What I Did With My Summer Vacation That I Didn't Tell You About

Also known as:
Stuff you most likely won't care about but get to hear about because this is MY blog and I'm just now getting around to updating so shut it, you jerks.

I knit stuff.

 As a favor to my mother, I knit this shawl: Henslowe.  Then I had a really hard time giving it away. But I did anyway because I'm awesome like that... and also, who needs another shawl when you have seven(teen) already.

 No, you may not see my face.

 Then I knit this for me! The pattern is Totally Biased and I knit it out of my own handspun yarn! I love it. So much I want to marry it. Yeah.

 Please, don't look at my face.

 I also finished the Epic Blanket of 2012. I think I mentioned that knitting this blanket was my only knitting goal for 2012. I'm such an overachiever! The pattern is Girasole.

It is just lovely. I'm really looking forward to this "Winter" when I can snuggle up underneath it and drink me some Herbal tea and watch Downton Abbey. If you aren't watching this show, you are dead to me.

Stay tuned for tomorrow so you can hear about more stuff you don't care about!

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What I Did With My Summer Vacation: Part Two

 A million years ago (or 2.5ish), some of our best friends high-tailed it out of Florida. They followed their hearts back to Utah, which really sucked at the time, but came in very handy when we needed a place to stay. 

 Meet Gary & Alecia. Best hosts ever. They bought us the best donuts I've ever had: Maple Bacon Donuts from Beyond Glazed. They let us play with their doggies. We played the most hysterical game of Curses! Ever. It was actually really hard for me to leave them. I miss them so much!

 Classic Photobomb. Also, check out the husband's sweet bowtie! Real! 

 While in Utah we had the awesome opportunity to hang out with my brother, sister and their respective families. This is my Sister-in-law, Erikka. Isn't she so beautiful?! 

 And this is my baby brother, Matt. And his baby girl (who is now 3!), Arya! This was my first time meeting Arya and I found her to be just the sweetest little package of awesome. Plus, so cute! I have no pictures of my sister Rachel and her little friend, David, because they kept making weird faces for the camera. 

On our final day in Utah we traveled to the booming metropolis of Provo. We got to meet up with some old friends, The Hansens and their 3.1 kids. We had the privilege of enjoying delicious foodstuffs: JDawgs, Hokulia Shaved Ice, and Four Seasons Hot Pot and Dumplings.  All recommended!

 We also realized that Provo pretty much feels the same as it did 10ish years ago when we met, dated, and fell in love there. 

Would I move back to Utah? If the price was right...

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What I Did With My Summer 2012: Part One

So, we did the cruise. 

Then we found out that my husband's youngest brother was getting married in August in Utah. We just had to go. You see, that's where the husband and I met, wooed, and decided to get married. (We were actually married in Washington DC). But Utah is where the magic happened. The short short version is that we both lived in the same apartment complex and attended the same church congregation (in the LDS Church it's called a Ward). He was attending BYU and I was attending UVSC (now UVU) and I was quite the looker. He couldn't resist my feminine wiles. Or something. 

At any rate, I haven't been back to Utah (we both still have family living there) since 2007 and for Matt it was more like 2004. So, we were both fairly excited at the chance to "walk down memory lane." Also, we didn't take the kids. I know. Two vacations this summer without children in tow... it was like a dream. An awesome dream. 

We attended David and Diana's wedding. It was honestly so beautiful. The reception was probably one of the nicer ones I've ever been to. I kept saying, "the next time I get married, I'm totally doing it like this!" Then my Mother-In-Law had the nerve to remind me that in just ten short years I could be planning the wedding of my own daughter. Uhhh... Not cool, Mom!

 My husband is a very attractive man. 

 Have I mentioned that the husband had Lasik done back in December? He did. What's that? He's wearing glasses? Yes. They're "for show." Psht. Men. 

David and Diana are so cute together. After the temple portion of the wedding, the bride and groom, fully decked out, went to Cafe Rio with us. It was pretty awesome. 

More later.

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Evertaster!

Recently, my husband discovered that one of his college classmates was just about finished with his first published novel. It's about food, which my husband loves. It's a captivating work of young adult fiction titled Evertaster by Adam Glendon Sidwell. I think it is probably 4th-8th grade level.  I will be honest: I haven't read it. But guess who did?

Read it in one day. Couldn't pry it from her hands. 

When I asked her if it was as good as Harry Potter she replied, "better, more adventurous."
That's quite the review, eh? I am encouraging you to run on over to Amazon and pick up this novel for your kids. Or heck, for you!

Not included? The picture of Abbie reading this book upside-down. Kids are so weird.

Have I mentioned that my husband did the Title Design for the cover? (His name appears in the book... twice!) How awesome is that? (I receive nothing for posting this. In case that was unclear.)

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While I'm Sharing...

As punishment for rule infractions, I've been having my kids do pushups. Mostly because it's hilarious with their chicken arms. Libby (age 2) loves to count off her pushups.

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Girly Man Makes Good

Miles is an intellectual. A thinker.

Also, he's kind of a big wimp. I'm his mother, so I can say this. He's not really into sports, doesn't like getting dirty, and overall, he just doesn't care.

He is now 6.5 and every other child his age (and some MUCH younger) know how to ride a bike without training wheels. I've tried embarrassing him into wanting it, tried bribing with legos, tried forcing.  We even went so far as to take the pedals off so he could attempt to ride it like a strider bike. No dice. He really just didn't care.

Today I mentioned to Miles that it would be really fun if we could all ride bikes together over to our local Italian ice place. His face lit up. I put the pedals back on the bike, gave him a push and he was off. Just like that.



And for the record, this was the ONLY time he rode the bike without a helmet all day. From that moment on, it was firmly strapped to his head.

Once again, this kid surprises me daily.

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Costa Maya (and the rest)

Our last Port was Costa Maya, Mexico. 

Being that it was our last port, it was the one we had done the least amount of research on. We didn't know what we wanted to do, or how to get there. In short, we had no plans. 

We decided the night before to just get off the boat and look around. According to reports there was a large pool just inside the port that was free. If all else failed, we'd just swim there. 

 Lounging? Waiting for something to happen? Who knows?!

 We did shop around quite a bit. We were on a mission to find Matt a hat. He'd been wanting one since before we left Florida. 

 This is a lovely shot of us pretending we weren't taking a picture of ourselves. We are just so awesome.

 This was actually the first port where we ran into any type of law enforcement. That gun? Real. We asked to take a picture.  He begrudgingly told us: Only one. Twenty seconds later three hot chicks asked for a picture... he was all smiles. 

What did we end up doing? Have I even told you about our love of the Golf Cart? No? 

 We ended up renting a cart for three hours. We drove all over the place in this thing. 

 We ended up at a private beach that has a deal worked out with the golf cart people. They allow people to sit on their beach for free. We also had access to a sea kayak (had we wanted to go out ... I did. Matt did not). Plus, their drinks/etc were super cheap (in comparison to some of the places we had eaten). 

 You can see our cruise ship smack dab in the middle of the picture. We did a little bit of snorkeling. Laid out for a little bit longer.

 Poor me. I had to go there. Life is so rough. We did end up ordering a pina colada (virgin, of course) which Matt deemed the best pina colada he'd ever had. It was pretty freaking good. We walked along the boardwalk area (shops and beaches) for a bit... where Matt FINALLY found his hat! 

 We enjoyed a coconut water. But between you and me, I'm not sure what all the hype is about.

We decided to hop back in the golf cart and go exploring. 

 We drove along this little road for a couple of miles. It was gorgeous. 

Did I mention we love golf carts? It's a disease maybe.

 This was our view as we left Costa Maya. There is a pool like area over there... it's a dolphin tank. For the low low cost of your firstborn child, you can swim with a dolphin. It seems to us like something it might be worth it to pay for one of your children to do.

 One last shot of the ship. It really was a massive beast of a boat.

 At dinner that night we were looking mighty crispy! And happy. Honestly, of the four ports I think Costa Maya was my favorite. It was just so relaxing. And beautiful and not nearly as touristy as some of the other ports. 

The next day was spent entirely at sea as we sloshed our way back to Florida. We spent it napping, and hot tubbing.

 And we finally got around to doing the onboard Mini-golf. Don't we just look the part?

 Apparently, I needed all my concentration.

 I have to say I was doing pretty well, even though we didn't keep score.

 And Matt, featuring the one thing on board that we didn't get around to: the waterslides. It was always filled with kids and I didn't feel like waiting in line. 

 Don't we look refreshed? And happy? I know we felt it. 

 And finally. I never talked about our tablemates. We got lucky and they sat us at a table for four. Which meant that we only had to worry about two potentially strange dinner mates. But we needn't have worried. We got to meet Rakesh and Gurjeet. They were a very nice couple about our age (so what if we were older!) who were extremely pleasant! We found ourselves looking forward to dinner so we would have someone to share the day's adventures with. 

Yes, we've already friended them on Facebook. 

That brings our cruise travelogue to a close. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here. 

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