HAPPY FATHER'S DAY 

I know everyone says this, but I really do have the best dad in the world.  He is a big teddy bear and I love him.   He has taught me a lot about life and his love for the gospel.  He has always been there for me and supported me in everything that I do.  He went to almost every dance event that I had- not many girls can say that and he even knew how to do my hair.  He would always let us surf on his back in the pool and play bucking bronco in the family room.  He has a wonderful spirit and playful attitude about life.  You know how they say you marry a guy just like your father??? Well I sure did and I couldn't be happier.  He always gives my mom the respect that she deserves-opens her door holds her hand in the car.. etc.  He showed me just how a husband should treat his wife.  Thanks dad for being so amazing, loving, kind and happy all the time!  

Anytime I went out with a guy in high school and they met my dad they would tell me how big and scary he was and that he reminded them of a cop.  I'm glad he gave that impression because they were always suprised with how chill he was when they got to know him.  Whenever I would go out on the weekends he would always remind me that I was born to be a queen.  He instilled that concept into my life very early on and ever since I was little I never wanted to disappoint my dad. He wouldn't ever get mad at me when I messed up, but I could definitely see the sadness in his face and that was way worse than him ever getting angry with me.  I hope that I have made up for any disappointing moments!!!

Some silly pictures of my daddy and Bradley

And as for Bradley... It's his first Father's Day! thanks to our little rox.  She loves her daddy so much and he is soooo cute with her!  He's always taking her on walks and giving her belly rubs which she LOVES!  He is such an amazing husband and I know he will make the most amazing father ever!

On a side note... I am happy to report that today is my official 100th post! Yahoo!

i know its a little late, but I want to be able to remember our trip and blogging seems to be the quickest way to do so. Sorry if I bore you out of your mind!

Day ONE SLC


On Thursday I flew up to Salt Lake to be able to spend the next day with my family.  Worst flight ever.  Well not ever... the one in high school from Florida to SLC I actually threw up... But there were at least 2 people that threw up on this one and everyone around me holding their mouths did not help my queasiness in the turbulence.  Once we were safely on the ground my daddy picked me up and we went home.  The next day my mommy and I went to the Wood Connection.  I went a little crazy, but in spite of my upcoming cruise withheld some purchases regretfully.  I will be going back there every trip now! (Don't tell Brad) :) We also stopped in Gordmans at the district... Super cute store reminds me of a nicer burlington coat factory.  Then I went to lunch with Schnyde at this cute gelato place in Daybreak.  I love talking to Schnyde she's soo funny and everytime we get together its like high school never ended.  I miss my friends!!!! After that I went home and mi padres and Henna headed to Franklin Covey or Spring? whatever field for Jenna to sing the National Anthem for the Utes Baseball game.  She did a great job and it was fun to hear her sing.  The game was super boring... 0-0 in like the 5th inning until Bradley finally arrived! Then the teams actually started scoring! After the game we went to check out the new mall downtown.  Salt Lake finally has some glamour!!! I loved the new City Creek! We also had to check out this super nice Harmons that we have heard about.  Can I tell you how much we miss quality grocery stores??? A LOT.

Day TWO SLC 


Today was Nessa, Shadoe and Chance's special day.  We headed down town to the Temple and attended their sealing.  It was a very special day and Chance was way too cute.  I love attending sealings and listening to the sealer.  All of the advice they give is relevant whether you have been married 1 day to 60 years.  When Chance was brought in I wanted to die he was so cute and it was just amazing to know that they can be together forever now.  After the sealing we took pictures and then ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory.  We went to the zoo after lunch and then went to Jenna's dance competition for her last dance.  She did so well I'm sad I haven't been able to see her dance! After that Brad and I took Chance and met up with Jodi, Glade and Alex (Birth Fam... in case you forgot).  Chance loved Glade and Jodi... I definitely don't have the whole kid thing down yet... I don't know what to do with them once they start crying or even how to keep them entertained... But they sure did! It was great to catch up with them!


Day ONE


We arrived at the Long Beach Port! Due to the size of the groups luggage and the fact that there were 8 of us... the boys dropped the girls off and then proceeded to park the cars at the hotel we would later be staying in.  After about an hour or so we were able to begin the boarding process.  It was so nice to finally be on the ship. The girls all tried to be prepared by taking motion sickness pills, but we don't know if  it was the medicine or the ship that made us feel so loopy.  Once we got on the ship we checked out our staterooms and then explored the ship.  The girls played the fun game (which lasted the entire trip) of SPOT THE MORMONS.  Let me tell you.... we are soooooo easy to pick out.  And we were 100% correct 100% of the time.  We ate lunch at the buffet-our very first of too many trips to the buffet.  Then there was a safety briefing... at that point I had absolutely no clue where we were on the ship and I'm not quite sure how effective this safety briefing-cramming 2600 people on one deck of the ship was.. All I could think of was---- I sure hope this safety briefing is much more detailed than the one done on the Titanic.  Cause if 2600 of us were running around screaming on this deck... more than half would have been pushed off into the ocean.  After that it was time to get ready for our first dinner.  We couldn't wait.  I had steak and Brad had some kind of fish.  For dessert Brad began his Cheese Tour (there were 5 different cheeses-he had a different one each night) and also ordered cheesecake.  I ordered the Chocolate Melting cake (my first of 4 nights... ) and it was delicious! There was a welcome aboard show that we went to which had dancing and comedians.  We then went to the hot tub and after it got too hot played UNO past midnight.

Day TWO 


Catalina Island.  We ate breakfast and headed to the island.  We rented a golf cart and went off in search of something magical on this tiny island. (how can people live there)... We found an amazing zip line---too bad we all wore flip flops--- and breathtaking views.  We spent maybe 2-3 hours on the island and ended our journey at a candy store... (like we needed more junk)... Today was formal night so the girls wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to get ready so we headed back to the ship... laid out for a bit... ordered some pina coladas while the boys played shuffle board.  The dinner was more fancy than usual... the menu more fancy than my taste... (not hard to do) So I ordered the steak once again..as well as a few other dishes... Brad ordered lobster and other dishes as well and dessert was exactly the same as the night before :) We went to a few late night comedy shows, stayed up late playing UNO and catching up with old friends.

Day THREE


Ensenada aka Glorified Tijuana.  :) haha Let me just say how grateful I was to be traveling with 3 guys who spoke Spanish.  We walked around in the main town for a little bit.. Brad bought a chess set.. then we decided to go and see the main attraction of Ensenada-La Bufadora.  The guys found us the cheapest taxi available... and then the fear set in that we were being kidnapped.... the driver took us down this long dirt road and I was thinking to myself... we are going to the main attraction here and they don't even have a decent road??? are we sure he really is taking us to La Bufadora and not to some remote location to rob us and leave us stranded???--- Well I sure was wrong... we ended up safely in La Bufadora---full of 400 shops and a blow hole.  We ate tacos at a little taco stand which was delicious as well as some churros. MMMM. After we had walked and shopped as much as we wanted we headed back to the ship.  We laid out again and then got ready for dinner.  After dinner we went to singstar which is like karaoke, but with a live band so you feel like a rockstar.  It was pretty funny.  After that we headed to the deck dance party and then at 11:30pm the mexican buffet began... Let me tell you... we never stopped eating... EVER! We stayed up late once again getting our last cup of hot cocoa and plate of fries in our belly.

Day FOUR

Day @ Sea.  Since there were no attractions to see, we decided to let ourselves sleep in.  This is really easy to do since we didn't have a window.  Brad and I slept in until 10 and then went to get omelets for B-fast.  There was a chocolate bar right after breakfast with delicious pineapple, apples, banana and tropical fruit.  After that we went to the newlywed show.  They had a couple who had been married 45, 20, and 4 days participate.  The 4 day couple were on their honeymoon--- and LDS.  It was pretty funny.  We had the newlyweds join us for a game of minigolf after the show.  We laid out again the guys played shuffleboard-- ate some french fries and then got ready for dinner.  We sat in the hot tub for a little while and then went to back to back comedy shows.  and then 2 more comedy shows later in the evening.

Day FIVE


BYE BYE cruise ship hello Huntington Beach/Shopping/Avengers! We ate breakfast and left the Carnival Inspiration behind.  We stayed in Newport and did a little shopping before checking into the hotel... Bradley and I both got new watches.  We may have a problem.  His is this charcoal Michael Kors and I got my longed for white Fossil.  After shopping we went and checked out the hotel and everyone weighed themselves... don't worry Brad and I were both 10 lbs heavier than we were before the cruise.  BARF.  and don't worry Brad will lose it all in one day... me I'm not so lucky! Shouldn't have drank so much hot cocoa or have eaten soooo many plates of fries! ah! We then went to eat at Wahoos or Yahoos or Wala wala.. whatever you prefer.  They are a very delicious mexican joint on the Blvd. that runs right into Huntington Beach. Pretty much everyone ended up buying a sweatshirt because we were all freezing that night and did not come prepared for the cool sea wind.  After shopping around we headed back to the hotel.  The boys (Brad, Lips and Joe) went to the gym and the girls (me, Tiff, Kandance) + Darren headed to the store to get treats... fitting right? We hung out in the room after that and I completely crashed.

Day SIX


Newport Beach.  Today was freezing.. or so we thought.  We didn't take any swim gear to the beach.  The boys ended up playing beach baseball while the girls walked the pier and the various shops.  We then joined the boys in baseball-Lips, Tiff, Brad and I  vs. Darren Shantelle, Kandace and Joe.  We lost, but we had a ton of fun.  After the game we took lots of ocean pics.  I love them.  We ate at Charlies Chili.  Nothing like Chili Cheese Fries. Then we headed to Long Beach to take Ryan and Tiff to the Airport.  It was sad to see them leave! We miss them! The rest of us headed back to our hotel... The boys got absolutely FRIED.  Poor things.  Kandace and I made a trip to Wal-Mart to combine all of our pictures onto CD and in the meantime Joey and Brad had a mini missionary experience with an older gentleman at the bar.  We got back and went to Deseret Book to buy the man a spanish BOM and a MOTAB CD.  Then we went and took pics at the Newport Temple.  It was gorgeous.  After that we drove around forever trying to find somewhere to eat and ended up at California Pizza Kitchen... MMMMMM... When we got back to the hotel Joey and Brad gave their present to the man.  Hopefully something will come of it.  We'll see I guess.  We hung out for a little bit but it was getting late and I crashed again.. Don't know what happened afterwards...

Day SEVEN


HOME... We left early so that we could get home early.  I had no idea just how close LA is to Phoenix... 5 hours. Soooo nice....except when you get a flat tire 20 minutes outside of Phoenix.  We did one of those fix a flats and took Dar and Shantelle home then proceeded to the nearest Big O who told us that our 3 month old tire could not be repaired.  SERIOUSLY??? So we ended up buying a new tire and hanging out at the nicest Wendy's I've ever been to.  We are sooo grateful that our tire hadn't blown out because we had drove with a nail in it from Tucson to Salt Lake from Salt Lake to LA and from LA to Phoenix.  What a trooper of a tire.  Once we were back on the road we picked up our puppy who was so glad to see us and then were finally home.  Sleeping in my non rocking bed never felt so good.

 We just got back from our cruise and I am soo sad that it's over!!!! We had a blast and probably ate 10 lbs too much food... Here's some pictures from our adventure!

Catalina

Boarding the ship

 Dinner Day 1

 View from Catalina 

 La Bufadora

 Formal Night

 Dinner Day 3

Huntington Beach

 Dinner Day 4

 Newport Beach

 Newport Beach

 Glad its not bradley showing...

 La Bufadora-Blow Hole

The girls desert every single night... and maybe more... SOOOO DELICIOUS!

Huntington Beach... PS it was freezing....

I heard one of my all time favorite songs on the way home tonight I hope you dance.  My daddy gave me a book containing the lyrics with the single on a cd when I was little.  I LOVED IT I STILL LOVE it.  Tonight it reminded me of how I haven't literally danced in 5 years now. (I'm getting super old...) and even worse I haven't figuratively danced in quite some time.  I haven't slowed down to take a breath in ages it seems--- well its only been 4 months---ONLY---ugh.  Since the madness began of working 6 days a week and going to school full time. 
It also became an emotional night when I read this.  I think that my life is so terrible because I'm not pregnant after 3 1/2 years of "not preventing" while at the same time not "trying and calculating, etc."  to get pregnant.  My life is not terrible compared to the one speaker who lost her husband. Favorite new quote..."Even with the Lord's greatest blessings promised to us, the most difficult trial for us as mortals is then 'waiting for eventually.. to actually come.''  How true is this and sooooo on point in my life??? You have no idea.  I have a problem and that problem is not being able to be patient, to trust in my Heavenly Father and to stop and smell the roses and just enjoy the "simple" life that my husband and I share together before things change to a different more complicated life when our children finally join us.  The more and more I think about it(which is like 75% of my day), the more I realize that this is the one thing that comes as a challenge to Brad and I.  We have never struggled in our relationship.  We have never been that poor newlywed couple struggling to get by.  We have never had to miss out on any vacations, having the internet, cable, going out to do whatever we wanted.  We have never struggled with believing in the gospel.  We have both had great jobs and have been able to fully support ourselves.  We both have an education and are pursuing more for the future of our family. We have lived very comfortably without sacrificing much (except for a washer and dryer the past 2 years)... :). But getting pregnant seems to be the one thing that Heavenly Father needed to remind us that everyone has their challenges in life or to remind us that the best things in life are the ones that we apparently need to wait a long long long time to be blessed with.  Either way I know I will be a mother one day.  I know that that is my true calling in life and the one thing that I would give everything up for.  I need to start refocusing my life on the things that do matter.And just because I will most likely be the last person to get pregnant out of my family and friends... NO ONE BETTER USE THE FOLLOWING NAMES FOR THEIR CHILDREN!!!!! 1. Sutton2. Eleanore3. Donnovan4. Densley If you think I am crazy about getting pregnant... I'm even crazier about naming my babies. Most of you probably hate the names anyways... and who knows how I'll feel once I am pregnant but I've gotta protect the ones I love for now! :) 
 
Well sorry for the longest schpill from my brain ever.  I just had a lot of emotions tonight and had to get them written down.  Hope that everyone out there is doing well! and good news... Brad and I leave for our cruise in t-minus 18 days.  HALLELUJAH!!!!!! I have never needed something more in my life. Also on that note... Nessa and Shadoe are getting sealed in 19 days!!! yay!!! I can't wait! Utah.Vegas.California.Mexico. HERE WE COME!
My VT (one of my few best friends in this lovely Tucson) gave me a little lesson on scripture study last night.  And let me tell you... Reading my scriptures is the last thing I want to do on the 3 days of the week where I leave at 7:30 am and don't get home until 8:30 pm, let alone the days that I just do a normal shift. When I get home, I want to let my mind be vacant. I don't want to think or let alone move.  But I do realize how important this simple gospel principle is.  So from now on I will be reading. Even if its just 1/2 of a chapter.

Well, it's official! After a month of being in Boise, ID....My little brother is now in Cuernavaca, Mexico! He looks so happy to finally be there! We can't wait for him to be able to teach the gospel and learn spanish! He's the giant.... (sorry sean :)

I find myself with absolutely no time. AT ALL. This whole working 50 hour weeks and going to school 3 nights is getting a little bit old... as well as never seeing Bradley.... That sucks big time! Even with how busy we are we have had a lot of things go on... 1. We bought a new car a cute 2010 Toyota Corolla Sport (we are super sporty :) 2. Bradley got about 10 interviews and about 6-8 offers for a job this summer! We were soooooo blessed! He got to choose the one he wanted the most and he chose to work for the National Law Center for Inter American Trade. "They develop the legal infrastructure to build trade capacity and promote economic development in the Americas." So... that includes North, Central, and South America and if he gets hired on after school he could potentially be traveling all over. I really hope that he enjoys the work that they do! 3. We sold our Malibu in an hour... sooo basically we posted it on craigslist and I got literally 50 calls (21 of which left voicemails) and an hour later we had cash in our pockets. Pretty crazy... We both can't wait for spring break we are going to take a day off of work and go up to Phoenix and go to the temple and a jazz/suns game!

WOULD YOU VOTE FOR A MORMON FOR PRESIDENT???? I'm hearing this question more and more and I want to let people know not to be afraid!!!! I want those of you wondering what we believe in to know the basics and to realize that even though we (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) live a different lifestyle does not mean that we don't believe in all of the things that this country stands for, being good citizens and quality people. Putting a mormon in office isn't going to force mormonism on the country or make you change your way of life.

So I wanted to start off by informing those of you who don't know what our beliefs are, by using our Articles of Faith. Background info: there are 13 Articles of Faith which describe what we believe in. "Two years before he died, the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote them in a letter to a newspaper editor, John Wentworth, who had asked for information about the Church. Ever since the Articles of Faith were written, they’ve inspired and directed us in the basic principles of our gospel. They enhance our understanding of certain doctrines and help us commit to living them." -Mormon.org Some of the wording may be difficult to understand so if you have questions you can either ask me... or if you want to remain anonymous research it on mormon.org. :) Thanks for stopping by and I hope that this gives you a better understanding and that you can accept our beliefs, just as we accept yours.

1. We believe in God, the eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression.

3. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are: first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, repentance; third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.

7. We believe in the gift of of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.

8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly: we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the ten tribes; that Zion (the new Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.

11. We claim the privilege of worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men: indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul-- WE believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things and hope to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report we seek after these things.