If Looks Could Kill

My mom sent me these kitty costumes a while back. Rosalie wouldn't let me try them on her, but Epps was a little more patient with me. However, she did give me what I have come to know as the "death stare." I wish I knew what she is thinking when she sports this look, but I have a pretty good idea... Have you ever scene the episode of "How I Met Your Mother" where Lily has a "Look of Death" that just zaps people in to nothing? Its pretty funny and every time I see this look I'm just waiting for a lazer red light to penetrate me into dust!

Ambition

Since I am currently serving in the young women's program I've been doing Personal Progress again. I have to admit its been kind of fun. I love being challenged to complete all the great value experiences and 10 hour projects! I started re-reading the Book of Mormon since it is the required value project for Virtue (the new young women's value.) I've almost finished all of the requirements for "Faith" and am moving on to "Divine Nature." As I was starting one of the value experiences it asked me what qualities or talents I want to develop. This got me thinking. So I'm going to make a list of some of my many ambitions for my life. Some will require a lot more work than others and some I'm sure I won't even get around to in this life. But here they are none the less.

I want to...

-Learn how to sew (We're talking blankets, drapes, clothes the works)

-Learn Spanish and Italian (we'll start here)

-Get into Photography

-Digital scrapbook

-Run a 1/2 marathon

-Make my own baby food (when the time comes-- this is not a sneaky announcement)

-Learn as much as I can about healthy eating and fitness

-Bake healthy foods that taste yummy!

-Gardening

-Canning

-Develop perfect pitch

-Play the piano well

-Interior Design

-Yoga

-Read the classics (like Mark Twain and Charles Dickens)

-Be more crafty

-Become good enough to play Tennis with Mike

There's a lot more too, I just can't think of it because I'm tired. So maybe I can learn how to do all this

...When I have time

Bring on graduation!!!

New Tricks

So I haven't posted anything about the cats lately so I will allow myself this indulgence. Epps is a pretty funny cat when you get to know her. She has actually become rather cuddly now that she is fat and over a year and a half. She greets me at the door when I come home and lays on my chest at night when I sleep. She follows me around and always finds a place to lay where she can see me. I can just tell that she loves me, and I obviously love her. Anyways, every once in a while she surprises me with new tricks... (i.e. Literally flying off the bar and soaring in mid air to land the perfect pounce on Rosalie.) Well one of these moments occurred the other day. I walked into the kitchen and I heard something above me. I looked up and low and behold she was ON TOP OF THE FRIDGE!! I was so amazed. I've heard of animals doing this but she has a little gut so its hard for her to jump really high. I just thought it was so funny. Do you know how she gets down? She "walks" down the front of the fridge with her front paws knocking off our magnets as she goes. The bad thing about this is we get magnets from places we visit and she has now broken our magnets from Cozumel and Grand Cayman. :( Anyways that my cat ramblings for now. I suppose I might just have to do a post on Rosalie sometime soon, don't want her to feel left out.

35 Things you may not know

My friend had something like this posted on her blog and I thought it was a lot of fun to read. So take it or leave it. Here are some things you may or may not know about me.

1) I talk to my mom multiple times a day

2) I always wonder what my cats are thinking

3) When I go away on vacation I sometimes call the house and leave a message on the phone so the cats can hear my voice. Kind of weird I know.

4) I could live on edamame

5) I can get distracted really easily

6) Sometimes I cry for no reason

7) I do my best work under stress

8) I love teaching but always get really nervous before I do

9) I really don't like pasta

10) I am completely against fast food but will make an exception for Taco Bell.

11) I don't mind being alone

12) I absolutely, positively, without a doubt, despise SNOW. I will accept 1 inch a year on Christmas eve. Nothing more.

13) My bed is awful and I wake up sore every morning.

14) I have to have 8 hours of sleep or I'm really grumpy

15) I still have nightmares about the kids who were mean to me in High School

16) Some day when I have time I will get into classical music, sewing, canning, gardening, photography and interior design

17) I'm having a love affair with my new straightener, his name is Roman.

18) My 2 guilty pleasures: my soap opera "Days of Our Lives" and Cosmo Magazine...

19) I want to learn how to speak: Spanish, Italian, Latin and French (in that order)

20)I have the HARDEST time saying I'm sorry

21) I over analyze a lot of situations

22) When I'm alone I spend 50% of the time singing

23) I talk to myself

24) I had the most uplifting, wonderful college roommates ever.

25) I can't spell to save my life and I'm so embarrassed by it (I guess this isn't a secret)

26) I love getting dressed up BUT...

27) I hate doing my hair

28) I have a serious obsession with high heals BUT I can't walk very well in them

29) When we finally get a dog (in the distant future) I want to get two and name them Buckeye (OSU) and Cosmo (BYU)

30) Being in old house creeps me out because I KNOW they are haunted.

31) I make up words like "dramastically" (drastically and dramatically)

32) I love hosting parties and have people over but I don't like going to other peoples houses (I'm a home body)

33) I will be in love with the disney princesses till the day I die

34) I love the TV Shows: 24, LOST, Glee, Heroes, CSI, Office, 30 Rock, Num3ers, Flashforward and How I meet your mother. I watch way to much TV

35) I'm way to competitive

If you guys are ever board you should take the time to do one of these. I love reading them. You don't have to do 35 either that was just my made up number!! Hope everyone is keeping warm in all the snow!

The rest of the trip (Day 5,6 &7)

Wed Feb 17th, 2010

Today we arrived at the beautiful Cozumel Mexico! It was absolutely enchanting. The only negative part was the wind. It was so windy that it made the waves choppy and even a little dangerous. So all the water activities were canceled, so no snorkeling :(

It wasn't all that bad though, we still had a great time! We went to this "Adventure park" place that had a little ropes course. I'd never done anything like that before so I had a whole spectrum of emotion.

The first thing we tried was the rock wall. They had 3 different sizes. Of course Mike was eager to get a move on and climb the tallest tower. It was about 65 ft high. He made it look so easy the way he glided up the tower with ease.
Well I knew I had to at least attempt the same task or I would be teased and taunted the rest of the day. I'll tell you what, it looks so much easier. I had no idea how hard it would work my arms and abs. I was shaking about a quarter of the way up. I really didn't think I was going to be able to finish! However, I just kept telling myself I could go just a little further till I made it up. In the end, I DID IT!!! I was soo proud of myself! And the good news was Mike wasn't able to tease me :)
Then there was some cool rope stuff to climb on.
The zip line was sooo much fun. I want to try it in the jungle if I ever get a chance.
They also had repealing, which was kind of scary. To just lean backwards and fall off the edge of a huge drop.... scary!!!
We were climbing around for about 2 hours!! It was a great work out and a lot of fun.

The resort that housed the adventure park was actually pretty nice. They had a pool, restaurant and a great beach area.
Mike and I enjoyed some delicious drinks while we recovered from our adventure.

Isn't the scenery just lovely?
We ordered Fajitas and they were seriously delicious.

After lunch we walked along the beach I was a little obsessed with the water color and the cool waves the choppy water brought in.

After our walk we had a beautiful nap in the sun! It was so relaxing.

Then we took advantage of the scenery and took some pictures and played in the water some more.

Then we headed to the down town area. It was a lot of fun. Just like I imagined a little mexican market to be. I was able to talk them down on the prices of a few small things, which was fun! The company that we did the ropes course with told us that downtown was about 15 min from the pier were the ship was docked. So we decided we could walk it no problem. It took us an hour and a half to walk from downtown to the pier. When we got back they told us it was about a 3 1/2 mile walk. No wonder my feet had blisters on them!!!

After that long walk it was time for dinner!!! The rest of the night we laid low, hung out in our thermal heaven and watched a movie.
Thursday Feb 18th, 2010

Today we were at sea. It was pretty chilly outside so unfortunately laying by the pool wasn't an option. They had a ton of stuff going on inside the ship. We went to a cooking demonstration in the morning. It was actually really cool. The head chef was the one doing the demonstration and let me tell you it smelled good. I'm actually going to try the pesto linguini recipe this week for dinner.

After the demonstration they took us on a tour of the kitchen. On our way out we saw all these sculptures made of fruits and vegetables.

Look close to identify all the different fruits used.
After the tour we seriously spend the rest of the afternoon playing trivia games. We came pretty close to winning jeopardy (which I was proud of.) However, the SAME group won each time. We were a little bitter... Dinner that night was formal again. I loved getting all dressed up to go to a fancy dinner.
(This is the only kissing picture I got out of Mike so I had to post it!)
After dinner we went to another really great, clean comedy show by another comedian. It was fantastic and we left with our stomach sore from laughing.

That night they had a huge canopy filled with balloons above the grand piazza. At about 11:00 the live band started playing some really great music and a dance began! Mike was a little hesitant at first to get out on the dance floor. I somehow managed to persuade him otherwise though. It turns out he (and I) had a ton of fun together!!!

At 11:35pm they let the balloons drop! It was pretty cool.
There were so many balloons and so many people on the dance floor that everyone started popping the balloons. Mike of course took part as I stood hunched over with my fingers in my ears (I hate the sound of balloons popping.) It was such a good night.

Friday Feb 19th, 2010

Today we woke up to the beautiful Princess Cay Bahamas outside our window. Princess Cay is the private island of the cruise line. So that was pretty cool. Only the people from the cruise were there to share the beach with.

It was a beautiful day. They had a look out tower were you could over look the island. Since their were so many coco nut and palm trees around though we had a hard time seeing to far.
They had a great BBQ lunch on the beach. We laid out, ate to much, played in the ocean and took a nap in the sun.

It was a great day and we really enjoyed the relaxation of the beach. We both mentioned how almost every friday afternoon we think "I wish I was on a beach somewhere in the Bahamas." We realized for this week at least our dream had come true. We were sad to leave.
That night was our last on the ship and it was a little sad. I wasn't sure how I was going to take the real world that would hit me in the morning.
At dinner the waiters all did a dance around the dinning room and then presented each table with "Bakes Alaska." I had never heard of it before, but I guess it is a well known dessert. It is Neapolitan ice cream covered in a merang. It was pretty tasty.

Our final event of the trip was a combined comedy show with the two fantastic comedians we saw the previous nights. It was wonderful, as was expected!

The next morning we disembarked and took our flight to DC. We stayed the night in a Hotel in Philadelphia then headed home in the morning.

Its been hard to adjust to reality. I mean when I take a shower and through my dirty towel on the floor, it's still there when I come back in an hour. If I don't make my bed when I wake up, it stays unmade all day... and if I make it, no one turns down the sheets for me before I go to bed at night. I'm the one doing all the cooking and cleaning.... I just wish some things didn't have to change when you get home from vacation. :)

Day 3 (Grand Cayman Island) & Day 4 (Roaton Honduras)

(For the record I should be doing my homework right now. But after three hours of grocery shopping, putting the food away and cutting up the fruits and veggies, I'm tooo tired ton concentrate!)

Monday Feb 15th, 2010

Monday morning we both woke up excited for the adventures we knew were in store for us.

We took the small boat over to Grand Cayman Island. It was an absolutely beautiful day!

We met with our group and took a bus over to a cool little nature center. We walked through a rain forest area that had some beautiful birds. Then they loaded us on to another boat.

They took us out into the middle of the ocean. I couldn't get over the beautiful blue water and the white sand on the bottom. As a kid I never took a vacation to any place like this. I've been to beaches all over america but I've never scene anything this beautiful!

Then the captain stopped the boat in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. Then all of a sudden I see them dark shadows approaching. They are wild sting rays, well they live in the wild. I guess they are so use to people that they are a lot nicer than normal sting rays. They still have their stingers on and everything. Anyway, we were at a sand bar in the ocean where we could get out of the boat and the water came up to our waist. We unloaded and got to work befriending the slimy little things. I was so nervous about the whole thing.

Luckily they had handlers there to help you out. Nervously I got a little courage to give this little guy a kiss.

Mike loved it! He had no fear and jumped right into holding it (Look at the size of that tail.)

I went back for a second try and did so well I even let it crawl around on my back.

Like I said, Mike had a lot of fun. Soon after we got there they started feeding them bites of fish. Mike got to try several times. I loved watching the little kid in him be so giddy about it. He did have one of them suck on the fish hard enough to scrap off some of the skin on his knuckle. After I touched them I was ready to get back in the boat. Unfortunately, it was a little harder said than done. Since they were feeding them by the boat all the sting rays had gravitated to that area. They would just assume you had food and literally crawl up your back. It was so creepy. I finally jumped on the side of the ladder and frantically pulled myself up and out of the water. I couldn't take it anymore.

Once we were finished we went back to the nature center where we had the time of our life.

We had such an awesome experience playing with the Dolphins. The trainers were so great. They had Lucy (our dear dolphin) do several tricks for us. They taught us how to pet them, make them dance, kiss them, and even take a ride on her. It was just soo cool.

Mike loved the ride the best I think.

After that amazing experience it was about time to get some lunch. We went back to the ship to enjoy the scenic view of the island from our room.

After dinner that night we went to a great Comedy show. He used a lot of jokes that related to the relationship between husband and wife. Mike and I laughed so much. The comedian was really clean and fun in his skit which was so nice.

After the comedy show we headed out to the "Movie under the Stars" area. They had a huge movie screen above the pool and hot tub area. Then they had comfy chairs, blankets, popcorn and ice cream. The movie that night was "The Proposal." I laughed just as hard as I always do.

Tuesday Feb 16th

Today was probably our biggest let down :( We didn't set up an excursion before hand and we should have. In all of the other places they have people soliciting activities for lower prices then the cruise offers. We had scene parasailing the day before in Cayman and were really hoping they would have that there. What we didn't know is Princess works hard to keep the people who do that away from the tourists there. So we just walked around the port area of Roaton.

The little area we were in was beautiful (it may have be prettier with a clearer sky.)

We still managed to find some good photo ops...

... play in the ocean...

and play tic-tac-toe on the kids jungle gym.

We had fun exploring and making each other laugh. It ended up being a great day even without a planed excursion.