Cruisin' in the Caribbean

Finally, after months of anticipation, the day arrived that we got on a plane to Miami to board the Carnival Destiny. We loved every minute of our cruise from the warm weather, to the fun ports we stopped at, to seeing Christian and Steph, to learning the behind the scenes shenanigans of the cruise ship, and to the little surprises Christian and Steph would have our steward leave in our room.

The two ports we stopped at were Ocho Rios, Jamaica and Grand Caymen, Caymen Islands. We felt very lucky to enjoy great weather throughout our entire cruise. We heard the few weeks before us it had rained quite a bit. Lucky for us we saw nothing but sunny days.



Jamaica. What a place! You couldn't walk even 5 minutes without being harassed by locals offering to give you taxis rides, to braiding your hair, smokes or even women. You would finally get one person off your back after they followed you for a block or two only to be followed by another local.



Nate and I had one goal in Jamaica -to find a souvenir. We ended up making friends with Radcliffe, who is a wood carver. After spending some time watching him make a turtle out of wood using only a machete, we bought one of his fish. We had our eye on a larger one but settled for a mid sized one. When we got the fish home to our small apartment, we realized just how big the fish really is and are grateful we didn't get the larger one.

Christian and Steph took a break from their jobs in Grand Caymen to snap a quick photo.

In Grand Caymen we went to a turtle farm. We couldn't believe how many sea turtles they had enclosed in tanks there. It was pretty cool. Nate's holding one of the babies in this photo.

Christian and Steph hooked us up with a shore excursion in Grand Caymen. We went swimming with the dolphins. Unfortunately the underwater camera we had took terrible photos and most pictures came out very unfocused. Above the dolphin is pushing me on the boogie board by my foot using only its nose.

The last full day of our cruise Christian and Steph were able to spend most of the day with us. We had fun playing mini golf, playing shuffle board, and just laying out.

All in all - we had a great time and would definitely do another cruise.

Camping at Manresa Beach

All I can say is - -finally! Ever since we moved to San Francisco I have wanted to go camping. Last year when Nate was studying for the CPA exams he promised we would go once he was finished. But, then it turned cold.

This weekend we met up with some of our friends from college for a relaxing camping trip at Manresa Beach located just a little south of Santa Cruz. We got to use the gear we received for our wedding for the first time. Growing up I loved camping but never quite realized the work that goes into planning. However, it's totally worth it.

Our meals were amazing: mountain man breakfast, tin foil dinner, cobbler in the dutch oven. Need I say more?!?!

The beach was relaxing. Nate and Jonathan even got in. The weather was beautiful but the water still freezing.

We even went geocaching. After a previous failed attempt geocaching with the Thomas' when our GPS stopped working, we were excited to find this one.

We even watched the sunset!

Overall, a great weekend. The camping facilities were really nice. They even had coin operated showers, which made getting ready for church a breeze. Thanks Krista and Jonathan.

We Need a Vacation!!!

It's been quite a while since our last post. But truthfully, we haven't had much to blog about. I spent pretty much the the entire month of February at work, I guess that's why they call it busy season.

Our solution is a cruise to Jamaica in a couple of months!

Not only that, but we decided to get on the same ship that our good friends Christian and Steph are working on. We're looking forward to relaxing a little bit and seeing some friends.

Some Things Don't Go as Planned

Christmas this year was full of surprises. My Grandma Jacobson rather surprisingly passed away the Friday before Christmas after a week in the hospital. The next day my 18 year old cousin also died in a bad car accident when his car slipped off the road down a riverbank into the Snake River. Rather than spending time in Boise like planned we went to Eastern Idaho early to attend two funerals. Just when we thought we were done and getting ready to head to a cabin on Christmas Eve, as was originally planned, we received word that my Grandma Weed also passed away.

Needless to say, our best made plans were thrown out the window and the whole week was an emotional adventure with highs and lows. Some of our memories include:

• Arriving in Winnemucca at 1am searching for a motel with an available room for the night. We went through 4 before we found one.
• Almost being creamed from behind by a truck going a little too fast on a downward slope in snowy conditions. Luckily they went off the road first. Nate ran back up the highway to make sure they were okay and spent 30 minutes helping them get out of the snow bank.
• Feeling the Spirit as the funerals focused on the glorious Plan of Salvation. My Uncle Doug spoke at both his mother's and son's funerals and did an amazing job. Despite the sorrow felt by all, there was an underlying comfort provided by the gospel and plan on salvation.
• Lots of snow and bad roads - one highway was closed right after the funeral procession went through because it was white out conditions. You could barely see the car in front of you!
• Getting stuck in the snow in Jason's driveway - it took us about 30 minutes to get our car out.
• Being together as a family in Island Park at the most amazing cabin
• Treking through the forest to cut down our own Christmas Tree for the cabin. Jason got his car stuck on the way and we had to dig him out.
• Receiving about 3ft of snow from Christmas Eve to the end of Christmas day
• Going in the hot tub. Jason and Nate would jump out into the snow, then back into the tub. Tyson thought it was funny and followed their lead.
• Playing Buzz Word
• Snowmobiling
• Spending time with 4 cute nephews.
• Taking nearly another week off of work to attend my Grandma Weed's funeral. Since the funeral is in Utah we made an unexpected trip to visit Nate's family for a few days in Utah.

Christmas 2008 will never be forgotten. We loved being with family and are grateful to know families can be together forever.

Christmas Pics

Christmas Spirit

This weekend we took some time to get into the Christmas spirit.

First, we spent some time on Saturday putting out Christmas decorations and decorating our little tree. I think it turned out pretty well.


Then, on Sunday night we went down to Palo Alto to a Christmas Creche exhibit. There were over 45o nativity scenes collected from all over the world. We were also there in time to listen to the Valparaiso singers delight us with some Christmas carols.

We're Thankful...

...for our families


For Thanksgiving we flew to Utah to spend time with the DeFries side. Our first stop, however, was to visit Jaime's grandma Chloe at an assisted living facility in Spanish Fork. Jaime helped feed her lunch while I chatted with some of the other residents.


After our short visit, we drove out to Grand Junction, CO to meet up with the entire extended DeFries family at my uncle Richard's home. It was good to be with all of the cousins and relax a little bit. Richard did a lot to make sure we were all comfortable. He catered the food so no one had to worry about cooking, and he arranged for a photographer to come on Thanksgiving to take a family picture.



On the day after Thanksgiving, the boys played a round of golf while the girls went to see Twilight.


After returning to Layton from Grand Junction, we just took it easy for the rest of the vacation. We were able to go to Logan on Sunday to see my cousin Paul (from my mom's side) bless his baby girl, Penny.



Our Thanksgiving was good time to reflect on all of our blessings and to be with family. As with all vacations, however, it was much too short. Good thing Christmas is right around the corner.