Our Cruise to the Eastern Caribbean ( Warning: picture overload)

At the end of January we went on our cruise with the Johns family.  We all had a blast together.  I love it when we get to spend time with just the family:)  The Eastern Caribbean was so beautiful and the warm weather made me never want to go back home.  Here Chris is about to get on our ship.. He doesn't look excited at all does he?

The first thing that we did when we boarded the ship was head up to the Windjammer Cafe for some food.  This is us in Fort Lauderdale before we took off!

Our bedroom:

Our first stop was at San Juan:  

We just shopped and went sight seeing around.  It was kinda nice to not have much planned so we could just wander around.

Second stop St. Thomas:

We got up really early and took a taxi to Magens Bay.  It was so pretty.  The water was so warm and clear!

Then off to our first excursion.  Snuba diving.  They took us to a different beach which was pretty much just as amazing. I coudn't believe how clear the water is! 

Third stop:  St Maarten

For our excursion here we took the Rino Riders (pretty much the same thing as a jet ski)  to a private beach and then snorkel around there...  Little did we know it was a nudest beach!  It was so pretty and there was only a few couples that were there.  And yes they were butt naked:)  We decided not to join in..

Last stop: Labadee, Haiti:

We got of the ship as soon as it arrived at Haiti.  They don't havc a port for this island so they had little ships to taxi us to the beach and then back to our boat.  We did this zip line that took you over the ocean.  The view from up there was awesome.   I think that I would have been terrified to do these if I hadn't experienced them before.  (we rode much scarier ones in Mexico!)
Going down the Zip line!

Sunset pictures from the ship:

Our dinner time was right at the same time as the sunset so we only got out there to see it a couple of times and both times it was a little cloudy.  It was really windy so I just got use to my hair being out of control the whole time.

At Sea days were a blast.  There was so much to do on our ship that we never got bored.  Chris spent a lot of time on the flow rider and he got really good at it by the time we went home.

Here I am ice skating on our ship.  It was hard to believe that we were in the middle of the ocean ice skating:)

FOOD, FOOD, FOOD...  We ate so much..  And it was all delicious.  It maybe wasn't a good thing that there was food avalaible 24 hours a day!

These are our waiters: Stephan and Vedo.

It was so nice to wake up and head upstairs to anything you could think of having for breakfast already prepared for you!  And the view wasn't to bad either:

There was 2 super formal nights while during our 8 day cruise.  So I decided it would be fun to wear some of my old dance dresses from high school!  It was so fun to put them on again.  I wore under shirts under them so they were a little more modest.  I have more to cover now:)  But i thought it still looked cute!  I was just proud i could still fit into them.  They were a little snug.

Well that is our cruise in a very short version.  It was awesome.. Thank you Brent and Becky for such an amazing week.  This was both of ours first cruise.  And we can't wait to go on another one... Hopefully soon...  

Valentines Day 2009

(looking out into our backyard with the city lights)

Chris and I both had to work on Valentines day this year.  So we didn't really get a chance to go do anything to exciting.. Chris got off at 5 and I got off around 7:15.  I had asked Chris what we were going to do that night and he never would tell me.  He just assured me that he had plans:)  What a cute guy.  So after I got off he told me to come up to our house and we were going to eat up there..  This was our first dinner in our new home and it couldn't have been more perfect!

You have to realize at this point our house is a mess.. Seriously not to cute at all:)  But when i got there he had our little table set up and had a whole candle lit dinner ready for me!  He is so sweet.  We had delicious Boccia de Italia.  He had everything perfect.

  Except that we didn't have chairs.  So i got the comfy chair and he had to sit on a ladder.  After dinner he surprised me with taking me to our bathroom and had this new bathroom set I wanted all set out!  I was so excited!  Thank you honey for such a great day.  You make me so happy and I can't imagine my life without you.

Me at work with my flowers:)  I always love how different the arrangements are the he gets me!

Our row of flowers got quite a lot of attention all day at work:)

What would be a Valentines Day without sugar cookies!

Parker loved my flowers too!  I had to keep a close watch on him to make sure he did eat them all up!  Little stinker!

It's cute, It's old, Best of all it's OURS!

I finally took a picture of the outside so I could post a picture!  It still doesn't seem real that we have our own place.  Maybe it won't sink in until we actually move in.  We had put offers on 3 other houses before this one and didn't ever end up with any of them.  It was very frustrating...  But as soon as our offer got accepted for this one I couldn't believe it!  It is in the best location with 1/2 acre lot, and plenty of room for our family to grow(much better than any of the others).  We always said when we were looking at houses how much we love the old red brick houses.  Now we have one!  It won us over when we went to look at it and we walked into the back room  and looked out a huge window over the valley.  Yes it needs some work.  But that makes it so we can make it just how we want it.  I can't wait for our adventures to start in this house.  It is a whole new beginning for us to do together.  We are very blessed.  We feel like it is the perfect spot for us to be now and already met most our neighbors.  They have already helped us so much and been so overly friendly I can't believe it.  It has been so nice to show up at our house late to work on it and see that our driveway has already been plowed!  

Goodbye Apartment

Well it finally happened.  We bought our first house!  

We found out that our offer had been accepted right before Christmas and we closed on it Jan. 12th.  We were so excited to have our own little house! Then it hit me that we needed to get all of our stuff out of our apartment first!  It was CRAZY...  

To all of you that have moved multiple times I don't know how you do it!  It took me forever to get everything into boxes and trying to keep organized was overwhelming.  It was even harder because I had to decide what was going to be kept out for us to live for a month and what could be packed up.  

That's right.. As of right now we are so so lucky to be living in my parents basement.  Our house needs some work before we get into it and I can't even imagine living in it the way it looks right now..  Aren't parents great!?  It really has been fun for me to be back home with my family!  It's like a party every night! 

I am 23!

It is official.. I am 23.. That seems pretty old!  I can't believe I have been married for 2 1/2 yrs, and been graduated from high school for almost 5 years!  Crazy!  We always celebrate my birthday with my moms side of the family on New Years Day.  And we always got to my grandmas- eat ham, cheesy potatoes, and of course marble cake..  Thank you to everyone for the great gifts!

Then on my actual birthday Chris was able to get it off so we slept in.  Then Chris made me scones and honey butter for breakfast!  It was delicious!  We then got ready and went to the twilight movie cause i have been wanting to see it and just hadn't made it yet.  I actually liked it a lot!  I almost didn't think that i would cause I knew it couldn't do the books justice..  Chris even said that he thought it was pretty good... What a nice guy going with me:)  It could have just been cause it was my birthday..  After that we went shopping for furniture cause i couldn't think of anything else that I wanted.. We ended up going into RC willey and found this super cute dining table!  I think it will look perfect in our home:)  We then went and got Texas Road House and took it to my parents house and then topped it off with cold stone ice cream.. yumm.. 

Christmas Day and day after..

Christmas morning starts off pretty early in our family...

This year we slept in pretty late and got up about 8.  So it was kinda nice to not be so sleepy that day:)  We first get up and open our stockings and then move into the family room to see what Santa brought us and then open all our gifts from eachother.  This year we got some great stuff and mostly money so we can furnish our new home...(more on that soon to come)

Here is Chris with his gift from Amanda & Sean.. A hose and a HOMEOWNER rake:)

I was SOOOO excited for this gift.. I like to cook a lot and it will be so nice to have a really nice set of pots and pans... So great...  I also got the last part of my nativity this year!

Here is my Dad opening his new ban saw.. All of us kids went in together for this.  Kinda a gift that keeps giving so he can make me lots of cute things.

Parker thought we were all crazy up doing all of this stuff.. He love the paper and the bags until chris through a ball of paper at him and scared him to death.  

Aaron opening gifts..

Normally after we finish up with my family stuff and have breakfast we head over to the Johns and start all over!  It is sooo fun.. I love Christmas and I really do love all of the running around we do..  This my inlaws decided that we should all go on a trip together instead of doing presents so at the end of january we are headed out to the Eastern Carribbean.. We are so excited and the warm weather is sounding ver nice!  Because of the storm on Christmas we weren't able to have our normal big dinner with all of my Mom's side so we had our own turkey dinner and then got together the day after.  It worked out alright and I was glad we didn't try to brave the storm.. It looked aweful!  Thank you so much to both of our families we were given way to much and love spending the holidays with everyone we love.  Also again missed you Mandy & Sean!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we always start off by going to the Johns family get together where anyone can just show up and come visit the family.  It was lots of fun but of course I didn't have my camera..   Then off to my families house we go to unwrap our 1 gift that is always pj's.  And then read the nativity story.  Then off to bed we go... Here we are opening our Christmas Eve Presents..

above: Aaron (my little Bro)  below: Chris, me..

This year we missed Amanda and Sean since they had to stay in Washington to be around all of Amanda's doctors.  We missed them very very much!  But atleast we have next year to look forward to with them and the little miss!

The before Christmas Activities...

Every year since I can remember we have had our cookie night with my cousins on my moms side.  It is so fun and we love to be able to get together and make like 5 different kinds of cookies!  Of course with making this many cookies it takes time..  We usually are up till about midnight working on them but not this year!  We got smart and started earlier.  But I am pretty sure we were still there till about that late just gabbing:)

I think that our husbands and my brother decided to take an advantage of this cookie festivity and they turned it into their big game night.  They are so funny... This year Chris packed up the projector to so they could play their games on a BIG screen.  He also took his speakers.  They had  quite the set up.  It makes it even that much more fun that our guys get along so well.
Cookie night was a sucess and although it was hard to hear the Christmas music over the rumbling floor from their games we had a great time.  And I ate ALOT of cookies.

Every year we go to see the lights at temple square.  We have done this even back when we were just dating..  And actually it was dec. 19th when Chris proposed to me in SLC when we were out seeing the lights.  So I love going and getting to spend this time together.

I love all of the different nativities they have out there.. So cute!

Amanda's Preggo!

I haven't put this on my blog yet and she is already almost 26 wks! I knew forever ago that she was but she didn't put it on her blog or tell anyone for a really long time so I didn't feel like I should be the one to break the news.. I wanted to post it on here back in September when I had just been out there for 2 weeks making food for her since she has been staying down alot.. But here she is with her cute belly! This pregnancy has been much easier on her than the last. Although she has still been on edge:) We are so excited for her and can't believe that we will have a little niece in April!