CRUISE!

Jesse's parents have been taking each of their children and their families on a vacation to spend some time with that particular family and our turn came! We went on a cruise down to Mexico and loved every minute of it.

(And I apologize this is THE LONGEST POST EVER but I took about a million pictures and want to remember as much as I can)

Friday May 21, Day before we leave:

Jesse and Danielle go to Centerville to pick up our car that was in the shop. Jesse dropped me off since he had to run to work and I had to wait for an hour! I was bitter because they had already had it for a week and a half. Then I start making the trip home by stopping at Target for last minute items. Next it was off to my in-laws place to do some laundry so we would have clothes to pack and come home to. During a cycle I ran to walmart for more last minute finds. I finally got home around 11-11:30ish, and still hadn't packed. But I figured sleep was more important so we went to bed.

Saturday May 22, Travel day:

We woke up not so early and started to pack. We somehow got everything to fit in one suitcase, grabbed some snacks, and hit the road. We stopped over in St. George to pick up some books on tape (Thanks mom!) and continued on our adventure to California. After several hours, one gas stop, and no bathroom breaks we made it to our hotel in time to catch some sleep before we left the next morning!

Sunday May 23, CRUISE!:

We went to church that morning then boarded our ship. We were shocked at the size of our room! We had heard all the horror stories of how tiny the cabins are but we got spoiled and had lots of room, a couch, big bed, and a balcony! We didn't stay in our room long though because we were off to the buffet to start the day off right! We hit a show that night and ate some more. Jesse thought he had died and gone to heaven with how much food there was and acted as though he was malnourished by the way he ate. It was impressive.

Monday, May 24, Day at sea:

Jesse and I thought we'd be ambitious and we got up early and went for a run. Jesse rocked his 2 miles, I struggled due to my newly developed wimpy knee syndrome. (I'm pretty sure that's the real name) Then it was off to the Windjammer for breakfast! After stuffing ourselves full we went up to the pool to lay out and read our books. It was heavenly. Later was more of the same, exploring the ship, lots of food, another show, more food with a formal night in the dining room, midnight snack for Jesse, then off to bed.

I told Jesse to take a picture of our towel animal and this is what I got:
1st formal night

This is quite possibly the first attempt we have of using the self-timer on our camera as a married couple. It took a few tries.

Our camera started to tip over, so we moved to try to stay in the picture! haha.
Finally we conquered the camera.

Tuesday, May 25, Cabo:

Today started off with a big breakfast of course, since we'd have to miss a few hours of food while enjoying Cabo! It was beautiful! Lots of rock formations, fun beaches, snorkling, and fun. We road in a glass bottom boat and toured around looking at the rock formations, fish, pelicans (which were my favorite), and sea lions. Jesse and my father-in-law (Doug) snorkled while me and my mother-in-law (Linda) enjoyed the beach without fighting the waves. The rest of the day was spent at the beach playing in the water, burying Jesse in the sand, and laughing at Linda rolling around on the beach with the waves. Then it was back on the boat to fill our empty and complaining bellies.

(probably the best picture from the whole trip!)

Wednesday, May 26, Mazatlan:

Another day started off with a delicious buffet. (The food on those ships just can't be beat) Then it was off to town for some fun. We walked around for awhile and perused the shops, then signed up for a bus tour, after haggling down the price of course. We road around town, enjoyed the shops, loved the colorful houses, purchased souvinars for our price instead of theirs, watched a cliff diver, walked along the beach, and got some delicious nachos at Senor Frogs. We got back on the ship, tired after another fun day, and headed straight to the Windjammer for a late lunch. And did the usual that night, watched a show and ate more food.

(In honor of my dad)

Thursday, May 27, Puerto Vallarta:

We woke up to a completely different place here. It had big hotels, Walmart, Sam's Club, big roads, and parking lots. We jumped off the ship pretty early and headed out to see what kind of adventure we could find. We decided to do a canopy tour (zip lines) and took off in this huge bus thing. It was a bumpy and long journey but we had a blast once we got up there. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures while we were actually going but I did get the awesome shot of my ankle covered in greasy hand prints from pulling me to the end by my ankle! (I didn't quite make it all the way on one line) Then we had lunch at Margarita Grill which was delicious and then headed back to the ship and were rather lazy the rest of the day.




Friday, May 28, Day at Sea:

Boy was it chilly on our way home. I already missed Mexico the moment we turned around and headed back north. The wind was nearly overwhelming and forced us inside to stay warm and prevent us from blowing away. So instead of being pool bums and sitting outside reading books, and getting tan, we had to get a bit more creative and play around the ship. Luckily that's not too hard to do. We also had our 2nd formal night which of course was loads of fun.



Saturday, May 29, Day at Sea:

Saturday was nearly identical to Friday with blustery winds and chilly weather. This day we were booked with activities such as napkin folding, karaoke finals (where even the King himself performed), Q&A with the captain, and the family talent show. Today we realized that inevitably tomorrow was going to arrive and we would have to go home. It was a very busy but somewhat sad day.

(Taken in honor of Brad Shelton. Now that we know how much work it takes to make all the scenery we were extremely impressed with this.)

Sunday, May 30, Return to real life :(

We had such a great time. Thanks mom and dad Rich for taking us and enjoying everything with us. We are already trying to figure out how we're going to get back out there and go again!

The Spirit is like a GPS

My grandpa Dorius spoke at my little cousin's baptism last weekend and talked about the spirit. He used the analogy that the spirit is like a GPS. You plug in where you want to go and it tells you how to get there. It gives you step by step directions and even tells you when you need to turn around if you go off course. It can always recalculate another path to where you want to be but you do need to follow the directions along the way or you'll keep getting lost. In the end, it helps you get there with the least amount of difficulty.

How about that for a great analogy?! My grandpa is one smart cookie.

(Also I don't have a picture with the star of the baptism herself because she was rather busy with all her fans. I did however manage to get a picture with her sister, so that will have to do!) And I love her blue shirt. I want one just like it.

PS I have a whole bunch of posts in the works currently. As soon as I grab my camera and find some time, they will be posted! I'm sure both of you are sitting on the edge of your seats waiting!

My 22nd Birthday (May 5)

It was a low key birthday this year, but I did have a FANTASTIC day! My sweet husband surprised me with flowers at work, a pass to go tanning, and a stuffed dog I can practice keeping alive so hopefully one day we may be able to own a real dog. Jesse and I had conflicting work schedules so I worked all morning and he worked all night so I didn't get to see him, but luckily Haylee Caplin came down and saved the day!

Haylee is my best friend from high school and we don't see each other nearly enough and she drove all the way down from Logan just to go to dinner with me. Talk about an awesome friend! You know you wish you had one just like that! I will accept that I am spoiled. It was so fun to see her and we ate, talked, and enjoyed spending a few hours together.

My mom, brother, and his friend came up that night for the regional tennis tournament that was to be played that weekend. Unfortunately their hotel stay with the team didn't work out due to lack of rooms so we stuffed my mom, Brad, and his HUGE friend (probably like 6'4) in our tiny living room of our one bedroom apartment.

But the real topper of the night was when our tv exploded. Yes another one. Who is cursed enough to have 2 tvs explode in 2 years of marriage? We are.

3 years ago my life was changed.

Jesse and I had our first date on June 2, 2007 after an eventful first week of EFY. It was Friday evening while we were walking to the last dance and he asked me if I was busy the next evening. I of course said "no" (All my boyfriends were on missions at the time so I was free!) He suggested Comedy Sportz. I had never heard of it, but since I'm usually up for an adventure I accepted. After trying on at least 4 different shirts, we went to Comedy Sportz, laughed so hard our sides hurt, giggled at all my clothes hanging in the back of my car (I was somewhat of a hobo the summer of 2007) and kept talking and hugging (frontal hugs were a big deal since during EFY since you're only allowed side hugs with other counselors during the week) even though we both needed to leave and catch up on sleep. It may seem trivial, but it was magical.

My EFY girls had given me all the tips on what to do on our date, as though they assumed I had never been on one. I assured them I had been on a date before but listened anyway. They gave me good tips such as: "keep your hand available in case he wants to hold it." (Hard to argue with that logic)

I was rather hooked after that first date. The whole next week I would wait anxiously for my phone to sing to me, notifying me of a text from my new found beau. Each text made me smile and quickly respond back. I would stay up late each night just to read a quick goodnight text from this boy after all the EFY activities were done. We did lots of text-dating that summer.

Now here we are 3 years later, crazy as ever, happily married and laughing back at those funny first dates we had.

Our 2nd Anniversary

We have been married for 2 years! Can you believe it? I can't hardly believe it! It's gone by fast! I am more in love with Jesse today than I was when we got married though. We have grown so much and learned things about one another and keep falling in love over and over again. He is my best friend and I can't wait to see what life has in store for us!

Being the sweet husband that he is he surprised me with a overnight trip up to Sandy. I was expecting a low key date of dinner and a movie. But when I got home from work on Friday (April 23) he told me to pack an overnight bag and that we were heading to Sandy!

I was very surprised because this is my not-so-romantic-but-extremely-cute-and-funny-husband planning a romantic get-away. I was thrilled! We went to see "How To Train Your Dragon" and loved it! This is right after the show. We then headed to our room. Jesse being the manly man that he is very generously offered to carry our luggage, the lovely pink girly bag.
We felt so spoiled with our room. It was so fun to feel pampered with fancy tissue foldings and whatnot.

(I guess when you only stay in a hotel once a year for your anniversary you forget how fun they are)

And I'm pretty jealous that the kitchen is bigger than ours. It even has a dishwasher!

Jesse in the lounging area.

I love him!

Celebrating with some sparkling cider.

Thanks for 2 amazing years my sweet! I look forward to many more. I love you!

Spring Break

Spring Break was a blast! This is the first Spring Break I have had since high school so we lived it up! We went down to California and celebrated with the Shotters and the Holyins (aka Brad and Ashley Shelton and Justin and Haylee Caplin). We hit the beach, a play that Brad designed the set for, and Knott's Berry Farm! We had lots of laughs and too much fun!

Thanks Ash and Brad for letting us crash at your house and play without you. Too bad our schools do not coordinate their breaks better. We love and miss you guys! And I can't believe I didn't even get a picture of you! Failed on that one.

Here are LOTS of pictures from Knott's Berry Farm to demonstrate the explosion of fun!

Thank you Dominos for awesome food in our price range!

Jesse's dead face. He's a natural.

And I'm not quite sure why it looks like the ground is on fire. Who knows what I did to get that to happen....

I felt so brave to have this tarantula on me and I made sure there was a picture for proof.

WEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

A funnel cake. For old time's sake.

(We got a funnel cake in Disneyland when we were newly dating)

These three were all matchy-matchy in their plaid shorts one day.

The result of a long day of fun.

I am probably safe to say that fun was had by all. Thanks so much for the fun memories! We can hardly wait for our next adventure!