Grandpa's 1st Cruise!

Grandpa & Grandma Whiting came to visit! I'm not sure how Ruth got him on the boat, but we had the BEST time!

This may have helped--Welcome Aboard:)

We take advantage of any opportunity to get fresh food instead of yesterday's leftovers!

Christian and Grandpa went deep sea fishing in Half Moon Cay. The tour guides have a good gig. Tourists pay to fish and since it is catch & release the captain takes the fish and sells it to the locals!

Grand Turk!

Ruth--Horseback riding through the ocean!

Visitors!

Something about eating in Fine Dining makes the food taste so much better--We took full advantage--Christian and I ordered & polished off: 4 appetizers, 2 entrees, & 4 desserts
Note the guy conveniently flexed and posed in the background..haha

Half Moon Cay--no shopping so we got the whole day off to spend at the beach!

Back in the days when I had a real job there was one girl that helped me keep my sanity at Ernst & Young LA--Jessie! Jessie and her cute mom Liz came to cruies with us last week. Fortunately, we were able to squeeze in some time for swimming, golf, and of course food!

Sweet Toothe

Who needs the Easter Bunny when there is a 90% off sale at CVS? If you live in Miami don't bother trying to cash in on the sweet deal because we may have bought every bag they had. The stash includes:

11 bags of jelly beans
3 bags of M&Ms

2 (smashed) marshmallow cream eggs

= $2.43

Then the Candy Shop girl on the ship gave us a 5 pound bag of sour gummy bears! Woo-hoo

Perks!

I'm hoping this ring doesn't have the same fate at the last 2.

We may live in a tiny dorm-like room, but we do get to pick out and wear "display" jewelery. I never used to wear more than my wedding ring, but I've quickly grown accustomed to the fancy pieces!

Small World

Since we signed on we've run into 3 different couples that we knew from BYU...all completely unexpected! This week we got to hang out with Don and Ashley who were visiting from Tennessee! Such a fun surprise!

Talk of the Town

I usually don't like aquariums, but the one at the Atlantis resort was unreal. We had a couple free hours while in Nassau so we took a boat over to the Atlantis on Paradise Island to see what all the hype was all about--definitely lives up to all the fuss--I highly recommend!

One Year Down

The 10 carat yellow canary diamond I picked out...and put on hold 'til out 50th Anniversary.

We celebrated our 1 year anniversary this week! I got Christian a Caribbean cruise and took him to a buffet...for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! j/k Actually, I nearly forgot, but Christian remembered and had roses delivered to Diamonds International which was our first stop when we arrived in Cozumel. Although we were working it was a really fun day and we had a chance to stop for some incredible Mexican food.

Over the last week and a half we went on two cruises--visiting Grand Cayman & Jamaica then Key West & Cozumel. We have one more cruise until we officially take over!

Bunk Beds

Meet your Carnival "Super Shoppers" (That's our real title..hahah)

No shopping=day off.
Half Moon Cay is a private island with no stores so we got to just enjoy it!

The first week was a little overwhelming--Nassau, Half Moon Cay, and Grand Turk. We've just been trying to learn everything while the current shopping guides are still here.

It got off to a rocky start when we found out that we would be in separate cabins for the first month...with roommates. Fortunately, we pleaded and begged and were given our own cabin today! We still have bunk beds, but we'll get the room the current super shoppers are in when we take over. Everything else is great...just trying to keep my distance from the dessert buffet.

Face Shots

20 new inches in 24 hours. We didn't make the first tram, but it didn't matter. While we were on our first tram at Snowbird yesterday the liftee announced that only Regulator would be open. Then there was a correction...most runs would be open, but "try not to trample the ski patrol opening the gates" It's a rare sight to see all fresh powder on Great Scott!

XOXOXO

The anticipation before digging in!

Unlike the rest of us, Bradley couldn't be bothered by the chocolate.

Like a true girl, Brooklyn couldn't get enough of the chocolate!


Christian found other ways to win.

Who needs TV? Tyler woke up early and spent all morning watching the skiers.

We are in Utah right now for a last hurrah before we leave for the cruise ship. For Valentine's day we met Christian's family at Snowbird for an awesome day of skiing and then the Easton Family came up to play at the place we are staying in Park City. We went hot tubing and then the Eastons treated us to pizza and chocolate fondue (their v-day tradition that we gladly helped keep going). Then the "big" kids: Makenzie, Tyler & Hannah stayed the night. Such a blast! We could barely keep up with all their energy. After Foosball, Twister, and a movie, Christian & I were wiped. We said that as long as they were in bed they could watch TV--they took full advantage and stayed up until 130am;)

Cables Cars and Clam Chowder

Watching the surfers at Ocean Beach

Nothing like a yummy burger and fries to give you energy!

In route- We could barely keep up with Hannah

This weekend we went to the City with Chris and Hannah for an amazing bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. We borrowed a tandem bike from Christian's neighbors...so fun, but so scary. SF wasn't made for tandem bikes with it's narrow, steep, windy roads. Poor Christian is probably deaf after all my screaming.

Cousins!!

Believe it or not these are my cute little cousins! Christian's family lives close by so we went over to Fremont for a long overdue visit! The McNays invited us over for some yummy Chinese food and we had a blast seeing Audrey and Carolyn. I can't believe how fast they've grow up...I think Audrey will be taller than me next time we are in town (not hard, I know)!

Some things never change

40 degree water didn't stop Christian from spear fishing and scuba diving. Christian, Mike, Greg, and Guy all went to Monterey to dive while Madeleine, Mary, and I grabbed lunch and went shopping. I'd call it a fair trade.

Adopting

There are no other options. Apparently I'm the problem...David Beckham's genes didn't even help.

Unemployed Part II: Adventures in Babysitting

Off to the basketball game and violin practice.

Christian's parents were on vacation in St. Maarten (figures) for the past week so we got to babysit/house sit Hannah while they were away. It's a little depressing when a 14 year old has more going on than you! Let's be honest though-I could get used to it:)

Unemployed

Guarding the valuables.

Timing is everything

In an effort to make a couple extra dollars during our stint of unemployment we took in my parent's soda cans. At 5 cents a pop it can really add up...in fact we made $75. Not bad for an hour's work. Saving the environment while helping our checking account...and it still left plenty of time for the beach. This could really lead to something.