HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Jamon finally turned 28 yesterday. Number wise he only loooks two years younger than me instead of three. We had a fantastic day, even though we both had to work.

Birthday Events:

Monday May 17: I couldn't help it. I gave Jamon his birthday present early. Tyson told me all about a cousin who builds bikes, so I emailed him. He was very excited to build one just for Jamon and at the price I wanted. So when he emailed me, the Sunday before, I just had to go pick it up. When he came home from work, there is was a shiny new bike. It was great!

June 2nd: Day of birth
It was hard to do anything special for Jamon in the morning since he usually likes to sleep in till the last possible moment and I was up and trying to get to work by 7. So the night before I made him one of his favorites, Muddy Buddy's. I thought I was going to be the cutest wife, by wrapping up a box, placing the Muddy Buddy's inside and then stick it in the truck so when he's off to work he would see it, open it up, and then take them to work and share with all his work friends. Well, before I left for work he said he didn't want to open any presents this morning he wanted to safe them all for night. So when he gets home I ask him how the treats went and he had no idea what I was talking about. He didn't want to open the present in the morning. Cute wife idea: botched.

Jamon's Party:
We met several friends who include: Dave McMullin, bro, and special friend, Anna White, Jed Brown, and Scotty West and Brother Tyson at Outback Steakhouse for a delicious meal. It was fun catching up with everyone. We decided that it is great to have mutual friends that are so great! After dinner everyone came back to our place for more chatting, cake and ice cream, and of course, Presents. A few friends left which was good, because Jamon couldn't wait to play Bang with everyone. Tyson, Jed, and Scotty stuck around. Jamon went out fast the first game thanks to Tyson, won the second and lost the third. We had a fun time!

Presents:
itunes gift cards
Emperor's New Grove
Best Buy Gift Card
Dinner Gift Card
Percy Jackson & The Olympians series (never heard of them, but were told they were good)
Real Soccer Ticket
snickers, sunflower seeds, and gummi worms.

Happy Birthday Jamon!
Love you!

(yes, Jamon I will always have the restaurant sing to you on your birthday, whether I'm your wife or not. Most likely I will be your wife!)

Eyes, presents, and swings

A lot has happened in the last couple of days. Staci and I went to the eye doctor to get our eyes checked, she needed new glasses because her's were stolen in Mexico and I went along just for the heck of it. It turned out to be a very good idea because the doctor found an abnormality with my optic nerve that suggested that I have glaucoma. For those of you who don't know what that is (I didn't really know either) it is an eye disease that increases the pressure in the eye ball and if untreated will lead to partial or complete blindness. It is the second leading cause in vision loss in the world. The difficult thing with glaucoma is there are no symptoms except for very gradual vision loss. So gradual in fact that many people suffer from it but don't realize it. According to the Glaucoma Research Foundation approximately 4 million Americans have glaucoma but only half are aware of it.Because I had a couple signs I went in yesterday for a vision field test to see if I have any vision loss and gratefully I do not. So all I will do now is go in for an eye exam every year to make sure everything is OK. It is very likely I don't have anything wrong with me and the signs the doctor saw are just my peculiar anatomy (which isn't unheard of) but it is much better to be safe than blind. So I urge everyone to have their eyes checked to see if you have glaucoma, because vision lost is never regained.

While at the eye doctor they put some eye drops in my eyes (as opposed to in my ears) that made my eyes dilate. It was the most eye opening experience not being able to see anything in focus for a couple hours. I feel so much more grateful for my 20/20 vision.

On Monday, Staci gave me the best birthday present ever, my birthday is in a couple weeks but she wanted to give me this present early and I agreed. She got me a new mountain bike, I am super, super excited about it. We went riding that evening and had a blast, I have been wanting to get a new bike for a couple years but I could never actually pull the trigger and buy one. But now my dear wife bought me one and I avoid the hardest part for me, actually picking out a bike. She actually had one of my cousins build it for me, he buys bike parts and assembles them as a hobby so he was able to get a great bike for a good price. So now Staci and I have another thing we can do this summer.

Last week my mom and dad got home from their mission in Santiago, Chile and over the weekend Staci and I were able to travel to good old Sparks, NV to spend some time with them. It was a great couple days with most of my brothers there (we missed you Weston and Carrie). On Saturday, we went out to a cliff and set up a sweet rope swing by using rock climbing ropes and gear. It was a lot of fun, even Staci went and had a blast, but I actually think she had more fun taking pictures of everyone.
It was great to be able to relax at home and for Staci to be able to get to know my parents some more.

I was going to post a couple more pics with this but I have put this off too long, so I'll post some fun pics later.

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.