WOW.....

We finally went on a cruise!  It has been a while since there has been a post from us. Yes, we are a bit behind...maybe it is because we haven't felt like posting, maybe it is because we are lazy, or maybe it is because we have been too busy preparing for our cruise! YES....Joe and I just returned from our first ever real cruise.  We flew to San Juan Puerto Rico, stayed a night then boarded the VICTORY and sailed from San Juan to St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St. Maarten.  WOW...is about the best word to describe the experience. 

Wow...there were a lot of people that should not be wearing a speedo on the cruise ship!

Wow...there is way too much food tempting you to pig out (thus ya shouldn't wear a speedo people)
Wow...there is so much poverty on these breathtaking islands
Wow...there is life beyond cell phones, email and TV

Wow...the water is so clear that you can literally almost see the bottom

Wow...can't believe we went Zip Lining, Jet skiing on the Caribbean Sea or sailing St. Lucia on a  Catamaran

Wow...did you know Dolphin's like to play in the wake of the ship?

Wow...we discovered hidden personality traits that came out (Joe Karaokes...American Idol Wannabe)

We truly had a marvelous time and enjoyed a much needed retreat from all we have been through this past year. We are blessed to have had the chance to go, and to enjoy some of God's treasures that are out there.

Here are some pics of our trip....(yeah we know...there are lot's to view. So, if you are bored just get over it and enjoy the scenery OK?!)

View from our San Juan hotel of a famous Fort

Bon Voyage! Just setting sail...Whew and windy

Joe trying to get some fame lol...Karaoke style

Oh yeah..he was getting into it!

a view of St. Thomas

The Anniversary Dinner for Bill and Judeen

 (Stephanie's parents)

The cute cake my Dad got as a surprise

All dressed up and no where to go but the dining room...

Practicing our Gene Simon's impression...actually we just wanted some TONGUE..ha

On the bus in Barbados to ride the Zip Line

Our instructor telling us how to hang on tight and enjoy the ride

All geared up and ready for action

A perspective on just how big those ships really are

Posing in front of the ship with our friends Greg and Valerie

Kodak moment for sure in front of the St Lucia backdrop

More of this gorgeous island

A breather after checking out the volcano

Stopping by the waterfall on our tour

Some of the cool trees in the botanical garden area

Sailing on a Catamaran complete with lunch and views to die for

See what I mean?

Joe enjoying the starboard tip of the Catamaran

What a day! Joe, Steph, Val and Greg our friends from Georgia

Cool view of the ship

 

These birds stay in this prickly tree to avoid the mongooses that are all over St. Kitts

 needless to say...there are NO snakes on that island!

Nope...instead they have ton's of Green Monkeys

Decided to get a little bit of local flavor and had my hair braided while in Port

Part of a fort that was built after Columbus came

 

The picturesque beaches of St. Maarten

(one side is Dutch, the other side French...where clothing is optional)

The water is so blue, and so clear

Stephanie and Joe enjoying the sunshine after our ride on

a jet ski (wave runner) around the Caribbean Sea. We saw

a HUGE sea turtle out in the ocean and can practically see to the bottom

the water is so clear

Yes.. That is Stephanie riding behind Joe holding on for dear life

Our Balcony room on the rear of the ship.

 It was such a great spot to be,we enjoyed a week

 of watching the horizon, sunsets, and dolphins play

Luana and Joshua's Easter Weekend Memorials

'Easter' is a time to remember Christ's Atonement and his resurection so that we may all have eternal life. So, it was only fitting that this weekend we met as family and friends to remember the lives of both Luana Elaine Boyce Denning Fennemore
 and Joshua Joseph Denning.


Luana (Joe's mother) passed away peacefully on March 17th, 2010.
But, because her children (7 of them) are very spread out, they opted to hold off on a funeral until everyone could be together. Coincidently, we had also been making arrangements to move our late son Joshua's body from the cemetery in Ririe Idaho to Bountiful Utah to be near his family when we received news of Luana's passing. With all of the family gathering together we opted to consolidate both occasions into one day and hold both memorial services the same day so that everyone could participate in both events.

 We started in the morning with a lovely graveside memorial for Luana at the Bountiful Cemetery.  Joe's siblings all participated in the service and even with the cold weather that day, the turnout was amazing!  (The viewing was held the night before at the mortuary where we all said our final goodbyes).  Following Luana's graveside services, we then went to a luncheon provided by our ward (Mueller Park 7th) for anyone attending the services.
* (A special thank you to all our ward friends that helped with that! We so appreciated all the hard work and efforts!) 


Following the luncheon we went back to the cemetery and held a lovely 'Welcome Home Memorial' for Joshua.  The turnout was awesome! We had many of Josh's friends attend that weren't able to come to his funeral, which meant so much to us to witness so much love and support in his behalf. 
 A few thoughts were shared by Josh's siblings (Cory, Zach, Ashley), I read a poem I wrote for the occasion and the mother of Josh's best friend growing up spoke a few words. We  then played some recorded music of Josh singing and finally released yellow balloons (in significance of  his welcome home) while we played a favorite gospel song. It was a truly touching tribute and we are so grateful that we were able to bring Josh home.
  Another special thank you to all of our family that helped out, to Eckersell's Funeral Home for helping us coordinate this extensive undertaking, to our ward for the support and prayers on our behalf to keep us emotionally stable during such an emotional and challenging last year.

We will be posting some pics of Josh's memorial very soon. (Ashley's boyfriend, Paul took some nice pictures and we are waiting on those to post).  We did capture his arrival however.  (They were able to move his vault undisturbed because we had opted for a sealed vault initially)

A temporary marker that Karen Denning so thoughtfully made

 for Josh's grave until  his headstone is finished.Both Luana

and Joshua's headstones should be in place by Memorial Day. 

California Breather and Birthday Celebration's

First I apologize for being a terrible blogger lately. I started to write some things about what we've been up to and what has been going on. But, then I deleted it all. I figured you don't need to read more sad news, (Joe's Mom passed away 3/17/10) or see how emotionally challenging our life is (Making arrangements to move Josh's body to a local cemetery). Instead I decided that the best part of a blog is the pictures. So...here are a few pictures that we took while we went to visit Zach, Sara and the boy's for Carter's 1st Birthday. And a few of another Birthday celebration for my mother who is about to finally retire work and enjoy life!   Happy Birthday~~~

Mason with Bucca and Munga at a 3D showing of Alice in Wonderland. Mason loved to wear the glasses and sat through the entire show. Then after the credits started to roll exclaimed, "That was a GREAT show"  lol...

Mason, Carter and Bucca & Munga on a day out at the park

 and a fun treasure hunt followed by the feeding ducks

After a day at the park we went on a drive to San Diego to pick up Daddy from the Marine base. Zach saw a sign showing boy getting shocked on a warning sticker, and thought that the lock was to keep 'Mr. Electricity the bad guy' in the box.  It was too funny.

We went with Sara to lunch when Zach was working and decided that Sara's eye's were bigger than her tummy, or at least the burrito was bigger than Sara

An, ahhhhhhhh moment when Mason took a catnap while we ran a few errands at Target while we were out playing one day. This is the one trip we didn't have to buy a prize.  lol

Zach and Joe out golfing while Sara went to see Ellen in Burbank while Munga stayed home and watched the boys.  Hmmm? I am thinking I somehow got bum end ,

but it was really fun to spend some time with the boys by myself.  And, neener neener I got to change more poopy diapers than anyone that day! So there-

(look at the pic...scary the resemblence of father and son!)

THEN...we came back to Utah and took my mom out to dinner for her birthday with the Hughes Clan.  We went to Buca Di Peppo's for Italian food. They are pricey, but have some yummy garlic cheese bread! Look Mom is happy she is getting old...ha ha.

The whole group, or who I could fit in the 'pic'.  We had most everyone there except Andrea and her hubby since she came down with a migrane that evening. Sorry Andrea, just think you could of been in this special shot!  PS...at least you saved lots of money!