, and this wasn't the first time...or the last...that he did that.


That's all I got for today, but we are expecting some springy weather, even up here in the great white north. It probably won't be enough to get rid of the snow yet, especially at my house, that never seems to get enough sun, but still...spring is spring right??? I'll try to take some pics of Abi out enjoying the sun (with sunscreen, of course!)

(Are you happy now, DeDe??? Somebody's bored!!!)

I'm getting nasty phone calls and comments about how I haven't been a very good blogger lately. I don't have tons of new photos of Abi, since we have been on vacation lately, but I do have lots of vacation pics.

Our trip had 2 parts. We spent a day in LA before our cruise left. None of us had ever been there (besides LAX) so we were all excited. I was dying to check out Gromann's Chinese Theater, where celebrities have been putting their foot and handprints (and nose and even guns) in cement for the last century. I was looking for Marilyn Monroe's square, and it's hard to imagine all the people who have walked that same path.
Our hands were the same size...How cool is that????

Had to get my cute new shoes in a pic!


Next door to Mann's was something I was hoping we would get to check out: THE OSCARS! We beat the ceremony by 24 hours but there were still tons of tourists (including us!) taking pics of the set up. I watched the coverage while we were getting dressed for dinner on the cruise ship and saw lots of places we had seen and a few where we were even standing.

We got a few pics of the Hollywood sign from the Mall that surrounds the Kodak Theater, and I really wanted to go to Sprinkles for a famous cupcake, but our GPS died and we couldn't find it. I'll get one next time though!

25 Random things about me...
I was tagged to do this over on facebook and decided to post it here too. It was kind of hard to come up with 25 things (It was easy until 15, then I had to reach a little!) but it was fun. Enjoy!

1. I am the oldest of 5 kids, and all of our names start with the same letter, a tradition I plan to continue.
2. Yes, my hair is naturally curly.
3. No, I'm not a natural blonde...I just act like it!
4. Nic and I have been married for almost 5 years, and we've been together for almost 8 years...man, that's a LONG time!
5. We have one daughter. We call her Abi, and she's named after both of her grandmothers. AbiGAYLE after my mom's middle name Gayle, and Elizabeth is Nic's mom, Betsy's given name. I love that her name has family significance.
6. I want 2 more kids...but I have to convince Nic, he only wants 2 total.
7. I LOVE being pregnant! So much, in fact, that I've even thought of being a surrogate after we are done having kids.
8. I am a SAHM and a graduate student. I'm getting a Master's degree to be an LAC ( a therapist).
9. I love to travel. My dream vacation is a trip to the Mediteranean -- Italy and Greece. I'm also obsessed with all things French, so I'd love to visit Paris. We'll go someday...
10. I went on my first cruise with Nic's family in 2002, and I was hooked. My trip in February will be number 8!
11. I am a long term friend! My friend Mollie and I have been friends for almost 20 years (we are old!) and Windy and Megan and I have been friends for 20 years (we are old too!)
12. I love to bake! My specialty is peanut butter brownies.
13. I have moved 8 times in my life to different cities...and that doesn't count moves around the same town and I've had several of those too!
14. I love blogging. I have a family blog at www.babybyers.blogspot.com and I love to read friends and strangers blogs too. If you have one, send it to me! I'd love to check it out!
15. I have about 3 feet of snow outside my house right now, and it's been there for several weeks now. SPRING???? WHERE ARE YOU!?!?!??!
16. We have a couple of rental houses in Conway, but we decided to sell our house in Branson...now if the economy would only cooperate!
17. I love my Blackberry! Too bad that we had to switch our phones to Verizon and I had to get a different phone. Stupid Verizon...I almost cried...
18. I'm 5'10, but I love high heels and wear them all the time. Thank goodness Nic is 6'4, so I'm still shorter than him!
19. I love Old Navy's ribbed tank tops and own them in every color of the rainbow. Good thing too, because I wear one almost every day!
20. We have 1 dog, Daisy, a golden retriever. She was my 1 year anniversary present, but she is NIC'S dog!
21. I spend WAY too much time on the computer!
22. I hate to clean! I had a great cleaning lady in Branson, but since we've moved I have to do it...and I don't like it.
23. We have a great babysitter here in WI, which comes in handy since we don't have any family around.
24. I sincerely hope that our next move, hopefully in the next year or two, will be to somewhere warm...and that I only see snow again if I visit it.
25. My dream hometown is somewhere I can wear flipflops year round. I own Old Navy flipflops in every color of the rainbow, and when they changed last year, I bought all those colors too. Give me a break though, at 2.50 a pair, how can you not buy them all!?!?!?!?

I have got to have the girliest daughter ever!! She loves playing with my makeup, and playing dress up, and copying mommy when she gets ready. The other day she got so mad because she was trying to put on my shoes and walk around, but she couldn't figure out how to put on the shoes...because they were my flip flops! She got so frustrated that I went and got a pair of shoes she could actually put her little feet in (which was actually kind of hard, because most of my shoes are heels!). She was so excited! She wouldn't walk in them on her own though, someone had to hold her hand.


Right after I took this picture, she got mad because she couldn't walk, so she took off the shoes and threw them at the door. Temper, temper!!!!


This video was taken a few minutes later. There were some empty bottles laying around that I was going to throw away, but Abi got to them first! I had just been fixing my hair, so she tried to copy me. She started out rubbing the bottle on her head and then she would rub it in, but I couldn't get her to do that while I was filming. If you listen carefully at the end of the video, you can hear me whisper to her to "rub it in" and then I rubbed my head. That's when she got the idea to do mommy's hair instead!

(Be sure to scroll to the purple music box at the bottom of the blog and pause the music before watching the video!)

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These last few pics were taken when Megan and Jess and Jackson were in town. We wen't skiing one night, and I decided to try snowboarding, which I like WAY more than skiing. And I was a lot better at it too! Now if I can only learn how to turn and stop...

I love this picture of me!



Nic and I on the "slope". Really it was a teeny tiny little hill at the bottom of the slope...probably to help those fast people stop!


This is one of my FEW attempts to learn how to stop. I tried a toe-side stop and ended up flat on my face...luckily, Windy was there to take a picture of my first and probably only attempt!

We. are. going. on. a. VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!! I am sooooooo excited. I just booked it this afternoon. It is a seven day Mexican Riviera cruise on Carnival and I got a greeeat deal, which makes it even sweeter!

Here's a link if you are interested:
http://www.carnival.com/Itinerary.aspx?embkCode=LAX&itinCode=MR6&durDays=7&shipCode=PR&subRegionCode=MR&rateCode=B&sailingID=44438&sailDate=2/8/2009

We are going to have sooooooooo much fun!

2 different locals sent me this poem, so it must really describe how it feels to experience a lovely (and SUPER COLD) winter here in Wisconsin. I can't say that I would be happy to live out the rest of my days in this frozen tundra, but I can enjoy it while we are here, even though I pray that our next destination is somewhere where it never snows! I can honestly say that, even though this winter is only half over, that when spring comes I will have seen enough snow to last a LIFETIME!!!

WINTER IN WISCONSIN

It's winter in Wisconsin
And the gentle breezes blow
Seventy miles an hour
At twenty-five below.


Oh, how I love Wisconsin
When the snow's up to your butt
You take a breath of winter
And your nose gets frozen shut.


Yes, the weather here is wonderful
So I guess I'll hang around
I could never leave Wisconsin
'Cause I'm frozen to the ground!!






A random pic of Abi, just so the grandparents will be happy...

So Abi has a new talent that is soooo super funny that I have to share it with everyone! We discovered it kind of by accident. My friend Windy's little boy, Titan, has a favorite song that he loves to dance to. The funniest part is the actual song. It isn't from Backyardigans or The Wiggles or even Sesame Street...it is the theme song for the TV show Lipstick Jungle!!! When he hears it, he will come running from any room in the house so that he can dance to it. Of course, Windy had to show me what he does, and when she did, we found out that Abi likes the song just as much! We listened to it over and over, probably for at least 30 minutes, while they danced their little hearts out. I taped my own version of the show and had to share Abi's dancing ability -- which she has obviously inherited from the Byers side of the family...or maybe from Uncle Kyle!

Without further ado....Miss Abigayle Elizabeth dancing to Lipstick Jungle!!!! (Be sure to notice that she's most comfortable dancing on her stage! She just started doing that one day...where does she come up with this stuff?!?!?!?!)

(Be sure to pause the blog music at the bottom of the page before starting the video!!)

Come visit us!!!!!

In case you are all waiting for your specially engraved invitations (that you aren't going to get) to arrive in the mail, I wanted to let everyone know that we would LOVE to have company up here in the Great White North. To all my friends in Branson, I know this is the off/slow season and that you have free time!!!! And just in case you are afraid that there is nothing to do here, check out this site: www.wisdells.com for info on all the fun stuff there is to do here! I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows they are welcome and that Nic's personal philosophy has been (and always will be) "The more the merrier!!!!)

So. It's official. My little girly-girl has experienced her first time of playing in Mommy's make-up. I don't have a picture, because LUCKILY she didn't make that much of a mess, but the abnormal quiet and smell of powder gave her away. Then, when I caught her, she took off running with the powder and hid under Daddy's legs. She is SOOOO stinking smart!!!!!!
She's learned all sorts of new words lately. Her new word is "whoa" -- everything is whoa. She's also STARVING lately! First thing after she wakes up, she goes running to her highchair screaming IN, IN, IN (only she pronounces it like vine, instead of like bin) and then eats everything she can get her hands on and sits in her highchair for as long as I will let her. She's really started playing with Daisy a lot more lately too. We'll give her something to eat, and she'll run with it away from Daisy so Daisy won't steal it, but then she usually throws it at her and then runs away screaming anyway. I just can't get over how funny this kid really is!!!

Happy New Year!!! I hope that this year will bring you many blessings and much happiness!

...I know, I know -- I'm a few days late with this, but cut me a little slack, we've been sick around here! After making grand plans with friends, (we even got a sitter!) I was afflicted with a stomach bug first thing New Year's Eve Day. At least I made it back to WI before I got sick!! Nic woke me up at midnight to say "Happy New Years!", but no smooch for me since I was sick. A very low key holiday, but that's how it is when you're a mommy! Here are a few random pics that I have of Abi that I wanted to share....

These are from Christmas vacation at Nana's house. Abi loved trying to steal Nana's glasses, which graduated to trying to WEAR Nana's glasses. Here's my little miss smarty pants...




This is my favorite of these! She looks so proud of herself!!!!!!



The rest of the pictures are from my trips back and forth. It's a little too long of a drive to go all the way from Wisconsin to Little Rock, so Abi and I always stop in Branson and get to spend some bonus time with my friend Megan and her family (who graciously welcome us to stay at their house every time!!). I posted a few months ago about Megan delivering her big beautiful baby boy, Jackson, and here are a few pics finally! Abi absolutely LOOOOOOVES Jackson! It is sooo cute to watch her go over (all on her own, with no prompting!) and give Jackson a hug and a kiss. She loves babies!!

The first 2 pics are Abi holding Jackson for a little photo op. In the second pic -- FYI -- she's not dropping him, although his face reveals otherwise! -- she's hugging him and trying to kiss him. I don't even know where she learned to do that?!?!?!




And this pic is for future blackmail opportunities!!! Abi and Jackson naked in the tub...la, la, la, la!!!!

Most of you have seen these already, but if not...




We had a great Christmas this year. It was very different making the trek to AR from Wisconsin, instead of Branson like we were used to. We had gotten used to making that trip over the course of the four years we had lived there. We had a little trouble getting Nic back to WI, but I'll write more about that later. We made it to AR just in time for Christmas Sunday. We took Abi to church, which she loved to participate in, and she only went to the nursery for a little bit. She spent the whole time in there playing with a cozy coupe car that she was getting for Christmas, so we knew right off that we had made a great choice in gifts! We got to spend a few days in Mt. Ida, then it was time to let the Christmas whirlwind begin!

Christmas Eve, my Aunt Rosemary and Uncle Randy had rented a cabin at Iron Mountain on Lake Degray and the whole Cloud clan met up for a steak dinner and gift exchange and had a great time...I don't have any pics though, so Robin, if you read this, e-mail me some! Then we went to Mom and Dad's where we had a house FULL! Mom, Dad, me, Nic, Abi, Kaci, Clint, Kory, Kyle, Kody and Grandaddy -- 11 total!!! We set up everything, and then went to bed, because we knew we would be up early...and we were-- 6:30!! It's so fun to wake up early still for Santa, and it won't be an adjustment when Abi starts waking up early for him too...we will be used to it!

Then we headed to Mt. Ida for the Byers Family Christmas celebration. Abi was spoiled with more gifts at Papaw's and Bebe's house, and then we went to Mimi's and Granny's. Then we had to rush off so Nic could fly home to WI. Right before we left, we got a phone call saying that his flight had been cancelled and could he be there for an hour early for another flight. We knew we would have to rush, but we had to try, since Nic was supposed to be at work early on Friday.

We were about halfway to the airport when we realized we had lost Nic's ID somewhere along the way. We searched the car and all the bags as best as we could (we were pretty loaded down with all the goodies we got in Mt. Ida) and called everyone to see if we had left it behind somewhere, but no luck. We turned around and headed back to Mt. Ida, since that's where Nic thought he'd had it last. After tearing up the house and emptying the car, we finally found AN id. Not THE id we had been searching for, but another license Nic had lost a long time ago, in my console, that was still good. Nic had another flight booked out of LR on Friday, but early Fri morning we got another cancellation phone call. They offered him a flight on Sat, but Nic had to make it home to get to work! So, they found him a flight out of Texarkana going to Dallas and then home to Madison. Upon his arrival in Dallas, he got some great news--you got it -- CANCELLED! Thankfully, his aunt and uncle live in Dallas (HI Rick and Jeanie!) and they picked him up at the airport, gave him a place to sleep, and dropped him off for his flight the next day. So he gets to the airport on Saturday and everything looks good. He even gets to take off for Madison, and then...you guessed it -- CANCELLED AGAIN!!!!!! The flight landed in Chicago instead, which is a good 2 1/2 hrs from Madison, and if you will remember O'Hare had been having a lot of trouble with getting flights out, so there wasn't a rental car to be had anywhere! He, along with most of his flight, hopped a bus to Madison, which, of course, didn't drop them off at the airport, then took a $10 taxi ride to the airport, and his car, and finally made it home...2 days after he planned! I don't know that he'll be flying home for Christmas next year...but we'll figure something out so that he'll be there!

Abi and I had one more Christmas gathering with the extended Hamlin family at my mom's house after church on Sunday. We had great fun, great food, and Abi had to learn to share some of her new Christmas toys...and she did not like that!

On to the pics!!
This is Abi in her Christmas dress that DeDe (my BFF Windy) bought for her.


This is Abi singing (LOUDLY) during church, during the offering, when NO ONE else was talking. She was singing her little heart out. I couldn't stop laughing and didn't even bother to try to stop her. Then it was time for preaching and she wouldn't quit singing, so we had to leave. It was super cute though!!!


Abi checking out her booty that Santa left for her...


Waving bye-bye in her new car!!!

I decided to take my own photos for our Christmas cards again this year, simply because there are so many talented people out there in cyberspace who can design me a custom card, rather than having to pick a pre-made card with only one picture AND they are cheaper! I'm not posting the final images from our cards, but I WILL post some of the cast-offs. They are still super cute, they just didn't make the cut! My Christmas cards are being designed now, and will hopefully be completed soon...

In the meantime, maybe these will hold you over!
With this outfit, I took over 200 pictures and the ones below were the only ones I liked!! It was a nightmare! She would absolutely NOT sit still when I was trying to take these pictures!!!! I finally gave up and started bribing her with chocolate, and if you'll look closely at one of these pics, she's got chocolate all over her face!!!






This photo "shoot" went way easier. I only took like 10 pictures and got what I was looking for. It was really tough deciding which of these to use on my cards!

Winter Wonderland????

Whoever coined this song did NOT live in a snowy area!!!!

Another song I don't get is "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas". Another case of not living in snowland like we do, because I am dreaming of a brown Christmas in Arkansas. I even asked Nic the other day if it would be too hard to snow blow the entire yard. He told me to go ahead....:s

We've got at least a FOOT of snow on the ground and I am soooooo done with it. I can't go anywhere, because the only car that will make it through this mess is the jeep and Nic takes that to work, and besides, I don't know if I can tackle driving that by myself. So Abi and I have been stuck here for the past WEEK!!! We did take one outing...to Wal-Mart for groceries. That was the longest grocery trip ever because I did NOT want to leave!

Oh, it's not all bad! We've actually had a lot of fun in our wintery land. I made us all some snow ice cream last night and Abi and I love it...Nic of course said it is too sweet! We are going out tomorrow to play in all this snow and make Abi's first snow man.

Here are a few pictures of all of our snow:

I don't know if you can tell, but that is our bird bath buried out in all that snow. Just so you can see how deep it is!!


This is my front yard. Even the driveway is covered! We are having someone come out to clear all that snow later today. I think it would take Nic 2 or 3 days to uncover the driveway from all that snow. These guys will probably do it in like an hour - they have their own snow plow!!


This is Anthony's boat that he parks here...and forgot to cover!!! He'll have fun cleaning it out this spring...if he can find it!!!!!!!!!!


And here are a few of Abi that I took the other day. I was taking pictures of some stuff for craigslist and she kept jumping in the picture. She was in such a cute mood!


I wish this one wasn't so fuzzy! I love this picture!

It snowed again the other day putting us up to about 5 inches on the ground -- WAY more than Abi had ever seen before, and the amount of snow she will see this winter is only going to continue to grow!!! She really liked the snow -- kind of like the water!! -- she DID NOT want to come in!!!!

Larry and Betsy got Abi a sled while they were in town. They got a two person sled, specifically for Abi and Titan to be able to ride together.

....but of course Daddy had to try it out with Abi too!!!!


This was at the beginning of the day, when we first went outside. Daddy was helping Abi get used to the sled.


Here's a few pictures from when everybody was here for Thanksgiving. Abi wanted to go snowboarding with the big kids!!!


And here's a picture of Abi with the boys and Candace. She was really excited about all of the attention she was getting!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

One of the great things about living in Wisconsin now, it that it gets cold so early! The weather here is definitely putting me in the Christmas spirit. Here are a couple of pictures of the living room all decorated for Christmas. We had a Christmas party for some people from Nic's work on Tuesday and had a great time!




These other pictures are from a Christmas parade we went to before Thanksgiving. It was super cold, so we all bundled up in our best winter gear (thank goodness Abi's snowsuit had arrived THAT DAY!!!) She kind of looks like a marshmallow in her suit though!


Waiting for Santa Claus...


Watching the parade with Mommy!