Mexican Baha Cruise

We set out on Friday night for our Baha Mexican cruise by packing all 11 of us Merrells into the camper and setting off for California. It's the perfect way to travel! You can sleep on the bed, play games at the table, eat, go to the bathroom! The trip there was almost as much fun as the cruise itself. I love my family! It was so perfect to have everyone there.Cabo was beautiful and warm. We went snorkeling at one of the more local beaches instead of going to the touristy places and it was awesome! So many fish. Lance was like a fish himself again. He loves the water. We brought some crackers and Lance figured out that if you put them in a plastic bag, all the fish would still swarm around you and follow you but you didn't run out of bait! We would have lots of cool underwater pics but Lance was so into the fish, he lost the camera :)




"Icky" our server. He was such a nice man and he especially loved Kenna.


Lance and I at our sit down dinner. It was so nice to have an entire table filled with the family. The food was great and especially the "warm chocolate melting cake". They came in their own little dish and were kind of like a volcano cake. To die for! So as soon as we got home I found the Carnival recipe and bought the little Ramikans. I cant wait to make them for Lance and I!


Just a great shot of our little fat-maker fun boat. Seriously. If any of you have not been on a cruise, you need to go! All you can eat food all the time. One night we had lobster tail and tiger shrimp and Lance had three plates of it.


HAHA! So we asked the carriage driver to take a picture of us (he failed to include the horse) and he took about fifty. I think he liked the sound of the 'click'. We thought that poor horse was going to collapse under all the weight of us!


Dawn and Kinley just chillin in Ensinada. They went crazy with the money mom alloted them getting jewlry and whatnot.


Kenna being silly with her uncle Lance. Anytime he is around, she wants to be with him. He is going to make such a cute dad someday! :)


Kenna is so adorable! She made the trip that much more fun. Look at the cute necklace she picked out all by herself.

We bought a hammock and pottery for Lance's parents in Ensinada. Everything was so cheap here! I also got the blue bracelet, a necklace, earings for Trisha (Lance's little sister) and a sling shot for Keaton (Lance's little brother). Everyone seemed to be staring at me. Maybe it was the Jacky O sunglasses? All-in-all what a fun trip. It was so wonderful having my sexy husband with me. We cant wait til our next vacation!

wedding pictures

Our lives have been crazy! Between the 4 round-trip drives we made to Salt Lake over the break, a trip to St. George to start up our new Kiosk, and working on my up-and-coming framing business :), I have not had much time to post on the blog. And since we are leaving with my entire family Friday for a mexican cruise, I figured I better post some wedding pics soon.

My Aunt Kate came all the way from Arizona to take the pictures our wedding day. Thank you Aunt Kate! I haven't gotten to play with all of them yet because our lives have been so crazy. But here are a few for now and I will add more before too long.

I loved my wedding cake! It took me so long to decide what I wanted and to find the right size and color ribbon but I am so pleased with how it turned out. And the "W" on top added the perfect touch, I think. Thanks Jenn!

I love my Hannah Baby! She has grown into such a beautiful young woman. How perfect that my favorite girl on the planet caught my bouquet! I was also so happy my uncle Don and family could make the trip from Denver for the wedding. He spoke at the luncheon and emceed the reception. To be surrounded by those you love the most is all you can ask for on your wedding day.
Alisa, Whitney & Jenn. My best friends and 3 of my 10 beautiful bridesmaids. They drove up from St. George twice! Once to throw me my bridal shower and then again for the wedding. It was so awesome to have Whitt and Jenn in the temple. Don't worry Al, I can at least be there for your wedding :) I love you girls!
So perfectly content in his arms

I love the brick walls of the Historic Southworth Hall. It fit perfectly with my Hollywood Glamor wedding theme. The space was just large enough that it didn't feel crowded but small enough that it still felt so cozy and inviting.

I love this one

I had to save this picture for the end because it is my favorite. It so tenderly captures that moment. My dad grabbed me- he has never held me so tightly- and we both just cried. How difficult it must be to give away your oldest daughter! He also wrote a song for the wedding about the trust I have had in my eyes as I have looked at him all growing up. And how now, I look at Lance with that same trust. I love you dad! Thank you for the perfect wedding!

honeymooning

We finally made it to Punta Cana! The plane rides really were not too bad but we were so happy when we pulled up to our beautiful resort. We promptly went to eat something and had our first taste of the REAL pina colada! We had probably 5 a day each our entire stay. They were delicious :)

I love this picture! This sea weed was all over the beach. That was until a cleaning crew came a long to clean it all up! The beaches were perfectly white and clean.

Of course we had to get a picture of our feet and the ocean! Almost every day was sunny and gorgeous. We enjoyed kayaking, and para sailing (which I didn't get a picture of because my camera battery died!).

Look at those gorgeous palm trees behind us! They just look fake. One of our days, we took an excursion to the other side of the Dominican Republic. We sailed on a catamaran our to this gorgeous island. There, we had a delicious bbq and drank from fresh coconuts.

Look how gorgeous that is! We decided we were going to take a little excursion into the jungle to explore. Well, we didn't get very far before Lance was chuck full of mosquito bites! He had 13 in a matter of seconds.
On our way back on the speed boats, we stopped in at the "natural pool" which is a large area of shallow water clear out in the middle of the ocean! It was so neat and Lance was like a little fish. He went off to find treasure and shortly returned with this starfish. How cool!

We really enjoyed our time in the Dominican Republic which is where Lance's brother, Madsen, is serving on his mission. We wanted to go visit him but found out when we got there that even though he was only 80 miles away, it would have taken 10 hours one way on a bus! We were sad we couldn't visit him but all in all, our trip was so much fun! We cant wait until our next vacation.

bridals

This last Saturday we headed up to the Garden Park Ward in Salt Lake City to take bridals. We chose the perfect day- the last day with any real warmth in the season.

The neighborhoods that this is hidden in are gorgeous! They have the most perfect feel of old and new. The streets are lined with large oaks that make a sort of tunnel to drive through. And with the leaves falling by the bag fulls, we could certainly feel that fall was just about over.

Here are a few of my favorites. I have saved some of the very best ones for the wedding...















Melissa took the pictures again. Aren't they gorgeous? Thank you again Missa! You're amazing. I have had so much fun with these pictures in Photoshop! Its my new favorite past time.

Less than 2 weeks! We can hardly believe it. And each day I feel like I couldn't love him more. I cant wait to spend forever with you babe!

I'm Marrying Mr. Incredible!

This Halloween probably topped every Halloween I've had so far! Our good friends Jenna & Dave went all out with us this year. We bought the outfits at several stores, namely Walmart and Savers :) Then we got the felt at joAnns for a whopping $4! And, for a total of $20 a costume, I would say we got a pretty good gitup! Not to mention first prize in the costume contest :)

Lance & I didnt tell my family anything about what we were being, and when Lance came waltzing in with his puffed up chest and entire spandex outfit, my family about died! We were all laughing so hard we were crying! And Lance loved it. He made comments all night like, "Mmmm, that kiss was INCREDIBLE!" All in all, it was a pretty memorable evening.







Probably my favorite thing about the entire outfit was Lance's slicked back hair. You are so hot babe! Why don't you do that more often? This pic was when he was taking off the mask. Hmmm...didnt quite come off like it went on.