Saturday, February 26, 2011
SDSU Got Jimmer'd!!
BYU is going all the way to the top! We've been nervous for the BYU vs. SDSU game for a little while now. It was going to be the last big test for BYU before the tournament. BYU passed with flying colors! Jimmer got hammered over and over in the first half and he didn't get any calls! Not a single call! Not only that, but he ended the game with 4 fouls and 3 of them were offensive! Luckily Hartsock, Abouo, and Emery stepped up to hit some huge 3s! In the end Jimmer and the rest of the BYU team were just too good for San Diego. When we get hot shooting no one can stop us. What a game. We could very likely get a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament now. That would be sick! But if not, we should still be pretty much guaranteed a #2 seed. Rory and I sported our new t-shirts today that his mom gave us. We had a little fun taking pictures after the game. :)
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Jazz Rebuilding
I thought Jerry Sloan retiring was going to be the biggest shock of the season, but we just got another huge change! Deron Williams has been traded to the New Jersey Nets! Even though it's a pretty decent trade for us too, I am sad to see Deron go. I loved watching him play. He is an amazing point guard. Probably the best in the NBA right now!
In return for Williams, the Jazz are receiving Devin Harris and Derrick Favors. Harris is in his 6th season. He will probably be our new point guard. Hopefully he can live up to the high expectations of Jazz fans! Especially since he will be replacing Williams.
Favors is a rookie and plays forward. Hopefully he can add a little more size to the Jazz.
The Jazz are also receiving two first round draft picks. Hopefully we can pick up some good new talent in the next two drafts!
Our new coach is Tyrone Corbin. He has been an assistant coach for the Jazz for about 7 years. He even played for the Jazz during his career in the NBA. He knows the Jazz system so hopefully he is a good choice as the new head coach!
So now, with a new coach, the loss of an all-star, and the addition of two new players, we'll just have to wait and see what's in store for the future of the Jazz.
Cruisin'
Our final excursion day was in Cozumel, Mexico! I had been looking forward to this excursion all week! We got to swim with dolphins in the Chankanaab National Park! It was a blast! And lucky for us Hunter had a waterproof camera and we got some great pictures! They tried to sell us a CD with pictures they had taken of us for like $200! That's an insane price. We were happy we had our own pictures.
Here we are all ready to swim with the dolphins!
Rory and I are holding the dolphin! They're heavy! :)
We each got to kiss the dolphin on the mouth! And then the dolphin kissed our cheeks. There was a lot of kissing going on... We also got to dance a little with them and touch the inside of their flippers. And then we held our hand out hi and the dolphin came up and touched our palm.
Here we swam out and the dolphin came out to us and flipped over on his back. We held onto his flippers and he gave us a ride back it. Both Rory and I have our eyes closed in our pictures because we were getting water in our faces. :)
The last thing we got to do with the dolphins was swim out with a boogie board. We were told to hold our legs out straight and wait. The dolphin swam around behind us and pushed on one of our feet with his nose. It was so cool! We went pretty fast. Look how happy we look! :)
Before we left we saw the dolphins put on a little show. :)
After we played with the dolphins we got to pet a manatee. That is one big animal. His skin I think is a lot like an elephants with moss growing on it.
After all of the fun with the dolphins it was time to relax a little. Here we are living the life in some sweet hammocks.
I've told you all about our excursions, but how about a little about our time on the ship. We were on the Norwegian Spirit. This cruise is what they call a freestyle cruise and because of this I've been told by the Housley family that it is quite a bit different from most cruises. We never had to dress up which was nice and we could eat as we pleased. On a regular cruise I've been told you have your block of time each night when you are supposed to eat in the dinning room and you have the same server every night which is great because they treat you really well. I'm looking forward to this on our next cruise! :)
We ate a lot of meals in the general buffet area. They had food there pretty much all day and you could eat whenever you wanted. We had breakfast there every morning and we had lunch and dinner there once or twice. The picture below is Hunter with one of the guys who welcomed us to breakfast every morning. There was always someone at the door who would have a spray bottle with hand sanitizer to spray your hands as you walked in. In the morning they would all year really loud "Gooooooooood Morning!" or "Wakey, Wakey" or something like that. It really got on Rory's nerves, but it was pretty funny. It may have been funnier if it wasn't always so early in the morning! :)
My favorite was the Windows Dinning Room. They had huge windows that gave you a great view outside. Here you could choose an appetizer, main meal, and dessert to eat. Sometimes we ever got two main meals or appetizers because you can have whatever you want! The food was really good for the most part. We were told that the average person gains one to two pounds a day on a cruise! I believe it! :)
The Blue Lagoon was our favorite for our late night snacks. They were one of the only places open 24-7 so it was always packed at night. It was right below our room so it was very convenient and they had tvs to watch all the big football bowl games going on at the time. They had chicken fingers, fish & chips, artichoke dip, hamburgers, wings and lots of great stuff.
Each night there was a show at 7:30 and then again at 9:30. We made it to every show except for one. They were great! We had great seats every night! For one of the shows they performed songs from different musicals including, Wicked, Jersey Boys, In the Heights and a few others. It was fantastic! My favorite show was their big finale show on Friday night. They had two acrobats from the Russian circus perform. They are husband and wife and they can do some amazing things! There was also a magician who performed some pretty amazing tricks. And then the dance and singing crew on board did some great numbers.
When we were eating, or out on excursions, or at shows we enjoyed playing games together. It's great to just have time to relax. We played a lot of Scum, Rook, Phase 10, and a few others we found. And sometimes we'd even eat and play at the same time! :) It was great to have a snack ready for you whenever you wanted!
When we were walking around the ship one day we found a shuffle board painted on one of the decks. So we learned how to play shuffleboard. It's not as easy as it looks! :) Rory and I took on Hunter and his Dad. We had a lot of fun playing!
So there you have it! That was our cruise to the Caribbean! We had a blast and I can't wait to go on another cruise! It's a great way to see multiple places on one trip and not worry about food, where you're staying, and how to get from place to place. I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience on a cruise!
Here we are all ready to swim with the dolphins!
Rory and I are holding the dolphin! They're heavy! :)
We each got to kiss the dolphin on the mouth! And then the dolphin kissed our cheeks. There was a lot of kissing going on... We also got to dance a little with them and touch the inside of their flippers. And then we held our hand out hi and the dolphin came up and touched our palm.
Here we swam out and the dolphin came out to us and flipped over on his back. We held onto his flippers and he gave us a ride back it. Both Rory and I have our eyes closed in our pictures because we were getting water in our faces. :)
The last thing we got to do with the dolphins was swim out with a boogie board. We were told to hold our legs out straight and wait. The dolphin swam around behind us and pushed on one of our feet with his nose. It was so cool! We went pretty fast. Look how happy we look! :)
Before we left we saw the dolphins put on a little show. :)
After we played with the dolphins we got to pet a manatee. That is one big animal. His skin I think is a lot like an elephants with moss growing on it.
After all of the fun with the dolphins it was time to relax a little. Here we are living the life in some sweet hammocks.
I've told you all about our excursions, but how about a little about our time on the ship. We were on the Norwegian Spirit. This cruise is what they call a freestyle cruise and because of this I've been told by the Housley family that it is quite a bit different from most cruises. We never had to dress up which was nice and we could eat as we pleased. On a regular cruise I've been told you have your block of time each night when you are supposed to eat in the dinning room and you have the same server every night which is great because they treat you really well. I'm looking forward to this on our next cruise! :)We ate a lot of meals in the general buffet area. They had food there pretty much all day and you could eat whenever you wanted. We had breakfast there every morning and we had lunch and dinner there once or twice. The picture below is Hunter with one of the guys who welcomed us to breakfast every morning. There was always someone at the door who would have a spray bottle with hand sanitizer to spray your hands as you walked in. In the morning they would all year really loud "Gooooooooood Morning!" or "Wakey, Wakey" or something like that. It really got on Rory's nerves, but it was pretty funny. It may have been funnier if it wasn't always so early in the morning! :)
My favorite was the Windows Dinning Room. They had huge windows that gave you a great view outside. Here you could choose an appetizer, main meal, and dessert to eat. Sometimes we ever got two main meals or appetizers because you can have whatever you want! The food was really good for the most part. We were told that the average person gains one to two pounds a day on a cruise! I believe it! :)
The Blue Lagoon was our favorite for our late night snacks. They were one of the only places open 24-7 so it was always packed at night. It was right below our room so it was very convenient and they had tvs to watch all the big football bowl games going on at the time. They had chicken fingers, fish & chips, artichoke dip, hamburgers, wings and lots of great stuff.
Each night there was a show at 7:30 and then again at 9:30. We made it to every show except for one. They were great! We had great seats every night! For one of the shows they performed songs from different musicals including, Wicked, Jersey Boys, In the Heights and a few others. It was fantastic! My favorite show was their big finale show on Friday night. They had two acrobats from the Russian circus perform. They are husband and wife and they can do some amazing things! There was also a magician who performed some pretty amazing tricks. And then the dance and singing crew on board did some great numbers.
When we were eating, or out on excursions, or at shows we enjoyed playing games together. It's great to just have time to relax. We played a lot of Scum, Rook, Phase 10, and a few others we found. And sometimes we'd even eat and play at the same time! :) It was great to have a snack ready for you whenever you wanted!
When we were walking around the ship one day we found a shuffle board painted on one of the decks. So we learned how to play shuffleboard. It's not as easy as it looks! :) Rory and I took on Hunter and his Dad. We had a lot of fun playing!
So there you have it! That was our cruise to the Caribbean! We had a blast and I can't wait to go on another cruise! It's a great way to see multiple places on one trip and not worry about food, where you're staying, and how to get from place to place. I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience on a cruise!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Cruisin'
After a very frustrating week and a half of very sporadic, and mostly nonexistent, internet, it's fixed!! The fourth repairman finally decided to check what turned out to be the whole problem! Why couldn't the first guy have found the problem?? Oh well, hopefully it's fixed for good now!
Back to the cruise! Thursday morning we docked at our port in Roatan, Honduras. We had a tour guide who took us on a little ride through the city. We stopped on top of a hill and had a great look at the city and the ocean. There were a few people selling things here and we bought a pretty mahogany vase.
After our tour of the city we went zip-lining! It was so much fun! We had two guides with us and they took pictures of us as we went down the line. One of our guides even took our video camera down the line with him and took a spinning video of the scenery. It makes you a little sick to watch it as he keeps spinning around. :) Here we are before we started our adventure! All geared up and ready to go!
Here I am all hooked up to the first line and ready to get started!
Here's Rory coming down the first zip-line!
Rory and I got to go down a couple of the lines in tandem! This was great because with two of us we weighed more so we got to go faster! Sorry the picture is a little dark because we were in the shade.
And here we are after the last line that was 1300 feet long! It went really fast and had an amazing view!
After we finished our zip-line adventure we got to play with their monkey. I guess it is pretty common here for people to have pet monkeys. In case you're wondering what she's holding, it's a hotdog. :)
This is a lovely picture I know. I didn't really want all that hotdog in my hair! :)
The next stop on our tour was snorkeling! I have never been snorkeling before so I was a little nervous, but very excited. I love sea life and I will probably never be brave enough to scuba dive, so this is the next best thing! Plus we got to snorkel at the second largest coral reef in the world! The water was beautiful and we had a great time! For my first time snorkeling I think I did alright. :) This is such an attractive picture.
I pretty much just stayed on the top of the water. But the water was so clear that I had a great view all the way to the ground! I was incredible!
Rory, Hunter and their Dad were a lot more adventurous swimming down closer to the reef.
Here is a picture of a really pretty blue fish we saw and the reef behind it.
This is our guide with a sea cucumber. He brought it up for us to have a closer look at it.
Roatan was a gorgeous little island off of mainland Honduras. There were a lot of neat things to do there and we had a great day!
Cruise adventure to be continued...
Back to the cruise! Thursday morning we docked at our port in Roatan, Honduras. We had a tour guide who took us on a little ride through the city. We stopped on top of a hill and had a great look at the city and the ocean. There were a few people selling things here and we bought a pretty mahogany vase.
After our tour of the city we went zip-lining! It was so much fun! We had two guides with us and they took pictures of us as we went down the line. One of our guides even took our video camera down the line with him and took a spinning video of the scenery. It makes you a little sick to watch it as he keeps spinning around. :) Here we are before we started our adventure! All geared up and ready to go!
Here I am all hooked up to the first line and ready to get started!
Here's Rory coming down the first zip-line!
Rory and I got to go down a couple of the lines in tandem! This was great because with two of us we weighed more so we got to go faster! Sorry the picture is a little dark because we were in the shade.
And here we are after the last line that was 1300 feet long! It went really fast and had an amazing view!
After we finished our zip-line adventure we got to play with their monkey. I guess it is pretty common here for people to have pet monkeys. In case you're wondering what she's holding, it's a hotdog. :)
This is a lovely picture I know. I didn't really want all that hotdog in my hair! :)
The next stop on our tour was snorkeling! I have never been snorkeling before so I was a little nervous, but very excited. I love sea life and I will probably never be brave enough to scuba dive, so this is the next best thing! Plus we got to snorkel at the second largest coral reef in the world! The water was beautiful and we had a great time! For my first time snorkeling I think I did alright. :) This is such an attractive picture.
I pretty much just stayed on the top of the water. But the water was so clear that I had a great view all the way to the ground! I was incredible!
Rory, Hunter and their Dad were a lot more adventurous swimming down closer to the reef.
Here is a picture of a really pretty blue fish we saw and the reef behind it.
This is our guide with a sea cucumber. He brought it up for us to have a closer look at it.
Roatan was a gorgeous little island off of mainland Honduras. There were a lot of neat things to do there and we had a great day!Cruise adventure to be continued...
Friday, February 11, 2011
Cruisin!
For our graduation present Rory and I went with his parents and brother, Hunter, on a cruise! It was so much fun! It was my first experience on a cruise and I loved every minute of it! Thankfully I did not get sick. Luckily our rough day was on the 5th day of the cruise so as we were rockin' and rollin' I may have looked a little drunk, but I felt great! :) We had great weather the whole time. While we were at sea it did get a little cold and very windy outside so we tried to stay sheltered most of the time or we wore jackets.
Our cruise went out of New Orleans the Sunday morning after New Years. So we spent New Year's Eve in New Orleans. We actually decided to venture down to Bourbon street around 11 at night. That was quite an experience to say the least. We went about 2 blocks and then decided we were done. We walked back to the trolley stop and returned to our hotel to watch the fireworks at midnight. If you look closely you can see the Bourbon street sign in between the red traffic lights.
On New Year's morning we went to a little cafe place and got beignets for breakfast. They were amazing! 
While we were in Louisiana we also visited some plantations. This picture was taken at Oak Alley Plantation. I think it's obvious where this plantation gets its name. :)
We also took a tour inside the Nottoway Plantation. It was pretty neat to see it and hear stories about the family and how it was built. This picture was taken after our tour as the sun was setting.
Rory and I got on the ship around around noon and walked around exploring. We mostly just relaxed and enjoyed the day. We ate at their Tepanyaki grill that night. It was really good food and they had the most amazing coconut ice cream! Monday we spent out at sea on our way to our first stop at Costa Maya.
Costa Maya, Mexico was a nice relaxing day. We just stayed at the beach right off the port and did a little sun bathing and a little shopping. There were dolphins right there you could swim with so we watched as people swam with them and did tricks and things. There were a lot of great shops and we found some cool things. We bought a neat mask made out of Lapiz Lazuli. We stayed on shore until early afternoon and then went back to get lunch on the ship.
Wednesday we stopped in Belize, Honduras. I was excited for our excursion here. We went to see the ruins of Lamani.
This is the largest temple that has been uncovered at these ruins. It was really tall and we got to climb it! I was nervous the whole way up and the whole way back down!
They had a rope you could hold onto for the steepest stairs! I was especially grateful for this on the way down.
This picture was taken from the top. We're about 3/4ths of the way up. Crazy!
Here we are at the top! It was a long way down! I tried not to look straight down too much... But don't worry, we made it down safe and sound!
Now, buying excursions on your own and not through the ship is great. It's much cheaper and you can choose what you want. The downside is that if you do not make it back to the ship before the departure time then you're in big trouble. Our trip to the ruins was about an hour bus ride and then about 45 or 50 minutes on a boat up the river. So the boat trip back should be quicker because we are now going down stream to the ocean. Well here we are being towed by a smaller boat because we have run out of gas. Lucky for us we have some extra time before we have to get back to our ship so we're not too worried about it. Another boat has been sent out to give us more gas. However, another couple on our excursion had to be there an hour earlier than us for a different cruise line. Needless to say they were more than a little worried. By the time we made it to the bus they had no time to spare. Our bus driver put the pedal to the metal and he got them back at the exact time they needed to get to their ship. They booked it back and I'm pretty sure they made it alright. What an experience!
Cruise experience to be continued....
Our cruise went out of New Orleans the Sunday morning after New Years. So we spent New Year's Eve in New Orleans. We actually decided to venture down to Bourbon street around 11 at night. That was quite an experience to say the least. We went about 2 blocks and then decided we were done. We walked back to the trolley stop and returned to our hotel to watch the fireworks at midnight. If you look closely you can see the Bourbon street sign in between the red traffic lights.
On New Year's morning we went to a little cafe place and got beignets for breakfast. They were amazing! 
While we were in Louisiana we also visited some plantations. This picture was taken at Oak Alley Plantation. I think it's obvious where this plantation gets its name. :)
We also took a tour inside the Nottoway Plantation. It was pretty neat to see it and hear stories about the family and how it was built. This picture was taken after our tour as the sun was setting.
Rory and I got on the ship around around noon and walked around exploring. We mostly just relaxed and enjoyed the day. We ate at their Tepanyaki grill that night. It was really good food and they had the most amazing coconut ice cream! Monday we spent out at sea on our way to our first stop at Costa Maya.
Costa Maya, Mexico was a nice relaxing day. We just stayed at the beach right off the port and did a little sun bathing and a little shopping. There were dolphins right there you could swim with so we watched as people swam with them and did tricks and things. There were a lot of great shops and we found some cool things. We bought a neat mask made out of Lapiz Lazuli. We stayed on shore until early afternoon and then went back to get lunch on the ship.
Wednesday we stopped in Belize, Honduras. I was excited for our excursion here. We went to see the ruins of Lamani.
This is the largest temple that has been uncovered at these ruins. It was really tall and we got to climb it! I was nervous the whole way up and the whole way back down!
They had a rope you could hold onto for the steepest stairs! I was especially grateful for this on the way down.
This picture was taken from the top. We're about 3/4ths of the way up. Crazy!
Here we are at the top! It was a long way down! I tried not to look straight down too much... But don't worry, we made it down safe and sound!
Now, buying excursions on your own and not through the ship is great. It's much cheaper and you can choose what you want. The downside is that if you do not make it back to the ship before the departure time then you're in big trouble. Our trip to the ruins was about an hour bus ride and then about 45 or 50 minutes on a boat up the river. So the boat trip back should be quicker because we are now going down stream to the ocean. Well here we are being towed by a smaller boat because we have run out of gas. Lucky for us we have some extra time before we have to get back to our ship so we're not too worried about it. Another boat has been sent out to give us more gas. However, another couple on our excursion had to be there an hour earlier than us for a different cruise line. Needless to say they were more than a little worried. By the time we made it to the bus they had no time to spare. Our bus driver put the pedal to the metal and he got them back at the exact time they needed to get to their ship. They booked it back and I'm pretty sure they made it alright. What an experience!
Cruise experience to be continued....
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Loss of a Legend
Jerry Sloan retired today after having coached the Utah Jazz for 23 years. He became the head coach about the time I was born! That's crazy to think about. Twenty three years is an eternity for a head coach to stay with one team. He has taken the Jazz to two NBA championship games, but unfortunately lost to the Bulls both years. I only wish for him that he could have won a championship. Sloan has been a great coach and he will be greatly missed!
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