I never thought I'd love snow this much!

We're back.... finally!

Here's the quick rundown of our vacation:

Sunday- night Fred's parents drove us to the airport. We almost missed our first flight because we were being spacey- luckily they were barely closing the door and let us on! :} Then in Philly a plane slid off the runway and our flight from Philly to Miami was delayed 5 hours. Did I mention I hate flying? We finally made it to the hotel Mom D. reserved for us at 2am.

Monday- we went to the port and that's where the never ending tipping began- tip the taxi driver, tip the Port worker that took our bags for us, tip the cruise workers, tip restaurant waiters, I felt like I was giving out our money left & right! We checked into our room then looked around the ship a little. At dinner that night the other couple that was assigned to our table threw a fit because it was "a special occassion" and they wanted their own table, so they sat somewhere else. For 3 nights Fred & I had a table to ourselves.

Tuesday-Our first stop was in Nassau. Fred & I went on a catamaran & snorkeling tour. The water was FREEZING! Fred laughed because he said he could hear me squealing even after I went under water. (Yes, I'm a wuss.) That night was a dress-up night at dinner. They have these photographers come around and take your picture and the first night we told him we didn't want a picture so the next night he didn't even stop at our table. :}



Wednesday - We spent the day at Half Moon Cay, it seemed like a private island that Carnival owns. We kayaked around the bay, which was a lot of fun. Fred & I had a little plastic kayak that wasn't as easy to manuver & very tipsy, but we managed to stay dry! We saw a starfish on our ride that was easily 12 inches across and the water is so clear - I wish I would've had my camera but didn't dare take it out on the water with us. The 2nd half of the day we spent laying out on the beach. Fred ventured out to play in the waves, but I stayed where it was warm. Since the cruise ship didn't come all the way in we had to take a tender boat into the island- thankfully they hosted a bbq on the island. That night the water got kind of rough. I was already a little motion sick from the boat in general- whoever said you can't feel the boat very much lied!

Thursday - The rough water made it so we ported late in Grand Turk. As soon as we got off the boat it started raining. We had to wait a little while for our shore excursion but it was worth it! We took a dune buggy around the little island, up to a light house, and saw some beautiful views. I drove the last little bit, after it was done raining and didn't do a very good job of dodging the puddles. You're supposed to get muddy though right?

Friday - Was a day at sea and surprisingly the day I felt best on the boat. But I was disappointed with the activities they had planned for the day. Fred & I played shuffleboard & mini-golfed, watched the hairy chest competition, took a nap & packed.

Saturday - I woke up early to try to see at least one sunrise. (As soon as I got off the boat I was fine. Fred had sea legs for the next 2 days.) After we docked Fred & I took a taxi to pick up our rental car. Probably the most random day at the rental car place ever. 1st - Fred's driver's license was expired! (So I had to drive.) 2nd - they were out of maps! 3rd - there was a lady in there wearing a silver velour track suit & 5 inch gold heart shaped earrings. She was upset that they had rented her a car without automatic locks. All we could gather is that she had locked herself our of the car and missed a funeral. The best part was when she said "Do I look like I dress like this? I look like I'm 24!" The rental guy asked "How old are you?" Hilarious!

We managed to tour Miami only turning around once! I love road trips with Fred--- even if I have to drive because he didn't renew his license. :} First we went to the Gator park- so redneck & SO fun! We road an air boat around the everglades looking for alligators. The tour guide was funny - telling us that if a gator jumps in the boat, wave a $20 and that'll get him to stop laughing and jump down from his stand to throw it out.

After the boat ride they have a little animal show. The guy had me give my camera to Fred and take a picture of me kissing a toad. I look terrified! After Fred took a picture the guide said, "There, now you have a before and after picture."

Next we went to Coral Castle. Ed, the guy who built it was left the night before his wedding and was so broken hearted that he bought this piece of land and started quarrying coral and building a castle with rooms that he and his "Sweet Sixteen" would have lived in. There is a perfectly heart shaped table that weighs 5,000 lbs!

By 3pm we were starting to get really tired, but I figured we only had one day in Miami, let's see everything, so we drove out to the Everglades. About 10 minutes into the park I decided I was too exhausted so we went back to the hotel by Miami Beach. We checked into one of the most run-down hotels that smelled awful! Not our room luckily- just the hallways. We got dinner & walked around then went to bed.

Sunday - We walked along the beach for a little while then packed our bags and headed to the airport. Which is a whole other story---- 2 days later, at 12:05am we landed in Utah! I've never been so happy to see snow!

All we want for Christmas...

Is a cruise to the Bahamas!
Fred has worked really hard this semester going to school all day- literally by the time he does class & 3 1/2 hour labs for Genetics & Organic Chemistry. He has a crazy sleep schedule then works at night - never really seeing the sun. He's been awesome about studying and being awake when I want to do things. We couldn't think of anything we wanted for Christmas - he doesn't have time to play with all of the tools he usually gets and if we end up moving for Medical school we didn't want to have to pack even more..... so why not a vacation?!
We leave in the morning but it doesn't seem real! A few days in Miami & 5 nights on the boat. We're excited to just be away from everything!
I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to post when we get back.
Happy Tanning!

Geocaching Nerds

We started the Thanksgiving break with family pictures since my sister's family was out from Colorado. They turned out pretty good and you can't even tell there was drama, can you? Nothing fancy since there are so many of us, but mom loves to have a picture of everyone together.

Fred went home and slept since he'd worked the night before. I made curry cauliflower for dinner at Gram's. Nothing too exciting, just dinner with the extended family. Fred slept after dinner and I went to visit my family for a little while.

The next day I went with my sister Nashaela & Paul, my sister Janae & 3 of her kids to ride the frontrunner train to Ogden. $9 for a round trip!!!! That's outrageous! But, we had told the kids we would let them ride the train... luckily there was a family pass. We stopped in Ogden at the Union Pacific Station to see their museums. They have a car museum, small art gallery, a train museum, and gun museum all for just $5 - so I felt a little bit better about the cost of the ride out there.

Fred of course had just gotten off work so he stayed home to sleep, then met us at my parents' house for Thanksgiving leftovers.

I had tried to think of something fun we could do together that would entertain both kids & adults and thought of Geocaching. At Thanksgiving dinner I had my Awesome (very techy) bro-in-law show me how to use the Geocaching website.

After everyone was stuffed, we headed out with 4 GPS's and 2 pages of waypoints to look for treasures. The first one was just at the local park. We found the basic area where our GPS's said to go but still couldn't find the box. I ended up calling Jeremy to have him tell us where it was. Then we tried another one. When we got to a point we thought it would be & couldn't find it my niece said "You should call him again." :} We kept looking and were able to find 2 more before it was too dark.

Kind of a nerdy game, but fun..... For those of you who don't know what Geocaching is: People have hidden log books & some little toys in containers around the world (there are seriously millions). On the geocaching.com website it provides the coordinates you can enter in a GPS to lead you to them. They're usually hidden in shrubs so you have to actually look a little bit. They have different levels of difficulty & different sizes of containers.

It turned out to be really fun for both the adults & kids!

We ended the evening back at mom's house. Her cousin was over visiting and we asked what was planned for dinner. Then while mom was out of the room we voted on pizza & left to get it before she knew what happened!

We played games & the Nintendo WII for the rest of the evening.

Judging from the look on dad's face... he won. :}

Jasper's surgery

I went outside one morning and Jasper was sitting in the flower bed (ours). He's found a place behind a rosebush that he's nestled into. His neck looked like he had cleaned it recently, the fur was wet & matted. I picked him up to look at him and saw a gaping hole in his neck!

Of course I was running late to work and it wasn't bleeding so I put him down and hoped he's be okay until I got home to take him to the vet. I didn't call for an appointment, I figured the wound justified walking in. They still acted put out by it, but fit him in.

The whole visit was humorous. I'm not over protective of my cat, he lives outside, even in the snow, he has a little house to stay warm in & food & water everyday. The vet assistant took him back, shaved his neck, the doctor looked at it, the whole time I'm sitting out in the lobby looking ridiculously bored.

Side note.... I used to work at that very Animal Hospital- for my uncle. So I was bugged that they made me sit in the lobby. I know that they're not "hurting" the animals when they shave them and the cat is meowing really loud.

So, the assistant comes back out, SITS by me and says "We'll need to sedate him." Like it's going to be the end of the world. The doctor didn't have time to do it that night so did I want to bring him back in the morning? I told her I work in Salt Lake.... She said Jasper could spend the night, no extra charge, just some people didn't like to leave their pets. I said "That's fine, my husband will pick him up tomorrow." :} Wow I sound unattached to my pet! But I really did miss him that night.

They called the next day to let me know "The surgery went well, he's resting comfortably."

His neck looked really gross with the tube & stitches so the sore could drain. He got to live inside for the week which I'm sure he loved.

A week later, Fred took him in to get his stitches out. I was afraid he had scratched the area too much, but it's healed fine. All that's left is one tiny spot & hopefully his fur grows back quickly!