Little Ones I Like A Lot

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Rexburg and Idaho Falls

This weekend I took a "temple trip" to Rexburg and Idaho Falls. I drove to Rexburg after work on Friday, checked into my hotel, and went to Costa Vida to grab some dinner. Costa Vida was a very popular date destination in Rexburg on a Friday evening. The line was pretty long, so I amused myself with an activity I made up called "First Date: Last Date or Eternal Mate?" It's a pretty complicated game, but basically it involved watching couples who were clearly on their first date and trying to decide if the girl was thinking their first date was also going to be their last date... or if she was thinking she had found her eternal mate. I like to think my "rate of accuracy" in this guessing game has to to be at least 95%.

I went to the Rexburg Temple on Saturday morning, then drove to Idaho Falls and did a session there. My parents were married in the Idaho Falls Temple and my Grandma and Grandpa Thomas used to serve there, so it was neat to be there.

After the session, I tried to find the house my family lived in when we lived in Idaho Falls. I was in Kindergarten, so my memories of this house include the playroom under the stairs, my pink flowered wall paper, and the Church of the Nazarene parking lot across the street where I learned to ride my bike. I was excited to see the house had been well kept up. And somehow I really liked the pickup with camper shell parked out front. I thought it added to the overall affect.

I stood across the street from the house and took some pictures, then drove around the corner and took some pictures of the backyard that I thought my Dad might be interested in. I had Miranda Lambert's CD with "The House That Built Me" in my car as an explanation if anyone was wondering why some girl with Utah license plates on her car was walking around taking cell phone pictures of a random house in Idaho Falls. But no one asked. So I took my pictures, then hopped back in my car and came home. It was a fun little weekend trip down memory lane.

The Letdown Post

I've been reluctant to write a new post since I can't start it with a sentence like, "Spent today lying on the beach in the Caribbean. Just ate goat cheese souffle for dinner. Now I'm off to a comedy show before the musical and ice cream under the stars." Yep, this post is going to be a letdown. But please enjoy the picture of Biz on our zipline adventure in Honduras. Sigh... My real life is kind of boring.

But here are some recent "announcements" from our family.

1) Ty and Jess are moving to Mountain Home, Idaho. (Motto: At least it's not Oklahoma!) Ty will be working in Human Resources for Marathon Cheese. My nephews will still be in weekend driving distance for me, so I think everyone is happy with this arrangement.

2) Tricia graduated from Utah State last weekend. We had a fun family day in Logan. However, I got a worse sunburn from a lunch picnic in Logan than I did during my week in the tropics. This did not go unnoticed by my loving friends and co-workers. So it goes.

3) My two-year old nephew (Bryce) has started calling me Traci Girl. It's really weird.

4) I've read a couple of books the past few weeks that have been amazing. I don't know how I missed "The Book Thief" when it came out a few years ago. It's a Holocaust novel set in Germany and narrated by death. Powerful. I also read E.M. Forster's "A Room With a View." Very Jane Austen-like but with more of a bite. I liked it. Not sure where it's been all my life.

Princess Cays Bahamas

Before I forget, here are a couple of pictures from our dolphin adventure in the Cayman Islands that Tricia scanned in.

Tricia and Cappy. What a fun moment!

And here we are with the sting ray. I'm still surprised that I voluntarily walked in the pool and got this close to a sting ray. People do strange things on vacation.

So I don't have any actual pictures from our Beach Day in the Bahamas. We didn't bring the camera because it was just one more thing to keep track of on the beach. But I stole this one from someone else's website and I feel it is an accurate representation of Princess Cays in the Bahamas. We got lots of sun and spent lots of time jumping waves in the ocean. There was also a BBQ where I enjoyed some amazing grilled chicken and a triple chocolate chip cookie. We sat in lounge chairs in the shade and I took a little nap in the tropical breeze. Did I want to leave the Bahamas? NO. I would probably still be there if Tricia hadn't dragged me back to the boat.

Cozumel Mexico

Next stop - Cozumel Mexico. At this port, Tricia and I went to explore the Mayan ruins of Tulum. Our guide kept telling us what a nice day it was. But he was lying. It had to be about 200 degrees with the humidity. We walked a lot, it was HOT, and we saw some very cool things. Tricia outside the gift shop.

The Mayan Calendar. This circular calendar "runs out" in 2012. Our guide gave us a very long explanation about how the Mayans didn't really think the world was going to end in 2012 and Hollywood has it wrong. I didn't understand any of it. But I thought the calendar was really pretty. Stay tuned to see if the world does or does not end in 2012.

Mayan ruins in Tulum. I think our guide wanted to make sure we got our money's worth out of the "guided tour." He just kept talking and talking, when all we really wanted to do was explore. How cool are these ruins?

I felt like I had walked onto the set of "The Testaments" when I saw this building. "The Testaments" is a movie produced by the LDS Church that is set in Book of Mormon times. This temple sat on the top of a hill and I really thought it was cool.

Wow. Humidity does wicked awesome things to my hair! But what a pretty view!

After our tour in Tulum, we boarded the "ferry" for our ride back to Cozumel. The wind was blowing like crazy, and this 30 minute boat ride turned into a horrible experience. Have you ever ridden the Tidal Wave ride at Lagoon? The ferry was like being on the Tidal Wave. But it was real. And it just kept on going and going. About midway through the trip, the boat's crew started handing out barf bags right and left. Let's just say I needed mine about 20 seconds quicker than I got it. I was sick the rest of the night and spent the evening in bed, cursing the room because it wouldn't stop moving. No shows that night for me, no buffet, no karaoke. But I felt great when I woke up the next morning. So all's well that ends well.

Roatan Honduras

Our next stop on the cruise was the island of Roatan in Honduras. I think this was our favorite day. We had chosen to do a tour that was not operated by the cruise line and we saw quite a bit of the island. Alvin, our driver, informed us that our first stop would be a beer run. Yippee. Some of our new friends on the tour enjoyed their 75 cent beers. Tricia and I enjoyed our 50 cent bottles of water. (Things are dirt cheap in Honduras grocery stores. Can you believe we got two one-litre bottles of water for only $1.00? On vacation? Yeah, I couldn't either.) And Alvin, the driver, enjoyed a Gatorade.
Scenic overview. Also, throughout our trip, people kept asking if Biz and I were twins. Why would they think that? When we told them we weren't twins, they would automatically assume Tricia was older. They believed that she was 22. They had a hard time believing that I was 32. A really hard time.

Tricia looks very natural holding this monkey.

I do not. I was terrified. Obviously! Have you ever seen a worse picture of me? Don't answer that.

This is the area where we went zip-lining. What an adventure! I loved the jungle views. We did ten different "rides" from one platform to another. We kept climbing higher and higher to do the next run. It was very cool.

After the zip line, we went to West End Beach for the rest of the afternoon. These next few pictures are a good summary of what I believe heaven must look like. A quiet beach with crystal clear water.

Palm trees and chairs.

And brightly colored flowers. Loved our day in Roatan.

Free The Chickens

I am interrupting my cruise summary for an important announcement.

This morning I received an email with the subject line "Free Chicken Survey." It seems to me that there are 3 possible interpretations of this intriguing message.


1) I could take a survey about chickens at no cost.
2) I could win free chicken by participating in a short survey.
3) I could take a survey asking for my feelings about freeing the chickens.

I like to think that option #3 is correct, so I didn't open the email. Run, chickens, run! Be free.

Grand Caymans

Our first "port day" was the Cayman Islands. After a delightful breakfast of yogurt, fresh pineapple, french toast, sausage, cold cereal and pastries (for me anyway - I'm a good breakfast eater!) we disembarked in Georgetown.

Tortuga Rum! I was looking all over the place for Captain Jack Sparrow. No such luck.

Today we went to the Sea Turtle Farms and then crossed the street for our dolphin encounter. I am sad that the pictures I have of Biz and I with our friend Cappy the dolphin are hard copies and I can't post them online. I also have a picture of us holding a sting ray. Yep, I did it. Yay for me. And I have the photo to prove it. But you'll have to see it in person sometime unless I get crazy and scan it in or something.

The Turtle Farm had over 6,000 sea turtles. Wow. They were huge.

We got to hold one of the smaller turtles. It was very casual, not like it would be in the US where there would be tons of signs about turtle preservation and safety, not to mention a multitude of friendly yet vigilant guides to help you in the turtle exploration process. Nope. In the Caymans, it was more like... just stick your hand in the pool, grab a turtle and go. Tricia and I got some help from a friendly 10 year old who was quicker in this process than we were!

I think he really likes me.

More turtles.

After our dolphin swim, we were able to explore a few areas close to the port. Interesting fact about the Cayman Islands. Their #1 money-maker is tourism. But banking is a close 2nd. You know in the movies when people talk about wiring large sums of money to the Cayman Islands for safe keeping? I guess that really happens. Something to do with their tax laws... or lack thereof. Anyway, there were lots of banks in the area. I was on the lookout for George Clooney, but again, no luck.

Caribbean Cruise - Day One

Biz and I took a dream vacation last week. We sailed on the Crown Princess to the West Caribbean. Yay for Tricia's college graduation!!! I can't wait for her to go back to get her Masters so we can go again.


Day One was Easter Sunday, which we spent at sea. The ship left from Fort Lauderdale and our first stop was the Cayman Islands. We spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday exploring the ship, eating a ton and enjoying the different activities that were everywhere on board.

Our stateroom. I was excited that our names were on the door. We belong! It's official.

You can't cruise without fun fruity drinks. Tricia and her Strawberry Daiquiri (non-alcoholic, of course).

My Fruity Rita. Loved the hint of grapefruit juice and the super fun glass. Tricia was disappointed that I ordered my drink frozen and not "on the rocks." Because non-drinkers only get so many chances in life to say "on the rocks" and not look like a complete dork. But I wanted frozen!

The Easter decor on the ship was... shall we say... interesting?

Another word might be creepy - or garish. But still picture-worthy.

An explanation. Growing up, we always got a box of our favorite cereal with our Easter Baskets. And traditionally, at least one of those baskets was hidden in the laundry room. My Dad sent Tricia and I with small boxes of cereal for our Easter treats. We couldn't resist taking photos outside the ship's laundromat. Happy Easter! Thanks Dad for being so thoughtful.

I could easily spend EVERY Sunday morning for the rest of my life sitting on a comfy deck chair, reading a murder mystery and overlooking the ocean.

Tricia looking like a model on the Caribbean Sea. If this picture doesn't make you want to book a cruise right this second, I really don't know what would.