cruisin' the bahamas

 Our Christmas present this year was a family cruise to the Bahamas after visiting Bret's mission in FL. Whit, Conrad, & Abram couldn't join us on the cruise due to whitney being large with child.. we missed them! But we had a blast eating way too much food, unlimited ice cream, chilling on the beautiful beaches, & spending lots of quality time together. 

 We had fun "surprising" Brigham with a Cruise for his birthday too! The surprise was spilled way too many times, and he eventually found out. He's my favorite 11 year old out there. 

Brigham super excited to be in the Bahamas. 

Kendall super happy about flying his new kite

snorkeling in that beautiful clear, blue water. 

Jaxon always fishing. he brought his fold-able fishing pool and everything and was fishing in the ocean. This crazy boy almost caught a barracuda too.

Grateful for my parents and how they've always made family time a priority in our lives.

This kite sure kept Kendall entertained at the beach

We had such a fun time. I like cruising but I don't think it is Kendall and I's way to travel. He get's sea sick and the dramamine patches made him so sleepy the entire time haha and it doesn't help that the boat rocks you right to sleep as well hahah 

We visited Nassau, Bahamas and Coco Cay on a 3 day cruise. It sure felt nice to get some much needed sunshine and family time. What a fun way to end 2017 and welcome in the New Year!

Gratitude = Happiness 11 All the family together

For Christmas this year, we headed to Orlando, FL to pick up our favorite missionary. Best present ever! It was a dream to ALL be together as a family again and to see Bret. He is SO happy and a changed man. He carried a light and smile with him wherever he went. It was awesome to see the change in him, but also to meet and see the change within the families that he taught while on his mission. He loved his mission and the people he was able to serve in FL. 

finally off to FL... and warmer places!

picking up OUR ELDER. He was able to be released by his stake president in Stg over skype. It was also super cool that we could all be there to pick him up, especially his 4 younger brothers who want to serve missions. Bret is such a great example to all of us. 

And, of course, beach time with the whole Barben crew! Finally!

gorgeous preggo momma!

aren't these 2 the cutest. our little babies of the fam ;)

haha these pictures crack me up. Mom & dad sure missed their baby Bret. 

i got a crazy bee sting on the foot

Barben boys

Barben girls. ^^love this lil sassy sister of mine^^

SO HAPPY WE FOUND SANTA AND BRET IN FLORIDA!

these two always catching lizards together. love it!

we played corn hole and soccer with some of the families Bret taught. They all loved Elder Barben. So do we!

Downtown Disney with our matching disney shirts. We decided not to do Disney World with all the crowds over the holidays and opted for a Bahama cruise instead. But we needed a little taste of disney while in FL. 

wearin' our Christmas jammies'

the boys loved playing basketball all together again.

I sure love this family of mine. I loved that we were all able to come on this trip and make many more Barben memories and adventures together. It's so fun to see our family grow. I loved our childhood all together, but it is even more fun as we all get older and have fun conversations and "roasts" together (have your played the game psych (an app)... it's pretty much a group roasting game as Brig would put it haha. Love my people and our memories!