Slice of Paradise

Take me back. Take me back to roller coasters and Hogwarts. Take me back to lazy days, relaxing on white sand near crystal-clear, turquoise water, Take me back to endless ice cream and fireworks at sea. Take me back to snorkeling with exotic fish, sting rays, and star fish. Take me back to virgin daiquiris and sunshine....

Needless to say, I am definitely suffering from withdrawals from my vacation in Florida and The Bahamas. We had such a fabulous time vacationing with my family last week! Be prepared for picture OVERLOAD! Between all of us, we took over 1000 pictures. :) Don't worry, I'm not posting them all here... :D

The first day in Florida we went to Blue Springs State Park. The water was crystal clear and looked so inviting! But a gator had been spotted that morning so we couldn't swim! Blue Springs Park is a breeding ground for manatees during December-March and these creatures can be seen by the hundreds. We didn't think we'd get to see any since it was May, but we got lucky and one came swimming in! It was so neat! We also spotted a big turtle from the road so of course, I had to stop and take a picture with it. :)

The second day was spent at Seaworld. We had a blast riding all the roller coasters and seeing all the animals! My favorites were the sea turtles and flamingos!

On the third day we went to Universal and spent most of our time in Harry Potter World. For those who have never been and claim any ounce of HP Fandom, this is a MUST. I was blown away! There was such much detail in every single aspect. It was a truly magical experience.

The rest of the time we were on a 3-day Disney cruise in The Bahamas. This is also another must for everyone at some point in their life. I recommend this for everyone at any age! The food was incredible and the pools and water slide on the boat were so much fun! The shows were also fabulous and they played Disney music non-stop! :) The rooms also had a porthole above the bed with a live camera feed outside so it felt like you had a room with a view! It was so fun to wake up in the morning and turn it on to see where we were ported!

Our first port stop was in Nassau. We went to a private resort and it was everything you would imagine at the beach - right down to the beachy beds! We enjoyed relaxing and drinking virgin daiquiris all day long...sigh.

Our second port stop was Disney's private island called Castaway Cay. What a beautiful place complete with adult and family beaches, a water park, biking, hiking, and more! The beaches were pristine and the water was stunning! We spent hours snorkeling around and saw so much wildlife. This was the pure definition of paradise.

The last day of our trip we went to a town called Saint Augustine. This is the oldest town in the USA. There was so much history in this cute little town. We took a trolley tour all over the town. After that some decided to tour an old battle fort and the rest of us stopped at a tiny little shop that had the most delicious milkshakes. Yum!

The flight home was a somber one and we were sad to leave our week of paradise. Add that to our missing luggage that decided to take a detour to San Salvador for a few days, you could say it was hard to come back to reality. We can hardly wait until our next vacation!

BLUE SPRINGS STATE PARK

SEAWORLD

 Petting the stingrays!

 Look close and you can see the dolphin peeking in the background

 HUGE manatee!

I'm soaking wet from one of the rides! haha

HARRY POTTER WORLD/UNIVERSAL

 

 Riding the Hogwarts Express

 Finally went to London ;)

Leo LOVED this owl puppet! He was giggling so hard I couldn't stop laughing. He would say "Hoo Hoo" :D

DISNEY CRUISE

 The desserts were AMAZING!

 Fireworks at sea!

 The water slide on the boat

 This is the life! Ice cream for daysssss! Probably one of my most favorite pictures of Leo

 Talking it up in the splash pad area

 Even the pool was shaped like Mickey!

NASSAU, BAHAMAS

 Sometimes I wonder if Leo had the best time out of all of us! :)

CASTAWAY CAY, BAHAMAS

 

SAINT AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA

 The Gallows at the old jail

 Battle Fort

Congrats if you made it this far!! :) I hope you enjoyed!

Crafts and Spring!

A few weekends ago, my twin sister, Ashley, spent the day with me making crafts! We had such a great time and we were so impressed with how cute our cards and dream catcher mobiles turned out. :) I absolutely love doing crafts and it becomes even better when you are doing them with good company! Let me know if you want instructions on how to make the dream catcher mobile! It is seriously so easy and cost maybe $10-$15. I can't wait to use it someday in our future baby's room! Until then, it's definitely hanging out in mine. :)

 

It's also starting to warm up here in the Utah Valley! I'm sure it will snow at least one more time before spring decides to stay for good, but we're enjoying the 50-60* weather while we can. Tyler and I got major spring fever and bought some items to spruce up the spring atmosphere around the house... I got some cute succulent plants (I LOVE these!) and Tyler decided to get a bird feeder. I made sure he promised to sweep up all the extra food the birds spill on the ground as well as clean up the poop. haha It sure has been fun watching all the birds come to our deck! I love spring!

A Christmas in Kansas

This year, I got to spend Christmas in Kansas with all of my family. My parents moved to Kansas in January 2015, so this was my first time going out to the midwest. Tyler and I decided to drive with my older sister, Heather, and her husband, Christian. It's a 16 hour drive from Utah but it was much cheaper than flying, so it was well worth it. The drive actually wasn't as bad as it sounds and we had a fun time taking the road-trip through Colorado and down to Kansas. We were blessed with absolutely perfect road conditions both coming and going. We really couldn't have asked for anything better. Colorado was an absolutely stunning state and I'm glad we got to drive through it.

Surprisingly, Kansas reminded me a lot of Idaho. My parents have a beautiful home on 10 acres of land in a small town called Iola, Kansas. There's even a big pond right behind their house. The town reminded me of Fruitland and has the cutest main street.

We spent the first few days of our week in Branson, Missouri. My parents live just a few hours from the border of Missouri so we rented a Cabin in Branson and went to an amusement park there called Silver Dollar City. It was so much fun! We had a blast riding roller coasters, seeing all the beautiful lights, and even touring a cave!

The remainder of the time was spend playing loads of games, eating delicious food, and playing with Leo. I sure enjoyed my time with family and it went by way too fast. 3 new states, 2 new mountain ranges, 40 hours in a car, and I already can't wait until the next time we all get to be together again.

The Rockies while passing through Colorado

 The cabin we stayed at in Branson, Missouri

 The lights in Silver Dollar City

 Silver Dollar City entrance

Just missing Hezz

 Heather is a great photo bomber! :D

Ugly Sweater dinner

Probably my favorite moment from when we acted out the Nativity. Leo was baby Jesus and all the bro-in-laws were the Wisemen. They each had a toy Leo loved and tried to get him to go to their present. haha It was hilarious. Christian and his noise-making blocks won. :)

Our 2015 Year in Review

2015 was a great year for Tyler and I that was full of fun as well as challenges. Below is a re-cap of all that happened this year...

I am continuing to enjoy my job and am loving all the challenges and growth it presents - For those that don't know, I am the Production Manager at Boli, LLC and do some Human Resources there as well. Our company moved to a bigger facility and is continuing to grow! I have been truly blessed with my job. I have enjoyed spending lots of time crafting this year and developing some new talents, and I also became a new aunt! How I love my little Leo. :)

Tyler took the GRE this summer and has worked hard to finish his schooling strong this year. He applied to physical therapy programs (11 schools in all across the country) in August. We should be hearing back in the next couple of months from schools. He will start his last semester in January and will graduate with his bachelor's degree in exercise science in April 2016! Wahoo! If he doesn't get in to PT programs this year, we will try again next summer and will hopefully have better chances with an improved GPA.

We are still living in Orem, UT and love it. We went on some fun trips to Oregon, Idaho, and Kansas to spend time with family and saw lots of new territory!! We also celebrated 3 years of marriage in November and I turned 24 and Tyler turned 25 - a quarter of a century!

The past few weeks have been rough for Tyler... he jokes that now that he turned 25 his body is breaking down on him. haha but in all seriousness, Tyler was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes a few weeks ago. Tyler's twin has Type 1 (he was diagnosed at age 12) and I've always wondered why Tyler didn't have it since they are identical twins... well now I know! Tyler's just took a lot longer to set in. His is called Type 1 late-onset. It is rare, but there are cases when Type 1 appears in adults. It has been a struggle and challenge for us to learn how to manage the insulin and change our diet and life-style. Tyler's doctors were actually really impressed with how well he's been able to manage and control his blood glucose levels in such a short amount of time and we know it will get easier over time. Tyler also had to have surgery on some varicose veins that were causing problems but he is doing well and we hope he will have an easy and quick recovery.

Throughout the year, we have been grateful for all the Lord has blessed us with - family, friends, school, work, and especially modern medicine. I know that the Lord has a plan for each and every one of us and is there for us in all moments of our lives. We can't believe another year has come and gone, but are looking forward to what next year will bring!

Family Celebrations Sign Craft

This year for Christmas, I made my Mom and Mother-In-Law a family celebrations sign that has all the birthdays and anniversaries of their children and grandchildren. I saw the idea on Pinterest and really wanted to try making it. It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun and I loved how they turned out! There are extra pieces for them to add to the sign through the years as more children get married and more grandchildren are born. :) I'm definitely going to have to make one of these for myself one day.

Christmas Cookies

One of my all-time favorite family traditions is baking and decorating sugar cookies. I have such fun memories of this from my childhood and this is something I've tried to continue into my adult years. My mom has an amazing sugar cookie recipe I absolutely love (the dough tastes fabulous as well!). The cookies come out thick and fluffy every time. :)

This year I got together with all my siblings to bake and decorate sugar cookies. Even my adorable nephew, Leo, got to join in the fun! I sure love the Christmas season and the memories that are made.

Leo enjoyed eating his sugar cookie!