Puerto Rico Vacay

The day after Christmas, we got up at 2 a.m. to drive to Vegas to fly to Puerto Rico. We'd booked good flights but Spirit cancelled them and rebooked us. Now, we had a 9 hour layover in Atlanta. Mark had never been to the Cheesecake factory so we decided to rent a car, eat, and go see some sights!

Check out the gull-wing doors on the Tesla.

The Cheesecake Factory was going to be a while to get a table so we hung around the mall and got a tasty beverage at Starbucks. After the Cheesecake Factory, we went to the Atlanta temple. There weren't any lights, just a nativity statue. It was cold if you can't tell. 

We flew into San Juan late and had to drive another hour and a half to the airbnb. Got there at 4 a.m. and crashed. We got up and walked the half block to the beach. 

My hair got caught on this branch. Merril took a picture before rescuing me.

Then we went sightseeing at Punta Tuna Lighthouse.  

We found some hermit crabs by the lighthouse.

The Puerto Rico flag is often painted on doors and walls.

Mark and Mikayla weren't going to get wet but did. There was a stray dog that wanted to play but we weren't having it. Riding in the van.

Got back in time to see the sunset. More on this later.

The next morning, we got up early and traveled back an hour to get to the San Juan Temple for baptisms.

Mark and I ran an errand and I niggled with our flights home. We changed to a flight that connected through Orlando instead of Baltimore. It's shorter and we depart at 11 a.m. instead of 2 a.m. Yay!

 After the temple, we went to old San Juan and Castillo San Felipe del Morro.

The streets are so pretty and skinny! It was hard to find a place to park.

The old fort is amazing! How did they build this with primitive tools?

We walked around the castle/fort.

We drove back to our airbnb through the El Yunque National Forest to see the rainforest. 

We hiked down to the river.

The river was cold but that didn't stop Mark. It was a little rainy so I wasn't that keen on getting in.

After we got back to our airbnb, Maxine and Merril went down to the bars by our place to sing karaoke. Merril sang Living La Vida Loca in Spanish. Maxine got a lovely beverage. 

The next day, Merril remembered getting roasted pig when he was here before. We found the same place. Some of the kids were freaked out by the pig. Food was great though. We didn't order very well but it's fine. Language barriers and what not.

We found another beach and bought some ice cream.

Mikayla chased this green iguana.

We checked into a different airbnb and changed for our night swimming adventure in a bay of bioluminescent plankton. I didn't take any pictures. This isn't us but I feel like it represents what it looked like and is probably as good as I would've gotten with my phone camera. There was no moon and our experience was fantastic. I didn't think I'd get in because the idea of night swimming in the ocean when it's not that warm didn't really appeal to me. A boat transported us to a bay, threw out an anchor and said, go swim. The first person jumped into the dark, murky water and thousands of bluish twinkle lights erupted from the splash. The agitation activates the plankton.

It's like swimming in glow stick water. I didn't hesitate after that. It was so surreal! If you lifted your arms out of the water, it was like stars were dripping off you. Super cool! Few things feel magical as an adult and this was an experience filled with wonderment. The more you kicked and splashed in the water, the more it glowed. It only took a few seconds of remaining calm and it would go dark again. So crazy! There's only a few places in the world that have the right conditions and three of them are in Puerto Rico. Very awesome! 10 out of 10 stars!

The next day we had a fantastic beach day at Crash Boat Beach. 

I rented an umbrella because I don't love the ocean and don't want to sit and roast in the sun. The beach umbrella elevated my beach experience ten fold! Amazing. The kids were constantly in the water. Mark came in for a bite to eat and and a drink and ran back out to the waves. He said, "The grind never stops!" as he ran back out. We bought several blended drinks and ate chicken pinchos (kabobs). 

Cutesy girls!

The only bummer about our trip was how many bug bites Juliet and Merril received. We all got a few but they got the most. Mostly biting beach gnats the first night while watching the sunset. Juliet's body doesn't respond well to bug bites so we were trying to help her with ice, Claritin and anything else we could think of. Just so you know, none of us got dengue fever from our bites. I was worried about it but all is well.

Our last airbnb was right by the San Juan temple and we drove back after the beach to be closer to the airport. When we woke up in the morning, the power was out. On the whole island! We managed to get some breakfast and fly outta there. 

The outage lasted a few days. Luckily the airport has generators. We had a 5-hour layover in Orlando and rented another car to eat and see a temple. Merril really wanted to hit Waffle House.

The Orlando temple is being renovated but it was pretty from the outside.

We made it home at 2 a.m. and I was beat. What a way to end 2024! Love these peeps of mine!

Christmas without Jacky

Mark can't wait to graduate from Primary so he doesn't have to sing and perform anymore. He was cute in the nativity though.

My kids don't hardly fit on Santa's knee anymore.

Jack said they had this awesome dancing Santa in the Philippines.

Duncan and Iain came over. Uncle Justin made brisket for Christmas Eve dinner. Don't tell Grandpa Campbell. Acted out the nativity.

I did matching pajamas this year. Don't know if I'll do it again. :) I did not save any money but the picture is cute. We opened presents at 5:00 a.m., just like always. I think Maxine can't wait for the younger kids to sleep in a little. Lol. Everyone's present turned out except Mark's RC car didn't work straight out of the box. That was a bummer. But we got a new one ordered and now we're off to Puerto Rico. A new one will be here when we get back. We were able to talk to Jack on Christmas Eve and I miss him. He's doing well though. He's a trainer this transfer.

I don't really have any Christmas Day pics except for Mikayla passed out on the back of couch with the minky blanket that Leighna gave our family. It's the softest thing ever! That was very generous of her!

I've been reminiscing about an old book series for middle schoolers. It's young adult historical fiction romance. Basically the girl has to choose between two boys. She's always like 15 or 16. Same plot, the details change a little big. Merril found me one and gave it to me for Christmas. Now I've got my beach read for Puerto Rico. 

On Mikayla, I made a wave undercut design for our Puerto Rico trip. Here we go!

25 Yearssss

For our Unanniversary, we went night wheeling and then to Denny's, to commemorate the 25 years since we met. More friends showed up to Denny's but I forgot to take a picture of us there. They've been the 25 best years of my life. Merril makes everything better. I'm not saying we always get along but we very often get along. I love him more than ever! Happy 25th babe!

 

Sterling Scholar

You're looking at the new General Sterling Scholar for Hurricane High School! Juliet was competing against a few boys who thought they had it in the bag but she's pretty accomplished and she had a great shot! Mr. Vick told her the day before, to be funny. He said, "You won." She responded, "What?!" Hehehe.

That's all her. She gets it done. Now Maxine and she will both have their pictures on the wall at Hurricane High School forever! I still like to visit Maxine's General Sterling Scholar picture!

 

Mikayla Aerial Silks

Aerial silks has been an interest for Mikayla for a long time. Recently, a studio converted the old Cinema 6 movie theatre into a cool place for dance, theatre and aerial silks. Mikayla just happened to ask at the right time and looked it up. She's been going for a few months but I just got a picture of her. She seems to like it and a friend from Hurricane started the same time and we carpool. 

 

Thanksgiving 2024

My girls have been able to visit the giving machines that align with the church's Light the World campaign. I've never been and was excited when they came to Red Cliffs Mall. There was a big line because the giving machines leave on November 30th. 

We spent Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Campbell's house but they weren't there. Lol. Justin and Rachel's family and Jared and Emily's family were there. Justin and Jared made the best turkey! Everything was so good. 

I didn't take any pictures of us getting a Christmas tree. Jared and Justin's family both came. Merril didn't want to get his foot wet so he stayed in the truck. Maxine and Juliet helped me saw down the tree and get it loaded. We're strong girls. Merril's almost better and the pins come out next week. The tree got home and we got it decorated. Yay!

We have amassed so many ornaments! I don't know it I'm going to be able to keep collecting them from cool places. It's a lot! We might need to whittle out some of the gift ones. I love remembering our adventures when we decorate the tree! So many cool ones!

Applebee's Because We're Silly

Sometimes it's hard coming up with a new place to go out to eat. I asked Merril if he'd come with me to Applebee's. Merril's so good natured that he agreed. He got the bourbon street steak and an oreo shake. Evidently, we were bougie tonight.

 

Getting Back to Normal

Merril is able to walk on his foot now so he's getting more done. However, he's not supposed to get his foot wet because the pins are sticking out of his toes. If they get wet, infection has a direct pathway into his bones. So, he has to keep his foot dry and he is wearing a garbage bag on his foot. On the days that he works a lot, his foot gets tired and he's ready to rest at the end of the day. He's getting better!

 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Baja

Despite Merril's foot, he was able to go to Mexico with team for Baja. He's trying to convince me he's taking it easy. But look at that face! He's loves Baja.

Shawn's race bike ended up dying part way through the race so in the end, there was only one race bike.

There was a big moon for the race and Merril snagged this.

Even with pins in his toes, he rode a few small road sections of the race course. They wrapped his boot in a garbage bag and duct taped it to keep out any rain. He had to shift with his heel. What a crazy guy! Everything went well though and everyone got home safely. He took the knee crutch and a scooter but by the end of Baja, we was walking in the boot and said his foot was feeling pretty good. "It was a miracle of Baja!"

Utah Tech

Maxine started at Utah Tech this fall but I haven't gotten a picture of her yet. She's excited to be taking classes again but misses Utah State. I feel for her, life is crazy like that sometimes. She never wanted to go to Dixie. It's fun to have her back at the house though. She probably won't live in the basement for very long. She's almost 22 and I understand if she wants to get out there and live her own life. 

She was able to perform at an open mic night at the college though and I was able to go watch. She performed one of her own songs, I'd Peel An Orange for You. She got a lot of good feedback from the audience. 

He Won't Go to Bed

Mark and Maxine are the two kids in the family who tend to stay up later and sometimes they stay up together. I'm glad she's home for a bit to make these types of memories with Mark. He looks like a fish to me in this picture. How is his eye like that?

I guess he decided he needed to try and fit in the nightstand? Lol.

 

Surgery Day

It was time for Merril to get surgery. He was excited to get it done so that he would have some time to recover a little bit. He still wanted to go to Mexico to help support the guys who were racing in the Baja. It seemed to me that the nurse indicated that it was going to take an hour for surgery, so I went for a walk. The surgery center is located close to the St. George Temple, and that's where I ended up walking to. It was kind of chilly. My face looks cold. I came back and still waited for another hour, but they said he did great. Now he's got pins in his foot, and he's not supposed to put any weight on it until it starts to feel better.

He was in pain for a few days but then it started to feel better. He didn't even need pain meds 4 days after. So that's great!

Maxine's Feeling 22!

For Maxine's 22nd birthday, she wanted to go to Ninja. We made this elaborate plan to drive to Cedar City after she was done with work. Her birthday fell on a Tuesday. We tried to go right after work but it didn't happen because Ninja isn't open on Tuesdays. So we decided to go to Sakura instead. We thought the wait wouldn't be too bad on a Tuesday night but it was over 45 minutes. But we were hungry and we didn't want to go anywhere else so we waited. 

It must be the place to go if you have a birthday because everybody was getting the adorable little birthday dessert. We ordered sushi and it was amazing and now Maxine is 22. Wahoo!

She asked for a snowboard for her birthday. Dad and I were able to find one and now she can go to Brian Head to snowboard! 

I'm just going to tack this on here. Merril got a walking crunch so that he could get around a little easier without actual crutches or knee scooter. It's working out pretty well!

This Little Piggy

 I was making dinner and was almost finished when Merril called me. He'd been riding his dirt bike when his foot hit a rock and bent his foot back. He said it immediately went numb and then hurt a lot. He was wearing his boots, knee braces, helmet, and body armor. His left foot was hurting and he was driving to the fire station to get checked out by the EMTs. They got his boot off and said it looked like it needed an x-ray. I met him at the new Hurricane ER. He drove himself. He said it felt like there had been a walnut in his boot. I had to get a wheelchair to get him from the truck. 

The ER doc ordered some x-rays. Wade was here, cracking jokes and making us laugh. 

The x-ray showed two dislocated toes: his piggy toe and the one next to it. The ER doc tried to hurry and reduce it while Merril was awake and it was too much! Merril said that was the most pain he's ever felt. 

The next option included sedation. They gave him a ton of sedative and it didn't knock him out. He was loopy but still conscious. Two ER docs tried to reduce it but no luck. The on-call podiatrist from St. George was going to come over when he finished a procedure. So I ran home to eat and decided to grab my glasses in case it got late. 

The podiatrist arrived around 10:30 p.m. and sedated Merril and tried to put the toes back. He yanked and pulled and they wouldn't go back in. Merril woke up and we were told to go home and not put any weight on it and surgery was the next step. The podiatrist thinks that some of the tendons or other soft tissue is in the way of the toes. We'll follow up on Monday.