sorry this pic was supposed to be in it too...

10,000 words? how about 10,000 pics :)

Ok sorry I couldn't pick just one either and I have a lot more really good ones that don't tell much of a story are we doing a theme number two, how about great couple or family shots? Also I was thinking of just making a dvd of my favorites from the trip and sending one to everyone so that you all could have the ones you like or want. I will do that soon if I can. I enjoy seeing all the pics you all got too :). Thanks everyone. Love ya.

Just one????????????

Weren't we just here, waiting for the plane? Spending time with each of you in so many different circumstances was such a delight for me! Thank you Jeremy for leading me once more through the steps to import these pictures to the blog!

Experiencing the sea turtles was one of many delightful and unique events on our vacation!
I have this photo thanks to Justin!

One more...

Sorry hun couldn't pick just one picture:

10,000 words

Here is my contribution to Justin's theme. Not a picture of anyone in the family but one I liked. No one paid any attention to this sign either...there were lots of people in the water.

A picture that tells a story.

I have so many that it's really hard to decide. Can I post a couple? Maybe I just will... , well I just did. When we reach our limit we'll have to start a new blog.

I am glad that Justin agrees the recovery is tough. We feel like we need time to recover. Somehow most people aren't sympathetic to our need to rest after our two week vacation in Kauai. :)

I love the theme idea Justin, keep it up.

I have posted some pictures on theblainefaminmantua.blogspot.com blog as well. It's sad that's over, but I guess there is a light at the end of the tunnel with everyone's great ideas for next year. Love you all, Jen

Vacation Photo Theme #1

Hey all. I hope you are all recovering from being back in the real world. It was a hard shift back to reality for me, but all the more reason to look forward to next year's vacation! I had a great time and appreciate what everyone's personalities brought to the trip.

I was going through some vacation photos today and I was thinking it would be fun to have a theme for a photo posting where we could all contribute. We could simply post all of our pictures, but that would probably be overwhelming and take more space than we have on the blog's servers!

So here is my idea: Post one picture (from the many you probably took on the trip) that you feel best fits the theme. I don't think you can post photos in the comments so just post your own blog with the same title as this one when you post your own picture. For this posting the theme is: "10,000 words", a picture that tells a story.

Here is my contribution to the theme:

I already have a couple more ideas for themes in mind and will post another one if there appears to be any interest in this idea. So, post away! I would love to see what images everyone took and how you interpret the theme.

Christmas Drawing

Here are the results for the 2008 Christmas drawing:

Nate has:
John, Jeremy, Brianna and Colby

Jill has:
Kathryn, Jen, Brianna and Ben

Thain has:
Nate, Cris, Emily and Deven

Jeremy has:
Alisa, Justin, Colby and Aiden

Kathryn has:
Nate, Thain, Deven and Colby

Cris has:
Justin, Alisa, Heath and Ben

Justin has:
Jen, Jeremy, Amber and Emily

John has:
Kathryn, Jill, Ben and Deven

Jen has:
Jill, John, Aiden and Brianna

Alisa has:
Cris, Thain, Aiden and Emily

Mom mentioned posting "wish lists" on the blog too...so start thinking of your Mele Kalikimaka wishes (for those that don't speak Hawaiian the translation is: Christmas wishes) and create a post.

Justin and I had such a great time with you all! Thank you Mom and Dad! We, as Dunlap's or Blaine's or Anderson's, are a VERY lucky family!

The great outdoors and the colorful indoors

I just wanted to write a quick post on a couple of things that have been going on in our lives these past couple of weeks. I had been meaning to post but hadn't got around to it. With Hawaii coming up (yay!) I figured that I wouldn't really get a chance to post these if I didn't do it now. I hope all the Paradise Dunlaps are dealing with the fire OK! We are thinking of you and looking forward to seeing everyone in Hawaii!

Recently Alisa and I painted our boring white kitchen and bedroom to more exciting colors. It may seem silly to paint an apartment, but we were wanting to do something to make the place seem more homey and we had just signed another year long lease. We simply have to paint it back to white when we move out so we don't get charged. I bet it will be a lot less fun to paint it back!



Last weekend we went backpacking with a couple of my good college friends, Allie and A.J., to a small lake in Oregon called Marion Lake. It was a pretty hike and a beautiful camping spot. It was nice to get away from it all. Also, I fished circles around the other fisherpeople!

local fun

Ok forget this it's all in the wrong order and the wording is below I really don't get how to control the layouts of these things but here are some pics of our girls night out in park city :)

golfing fun in Mt Ogden.


Amber and Sydney's suprise dinner spa treatment for me. Aren't I a lucky stepmom :).

We've had lots of fun golfing at the local mt. ogden golf course here wich is a fun and beutifull course and also the day before yesterday Amber and her friend Sydney suprised me by making me a delecious dinner and then a crazy spa experience which wasn't quite the relaxing spa experience but it was fun. It was nice and their meal was actually very good! Pork chops and rice and pototoes and broccoli with cheese and ice cream for dessert Yumm!! Also last week-end Amanda, April, Stacy and I had a fun sleepover in Park city, riding that fun Alpine slide and coaster that Alisa found for my bachelorette party, eating nice meals, walking downtown, outlet shopping, and enjoying the nice hotel room we got by relaxing talking, eating all the great food we all brought, sitting in the huge jucuzi tub, doing facials and watching movies. It was a fun way to celebrate all our momentous 30ths! :).

This week-end for the 4th Thain and I are going for a pea run to get more peas from a friend of his familys and then going to Jackson hole for the fireworks and after going by Bear lake to get his bowl full of rasberries :). I hope I have enough time to prepare stuff I want for Hawaii but we've been have a lot of nice experiences. Today we just got back from the dentist I just needed a filling replaced and Amber needed some work and Thain needed a filling too. Sorry this is all messed up there's some following blogs on mexico and babysitting that were supposed to be first but for some reason I'm having all kinds of trouble so till I learn more this will give you an idea on what we've been doing anyhow :).

Love you all!

Ok I am doing mini posts because I don't know how to add the pictures without it doing it's own thing at messing up my layouts. The whole picture thing is giving me fits! I need some tootalige from Jeremy or someone soon :). Anyhow though here are some pics of us in mexico. We had a great time. laying around the pools, catching crabs to play with them (Thain below)...

dancing at a guaymus mexican club the music was enough to blow out your ears almost seriously after they were hazy for a good 10 min. but we had a good time swing dancing and watching the locals kick up thier feet...

We had a great time in and even got to swim with the dolphins! It was really neat

we interacted with them for 35 min or so and then rode them.

We went with Thain's parents and his sister and brother and his brother's daughter and husband. On the left is Thain snorkeling. We found a really great snorkling spot (not were this was taken though and went snorkeling and scuba diving.


We enjoyed some great walks on the beach as well and pretty sunsets, sleeping out on the boat one night, yummy dinners and 4 wheeling. It was hot but not too bad. It's a fun spot we should all go sometime but even though we've been busy like crazy we are excited to go to hawaii soon too and have more fun beachy activities and play with you all. :). Please exuse these really crappy layouts but I'm not sure how to fix it.

mini blog on babysitting..

One of these cutie pie's is faking being asleep can you tell wich one it is? Before Mexico we had a good time with the blaine gang kids as Mom and Dad went away for thier anniversary, and Jen and Nate were on the trek. We went to Clearfield's indoor aquatic center, Thain built them a fun fort that they loved sleeping in and watching t.v in and then the next day I attempted to drain them of more of their abundant energy and have them have fun by going to the classic skate, bouncy toy center and afterwards Ben and Emily were wiped out at least for awhile but Deven was playing with the windows and such and at the stop light I heard the window going up and down but saw Ben and Emily asleep so cutely and went to take a picture and Deven, the ham posed the part for the picture :). We had a good time but it certainly makes me appreciate how tough the job can be too, to take care of 3 young, sweet but energetic kids :).