CrUiSInG In ThE CaRIbBeAN... AGAIN!

On our 3rd year anniversary last year {12.23} Todd tOtaLLy surprised me with a cruise to the Southern Caribbean. Thanks to my wonderful and thoughtful husband. I love you!

On the docket for our cruise:

Barbados

St. Lucia (where I have always wanted to go)

Antigua

St. Martin

St. Croix

Cue pictures...

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Barbados

Tuesday, January 19th

Our new friend "Sparky" took us, along with our friends from England down a public access path so we wouldn't have to pay the $15 entrance fee to go through some lame resort.

BTW: when I say "friends" I mean - that is what Todd and I called everyone we met on the cruise (they just didn't know we were friends). We have are friends from Canada, our friends from Portugal, our mormon friends and our friends from Italy.

Malibu Beach

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St. Lucia

Wednesday, January 20th

The Peton Mountains! I have wanted to see these mountains in person for so long.

Thanks Todd for checking off something on my Bucket List.

This was a dream come true for me.

The "Snake Stop" on our island tour. You can take a picture with the snake for $1 so I thought I would try it. I really wasn't as scared as I look in the picture.

An active volcano on St. Lucia.

Look familiar? This is where Jake and Vienna (The Bachelor) went on their date. What a bad choice - it smelled so bad, I thought I was going to puke. It was fun to watch the last few episodes of The Bachelor - Todd and I recognized a lot of the places that they went to. (okay so I am a little obsessed with the show)

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Antigua

Thursday, January 21st

I saw this old catholic church from the ship when we pulled in to port in St. Johns, Antigua. I could only see the steeple but I knew I wanted to try and find it. Todd was nice enough to accommodate my request even though we had no idea where we were going. It was fun to walk around the city and see the people and the different buildings. After about a 15 minute walk we finally found the church. They were trying to raise money to repair the floor that gave out while the choir was practicing one day - luckily no one was hurt.

I LOVED this little church - it was built in the 17th Century.

Nelson's Dockyard

Nelsons Dockyard: In April this becomes the headquarters for Sailing Week, one of the largest regattas in the world. Sailboats and yachts come from all over the world.

Darkwood Beach: Seriously one of the most BeAuTIfuL beaches I have ever seen.

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St. Martin

Friday, January 22nd

Sadly there are few pictures of this day. On our last cruise we went to St. Martin, and we had been so busy on this cruise, we decided to take it easy and stay on the boat and enjoy the pool PLUS we wanted to avoid the "French" side of the island.

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St. Croix

Saturday, January 23rd

We went to the North part of the island to Christiansted.

From there we took a short boat ride to a very small island called Cay Island.

The water was crystal clear. It was amazing. This part was about 10 ft deep and we could see right to the bottom. You could see a bunch of fish swimming around.

Christiansted Fort

There were a lot of these self-portrait shots. We got pretty good at them.

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thank you caribbean for being so beautiful - until next year...

HaPpY #27

As you can tell by the look on Todd's face he is actually

 excited to be older.

The BEST birthday present ever...

thank you to Gabe and Glen for making it a special day for Todd. 

He loves his Snuggie!

Seriously?!?

So last week Todd and I decided we would take an afternoon and go enjoy the beauty of this fine state we live in. 

SERIOUSLY?!? Why haven't we done this before?

We packed a little lunch and headed up Provo Canyon to Sundance to take a ride on the lift. 

SERIOUSLY?!? Where do the colors come from?

It was absolutely breathtaking!  Todd and I both just kept saying 'WoW!' We just couldn't believe the colors that surrounded us. We kept snapping pictures but they don't even do it justice. We are planning on making this a yearly autumn tradition and have made a resolution to start enjoying the things that Utah has to offer like skiing (well, we will see about that).

Thank you Dad!

My sister recently took the following pictures of my dad (thanks Brooke) and I can't even look at them without welling up. Theses pictures capture my dad PERFECTLY! My dad celebrated his 79th birthday in July (that's right dad... I said it... don't be mad) but for those of you who know my dad, know that he doesn't look or act a day over 65.

I failed to post these pictures in July and I don't want to wait another year before I celebrate what a wonderful man he is.

Thank you for working SO hard and being SO generous.

Thank you for being an example of Christ-like love.

Thank you for always making me feel loved, no matter what I did or do.

Thank you for being patient.

Thank you for never giving up on me, even when I had given up on myself.

Thank you for being so humble.

Thank you for being so tender.

Thank you for always offering lime pie, almonds, fruit, juice or anything you have when anyone comes to visit.

Thank you for taking care of Mistic.

Thank you for cherishing the simple things in life, like a box of mints.

Thank you for always chasing the grandkids around the house

(hopefully, one day, you can chase my kids... that's not an announcement).

Thank you for NOT acting your age.

Thank you for saying you love me the most (even though I know you say the same thing to the rest of your kids -I'm okay with that)

I love you VERY much!

Lake Powell 2009

In June, Todd and I went down with my family to Lake Powell. We definitely had a few hiccups while we were down there but hey, those are the things you always remember. 

A HUGE thank you to my 3 sisters and my 3 awesome brothers-in-law for making this trip possible. We had so much fun with everyone. 

Thanks for the memories!

Zwick Family Reunion 2009

It was my privilege to be apart of the Zwick Family Reunion for the first time. All of Todd's family was here for the family reunion and for Steph's (todd's cousin) wedding. We stayed at the downtown Marriott for the weekend. On Saturday we enjoyed a fun day at Lagoon and on Mother's Day we mingled together at the hotel, ate dinner, had a wonderful family home evening, and a baby blessing of cute, little Elise.

Thanks Grandpa & Grandma Zwick for a wonderful weekend.

Steph & Mike - congrats you two!

There were four of us who celebrated our birthdays that weekend. 

Me, Matty, Jeremy and Brandon. 

The HaPpiESt place on earth

At the beginning of May we decided to head down to California for a weekend get-a-way with Gabe and Glen. It was a quick trip but we didn't waste a moment. We spent 2 days at Disneyland and 1 day at the beach in Santa Monica. We had so much fun with our friends, The Womble's. I don't think I have laughed so hard in such a long time. Thanks for the memories!

We borrowed the Jacob's family tradition and made Pirates of the Caribbean the first ride of our Disneyland adventure.

{***WARNING!*** The following pictures may be inappropriate....

if you don't like 2 guys in magenta shirts}

Please note: this was not a pre-meditated idea. We had to make a quick stop at Target to get a few items before heading to Disneyland. While there Gabe called Todd and said "How far would you go for our friendship?" I don't think Todd thought he would have to go that far. When we got back to the hotel - Glen came out in this little number and informed Todd that he would also be joining him. At first I wasn't too sure about this idea but Todd was willing to do this for our friendship with Glen & Gabe and it definitely provided a lot of laughs throughout the day.

I don't know if Glen is so happy because we are at Disneyland or because he is wearing his favorite color.

Any guy can wear pink but it takes a real man to wear magenta (with another real man).

Usually people have mints left on their pillows at the hotel, however, we were lucky enough to have milk duds left on our door handle. There is nothing like 6 semi-melted milk duds stuck to your hotel room door handle that has been touched by millions of people. {P.S. Todd didn't really eat them, despite what Glen says}

Happy #6 Wombles!

Thanks for letting us share your special day.

WiCkEd

Todd, being the thoughtful husband he is, surprised me with tickets to Wicked for Christmas. The glorious day finally came when I had the privilege to go and see it for the first time.

Glen & Gabe came with us and we all put our names in the drawing for the coveted cheap tickets - but much to our disappointment - none of our names were chosen. Sorry Womble's!