Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Viva Mexico!

Ok, I promised that I would share pictures and stories of our cruise...so I am finally getting to it. I know, I'm lazy! It all began Wednesday the 17th. We left for the airport around 10pm, and got to New Orleans around 10am on Thursday morning. We made it there with only a few minor delays, but nothing too horrible. 
The first night on our cruise was pretty uneventful, we wandered the ship, and watched the muddy Mississippi as we cruised through it, and passed the ginormous barges. I just have to say (and I know that Brandon agrees) the food was THE best part of our cruise (on the ship) hands-down. Partly because of the entertaining Bernard who served us all weekend, and partly because, well I didn't have to make any of it! :) Of course the best part of the trip was our day in Cozumel. After a rough night at sea, I was glad to be on solid ground. (We missed our formal dinner night, because I was a loser and got sick) 
Anyways, it was nice and sunny when we got off the ship. We checked in with our tour guide, and then went to wander the pier before our little adventure. We saw lots of cute shops, a Mexican Christmas tree, (the only thing that makes it "Mexican" is the fact that it was in Mexico) :D and a beautiful view of the Caribbean Sea. Around 9am we rode in a rocky taxi van, down the coast of the island, to a small resort. Here we got to climb some rock towers, which was fun, and a first for Brandon. We both climbed once, then just watched everyone else :) We also got the chance to climb another tower, walk across a rope bridge, to a wooden plank bridge, finally to be tossed down a zipline, and repel down a small tower. Overall it was pretty fun, a little too short, but definitely fun! 
Then came our favorite part. We got to snorkel in a private cove! It took us a minute to adjust to the -Cold- water, and to learn to breath through our tube, but once we did it was great! We kicked our little flippers and got to swim with some pretty fishies! There was a nice big school of bright blue and yellow striped fish, and some cool flat silver fish. We even got to see a Stingray swimming along the bottom of the clear water around some stinging coral. I felt kind of bad that Brandon couldn't see as clearly without his glasses, but I know he had fun! 
Once we got back to shore, and got the sand out of our suits, we got a Mexican Coke, and took the wobbly taxi back to the pier. There we did a little souvenir shopping, and ate lunch at Pancho's Backyard. Some good tamales were found there! Overall the day was great, and like I said, the highlight of our trip! 
We would very much like to go back and visit the mainland to see the Mayan Ruins at Chichenitza or Tulum, maybe someday! Our last nights on the ship were gladly uneventful, we relaxed and enjoyed our time away, without any major problems. We did have a nice surprise one night, as we had let slip to Bernard that it was our Honeymoon of sorts. He brought us a heart shaped chocolate cake, "Happy Honeymoon" he and a fellow waiter sang to us, as they made us kiss, while everyone around us laughed and thought it was cute....lol :D silly Bernard. Anyways, I can't stress enough how much we loved just lounging around, enjoying our time. It was a great trip, and instilled a little more faith in me, that traveling without trouble is still possible, rare maybe, but possible! Well, I am sorry this is so long, and if you have more questions, you will have to ask, because I am going to post pictures now! :D

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Honeymoon Cruise!


As some of you may already know, Brandon and I are finally getting to go on our honeymoon! My Parents' Christmas gift/Honeymoon to us was a cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. My dad racks up tons of skymiles from work and Delta, and decided he could give us a few thousand :) We leave next Wednesday, the 17th on the Red-Eye flight to New Orleans, where we will dock our ship and be on our happy way! We will cruise to the Mexican island of Cozumel, and who knows what adventures await us there. We will be back the 22nd, just in time for our first Christmas alone. We are super excited and can't wait to share the stories and pictures once we get back! (Hopefully they will be good pictures, I'm crossing my fingers for a new camera as my birthday/christmas present) :-D Anyways, just thought I would share my excitement! See you next week!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Happy Halloween!


Brandon and I had a pretty fun night! We dressed up and went to our friend's apartment for a party with a bunch of couples from the ward. It was great. Lots of fun (and original) costumes, and some intense fear factor! Anyways, thanks Jessica and Eric for hosting the party, and Lyndi, because I know you spent tons of time with it! We had lots of fun! Let's do it again!! Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

And Baby (puppy) Makes Three!!

*apparently some people have taken the original title the wrong way...so I had to modify it...*

It's official! Brandon and I are the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl. Her name is Lucy Marie Harvill, and she was born on July 14th, 2008-she is now just over 3 months old. The day we brought her home was the happiest day ever! Thats right, baby girl "Puggle" (at least that is what they told us that our gorgeous little mut is called.) We did a little research and found out that it is a Pug/Beagle mix-but whatever she is, she is ADORABLE! (I will post pictures at the end.) Lucy is very energetic, and loves to run and play and snuggle!! (which mommy loves) She loves to spend her days running around and chewing on her nylabone, and playing tug-o-war with Daddy and her Piggy, she loves to give kisses, and lots of them! Licking toes and ankles are among her hobbies-she purrs when she wants attention, and cries when she breaks her leg(s). Thats right! She BROKE her leg. Shortly after we brought the cute little furball home, she decided she wanted to learn to fly, and jumped from Daddy's arms. The vet confirmed the somber truth, she had broken her elbow. She came home with a bright pink cast, and hopped around on her remaining three legs. The little Gimpy got quite good at it, and was back to following us around just a few days later. Around this same time, Mommy was getting her ready for her surgery, and she decided to take a second flight. Thats right, she broke her OTHER leg! With plans already in order for a first surgery, she easily got a two-in-one to fix both of her broken elbows. She stayed the night at the puppy hospital, and is now safely home with her Mommy and Daddy, boy did we miss her nibbling on our toes! Now that she is recovering, we decided it would be a great time to share the news! (Yes Megan, remember when we dog-sat for our neighbor? Totally the inspiration, we loved that dog! But not as much as we love our Lucy!)
She is so excited to be home, and can't wait to meet her grandparents at Thanksgiving. We hope you enjoy her as much as we have, do and will for many years to come :D

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Tagged by Ashley :)

Uh-Oh! Ashley tagged me...is there some unwritten rule that you have to fill it out?? Lol, but I will anyways- Love you Ash!
On this one, you have to give five answers to each of the questions and pass it on. To pass it on, you name them on your blog and you leave a comment notifying them on their blog.

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. I got baptized (almost 11 years ago)
2. Living in Utah
3. Throwing rocks at cars from the playground
4. Breaking little boys hearts. :P
5. Sharing a room with my sister!

5 things on my to-do list today:

1. Visiting Teaching
2. Work on next week's talk
3. Make Broccoli Cheese Soup
4. Change my sheets
5. Do the dishes :/ I hate doing the dishes.

5 snacks I enjoy:

1. Popcorn (even though I'm slightly allergic)
2. Chocolate, most any kind
3. Pumpkin Cookies
4. Twix
5. Chex mix at Christmas time

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:

1. Pay off debt, school and otherwise
2. Go to Paris
3. Invest half of it and let it grow
4. Pay off our parents debts
5. Build a dream house

5 places I have lived:

1. Logan, Utah
2. West Jordan, Utah
3. Preston, Idaho
4. Othello, Washington
5. Phoenix, Arizona

5 jobs I have had:

1. Ashton Financial Group, if you can call it a job...
2. Othello City Pool..the second most boring job of my life
3. Time Out Pizza- I really loved this job
4. Adams County Mosquito Control...interesting experience
5. iLearningGlobal...#1 most boring job ever.

5 people I tag:

1. Michelle
2. Danielle
3. Megan
4. Jenny
5. Monica

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Ward Campout

Last weekend, (10th-11th) our ward had a campout at Canyon Lake, AZ about 45minutes from where we live. We weren't feeling the most adventureous, so we decided to just go up for the night and hang out and have some fun. The drive was a gorgeous one, though the ride itself was pretty rough. Tight turns up a steep mountain path, that quickly made Calley want to barf, charming, I know. Anyways, we drove through Saguaro dominated desert, and also passed a cool looking ghost-mining town. Also along the way, we discovered an interesting cactus that we had previously heard about-the Jumping Cholla- it was crazy to see it in real life, apparently if you get to close to the cactus, it will release it's prickly spines, with the appearance of having thrown them at you-(it also apparently hurts a bit)




-Jumping Cholla (pronounced CHOYA)



Other than the winding road, it was gorgeous-great views of the Superstition Mountains and Valley. We finally got there a little after 5pm, and the sun was starting to set, when Bro Kennedy, aka Chuck came by in his boat and persuaded us to go on a sunset cruise. We hopped in, not heeding the warnings of other ward members, who fully knew Chuck's boating reputation...haha luckily it was very nice, I think mostly because it was getting dark and was hard to see. After we got back to the campsite we helped our friends Terry and Michelle set up their camp, and their "Taj Mahal of tents" (according to Terry) It was pretty funny to see many of the men from the ward wander by and be amazed at the sheer size of the tent. We laughed, and suggested they start charging for tours. Anyhoo, we sat around and chatted and made smores until about 10pm, and decided that it was time to come home..so that was about as exciting as it got, UNTIL we were on our way home, and saw some pretty creepy creatures...
-Blonde and Desert Tarantulas

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Brandon's Not So New Toy

So the week after we got here, we realized that we would not both be able to use the car, as a result, we bought a scooter for Brandon to ride back and forth to school. (Multiple times without sunscreen....see below) It works pretty well, only costs $4 bucks every week or so for him to drive, but now he thinks he wants a real motorcycle, so the kids on the street will stop laughing at him. Also once or twice right after we got it, Brandon got stuck in monsoon rains and showed up at the front door soaked to the bone...it was so hard not to just laugh at him... :)

Pictures

Here are a few pictures of our apartment, now that we are mostly settled in.

Chocolate-Ginger Cookies

Ok, So I know it's been almost a month since my last pathetic message, it can't even be catagorized as a blog. Anyways, I have a few things to share, and I'm starting with my favorite! :) This past weekend I made some cookies that I found on marthastewart.com they were amazing, and I ate most of them myself, but the ones I did leave for Brandon were eaten pretty quickly. If any of you want to try the recipe, here is the link: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/chocolate-ginger-cookies?lnc=5a79cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&rsc=cf_link I left out the fresh ginger, and substituted Maple Syrup for the molasses, since I didn't have either of them, and wasn't going to go get any! :) Here is how mine turned out!