Our 10 year anniversary August 6, 2012

Jon and I were married and sealed in the Mount Timpanogos temple 10 years ago. I can not even begin to tell you how fast this time has gone but at the same time how much stuff we have been through and accomplished and learned.

We decided we would celebrate by going on a cruise to the Bahamas. And we are so fortunate to have loving parents who offered to take care of our kids so that we could go on a trip. At the last minute Jon's sister and brother in law Alicia and Colby decided to come with us. Jon and I left a couple of days early so that we could go to Disney World. We went to the Epcot center and Downtown Disney and we loved it. It was really fun. Jon met someone in the Germany part of Epcot who was from a town in Germany that he served in while on his mission. That was cool. The fireworks were amazing. I had a little freak out on a ride where I got really claustrophobic. It was kind of funny now that we look back. 

The cruise was a lot of fun. We loved the warm weather and beaches. It was our first time on a Carnival cruise and I have to say it was not as classy as the Royal Carribean cruise we went on. We were not as impressed with the food and entertainment. But it was still a lot of fun.

 Some of the highlights:

Our first stop was Freeport.  Jon and I went on a German pirate ship excursion. He spoke German to the crew. And we got to drive the ship. It was super choppy and everyone on the excursion got seasick. When we got back to the port we took a taxi to the beach. The water was pretty but the sand was really dirty and filled with sticks and leaves. Jon was offered drugs and I am proud to say he declined. People at the beach were selling fresh coconuts and I wanted one but we had to go back to the ship soon. We thought we would get one at another stop but we never saw them again. 

Alicia was pregnant and she got morning/sea sick and threw up over the side of the cruise ship.

There was a girl on the boat named Howie-Alice and she performed in the talent show and she sang angry songs at her ex-boyfriend. The reason I bring this up is because Howie-Alice brought a friend and her friend was drunk all the time and she was so loud and hilarious that we will never forget Howie-Alice's friend.

Our next stop was Atlantis. We went to the famous Atlantis hotel. It was pretty but we decided to skip the aquarium and go hang out on the beach. We loved the beach, it was beautiful. Jon and Colby helped make Alicia and myself into sand mermaids. 

Every night at dinner they offered some exotic strange food and they called it the didya. Short for "Did you ever wanna try..." Jon and Colby tried several of the items including: frog legs, caviar, alligator. Every night for  dessert Jon ordered the chocolate melting cake, he loved it.

Jon surprised me on our anniversary. After dinner he took me to the top of the ship and gave me a diamond band ring to go on top of my wedding ring. We had talked about getting one for our ten year anniversary back when we got married and he remembered. We ended up switching it out for a curved band when we got home because it fit around my ring better. But that was really sweet of him.

Our third and final stop was Half Moon Cay. This is a private Island and it was absolutely amazing. They parked the ship in the middle of the ocean and shuttled us on to the beach in little boats. They had a big BBQ area on the beach where we had lunch.  I am not kidding when I say this beach looks like a picture from a calendar. It was so beautiful. The sand was so soft and fine and white. The water was really warm and so clear. We could see tropical fish swimming around our feet. I could have spent 3 days on that beach. I was so sad to leave. If you have the chance to go to Half Moon Cay you should go, it is wonderful, I have never seen anything like it.

The way back to Florida on the ship was pretty rocky. The ship swayed back and forth a lot and we were happy to be back on land. And then our plane ride home had a lot of turbulence. Those two items along with missing our 3 kiddos made us happy to be home. But I still dream about going back to that beautiful Island one day.