Our AMAZING Cruise!!

Well, we're back and we had an AMAZING time on our cruise. We ate LOTS of yummy food and we each gained 10 pounds, but it was SOOO worth it! :)

Here Sam and I are on our boat in Long Beach waiting to start sailing on Monday.

Here's a pic of our boat. Sam went down the slide numerous times and I noticed that he was the oldest one going down the slide. I think the average age was like 10. Too funny!

Our boat was docked right next to the Queen Mary.

Our ship set sail at about 5PM. That night Sam and I went to the top deck and took some pics of the moon. It was so beautiful!

When Sam and I came back to our cabin, I noticed our first towel friend. . . I called him Elly the Elephant. He was SOOO adorable I had to get a pic with him!

When Sam and I woke up the next morning (on Tuesday) this was the view out of our window! So serene!

That morning, our ship docked in Catalina Island. Catalina's coast is too shallow and so the boat couldn't dock right on Catalina island. So, we had to take a smaller boat to take us to Catalina.

On our boat ride to Catalina, Sam and I noticed a pod of dolphins. I squealed like a little girl and I KNEW it was going to be a good day! :). This is a pic of our cruise liner as we're riding our little boat to Catalina.

Neither of us had ever been to Catalina and we just fell in love. It has such a quaint feel to it and we loved how everyone rode golf carts all over the place.

Once we got to Catalina, we did a bus tour around the island. It was interesting to be able to see at least a small portion of the island. Here's another pic of our cruise liner in the distance.

That afternoon, Sam and I decided to go on a semi-submersible boat ride. We actually sat underneath the water in our cool submarine and we were driven around a portion of the coast of Catalina.

On our submarine ride, we were able to see a jellyfish and TONS of schools of fish. I was a little disappointed because I really wanted to see a shark, but seeing the fish was pretty fun. We were also able to feed the fish from our food torpedoes!!

Sam is having ice cream envy right now! Hahah! This is along the boardwalk of Avalon.

Before we headed back to the boat, we sat along the beach and just enjoyed the scenery. It was so relaxing!

That evening was our formal dinner. It was neat to see everyone dressed up in their formal wear. Sam was excited to eat lobster. We had so much silverware in front of us that we had to ask people which silverware to touch first. We had a good time and the people that sat with us at our table were pretty awesome.

When we returned to our cabin that evening, I was SOOO excited to see that our room service used my sunglasses to make our second towel friend. . . Mr. Rabbit!!

On Wednesday, our boat arrived in Ensenada, Mexico. Sam and I weren't actually planning on getting off the boat in Ensenada because of all the violence that's been going on in Mexico, but we decided that a guided tour through Carnival would be pretty safe. So we did get off the boat to go and see La Bufadora (the Blowhole).

Our guided tour took us on a bus ride about 45 minutes south of Ensenada to La Bufadora. I was amazed at how beautiful the topography was!

Another view of the ocean.

Us in front of La Bufadora

La Bufadora is this blowhole that unexpectedly shoots water into the air up to 100-150 feet.

Sam took this video of La Bufadora. Sam's cackle at the end is hilarious!

Sam acting unimpressed as I give him a smooch on our bus ride back to our cruise liner. What an actor! :)

That evening, after dinner and a hilarious comedian show, we snuck up to the top deck to see Ensenada at night. As soon as we got to the top deck, we noticed that our boat started to sail. It was so romantic to be up there in the moonlight enjoying the city lights as well as the ocean waves!

When we got back our cabin, I was happy to see our third towel friend. . . Mrs. Bear and her baby. Too cute! :)

Thursday was an at sea day. The boat sailed back to Catalina Island and it just wandered around the island while everyone just hung out on the boat for the day. Sam and I (as well as 95% of the rest of the people on our boat) decided to head to the pool. The pool was VERY cold, so we went to a deck and decided to sunbathe and read. Sam didn't want to get sunburned, so he made this tent around him while he read. So inventive!

That evening, Sam and I found our 4th towel friend. . . a heart. We had told Carnival that we were celebrating our 5th anniversary on Thursday, so they celebrated with us by making this towel friend. We arrived in Long Beach the next morning (Friday) and then we headed home. Sam and I had a GREAT time on the cruise! We were worried about being seasick on the boat and everyone told us that the ship was so big that we wouldn't feel the rocking of the boat, but that wasn't true at all! I think our boat hit some storms and so the ship was definitely rocking, especially Thursday. We still had fun and I'm hoping to go on another cruise soon! :)

Help, Hope, and Healing

When Sam and I announced our struggle with infertility last year, my hope was that since the hard part of announcing it was over I would be able to be more open about it. But, because it's still so raw and personal for me, I still have a difficult time discussing it openly. Maybe it's because I want everyone to think that I'm always such a happy person that I really don't want people to see me so upset. But the reality is that I'm not always happy and these past 3 1/2 years have been extremely difficult for us. I think one of the things that is so difficult is that infertility only affects 10-15% of couples, so it gets very easy to feel all alone in this trial.

Well, last week I was going on one of my favorite websites, The R House. She is such a strength for those of us going through this because she has also gone through it and has since adopted 2 adorable boys.

Anyway, on her website she posted this video, which recommended the book "Infertility: Help, Hope, and Healing" by Kerstin Daynes. I bought the book and it just came in the mail yesterday. I've already read about a 1/3 of it and it is EXTREMELY good! It's obviously geared towards those of us who are going through it, but it also gives really good tips on how to help someone you know who is going through it. I would highly recommend it to anyone who knows someone who is going through the trial of infertility because I can tell you that the one thing that helps me is knowing that people love and support me, regardless if I can produce children. So, I just thought that I'd pass on the resource!

Twilight and My New Near Death Experience

Ok, so I'm a HUGE Twilight fan and so Sam sent me a "motivational" poster. I had a pretty good laugh about it so I decided to share this with you all! :)

I also have to tell you guys about my new "near death" experience. So for the past couple of days I've been sick with yet another cold (it's almost a monthly thing now!) and I was laying on the couch eating Hershey's kisses. I just put a kiss in my mouth when I had to cough. So I inhaled to cough and I swallowed the kiss whole. I panicked and ran into the bathroom where Sam was. I started screaming that I was choking!! I then started throwing up and coughing to try to get the kiss out of my airway!

Luckily, Sam and I had recently gotten first aid/CPR certified, so Sam knew exactly what to do . . . nothing! Sam knew that because I was screaming, the kiss wasn't completely blocking my airway and so he knew not to do the Heimlich Maneuver that my body would eventually remove it. He did get me a glass of water, which I devoured, and the kiss eventually dissolved. Thank goodness for the CPR training and that he knew what to do! So Sam is now my hero! :).

This is the Life!

Can you just picture this?! Me, laying on a floaty in the middle of the ocean (with a body like that) with Sam (a.k.a the man in the uniform) bringing me something cold to drink and our cruise ship floating in the background. Ahhh! What a life. Well, part of this is true. The whole me on the floaty and Sam bringing me a drink is totally false, but we are going on a cruise next month in celebration of our 5 year anniversary (it's actually in May, but this is the only week we could do it). This will be our first cruise and I'M SO EXCITED! It's a 5 day, 4 night cruise and we're going from Long Beach to Catalina. We'll spend a day in Catalina. Then we'll sail to Ensenada and hang out there for a day. The next day will be a ship day as we sail back, and then we'll be back to Long Beach the following day. We are going during spring break (cursed teacher schedule!), but we figure that all the college students will get so wasted in Ensenada that they'll have a hangover the rest of the trip. Heheh! I'm excited just to spend some quality time with Sam, since he won't let me go to Europe this year (what a meanie!). Since this is our first cruise and the first time we'll be in Catalina or Ensenada, does anyone have any suggestions on things to do?

A Bit of Randomness

Well, this will kind of random today. I'm home sick with yet another cold. In the past month I've had the stomach flu and 2 colds. I'm hoping my immune system will get better (cursed 1st graders giving me all their illnesses!).

So for my first bit of randomness, I wanted to share a recipe. One of the parents of one of my 1st graders brought these in on Friday and I DIED. . . they are SOOO good and so easy. All you need is square pretzels, Hershey's Hugs, and M&M's. Unwrap the Hugs and place each one on a pretzel. Put them in the oven for 350 for 2 minutes. Then, place an M&M on top of the melted Hug and voila! The parent who made these gave me a bag of them and I've been eating them NONSTOP! Yummy!

Last weekend, we also had a little family reunion with Sam's family. Some of his family had made plans to come into town and so we planned a little reunion. We had great dinners on Saturday and Sunday, and other than that, we all sat around Sam's parents', played the Wii and just hung out. It was pretty fun! I'm really glad that we took some pics because the last pics that Sam and I had of his family was at our wedding, and half of the family wasn't in it (and most of them weren't even born then). How the family has grown! What fun!

Back from the land of Mary

Get it. . . land of Mary. . . Maryland!! haha! I thought really hard to come up with that! :)

Gosh, the holidays always go by so fast! Now that I'm back to work, I guess it's time to update our blog! Haha! Sam and I did get to go to Maryland and we had a fabulous time. We got to Maryland late Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, we got up early and drove down with my parents to Williamsburg, Virginia. It was pretty cold, but we had a good time. We even got to put Sam in the stocks. . . right where he deserves to be. Heheh! j/k.

On Wednesday, aside from playing in the stocks, we also saw the Governor's Palace. It was pretty cool to see it because it reminded us of England with the decor, the gardens, and the maze (but like half the cost, huh Sam?! :) ). We also walked around and saw some of the cute little shops.

The gardens at the Governor's Palace.

We have a picture just like this that was taken at Hampton Court Palace outside London.

Some of the cute homes in Williamsburg. I was surprised to learn that there are people who actually live in these homes. . .they just have to make sure that the home looks true to the times. Interesting!

Sam and I in Williamsburg

On Thursday, we began our day by taking a Christmas decorations tour. Our tour guide looked like he was old enough to remember the original Williamsburg, and it was INCREDIBLY cold that day, but it was an interesting tour. All of the homes in Williamsburg had to put up decorations that would be authentic to the times. So we saw lots of fresh fruit, vegetables, etc in all the wreaths and garlands.

This is one of my favorite wreaths. It was made by a baker, and so the wreath is made out of gingerbread and orange slices. So cute!!

Sam and I found the most picturesque home ever in Williamsburg! We totally want to buy it, so Sam's going to have to work really hard to get us that home! Hahah! :)

They had this really cool outdoor nursery where they grew all their plants just like how the people in colonial Williamsburg would have. It was pretty interesting!

We headed back to my parents' place Thursday night. On Christmas, we did the normal opening gifts and staying in our jammies for half the day. That afternoon, Sam wanted to go for a "winter walk". So, Dad took us to one of his favorite running trails and had a good little walk. There was so much snow and everything was just so beautiful! (This pic is of Dad and I walking)

Sam was really excited because we saw a deer right off the trail. We're city folk. . .we never see any cool wildlife.

As we were returning home, it started to get really foggy. It just made for a really cool pic. Right when we got home, it started to rain really hard and it melted most of the snow.

On Saturday, Dad, Sam and I headed into Washington D.C. We began our tour by taking a quick peak at the White House (Sam was pretty underwhelmed, but Buckingham Palace is no better).

It was raining pretty hard that day, which made for an awesome pic of the Washington Monument. We did lots of museuming that day by visiting the American Heritage Museum as well as the Aero and Space Museum. Then we took a peak at all the monuments and the Capital Building.

The view of the Washington Monument from the Capital Building.

Sam and I in front of the Capital.

Ford's Theater, where Abraham Lincoln was shot. Then we headed back to my parents'.

Ok, Dad bought this puzzle of George Washington "to promote family togetherness" before Sam and I arrived (we would've talked him out of buying it). This puzzle was a nightmare. It seriously had like a million pieces, all of which looked the same. It took us 3 days to put it together (Dad gave up after day 2). We had slaved away for so long on this stinking puzzle, that we had a take a picture, because we'll never do that puzzle again! :) .

After church on Sunday we headed to the Washington D.C. temple to look at the temple lights. Inside the visitor's center, they had all these Christmas trees set up that had ornaments from all the different embassies in D.C. The trees were all so pretty, but this one was my favorite.



After the visitor's center we headed outside to look at the lights. There were so many lights that it was just incredible!



More of the awesome Christmas lights.

What a beautiful temple! The next day, Sam and I flew home. I had 2 more weeks off from work once we got back from Maryland. But, I caught a really nasty stomach bug for the last 4 days of my break (all those shopping trips I could have done!*sigh*). So, I guess that's it. Now Sam and I are back into the routine of work and grad school. I guess the next that we'll see each other will be during Spring Break! Haha!