Thursday, September 1, 2011

Unbelizable Holt Family Vacation 2011, part 2

Belizean Night at Captain Morgan's
After the successful picture taking event concluded, 
we walked over to Captain Morgan's to enjoy Belizean Night.
We all agreed that the food was delicious!
Mom and Kimber working their way through the buffet line.
Ashley and I loved the food and the music.
Dad is relieved that the whole family photo thing was over.
And Brett is a little relieved too:)!
These two are happy that Mom got cute her pictures and they got a yummy dinner.
Gorgeous family picture by the beach.  Check!
Delicious dinner and entertaining music.  Check!  Check!
It was a successful evening and a great way to end another fabulous day in Belize!

Another Day in Paradise
The girls posing on the funky stairs/steps/chairs in the pool.
I love the way they look color coordinated with their swimsuit selection.
Justin joins his new bride for a photo...
while Brooke and Kimber relax by the pool...
and Tyler and Sonya take the kayaks out again.

Fishing, Snorkeling and Swimming with Sharks!  What?
Allie and Justin, holding their snorkel gear are anxious to swim with the sharks.
Ready to start our day of fun out at sea.
Sonya throws out her line and gets some tips from Dad.
Within seconds, she gets a bite.
She surprises herself by catching the first fish of the day.
Sonya gets the first catch of the day.
Brooke throws out her line...
and just like that, this Cavitt Jr. high graduate caught a fish.
Tyler with his catch.
Allie and Justin caught a fish...
and they caught another one.
After catching a couple of fishes with Justin, 
Allie was ready to take a break and hang out with Ashley, 
who hadn't quite got into the fishing thing yet.
Brett and Kimber get into the action and show us how its done.
The break from fishing and hanging out with Justin is short lived
 and Allie joins him again and catches another fish.
Ashley is busy looking good, while Dad and Brooke are busy looking for a fish.
Finally, Ashley tries her luck...
 but comes up with nothing.
She keeps losing her bait and almost gives up but then...
hooray!  She catches her first fish of the day!
Now that Ashley has caught a fish, everything was going well 
and then our boat was swarmed by some birds.
And I had to protect Allie, who apparently is scared to death of birds.
A fear that I had never known of before.
Dad thinks the birds are funny!
Justin was a good husband and tried to scare off the birds with his fishing pole.
Brooke didn't seem to be bothered by the birds.
and decides to catch another fish.
With the birds gone, these two team up together to catch some more fish.
Not to be outdone by the Ashley/Allie couple, Brett and Kimber catch another fish.
The birds keep coming back.  
Justin is a good husband and works hard keeping the birds away.
Now that everyone have had a chance to catch a fish or two, or three,
I pick up a pole and do my own kind of fishing.
I call it casual fishing with my husband.
These two are happy to have a break from seeing patients and
 enjoying a day of fishing together.
The brother-in-laws are so cute, fishing side by side.
Another fish for Tyler, who is trying to keep up with his wife.
Allie still seems a little apprehensive about the birds.
Kimber caught a big fish.
And I caught one too.
Sonya caught another one.
Not only does she have sweet nursing skills, 
she showed she has some serious fishing skills too.
Everyone is focused on fishing.
Hanging out with my fishing buddies.
ANd then back to fishing for Mom.
While Sonya, who caught the most fish that day, and Brooke take a break.
Kimber's still has her line out.
Dad catches a fish.
And then another.
And it's determined that we've caught enough fish for our BBQ that night
and it was time to swim with the sharks, so we head to Shark Ray Alley.
Allie and Justin are ready to snorkel.
Tyler and Justin are the first in the water, with their snorkel masks in place, fins on their feet, ready to swim with the sharks.
Swimming towards the sharks.
As soon as we stopped our boat, the sharks begin to appear.
Tyler and Justin find the sharks swimming right around them.
I think this is my favorite photo of the day.  
Justin giving us the "thumbs up" and reassuring us that it is safe to get in.
Sharks. Lots of sharks.
Dad has his water camera, ready to get a good picture of a shark.
Brett bravely helps the girls through the shark infested waters.
Tyler and the sharks.
Justin and Dad swimming toward the sharks!
Dad is looking for more sharks!
Swimming with the sharks.
One shark.
Two sharks.
Allie and Justin love swimming with the sharks.
Brett and Kimber love the sharks too.
The girls are being brave, with Dad close by and swimming with the sharks.
So many sharks!
Ty and Sonya take a break from the sharks to pose for a snorkeling photo.
Brett gently leads Kimber to see more sharks.
After everyone gets a chance to swim with the sharks,
it's time to check the lobster traps.
Tyler and Dad, with our guide, checking the lobster traps.

Spearing a lobster.
It's lobster for dinner tonight!
NBD.  Sonya casually holds up the lobster.
Brooke poses with the lobster and poses for a photo.
Brooke isn't so sure about holding the lobster,
 especially when it twitches and apparently is still alive.
And Mom takes a turn posing with the lobster.
Allie decides that it can't be too scary... 
"If Brooke can hold the lobster, so can I!"
Our load of fish and lobsters.
The lobster catch.
Looks like a successful fishing trip.
Time to clean the fish.
They threw the scraps in the ocean and stingrays.
Back on shore, Kimber holds up one of the fish that she caught.
And Tyler and Sonya hold up a couple of lobsters before they are BBQd.
And Allie shows Justin how brave she is (and trying to redeem herself
 after her panicky scene that she displayed with the birds) holds a lobster all by herself.
Our junior fishing guide, climbed the coconut tree to grab some husks for the BBQ.
These three boys stood there mesmerized the entire time,
 watching them clean and prepare the fish and lobster for the BBQ.
The fish dish with onions, tomatoes and lots of yummy spices.
Unbelizably delicious!
The lobster was prepared similar to the fish and was equally as delicious!
Even those who aren't fish eaters tried both dishes and went back for seconds.
Dad showing off the lobster claws that he cleaned and his plate.
After our fabulous fish and lobster BBQ, 
we had to stop and get some frozen custard 
at our favorite place, DandE's, which was right around the corner.
Brooke didn't waste anytime finishing off her favorite, chocolate peanut butter.
Allie prefers to take her chocolate frozen custard in a cone.
And Ashley named these two the cutest couple.  Sorry Ty and Sonya!
But Justin thinks that they make the cutest couple.  Sorry Ash!
Brooke brought the boombox that she and Ashley bought
  with a leftover gift card that they used at the Border's big clearance sale.
Such a good idea to bring it on the trip.
The boombox provide hours of music and fun!
Mom and Ashley getting ready to listen to some good tunes and some sun!
Brooke is relaxing now that she is done with her run for the day.  
But she doesn't rest to long... and heads over to play at the pool at Coco Beach.
The Coco Beach resort is owned by the same company that owns Belizean Cove Estates,
 so we have access to their pool, which has this awesome castle/waterslide structure in the middle of their pool.  
The kids and dad had a blast jumping from the rocks, sliding down the waterslide and playing in the pool.
Dad with the little girls, waving to those of us on shore.
Brooke stops for a picture while playing on the rock structure.
The girls are keeping cool in the pool.
Brooke, jumping off the top of the castle.
Holding her nose before she hits the water.
I think these two are the cutest couple of little girls.
Brett and Kimber both look cute in green.
Dad and his little girls (and Tyler and Sonya) 
walking over to Captain Morgan's for "Mexican night."
The menu.
These two loved the tacos and bean burritos.
I had the tostados and they were so yummy!
The gorgeous sunset and the end to another wonderful day in Belize!
Mom and Kimber enjoying the sunset.
Mom and Dad.
Brooke ordered the Pineapple Fanta and became a fan of that flavor of Fanta just like that!
 So Kimber ordered one too!

Our Last Day in Belize
 We walked over to Capricorn restaurant and enjoyed a yummy breakfast.
Brett especially thought the strawberry-pineapple smoothie was delicious!
Dad ordered the pancakes, homestyled potatoes, bacon and eggs. Yum!
 Brooke had the Strawberry-Banana smoothie.
 After breakfast, we walked over to CocoBeach resort for some fun in the pool.
 Dad is very friendly and waves to everyone.
 Brooke shows Tyler how to jump off the top in style!
 Tyler and Sonya jump with their own style!
While everyone is jumping and going down the slide, 
Dad and Brett settle under some shade and catch up on some reading.
 Brooke comes out of the slide and makes a splash in the pool.
 Brooke could not be happier to have her buddy, Tyler
 to jump, slide, swim and explore in the pool with her.
 Brooke and Tyler definitely "belize" in magic!


 Snorkeling, Fishing and Fun
The kids had so much fun snorkeling and fishing that they talked Dad into going out again.
Kimber and Brett are loving the snorkeling.
Sonya with the first catch that afternoon.
This girl loves to fish!
Dad with his little fish.
These two are loving the view of the sea.
Brett with his colorful fish.
Tyler's caught another fish.
Kimber with her catch of the day.
The gorgeous view of the ocean near the end of another fabulous day.
 You had better Belize it... our vacation was simply Unbelizable!
Thanks kids for a wonderful week of fun!

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Brooke, the Bachelorette!

Brooke is adjusting to college life just fine.
She is loving it, especially loves having her sisters Ashley and Allie (and brother-in-law, Justin) close by.
Here is an excerpt from Allie's blog about a fun experience that Brooke had at freshman orientation.

My baby sister, Brooke is starting college this year!  I am so excited for her and happy that she will be so close to us!
Anyway, Brooke's freshmen year has had a fabulous start thanks to the Dating Game. 
Brooke was chosen to be the "bachelorette" in the BYU New Student Orientation version of the game. 
Naturally, I headed over to the Wilk (student center) to witness it myself.

Needless to say, it was awesome. Justin wins best bro-in-law (sorry Brett) for capturing the event.

The MC (who was acting as Harry Potter's Snape for some unknown reason...)
 announced a little bio about Brooke and then she walked out. So. Freaking. Beautiful. 
All you could see was blonde hair and golden tan skin. 
The boys practically ran to the stage for a chance at a date.
Pretty Brookie, walking out on the stage.
Eager boys run to the stage.
Professor Snape explaining the rules.
Brooke answered the questions...
and the sad boys had to leave if their answers didn't match hers.
The pack of boys dwindles.
The final two.
Brooke asked questions and the boys had to make up answers on the spot.
My favorite answer for "What is your best pick up line?
One boy said, "I'm headed to the Celestial Kingdom, wanna come?"  I love BYU!
And we have a winner!
Tender.
Uhhh! Can I have your number?

Ash, Justin, and I loved every minute of this.  It was thoroughly entertaining.
Brooke was like a mini celeb walking around afterwards.
~Allie
It was at that moment that I really wasn't liking this "empty nesting" thing.
Don't get me wrong.  I love just being with Mark without any kids around.  
It's like we are on this really long, uninterrupted date and that part is truly wonderful! Really, it is.
Just saying that I hate missing out on the fun kid things.
But we are heading back to Utah this weekend to watch Brooke race 
and spend time with the college kids.
It's all good and thank goodness for cell phones calls, skype sessions, emails, Ichat, etc,
and wonderful son-in-laws that take photos, and daughters that blog about all the fun,
so I don't really miss a thing.  Right!?
~Mom

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Fixing a flat at Folsom Lake

It was another adventurous day biking to Folsom Lake this morning
 with Cindy Strickland, Kim Nash, Sue and Karen.  
No!  I didn't have a bike accident. But Cindy did have a flat tire and 
I am proud to say that the 5 of us changed her tire. 
 I know that it doesn't sound like much of an accomplishment,
 but it is harder than you think and none of us had done it before 
so we were pretty pleased with ourselves.  
It was definitely took a lot of team work! 
 And as you can see, I was mainly working as the team photographer.
We rode all the way back to Beek's Bight trail and stopped to take a photo of the gals
with the lake and the Los Lagos neighborhood in the background.  Gorgeous!
Just before the photo was taken, Cindy took a thorn out of her tire.
Right then, we heard the air coming out of Cindy's tire and it went completely flat.
Cindy and Sue posing with the flat tire.
Cindy called her husband to come pick her up because she didn't have a spare tire.
But Karen was determined and I had a spare tire, just the right size, so Karen got busy.
Karen, Sue and Cindy working on getting the spare tire around the rim...
which is harder than you think.  But Karen is determined and isn't going to give up!
Now that the spare tire is on, Kim grabs her pump and all 4 gals work together to fill the tire with air.
Right as we were finishing the job, Cindy's husband, Joe drove up.
He was quite surprised and pretty pleased that we fixed the flat tire by ourselves.
 He gave us a few tips... and I gave him the Iphone camera...
and asked him to get a few pics of the girls and the tire, all fixed and ready to go.
Now with the tire back on Cindy's bike, we are ready for the ride back home.
I think all the gals would agree that there is nothing like changing a flat tire
 to make a girl feel clever and smart!
It was a good biking day!  
A good workout, gorgeous weather, and great conversation with good friends!
I can hardly wait for next weeks bike ride!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Brooke is a BYU Cougar!

 It's hard to believe that this little bear is now a cougar! 
 She is so excited and so I'm trying to be so excited for her! And I am! Truly, I am!
 She is ready to go to college and so I am trying to be ready to let her go! 
 The last of the 5 Holt kids at Brigham Young University.
Time to take the traditional pictures in front of the sign as you enter campus.
And of course, we must get a casual sitting pose.
Allie and Justin were so nice and helped her move into her dorm room.
So cute!
Wouldn't be right without a jumping picture!
Mom and Dad with Brooke.
We all wore our Blue gear to show our Cougar pride.
We also had to do a jumping photo and pretend that we are excited about being "empty nesters."
Yeah.  We had to give each other a high five with our last dropped off at college,
looking forward to the future and ready to embrace the next stage of life!