A few weeks ago my mentioned that since it is just going to be the two of us this year for Thanksgiving that we would go out to dinner at a restaraunt for the meal. I was not a fan of this idea. In my opinion Thanksgiving is a very family oriented meal. It is a time to be in your home sharing your gratitude with each other and what fun is it not to have leftovers? And I really want more than one piece of pie.

Well I have come up with a solution. I am going to be making Thanksgiving Dinner this year. I can't wait! Last year was my first time making a really "pretty" pie. I am going to make another beautiful one this year along with turkey, potatoes, rolls, and more. It is going to be awesome!

I have reached a point in my life where I have hit the fork in the road. That place where I have progressed forward so far that I can't go any farther without making a turn in the road. I can turn to the right. I can turn to the left. Both ways have different consequences. Neither is one is what you would call wrong or bad, just different from the other one. I have to make a decision as to which way would be the best one for me at this time.

P.S. I decided to stay at my current apartment. I feel pretty good about that decision.

It's been a while since I have done this ... so here is the next edition:

71. I love pumpkin chocolate chip cookies & cranberry white chocolate chip cookies from Hagermanns.
72. My favorite clothing store is Old Navy.
73. My hair started turning gray when I was 20 years old.
74. My favorite actresses are Jennifer Garner & Lauren Graham and my favorite actors are Tom Hanks & Colin Firth.
75. I love the show Gilmore Girls.
76. I've read the Book of Mormon all the way through three times.
77. I attended three high schools - Seaside, Bountiful, & East.
78. My two favorite bands are Sister Hazel & Counting Crows.
79. I love cheese fries and the best ones can be found at Dee's.
80. My favorite candle scent is Ginger Peach from Pier One.
    

I know that they say that most people don't like Mondays. Well I have never really been one of those people. I mean, sure I would love it if the weekend could be longer, but I don't dread going back to work. That is how it used to be ... until today. I don't want to be at work. When the alarm clock went off this morning, the last thing I wanted to do was to go to work. Until last week I loved my new job. I enjoyed going each day and loved working with the people on the staff. Now due to an event that happened on Friday, I dread coming in to this place. I feel trapped and I am not sure what I have to do to get out.

I hope everyone enjoys the new layout because I figured it was time for a change. I loved the last layout, but it has been around for a good long while and I figured everyone would like looking at something new.

I have added a bunch of new pictures from the last few weeks. There are ones from the Ward's Not So Newly Wed Game and from Michone's Birthday.

Here is a play by play of our trip to the Caribbean last week. It truly was the most amazing experience.

Saturday we arrived in Houston. We spent Saturday night at the Astros game. Originally we had planned to have dinner with my friend Phil who is serving his mission there, but due to a problem with getting our rental car we weren't able to go. The one positive about that was we were able to talk to him on the phone for a while. I truly miss that guy! Back to the game - unfortunately for Astros fans the St. Louis Cardinals won. Minute Maid Park is a really nice stadium. The seats were pretty high up, but the view was fabulous. I am sure you could sit anywhere in the stadium and get a good view.

Sunday morning we had a mini-sacrament meeting. It was awesome! It reminded me of the very sacrament meeting when they organized the church. The intimacy allowed the Spirit to be so strong. I am so grateful to have friends that are worthy priesthood holders.

Next we took a shuttle down to Galveston to meet the ship. We had to go through security and get our passports checked before boarding. As we went to get on I felt like the Love Boat theme music should be playing. After checking out our rooms we headed to the Windjammer for a buffet lunch which was delicious. One of the nicest things about the ship was the amazing food they provided for us. It is pretty much all you can eat and is extremely tasty!

Monday we spent most of the day by the pool. I managed to fry my back …and spent a good chunk of the trip making my main goal to be not to get burned anymore than I already had. The ship had two pools and a rock wall. They do all kinds of contests by the pools through out the day. Yesterday they had the “Mr. Sexy Legs” Contest which Derek, Jake, & Will participated in. You wouldn't believe the stuff that happened in that contest. Jake has offered me money to destroy the pics. Hee Hee! ;o} After that contest a few of the others and I played “Pool Games”. I had already changed out of my swimsuit and ended up jumping into the pool fully dressed.

Tuesday was spent mostly by the pool again. That night was our first formal night which was so fun. I love having an excuse to get all dressed up. The guys picked up the girls and escorted them to dinner. Then we had a great meal. I was daring and tried escargot (snails) for the first time. It was delcious. I am rather surprised that I liked it as much as I did.

Wednesday was our first day at port. Our first stop was in Ocho Rios , Jamaica . Half of the group went to Dunns River Falls – a waterfall that you can hike up. The other half went and did a canopy tour of the jungle. I joined the Dunns River Falls gang. We took a taxi to the falls. Because Jamaica is part of the British West Indies, they drive on the left hand side of the road. Everyone says “No Problem!” Our driver told us “In Jamaica we have no problems, only situations.” At work we have decided to try and adapt that motto for our office. The people are very laid back and have a great love for marijuana. Tania told one guy that offered to sell us some that we were Mormons and he quickly made a get away. Anyway … back to the falls. It was awesome. It goes from ankle deep all the way up to your head. You can slide down the falls and dive in. It was gorgeous and so refreshing. Michelle and I had our hair braided by a Jamaican lady. After the falls we went shopping and visited Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. I had my first experience at bartering which proved to be a lot of fun. I got a wooden giraffe that was hand carved which I love.

One of the neat things about shopping in Jamaica is that they have a Del Sol store. When we went to the store the girl working there asked me if I was LDS. I replied that I was and found out that she was a member too, along with all but one other employee in the store. All of the guys had served missions and so they spoke with CJ and I about that. As we were leaving the elders showed up to do a follow up with the other girl that worked in the store that wasn't a member. Seems like they have been doing their own fair share of fellowshipping.

Today was our stop in Georgetown , Grand Cayman . Brenda, Seth, Katie, Derek, and Will went scuba diving while the rest of us went to Sting Ray City to go snorkeling and swimming with the sting rays. It was absolutely amazing! The water was so clear and blue and the stingrays were so friendly. They just swim up to you and swim against your body. The excursion we were on provided us with squid (which is like candy for stingrays) to feed to them and they would just swarm around us all. Rachael especially fell in love with her “stingys”. The stingrays only sting if you threaten them or step on them, so we were not allowed to wear shoes to prevent any possible threat to the stingrays. The surface of the stingrays feels so neat … it is very smooth with small salt like bumps that feel cool when you pet them. Also it is considered good luck to kiss a stingray so we all took the opportunity to do that.

Next came more shopping. Grand Cayman is also part of the British West Indies and so the people drove on the wrong side of the road again. It is a much higher-class country compared to Jamaica . A lot of the shopping was very touristy so Rachael, Tania, Aubrey, Kim (one of the Cali girls) and I went hunting for food instead. We ended up finding a good meal (after avoiding turtle burgers and other odd sounding meals).

Thursday night was our second formal dinner and I was extremely daring and tried lobster (I have never been a seafood girl) and LOVED it. I even had two of them. This was such a shock that we had to take a picture of it.

And last but not least was Cozumel , Mexico . We took a ferry from Cozumel over to the mainland and met our tour guide named Nacho. We loaded onto a bus and headed out to see Tulum, a set of Mayan Ruins right on the coast. Tulum was absolutely amazing and probably everyone's favorite stop on the cruise. We started out by listening to Nacho go on and on about stuff. It was hot and nobody was thrilled by the standing in place. So Matt & Jake broke away from the group and went off on their own. A little while later came back and told us that they had found an LDS tour guide who was willing to give us a tour of the ruins. Nacho reminded us when to get back to the bus and we headed off on our merry way. Our guide's name was Alma and she was awesome! She explained about the symbols and some of the various artifacts that can be connected to the Book of Mormon. Each temple has three squares at the top of them that represent the Savior, Heavenly Father, & the Holy Ghost. They don't call them those exact names but it represents the Godhead. Everything was so amazing and the Spirit was so strong that it brought some of us to tears.

After Alma finished with explaining everything we went to investigate the ruins. They are right on the coast and so the view is amazing. The weather on the Yucatan peninsula is so hot that we decided to go wade in the ocean. Well wading turned into swimming. We jumped in fully dressed and had a blast. I have never swum in nicer and warmer water.

One crazy thing that happened was that I went to take a picture of these really pretty orange flowers. I started to walk really close to the bush and all of a sudden a hissing sound came from the tree I was standing next to, and out of no where a iguana came rushing down the tree at me. I made a quiet but very quick exit. So much for that picture! (I did manage to get one of my "new friend").

After drying off we headed back to the bus and back to the ferry to head back to Cozumel to do some shopping. Our friend from California, Jeni ended up losing her wallet. It was so sad, but fortunately her passport and drivers license was on the ship so she was able to get back home okay. I bought a few souvenirs. I was able to get a Hard Rock café pin. I was so excited to get two on this trip, one in Grand Cayman and one in Cozumel.

Saturday was our last day on the ship. I did something I rarely do … I slept in until noon . I haven't been feeling really well the past few days, as I have managed to get a cold. Never planned on catching a cold in the Caribbean ! I did some reading on one of the decks and then ended up back in my room for a good part of the day. Michelle and I decided to watch “National Treasure” – love that movie! Next we went to dinner and really enjoyed our last night in the dining room. Our table requested songs from the musicians and just had a good ol' time! Matt ended up ordering four different appetizers and was really in to trying new things. I miss all the selections now that I am home. The selection is whatever happens to be in the cupboard – so basically ramen, macaroni & cheese, and bread. Yummy! ;o}

That night we did a white elephant gift exchange. Matt came up with the idea to buy something that we found at one of our stops for under $5.00 and then we could do an exchange with them. I bought a little velvet sombrero. I ended up with a seashell necklace. Afterwards some of us ended up in the bar dancing with some really drunk ladies. (It is a really long story!)

Sunday we departed the ship and went through customs and took a shuttle back to Houston. The flight home was the worst of my memory. I was so motion sick and couldn't wait to get to Salt Lake City. A rude awakening waited for me when I left the airport. It was 60-degrees out. Made me miss the Caribbean even more!

Actually being home isn't so bad but I find my mind constantly wondering back to my days in the warm weather of the British West Indies and Mexico . I am so grateful that I was able to save up the money and go on this cruise. I needed the time away and I also needed the gentle reminders of a Heavenly Father who loves us. The experience at Tulum really touched me and I know He had his hand in Alma finding us.

About a year ago Katie and I made life lists. We filled them with things we wanted to do before we die. One of the things on my list was to go to Jamaica and I was able to do that. I was able to see that beautiful island and to experience the people and food. It was amazing as were all of the stops we made. I loved the beauty of Grand Cayman . The water was so clear and the sand was white. And the flowers on all three locations were great. I took pictures of flowers at all three stops. I loved getting to see new places and capturing them with my camera.

I am back home from my amazing vacation to the Caribbean! It amazes me just how gorgeous the places we visited were. I loved the time I spent on our cruise and the chance to get to know some of my friends better. I have added a few of the pictures to the gallery, but there will be more later. Plus I hope to have a more detailed break down of all that we did to add in the near future!