Ah Florence...Ah Pisa

Ok, WE took a train to Florence (Firenze) which was pretty neat. (as soon as we figured out where we needed to go..firenze.. go figure. We saw some of the neatest country side of Italy that is straight out of the books! It was beautiful! After about 2 hrs we arrived in Firenze. What a neat city, though totally crowded with people and the CRAZIEST driving i have ever seen, down the skinniest roads i have ever seen, we saw some of the neatest stuff. We passed the 'Duomo' which you see Sammy and Andrew pictures of, what a crazy huge old church with the craziest rennasaunce archetecture!! it was thrilling, inside were some neat frescoes and statues and the Dome was designed and painted by Michaelangelo! everything is Michaelangelo in Florence. we went and saw the David' it was way larger than i was expecting. i took a picture of Deena right before i found out you weren't supposed to take pictures...oh well. I probably would have taken one anyway! i didn't use my flash for all you art junkies out there!......But the highlight of the trip was the hour and a half more trainride to Pisa! That place was awesome! the leaning tower of Pisa is soooo much taller in real life than you would believe! I think it is something like 400 feet tall. of course this is where Galaleo dropped the different sized balls from the tower to prove the velocity of different sized objects is the same. The babtistry is the other building in the pictures, it is the biggest in the world! the archetecture is just incredible! I must say i was in heaven and thinking that my mother would be in heaven here too! though more on that in my next blog of San Marino!!

Ahh.. Venice!

Ah. Venice - Indiana Jones....Yes we did see the library that Indiana Jones realized that X marks the spot, and eventually found the tomb of Sir Richard! We had such a good time at this incredible floating city! We got lost among the maze of narrow waterlined streets, it seemed at every turn there was some old gothic looking church or plaza with statues of famous people i had never heard of. The archetecture is amazing. i just cannot believe that this city is totally built over water! St Marks square is just amazing. the church tower for the cathederal is just enormously tall, and the art work in every nook and crany of that building is just exquisite! It was here that Sammy got to know the local Pidgeon population intimately! there were serioulsy hundreds of Pidgeons swarming her...(she did have a cracker) the Tourists (which is everybody) all flocked around taking pictures of Sammy with pidgeons serously covering every inch of her body! don't be surprised to see it in National Geographic or something!! We took a water taxi back to the train station wich was amazing. it went along the entire Grand Canal as they call it. What a fun way to see Venice! We saw the gondoliers and even passed one that was singing to his riders!! Way fun way to start our Italian trip!! Next up Florence!! will post next blog then.. Love you and miss you all

Happy Halloween

Wow, i cannot believe how serious some people take halloween in my neighborhood. The Bishops wife every year has the most crazy costumes and is really fun to go to her house. Our neighbor with the volkswagons, had some remote controlled candy tray that he could move all over the porch and was wearing buck teeth and had a shotgun on his lap and his wife was a cow that glowed in the dark. Then we stopped by Annies Grandma Elodies and this is what we saw(she says she loves halloween).... it was a good night for my kids (nice and warm so we made quite a haul!)

Back from the Shadows of the Past

Ok,

First off I want to congratulate Dan on his Fantastic, and burly beard!! Deena on being able to walk all over the the Yukatan, and Quintana Roo while pregnant. Angie for being able to speak spanish and her graceful bike riding skills at Coba, and i would like to thank myself for my appropriate sombrero!! What a cool trip this was, we decided to spend almost all of our time at different mayan ruins, Tulum, Coba, Chichen Itza, and some other smatterings of places that showed up. They were neat. We saw an actual 'ball game' get played at Xcaret (complete with fire). Got a ritualistic Prayer given to us by an authentic Mayan decendant around a flowering alter holding a smoking challace of tree resin, swam in at least 3 different cenote's, the one that Dan is diving in has no bottom!! Repelled down an over hanging cliff, zip lined the same area, kayaked a crocodile infested lake (we didn't see the crocodiles but were made absolutely certain that they live in it.) Had a mormon perspective guided tour of two of the ruins, which was facinating. meandered around Cancun, and went deep into authentic mexican villages where most people live in delapadated ruins themselves, there are dogs everywhere.
things i learned.
1 how anybody could not believe the book of mormon after studying it, and those lands I cannot understand
2 it is hot! muggy! no wonder the lamanites took to wearing nothing but loin cloths and shorn heads!
3. lots of mosquitos, i can't understand how the lamenites could wear nothing but loin cloths and shorn heads!!
4. every herb or plant a person would need to survive grows there!!
5. it is hot!
6. it must have been crazy coming up with the stones to build these buildings.
7. the Yukatan is flatter than the great planes and any mound you see is a ruin that hasn't been excavated yet!
8. the locals will try any means possible to get you into their stores!
9. i wouldn't want to win any sport they played back then!
10. if you want to intimidate any rival tribe or group just build a wall around your city with skulls carved on it of every major leader you ever killed in battle, and have it be huge and completely filled with skulls...(chichen itza)

all in all it was a great time and thanks to mom and dad for watching our kids while we were gone!! now, some peace and quiet.....then Italy!

body world exhibit

Ok, so Deena and I went to the Body Worlds exhibit in Salt Lake a couple of days ago. Here are a couple of thoughts:

1. People are lined up by the thousands to donate their bodies to Gunther Von Hagen for display. i am not quite sure what i think if this, after seeing the bodies (and yes it was awesome) i am not sure i would want my body splayed out in an unflattering position, holding my entrails up in my hand, or (as one display was setup) being in the arms of some female body in an acrobatic pose for the rest of eternity. That said i was very impressed with how these bodies were setup to display certain characteristics of muscle movement or body structure.

2. I don't know what the heck Plastanation is but all the bodies and organs where well preserved and there was no stinky fermaldahide-ish smell anywhere?!

3. Does anyone else think it is at least evil-doctorish, mad scientist, to take chainsaws to human cadavers to produce full body slides (for lack of a better word), or flair out muscles and rip open thoracic cavities to show every possible angle of the human body possible? it was awesome, but makes one think what they must be thinking as they actually cut into these people

4. the most amazing thing to me was the displays of arterial systems of the human head and various animals. i still cannot understand how they produce this. there is no bones skin or any structure other than the actual arteries and they have perfect shape of the body ....do they just dissolve the skin and bones out some how...i don't even want to think about it anymore

go see it!!

Caleb at the ode to Picasso exhibit

Caleb and Deena went to the Picasso exhibit in SLC a couple of days ago, and they 'bumped' into President Uchtdorf! Caleb shook his hand and talked with him for a little while! He says he felt warm inside while talking with him.. pretty neat experience. Even though the First Presidency is in SLC all the time, I think these occasions are pretty rare. I have never met any of the First Presidency ever, at least that I can remember. so everybody ask Caleb about his neat experience sometime!

Cool people that have bought snoasis.....

Ok, in honor of Dan's post about David Archaletta, i wanted to compile the list of (known to me) famous people and/or atheletes that have bought Snoasis..

1. David Archaletta (sp?)
2. Jeff Hornacek
3. Craig Bolerjack
4. Mark Madsen
5. Oldyn Polynese
6. Hersey Hawkins
7. Ruth Todd
8. Thurl Bailey

i would appreciate any additions that other workers may have served.

Caleb's birthday party shoot-out!

So Calebs grandpa, promised him a trip up to the mountains for a shooting adventure. He even bought a little .22 rifle for him to use. The gun in the picture is actually a single shot .22! Caleb loved it. I got an opportunity to shoot his AR15 (the assault rifle that anybody at my house for Calebs birthday party saw!) with a silencer, his .40 pistol, numerous .22 pistols, and Calebs .22 rifle. we setup targets starting at 50 yards away, and Caleb knocked the bottle down numerous times. he really is a good shot! he learned the proper technique from his grandpa, who was a great teacher and patient with him!

same ol' same ol'

so, my right ankle (the one with the funny bone thingy, that Rachel has also) has been sprained so dang many times in my life, and Monday morning, before i left town for Manti, i sprained it one more time. this is the typical result. I didn't have my resident nurse around for help. it was pretty tender, but i made it through the trip like a champ! all my guys wanted me to go to the hospital and have it checked out. (one even offered to pee on it for me....) i told them this has happened so many times that i am not worried about it, and just limped along.

1979 was a glorious year

Many poignant and historical things happened in this great year. Joshua Von Callister turned 3 years old.
*In 1979 Saddam Hussein was elected president of Iraq and chairman of Revolutionary Command Council. (elected being the operative word here)
*March 28 there was major nuclear accident at the facility on Three Mile Island outside of Harrisburg, Pa.
*John Wayne dies of lung and stomach cancer at Los Angeles, June 11, at age 72.
*The NBA adopted the three point shot.
*In recognition of her efforts, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1979.
*The Center for Disease Control reported the first known cases of AIDS.
*In 1979, the first Post-it notes are invented.
*The Devil Went Down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band (#3) on the charts in 1979
* Pink Floyd's The Wall was released in 1979
* The Muppett movie was the second largest grossing movie of 1979!
* Spencer W Kimball was prophet
* Jimmy Carter was president
* Jacob Lathel Callister was born!

this Day June 12th
*1429 - Hundred Years' War: Joan of Arc leads the French army in their capture of the city and the English commander, William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk in the second day of the Battle of Jargeau.
*1864 - American Civil War Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor - Ulysses S. Grant gives the Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee a victory when he pulls his Union troops from their positions at Cold Harbor, Virginia and moves south.
*1899 - New Richmond Tornado: 8th deadliest tornado in U.S. history - killing 117 and injuring around 200 people.
*1942 - Holocaust: Future essayist Anne Frank receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday.
*1987 - Cold War: U.S. President Ronald Reagan publicly challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall at Brandenburg Gate.
*1994 - Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman are murdered outside her home in Los Angeles, California. O.J. Simpson is later acquitted of the killings, but is held liable in a civil suit.
*1924 - George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States was born

Good night, my siblings are getting older! Good thing Becky and I were there to pave the way to 30 for you Jake or you might get lost along the way! 1979 was a glorious year. Jacob you were born before the 3-point shot! sheesh....some how all that 70's funk and junk, stayed attached to your chromosomes. i dare say that 90 % of all the songs you love most and play on your guitar come from that decade. You will also be happy to know that Deena did some Black Magic on Annie while she was here, and you are expected to have a litter of children. something like 8 sets of twins or something like that...good luck with that! I sure hope that this year ( your 30th..WOW) on this earth, treats you well, finds you wealthy, happy, and maybe even daddy. We wish you could be around more often, we miss your antics and good nature!! peace brother, and together ( Becky and I ) officially send you out of the 20's....

oh, and for those who do not know, the picture is not from 1979, more like 1997. but the star is the same!

happy birthday Jacob!

My little-ist brother is 25!

Sheesh -oh- man! as he would say.

the big Beinte Cinco. congratulations on making the ripe, and hallowed age of 25, it is a special year, Deena and I had our first child Caleb when i was 25. there is an age gap between us that really doesn't exist, i believe it is because of your ability to always keep it real. It is a neat talent that i appreciate. I for one have a hard time with BS, i tend to like everybody, i refuse to let other peoples opinions on somebody cloud my own experience or friendships with that person. It is refreshing to be around you Dan, not just because you are one of my siblings, but because you are not going to be somebody you are not just to please people. i personally love that about you. It makes others just want to be themselves when you are around. Personally i think that is what heaven is all about.
My Kids just love you! (and Angie) They always talk about you and wonder when they will see you guys again. you must have some kind of magic with them. Hope this year finds you doing the things you love, gaining a perspective on life, and following your dreams. you can do anything brother!

my cool things

in the spirit of Jacob, i will come up with my cool things list

10 cool places i have been (in no particular order)

1. Key West Florida
2. Excursion Inlet, Alaska
3. Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska
4. St Marteens, Caribbean
5. Cemetery at Concord, MA
6. Freedom Trail, Boston MA
7. Lake Mary, Big Cottonwood Canyon
8. The Oval Office, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave
9. Rainbow Bridge, Lake Powell
10.55ft below the surface, Buc Island, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands

10 cool movies

1. Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade
2. Second Hand Lions
3. Gods and Generals
4. Open Range
5. The Lord Of The Rings..(all of them)
6. I Am Legend
7.Spaceballs
8. Vertigo
9. Monty Python Holy Grail
10. U571

10 cool books i loved

1. The DaVinci code (Dan Brown)
2. Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)
3 Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
4. Ray Church Prisoner of War (Story of Ray Curch)
5. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
6. Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis)
7. Seven Spiritual Laws of Success (Deepak Chopra)
8. Shadow Divers (Robert Kurson)
9. 1491 (Charles Mann)
10. Lone Survivor (The Story of Marcus Lutrell)

tell me if you like the look

ok, here is my new look for church. i like it. it is kind of 1940's meets 2008.

Cancun

Alright, this may seem weird, but we are blogging an opportunity for one lucky couple to travel with use to Cancun!! Deena and I have a deal for 7 days in Cancun Mexico, $300 per couple for the stay. we would still need to come up with air fare. Deena and I are going mostly to see the Mayan ruins (chichen Itza etc.) in the area and of course other warm weather activities. Deena's sister and brother-in-law were going to go, but now cannot. We were splitting the cost, so now we are looking for some fun family to travel with us if they can fit it in their schedule. Oct 12-19 of this year. Any serious takers please respond to the blog, or call us and let us know if you would like to travel with yon elder brother and his beautiful wife to the center of Mayan Civilization! the place we are staying has a kitchen so we can shop and eat cheeply if we wish, plus it has two seperate rooms in it. WE WILL HAVE LOTS OF FUN!! this offer is also good to you Mom and Dad if you wish!

Caleb's First Baseball Game

So this was Caleb's first baseball game (t-ball). he had fun. he is the oldest kid on his team and he is a little advanced for t-ball. however it is good for him because it is teaching him the basic rules and procedures. i think he was a little bored with it all but survived and said he had fun.

To my Mother

well, it is mothers day and i think it is fitting to say a few words to my mother.

you really started me on my love of learning. i remember being young and sitting at our countertop doing word puzzles, and it seems you always had some new activity book or library book for us to read. i learned so much before i ever went to school that elementary school was a breeze (and frankly way to easy for me). i already knew everything that was being taught, so i needed to keep from being bored, usually by being a clown. you certainly had less 'seasoning' in your hair at that time, but i am sure i put most of the 'salt' in your pepper. you have such a fun personality. all my friends really truly liked you. there were times when i couldn't understand that, but it dawned on my when i realized that we truly have similar personalities. if they liked me then it would make perfect sense that they would like you. the more i have grown up, the more i have realized that your not just a 'mom' figure for me but someone i truly love conversing with. i have developed a keen interest in you over the last 10 years or so and in that time you have become one of my very favorite persons in the entire world. you are so fun to talk to and i really enjoy our conversations..my kids just love you!! i really have a deja-vu experience when i come in to pick them up and see them at the table doing word puzzles and coloring. it is just like 25 years ago.

you truly are the greatest mom! i am so proud to be your son and announce to the world that i think you are the best!!

happy mothers day

josh

Books i have read this year

alright, this may seem like the most boring post ever, but boring is my life sometimes. i fill my free time with reading or 'honey-do's' I have been on a revolutionary era kick and have been reading alot of biographies and history's of that era. It was amazing how much i really didn't know...pretty amazing historical time. i am also learning how to prune trees, since i planted a peach tree, and have a couple cherry and plum trees. and how to grow a square-foot garden... (ask Deena) it is all pretty cool and fun. so without further adu...this is how i spent my year.

The Wizard of Oz (Frank Baum)
Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)
David Copperfield (Charles Dickens)
Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austin)
The Law (Bastiat)
The Island of The Blue Dolphins (Scott O'Dell)
Alices Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)
The Real Thomas Jefferson (Skousen)
The Real Benjamin Franklin (Skousen)
The Real George Washington (Skousen)
John Adams (David McCullough)
The Lone Survivor the story of Marcus Lutrell
The Hunting of The Snark (Lewis Carroll)
Moby Dick (Herman Melville)
Think Big and Kick (butt) (Donald Trump)
The Seasons of Life (Jim Rohn)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Washington Irving)
The 5,000 Year Leap (Skousen)
1491...New Revelations of Life Before Colombus (Charles C. Mann)
The Walking Drum (Louis L'Amour)
The Lonesome Gods (Loius L'amour)
Shadow Divers (Robert Kurson)
The Spiderwick Chronicles (Ditterlizzy and Black)
Leven Thumps and The Gateway To Foo (Obert Skye)
The Chosen (Chaim Potak)
The Merchant of Venice (Shakespear)
The Indian in The Cupboard


I Highly recommend almost all of these books!! the hardest reads were Les miserables (my new favorite book of all time) and Moby Dick! i will probably never read another Jane Austin book, it is just too victorian and hard for me to take! Deena loves them though. the Original Alice in Wonderland is suprisingly good and entertaining. the Real Thomas Jefferson and series are wonderful! The Lonesome Gods was absolutely fantastic. and i recommend to anybody interested in american history you will enjoy 1491. it goes against 'conventional' and in my opinion flawed views on american history. it is really good. Some of these may seem weird for a 32 year old to read but i read them to my kids (usually Caleb) and i ended up enjoying them for the most part as well.

Spring Cleaning

Ok, so i spent the day clearing out the side of my house...Seriously, it was a chore! i found a pair of old pruners deep in the tangle of dogwood i was clearing out, that must be from the 50's! after numerous scrapes and near death experiences, an unexpected varmit or two, a truck load of gravel, a delirious round of wheelbarrow hauls, and raking, i finally have a usable space on the side of my house! You can see the shed now, which of course means i need to repair it (because it can be seen). i am going to put a double door on it so that i can park my (future) four wheeler in there, there is space for 2 of them DAD! (wink wink, nudge nudge)

Deena's quirks

Since everybody has been doing this here is things to know about Deena

1. lime green makes me so happy
2. I buy things I want or would enjoy playing with for my children's birthday and christmas presents.
3. I always stress out if I owe somebody I know money.
4. One of my favorite sayings is 'Beam me up Scottie' (especially when Caleb is writhing in pain in the back seat of the car because Andrew and Sammy are breathing too loud)
5. My favorite thing to do is to spend all day at the lake with just me, my sister, and my 3 kids. We have only slightly damaged the boat every time we have gone. Darn, I guess we do need men. JK
6. I love sweats
7 . I hate levi's
8. There are 2 things I really believe in: the gospel and the Thomas Jefferson Education Model.
9. As much as I believe in the TJE Model, I often feel inadequate in being the mentor I need to be.
10. I really usually only call my dad if "I need money or a favor" and I usually tell him so.... We laugh, I love you dad.
11. I talk to my mom everyday.
12. I have a shoe fetish (sp?). For the last 2 years the favorite has been Dansko's. I found a brand new pair at the D.I. for $5.00, that fit me perfectly. The Secret works (if you know what that is).
13. I do all of the family finances.
14. I love tennis. I just wish I could play it.
15. I've turned into that wierd homeschooling mom, that doesn't immunize her kids. Let's her kids walk around the neighborhood without shoes and doesn't wash their faces 24/7. However, not that it matters and I do not judge others for this, I could never nurse my child until they were 3 years old.
16. I lose 50% of everything I have and find about 25% of what I lost.

17. I use my husbands toothbrush (when I can't find mine) and he doesn't know.
18. I never know the lyrics to any songs, but sing them anyways.
19. I still take piano lessons.
20. I don't know how to tickle very well. My kids are always saying "owe", while they laugh.
21. I always get my husband excited about scratching his back, but spend the majority of time picking his zits (go annie!!!), which he finds very disappointing.
22. Balance seems really important in my life.
23. I wear a full body wet suit in an indoor heated swimming pool (Annie, it's a great idea for staying warm).
24. I love hot tub temperature baths and showers ( and my poor kids have followed in my foot step)
25. I absolutely love being a nurse, except when neighbors expect that you actually know something. This has been one of the greatest blessings throughout my life.

Delta Wrestling

Ok, so i don't know if anybody has come across this or not, but my boss was telling me of his wrestling days and how he was a state champion. i told him of dad and the Callister wrestlers from Delta. i found this site from a city that is pretty proud of their wrestler tradition. you should check it out. they claim that Delta was put on the map because of its Wrestling program! they have all the state champion years and information on the start of the wrestling/boxing program. yes that is correct it was originally known as the Delta High Wrestling/boxing team. the first year shown is 1949 and you guessed it Sheldon is the star wrestler / boxer for the team. i guess they used to switch off wrestling and boxing every other match or something like that! you need to check the site out. www.deltawrestling.org

Believe it or not...I am here

I haven't updated my blog for a while...(thanks for the reminder Annie!). i have been out of town in Vegas for the last month. the weather was nice, and their churches are beautiful! they must have to really go the extra mile with their landscaping to counter act the...uh... other things happening in vegas! It is good to be back though! i found out that my wife really does love me.. she has been my phone stalker all month long. really everybody needs a stalker like that, i loved it! i shall make it my weekly goal to update the blog now that i am back.

josh

Concert

So Dan and I went to a concert last night and it was a lot of fun! We both agreed that there were too many opening bands and they guy throwing up all over the floor made for an unforgetable atmosphere. The band we saw was Clutch, and they just may be my favorite rock n' roll band ever! They wrote the song that you hear on my site that Daniel remade. Marc Webb was there and got Daniel in for free, i met up with one of my good friends and during the show Daniel and I bumped into Vince! that was kind of cool. He was excited to see us. Brief explanation about Clutch lest you think we're crazy. they are a christian rock band from West Virginia and they play a heavy hill-billy jug, auto-mechanic in coveralls, bearded preacher, bible thumpin type music that i just love! it was a good time, and hopefully Daniel made it back home all right after dropping me off. it was 1:00am when i got home

Of particular interest to Jake

I was going through my stuff trying to decide what needs to be put in my fireproof safe and what needs to just be tossed....i found some pictures Jake took of our Uintah's trip nie these 11 years...yikes can it truly have been that long ago.....first picture..this is the infamous proof that jacob caught this fish with his bare hands!! i found out later that it was almost dead though! the water picture...i know what you are thinking....he looks like somebody....well we had just completed a grueling few miles of hiking and it was warm...the water was NOT!! Jake only took the picture because i said i had lost my shorts while diving in. The snake picture just proves that Jacob can and will catch anything...i didn't even include the numerous salamanders he caught with his fishing pole.....good times!! we need to do it again little bro (both of you!!)

New First Presidency

I am soo excited!! i watched the press conference where President Monson and his counselors were introduced to the media. He is such a neat man! he looked in my opinion very prophetic, and you could just sense the mantel on him as the prophet. i know that Jacob is probably very excited about President Uchdorf, i have always thought that he 'glows', he just seems to radiate light and confidence. i think his talk last conference was probably one of my all time favorites! and President Eyring is my very favorite speaker, he wears his love on his sleeve and always has a great message of positive and optimistic living that must credit his parents and you can see that in all the apostles, i think Hinkley has rubbed off on them all!! i couldn't be more excited and optimistic about the future of our church.... what do you all think?

OOOHHH....Barracuda!!

Here are some pictures of our scuba dive on Buck Island. we were exploring a ship wreck at 50 feet. it was really neat. we got to get right down inside it and explore, we were under water for about 40 minutes each dive. Water was fairly comfortable as far as coldness is concerned. the reef dive was about 60 feet deep. The middle picture is of a Barracuda, that is Deena and I on the far right of the picture. i swam right past it and it stared at me with this evil stare the whole way!! they have a way of looking right through you that is pretty eerie. Top picture is the nurse shark at the reef. next picture is me exploring the ship wreck. bottom picture is me and Deena making our way over to the reef.

The Caribbean

Well, we are back! we had a really good time. the first couple of days in Florida were rainy but still warm. The highlight for me was the scuba diving trip we took to Buck Island on St Thomas. Yes it is THE Buck Island of pirate history!! there was a ship wreck there that we got to explore on our second dive and a reef that we got to dive on the first dive. We saw a reef shark and a barracuda, as well as many eels and reef fish that were very colorful and beautiful. Our Dive Master was a really cool guy who loved the history of the place and the wreck and made that dive much more interesting and fun for me!. we visited Princess Cays, St Maarten (france), and St Thomas (US Virgin Islands) as well as three days at sea in the Caribbean passing many beautiful islands that i have no idea what they were, with the exception Puerto Rico. Interesting culture on those islands, i bartered (not well) that really is Deena's specialty, picked up many 4 for $10 shirts, hats and a couple of trinkets. i found 3 sand dollars while snorkeling and saw some in shops for sale for $5 each..I took second in the Paddle ball tournament on the cruise ship and won a medal. Deena, decided much to my surprise to do the "battle of the sexes" tournament on the cruise ship and she took the gold medal!! i am pretty excited because Deena's dad had an underwater video camera and got video of our scuba dive. i can't wait to see that!! i will post some video as soon as i get it. we missed our kids alot, but had a great time together alone for the first time since our honeymoon! thanks to mom and dad for watching and taking great care of our kids while we were gone. Caleb can't stop talking about his trilobytes and the space museum!! sounds like they were pretty spoiled. The picture of Deena and I was taken on the Dive boat heading to Buck Island for our dive, and the other was an Iguana we came across while walking around St Thomas. i will post more later