Tulips Everywhere

I have always wanted to go to the Tulip Festival ever since I heard about it. So We met up with Dave and his date at Thanksgiving Point. The flowers were AMAZING and I loved snapping pictures with...Yup with the new camera Jamon bought for me. I know, I know he spoils me.

It was hard to narrow it down to just a few pictures, so you all get to view the best of.

Enjoy!

CANCUN, The Official Honeymoon

Saturday

• Arrive in CancunResort can't find our reservations under our names, they find our reservations under family company name and let us stay anyway, as long as Dad gave some kind of confirmation to the resort.
• Go to our room on the 8th floor. Check the place out and love it, so big and nice.
• Make Crystal Light (best thing we could've taken, it was so refreshing)
• Go to bed in the biggest bed we've ever slept in.
  

Sunday

• Wake up to see the beautiful ocean out of our balcony window.The Easter Bunny found us and Jamon got to go on an Easter Hunt. He found Heroes season's 1 & 2, a chocolate bunny, jelly beans and his fav, chicks and bunny sweat tarts.
• Head down to the swimming pool, pick up some towels and snorkeling gear.
• Jamon teaches Staci how to snorkel in the resorts swimming pool - it turned out to be easier then I thought, even though I would try and plug my nose every time I got in the water. I got so excited to try it in the ocean.
• We go for a walk along the beach. The wind was blowing to hard to swim or play in it. We found one spot where there were no rocks so Jamon went in.
• We walk through the Resort where all the "Spring Breakers" were staying. Can you say lots of alcohol?
• Negotiated with tourist attraction vendors and went grocery shopping. Item bought: Bread and Fanta
• Get back to our room to realize we were fried. So much for our wearing tons of sunscreen.
• Staci takes a nap.
• Dad calls to say that he cleared everything up and we can stay.
• Went swimming again.

Monday

• Sleep in.
• Meet with our personal concierge.
• Rent a car and head to Akumal for a snorkeling adventure.
• Realized the adventure was driving in Mexico.
• Ate lunch.
• Found the snorkeling spot and went in for 2 hours. Tons of people, even more fish, and the best part NO waves. So Awesome!!
• Drive back to our Resort.
• Drink and make more Crystal light.
• Jamon tended to Staci's sunburn by putting cold wash clothes on her shoulders, while watching a movie (Mexico TV has tons of Movies, and most of them were in English).

Tuesday

• Get up early to drive to Chichen Itza.
• Arrive at Chichen Itza to find that we can't climb the Pyramids. Clumsy, litigious Americans.
• Bargained for some obsidian souvenirs, a hammock, a hat for Staci and a bag for Jamon.
• Decide not to take the toll road ($15) back to Cancun, so we take another road that takes us through a lot of small towns.
• Can't believe all the "Slug Bugs" that we can see and start playing the "slug bug" game.
• Find a Cenote and go swimming.
• Almost paid local kids to wash our car. Jamon learns to say "Hello" in Mayan.
• Jamon forgets how to say "Hello" in Mayan.
• Staci's tries to barter for a pair of earrings, but Jamon has to come to the rescue.
• Eat dinner, drink Crystal Light, watch movie, go to bed.

Wednesday

• Slept in
• Decide to do some shopping, while we still have the rental car.
• Went to a tourist shopping center, and don't find anything.
• Eat lunch by ourselves in a restaurant.
• Head into Cancun to check out other shops.
• Realize how hard it is to find a parking spot in Mexico
• Walk around and buy a picture frame and reserve a spot on a bus to Xel Ha.
• Can't figure out why people just sit around and stare at everyone walking by.
• Go to the "American" Mall.
• Camera bag gets stolen. Items stolen: new camera Jamon gave Staci for Christmas, new lens Jamon gave Staci for her Birthday, both passports, immigration papers, Staci's glasses, Sodoku book, pen, and souvenir magnet.
• Find Police Station and fill out police report.
• Worst day ever!
• Make more Crystal Light.
  

Thursday

• Wake up hoping Wednesday was a bad dream.
• Postpone our trip to Xel Ha.
• Go to the US Consulate, they give us the following options: Option #1: apply for new passports through the consulate, but not get them back until the next Monday or Wednesday. Option #2: Drive to the American Embassy in Merida, a four hour drive, and apply for passports there and get them back in 2-3 hours, which would ensure we go home on Saturday. This would've been the last two days of our trip. Option #3: Hope that our airline would let us in by calling Homeland Security, which happens quite often.
• Dad calls the Consulate. Incredible timing that he calls while we are there.
• We decide to choose Option #3.
• With our decision made we catch a ferry to Isla Mujeres.
• See a couple with a Nikon camera and sigh.
• We get on a Snorkeling tour to a Nationally Protected Coral ReefJamon gets frustrated when they make him wear a life jacket while snorkeling.
• Staci gets more and more nervous as she sees how big the waves are, and is grateful for the life jacket.
• We see actual coral and our first star fish.
• Jamon gets even more frustrated that he has to wear a life jacket, but tries to dive anyway, and discovers life jackets actually work.
• Staci is even more grateful for the life jacket, the water was really rough.
• We see three Barracuda, Jamon swims closer, Staci swims away.
• Jamon swims with a Shark.
• We visit a sea turtle hatchery.
• Go back to the island and eat dinner.
• Catch our ferry back to Cancun.
• Drink and make more Crystal light.
  

Friday

• Wake up early to catch our bus to Xel Ha.
• Bus never comes.
• Call company and they pay for our taxi to meet up with bus.
• Watch Batman Begins on our way to Xel Ha.
• Tour guide says the bus will leave right at 5:30, no exceptions!
• Get a locker for our stuff and get snorkeling gear.
• Go snorkeling for the next 4 hours.
• Hit the all you can eat buffets, twice.
• See some sting rays and manatees.
• Jamon pets sting rays and manatees.
• Jamon considers grabbing sting ray, then remembers how the crocodile hunter died.
• Make a bet on how late the bus will leave.
• Staci guesses right on and wins the bet. Bus leaves at 5:36.
• Finish watching Batman Begins and start watching Hairspray.
• Pack most of our stuff.
• Finish off Crystal Light
  

Saturday

• Wake up extremely early (2 am Utah time).
• Catch Taxi to the Airport
• Cut to the front of the line and don't feel guilty about it (two flights were leaving that morning).
• Airline worker takes driver's licenses and calls Homeland Security.
• Go to Immigration where the customs official messes with our heads (apparently when the secretary at the police station typed our English version of our report to Spanish she didn't say that both our passports were stolen just Jamon's). The customs official confirmed both passports were stolen, but we mistook his comments thinking he was not going to let Staci leave the country.
• We got on the Plane
• We made it through Customs in Miami. God Bless America!
• Bought a missionary, on his way home to St. George, breakfast.
• Arrive in Utah at 4 pm.
• Go to Addison's first birthday party in Heber.
• Go home and straight to bed, without unpacking or Crystal Light.
  

More Pics from Cancun

The Start of Something New

It started with Staci.

Then came Jamon.

The two get married.

They live in a house.

With a backyard

New couches

A new Bed

New Kitchen table and appliances

A new Grill

And gnomes to put in the flower beds

With all this new happening, something needs to change. Starting with my blog. I will be changing the address to this blog to jamonandstaci.blogspot.com. It will now be for both of us to let you know what's going on in our lives. Jamon will be keeping his blog so he can still get political and opinionated, so don't forget to still check out his blog. We are headed out of town to a place called Cancun, where we will relax and bask in the sun, when we get back we will make the big change. And of course with this change will come pictures of our relaxing and basking.

Storms

So I don't know how many of you reading this live in Utah or the Wasatch counties, but if you are then you know how awful the air quality has been. For those of you who don't live here let me just fill you in. One morning I walked out to my truck and had the hardest time breathing. I felt like someone was blowing smoke in my face. They had to call everyday last week an inside day for all schools. If you don't know what that means it means that I have to be inside with my kids when they are supposed to be outside running out all their energy, it's been an energy loaded week! The sun was shining though which was a nice change, but things just looked dirty.

Then, just what we needed, a rain storm. It rained most of the day on Friday and Saturday. I sat at the gym, okay I was actually working out at the gym, and I made the comment to my friend "I love the rain it makes things feel and look so clean." Then on Sunday we woke up to a blanket of snow more rain and then more snow.

Think about it, LIFE, sunny on the outside but with poor quality on the inside making it hard to breath. Then a storm comes which at first makes things seem so much worse and more dreary, but the outcome of that storm is a clean feeling, and a fresh blanket of pure white snow.

This is a Gerbera Daisy that for some reason keeps living, despite my lack of watering (I forget its not a typical house plant). It never fails that when things seem so gloomy outside it will bloom. This is the second time this winter that is has bloomed for me. It just makes things outside so much better. It reminds me that beauty can still come out during a storm!

LIFE is good! I haven't been able to say that much lately, but I can now. And Its only going to get better! 12 days baby and I will have the happiest day of my life!

Woo Hoo!!

Compatibility

Q & A with Jamon and Staci (all these questions were asked to Jamon and I had to come up with his answers, you know the game)


Q: What was your first impression of Staci?
Jamon: She came in and said "we're going to be great friends, your going to love me." So I thought she was a fun and happy girl.
Staci: I told the same story but thought he might have added crazy with fun and happy.

Q: How many kids do you want?
Jamon: 6 kids
Staci: 6...8...6. 6 kids (really though we're going to have as many as we're supposed to have)

Q: What was your first date?
Jamon: Well there's been some discussions to what it is. I say it is when I took her to the Real soccer game. I paid for her.
Staci: He thinks its when he took me to the Real soccer game and I think it is when he asked me a couple weeks after we were officially a couple, and it was just him and I, not him and I and Tyson, and Scottie (not that is wasn't fun guys).

Q: What is Staci's best quality?
Jamon:her spirituality,
Staci: My spirituality

Q: What is your favorite physical feature?
Jamon: Her hair, or eyes. Her hair
Staci: My hair

Q: What is your favorite meal that Staci cooks for you?
Jamon: This sandwich she makes with avocados, bacon, it's really good
Staci: My calzones (which is actually his favorite, he just wanted to be different)

Q: When did you first know you were going to get married?
Jamon: When her friends gave me the cards with the ring info on it and her roommate talked to me about it.
Staci: When we got back together. (we both interpreted the question different)

Q: What is your favorite outfit that Staci wears?
Jamon: she wears these tight long sleeved shirts that look great, or the sweater, I don't remember the colors, that has stripes.
Staci: What I'm wearing now (which was one of the "tight," long, sleeved shirts.)

Q: What was your silliest fight?
Jamon: What is the back of the bed of a truck
Staci: Which side is the back of the bed of a truck

Q: What is the most embarrassing thing Staci has done in front of you?

Jamon: She sometimes sings in public and acts silly.

Staci: I don't do anything embarrassing (singing in public is not embarrassing)

Q: What is your favorite thing to do together?

Jamon: We do a lot of cuddling on the love sac and watch tv.

Staci: We like to cuddle and just be together. (I wanted to add make-out, but my aunt was there that would judge me, and I didn't want to look like a hussie, so I didn't say it)

So Does this mean we are compatible or that I can come up with the same answers he does. Either way we are getting married and I can't wait. We keep finding out new things about each other, which I guess is what makes relationships so exciting.

PS. this post is dated in Jan 4th because that is how long I've wanted to post this.

Honeymoon Suite and Trees

It's a tradition every year at Thanksgiving to make Candy houses. This year mom made mine twice as big as my nieces and nephews and told me it was my "Honeymoon Suite." Jamon and I had fun decorating it. Actually I had fun designing it and I hope Jamon had fun decorating with my specifications. Hmm...I wonder if that's how I'll be with our new house. I'm thinking, Yes. Sorry Honey!

Also every year after Thanksgiving my family packs up and heads to the mountains to cut down our Christmas Trees. There's not much that smells better then a fresh cut pine tree! This year I went with my parents, brother Wade and his Family, sister Jodee, brother Daniel and Jamon. There was no snow in Cedar City but once we headed up the canyon there was patches of snow and by the time we turned to where we were going there was about a foot of snow on the roads. It was great!! Jamon and I didn't bring any warm snow clothes, so we looked great in whatever clothes we could find at my parents house. We stayed warm, but my feet were so wet.

Jamon and I didn't have to search long for a great tree, but on our hunt for a saw we forgot about that tree and found the perfect tree. Our first Christmas Tree together. It was Great!!

A Little Pampering in Houston

While in Texas Jamon and I were able to enjoy a little pampering. Not only did I sleep at every chance I had, for example, every time I got into the car or every time the TV was turned on, but Jamon and I enjoyed a little hand waxing. Camille has a hand waxing machine thingy and let us use it. Jamon's reaction was great. He has never felt his hands feel so soft, and he kept rubbing them. He prefers the rough manly hands, which I guess I can't complain.

We also went to the Houston Temple and took some pictures. I had the crazy idea that we could get some pictures taken, possibly for an engagement picture, since it was still so green and flowers were still blooming. Well, they didn't turn out the way I was thinking. Some of them look okay, but I don't think they look good enough to send out in an announcement.

Here are my girls. Haylee, Kylee, and Brynlee. I don't know who was more excited about seeing each other. Me or the girls or Camille. The hardest thing about leaving was that Kylee actually sobbed the night before I had to leave telling me that she wanted me to be a part of their family so she could see me all the time. I talked to her and got her to sleep, and thought all was good until I got up in the morning she started it all over again. She's such a cutie, and I really do miss her tons all the time! When Kylee grows up she wants to be a Rock Star. Some of her favorite songs are Avril Lavigne "Girlfriend," High School Musical's, "What I've Been Looking For," and Chris Brown, "Kiss, Kiss." She also loves to make up her own words to songs. Here is a short clip of her singing.