The Disney Magic

The most amazing part of a cruise is being rocked to sleep every night!! 

It is official, 

I would love to live 

on a houseboat!!

Christmas was Amazing this year!! Not only did we get to tell my mom at Thanksgiving that we were expecting a baby, but on Christmas Eve morning we got to tell Jeff's family as well. Their shocked and overjoyed expressions made the season perfect!

Come Christmas morning I was given a surprise and shock too! Jeff had been in cahoots planning with his parents a week long cruise sailing from Orlando Florida to two different islands in the Bahamas. I would have never guessed that this would be one of our Christmas presents!!!!

Janet, Robert, Jeff and I began the three week countdown from Christmas day until we could fly across the United states to Sun and Warmth!!! I remember standing in our bedroom looking out the window at 15 degree weather and inches of snow while laying around me were piles of sun dresses, bathing suites, and a snorkeling set waiting to be packed. I was THRILLED!!

On our way. Jeff took this picture with his phone during our layover in the Salt Lake City Airport.

1.19.14 

(half of Jeff's face, Me, Janet, and Robert)

We got into Orlando late, but even the hint of humidity and warmth felt like we had flown to paradise! I was so ready for this vacation! On our shuttle to the hotel we met another family going on the same cruise the next day. Their bother and sister-in-law were Aladdin and Cinderella's evil step sister in the performances. We got to meet up wit the family just about everyday on the cruise! 

After an hour shuttle to Port Canaveral, where I got to see where many rockets get launched to space, we got to board the Disney Magic!!!!!

Monday

1.20.14

 Getting excited as we made 

our way to Port Canaveral

 Once we were welcomed on board we made our way right to the buffet, ice cream, and pizza stands!! This is Jeff's first piece of pizza of many by the time the week ended!!

 Saying our good bye's on the phone before we headed for International waters!

 Robert and Jeff with their matching Disney T-Shirts

 It was really fun to watch the other cruise line pull away before us. Everyone was seen waving. It felt like we were in a parade! We waved to those on the other ship and they waved back. Everyone on shore sent us off with loud whistles and waving!

 Watching as we pulled away to begin our sailing at sea!

 We got to see a beautiful sunset as we said good bye to the Florida coast line!

Our room was actually pretty spacious in comparison to the cruise I went on two summers ago to Mexico. Across from the couch was a TV that was always playing Disney movies, music videos, the route the ship was taking, and some sort of sports event.  Janet and Robert had a room with a balcony across the hall from us. It was nice to go over and watch the waves and sunsets in quiet!

On our first night we got to see the live show "Villains" in the theater. A competition was acted out on stage between most of the Disney villains to find out who was most evil.

After the show we got to go eat at our first fancy dinner! Our table every night in the different restaurants was 65.  First was the Animation Restaurant. As the dinner began all the walls were white with sketches of  Disney characters. As the dinner progressed the pictures started coming to life and then began to get color. We also got a visit from Mickey!

 Just finished our dessert and we were stuffed!!

 After our yummy dinner and Jeff and I went to "Match Your Mate" game show. They chose three couples from the audience and quizzed them. The couple that knew each other best won prizes. Jeff and I thought we would have only answered differently on the question, "what is your spouse biggest pet peeve that you do?" We made it our goal that one day we will be a couple that gets chosen and wins ;)

Tuesday

1.21.14

Our 1st Port Day

Tuesday was such a beautiful morning! Jeff and I slept so soundly. The ship literally rocked us to sleep!! We set our alarm for 7am. Jeff set off to workout and I excitedly went to a stretching class! We were right at the front of the ship and as we stretched I watched the sun rise and the ship dock! It was extremely relaxing!!! Then after a breakfast full of every thing you can imagine we explored the capital island of the Bahamas, Nassau!

 Everywhere we turned people were trying to sell us souvenirs and taxi rides. It felt like I was somehow in China and Mexico at the same time.

Everything was SO colorful!!

 Even their Parliament was pink!

 While exploring I found two ways to Rock It!!  ;)

 LOL

 Janet and Robert showed us the Queen's Stair case carved out of a rock mountain. It was very beautiful!

  

Poor Jeff :(

And what is visiting the Bahamas without an Epic jumping picture!

 Goodbye Nassau! Back onto the Ship!!!

 ( I just love how my little prego belly of 15 weeks is beginning to show!)

Our show for tonight was "Twice Charmed", an original twist on the Cinderella Story.  It was a really fun performance with beautiful songs, an evil villain wiping Cinderella and the Prince's minds blank, making them find each other all over again, and the helper mice getting turned into human size!

Then onto Yummy dinner number two where our waiter transformed Jeff into Goofy :)

 Wednesday 

1.22.14

We spent the day on the ship! Some of the highlights of the day were spent eating, eating, and more eating :) Laying by the pool. Jeff, Janet, and Robert did this water slide. It first dropped you 30 feet and then took you over the side of the ship 20 feet . The best part was hearing Janet scream from the initial drop until the end!!

On the ship is a full sized movie theater where we get to watch Disney new releases. They were playing "Saving Mr. Banks", which was AMAZING and made me cry and "Frozen". We watched both!!

The big festivities of the evening started at dinner with a pirate dinner and dance party that extended to the deck where we had fireworks!!

 Thursday

1.23.14

My Favorite Day Of All

Disney's Private Island in the Bahamas

CASTAWAY KEY

After another huge breakfast on the ship we went to explore Castaway Key! The first thing we did was rent bikes and spent an hour biking down the trails to see different beaches, a look out tour, and up and down the islands old airplane runway!! After Jeff, Janet, and I went to the Yoga class on the adult beach! It was Beautiful! Soon after it was time for food again and they had a BBQ full with steaks, fish, and ribs!!!
After about an hour of snorkeling Jeff and I sunbathed for a long time. We got a little red, but it was so worth feeling warmth from the sun. It was so hard going back to Idaho where we had 6 inches of snow!

 That's my MAN ;)

 LOL

 This is the big question???????? boy or girl!!!!???!!!!

 Saying Good Bye

   Back on the ship we got to go see my favorite show of the week, "Dreams", where a little girl got to discover the power of her dreams! She and Peter Pan get to meet most of the Disney characters, like Bell, The Lion King, Aladdin, Cinderella, Little Mermaid, etc. I loved the music and it was so fun to feel that child like wonder again!

For our Final Dinner we dressed up. We decided Jeff and I were Aladdin and Jasmine after they get married... Pregnant Jasmine :)

 It was so fun how they folded the napkin!

 Elegant Jasmine with her smoothie ;)

 And no cruise can ever be with out the 

Famous Towel Animals

Friday

1.24.14

After our last night of wonderful sleep we made our way back to the Orlando Airport..... which 6 hours later turned into a HUGE LONG ADVENTURE. Lets just say we got home two days later instead of that night and got to ride first class from Atlanta to Seattle.

Overall a Wonderful Week!!!!!!

Thank you Robert and Janet!!!!!!!!

2013 Christmas Letter

The Shirt's Family 2013

Christmas Letter 

written by Jeff

The preparations for Christmas came right in the middle of Jeff's finals, us moving from Utah to Idaho, and my attack of morning sickness. As a result this letter was written and many in the Shirt's clan sent out the Christmas letter but we never got to it.

Here you go everyone :)

Hopefully better late than never!

 

IT' S CHRISTMAS! IT'S CHRISTMAS! And you know what that means! You are now facing all of your fears from last year. The Pudgy pushy salesmen dressed as your favorite( or not so favorite) elf is pushing extended warranties on everything from iPads to tweezers, the snow blower is more like an asthmatic snow wheezer (maybe you should have listened to the pudgy elf last year), and to top it all off the neighborhood carolers are multiplying and the amount of Christmas Cheer as risen exponentially. It almost knocks you off your feet BEFORE you open the door. Well fear no more. The Shirts Family Christmas letter is here! It is full of new additions and pure unadulterated goodness, so prepare yourself. You may need to strap yourself into the seat of your car in order to protect yourself from the awesomeness coming your way.

Well let's begin with the most senior couple in the family, Robert and Janet.  They have been living a life of endless bliss as they have watched their grandchildren  grow up all big and such, and their children as well, I guess. Their excitement has been punctuated by Robert being put in the Stake Presidency, throwing javelins like a champion, trying to reenact the antics of a young father whilst playing with the next generation of hooligans his offspring have provided him ( with varying levels of success), all while keeping his day job of whizzing around the area educating himself some unsuspecting seminary teachers. Janet, on the other hand, hasn't been a slouch this year either. She has helped many a pregnant woman pop out little bundles of joy, spoiled her grandkids rotten (she now has all 4 within striking/kidnapping distance. More on that in a minute.), and she managed to sneak back into the states with a raging case of Montezuma's/pharaoh's revenge that was given to her by a sweet unsuspecting bit of fruit while traversing the jungles of Central America. She is also keeping up the tradition of demolishing and rebuilding some portion of their abode every 4-5 years. This time it was their sleeping and bathing chambers. And to top it all off they managed to corral the whole family together and spend a week in Seaside, Oregon for a family Reunion. How they did it is the stuff of legends. 

One of those bundles of joy born to Kootenai Medical Center this year was Lucas Parker Shirts. Yep, you guessed it! Addition #1  of 2013 came into the family on June 5th by way of Jonathan and Carlee. Jonathan and Carlee's other escapades have included steering their new swagger wagon (aka minivan) through the streets of North Idaho to drop Mikenzy off at her various activities including, but not limited to, preschool, kindergarten, soccer, and finding potential pet dog material. All were successful except the last. The word on the street is that there is a mischievous villain who is using his blinding ray gun to blind the parental units to any possible potential candidates. We will continue following this developing story. In other news, Lucas is quickly mastering his new body. He has managed to gain control over most basic bodily functions and is well on his way to becoming the next child genius. At that point he and Mikenzy will form a crime fighting duo and solve the problem of the pet blocking villain. Jonathan is still the master of the internet as he guides unsuspecting students through the travails of gaining a fully accredited online degree from Western Governor's University. At the same time Carlee has managed to exercise immense control to keep their lives in perfect order, all while growing a new human. Awards are in her future.

Michael and Janneke have also had their fair share of noteworthy occurrences this year.  It all started on a smog filled afternoon in the Salt Lake Valley in late 2012. Michael was also helping unsuspecting WGU students traverse the minefield of higher education from his upstairs office, when all of the sudden he felt a change in the winds. He immediately rushed down his 2.5 flights of stairs to inform Janneke that they were going to be moving. Where? He did not know, but to his surprise, Janneke had also felt the same change of the winds and had begun packing their belongings into the private horde of diaper boxes they had collected due to the ever increasing demands of 2 rambunctious boys, Christopher, now aged 3 years and 8 months, and Benjamin, aged 1 year and 6 months. (If you are good at maths, you are probably trying to solve this conundrum: "If Lucas was born in June, and it is now December, that means he is 6 months old. Benjamin is 1 year and 6 months old. . .*head scratching has begun*.  .  . that means. . ." FEAR NOT! As is Shirts family tradition, they share the same birthday. Janneke and Jeff started the trend, and naturally it had to continue. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.) Seeing that she was on the same page, they listed the house for sale and 3 days later it was sold. Immediately( 3 months later) they packed all their belongings and bought a new house with a yard of rocks in North Idaho. Little did they know it was the matriarch of the family who was blowing those winds of change, all so she could more easily spoil her precious grandchildren. After moving they raked, and sifted their rock patch until many tons of rocks were removed and it was deemed acceptable to sprout some grass seeds. They also felt the need to get some swagger in their life so they followed the eldest siblings example and bought a swagger wagon. The doting grandparents have never been so proud.

And last, but certainly not least, it comes to Jeff. Or should I say Jeff AND AMBER!! That's right folks, the runt, I mean baby of the clan finally found someone to tag along on his adventures, bringing Addition #2 to the family. They were married June 8th in the Spokane Temple. ("WAIT!" , you say. "I am no dummy.", you say. "If Lucas was born on the 5th and Jeff and Amber were married on the 8th. . ." ) Calm yourself. It's ok. Lucas decided that he needed a big entrance and many adoring fans, so he exercised his impeccable planning abilities as a budding child genius and stole the show by showing up right before the impending nuptials. Jeff and Amber welcomed the distraction and seized the opportunity to head off to Island paradise. Without the distraction, the marriage of their youngest child may have been too much for the senior Shirts couple to handle, and Jeff and Amber would have never made it out of the reception and onto the plane. But they did and all is well. Since then they have gone back down to Provo for one last time, because by the time most of you read this Jeff will have graduated from BYU with a degree in Public Health! Amber, on the other hand, graduated in April and has been putting her mad Chinese skills to good use at an elementary  school Chinese Immersion program near Provo. Those unsuspecting first and second graders still don't know what hit them. After graduation the Shirts Clan will be reunited in North Idaho because Jeff and Amber are moving back to work as he awaits news about which med school wants to impart their knowledge to him.  And for the shrewd observers, the cute girl  on Jeff's back in last year's Christmas picture was the one and only Amber, and no your memory is not evading you, they weren't engaged. They had to wait to make it memorable. They got engaged on the same day as Robert and Janet, just a short 33 years later. And as a side note, Jeff and Amber have no swagger and will not be purchasing a swagger wagon anytime soon.

I think that about wraps it all up. Have a Merry Christmas! And if it gets to you after Christmas: Happy New Year! And if it gets to you after January 1st, 2014: We're sorry.

The Shirts family

Highlights of 2013

"I KNEW WHEN I MET YOU, 

AN ADVENTURE WAS GOING 

TO HAPPEN"

-Winnie the Pooh

 Sitting here pondering about the Last year I can hardly believe all that has transpired! It has been a roller coaster of ups and downs, trials always come with their blessings!For that I am eternally grateful!

 Many of my lowest aches only our Savior knows of. I could try and explain, but in all reality there is no reason to. One day you may go through the same heartache and I will happily cry with you, comfort, yell Why, and tell you there is hope ahead. But until then I am going to come across as the person I hope I am known as, 

An Optimist!

  

Let Me Highlight the Amazing 

Life Changes of this Past Year:

1.Dreams of all Dreams!!! My best friend proposed to me and after much screaming of shock and excitement I said "Of Course"

3.13.13

2.Conquered my 7 years of independence, heartache, mystery,exploring,and learning.

AKA: Graduating from Brigham Young University in Chinese and International Development

4.26.13

3. I got Sealed for Time and All Eternity to Jeff Shirts in the Spokane Temple!

We had the reception and honeymoon of a Life time!!!

6.8.13

4. Three days after deciding to go off birth control and see what Heavenly Father had planned for us we started our newest and most miraculous adventure as a family!!!

10.13.13