Give Thanks

Sorry, Im still blogging about November, but we are nearing the end!
My birthday this year was on Thanksgiving, what better day right? Stuff your face all while being in good company. Also, its really distracting having a holiday on your birthday so it was absolutely perfect because I didnt want to turn a yr older, so it kind of felt like it never happened.
This year for Thanksgiving I went down South to have Thanksgiving dinner with Russ and his family. They are all such great people, so I felt lucky to be able to spend it with them. Plus, his mom is pretty much an A+ cook. She makes these homemade meat balls that will make you push your fullness level in your belly to the extreme. At least thats what they do to me.
I cant believe it, but I didnt take any pictures at his parents house :( but its not to say we didnt have a good time. Thank you N Family for having me over.
It was an off year for my family, meaning my siblings all went to their inlaws so my parents went up to Sundance and rented a cabin for the weekend and had Thanksgiving dinner up there. After dinner we went up to see my parents and sit in their cozy cabin. For those of you Utahn's it was a COLD Thanksgiving, so it was nice to sit in a nice cabin in the mountains cozied up to the campfire.

I think this picture is pretty impressive. Its one thing to take a picture of 2 people with the old arm extension trick, but 4? Well done.
Are these 2 cute?

What a nice fire.
.
After we went to the cabin we went to a late movie. After the movie which was after midnight I decided I was craving coffee cake, or monkey bread...whatever you want to call it. But since the dough needs to do its thing over night we stopped by Walmart on the way back to my house. BIGGEST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE. I am very Anti Black Friday. I had no idea you crazy people started the second you put your Thanksgiving fork down. All I wanted was frozen rolls, some nuts, and some pudding and I waited in line behind all these crazy moms with baskets chuck full of toys in the 20 or less lines. Not cool. No food, or dessert is that good. But we did it, and we barely survived and got out of there at 2 AM with my groceries. We got up to the line and the guy was like...this is all your getting? You dont want CDs or anything. I was like, no! Scan my 3 items and get me out of here, please and thank you.

Since the bday was on Thanksgiving my brother threw me a fun family party at the bowling alley. I cant remember the last time I went bowling with my family so that was a lot of fun. Thanks Bro for putting it all together.
A little behind the back action.

I love this of my mom.

Look at these kids!! Can they be any cuter?



Thanks Fam! I had a great time :)

unBELIZEable

I have become the most boring blogger ever I feel.
Its taken me way to long to blog about our trip, I almost cant even remember the details which is exactly why I have a blog in the first place, as my journal!
We had a really fun time in Belize. It was of course...raining, but still a great time.
Russ and I went cave tubing while my parents shopped around town.

We took a couple hr bus ride to a beautiful jungle area where we got our tubes, and floated through a cave.
As we were driving through town I couldnt believe the poverty in Belize.
I think I have mentioned this, but when I travel somewhere I really like to put myself in their daily lives and think about what all these people are doing during the day, and the things they eat, and the homes they go home to..and then I jump back to my life, my days, our food, my house...there is a whole world out there. Dang, I wish I could see it all. Traveling, best education out there I think.
Back to cave tubing.
Getting our tubes..

Russ was the only guy in our group, just his style.

Going into the cave. The water was so pretty and clear, and cold.

Inside the cave.



We look really slimy and disgusting but a memory is a memory.


The next day we were supposed to go to Honduras. I was most looking forward to Honduras, to see the country and to go zip lining. I LOVE zip lining.

And this was as close to Honduras as I got. Stupid wind.


We made the most of the time onboard. They werent able to re-route us so we ended up playing a fun game of BINGO, sitting in the hot tub..

Eating free sushi...



Getting golf lessons

Then ending the night with some formal attire, and fine dining.

Quite possibly the most awkward guy Ive ever met, also known as...I cant even remember his name. He was so weird, my mind chose to forget him almost completely.

This night was the rockiest it had been as far as waves. I had to go straight to bed before I lost it, but not before taking a cruise picture!
I watched hundreds of people get the most ridiculous pictures in the most ridiculous poses, I couldnt help it..

I love Russ's face in that picture. Its the look of..not another Chelsea idea. You're a good sport Mr.
My beautiful mom

On our way back the boat was rocking so hard my parents were holding on to each other. I thought it was sweet :)


Some other pictures aboard the Valor..

These guys were amazing break dancers. Amazing.

Whats a cruise without overweight people, food (those go hand and hand), silly pictures, and towel animals!!

They didnt mess around with their hand dryers.

Mexican buffet at midnight? Why not..

I had a fabulous time. I was so happy I got to spend it with the people I did.
We had so much fun, we even put a down payment for another cruise. Yahoo..cant wait.
In this picture you will see one person who doesnt want to leave and one person that looks happier to leave. You can decide.

Cheetos, check. Book, check. Sucker, check. Neck pillow, check check check. Cap'n, we're ready for take off.

Cozumel, Meheeco

Lets go back to the Caribbean shall we...to Cozumel!

This is where the clouds started rolling in for the rest of the trip, but who can complain with warm rain? Not me.

I won this trip through my work and part of the deal is I had to go somewhere there was a Del Sol store. We are a worldwide company and our stores are all in fantastic locations so thats not too bad of a deal. Since I chose a cruise and we had a port on every stop, we planned to visit the Cozumel store.
These guys were really great.

I work for the corporate office so it was a lot of fun to go to a store and see what goes on in the actual stores.
After we made our visit to the store my parents went and shopped and did their own thing and Russ and I rented a scooter and explored the island!



The water was so beautiful!

Sure wish we had more time to take all that in!
We unfortunately followed the rain cloud around the island. It kind of hurts to be in the middle of a rain storm cruising down a road in a dress. But it was fun.
We stopped and had a really good lunch on the water. It started POURING while we were there so that was a bummer, but at the same time pretty cool.



Russ went out in the water and snorkeled for the short time we had left and I hung out at the beach. A huge regret of mine not to get in the water but we didnt have a lot of time. I think he captured some pretty cool under water creatures.
These ones are my favorite...dont they look like such happy fish?!

I have no idea what this is?

And I think this is awesome!

After he snorkeled for a very short time we hopped back on the scooter and headed back to the other side of the island to catch the ship.
As we sailed away there was a really beautiful sunset. I felt so happy to have my parents with me.

Merry Christmas to all...

Ecko & I were so prepared this year in getting our Christmas cards out early. We mostly just sent them to the family, but we still wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful year ahead. Much love...




Merry Christmas!!

Grand Cayman!

The first day on the cruise was a day at sea. We mostly ate, sat in the hot tub, read and RELAXED...best part.
The first night was a formal night so that was kind of fun to dress up.
Some people went all out in a tux and the works.
Dont they look nice?

Doesnt our food look delicious? My first time having lobster.

One thing I dont love about being on a cruise is not having enough time to really see where you are, and get a real feel for culture and people. Since we only had limited time we did the typical organized tourist activities and they were great!
Off the ship in Grand Cayman

We did a sting ray/dolphin tour. I love dolphins, when I was young I used to want to be a dolphin trainer. How the heck I ended up in my boring job is beyond me.
Unfortunately, they didnt let us take ANY photos while with them, except you could purchase theirs for $7 a photo. Nah, the memory is good.
However, we did get this AWFUL pic of me and some dude. While we were getting the run down of the dolphins we all had to sit together in our swimming suite. This guy, sitting next to me my dad would put it "swallowed a watermelon".

I kind of feel bad for taking this behind his back, but at least we didnt show his face right?
In all fairness thats how I felt after the cruise.
From the dolphins we hopped on a fun little boat and took a ride over the beautiful waters to find the sting rays!



I'll be honest, when you are getting off a boat into the ocean of sting rays, you cant help but think of the Crocodile Hunter being killed by one.

My mom and dad hopped right into the action. I was SO proud of them.

My mom was one of the first to offer a kiss...

Russ obviously liked the rays

Isnt that water amazing?

I think I have said this in another post, but I LOVE snorkel face. Dad, your pretty much a 10.

Russ has a really great underwater digital camera. I became more comfortable with them and took a little swim. Gosh I love being underwater.

The red speedo you might remember from Thailand made an appearance...with the sting rays...and my parents. Ive cropped this photo just in case you werent in for a PG13 post.


One of my favorite moments of this day was when Russ and I were in the water and a sting ray decided to swim up and try and suck on my belly button. This is a very scary thing, and I may made a sound that has never come out of me before, quite...low. Without skipping a beat Russ says, "And thats my boyfriend everybody".
Such a great day in Cayman, I wish I could have seen more of it!