Cruisin'...the sequel

I know you probably wish that the last post was the end of our cruise adventure but no.

There is more.

We went to an island called St. Kitts.

To be honest, there is not a lot to do in St. Kitts.

We had a friend that told us to go shopping while there because the shopping was great.

So we did.

As soon as we set foot into the shopping center court, this man came up to me and plopped a stinky monkey right on my head.

Then he asked me if I wanted him to take a picture.

I thought that might be OK so I let him.


Then he got his other stinky monkey and plopped in on Boyd, taking pictures the entire time.

I personally didn't love the experience. But it was funny because this man had little tiny diapers on his monkeys.


I began to grow tired of this experience and the stupid monkey that I had started biting me. I think he sensed that I didn't care for him.

I couldn't wait to get those nasty little creatures away from me. They totally ruined my hair, (I am a little psychotic about my hair.) which isn't saying a lot because my hair did not do well in the Caribbean heat and humidity.

Then the guy had the nerve to tell us we owed him $20. I died. I didn't ask him to deposit his stupid monkeys on my head.

So Boyd gave him $10 and told him to take it or leave it.

He took it.

Back on the ship we had a couple that we met on our first shore excursion ask us if we wanted to eat dinner with them.

I thought that sounded interesting so we arranged to eat dinner at their table that evening.

They were from upstate New York and were such fun people. They are pretty much in the same situation in their lives as we are except their youngest has moved out.

They found out we were from Utah and we got the question...Are you Mormons?

Yes, we are Mormons.

Do you all have more than one wife?

No. That was done away with a long time ago.

We talked to them about missionaries and what we believe. They were very interested in finding out more about our religion, particularly him.

Boyd and I wondered after dinner was over how much they would remember about our discussion because they were a little tipsy, particularly her. But we hoped that we gave them a favorable view of what we believe.

The next day we stopped in St. Maarten.

St. Maarten is a small island that is owned by two countries. One half is owned by France and the other half is owned by the Dutch.

We decided that we wanted to visit the Butterfly Farm on St. Maarten. We had heard a lot about it.

We caught a taxi out to the farm and began our tour.

The tour guide was so knowledgeable.

He taught us more about butterflies than we would ever hope to learn anywhere else.

They had these wooden boxes that held all kinds of chrysalis' and cocoons.

Yes, they were real. If you watched closely, sometimes one of them would start moving. I guess the butterfly or moth was getting ready to emerge from their cocoon.


I was in a state of complete wonder as I watched 30-40 different species of butterflies and moths flutter around this netted enclosure.

It was one of the most calming, beautiful moments of my life.

Butterflies would flutter around and sometimes even land on you.

I decided to just put a few of my favorite pictures in this post.

Enjoy!




After we got our fill of butterflies, we decided to walk to Orient Beach which was about a mile away.

Orient Beach has two sections: regular sunbathers or nude sunbathers.

I have to admit that I didn't see any nude sunbathers.

But I did see this handsome sunbather.

The ocean was lovely.


After we traipsed through the water for a while we caught a taxi bus to the French side of the island.

We had been told that there were amazing shops over there.

Um, they were right.

First of all, we found a real-life French bakery.

We HAD to try some pastries from the French bakery.

I ordered a Black Forest cake and Boyd ordered a Flan.

The food was truly decadent.

Sigh.


After we ate until we were sick, we set out to find some small boutiques.

After all, we wanted to find those shops that were supposed to be so amazing.

It took us a while but we found a little row of shops nestled up against a bay.

And we found amazingness.

One boutique had the cutest clothes I had ever seen, PLUS cone shaped items that were made out of zippers.

If you zipped the zipper together, you had a little purse.

I wanted to buy 100 of them! Right then! EVERYONE should have the opportunity to enjoy the wonders of zipping up their own purse.

Boyd discovered a gorgeous dolphin blown out of glass in another shop. We bought it. It is truly beautiful.

On our way back to the ship we had to prove that we were really in St. Maarten.



That night on the ship we wandered up to the 5th floor where they were starting an 80's trivia game.

The cruise director would play a snippet of an 80's song and then we were to write it down.

After all the snippets had been played, he gave us the answers.

He would play the entire song and encourage everyone to sing and dance along with him.

It was a total BLAST!

I even got on the dance floor and kicked up my heels a bit.

That is a big deal...in case you are wondering.

All too soon we had to pack our bags and prepare for the flight home. In one way we were anxious to come home and in another way, we wanted to stay forever.

This was truly the funnest, most relaxing trip we have ever been on.

When is the next one, honey???????

Cruisin' in the Southern Caribbean

Have I mentioned that Boyd's favorite type of vacation is a cruise?

You didn't know?

Well, let me tell you...

Boyd feels that a cruise with your room included, meals included, onboard entertainment included complete with Caribbean water, bluer than any water you can imagine, and warm, healing sunshine is quite possibly the next best thing to heaven.

He may be right because I feel very much the same way. And I don't love water.

So.

Boyd works hard. There are many weeks that he is putting in 12-16 hour days. Sometimes the only way he can survive this brutal pace is by dangling a carrot in front of his nose.

The carrot being a vacation. The vacation being a cruise.

Since December is a slower time of year for him, he has decided that every year he is going to take a vacation.

We began looking for available cruises back in April of last year. We wanted to do a Southern Caribbean cruise because we have never done one, AND we wanted it to be a reasonable price.

We found the perfect cruise that flew into Puerto Rico and visited 5 different ports. Perfect for sun lovers.

We took a red eye flight late Saturday night, the second week of December, and landed in Puerto Rico at around 11:00 the next morning.

It is so cool leaving cold and snow behind and landing in a tropical island, complete with sunshine, palm trees and 80 degree weather.

We hailed a taxi to the ships' port and boarded our home for the next 7 days.

Please let me introduce the Carnival Victory.

She is quite lovely. The interior of the ship is done in an ocean theme complete with mermaids, sea horses and painted in greens and blues. Captivating!


Our first port we visited was the very next day.

St. Thomas.

We decided to do a snorkel adventure where we got to snorkel with turtles.

Now THIS was a fun shore excursion. We went on a small catamaran to a nearby island and jumped into the water to see what was underneath the water.

There is a whole different world down there. Fish of every size and color, coral that looks like brains, sea anemones, and, if you are lucky, an occasional octopus or eel.


This is us after spending time at our second snorkeling location, watching turtles. They would spend time on the bottom of the ocean (about 20 feet deep where we were) and then they would need to come up for air.

If you were quiet and lucky they would come up right next to you and take a couple of breaths and then slowly descend back to the bottom.

It was quite a magnificent sight and one of Boyd's favorite snorkeling moments ever.


Back on the ship there are adult only places to lounge.

This just means that children aren't allowed to run around in these areas and make noise and other childlike stuff. Nothing bad goes on here...that we saw.

We discovered these oversized wicker round chairs. They were big enough for two.

Boyd and I would go up in the evening with our books and sit in one of these chairs and watch the water, look at the moon throwing its light across the water, read our books and relax in a way that you can only on a cruise ship.

It was very therapeutic.


Our next stop was in Barbados. In case you are wondering, Barbados is part of the West Indies. I didn't know that.

This is a really interesting island. It is very beautiful, very warm and has very interesting things to see.

When we go to an island, we try to take a taxi downtown to get as close to real islander life as possible. Consequently, we have seen some pretty cool things.

We saw some trees close to downtown that had these caterpillars all over them. I am not lying when I say that some of these caterpillars were up to 8 inches long. I don't know what they turned into but they were pretty amazing to see.


And then, as we were shopping downtown, we spied this building.

Kalie, have you ever thought you were living in the wrong place? Now you know why. There is a place in Barbados just for you and your family.


The most interesting thing about Barbados?

I have never in my entire life seen more beautiful women than I did there. It was crazy. One after another. Every where you turned.

Case in point: Rhianna is from Barbados.

The next day was a day at sea which includes such things as taking advantage of ship activities, shows and laying lazily in the sun.

We watched a crew member carve an ice sculpture of an Indian chief in about 20 minutes. It was amazing to watch.

Oh! And did I mention other sundry activities such as shopping on board and eating a wide variety of wonderful foods?

The next day we came upon the island of St. Lucia.

We decided to do an excursion of dolphin and whale watching while we were there.

We went on a large boat several miles out into the ocean. The captain of the boat has the process very refined on how to spot these creatures. They have lookouts telling them where to steer the boat and then they go and start looking for dolphins, whales, or both.

Boyd and I didn't know what to expect, but what we saw was beyond our wildest imagination.

The boat started slowing down and as we looked out over the water, it appeared as though the water was boiling.

What we discovered, however, was that the boiling water was really hundreds of dolphins and pilot whales swimming around, jumping out of the water and frolicking in the sun.

There were literally hundreds of these magnificent creatures everywhere you looked. I cannot express in words what it was like to see God's creations up close and in the wild.

I was able to get a couple of good shots with my camera.


It is such a pittance of wildlife compared to what we actually saw, but maybe you can see a bit of the majesty and wonder we experienced.


Boyd and I just had to take photos of each other. Can you tell that we are having a complete blast?!!!




On the way back to the ship, our captain took us along the shore of the island.

This was one incredibly beautiful place to be.


We went into a small bay that had the most beautiful homes and resorts there. It made you want to make a reservation! Now! To stay for the rest of your lives!


The final stretch of the ride back to the ship, Boyd and I sat down and put our legs out so we could catch the spray of the boat on our feet.


The water was warm, the spray was exhilarating and the day was incredible...from start to finish!

A Red and White Shower

When Kalie found out that Brock was getting married to Amanda she offered to give Amanda a wedding shower.

It would be a good way to have her meet her new extended family-to-be.

And it would be a wonderful excuse to make delicious girlie food.

And chat.

Oh, and open presents...

Kalie worked like a slave to make this shower fun and nice for Amanda.

She made roasted tomato soup with all the trimmings, butternut squash soup with yet more trimmings and brie cheese wrapped in puff pastry and served with pears and bread.

I did a paltry sum total of helping by making the candy cane vase and filling it with mint kisses, providing the flower arrangement, (Done by Boyd, not me. I am retarded at arranging flowers.) and finishing up with my world famous candy cane cookies. Or so I'd like to think.


It looks so cheery and beautiful.

Can I eat right now?


Kalie made labels for each soup that explained what it was and how you could enhance it.


I am not sure which soup I enjoyed more, but you can see that the soup took a big hit from hungry shower-goers.


Opening presents is such a fun event.

I love to see the creativity that people have when it comes to purchasing shower gifts.


I have to confess, cough, cough, that I thought my gift was awesome! I decided upon a picnic theme.

I made the denim quilt you see in the foreground. What you don't see is the back of the quilt which happens to be red and white checkered print covered with ants.

And then to top it off, Kalie helped me pick out a really cool picnic basket/insulated bag that they can use whenever they feel the need.


I fell asleep on the job when it came to taking pictures of shower guests. These few pictures make it look as though 10 people came to the shower.

Actually, we had many more than that.

This is me with two of my sisters and my niece.


And this is my sister, Carolyn and her daughter standing next to Boyd's mom.

The kitchen in the background happens to belong to my sister, Carolyn.

She was kind and gracious enough to let us hold the shower at her home.

It was perfect.


Now it is time for some CRUISIN'!!!!

I Love Thee---Let Me Count the Ways

Yesterday...

Lover's Day...

Boyd and I made plans.

There wouldn't be any children at home, so why not?

Boyd took half a day off and we started off our celebration by a little smoothie from Jamba Juice. The pomegranate and blueberry smoothie is amazing, by the way!

Then off to Marshall's for a little shopping.

I walked away with 3 shirts. One of them was an exercise shirt.

Someone, please stop me! I feel compelled to purchase exercise clothing! When I see one I like, I want to buy it!

Is it a sickness?

I do want to mention that I do wear these clothes...a lot. For exercise. And for lounging. And any other event that warrants comfy clothes.


Then it was back home to take the dog to the doggy-sitter.

Yes, I know. I am a big believer in doggy sitters. If I leave my dog for too long he gets super stressed. Which results in me being super stressed. It's just worth it to pay a few bucks so that we are all happy.

Then we zipped off to our next adventure: Mikado.

Just saying the name makes me salivate.

Ahhhhhh.


Boyd and I got there right at 5:00 when it opened. We were the first customers seated.

Quite possibly, we were the first customers served. We had shrimp tempura! We had sushi! We dined on the Vegas, the Dynamo and the Connect!

So good.

Not sure if we were the happiest customers in there, but we might have been.


Finishing up our day was accomplished by sitting in the Walker Theater in North Ogden, nibbling on popcorn, sipping lemonade and watching "The Vow".

It was the perfect Valentine's Day movie.

And considering the fact that it was based on a real-life story made it all the more interesting.

(This is a shot from one of my favorite scenes.)


So here's to you, Boyd.

My friend, my lover, my biggest fan and my eternal husband.

I love you.

Total Lunar Eclipse

I am kind of a moon fanatic.

I have spent so many mornings running outside in the dark that I have seen a lot of moons.

I even learned a really cool way to remember whether the moon is waxing or waning. It is called DOC. If the moon looks like a "D" it is waxing, or getting bigger. If it looks like an "O" it is full, and if it looks like a "C" it is waning, or getting smaller.

My favorite is when the moon is waxing.

But I digress.

I found out that there was going to be a total lunar eclipse on the morning of December 10, 2011.

It was going to be really early.

I didn't know if I wanted to get up that early because I had so much to do that day. After all, Kalie and I were giving a wedding shower to our new daughter/sister-in-law to be AND Boyd and I were leaving on a cruise that night.

However, I found myself wide awake around 6:00 that morning and went to the west window to see if it was true.

Sure enough, slowly but ever so surely a shadow was falling across the moon. I watched it for a while and then woke up my boys, Boyd and Brock. We sat on Brock's bed for over an hour watching the shadow make its way down the expanse of the full moon.

It was TOTALLY AWESOME!!!

As the morning progressed it got too light outside to see the progression of the eclipse, but I saw enough.


I am glad that I got up to see this wonderful phenomenon.

And yes, in case you are wondering, the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was running through my head the entire time.