Don't rock the boat

So, can I just say how much I love warmth and sunshine? It was so fabulous to not be cold for 10 days. The trip to the Caribbean was a complete blast, and I loved every minute of it. Mostly I just loved being warm and out in the sun, and lounging about in a lounge chair. That is one of my most favorite pastimes....just enjoying the sunshine. If I ever do a cruise again though, it will definatley be a singles cruise or after I get married. Too many couples!

So we started off the trip by flying to San Juan, Puerto Rico where we went to some cool forts built in the 1500s, walked around Old San Juan where we discovered the birthplace of the pina colada, a cool street fair with a live band and dancing, adorable neighborhoods with brightly colored buildings and old brick roads, and just enjoyed being near the ocean. We also stayed a couple more days in San Juan after the cruise and we went to El Yunque, which is a very cool rainforest. We went to church both weeks in a fun little Spanish ward. It was cool to go to church in Spanish again! We also went to the beach, of course! We stayed with Caron's friend from college, Celia, who showed us all kinds of neat stuff.
Then we boarded our home for the next 7 days, the luxurious Adventure of the Seas. That thing was huge! They had a jogging track, a spa, a gym, a rock climbing wall, miniature golf, an ice skating rink, 3 pools, multiple hot tubs, a few nightclubs, a ton of lounges and bars, a million restaurants with more food than you could ever imagine, rows and rows of lounge chairs under the sun, a library....I could go on and on. And, we got waited on hand and foot. Our maid even made us little animals out of our towels each day and left us chocolates on our pillows. Ahhh....the life.




The first night on the boat was kinda rocky, but the rest of the week we were totally fine with the movement of the boat. It's getting off the boat that's killing me! I don't know if I'm going through Dramamine withdrawls or what, but I can hardly walk straight, and every time I stand up I feel like I'm going to fall over. It's been almost a week since we got off the boat...I hope this doesn't last much longer.

Walk on the ocean

We had lots of fun line dancing on the pool deck, and listening to all the cool live bands they had on the boat. We even made it to the spa to get massages, and I even ran 13.5 miles during the week. Try running on a boat! It's not as easy as it sounds. And don't forget shuffleboard! Neither of us was very good, but you can't be on a cruise ship and not play shuffleboard.
We had lots of fun excursions. Our first island stop was Aruba, where we rode on the super-fun banana bus. Just picture a huge black bus driver, open windows, a multi-colored banana bus, and some jammin' tunes...good times. We rode the banana bus to a pier where we got on a pirate boat called the Jolly Pirate. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. We rope swung off the pirate boat into the ocean, and they took us out to some cool snorkeling spots, including a sunken shipwreck. Here we are at the helm of the ship enjoying the "hammocks".
Later that evening as we were wandering around Aruba, we came across a local festival, where we got to experience some live music and dancing. I love all the bright colors of the Caribbean! We also made friends with the steel drum band player, who promised to mail us a CD of his band!
Our next port of call was Curacao. This town was so stinkin' cute! I love the colorful waterfront buildings. We went mountain biking with Hank and Frank and searched all over for a music store.
Here we are in St. Maarten where Caron is getting a lesson in steel drummage. We also went kayaking and snorkeling on St. Maarten and got rained on. The snorkel guide brought fish food so all the fish were swimming right around us...very cool.
Our final island stop was St. Thomas where we got in touch with our inner pirates. I am related to Sir Francis Drake, the pirate himself, so it runs in my blood! Here we are at Blackbeard's castle. With all the pirate paraphenalia I bought, I will have to throw another pirate parrrrty soon.
Also on St. Thomas, we went to Maegan's Bay Beach, which apparently is one of the Top 10 beaches in the world, according to National Geographic. It was simply lovely. Mr. Maegan, who owned the land, refused to let anyone build there so it would be open solely for beach use.

So there you have it. Fun, sun, indulgence....loved it all. Now it's time to start planning my next vacation! P.S. Check out Caron's blog for her version of the adventure!

One single word

I would just like to say that in exactly 72 hours from now, I will not be scraping snow from my car, or trying to locate my wool socks, or sipping hot chocolate, or even wearing a coat. Instead, I will be wearing my super cute new swimsuit, I will be lathered up in SPF 30, laying in a lounge chair with a good book, and drinking pina coladas in the luxurious Caribbean. Let the countdown begin cuz soon I will be here...Is blogging a trend of the past? Just wondering since it seems that people have jumped off the blogging bandwagon.

On another note, I was reading on Ali's blog the other day, and she issued a challenge to come up with one little word to describe your vision for 2007. She said she started this tradition last year, and her word for 2006 was “play”. Everything she did that year, she kept that word in mind, and it really changed her vision on the everyday things of life. This got me thinking. What one single word would I choose to describe an entire year? Well, I’ve come up with one. LIVE.

By this I mean things like:
-Live life to its fullest
-Live up to my potential
-Live in the present
-Live each day with no regrets
-Enjoy everyday living
-Make my life what it was meant to be
-Live in accordance to the covenants I’ve made

I read this quote the other day that says, “Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.” I’m a big dreamer, but I’m not always a big liver. That is, one who lives--not an internal organ. :) I sometimes find myself living in the past or in the future, and not wholly embracing the present, so I'm going to try and work on that. Anyway, what would your word be?

Happy New Year times 3

Happy New Year and welcome to 2007! I would like to report that I had three successful New Year's celebrations this year. I spent the actual New Years Eve in St. George because it was my grandpa's 80th birthday party. So, the day before I left, I had a celebration here in West Jordan. It was great fun, complete with maracas and a drum and fireworks. Then we got all decked out for Gramps' party. We were the only table of young'uns there. Everyone else was at least 70 years old. They didn't play bingo or shuffleboard or have any festivities, so we entertained ourselves by making a Davey bird and a Davey pinata.
Then we had a Honky Tonk murder mystery. Dan, Dan the preacher man was the killer. What part of 'Thou shalt not kill' does he not understand?
Then we had the traditional countdown to midnight, and toasted with Martinellis, frolicked about the neighborhood in celebration, and made a ruckus. Then we got a brilliant idea. We got in the car and drove across the state line to Nevada. (They are an hour earlier in the time zone situation) So we could do it all over again. Here we are at the Casablanca casino in Mesquite. We got there just in time to see confetti fall from the ceiling and hear all the noisemakers, and then get kicked out of the casino about 3 minutes later because we had brought minors in with us. It was great fun.
Anyway, it's time to make my New Year's Resolutions. This year, I have big plans to:

1. Run a 1/2 marathon.
2. Learn to swim.
3. Take guitar lessons.
4. Get up on time in the morning to actually have a decent amount of time to study my scriptures.
5. Throw more parties.
6. Find a way to consistently use my Spanish.
7. Apply for graduate school.
8. Give away a Book of Mormon.

So, there you have it. I'm well on my way to becoming a better person in 2007. If you could all check up on me once in awhile to make sure I'm sticking with it, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and good night.