1 YEAR DOWN, MANY MORE TO COME

It’s officially been 1 year since we were married and what a year it’s been!

Taking a chance to look back we remember all of the good times that we’ve had together. It has been an incredible journey that has flown by so fast and we look forward to the many years to come.

1 year ago around this time we were on our honeymoon cruise so we decided it would be good to give you a little recap of the fun we had. It was a week long cruise to the Western Caribbean with stops in Cozumel, Grand Caymen Islands, and Ocho Rios Jamaica. The ship was great and we had so much fun on our “Days at Sea” but the real fun came at the ports where we stopped.

                 

In Cozumel we took these little buggy cars and drove around the island. We stopped at the tequila factory, had some lunch along the beach then on to swim with the dolphins!

  

 

 

 

This is our friend Estefan!

     

Our next stop was at the beautiful Grand Cayman Islands. This was our favorite stop of all.

Here we went on a private tour with Neil our tour guide. He took us on Sea-Doos through a cool mangrove area then on to Stingray City. Neil was the coolest. He brought squid in order to attract the Stingrays to him. Then he would hold them and pass along the fun to us. It was a blast! We tried catching some live lobster and on the way back Mandy went wild and threw Colton off the Sea-Doo. Before we left we had lunch on the pier and did some shopping. Of course!

         

Ocho Rios Jamaica was our last stop before heading back. There we of course had to hike the famous Dunn’s River Falls. It was a lot of fun. We also took a ride to the top of the mountain and rode this bobsled ride all the way down. No problems man!

 

It was a wonderful week in paradise and we wish we were back there now. The honeymoon came to an end and the journey began for the two of us. Our first year together flew by so fast and we are excited for what’s ahead. Is it possible to have too much fun?

Happy Anniversary!

WINTER WONDERLAND

      

Happy Birthday “Mai”

                     

In celebration of Mandy’s birthday we decided to venture off to the cabin (Mather’s Last Resort) for a retreat with some friends last weekend. Although there wasn’t much snow here in the valley, up at the cabin there was over 3 feet which made for some GREAT sledding! We arrived at the cabin Friday afternoon and immediately headed out to do some pre-sledding in hopes of making it easier for everybody else who would be arriving late that night and sledding Saturday. Once everybody arrived that night the party began! Cake time came and so accordingly Strawberry Shortcake was served! “Yes Porter, we did save some for you and your brother".”

Saturday morning we couldn’t wait to hit the slopes with our sleds so after some “Colton Rod Toast” for breakfast we hiked up to the killer rock slide. From there the rest was history and we think the pictures do a much better job of describing the day.

What a Weekend!

Photos from the Cabin Sledding Trip

VIVA LAS VEGAS

Well 2 weeks ago we returned from a short Valentine’s Day getaway with the Sanders. Originally the group was supposed to be a bit larger but with folks bailing out left and right it narrowed the group size down to us 4. We set out Friday evening for Sin City and checked in to the luxurious Red Rock Resort Hotel & Casino. Also Colton had a hookup so we were able to stay there for FREE! We Loved it!

               

Saturday morning we hung around the hotel and relaxed until we went over to BJ’s restaurant for lunch with some friends of Chris. Misty also came to lunch as well. The food was great! Especially the “Pazookies”. That afternoon we made our way to the strip and checked into the Sahara hotel on Las Vegas Blvd and we immediately realized why we got the cheapest rate on the strip. We weren’t expecting luxury but thought they would have at least heard of the phrase “up to date”. It was a roaring place back in the 60’s and 70’s but since then I don’t think a single thing has been changed. Oh well. We weren’t going to Las Vegas to stay in the hotel room so that evening we set out to walk along the strip and experience what made Vegas famous. We stopped along the way at the wax museum which was quite an experience. We were very “picture happy” if you know what we mean:

           

We also stopped at the Bellagio and saw the beautiful water show synchronized with the music. We continued along the strip with hunger driving us towards our end destination; the buffet at Mandalay Bay. We walked quite a bit that night, in total I think it was near 5 miles, which made the decision to take a taxi after dinner a very easy one.

Sunday we slept in and for lunch we wanted to try the famous 6lb. burrito at the Nascar Cafe there inside the Sahara Hotel. But to our dismay they only serve the burrito to those who complete the challenge to eat it within an hour by themselves. That was not going to happen so instead we ate at the very yummy and highly recommended Strip Burger across from the Wynn. Valentine’s Day evening was arriving and so we went to the Tournament of Kings Dinner Show at the Excalibur. It was pretty fun too! The food wasn’t anything to scream about but the entertainment was great. Especially the acrobatics at the end! Afterwards we stopped at both the M&M and Coca Cola Factory.

Monday before we headed back home we had breakfast at the Hash House and the girls did some much anticipated shopping at H&M. It was a good weekend getaway and we sure had some fun times together! Viva Las Vegas Baby!

Photos from the Vegas Trip

IT’S IN THE WORKS

We must be pretty good at procrastinating. It's been nearly a year since we've got married and we just barely met with our photographer to finish our wedding album. It was mainly our fault but we've been so busy and just never really had the time. So last week we took the drive up to his house about an hour away in hopes of finally finishing it all. Our photographer was Jeff Hodges and he is absolutely the nicest guy in the world. He did an amazing job and was very affordable. The session went well and we finally got everything in order. All we are waiting on now is a final draft before we get it printed. We can't wait!

Jeff Hodges Photography

Here are some of the photos: