CARIBBEAN ADVENTURE

Jay and Natalie invited us to go with them on a Carnival Cruise We had so much fun with them. Hopefully we didn't drive them crazy as we acted like old folks at times. Our trip started out a little unusual, we thought we were going to be a little closer to the BX and eating places when we arrived at MacDill Air Force Base. The Taxi dropped us off at the Inn where we stayed the night before getting on the ship. We were a little stranded, too far away to walk to the BX and so we walked over to the bowling alley to have dinner and decided to bowl. Collin and Sydney had a blast! So did we watching them! I guess the cook at the bowling alley took pity on us, he gave us a free pizza to take to our rooms to cook in the morning so we wouldn't be hungry. What a nice man! The next day,on Sunday we taxied over to the ship and got on. I love the excitement of getting ready to ship off. The first full day, Monday was at sea, we layed out a little, but it was windy and a little cold. John and I found a quiet hot tub in the exercise room (sweet)! On Tuesday we arrived in Cozumel where John and I went to the mainland to visit the ruins in Tulum. Nat, Jay and kids went Island exploring with a rented car. They loved the southern side of the Island where they played on the bleach and in the water. On Wednesday we arrived in Belize, we all went Cave tubing, the kids did great! We all had fun! On Thursday, we arrived in Roatan, where we all went to the Gumalimba Park, we interacted with MacCaws and Monkeys and played in the Caribbean waters. On Friday, we arrived in Grand Cayman we all went on wave runners (well for the most part Syd and I spent our time in the boat, due to Nana's injury and Sydneys fright of the wave runners) we went to see Stingray City we touched and walked among stingrays (cool) and everyone but Syd and I snorkeled among the reefs. On Saturday we were out to sea again all day heading back to Tampa. I'm glad we layed out in the morning because by noon it turned cool and we stayed in out of the wind for the rest of the day. Collin and Sydney had so much fun at camp carnival. But I was happy to see that their mom and dad didn't just drop them off and go play the whole time, they really spent a lot of quality time with their kids. Way to go Nat and Jay! On Sunday we had all day before catching our flight so we visited the Florida Aquarium. It was well worth it!

Leaving Tampa Florida on our Fun Ship Carnival

Our first sun set on board the ship

Mayan ruins of Tulum

Book of Mormon history right before our eyes!

The beautiful Caribbean waters of Tulum

Gumbalimba Park

Beautiful Birds

The monkey really wanted Natalie's sun glasses

Rudel Family winners!

The first night on board, Natalie won the Ultimate Mind Game, (she gave the most correct answers) Another night, Collin was the head of the Red team, mom and dad, Syd and other members on board won this dance contest. The head of blue team gave Sydney her trophy. Then again on another night, mom, dad and kids (see picture above) won the best dressed/scavenger hunt contest so now they all have a trophy!

Instead of spending all day at the airport we went to the Aquarium

We are so glad we went on this trip!

RETIREMENT/BITTER-SWEET

37 Years

Well, John finally did it! But he is finding that retirement is bitter sweet.....sweet, because he retired, bitter because he accepted a job with a defense contractor. So he is still working 10 hours a day and is only 30 feet away from his old office. For thirty seven years he has worked hard to make our family warm and secure and he continues to do so. He is still a member of the Army National Guard attending weekend drills until this coming August (I am also very proud of him for the sacrifices he has made those many, many, many, many, weekends.)

He is my Hero!

General Tarbet congratulating John for his outstanding service

Major Fitzgerald honoring John with the "Minute Man" trophy

Colonel Norton congratulating John and wishing John good luck in his new job

Family members listening to all the great things that were said about John.
They also presented me with a beautiful bouquet of Flowers. Then we all went to lunch. It was a wonderful retirement program and we were very proud of John.

IT'S TIME FOR CAROLING

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

It's that time of year again. I love singing with this great group of people. They are so talented and we have so much fun at our practices. I really feel privileged to be a part of this group. Tonight is our first performance and I am really excited to get started. We have four concerts, tonight, tomorrow night, Sunday at the tabernacle on temple square and next Thursday we do a benefit for "The Road Home" we collected more than $6,000.00 last year for this charity. I really feel like our music brings out the best spirit of Christmas in so many ways.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

I am grateful for:

John - Who has worked so hard all his life to make my life and his kids lives comfortable and safe. A man of few words, but his actions speaks volumes for his character. He makes my life complete.

Natalie -A Hard working school teacher who deserves a pat on the back, a talented pianist, wonderful mother and wife. Jay her great husband and great father has more creative ideas and knows how to put them to use than anyone I have ever seen.

Brandt - Man of the hour, landing a 7 million dollar job for his company this last week. A great father, husband and jokester all in one. His wife Soupie literally going to the ends of the earth to deliver Tayler Marie. A wonderful mother of two sweet girls.

Shannon - Ms. community representative, who will make her neighborhood a better place, a fantastic licensor for her company and fun mother to her two boys. Larry her talented husband has such a great imagination and gives his boys lots of opportunities to explore their own imaginations.

Michael - Mr. Police Officer, a man who deals with the "not so pleasant things in life," but still has strong convictions of making the world a better place. A great dad, a loving husband to a wife who keeps him grounded. Nicole the miracle worker on the internet knowing how to find good deals. A wonderful mom and an excited mommy to be with #3.

Grandpa & Grandma Strong - Who keep us young, I want to be that active when I am their age.

My Greatest Blessings Call Me Nana

Carlee, Collin, Dresden, Sydney, Logan, Savannah, Cole and Tayler

I love reading all the friends & family blogs, you are all so awsome!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with all the trimmings!

Our Young Women and Young Men went to the taping of the Young Women/Young Men celebration(actually our Young Men didn't make it because they were too late). The audience (us) got to be a part of the broad cast. It was long, but I think it was worth it. We almost didn't make it. The Jazz were playing and there were thousands of YW/YM so the streets were packed with cars. We waited for a red light twice without moving so I made the girls and YM president get out of the car and hike it to the conference center. I was really lucky to get a parking place in a parking lot southwest of the conference center, the guy was just letting everyone in, I think he gave up on who could park in the parking lot. I had a ticket to park three blocks away, but he just let me in anyway. I ran to the conference center. Thank Heavens for texting. I found the girls and made it just in time. I don't think we were taped because we were clear up on the left side of the balcony, but at least we can say we were there. I was so impressed with the enthusiasm of these kids.. They blew me away! I love our new theme for 2009. I am so excited to be with these young women, they are great girls everyone of them! I miss the primary kids, but I am loving these young ladies.

Change Is Good

When we moved into Willow Canyon 1st ward John and I felt right at home. John is in the High Priest Leadership and they put me into Primary as the chorister. My life has been blessed for being a part of those children's lives. I loved every minute of the time I spent preparing and presenting the songs to those children. We have been working so hard on the new songs for the Sacrament Meeting Primary Program and the kids are doing so well. I never in a million years thought that I was not going to be a part of this program.......but, I was wrong, I was called to be in the Young Women's program, can you believe that? I still can't believe what has happened. An Old 60 year Old Grandma. I guess that's where I need to make some changes......I have become a "Rocking Chair Grandma," not to say I don't enjoy rocking my Tayler to sleep, I can't wait for those moments, but I have put myself into the category of Old Folks......shame on me......there is wisdom in Heavenly Fathers plans and I know I will enjoy spending time with our wards young women who by the way can talk very intelligently..........FOR SURE........my kind of language!

I will miss those little darlings, and today just added to it when I heard those sweet primary children singing in General Conference. Some of those songs are the songs the children are learning for the Sacrament meeting program. Oh well life goes on.....It will be nice to sit in sacrament meeting and not worry about the songs. I can just sit back and enjoy their angelic voices, that will be sweet!

CALIFORNIA KIDS

So here are our Cally Kids! Aren't they so cute! I had so much fun with them when I babysat them while their parents went on a great trip. This was Sunday, Aug. 31st. We went to church and had a great time! When Wednesday came around we had Spaghetti Dinner, that's a tradition! Savannah was thrilled to think she got to be a part of the Strong Wed. night fiasco.

I let Savannah and Cole have a picnic up in their play house, I learned quickly that tuna fish is not Savy's favorite sandwich, we changed it quickly to cold cuts.

We spent a few days at the park. It is really nice and the kids had a lot of fun. A really nice lady took this picture, she wanted to know if Nicole needed a Nanny, she thought the kids were really cute. Cole wasn't too happy about being placed in a tree.

But he sure likes the swing.

Our favorite place was the water features at the shopping center. The first time we went I learned quickly who was in charge. Not me! After I realized that wearing water shoes or not really didn't matter, we all had fun! We went there three times during the week.

I think the most fun part of my trip was spending time playing princes board games with Savannah and reading spider man to Cole before bedtime. I miss those moments the most!