Well, I have some time in the study since Dad has the Young Men here tonight downstairs. So I thought it would be a good opportunity to write something in the blog. I am recovering from the heart attack I had today when I opened up our taxes from Rex Bosen. Net what we have to pay is minimal but we owe a lot to federal and get back a little bit less from Oregon. Dad and I decided that it will pay us to get some good tax planning so we will be going back to our CPA up here to work with us on general financial planning.

I haven't told all of you my exciting news that I will be going to France and Holland with Martha in September for about 3 weeks. I've decided to go ahead and plan my life as if I will not be getting a job. I am only really applying to things that look interesting in Vancouver since one conclusion that I have come to is that I don't want to spend a lot of time commuting...and nothing looks very promising here. I am enjoying staying home more than I did initially and it does leave me free to do some of the fun stuff!!!

Monday, Dad met with Dr. Wong, the other oral surgeon that just opened up his practice by us. They were discussing possibilities of Dad going into associateship, partnership or something with him. There seems to be interest on both sides so they are planning on a dinner sometime to discuss. Right now, he is worried about just being busy enough himself but we think it will pick up fast. He built out seven operatories so there is definitely room to grow. We'll see. In the meantime, Williamette is going well. Dad is going to break his monthly record this month!

Well, back to telling about the cruise. I think I left off when we left San Juan at midnight on Monday, Feb 28. We arrived early in the morning in St Thomas. I got up at about 4 am to go to the bathroom and looked out the window as we approached the hilly island. It was really pretty with all the lights. We were set up for an afternoon excursion so in the morning we took a taxi into town and went to all the tourist shops. I bought a runner for the dining room table and a roll cloth at a linen shop and some perfume..my favorite Oscar de la Rente.. Dad even got some aftershave. We weren't into big shopping so we went back to the ship for lunch and then met the excusion at 1 pm. We were going out on some miniboats to go snorkeling. They were two person boats...inflatable type ones...I'm sure there is a technical term for it. Glenn and Jaydee McKay went with us (Ginger's son and his daughter)There were about twelve boats. We went out with a guide across the beautiful blue water to a small island off shore. We then got in the water and snorkeled. It is the first time I've done that and I really enjoyed it. It was the right temperature and calm water...warm outside...just great!!! We got back to the boat just in time to leave again for St. Martin at 5 pm. We cruised overnight and arrived in St Martin in the morning. For those who aren't familiar with it, there is a Dutch side and a French side of the island. The French side has by far the better beaches. This time we went for a full day tour in large 4 X 4's. If we were to do it again we would take the 4 person ones. We stopped at two beaches and in between stopped in a little town to have lunch. We basically just circuited the island. They took us on one patch of rough road to give us the 4 X 4 thrill...but it was pretty lame!! Otherwise, it was just on regular roads but was a good tour of the island. On Orient Beach on the French side Dad finally went into the water with me. It was a bit of a shock when I went in the water and realized that tops on the women were optional and there were quite a few without them!! I guess the other end of the beach had a totally nude section. There were a few young women but the preponderance of the topless women were in their 50's and 60's...not too attractive in my view.

We then pulled out again that evening and headed for Miami. Thursday and Friday were just relaxing on the ship...then Saturday morning we pulled into Miami. Since our flight did not leave until late afternoon, we took a tour to the Everglades. We went out on an airboat and saw some very sleepy alligators. I think what was more interesting were the birds around there. Very beautiful! The tour then took us directly to the airport so we only paid about $15 each for the Everglades tour itself since we would have had to pay for transportation to the airport anyway.

Okay, I've finally finished it. I've been printing this out to keep as a family journal so I thought it would be a good idea to get it in here.

I just finished reading Sarah and Rebekkah by Orson Scott Card. Interesting books that give a more full view of the Abraham and Isaac era but a little too modern day for me in the dialogue. I then have been reading Abraham by Bruce Feiler ( a non-LDS book). It really has made me appreciative of modern revelation and the information that we have on Abraham that the other religions are just grasping at. He is jewish and takes a very secular view of what religions are all about. I also purchased two books of the Strong Women.... series. I got Strong Women Stay Young and Strong Women Stay Slim. At this point, I'm just reading them but plan on adding some strength training and diet to my Curves workouts after we get back from Japan.

This weekend we got a room over in Lincoln City on the coast. We made sure we could get conference in the room..so we'll watch conference and then play around over there. Dad's been wanting to get over to the coast for a long time and we've never been to Lincoln City at all.

Well, you are probably all really tired of reading this so I'll stop. Martha put her Easter talk on the Superschick blog...very good talk. There are also some good pictures of Lexi's and Brian's families.

Love,

Mom