Amazing Race and an Intruder.

 After driving up to camp and back just fine.  Later that day I went running errands and my car battery was dead.  I drove the Tesla for a day until we got that fixed.  Derek helped me jump it, then Auto Zone replaced the battery.  Horray it is fixed.

Thursday I had to drive a group of kids up to Heber, AZ for "Amazing Race".  Our Stake replaced this activity with Trek, which I think is a great thing.  They split the kids up into families, Trey said he hiked about 22 miles in 2.5 days, they camped out, had a bit of rain, and did some challenges.  The challenges were fun, I think the hiking about did him in.  He came home a bit sunburned and sore.   I heard from many adults that Trey did fantastic.  I drove back up on Saturday to pick up the crew. When I saw Trey him up he said it was a 6.5/10 then after a bit of recovery he bumped his score up to a 7.5.  I think as timed passes the score will continue to increase.  He was put in a group where he didn't know any of the kids but I think he developed some new friendships.  He said his family got along really well.    

Trey doing the "Hellen Keller Challenge"  He needed to sing a song blindfolded, with noise canceling headphones on.  The "Hellen Keller" name came from the kids, I think the adults had a different name for the challenge.   

Thursday evening was pretty quiet at our house. Curtis and Trey were both out of town.  Derek grilled up some hamburgers for us.  He is getting to be a good cook.  

That night Derek took Oreo, the dog into his bedroom for the night.  Some nights she stays some nights she comes back into our room.  About 3:00 a.m. on Friday morning heard an unusual noise in our bedroom and it woke me up.  I couldn't tell if it was Oreo whimpering, so I waited.  I heard it again, it sounded like a meow.  I waited and I heard it again, definitely a meow.  I turned on my cell phone light and towards the end of my bed, I see a cat staring at me.  I was not happy about a cat being in my bedroom in the middle of the night, but there are worse things that could invite themselves in during the middle of the night.  I got out of bed and started to shoo it out.  I eventually got it back out of the newly installed doggy door.  Funny thing Oreo won't use the doggy door but a random cat from the neighborhood will.  I locked the doggy door once I got it out, then I locked it again the following night.  I do not want that cat back in my house.

Cruisin to 50

 We have been very blessed by the growth of eXp, The Real Estate Company Curtis joined just over 4 years ago. Curtis now has over 7500 agents under him bringing in a generous Revenue Share check each month.

About a year ago Curtis proposed the idea that he takes his family (Mom, Dad, sisters, and spouses) on a Cruise.  He wanted this to be a trip of a lifetime, something memorable before it was too late, money, bad health, death, fill in the blank for any number of reasons, etc. I was good with the idea and thought it was very generous of him.  I know how much Curtis loves Cruises. Of course, his family was thrilled.  The discussions started with his family about where to go and when. This is one of those things that could have been talked about but never actually executed.    I think it officially got on the calendar about June of 2021, we would be taking a Western Caribbean Cruise from March 20-27, 2022.  We didn't exactly know which ports we would hit because COVID was still a threat, and a few times there was a chance that our cruise could be completely canceled.  

That was a big step to even get it on the calendar.  Curtis' sister, Audrey, used to be a travel agent.  She pretty much took over the planning and did a great job of working out little details and making sure everything ran smoothly.

About 10 days before the trip, I got sick with a sinus infection.  Luckily I got some antibiotics and was feeling much better in a day. As luck would have it, Derek got sick a week before the trip.  When Derek gets sick, he gets sick and it lingers.  He went to the doctor, but he was still pretty sick up to the day before.  The Cruise was set to leave from Orlando, FL on Sunday, March 20th. We had planned to fly to Orlando on the 18th, hit Universal Studios (Orlando) on the 19th, then meet up with the rest of the family and get on the ship on the 20th.  Ughh What to do about Derek, flying with sinus issues is a nightmare.

Derek was a trooper, he flew out with us on the 18th. Mike and Alisa (Curtis' sister) were on the same flight.   Our layover flight was delayed a few hours in Houston, we just sat and sat on the tarmac for about three hours. Finally, we arrived in Orlando, then we had to get COVID tests before we could get on the boat.  We got to the hotel late and exhausted and I know Derek didn't feel well. We planned that we would get up early and head to Universal, but Derek would stay back at the hotel and sleep as long as he could.  The hotel gave us late checkout until 1:00 p.m. by then Derek was feeling well enough to join us at Universal for the afternoon and evening.  I'm glad he did because he did say that ended up being one of his favorite parts of the trip.

After the Jurrasic Park ride, Trey got wet

Harry Potter Hogsmeade

Once upon a time, Trey was a Delorean for Halloween

Derek joined us. These two hit Jurassic Park and got soaked.

Onto the Boat.  The entire family arrived, we all passed our COVID tests, nobody missed their flight and everyone made it onboard.

COVID testing clinic

Curtis waited outside with our luggage while the family did COVID tests.

Atlantis Resort in Bahamas

Grandma Shauna and Dax    

Parkour, a Milestone, Camping.

 For several weeks, I have been trying to get try into Parkour lessons.  The coach was never there, bad communication by the gym yada, yada.  We finally got Trey into lessons.  He had a great time and we hope to continue throughout the summer.  It is a nice cool place when it is blazing hot outside. He was sore the next few days.

Trey doing a backflip.

Meanwhile...Gas is OUTRAGEOUS

I thought it was bad when it was nearly $4.00/ gallon a few years ago.

Curtis had a BIG birthday.  He turned 50 on Saturday. We started celebrating with his family in March on the Cruise, then we had a mini celebration in Las Vegas.  His office wanted to do something so they had a surprise Birthday Lunch for him on Tuesday before I went out of town, Derek and Trey even came.  Dax would have but he had his Calc 3 class.

It was a fun event.

The next day I had to leave to go to Girls Camp.  Not my favorite thing to sleep in a tent, but I survived.  It was much warmer this year than last year.  That made the nights much more pleasant. The girls had fun, it was successful.  I'm glad it is only once a year. I'm campaigning once every two years.

Pam Kubricky, Megan Otting, Taryn Johnson, Tatem Service
Lilly Lines, Hailey Avalos, Ruby Cramer, Kandyce Rodriguez, Me, Raquel Ellsworth, Tessa Layden

Now it was officially Curtis' Birthday and back-to-back Father's Day.  I came home from camp about noon.  We celebrated his Birthday and opened a few gifts with the kids, then waited a few hours and did Father's Day.  Curtis had to leave town early Sunday morning to go to Orlando for the EXP Shareholder meeting. I think he felt loved.

For Curtis' Birthday, Derek found some promotion where you could buy land in Scotland and be named a "Lord"  Curtis is now, Lord Curtis Johnson.

Lord Curtis

This is what Curtis got for Father's Day

Las Vegas and Lake Powell

 In true Curtis fashion, we decided to go to Las Vegas at the last minute.  About 7:00 a.m. on Saturday he figured out a plan and by 10:30 we were on our way to the airport.  Las Vegas and close and easy to fly to so we did.

We mostly hung out at the pool and walked through the Hotels.  No shows this time, nothing struck out fancy.  We had a great time doing nothing.  We stayed at the Four Seasons, which is actually inside Mandalay Bay.    

I had never actually seen the famous Las Vegas sign.  It wasn't too far from our hotel so one morning I took a walk down there. I went early to beat the crowds and I ran into Elvis.

The Hotel heard Curtis had a birthday coming up so they sent a cake.  Too bad the maid took it before we finished it even though I told her not to.

Chocolate in the center, surrounded by mousse. Delicious!

Every time we go to Las Vegas I like to see the Atrium at the Bellagio, it is always spectacular.

We didn't actually take any pictures together.  That is a problem.

Curtis took me to this certain store and bought me a bracelet.

We also ate some beautiful, yummy food.

Derek agreed to pick us up at the airport.  We didn't realize he was leaving for an activity with the Young Men to go to Lake Powell Tuesday afternoon.  We thought it was Wednesday. He had his bag packed and we dropped him off on our way home.

One of his adult leaders has a client who has a business that rents out Luxury houseboats to fancy people.  Lake Powell is in a drought and business is way down.  He generously lent the Yacht to our YM group.  The owner said they just needed to pay for gas and food.  Aside from gas being $5.50ish a gallon right now.  That is very inexpensive considering they also rented a ski/surf/wakeboard boat and two jet skis.  

I have yet to see pictures from the trip, but I pulled this picture off Google, which I believe is the actual boat they were on, Getaway Three.  They were spoiled rotten, they got the first-class treatment, even a boat pilot. These boys are 16-18 years old.  The bar has been set. The boat was amazing, with two kitchens, several bedrooms, and sleeping for up to 30. They had 15 total.

Hopefully, we will get to see some pictures.  Derek tried wakeboarding, but his favorite was the Jet skis.