Honeymoon Caribbean Cruise

First of all, red-eye flights suck. At least James got some sleep. In between feeling like my legs were going to fall off and various cricks in my neck, I got maybe an hour of sleep through our entire journey from SLC to Atlanta to Miami. No bueno.

Arriving in Miami was a relief. Arriving at the Port of Miami and seeing our enormous cruise ship was even better.

But then the waiting began. We arrived in Miami at about 9am, and had intended to grab some breakfast at the airport before heading over, but that didn't happen. So as we sat waiting at the docking area, I was getting hungrier and hungrier, crankier and crankier. (Not doing so well going without food these days.) It was about 1:30pm or so before they started boarding (about 2 hours late). Fortunately boarding didn't take too long. After stopping by our stateroom, our first mission was to find the buffet!

Let me make first mention here of the food. If you know me and James, you know that we like to eat. I've always said that one of the reasons I do Taekwondo is so that I can eat whatever I want. :) The food was one of the top things both of us were looking forward to on the cruise. And we were not disappointed!

There's pretty much food whenever you want it. Breakfast options include a breakfast buffet or room service delivered to your stateroom. Lunch is the buffet, which has everything from Chinese to  burgers to Mexican to fish & chips to carved meats, plus a dessert buffet and an endless ice cream machine that's open 24/7. Dinner we had every night in the formal dining room, and frankly, it was one of the highlights of every day.

Day 1, after settling in (and the mandatory awful safety briefing) we went topside to bid farewell to Miami. It was pretty cool, watching the ocean open up in front of us. Of course, we then took a nap in a comfy deck lounge.

That evening, we enjoyed a couple of shows onboard, including a really fun magician/comedian. Ask me sometime about the Grapefruit Guy. Hilarious.

Day 2 was one of my favorites. We visited our first island: Half Moon Cay, Bahamas. It was seriously the most paradisaical place I have ever been. When you see a movie with those white sand beaches, palm trees, and turquoise water, they could've been at Half Moon Cay.

Day 3 was a Sea Day, which were definitely not my favorite parts of the cruise. While we found some entertainment aboard (comedy shows, swimming, etc) we also just spent time reading and watching movies in our cabin. The highlight of the day was Elegant Evening, where everyone dressed up for dinner, and they served one of my favorite meals of the trip: Lobster!

Day 4 was our day in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. It was overcast most of the day, though fortunately we did not get rained on. We started out by walking into downtown St. Thomas, did some souvenir shopping at a local bazaar, then had lunch at a Jamaican restaurant. Then it was time to walk back for our excursion.

We boarded a sailboat with about 15 other people, and set sail for a private island called Buck Island, which was about an hour's sail from St. Thomas. There, we snorkeled in the bay with sea turtles. It was so amazing! I wish we could've gotten pictures of the turtles, they were so close to us! We also swam through a coral reef, and the fish were incredible, I loved seeing all the different varieties. But the sea turtles were absolutely the best part.

Day 5 we spent in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There we enjoyed a 2-hour private walking tour of Old San Juan. (It was truly private--the tour was me, James and Victor, our local guide.) It was fantastic. I loved San Juan--the statues, the architecture, the history, the ambiance. After our tour, we had lunch in San Juan and did a little shopping before heading back to the Liberty.

Day 6 we visited Grand Turk Island, of Turks & Caicos. It was another beach day, which we enjoyed. If I'm being honest, though, I much preferred the beach at Half Moon Cay. The beach at Grand Turk, while beautiful to look at, was much rougher, rocky and uneven. We spent a little time in the water, but mostly we hung out on the beach and in town.

Day 7 was a Sea Day. We did a few fun things that day, but the big event came that evening. They had an exhibit of Thomas Kinkade's artwork in the art gallery on board. We both enjoy his artwork, so we went to the exhibit. We were informed that they'd later be having a brief seminar, followed by a raffle for a Kinkade. So we came back that evening for the seminar and entered the raffle. To our surprise and delight, James won the raffle! We were ecstatic to win the Kinkade.

Then at last, we arrived back in Miami. We had one last breakfast aboard before heading off to Miami International Airport. Of course, it took us all day to finally get home, and boy was a relief when we finally pulled up to our Holley house.

We loved our cruise. It was fantastic, a truly unforgettable experience. I'm so glad we were able to have this vacation at this point in our life together!

This Mad Month of August

James and I realized during the first week in August that we would not be going to our ward again until my birthday. Our weekends in August look like this:

Weekend 1: Baby blessing for friends Ellen and Justin's new little baby Reed (who is adorable).
Weekend 2: Mission farewell for friend Kristen, who leaves tomorrow.
Weekends 3 & 4: Honeymoon cruise.
Weekend 5: Camping with birthdad & fam.

Hopefully our ward doesn't forget who we are. It would be ironic to come back on the eighth of September and have to be introduced all over again. Ironic, but entirely possible.

In addition to our full weekends, there's just been a lot going on! Some of them include:

-Coaching at our studio's Black Belt Overnighter (also over the first weekend in August).
-Purchasing and planting a peach tree in our backyard (after first ripping out a dead tree).
-Having various family members over for dinner during several evenings.
-Getting our piano tuned.
-Sealings at the temple. (We were going to do an endowment session, but we decided to let the fervor over the new video die down a little first, instead of waiting 2+ hours to make it into a session.)
-Regular date nights. (So far this month: seeing The Wolverine, which was decent, having lunch at The Pizza Factory--mm!, and seeing The Scarlet Pimpernel at the Scera Shell with my parents).
-Camping at Payson Lakes with my family last weekend.
-Installing new blinds on our front room window after the old ones collapsed in spectacular fashion.
-And of course all the regular stuff like teaching and attending taekwondo classes, grocery shopping, and making goo-goo eyes at each other on a regular basis.

Of course, the big exciting things are yet to come! The greatest of which is our HONEYMOON CRUISE coming in just a few short days! We leave late Friday night, and our cruise begins on Saturday. I couldn't be more excited. This is my first time leaving North America, my first time on a cruise, and probably my last for a long time to come! We have stops in the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Grand Turk Island. Not to mention all the fun things to do ON the boat. We'll be gone for a week, and I'm sure it won't be nearly long enough. Can't. Wait.

When we get back, I will 1) be changing my name legally at last. We waited so as to avoid the purchase of a new passport, but with the cruise behind us, I will be officially becoming a Holley. And 2) we will be getting a dog. We're planning to rescue a dog from the pound, so we have no idea what we will end up with. We're agreed on size and temperament, but other than that, it will be interesting to see what we end up with! Regardless, we are both very excited to be adding to our little family. Doggie will be going through trial by fire, as he/she will probably be going camping with us and my birth family that weekend. It will be an adventure, right?

I love my crazy life. I would much rather be busy than bored. Of course, one needs balance, and I do try to find it. James and I make lots of time for R&R, and just for one another's company, which is most important. He is seriously the best husband in the world--for me. Blessings abound, and I am incredibly grateful!!!

Love & Family photos

We received these picture frames as wedding gifts--funny enough, from two separate people. We had already decorated our apartment at the time we received them, but I liked them, so I hung onto them in the hopes that I would be able to use them at some point in the future.

Of course, moving into our house meant that we had a lot more wall space. (A LOT more wall space.) After sorting out where all our current wall hangings would be placed, I determined that I wanted to use these frames at last, and place them on the walls of our office. I actually hung them last week, in time for a housewarming party (and our video tour) even though the frames were still empty. Or rather, the frames were still full of generic shots of strangers.

I spent an afternoon earlier this week carefully selecting the photos I wanted to go in each frame. I followed the "Love" and "Family" themes, and filled one frame with pictures of our families, and the other frame with pictures of us. (I'm just vain, I guess. And really in love with my husband.) The photos came today, and I am completely in love with the results! This is our "Family" frame:

Top (L to R): my brother Kyle and his wife Kristi, my parents Don & Kathryn, my Grandma Mechling, James' parents Gene & Charmaine, James' brother Patrick and his wife Shaylee.
Bottom (L to R): my family (James & I, my parents, Kyle & Kristi), James & his best friend Damian, us, and then the entire Holley clan (Timothy, Daniel, Shaylee, Valerie, Charmaine, Gene, Brendan, Victoria, Matthew, Thomas, Nicholas, Tristan, Sean, Patrick, James, Caidin, Tyler).

I am just in love with this collection of photos. It displays the people who are most precious to me and to my husband. Family is so incredibly important to us both, and I love having their pictures hanging on my wall. Then I guess I'll show you the "Love" frame, even though it's entirely pictures of us:

Top (L to R): Our NYC trip in April, riding the Screamer at Lagoon in May, from my sister's wedding in October, James' 2nd degree Black Belt test in January, one of my favorite engagement photos.
Bottom (L to R): random photo I love from a lunch at Applebee's one Saturday afternoon, Halloween at a masquerade ball, our mutual favorite wedding-day photo, and my favorite photo of us from Mechling family photos in May.

I wanted pictures that represented the span of our relationship, and the variety of things we've done together. Travel, Taekwondo, our wedding, and just time spent enjoying one another's company. Photographs are very important to me, and a very tangible way that I keep memories. So, this frame may be a little egocentric, but it also makes me very, very happy every time I look up at it. :)