So last night Zeb and I watched "Julie and Julia" for the first time and I must say that it inspired me in a number of ways. #1 to be a better cook. I want to bust out all of my cookbooks from the drawer they've been hiding in, dust them off and actually use them. And #2 to blog more. Not just to use it to post updates on our life but to actually share more of my thoughts. So I guess that can be my New Years Resolution goals for 2010. Ya, that's doable, I like that!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Western Caribbean Cruise
So I haven't had my lap top for a while so I'm just updating our blog! Zeb and I spent an amazing week on our first cruise to the Caribbean a little over a month ago. We went with my dad and step mom and had such a fun time! I seriously think we lucked out on this cruise because everyone in our tour group and been on tons of cruises and they all said that ours was the funnest they've been on. We had such amazing weather the whole time, great entertainment, the funnest ship and the funnest people in our group. I'll tell you more about them later, but all around I don't know how our next cruise will top this one!
So, where to start? Well on our way to Cape Canaveral we stopped by the Kennedy Space Center and looked around. I had never been there before so I really enjoyed that. But honestly I just couldn't wait to get to the ship and get the cruise started that I didn't pay much attention. We'll have to go back again.
Finally we pulled up to the ship and all of us were just dumbfounded. The thing was huge!!! We spent a good few hours just wandering around trying to get our bearings and see all there was to see. It was fun watching the ship set sail, and I was totally expecting to get sea sick and I didn't get sick at all- it was great!
Our first stop was Haiti. Royal Carribean owned part of the island and so that's the only part of the island we saw. We went exploring and found "Dragon's Fire", walked along the beach and then both fell asleep in hammocks! It was the definition of relaxing!
We then headed to Jamaica man. We went to Dunns River Falls and hiked up the water fall and had so much fun with all the Jamaican's. They are just as I imagined them to be and what you see in the movie's. It was "Hey man" this and "Hey man" that and "man" after every sentence. I just wanted to take one home with me! Zeb on the other hand had to disagree, he didn't love them like I did. His only reason was because they were quite pushy when trying to sell us stuff and when we were wandering the island he felt like one was going to snatch me or something. You could definately see the poverty there but it was still so beautiful!
After Dunns River Falls the driver drove us all around the island. They driv
e on the opposite side of the street there and it frieked us all out a little bit. Zeb 
called it "organized chaos" the way they drive and I couldn't agree more. Everwhere we drove looked like a rainforest with trees that reached up to the sky practically. It inspired me to write a song about it entitled "organized chaos". We'll see how it turns out :)
e on the opposite side of the street there and it frieked us all out a little bit. Zeb 
called it "organized chaos" the way they drive and I couldn't agree more. Everwhere we drove looked like a rainforest with trees that reached up to the sky practically. It inspired me to write a song about it entitled "organized chaos". We'll see how it turns out :)Perhaps one of my favorite stops was the Cayman Islands. It was unlike any of the others, it was increadibly nice, no one haggeling you for money and 
you could just tell they had so much money there. Here is where we swam with the stingrays and went snorkeling- it was so much fun!
Our last stop 
was Cozumel Mexico. We mostly just shopped and hung out there. I loved seeing main street there, it reminded me a lot of the Cayman Islands. Really nice shops, really nice people, not super pushy. It rained on us a little while we were there, but we still enjoyed it.
you could just tell they had so much money there. Here is where we swam with the stingrays and went snorkeling- it was so much fun!
Our last stop 
was Cozumel Mexico. We mostly just shopped and hung out there. I loved seeing main street there, it reminded me a lot of the Cayman Islands. Really nice shops, really nice people, not super pushy. It rained on us a little while we were there, but we still enjoyed it.
Besides the beautiful view of the ocean for an entire week, I think my favorite thing was just to have 8 days to not have to think about anything and be with Zeb. I also love the gratitude I feel as I travel to different places in the world. You see so many different kinds of people and cultures- all different, all unique. It really makes me grateful that I live where I live and reminds me again how much I've been blessed with!
So, I'm now planning our next cruise because now I'm addicted... dang it! I'm thinking a Mediterranean cruise! Ya!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
What a week! It feels good to finally catch my breath. I'll spare you from giving you all the details, and just stick to the highlights.
To start the week off we were able to go with Ginny and her parents to the Draper temple to do the temple work for her brother Charlie. What an incredible experience! The spirit was so strong witnessing to me once again how important family is and how powerful the bonds are that connect us.
Also this week my sister Nora was in town. I love the family time we get when she comes to town. She stayed with us Sunday night and of course we stayed up till all hours of the night talking! And who can forget our unique camping experience over the weekend. I'll tell you about that later.
Also, one of my mission companions came to town this week from Texas. Audrey and I were actually companions twice on the mission, in the MTC and then again about half way through our mission. So we got together with Randall, Schellenburg and Bonner and stayed at Hogi yogi until they had to kick us out cause they were closing! It was soooo good to see them and catch up!
One of the other highlights of the week was our family camping trip that turned into a sleep over at Ryan's. So, the reader's digest version is this-
We tried to camp at Murdock Basin up in the Uintah's. The weather man said it was only 30% chance of rain so we thought we would risk it. Bad choice. We were meeting everyone up there Friday after work. My family was going up earlier to have everything set up and be ready for us. We had to meet them at the trailhead parking and then would pick us up from there in the rhino and take us off roading up to the camping spot. We got there and there was no sign of them. We sat there waiting for them for over an hour. The sky kept getting darker and darker with clouds, then came rain and still no sight of them.
Little did we know what drama they were going through. They made it to the campsite and dropped off most the stuff. They broke the trailer hitch getting up there. Then on their way back down to get the rest of the stuff it started hailing and snowing on them, leaving them all soaked and their stuff drenched. When they tried to come get us in the rhino it broke down, so they tried to pull it with the truck and the rope busted.
By the time they got to us practically everything was broken, wet and freezing! Poor things!
It was almost midnight by this point and we were all starving, so we drove back to Park City, ate at Wendy's and then all crashed at Ryan and Sonja's.
And what would ya know- Saturday was bright and sunny.
We were determined to make the most of our weekend and decided to hike up to Bells Canyon.
It was a beautiful hike with a gorgeous view of a waterfall at the top and the valley below. I was especially proud of my mom for making it to the top. She just had surgery on her rotater cuff in her shoulder and was quite the trooper. There were times that we had to help her over some pretty big rocks on the path because she couldn't pull herself up and over them with her hurt arm- but I can't help but make it a comparison to life. There are times when we all need others' help to pull us up and over some of the trials we face in life, but that's why we're here and that's what family is for.
Also this week my sister Nora was in town. I love the family time we get when she comes to town. She stayed with us Sunday night and of course we stayed up till all hours of the night talking! And who can forget our unique camping experience over the weekend. I'll tell you about that later.
Also, one of my mission companions came to town this week from Texas. Audrey and I were actually companions twice on the mission, in the MTC and then again about half way through our mission. So we got together with Randall, Schellenburg and Bonner and stayed at Hogi yogi until they had to kick us out cause they were closing! It was soooo good to see them and catch up!
One of the other highlights of the week was our family camping trip that turned into a sleep over at Ryan's. So, the reader's digest version is this-
We tried to camp at Murdock Basin up in the Uintah's. The weather man said it was only 30% chance of rain so we thought we would risk it. Bad choice. We were meeting everyone up there Friday after work. My family was going up earlier to have everything set up and be ready for us. We had to meet them at the trailhead parking and then would pick us up from there in the rhino and take us off roading up to the camping spot. We got there and there was no sign of them. We sat there waiting for them for over an hour. The sky kept getting darker and darker with clouds, then came rain and still no sight of them.
Little did we know what drama they were going through. They made it to the campsite and dropped off most the stuff. They broke the trailer hitch getting up there. Then on their way back down to get the rest of the stuff it started hailing and snowing on them, leaving them all soaked and their stuff drenched. When they tried to come get us in the rhino it broke down, so they tried to pull it with the truck and the rope busted.
By the time they got to us practically everything was broken, wet and freezing! Poor things!
It was almost midnight by this point and we were all starving, so we drove back to Park City, ate at Wendy's and then all crashed at Ryan and Sonja's.
And what would ya know- Saturday was bright and sunny.
We were determined to make the most of our weekend and decided to hike up to Bells Canyon.
It was a beautiful hike with a gorgeous view of a waterfall at the top and the valley below. I was especially proud of my mom for making it to the top. She just had surgery on her rotater cuff in her shoulder and was quite the trooper. There were times that we had to help her over some pretty big rocks on the path because she couldn't pull herself up and over them with her hurt arm- but I can't help but make it a comparison to life. There are times when we all need others' help to pull us up and over some of the trials we face in life, but that's why we're here and that's what family is for.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
A Great Anniversary
August 4th was our 2 year anniversary! One of my clients at work hooked us up with a great hotel room at the Marriott in St. George, so we headed down there for a long weekend.
It's funny that just having cable in the hotel room was a luxury to us. Zeb was so excited because Shark Week was on, and sadly it was hard to peel him away from that. Not to mention that Cops and Cheaters was on, which are our favorite too!
We drove to Vegas on Monday to hang out on the strip. We went to the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay (I'm seeing a theme here of sharks-we didn't even plan that!)
They gave us these little hand held devices that you held up to your ear to hear facts about all the animals you were looking at. Well, if any of you don't know this about my husband- he knows almost everything about almost all animals! I was trying to listen to my little remote thingy but he kept telling me everything that the remote was, so eventually I just put it down and let him tell me everything about all the fish and sharks. I did manage to stump him on one fact that I heard from my remote- it was about the lionfish. To kill their prey they corner them and then use their poisonous spines to subdue their prey before swallowing them whole!
Now for any of you that don't know this about me- I absolutely love touching things. So you can imagine my sheer excitement when they had a pool full of stingrays that we could touch. I was practically pushing the little children out of my way so I could touch them as they swam by! It was awesome!
Here's a cool shot of one of the sharks. They had all different kinds of sharks- but to me they are all just ugly and scary.
At certain points they had the aquarium all around you so you could see the sharks everywhere- it was really cool!
A shark above us
Some cool jelly fish
Other than that, we ate at In and Out Burger, which surprisingly was Zeb's first time and just hung out on the strip.
In Caesars Palace
Zeb put in a dollar, he lost 98 cents, but came out on top with 2 cents left.
Most of the time we were in St. George. We swam and shopped, went to a movie, ate a lot, relaxed and visited the St. George temple.
I warned you in my last post that this one might get mushy- so feel free to stop reading now. But I must say that probably my favorite part of the trip was just getting to talk with my husband. To have one on one time that was uninterrupted by life and we could just talk! We play this game where we take turns asking each other questions, one at a time and they can be about anything. I think we played this for the entire 4 hours home. It definitely keeps things interesting and it's really fun to think up things that we normally wouldn't talk about! It still surprises me how much I can learn about Zeb and how I grow to love him more and more!
We drove to Vegas on Monday to hang out on the strip. We went to the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay (I'm seeing a theme here of sharks-we didn't even plan that!)
They gave us these little hand held devices that you held up to your ear to hear facts about all the animals you were looking at. Well, if any of you don't know this about my husband- he knows almost everything about almost all animals! I was trying to listen to my little remote thingy but he kept telling me everything that the remote was, so eventually I just put it down and let him tell me everything about all the fish and sharks. I did manage to stump him on one fact that I heard from my remote- it was about the lionfish. To kill their prey they corner them and then use their poisonous spines to subdue their prey before swallowing them whole!
Now for any of you that don't know this about me- I absolutely love touching things. So you can imagine my sheer excitement when they had a pool full of stingrays that we could touch. I was practically pushing the little children out of my way so I could touch them as they swam by! It was awesome!
Here's a cool shot of one of the sharks. They had all different kinds of sharks- but to me they are all just ugly and scary.
At certain points they had the aquarium all around you so you could see the sharks everywhere- it was really cool!
A shark above us
Some cool jelly fishOther than that, we ate at In and Out Burger, which surprisingly was Zeb's first time and just hung out on the strip.
In Caesars Palace
Zeb put in a dollar, he lost 98 cents, but came out on top with 2 cents left.Most of the time we were in St. George. We swam and shopped, went to a movie, ate a lot, relaxed and visited the St. George temple.
I warned you in my last post that this one might get mushy- so feel free to stop reading now. But I must say that probably my favorite part of the trip was just getting to talk with my husband. To have one on one time that was uninterrupted by life and we could just talk! We play this game where we take turns asking each other questions, one at a time and they can be about anything. I think we played this for the entire 4 hours home. It definitely keeps things interesting and it's really fun to think up things that we normally wouldn't talk about! It still surprises me how much I can learn about Zeb and how I grow to love him more and more!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The Swine Flu Blues
Yep, it's actually true. I got the Swine Flu. I thought I would only see it in the news and hear about Suzy's cousin's best friend once removed who had gotten the swine flu, but I never actually thought I would get it! Never say never I guess!
And to be quite honest, (not that I want to down play it totally, cause it did suck) it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Maybe I was expecting to be hospitalized or something. The first day was no fun. I felt like I had the flu, pneumonia and strep throat all at the same time. And then add a raging head ache on top of that. But after I went to the doctor and got some Tamiflu it got better. Then it was just 7 days of feeling isolated from the world, sleeping in my guest bedroom (in attempts not to give it to Zeb), with no energy, coughing, and a sore throat.
So, that's my brush with death flu that everyone has been talking about. Not much more to report than that! I finally went back to work yesterday, it was not much fun. I had to take breaks and go lay down in between clients in the massage rooms- but I made it!
Now I can focus on our upcoming anniversary! The big 2 years! Be prepared my next post will probably be something sappy and love filled about my husband, and our 2 years married! Hey, I warned you at least!
And to be quite honest, (not that I want to down play it totally, cause it did suck) it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Maybe I was expecting to be hospitalized or something. The first day was no fun. I felt like I had the flu, pneumonia and strep throat all at the same time. And then add a raging head ache on top of that. But after I went to the doctor and got some Tamiflu it got better. Then it was just 7 days of feeling isolated from the world, sleeping in my guest bedroom (in attempts not to give it to Zeb), with no energy, coughing, and a sore throat.
So, that's my brush with death flu that everyone has been talking about. Not much more to report than that! I finally went back to work yesterday, it was not much fun. I had to take breaks and go lay down in between clients in the massage rooms- but I made it!
Now I can focus on our upcoming anniversary! The big 2 years! Be prepared my next post will probably be something sappy and love filled about my husband, and our 2 years married! Hey, I warned you at least!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
It has been a crazy couple of days. My house looks like a tornado hit it because i haven't had a second to clean it up, and I have way more laundry to do than is possible for just two people living here.
Here's what we have been up to!
Friday and Saturday we went camping with my family at cherry hill. None of us had ever been there so we didn't really know what to expect, but it ended up being pretty fun. Zeb and I took our motor home up there (first time ever using it) and discovered it had no ac, so we had to suffer through the 100 degree heat while my brother Jason complained about his motor home being so cold that the ac froze :) Punk!
Zeb just chill'n
Jake,Dawson and Joshua
Everyone hang'n out after dinner
I think some of my favorite moments were:
1) Playing Texas Hold Em in the dark with the lantern and head lights (and I might mention that I won and it was my first time playing!)
2)Watching this random little chubby kid at the pool do belly flops as he was so desperately trying to dive.
3)I love how no matter what when all of us are together the topic of working out or eating always comes up, and we were all sharing our P90x stories.
4)The fact that our motor home started up every time and made it there and back :)
Jason,Lisa and Andrew
Ryan and Sonja
Dad and Neva
(the cutest campers of us all!)
So besides camping, we had the Tool concert on Sunday (I know we are such sinners, but I just couldn't tell my husband no, they're his favorite!) and then on Monday was my Birthday! Yep, the big 26! Most birthdays I feel the same, but for some reason with this one I actually feel a little older, weird!
My cute husband planned for us to go out to dinner for Sushi at Tsunami with some family and friends. Then we met up with Katie and Court for some yummy ice cream. So all in all it was an awesome b day.
We sat at this really cool round table that spun in the corner of the restaurant. It reminded me of our kitchen table growing up, but this one was much bigger!
Katie, Court and Bentley
Jason and Lisa
The Richards
So, that's what we've been up to. Thanks to everyone that came to celebrate my birthday with us. And thanks to my husband for planning it all!
Friday and Saturday we went camping with my family at cherry hill. None of us had ever been there so we didn't really know what to expect, but it ended up being pretty fun. Zeb and I took our motor home up there (first time ever using it) and discovered it had no ac, so we had to suffer through the 100 degree heat while my brother Jason complained about his motor home being so cold that the ac froze :) Punk!
Zeb just chill'n
Jake,Dawson and Joshua
Everyone hang'n out after dinnerI think some of my favorite moments were:
1) Playing Texas Hold Em in the dark with the lantern and head lights (and I might mention that I won and it was my first time playing!)
2)Watching this random little chubby kid at the pool do belly flops as he was so desperately trying to dive.
3)I love how no matter what when all of us are together the topic of working out or eating always comes up, and we were all sharing our P90x stories.
4)The fact that our motor home started up every time and made it there and back :)
Jason,Lisa and Andrew
Ryan and Sonja
Dad and Neva(the cutest campers of us all!)
So besides camping, we had the Tool concert on Sunday (I know we are such sinners, but I just couldn't tell my husband no, they're his favorite!) and then on Monday was my Birthday! Yep, the big 26! Most birthdays I feel the same, but for some reason with this one I actually feel a little older, weird!
My cute husband planned for us to go out to dinner for Sushi at Tsunami with some family and friends. Then we met up with Katie and Court for some yummy ice cream. So all in all it was an awesome b day.
We sat at this really cool round table that spun in the corner of the restaurant. It reminded me of our kitchen table growing up, but this one was much bigger!
Katie, Court and Bentley
Jason and Lisa
The RichardsSo, that's what we've been up to. Thanks to everyone that came to celebrate my birthday with us. And thanks to my husband for planning it all!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
4th of July
July is one of my most favorite months in the whole year. December would have to be right after it. I love going and seeing the fireworks, I love the BBQ's, the warm weather, and I love the reminder it gives us of the freedoms we all enjoy and at what expense it came with!
This year Zeb and I celebrated by going to Park City with Katie, Court and Bentley. We shopped at the outlet malls, had lunch, went to main street and then we went to Sugarhouse park to see the fireworks.
This year Zeb and I celebrated by going to Park City with Katie, Court and Bentley. We shopped at the outlet malls, had lunch, went to main street and then we went to Sugarhouse park to see the fireworks.
Zeb was saying the funniest things during the fireworks. He turned to me and asked me if I would rather be a firework that goes off by itself or if I would rather be part of the finale? I actually had to contemplate it for a minute, but I think I would rather be part of the finale. I've never been one that likes a lot of attention on me, and I love adding to the whole picture- so since finale's are more memorable I think I would like to add to the beauty of it.
Anyways, I thought it was a funny question. Definately not one I would have thought of.
The other funny comment he made was-"Mann I would hate to be lost somewhere and have to use my only flare on the 4th of July!" He is so funny! I busted up laughing and just wished I could be in his head for a day- I would probably be laughing the whole day!
Anyways, I thought it was a funny question. Definately not one I would have thought of.
The other funny comment he made was-"Mann I would hate to be lost somewhere and have to use my only flare on the 4th of July!" He is so funny! I busted up laughing and just wished I could be in his head for a day- I would probably be laughing the whole day!
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