.. supa' ..

so the first morning on the boat we decided to eat at the buffet. we went up and saved a table and took turns getting food. we stuffed our faces, i was pretty hungry and not too sick thank heavens. after we all met up we got off the boat. we had done some research, well mostly e*, of every island. we found that this place was great for shopping at little markets and the beach. so we were off, and of course i forgot sunglasses so i had to buy some promptly.

{on our walk}


{we are pirates of the caribbean, ha!}

after that we decided to walk to the flea market that was just a mile from the boat. on the way we met a friend..

{meet mr. iguana}

yes he was loose on his own and missing a tail. scary i think so. our friends t* and c* decided they didn't want to walk but they wanted to hit the beach so they hopped on a taxi bus and left for coki beach that we all opted to visit that day. e*, m* , cody and i kept walking and found the little market. it was so rad. we ended up getting cody new sunglasses since his broke in half on our walk there, a few bracelets, and i got a cute coach wallet, yes it is fake and no i don't care. after all this we found a taxi driver named "supa".

{in supa's taxi}


{girls in the taxi}

 His real name was kenneth, but told us to call him supa. he told us he would take us to coki beach, wait until we were done and then take us on a scenic drive back to our ship and have us there by 4:30, since we had to be on by 5. done!

we rode in these awesome taxis, it was a blast.


{taxi truck}

 and supa is so supa.. ha ha cause he stopped at a local gas station for us to get some water and drinks before getting to the beach because he said they were expensive. when we got to the beach we rushed the water


{boys at coki beach}


{immediately following the above picture. nice..}

and then decided to rent snorkeling gear. it was rad. we saw about a billion different fish and got to feed them dog bones, they love them. strange i know. we found some cool shells and then cody, m* and i went for a swim and saw a shark. he was about 8 feet long and resting on the bottom of the ocean. i spotted him and stopped dead in my tracks, i popped up and told them to look. we all looked at them and before you knew it he was looking at us. time to leave. we got back and took some pictures and video. 

then we found supa, and we were off. he stopped at magens bay,


{magens bay}

and a lookout point for us to see and take pictures.

{cody & i at the lookout}


{group at lookout}
 really pretty. and the whole drive back we listened to bob marley. too great. once we got back on board we decided to shower up and meet in the hall for our 6p dining time in the dining room. we opted for the dining room cause they had better food. we met up and found our assigned table. super nice, and our waiter mario and his assistant jr. they were great!! we had awesome food, seafood for cody and alfredo for me.. and of course dessert. yum! after dinner cody and i went to see a magic show up by this bar and then joined m* and e* for the comedian percy cruze II. he was hilarious!! Then we went and watched c* do karaoke. she is good!! after all this i was pooped and called it a night. cody however decided he was still feeling good and went to the casino while i slept. he stayed out until about 3am and won $470 playing roulette. crazy kid.  

the next morning we were at sea.. 

.. boarding a moving hotel and all that jazz ..

we slept in the first day which was so great. after we all got up and ready and packed. we checked out of our room and then ate breakfast and were off to check out old san juan again. we had been told to check out the el mirro fort there. so we were off. we got to the first part of the fort and explored for a good hour or two. really neat place i have to say.





{playing on the cannonballs}


{view out of a shooting crevice}


{go through the tunnel to get outside.. or get scared by ghosts..}



we then found out that the other half of the fort was a mile down the shore. so we waited for a trolley which came once and was packed up with people and then we decided we would walk. so we walked and passed carmelo anthony's basketball court, pretty cool and found a really rad old cemetery. i always love to photograph those. too rad. 

{taken from the first fort.. do you see the other one?}

our friends t* and c* decided they just wanted to sit on the grassy hill and chill, so cody and i and my brother and sil left for the fort. this one i have to say was cooler than the first one.

{cody, me, e* and m* at el mirro}

it was built in the early 1800s to protect the island from the sea. way cool. we spent about a hour in there and took some fun, yet embarrassing pictures.


{like this one}

{we spotted our ship!}

after this we were all hungry, lunch time! so we went to a place called pizza e birra. SOO good, we went there the night before too, that is how good it is. we all had pizza and filled up, yum!


{at pizza e birra}

 after lunch we worked our way through the shops in old san juan and eventually back to the hotel to get our luggage and get onto the boat. 

{the boat}

we arrived at the port around 4:30p, we were told to be on the ship by 6p. so we figured we were good. we sent our luggage up with these cruise workers and then worked our way through the lines. but don't you worry we did get stopped and hassled for a picture in front of a fake cruise boat. too funny.

when we got to the line, we had some tricky stuff to fix. in order for my sil to get on the boat she had to have an adult, over the age of 25 get her on, since she is technically a minor. 20. so i was her guardian, cause my brother is only 23. so they booked me and my sil in one room and cody and m* in another room. so we had to check in and then work through the charging situation and then still it wasn't fixed. so we got on the boat and went straight to customer service to have cody and i put in one room and m* and e* in another. talk about a process. after all this we went and found our rooms. quaint little things huh? we  hung out for a few, then checked out the boat and waited for our luggage to show up. around 7 we were all starving and none of our bags had made it so we called up to the dining room to see if we were allowed to come eat, they have pretty strict dress codes - no flip flops, no swimsuits, have to have a shirt on etc, they said for that night only. so we went and ate. it was great. after we ate up, we went back to our rooms and found the luggage had arrived!! yay! so we unpacked settled in. we went to a introduction show that tells you all about the ship and then to the mandatory safety lesson - ie. how to work a life vest and get on a life boat. after this it was time to push off so we went up to the top deck and watched the boat leave. pretty cool.



and then it hit me. seasickness up the yin yang. i wanted to puke. so i ran downstairs showered, took dramamine and then told cody it was bedtime. 

the next morning we woke up to beautiful st. thomas..

.. getting to puerto rico ..

alright, so as i am sure most of you know, cody works for an airline. so we get sweet deals especially when it comes to flights. but the catch is we have to fly standby. boo! so we had decided that we would leave 2 days before the cruise so we could have time to make it there, which in our case proved to be a good thing.

august 6th came and it was d-day. we both went to work and then came home and did laundry, showered and packed. yes we didn't pack until the day we left, but we are pro packers let me tell you. we checked on the flights and the flight we had planned on taking, or rather not. it was full already and it didn't leave for another 4 hours. so we looked at other options. we found one. nyc. yes i had just come from nyc the previous weekend. fun. but that flight left 2 hours before the one we had planned on. so we finished up, fed jet took him for a walk and then packed up and left. yes i did cry, i hate leaving him. we got to the airport and made it onto the flight. before we got on we looked at options on how to get to puerto rico. NYC had one flight down there a day. if we both didn't make it we would have to split and try to get there or just go to another place and see if we could work our way down. so sure enough.. we got to NYC and rode to the terminal for international flights, and surprise surprise there was only one seat left after all the people boarded. so we decided to divide. i went on the direct and cody went to atlanta. 

here is where it gets almost comical. i arrived in puerto rico at 10am the next day. cody was stuck in atlanta and my brother and sister in law and friends didn't get in until 12p. so i got off and got cody's and my luggage and found a little corner in the airport to sit and wait for them to get there. I talked to cody for a bit and then we realized. we had taken out cash for the trip, we didn't want to spend more than what we had saved. instead of us splitting the money up, cody had it all. so i was stuck in a foreign country with no money and hungry. nice. i had to wait until my brother arrived who graciously bought me lunch / dinner since by the time we got to the place it was close to 5p. 

{another comedy, apparently while i was sitting waiting and had my legs up on our bags a luggage sticker made its way to the back of my knee. i didn't find it until about 5 that night, and it was stuck on good. wow!}


{me and m*}

what's that you say? where is cody? oh yes that is right still in atlanta. then by some miracle he caught the 5p flight out of atlanta and would be to us by about 8-9p that night. i was so relieved. meanwhile, my brother, sil, and friends ventured out into downtown old san juan. neat city and very fun.


{us at a bird park. they made a brick wall with holes and tunnels in it for the birds, yep just for them. this is me and e* at it}
 after dinner we walked around a bit and looked at all the city had to offer, really cool. around 7p it was starting to get dark and then we realized everyone was off the streets. shady people started to come out of the woodwork, my brother got stopped by a man bleeding from his head saying his dad and him had just been mugged and his dad was on his way to the hospital and he needed money to get in a taxi to get to him. um creepy much? so we told him we didn't have any cash and ran to the nearest taxi and were off to the hotel. 

cody showed up about an hour later, i was so excited. we had a snack, he was kind of hungry and chatted for a bit and then all went to bed. the girls all shared one king size bed, i was in the middle and the boys split up a bit. cody and my brother shared a fold out couch bed and our friend slept on a rollaway bed. talk about comfy. the next morning we started our first day on the ship.. 

.. a to z about me ..

Saw this on a friends blog.. thought it could be fun, i'm sure getting to know me better was totally top of your list right?

A. Age: 27
B. Bed size: King, the only way to do it.
C. Chore that you hate: Washing pans after dinner
D. Dogs: Jet - he is 8 months old.
E. Essential start to your day: A hot shower
F. Favorite color: Red or Aqua
G. Gold or Silver: Silver
H. Height: 5’9"
I. Instruments you play: what is that?
J. Job title: Administrative Assistant / Photographer
K. Kids: Not as of now, but Jet counts as one right?
L. Live: Provo, Utah
M. Mother’s name: CheRee
N. Nicknames: Teej, Teags, Tiki
O. Overnight hospital stays: One, when I had a rib removed in August
P. Pet peeves: socks with sandals, things being out of order and when food touches (it was made separate and that is how it should stay!)
Q. Quote from a movie: "Rain man practically bankrupt a casino and he was a re tard"
R. Right or left handed: Right handed.
S. Siblings: Three
U. Underwear: Absolutely
V. Vegetable you hate: I haven't met one yet, I love veggies
W. What makes you run late: Me and my sleeping habit in the mornings, otherwise traffic
X. X-Rays you’ve had: How about the only place I haven't be x-rayed is my stomach area and femurs.
Y. Yummy food that you make: desserts mainly. it is what i do.
Z. Zoo animal: giraffe

.. my auguri for 28 ..

incase you were wondering 'auguri' is wishes in italian. i decided to make my goals wishes so they were exciting when i reached them. so without further ado.. here are the 28 auguri..

1 { get prego, it's time to have a babe my friends }

2 { move into our own place, this will be on my list until it happens }

3 { learn italian, i just need to do it }

4 { have a girls night out }

5 { hike to stewart falls, possibly bring jet with }

6 { take a self portrait every month around the 28th for a year }

7 { journal once a week }

8 { take tennis lessons }

9 { take a couponing class, so i can be pro when i am ready }

10 { try a different form of art - sewing, watercolor, scrap booking, beading.. }

11 { push my photography business, i for sure want more business }

12 { only say nice things about others, be positive and someone people want to be around }

13 { have a kissing session in the rain }

14 { make a gratitude journal and fill it with all the things i am grateful for }

15 { attend a professional sports event, i am leaning towards football but we will see }

16 { try 5 new dessert recipes }

17 { go to disneyland or disney world with cody }

18 { visit italy }

19 { learn that it is okay to say no, and be fine with it }

20 { teach photography at timpview high school, i have wanted to do this for years }

21 { watch Friends from start to end }

22 { make a pizuki }

23 { have our family pictures done }

24 { go to seattle and visit pike place market }

25 { learn how to play chess }

26 { get my concealed weapons permit, this one is odd i know but with Cody teaching and being gone i don't want to be stuck and not be able to defend myself if i need }

27 { make a snow angel }

28 { make a skirt with pockets on my own }

what will you do this year?

.. an update to 'the list' ..

I am sure you all remember my list, you had it taped to your mirror right?! what you don't? alright fine, click here to get a refresher. since my goal was by my 27th birthday which happened a few days ago, i thought i would update you on what i accomplished.

1. Travel - check!

{i went to 4 international islands on a cruise, went to NYC, and oklahoma}

{picking up jet in oklahoma}

{cruise, this is in st. kitts}

{new york at the world trade center}

2. photograph more - check!

{took way more pictures and did 3 rolls of film on the cruise alone}

3. shoot with the holga - half check

{the roll is still in the holga with 3 shots left..}

4. shoot on the instax - check!

{i documented getting jet, some self portraits, and the cruise on it}

5. see wicked with cody - miss :(

6. read at least 10 books, one new one - check and check!

{ i read 17 books since making this list, 3 new authors and some old}

7. go to the gym every week - check!

{i have gone every week that i have been allowed. the dr won't let me with my shoulder surgery}

8. try snowboarding - fail

9. move into our own place - fail

{we are still very much working on it, cody's school is taking longer than we expected}

10. get crafty - check!

{i did a sewing project for a friend- rag doll, and i created a necklace board}

11. find a photo project i am interested in - semi check

{i am working on doing more fine art stuff, not really anything specific and of course self portraits}

12. have a GNO - fail.. sad

{wanted to, and talked about it but never got to it.}

13. get a dog or preggo or both - check!

{not pregnant, trust me you will know when that happens, but i got a pup!}

14. learn italian - semi check

{ i am still working on this one, i try and find time and when i do i practice not as much as i should..}

15. learn to be understanding and patient - checkish

{i feel like this one is an ongoing thing, so an eternal checkish.}

16. make a few mini books - check

{i made quite a few, one for jet, one for the cruise and one for a friend}

17. be more adventurous. - check!

{i started wearing skirts and dresses to work, HUGE. and on the cruise i did a zipline, so fun and scary}

18. have an art show - check!

{i had my BFA show in october}

19. make a snowman - fail

{i made the list and it snowed and i decided the cold was not my cup of tea, lame i know}

20. enter an art contest - check!

{ i entered the national photography contest}

21. make a tyke book - check

{ i got a photo album and put every picture we have of him in it}

22. have a picnic - check!

we did this a few months ago with the jet man

23. be more romantic - semi check again

{i think this one is like #15, an ongoing thing}

24. make a choice daily to be happy - check!

{this year was much better}

25. be a better wife, sister, daughter and in-law - check

{i improved all those relationships and am going to continue to work on them}

26. do a 5k- fail

{we were planning on one, my MIL and I but she got sick a few days before so we didn't}

27. be punctual - checkish

{i still have a bit of an issue with this one, but i have made leaps and bounds towards the right direction}.

so there you have it. i did some, 21 to be exact so i only missed 6. but it was fun trying to do new things. stay tuned for my new list.. i do turn 28 next year.  

.. just a little bit of jet ..

our little jet man is growing up so fast. i thought i needed to put up some pictures and fill everyone in on his growing ups. he is now 7 months old. he is a whopping 23 pounds and is solid muscle. he loves

car rides

chasing daisy around the house and backyard

sleeping next to dad

treats of any kind

doing laps

{this is a new thing, at night he will start in the bedroom and run from the room out to the family room, around the couch and back to the bedroom. he does this about 4-5 times}

racing

{you ask him is he wants to race, and before you can count to 3 he is gone. beats me every time, even when i cheat}

going on walks

giving kisses

the new doggy door

playing guard dog

{this was day two after surgery, when i was living in the lazy boy. he laid there almost all day}

he doesn't like

fireworks

loud noises like thunder

baths

being told no

tracks the cat

{long story on this one. he liked tracks, he tried to play with him one day tracks wasn't into it and chased jet into a corner and bit him. he doesn't like him now. wonder why}

being made fun of

{if you mimic his breathing or panting and he sees you, he will stop and glare at you and then proceed to attack your face}

we love him to death and think he is pretty great. how can life getting any better?