The BIG 3

On this day three years ago I married my best friend, soul mate and eternal companion! I can't believe three years has already passed! I just want Jason to know how much I love him and that we will be together forever! Thank you for such a wonderful three years and I know we have many more to come :)

Again!

It's Thursday again? ALREADY? WOW!

This week I'm thankful for....

1. The opportunity to go see my sister in omaha (even if it was only for 2 1/2 days)

2. The fact that my sister can color and cut my hair for way cheap! (Thanks sis)

3. That I made it home on the flight and didn't get bumped!

4. That I got the money from the EAGeR study early! (it's about time I get some more money :) )

5. That Jason and I have such a close relationship and love each other so very much. It's been hard being away from him for the past couple of days while I was in omaha and he is hunting with his bro's and dad til Saturday! Absence makes the heart grow fonder! I MISS HIM!

Thankful Thursday

Yay! I remembered to do this!

I'm thankful for....

1. The snooze button on the alarm clock. It was a WONDERFUL invention

2. My sweet hubby and the fun that we have together :)

3. The delicious cookies that I make. I know that I shouldn't be thankful for them cause I know they are going to make me large, but they are SOOO GOOD!

4. The tips that people leave in the hotel rooms for me for cleaning their room

5. Hot chocolate! MMMMM! Blankets, sweatshirts, the hair dryer and the heater in my car. Thank you for keeping me warm on the chilly days we've been having!

Maui... Wowee!

So this time we decided to visit Maui and it was sooo beautiful. But I guess all the islands are like that! We planned this trip with our friends, Kevin and Jamie Pickett. We had such a good time on our cruise with them that we decided they are going to be one of our travel buddies! Anyway, I don't want to drag this post out since it is late but we had a blast!

We were lucky enough to visit Maui for 11 DAYS and stay in a condo with a mini-beach in back. There were GINORMOUS turtles in the water right off the beach. I promise they were bigger than one of those round sleds. Jason snorkeled with them quite a bit. I went out once and when they started to get to close to me I decided that I'd just let Jason enjoy them! I'm not sure how familiar ya'll are with the Island of Maui but there is the volcano, Haleakala, where people will go up there to watch the sun rise. The only catch is, you have to be there BEFORE the sun rises in order to see it. So we woke up at 2:30 AM!!! It actually wasn't that bad cause we were still on Utah time which was really 6:30 am for us. You would never think you'd need a full on coat while you're in Hawaii but you do if you want to go to this place. Of course we didn't pack coats so we layered on the clothes we could and brought a blanket from the condo.... ya, we still froze our cabooses off! It was sooooo cold. It was really pretty though. For some reason, almost every morning there are a bunch of clouds over the island and since we are up 10,000 feet we were well above them, which made the sunrise that much prettier!

One of the the other things we did is we drove to Hana. For those of you that don't know, the road to Hana is SUPER narrow and EXTREMELY winding with one lane bridges and all. The sad thing is, it is really only like 40 miles from where the Maui airport is but it takes you like 3 hours to get there because of how slow you have to go. It was really really pretty and we made our stops along the way which included swimming under a waterfall (a wimpy one), the black sand beach and the red sand beach. Most people just drive to Hana and then go back but we decided to drive all the way around. It was amazing to see the difference in scenery. It went from lush greenery with waterfalls to dry deserty look, much like Utah.

Another fun thing we did is we went on a snorkel cruise to Molokini crater. It is supposed to have the most clear water and an abundance of fish. But the waters were kind of choppy when we got there and I didn't get to see that many fish. The water was stil really clear but it wasn't as cool as we were hoping. I think we just didn't have good timing. It was still fun though!

We also had fun going to different beaches and eating shave ice (not necessarily on the beach). One of the beaches we went to was Big beach. It was sooooo pretty with the yellow sand and the green and blue waters..... one thing. The waves crash HARD!! I had never seen such a thing. I mean they weren't huge surfing waves by all means but when it came to the shoreline they would all of the sudden just break. We were out there on our floaty's with our sunglasses on havin' a grand 'ol time but then I was thinking maybe I should take my sunglasses off and put them in our bag. Well, Jamie was thinking he same thing so she started in and when she was about to get out she totally got beached and her sunglasses were washed off her face. Which only made me want to take mine off even more. SO, I start my way in and I thought I was gonna make it and the SMACK.... a wave totally pushed me over. Now, I am one of those people that HAVE to plug their nose when they go under water, so it really suprised me when my first instinct was to hold my sunglasses on my face and let the salty water go straight up the nose! But I was successful, I saved them! The amazing thing was, that we actually found Jamies sunglasses and got them back! Since the waves just crash on the beach, they didn't have a chance to get washed away so she got them back!

Well, this is entirely way to long, but moral of the story is, WE LOVE HAWAII and will continue to go there as much as we can!

Thankful Thursdays

Ok, so I would like to take credit for this brilliant idea but I must give it to my cousin, Celeste. She came up with the idea of writing things you are thankful for every Thursday, thus the name, "Thankful Thursday". How cute is that?! I thought it was a great idea so I am going to attempt to copy her. It should be fun and easy so there really shouldn't be an excuse to miss a day, but with the way that I am, I'm sure there will be a few weeks that it doesn't happen. So these are the things I am thankful for this week.

1. The nurses at the EAGeR study who have supported me and tried to figure out what the crap is wrong with my body. (I will miss them since I can no longer participate in the study cause I'm not pregnant :( )
2. I am thankful for the opportunity to see some of the most beautiful sunsets and rainbows while I am working out on the ramp at the airport.
3. The fact that it is now officially my favorite time of year! I love when the leaves start to change colors and the "cool, crisp, bite" that is in the air in the fall.
4. I am thankful for my dad coming to my rescue when my tire blew out on the freeway. He made it so I wasn't late to work! Thanks DAD, I love you!
5. And I am thankful that I was able to run across four lanes on the freeway, without getting squashed, to safety after parking my car on the wrong side of the freeway after my stupid tire blew out!

I know this is only supposed to be about what I am thankful for, but I forgot to share this bit of info on my last post! So two Sundays ago I'm on my way to work singin' my lungs out when all of the sudden I hear this wierd noise... It sounded like a big truck was about to pass me, but when I looked, there was nothing there. So I decided to pull over to the side of the freeway (and since I was kinda panicking I pulled on the left side of the freeway since I was in the fast lane, SMART). I honestly didn't think anything was wrong but decided to pull over just in case. I get out of my car with the cars on the freeway whooshing past me at 80 mph and see that my front right tire is blown. FANdiddlyTASTIC! For some reason I have the worst luck with tires, so by now I am pro at changing my tire. However, I had flip flops on and was like, CRAP! I called Jason first and he DOESN'T ANSWER!!!! What if I got in an accident and he didn't answer.... nice. It was a good thing I was right by my parents house on the freeway, so I call them to tell them whats up and to see if my dad could come help. I was thinking that I was just going to have to call into work (which I didn't want to cause we have this whole point system with tardies and absences and I didn't want to waste a sick call on THIS). So my dad comes to pick me up and take me to work and says to just leave my car on the side of the road. I was trying to tell him where I was on the freeway but we failed to discuss what SIDE of the freeway I was on. SO he gets on the on-ramp and is like where are you? I then told him I was on the left side of the freeway. He was like, "why would you stop on the LEFT side of the freeway, that's how people get killed?" GREAT! Thanks, I really didn't want to think about that right now. So I'm waiting to get ready to run across I-215 in FLIP FLOPS with all my crap I had to bring to work.... Well, obviously I made it, but I'll tell you what... my heart was about ready to jump outta my chest! It was scary. I made it on time to work and in the mean time my dad changed my tire into the spare and also had to jump my battery cause it went dead from the emergency flashers. We have just had some really annoying problems with my car (like having to buy three sets of tires, changing out the stupid headlights every 6 months cause they burn out really quick for some reason and so on) Oh. I forgot to tell you the day before, Jason got my oil changed and they said that one of my tires was wearing thin and needed to be replaced. So when the tire blew, I was thinking that it was the tire that already needed to be changed. NO SUCH LUCK! Now we had to throw down for TWO tires instead of one. That was a $200 expense I really didn't want to pay. After all this and all the other crap my car puts us through I decided to call my car P.I.T.A..... which thoughtfully stands for PAIN IN THE A**! :) HA! I'm so clever, it kills me!

Where has time gone???

Wow! I can't believe it's been so long. I hate it when I do this because then I don't even want to post because it'll be a flippin' novel. So I just decided that I'll quickly recap recent events and be DONE!!

In the middle of July we made our annual trip to Kentucky, which I love! It's sooooo pretty there and I love the grandparents, they are so very cute! We always have such a good time and manage to find new things to do there everytime. We hung out with Jason's cousins quite a bit which was pretty fun. We went to the zoo and shot guns (those were two different occasions. We didn't shoot guns AT the zoo!), smashed pennies on the railroad tracks and saw more hisory thats in Kentucky. Oh and of course we went to the Gap outlet. Gotta love those deals! Man, now that it's been two months since we were there, I don't really remember much else. Sad!

Update on trying to get pregnant is, that I'm not. But I went to my doctor and am now on Clomed. Now it's just a matter of having a period so I can start taking it. Seriously, my body just needs to be rebooted or somethin. If I wasn't trying to get pregnant, it'd be nice to have 80 days in between those lovely times of the month. But it's just annoying right now.

Well I guess not much else happened from July to August, just work, work, work. Somedays I wish I didn't work at both places but then I stop and think that I'd rather have the variety instead of working ALL the time in just one place. But let me say this...... Some people are just pigs! They leave their hotel room a freakin' mess and it takes me TWICE as long to clean it! There is this one guy that doesn't know what shower curtains are made for cause there is FIVE GALLONS of water on the bathroom floor! HELLO! Why would you take a shower OUTSIDE of the shower?? I don't get it. Anyway, I've got some pretty good stories about housekeeping that will haunt me forever, like walking in on a HUGE naked guy sleeping on the bed..... GROSS! But those will wait for another time.

Alright, so I lied and I'm not going to recap EVERYTHING that has happened in this post. We went to Maui for 11 DAYS at the end of August, so I'll post that separately. But who know's when that'll be! Not now! HA!

A Different Kind of Road Trip

In our quest to visit all 50 states together as a couple we decided to take a road trip through the southern states. Let's face it, we didn't really have a desire to visit Alabama, Mississippi or Louisiana. SO my super sweet husband with his mad skills at finding deals, found a deal on a one way car rental from Orlando to New Orleans for $10 A DAY! We knew we needed to jump on that like stink on poop cause we have priced out one way car rentals before in the south and it was PRICEY! So the evening of June 23 we hopped on a plane and headed to Orlando. We landed later at night so we crashed at a hotel (yes, a Marriott hotel of course) to get ready for our drive the next day. On our GPS it said that it would only take about 6 hours from where our hotel was, so we knew the drive was totally do-able in one day and that we had plenty of time for stops if we needed. So off we went! The longest part of the drive was in the pan-handle of Florida. It really only took 45 min to an hour to get through Alabama....

and then another hour for Mississippi.....

We did stop a couple of times to get out and stretch our legs but when we would open the car door you really didn't know what hit you. It was seriously like a huge brick wall of extremely hot muggy sludge hitting you and making it hard to breath. YUCKY! I really don't know how people live there. It was disgusting. You were instantly covered in sweat/muggy humidity the minute you got out of the wonderful air conditioned car. So after our first stop, we really didn't make too many pit stops cause every time we did we always wanted to hop back in the car as quick as possible. I do have to say we did see really pretty scenery. But we didn't see any alligators or crocs on the side of the road. That would have been cool! Terrifying, but cool. Mississippi is a state full of nice people. We stopped at the welcome center to get our free state map and they were handin' out free fountain drinks! How cool is that! So needless to say, we lingered around there for awhile til we had our fill and then hit the road.

When we finally arrived at New Orleans we came to a quick decision that we never wanted to go back. The old antique buildings and houses were so pretty but other than that, it's hot, sticky, dirty, stinky and full of yucky things. We were glad we only had about 3 hrs there til it was time to hit the sack and get ready for our plane ride home in the morning. That's it! Three more states knocked off our list and only 19 more states to go!

In a rut....

Lately things seem like they aren't going to get better. I'm talkin' about being in a rut. I know we all go there sometimes but this time I think I've been there too long. Don't get me wrong. I am still happy but some things just stink. On July 17th it was the 1 year anniversary of me finding out I don't get to be a mommy quite yet. The pain and sorrow is still sticking with me. What makes it worse is that EVERYONE else, that wants to, is getting pregnant (except for guys, that'd be weird) but ME! Why oh why?....... Everytime I hear about someone getting pregnant the floodgates open and I can't stop the flood. Sorry to be such a boob but it is a HUGE part of my life right now. Is it too much to ask to be a mommy? What makes it worse is that I can't avoid thinking about it. KIDS ARE EVERYWHERE except in MY belly. "Your time will come" says EVERYONE, but when it's YOU in the position it doesn't seem like it will. Especially when you finally have something you want and treasure so much, ripped from you. I guess I am just broken. Being sad about not having a cute little baby to hold and love just kinda makes some other things not so fun. Ya know?


I really need to thank my loving husband for putting up with my crazy moodswings. He is such a sweetheart and will do anything for me. I know he loves me so very much and it hurts him to know that he can't really do anything to take the pain away. But I want him to know that his love, listening ear and just letting me cry in his arms helps A LOT! You are everything to me and I love you so very much! Thank you for always being there for me.

Omaha

Omaha you say? Yep! My sister, Nicole, lives in Omaha, Nebraska along with here too cute family. Jared is going to Creighton University to become an Oral Surgeon. Anyway, it was long overdue for me to go visit her especially since I have flight benefits and there is a direct flight into Omaha from Salt Lake. I haven't been there in over a year and I have only seen her new baby boy, Ethan, once! I know, I think I win the worst sister of the year award! I was trying to wait for a time when Jason and I could go for a week but I decided that was never going to happen. So I picked up and left on June 8 (and Jason came June 12) and made my way to see my sister. It was perfect timing too cause it was Maeley's birthday on the 10th! It was a lot of fun just hanging out with the kids and my sister! My parents and brothers actually came the 10th on their way home from Washington D.C. (they were at the Holocaust Museum 1 day before the shooting! Scary!) On Maeley's birthday we all went bowling and went out to eat. I must say that my bowling skills have improved from bowling on the Wii...... I know it's not the same but I bowled about a 160! That is really good for me cause I usually don't even make it over 100! Emma and Maeley did awesome too! They would both walk up to the line with their bowling ball kick one leg back and then throw the ball down the lane at a super sonic speed of 1 mile an hour! It was so cute to watch. After bowling, we went to a mexican food restaurant, which was Maeley's choice, and while we were there she chewed a face out of a tortilla and put it up to her face. It was quite hilarious. You'll just have to see the picture. My favorite is that Maeley can't pronounce her "sp's" so for "spoon" she says "foon" and the best is for "sparkley" she says "farkoly"! It's the best! She got one of those water and glitter bouncy balls from Target and so she would always say, "where is my farkoly ball". Needless to say, this has become my new favorite word and I am obsessed with "farkoly" things now just so I can say it! You'll notice I used a farkoly border for the slide show just in Maeley's honor! Jason flew in on Friday afternoon and we had steaks for dinner and played a game called "Settlers of Catan". It's pretty fun but kinda wierd at first.

Then the next day we just hung out with the fam til early afternoon and then we continued our treck to visit all 50 states together. So we drove over the border into Iowa and saw the Kansasville Tabernacle and down into Missouri where we visited the Liberty Jail. It was a really humbling experience to see where Joseph Smith was in jail and to see the size of the jail. We spent the night in Independence, MO cause we just decided to continue on our church history tour. We went to the visitor center in Independence and then to far west where the corner stones of the Temple are. We wanted to continue to visit other sites but ran out of time since we needed to drive back to Nebraska to fly home. So we quickly drove across the Kansas border and made our way to the airport.

I have tried to get pictures of the state signs that say "Welcome to..." But they didn't turn out so well. We didn't really have the time to pull over and take it so we did a drive by but it didn't work.

Overdue

I have quite a bit to post but I just haven't made the time to do it (obviously), so here is the low down on what has been going on with the Button's! I am going to do a series of posts instead of one gargantuan post like I usually do. So anyway here it goes!

Over Memorial Day weekend we went to our cabin and also took a day trip down to Arches National Park (one of my favorite places!). We were lucky enough to have our friends from Hawaii tag a long with us and it was there first time so it was pretty fun to hear their comments. We had a blast climbing on the rocks trying to catch our breathe and taking in the breath-taking views of the ginormous rock formations. It was pretty busy but always worth it. It rained the whole way down there so we thought we were in for it but it didn't rain at all until we were getting ready to leave! PERFECT TIMING! In the past I have usually gone in the off-season so there aren't so many people but it also means that the desert flowers aren't blooming. So of course I got a kick out of all the pretty flowers and had to take a picture of every one of them. Jason loves when I do that!..... HA, yah right! All in all it was a great weekend relaxing at our cabin and hiking on the rocks!

Long or short???

Ok. So I have been trying to grow my hair out since I have been married (but I did cut it a few times cause it was driving me CRAZY). 90% because Jason wanted me to and 10% cause I really like the look of long hair with those loose curls and I wanted my hair to do that. Here is my dilemma....... I have been blessed with really THICK hair, therefore, when I try to curl it, it takes me forever and then only lasts like an hour! Can we say frustrating! I just don't know how to do long hair cause the last time I had long hair my mom would always do it. I have to admit part of me is still curious as to what it would look like a little longer but the other part is screaming to go chop it off. Soooooo, I thought I would get YOUR opinion and see what you think. Don't let what I say make or break your opinion but I am going to say that I have to pull my hair back in a ponytail for both jobs so that is all I ever do with it. At least with short hair you cant really pull it back so you HAVE to do it. But that is just the logic taking over me. So please, be honest and tell me if you think I look better with it long or short! (I know, my hair really isn't THAT long right now, but just work with me!)







I was trying to find pictures of me with my hair longer that are recent and almost all the pictures I have my hair pulled back!! Ha! That's funny! So I improvised and took this lovely self portrait of me in my awesome Skywest uniform. At least you can get the idea. Oh and for some reason my hair color looks really wierd in this picture..... I don't know why!

Housekeeping.....

Life has been CRAZY BUSY lately! Just a couple days after we got home from our cruise I called the Marriott about an application I submitted and they asked me to come in for an interview THAT DAY! Then they called me the next day and I got the job! HA HA HA! I know what you are thinking.... housekeeping, you need towel? All I can think about when I have to say that is the one and only Tommy Boy. I know, housekeeping is so not a glamorous job but hey, it's all about the benefits! So now we not only get to fly for free, we get awesome hotel discounts! Now Jason just needs to go get a second job at Avis or Budget and we would be set! Anyway, that is really the only reason I got a second job (and cause I just want to pay off my car and get it over with!). So needless to say I have been swamped with work. I am only supposed to be part time at the Marriott but for some reason he keeps scheduling me five days a week and I work from 9am to 4 and then have to jet off to the airport somedays. I talked to my boss and said I need to work less but for some reason it's not sticking in his mind. The other thing is, I have actually been sick since I started at Marriott. It just started out as a cough and minor congestion but then three weeks later it turns into a much worse cough and MAJOR congestion. So I went to the doctor and I have a sinus infection with post nasal drip and bronchitis! YES, this is so what I need. And now a week later after I went to the doctor it seems as though nothing has changed. I have just been taking it easy the past two days and laid in bed ALL day. If I don't get better in a couple days looks like I'll be seein' the doc again. So that has been life for the past month. Nothing too exciting but hey, it happens!

Cruisin' Pix

Cruisin'

I know this is pretty much a month late but life has been CRAZY and I just haven't had time. I will explain in a different post. Anywho, I am about to tell you our eventful cruise vacation. The cruise was awesome but the way down there and the way back are different stories. I'll start from the beginning. Jason is always looking at this website called, Perx, to look at cruise deals. He has actually found quite a few good deals but we have never acted on them. Well this one was too good to pass up. He found a 7 night cruise in the Caribbean for a steal and so we decided, what the heck, lets go for it! What makes it even better is we found out that one of his friends from work (Kevin) and his wife (Jamie) were also going on the same cruise so we would have people to hang out with!

So the cruise was leaving from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Sunday, March 29 at 9 pm. The flights there were looking pretty good until a day or two before (as usual) so we decided that we would start our journey a day early to make sure we got down there. The first flight we attempted was on Friday night (or Saturday morning rather)to JFK at 12:30 am or so. When we checked in and checked our luggage I forgot to tell them to put a standby tag on our bag so that our bags wouldn't go on the flight without us (since we never know if we'll make the flight or not). THIS is where the fun begins. So we didn't end up making the flight and there was a flight to Atlanta just 45 min later and so we tried for that and didn't make it. We were deciding what to do and trying to figure out just how we were going to make it. We ended up going all the way home (45 min away from the airport) and got there about 2:30 am just to leave again a few short hours later. But since our luggage went to JFK without us we wanted to make sure we had a change of clothes and an extra swimming suit just in case something happened. We left for JFK about 8:30 Saturday morning and was only going to have a little under an hour to make our next flight. (We ended up buying tickets on Jet Blue to make sure we got down there. But at least they were fairly cheap for a confirmed seat) We thought that we would have no problem at all getting to the right terminal, but we were SO WRONG! The JFK airport is freaking ginormous! NOT A FAN! We ran all the way there but didn't get there in time. Luckily there was another flight just an hour and a half later. So we flew overnight down to Santo Domingo. Note: At this point, we have only had 3 hours of sleep Friday night and now we are flying over night, which you never get that great of sleep on a plane. We arrived in Santo Domingo at about 6:30 am and tried to find someone that SPOKE English to get our bags and pretty much NO ONE spoke English. We had asked a Delta rep. back in the states where are bags were and they said that they were already in Santo Domingo so all we had to do is pick them up from the luggage office. Simple right? WRONG! We finally found someone that spoke so, so English and pointed us in the right direction. He also mentioned that no one would be there until 10 in the morning! WONDERFUL! Kevin and Jamie actually made it down a day early and told us that it was $40 just to get from the airport to their hotel. So we were thinking $40 just to leave the airport to go somewhere, then another $40 to get back to the airport to get our bags and then yet another $40 to get to the cruise ship just sounded too expensive..... so we WAITED in the airport for almost SIX HOURS! No one from Delta ended up getting there until almost NOON! We were running on empty. ONLY 6 or 7 hours of sleep the past few days and not a whole lot of food in our bellies. When we got up to the office we found out that JASON'S suitcase made it but MINE didn't!!! WHY? They said that I would get my suitcase at our first port in Antigua, but we were going to be at sea all day Monday and wouldn't get to Antigua til Tuesday. At this point the flood gates opened and I bawled my eyes out. I was so stressed and tired and hungry and now I didn't have my suitcase! Jason was really sweet and told me that we would go shopping for new clothes and get me all the things I needed. He felt so bad! I LOVE HIM! So we hired a taxi to take us to the ship. I thought we weren't going to make it there. They drive like maniacs down there! AND the lines on the road, that you know, form lanes, they don't use them! They think they are just designs or something. Oh and I think the driver honked the horn more than I have in my entire driving life! INSANE! We made it to the cruise ship. FEW! So we go through all the lines and fill out all the papers to get on the boat and they wanted to take our picture. Little did I know that they will try to take our picture at every port and at dinner. Come on, I just wanted to get on the boat, get something to eat and TAKE A NAP! I really didn't want them to take our picture cause we have gone 2 days without a shower I just got done crying my eyes out. The guy that was taking our picture says to me, "Wow, you look really tired!" THANK YOU, I really needed to hear that. Icing on the cake. Since this was our first cruise we had no idea what to expect. But once we stepped on the boat the excitement filled my blood and all the trouble we've been through kind of melted away. We actually got upgraded to a room up on the 7th floor (out of 9 floors) and our room was in the very back of the ship so our balcony was bigger than what it would have been on the side of the ship. It was really nice! We then got something to eat and then took a much needed nap and then met Kevin and Jamie for dinner. YAY! WE MADE IT TO OUR CRUISE!

So we enjoyed the day at sea and played shuffle board and ping pong and just relaxed and stuffed our face with food!!! The only thing that sucked was that Monday night was formal night for dinner and since I didn't have my suitcase we couldn't go :( So instead we ordered room service and ate our dinner on our balcony. It was a nice, relaxing and romantic night.

Our first stop was to St. Johns, Antigua! Kevin and Jamie had already purchased a shore excursion to runaway beach and we weren't sure what we wanted to do. We ended up just hiring a taxi to take us to the same beach to meet up with them. We got there and had the beach to OURSELVES for about 45 minutes. It was awesome! Kevin and Jamie had a tour with their excursion so we weren't expecting them right away. But we kept waiting for them to show up and they never came! They ended up further down the beach than where we were. Ok, so we were planning on using some of their sunscreen since our sunscreen was in my suitcase, which I still didn't have. But since we never ended up meeting up with them, we both got FRIED! OUCH! I actually found out a couple days later I got 2nd degree sunburn on my chest. NO FUN! Needless to say we still had a blast on the beach (and for the rest of our trip for that matter). After the beach we walked around the shops for a bit and then went back on the ship. I was expecting to get my suitcase but, SURPRISE, I wasn't going to get it til the next stop. They said that by the time my suitcase was to arrive at the airport there wouldn't be enough time to get it and bring it back to the ship before we were going to depart so they just sent it on to Basseterre, St. Kitts.

Ok, so what's one more day without a suitcase and wearing the same clothes right? I mean, at least Royal Caribbean washed my clothes for free. I was a little upset but I was having a good time so I wasn't going to let it ruin my trip.

On to St. Kitts! Here we just took a taxi with Kevin and Jamie to a really pretty beach that was supposed to have really great snorkeling. My snorkel was in my suitcase somewhere not with me, so I told Jason to go out and see if it was really impressive and if it was then we would rent me a snorkel. Since I was fried crispy I didn't mind sitting in the shade on the beach. So the three of them went out for a bit while I slathered on the sunscreen, which took about a half hour since my skin hurt so bad. Oh and this beach had a goat that just wandered around stealing everyones drinks and food. The goat would even drink peoples beer and then go to the bathroom whenever and where ever it wanted. It was actually fun to watch. Plus there were locals that were selling "Aloe Messages".... It was tempting to have some stranger rub ooey gooey aloe vera all over you body but since I was so sore I didn't want ANYONE touching me, so I passed. This big guy came up to Jamie and said that people call him "magic fingers" and that she should let him give her a message. She was tempted, but not enough, so she waved him on by! It was quite funny! After the beach we wandered around the shops that all sold the same stuff. Even though they all sell the same stuff, for some reason I still have to browse. WEIRD, I know. Alright, so here was the moment I'd been waiting for.... We walked into our room and I saw the most beautiful sight.....a maroonish, reddish suitcase with black trim! HOORAY! I have my suitcase! I was so ecstatic! It felt like it was a whole new vacation. It was actually hard to pick out an outfit. I mean, I got used to just wearing the same thing, that it was so foreign to have to pick an outfit. I know, I know, I get way to excited over small, trivial things.

Next stop, Bridgetown, Barbados! For this stop we all bought a shore excursion to go snorkeling with the turtles and at a shipwreck. We first piled onto a bus and then piled onto boat. The boat ride to the sight was really pretty. The water was the most incredible blue-green I have ever seen. Simply beautiful! I was really excited to snorkel but when I found out they made you wear this life vest that wasn't really a life vest I was kinda worried. REMEMBER, crispy red skin and a life vest rubbing against it doesn't go well together. But I figured I'll just dive in and it won't be that bad.... WRONG! Besides the crotch strap that goes in between your legs the straps rubbing on my shoulders was pretty uncomfortable. I had to constantly hold it in place so it wouldn't rub. Needless to say it was still really fun and we got to see quite a few turtles and lots of fish at the shipwreck. After the snorkeling they took us to this beach to play and soak up the sun. I just decided to soak up the shade cause I didn't want to risk getting even more burned. While I was in the shade this construction worker poked his head over the fence and just started talking to me. He was really nice and had a cool accent (kind of like Calypso from Pirates of the Caribbean) but all he wanted was booze from one of the workers on the boat. At least I can say I kicked it with the locals. All in all Barbados is really pretty and I wouldn't mind visiting again!

Last stop, Castries, St. Lucia! This was my favorite place. Jamie found this tour guide before the cruise began and it was AMAZING! Spencer's tours is the tour to go on it St. Lucia. First stop on the tour, banana field. He pulled over to the side of the road and bought us all bananas and told us how they are harvested and all that. It was pretty cool! Next, there was a guy just standing on the side of the road that had leaves and so spencer pulled over and got some from him and made us guess what it was. It SMELLED soooo goood! It was bay leaves! Then we stopped at this store that made Kasava bread. It is the bread that the olympic runner who won a ton of races ate. Officials thought he was on steroids but they found it was just this natural root of a plant called kasava. Anyway, he showed us how it was made and then bought us all some bread made from it. It was really dense and it tasted ok. A little to healthy tasting for my liking but doable. We then stopped at the view of the Piton mountains. They are these two huge peaks right next to eachother. It was really really pretty! We then went to the botanical gardens that also had a really tall waterfall that you could get in and swim. Jason and Kevin went in the freezing cold water while Jamie and I stayed dry :) Across the street from the gardens Spencer bought us all jerk chicken and johnny cakes for lunch. It was actually really good! Then we were off to go snorkeling at a 5 star resort beach. It was located right in between the two mountains. GORGEOUS! and the snorkeling wasn't bad either. We actually saw quite a few fish that we haven't seen in Hawaii. All in all the tour lasted 6 or 7 hours and we got to see quite a bit of the island. St. Lucia is so very pretty and I definately want to go back sometime.

Our last day on the cruise was at sea. We had a blast rock climbing, hot tubbing, playing card games, eating lots and lots of icecream and just enjoying life. Jason and Kevin even entered in a Sexy Legs contest. It was really fun to watch :) I really REALLY liked the cruise and I hope to go on one again in the near future. It was so fun to get to know our new friends.

Since I have already wrote an entire novel I won't go into to much detail about our adventure home, other than it took us two days to get home and we flew clear across the U.S. just to get home. This was our itinerary for the way home; Santo Domingo to JFK. Sit in JFK airport for several hours to find out we didn't make the flight to SLC. Running across the terminal to try to get on a different flight to find out it was just oversold by 7 people. Then running back cause we heard the SLC flight was delayed. Dealing with a migraine. Flying for 3 hours to get to Atlanta. Spending the night in a hotel. Waking up early to get to the airport. Flying to San Jose, California. Sitting next to this sweet old lacy named Anne, who asked me the same questions at least two or three times and wouldn't let me sleep to save my life. And FINALLY arriving in good 'ol SLC!

This was definately a trip I will never forget! It was incredibly fun and interesting. I would do it all over again if I got the chance. The only thing I would change is I would BUY MORE SUNSCREEN!

Yay!

Ok so we made it home from our cruise finally and it was a total blast and a half! Things have just been a little crazy since we have been home and I haven't found the time to update and post pictures. You should all be excited to read about the drama that happened on this vacation cause it got a little crazy. But all in all it was AWESOME and I would definately reccommend a cruise to all of you! They are a blast!

Knotts Berry Farm, Grandma and More

Obviously I haven't been very good at updating our blog but life has been a little crazy. My sis-in-law took her kids to Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm and asked if Jason and I wanted to tag along. Jason wasn't to keen on going to Disneyland but he was game for Knotts. So we flew over on a Wednesday and met them at the park. It was such a beautiful day and we were able to walk on all the rides. We could even just stay on the ride if there weren't enough people in line to fill up the ride again. It was pretty sweet! As soon as we got there Sydney was stuck to my side and Gavin and Tanner were stuck to Jason and Ellie was just glad to be there! I am sure Jen and JL were so happy to be relieved of their parental duties for the day. It was really fun seeing how excited the kids got about all the rides. The park closed at six, which was actually perfect cause it started getting dark. So off to the hotel and then we left early on Thursday morning since Jason and I both had to go back to work.






I dropped him off and just went over to my parents house til it was time for me to go to work. Well I was in the middle of dying my sisters hair when Jason called me with some sad news. Grandma wasn't doing to good and we were told she wouldn't make it through the night. So I had to tell my mom how to finish dying my sisters hair and go pick up Jason to go visit Grandma. We spent most of the evening there and I called into work. We got the news the next day she had passed away early morning on Friday the 13th. It is always sad to lose a loved one and she surely will be missed. We will miss her cheerful smile and all her stories but we know she is so happy in heaven dancing with Grandpa again.


Since Grandma passed away, we were lucky to have one of our friends from Hawaii come out to attend the funeral. Walter was able to get work off, however, Alice had to stay home cause she couldn't get work off. We loved having Walter here and had so much fun at our cabin over the weekend. There was still over a foot of snow so we actually had to hike about 1/2 a mile to our cabin. When we got there it was dark so we were hikin in the dark. It wouldn't have been so bad but Jason was telling Walter about the bears and mountain lions up there so I was making sure we were having a loud conversation the whole time we were hikin' in and it didn't help that we saw huge mountain lion tracks just after we started hiking in. Even though I was out of breath I made sure there was some sort of noise that was being made. I just didn't want to have to show off my bear and mountain lion fighting skills! Ryan, Jared, Krista, Kenny and their kids as well as mom and dad Button all came up a little later. We had fun just playin' inside that night but we were all excited to go play out in the snow the next day. Jason bought some flint and steel fire starter things, ya know the kind that Bear Grylls and Survivor Man have, and wanted to have a contest as to who could start a fire first using only things found in the great outdoors and the fire starter. Jason and I were off to a great start but Kenny found some nice dry weeds that started on fire pretty quick so he was the champ. We then used that fire to cook us some good dutch oven lunch/dinner. While we were waiting for Linner to cook we had fun sledding down the road and having snowball fights. We only had one sled (since we had to hike in, we didn't want to take too much stuff) so Jason had the brilliant idea of getting the garbage can lids. Well, the snow got to soft in the afternoon so they didn't work to well. Ryan brought up his four-wheeler and was pullin' us around in the snow. After awhile we were all kind of hot (it was a really nice day) and so we decided since Walter is from Hawaii and they make shave ice, we would make Utah shave ice. It certainly wasn't the same but it was pretty good. We improvised and used snow and soda. How clever are we?! Ya, we pretty much rock! I love that we are all so close and have so much fun together. And I love love love the mountains and the snow and our beautiful cabin that we all built together. GOOD TIMES!


The snow was up to my knees!

The awesome fire Kenny started with his wilderness skills.

Our Utah Shave Ice. Genius!

Snow Bunnies

Grandma and Tyler

Sleddin' down the hill

Jason on his garbage can lid

This picture....

So as you can see I finally took the time (again) to put pictures up of Kauai! I really really really don't like to use the slide program thing cause it will randomly freeze and loose all your pics so you have to start over! FRUSTRATING! And I have no idea how to use Picasa (it's out of my realm obviously) I've tried and tried and it'll only post the first three pics I selected. ANYWAY, this picture wouldn't load right in the slide show and I really wanted it on here cause it's.... JASON to a "t". It just describes his fun personality! I LOVE HIM!

Kauai Adventures

**As most of you know we like to go to Hawaii quite frequently. We have made a tradition of going to Hawaii every January (with the exception of going last September as well). I seriously hope we will keep up this tradition. It will never get old I can promise you that! This year we decided to try a different island and go to Kauai! I was super excited cause it seems so lush and green and I could just picture it all in my head. Well let me tell you it was a little different than we imagined but not necessarily in a bad way. We had lots of adventures and things happened that I never thought would.....

**Jason and I invited my parents to tag along cause we haven't been on a trip with them yet. So the first little adventure was the way over there. I mean I can't complain, Jason and I got over there so smoothly and even got first class from L.A. to Kauai. But I felt horrible cause my parents weren't as high up on the seniority list as I thought they were, which means they got stuck in L.A. and had to spend the night. Everything looked fine until I figured out that they have such a low priority on mainline Delta flights, which happened to be ten minutes before they started boarding. I felt so horrible! Especially cause I was the one that told them to come early with us and fly on Delta instead of Continental (which is who my mom works for).

**Eventually we all got there and started our great adventures. Did you ever think that you could not like a bird so much that you literally wanted to kill every one you saw??? Who would think that roosters, yes roosters and chickens are ALL OVER THE ISLAND! And they aren't very smart cause the crow ALL HOURS OF THE DAY! A book I read said that they must want to save their butts and crow all the time so no one can hold them liable for not waking them up. Fun stuff, I tell you what. The first two nights weren't so bad cause we were on the third floor of the hotel and you couldn't hear them that bad. But when we moved to the cottage we were staying at you could hear them plain as day at all hours of the day. They are actually really pretty and it was quite hilarious to hear them crow except when you were trying to sleep.

**I decided that my husband is part fish because he loves the water and loves to snorkel. Unfortunately the snorkeling on Kauai during the winter totally sucks. We only saw a few fish and they were all silver or black and white. We even bought a new expensive underwater camera and couldn't really use it like we wanted to. We didn't see the bright colors like what we always see on the Big Island. The tide was so high and the currents were so strong that most of the beaches were closed to snorkeling and swimming. You could surf, but who wants to do that when you want to see fish?? The other problem that we found is the beaches that weren't closed to snorkeling had man of war jellyfish controlling the area so I didn't want to touch that with a ten foot pole... NO. THANK. YOU! So that was our next adventure was trying to find beaches where we could soak up the rays and try to get our feet wet. Most of the beaches didn't have a very big shoreline since the tide was so high. Plus it was pretty overcast almost every day so it made things a little bit chilly to be playin' in the water. But that certainly didn't stop Jason. He would go splash around like a fish at every beach we stopped at. I love my little fishy!

**On Kauai there is a huge canyon that the call "The Grand Canyon of the Islands" and it pretty much lives up to it's name. We decided to take the drive up into this beautiful canyon and all the bumpy roads were definitely worth it. The thing about Kauai is there isn't a road that goes all around the island. So, we were staying in Princeville and you could only enter the canyon by car on the south/west side so it took about 1 hour and 45 min to get to the mouth of the canyon and then another hour to get up to the top of the canyon. It's a good thing that Jason and I like to drive but I felt bad for my parents in the back seat. I let my dad sit up front part of the time to save me the trouble of cleaning up throw up.... oh I mean, I let him sit up there cause I love my dad so much!!

**Most of the other time was spent visiting the farmer's markets to get all of our favorite exotic fruit like passion fruit, pineapple, mangoes and my absolute favorite, rumbutans; as well as search the beach for cool shells, deciding whether or not to get into the ocean when it was a little chilly out, trying to knock down coconuts with rocks or in this case a 15 foot pvc pipe (you never know what you can find on an island in the jungle), and hanging out by the pool, we just relaxed and had fun.

**Probably the most vivid memory of all of our trips combined is what I am about to tell you. In the cottage there is a fireplace and my cute husband decided to buy one of those logs that burn for three hours. What could be better, being on a beautiful island listening to those blasted roosters crow and sitting back to watch a movie with a fire going. Comfortable, cozy and nice come to mind. But now the words panic, hysteria, disbelief and laughter come to mind. So there we are having an awesome dinner at the table with the tv on and a fire in the fireplace. When the fire was first lit, it was a little smokey but we all just didn't think much of it and continued eating. Well it continued to get smokey so Jason and my dad go check, again, to make sure there was no flu to open. They couldn't find anything wrong and didn't know why our place was getting so smoke filled. So instead of breathing in all the smoke they decided that we would just put it out and then go down to the hot tub to get warm. So they got water and poured it on the fire (cause how else are you supposed to put out those logs that are soaked in some sort of fire burning fuel). Once the water was poured, masses of smoke and steam FILLED the room. (I have a picture of how smokey it was) For some reason my dad decided to look out on the balcony at the chimney and there were HUGE flames coming out of it!!!!(I have a video of that!) At this point Jason and my dad were in panic mode (I was just laughing and couldn't believe this was happening). I went out and saw the huge flames and was about to start packing all our things to get the heck out of there but decided the fire was only in the chimney and not on the roof or anything. One thing I forgot to tell you was it actually rained just enough to soak everything as we were preparing dinner (someone loves us up there for sure!!) Anyway, there was this tall tree next to the chimney and if it hadn't have been for the rain it would of caught fire for sure. In the meantime Jason is calling the fire department telling them the situation and also trying to get a hold of the front desk. One minute after Jason got of the phone you started hearing the sirens....how embarrassing! However, while Jason was on the phone with the front desk this huge ball of fire fell down into the fireplace and then all the smoke and fire stopped. I was thinking, those stupid roosters made a freaking nest in the chimney and this is why all of this happened. Well sure enough, after the firefighters get on the roof to check everything out they decided that it was indeed a nest and no damage has been done. Relief struck us all and we couldn't help but laugh about it all that night and the rest of our trip. We all WREAKED of campfire smoke along with all of our clothes. So we were thankful there was a washer and dryer in the condo. After all was said and done, the front desk didn't even bother to come over and see if we were ok or move us to a different condo since ours was so smokey, they just said come and talk to us in the morning. We thought that was a little unprofessional but Jason has such a way with words that we ended up getting our weeks stay for FREE!!!! We only had to pay the room tax which was about $50! You can't beat that! Since it all turned out ok we might "try" to make a fire in the fireplace where ever we go! HA! JUST KIDDING! While that night was certainly memorable and won't ever escape our minds, we don't want to go through that again. We are just so grateful that our dear Heavenly Father was looking out for us that night cause it certainly could have been MUCH worse! AHHH MEMORIES!!!

**So all in all our vacation was very fun filled and certainly memorable. We probably won't go back to that island unless the tide is low, the sun is out and we don't stay in a condo that has a fireplace.

Likeness In All Things

One of my friends from work sent me this e-mail about how God created food that looks like parts of our body and that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish... all before making a human. He made and provided what we'd need before we were born. (I know there is a scripture stating that there is likeness in all things but I can't think of it or find it!) Research shows that the vitamins and minerals that are in these foods actually help the part of the body that it looks like. These foods are best & more powerful when eaten raw.



A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.


A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.


Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.


A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.


Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.


Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.


Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these org ans. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents c e rvical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).


Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.


And finally, Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.


I thought that this was pretty cool! I'm sure there are more comparisons out there but these were the only ones listed in the e-mail. ENJOY!