Reason 95: Honeymoon Day 4

Tuesday, June 22, 2010.

Today we went to Cabo San Lucas.  So, so beautiful.

It was such clear, blue water and beautiful rock formations coming out of the ocean.  We hired a water taxi to take us to "Lover's Beach" (pictured above).  There were some water arches, crashing waves, and beautiful white sand to relax on.  Once we pulled up to the sand we threw our bags off the boat and jumped.  Luckily this method of transportation limited the number of children present on this beach.  It was very peaceful.  After the beach, we found a beautiful, hand carved, stone chess set.  Jason was thrilled to find it.  A little souvenir for our new home!  

The Lovers Beach.  I adore this picture.

Riding the glass bottom boat to the beach

Our ship in the middle of the harbor.  We had to take tenders to get from the ship to land.

We saw pelicans, schools of fish, sea lions, and jumping manta rays at sunset.

The arches by Lovers Beach.  The icon of Cabo San Lucas!

Jumping off the boat to get to the beach.

The beach is probably his favorite place in the world.

Paradise

Had to get the picture in front of the famous Senor Frog's!

Totally breathtaking.

Sunset shots!  Every night we would sit on the top deck, read our books, eat frozen yogurt, and watch the sunset over the ocean or the port we were leaving.  Probably one of my favorite memories.

So lucky to be in love ♥

Reason 94: Honeymoon Day 3

Monday, June 21, 2010.

Call us crazy, but we spent most of today reading and sleeping.  Sunday night we had each taken a Bonine (for motion sicknesses), eaten a considerably large dinner, and I had used Affrin and taken a night time cold pill (which we lovingly nicknamed the "knock you out dead" pills).  We slept from about 10 pm to 11 am.  We had an inside state room- no windows, no noise, no ship movement.  It was the best sleep I've ever gotten!  I don't think I'd ever want an exterior state room.  It was too wonderful.

We proceeded to the top deck buffet to stuff our faces.  We explored the ship and were SHOCKED with the size.  It was SOOOO big!  There was a shopping mall/promenade, a theater, two pools, a two level gym, ten hot tubs, a cafe with 24-hour food, a diner, an arcade, a library, a computer room, a massive casino, bars at every corner, a huge lounge, a big kids club, game rooms, and three levels of dining rooms.  WOW.  And we can't forget the miniature golf course, the rock climbing wall, the full size basketball court, the inline skating rink, and the golf simulator.

This is our cool ship.  We were on Deck 6 which was perfectly positioned in between everything!

Monday night was formal night.  I love formal night.  I was excited that I still fit into my high school formal dresses so I could get another use out of them.

Dinner was one of our favorite activities.  Usually we'd indulge in two appetizers, a main dish, a dessert, and a sorbet.  YUMM.  After dinner we changed into some semi formal clothes and headed to some shows and parties.  And we found more food.  

              

This is the shopping mall and promenade I mentioned.  Way cool.

Today afforded us a lot of food and a lot of sleep.  Much needed recovery from the wedding/school/work craziness.  

Reason 93: Honeymoon Day 2

Sunday, June 20, 2010.

Naturally, today I woke up sick.  Sore throats and colds had been circulating around both families and had finally hit.  After delicious room service of omelets and chocolate milk, we stopped in the small hotel store to buy overpriced medication.  I was then handed a Google map and was told that I would be navigating to our mysterious destination.  The destination was cut out and I was not familiar enough with distances or street/freeway names to figure out where we were headed. So I waited.

After a brief stop in Rancho Cucamonga to acquire even more decongestants, affrin, and cough syrup (I was pretty sick- haha) we continued to drive.  I saw downtown L.A. and began to consider Catalina Island,     Long Beach, and Pasadena as possible destinations.  We were slightly lost due to my poor navigation (it's hard when you don't know your destination!) and Jason began to worry.  I couldn't figure out why it mattered what time we got to our hotel, but I was consoled with the reasoning that we had food waiting for us (I was the definition of dense that day).  Soon we are driving over the shipping yard.  I was enthralled, but I thought we were too far south of the cruise terminal for that to be a possibility.   We then pulled up to a Royal Caribbean Cruise ship and I legitimately thought we were just lost.  Ha.  It wasn't until Jason leaned out the window and asked the security man "How do I get to that boat?" that I realized we were, in fact, going on a cruise.

And there was much rejoicing.  And crying.  And hugging.  And kissing.  And exclamations.  And a text with a lot of exclamation points to our anxiously awaiting families (even though they all knew, they thought they were real clever for hiding it from me).  *Sigh* Can you say heaven?

Los Angeles, California 

Sailing off into the sunset... well kinda. 

It was windy.  I am always amazed at how a cruise feels like it is moving SO SLOW but... it's not.

So the official details on our honeymoon cruise:

Cruise line: Royal Caribbean
Cruise Ship: Mariner of the Seas
Length: 7 Days
Destination: The Mexican Riviera
Itinerary: 

      Day 1- Los Angeles
      Day 2- At Sea
      Day 3- Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
      Day 4- Mazatlan, Mexico
      Day 5- Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      Day 6- At Sea
      Day 7- At Sea
      Day 8- Los Angeles

Bliss.  Bliss bliss bliss bliss bliss.  I love cruises so much and have always wanted to do a cruise for a honeymoon.  Jason was so sweet to make it happen.  In my opinion, it is the most relaxed type of vacation you can go on.  No worries about food, cleaning, moving hotels, finding your next destination, crossing the border, or anything.  Just relaxation.


                        

One more wind fascination picture :)

Reason 92: Honeymoon Day 1

Saturday, June 19, 2010.

As we await wedding pictures, I have decided to start blogging about our amazing Honeymoon!  We finally received our last CD of pictures in the mail from Mexico, so I will now document our adventures.

Let me begin with a warning- we were tired of pictures.  There are very few pictures.  The thought of taking more pictures of ourselves was a little nauseating.  Our images at ages 20 and 21 will be forever engrained by photographical evidence.  We are talking THOUSANDS of pictures.  So, please be understanding as to the low quality, fake-picture-taking-smiles, and relatively small selection of photos from our Honeymoon.

 The night of our wedding we stayed at "The M Hotel" in Las Vegas.

SO COOL!  They had floor to ceiling windows, huge rooms, a flat screen tv in the bathroom, and really good food.  I was excited to find this myriad of chocolate-y goodness awaiting our arrival.

The chocolate covered strawberries on the left were from my grandpa's friend who is one of the main guys at this resort.  He was kind enough to have these made and delivered to our room.  The plate on the right was from Jake :) Can you say yummy?!  I would definately recommend this resort to anyone.

Let me remind you that at this point, I still did not know where we were going on our honeymoon.  And Jason had no intentions of telling me!  

Reason 91: The Worlds Largest Water Balloon Fight!

Friday, July 23, 2010.

Today, we participated in the world's largest water balloon fight sponsored by BYU!  It was sweet.  We got awesome free t-shirts, a bag of water balloons to throw, a large sub sandwich, BYU creamery ice cream, AND a world record! So much fun :) 

Here is one of the news videos from today.

ksl.com - BYU students break world record with water balloon fight

It was pretty sweet.

Thanks to Jake, Maren, and Taylor for an awesome day :)  Go Cougs!

Reason 90: How to Train Your Dragon

Thursday, July 22, 2010.

I hope summer never ends.  This is too wonderful.  Even though I have two classes, it feels like nothing (Psychology and Family Finance- piece of cake!).  Today Jason got done in the lab relatively early (after a successful try and growing something that is part of something that has to do with something that makes cell adhesions that somehow relates to cancer).  So we decided to go to our local dollar theater and see a movie, "How to Train Your Dragon."  It was so FANTASTIC!  Watch this trailer.  

We were the only ones there without kids (it was like- preschool day or something) but I am sure I laughed the hardest.   Seriously- go see it.  Or Redbox it.

Reason 89: Jasmine

Wednesday, July 21, 2010.

Today, we will dedicate this post to Jasmine. Jasmine is my cousins toy poodle that has currently taken up residence at my house along with the other Egbert critters and the two littlest children while their parents are (temporarily) homeless in Phoenix (oh legalities!). This post was written by Joey and Hannah. Pictures by Joey, Julia, and Hannah

"Jasmine can be cute sometimes, but she can also be viciouse.

Jasmine is the type of dog that gets what she wants.

She is a fighter and loves to be played with.

She will bite your hand off but that is okay you will be in serious

pain."

Thanks for writing this post Hannah, Julia, and Joey :)

Reason 88: Sunday :)

Sunday, July 11, 2010.

Citing our recent myriad of travels to and from St. George as well as our week in Mexico, a full day of church has been rare. But finally we were able to return today-- and it was SO wonderful!  Uncle Mike is the bishop of the Glenwood Ward at BYU so we went over to that ward (we are legitimate nomads for a while since Canyon Terrace is only married housing in the summer).  That was the most wonderful BYU ward I have ever been to!

The sacrament meeting talks were about patriotism and all three speakers brought a wonderful view to the topic.  Sunday school was about the book of scripture Psalms and I learned A LOT from a very, very good teacher.  Relief Society was very touching as well- this topic about the Atonement.  Jason and I left church extremely happy.  It was so wonderful.

Tonight included: Settlers of Catan, Bejeweled, Uno, Chicken sauteed with vegetables and Jamaican jerk sauce over rice, planning out my high school tee shirt quilt, and lots of relaxation.  Soon it will also include ice cream with junior mints and chocolate sauce.  How good is summer?  Only 23 days til football starts.  I am SO excited, but also sad to see summer go.

This weeks agenda?   Independent study psychology.  Family finance lecture.  More games, food, and summer fun.  Camping this week.  Granny and pops passing through.  Apartment reserving.  Textbook searching.  Drivers license renewing.  De-junking.

Bridals are posted on Facebook.  Check it out:


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=452971&id=585275170&l=6bf1589026

Reason 87: Homemade Pizza

Saturday, July 10, 2010.

The wedding posts will be temporarily put on hold until I have the pictures.  I know you are all sad, but such is life.  :-)

Tonight's topic?  Homemade pizza.

Today, me and my new husband spent a long time opening and organizing all of our new gifts.  Next, we made pizza dough in our new, awesome breadmaker.  Then we used our new pizza stone and made pizza with mozzarella, olives, pepperoni's, and green peppers.  And now- we are eating it.  Oh my goodness- it is the best pizza I have ever had.

So the moral of tonight's story is:

1. Breadmakers rock.
2.  Homemade pizza is top notch.
3. I love having a clean, organized apartment.
4. I love having a husband.
5. And now we are going to go watch "Valentines Day."

I hope summer never ends.

Reason 86: There is no such thing as the honeymoon being over :)

Monday, July 5, 2010.

That is a strange reason, I know.  But as far in the distance as I can see, this feeling of bliss will never end.

This is my temple.  No battle.  :-)

Photo: Jessica and CJ Burton

The wedding was incredible.

The sealing in the St. George LDS Temple was beautiful and breathtaking.  It was an overwhelming experience to be surrounded by family and good friends and to feel so close to heaven.  I was so struck by the power of the experience, the joy that came from this covenant, and the brand new adventure that has opened up before us.

This is after the sealing as we walked out of the temple.  Look at those cute bridesmaids and groomsmen all lined up!  That was really fun to see them first.  They all looked amazing.  Thanks to Andrew, Aaron, Thomas, Luke, Hannah, Sarah, Julia, and Lola :)

Photo: Mel Green

Guess what?  I have the most amazing husband in the universe.  My heart is so full.

My super gorgeous husband and my amazing friends :) Thanks girls :)
Photo: Danni Springer

The reception was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!  My mom, granny, and pops planned the whole thing and it was like a dream.  Bright colors, vaulted ceilings, laughter, happiness, music, family, friends, flowers, dancing, dresses- it was absolutely perfect.  Every last sunflower, ribbon, picture, bow, and tablecloth was in the exact location to make that evening spectacular.

The Centerpieces.  Romantic.  Quaint.  Simple.  Grandma Linda- You rock.

Photo: Danni Springer

Jake and I cutting our SUPER YUMMY cake (Thanks Aubry!)

Photo: Danni Springer

My athletic training girls!  It meant SO MUCH to me that they all came down.  I have cool friends.

Photo: Mel Green

And the honeymoon?  Oh. My. Gosh. It was a 7 day cruise down the Mexican Riviera.  I was in TEARS when we pulled up to the ship (I am so dense, I was sure we were on our way to Catalina or Long Beach). It was such an amazing week- totally disconnected from the real world, food until it was coming out of our finger tips, laziness, sun, ocean, beaches, zip lines, more food, dancing, and LOTS of relaxing.

The wedding, reception, and cruise are going to occupy a lot of this blog for the next little while.  Forgive me.  Seeing as how this is my most consistent form of journaling (although I promise I will write my wedding down on paper), I am going to definitely write about all of the cool things that happened.  Anyone with pictures from the wedding, please email them to me :).

Life is soooooo good.  SO good. SO SO SO good.  Times a billion.  And beyond.