Island Park Trip

We had a Whitesides family trip planned in August to go to the family cabin in Island Park. Unfortunately, last minute the only ones who ended up going were us and Ben and Janessa's family. We were bummed that not everybody was going to come, but excited that they were still coming too! We all needed to get away and just HAVE FUN! 

 The drive up usually takes anywhere from 3-4 hours. We ended up leaving just a few minutes behind Ben and Janessa and were excited to be on the road! After being on the road for a while up in Idaho josh mentioned that he hadn't seen any cars coming in the opposite direction for a while. (Me...I'm thinking It's just not busy.) Just then a cop was making everybody exit the freeway and take a frontage road. ??? Weird?! We were only about the fourth car they made exit, and in the middle of NOWHERE, I started to panic! So I called Ness and they had not been forced to exit but were at a DEAD STOP, but didn't know why. So while talking to her we end up PASSING them on the freeway from the frontage road and they had detoured us around a semi that had rolled over. So you're thinking great for us we missed all the traffic, but bad for Ben and Ness (still at a stand still), but no it's not that simple. See they had the key to get into the cabin! So either way, we were ALL stuck until they could get out of the traffic jam.

Since Ben and Ness were stuck we decided to take our time. We took a pit stop and it was at an Indian Reservation. Very interesting crowd...but nice to pay NO sales tax on our purchases! We hung around for about 45 minutes and then headed back onto the road. We spoke to Ben and Ness and after being at a dead stop for an hour they turned around and got off the exit and took the frontage road. So we ended up only being about 30 minutes ahead of them.

THE CABIN!

Once arriving we started to set up camp, then Ben and Ness arrived and while we were still setting up a SURPRISE visitor came...Grandpa Jay! We had NO idea that he was coming. He could only stay one night but we were SO excited to see him!

We set a campfire that night, something we were all excited to do since the last trip up there the fire hazard was too high that you couldn't do a fire. I love the look on Cannon's face in the picture with Jayben. He looks either tired or confused! hehe

The next morning, after some DELICIOUS omelets and bacon (thanks babe for making awesome food!), we decided it would be fun to take a raft down the river. They were sold out until the afternoon so to waste some time we went over to Big Springs. We tried feeding the fish, but I think they were a little too used to being fed and had no interest in us. The water was REALLY clear and beautiful, and the house build by the man that used to live there was awesome. (Sorry no pics of the house.)

This picture just warms my heart. The two most special people to me in the WHOLE world! Oh how I love these boys, and watching how much they ADORE each other makes it that much BETTER!

After visiting Big Springs we got the call that it was our turn for the rafts. So we met up on the river and they drove us upstream so we could go downstream. It was funny at first because Josh and Ben couldn't get the hang of how to control the raft and steer. Well... it was more like brotherly arguing. (They both like to be right. hehe) But they got the hang of it and we even brought along our lunches to eat along the way.

 It wasn't exactly the term rafting that I would think of...more like leisurely floating down the river. But it was a lot of fun and we even stopped a few times where it was shallow and got out into the FREEZING cold water.

(I actually stole the above pictures from Janessa's blog, I realized I didn't get any of Ben on the boat!)

Near the end of the line we happened upon a mama moose and her two babies. (Is there a term for baby moose like there is for deer? Who knows?) There was a sand barge in the middle of the river and we decided to go a long the side that was CLOSER to the moose! What were we thinking?! Once we started we realized that and tried to turn back but it was too late. So we continued on... and luckily they didn't seem to mind how close we were.

After our rafting trip Ben and Ness took their kids to West Yellowstone and Josh, Cannon and I just went back to the cabin and hung out. The outdoors is DEFINITELY a boy's territory! Cannon had SO much fun "helping Daddy chop" the firewood. (Meanwhile Mommy had to turn away and not watch because of all the BA-ZILLION things that could have injured him!) But he came away with minimal injuries and a huge smile on his face!

While the boys were outside..being boys. I decided to take some pictures of the cabin. It really is cool, even though it is not equipped with any modern conveniences. It was built in the early 1900's (I think around 1910), by a man who built everything all by himself! Exterior and interior!

 The kitchen area is my favorite, because of the original stove! I wish I knew how to use it!

See how everything is made of wood, the guy did it all by himself!

Overall it was a very successful trip and we are so happy that Ben and Ness decided to still come too! The only major hiccup we had was that we got a flat tire there and on the way home we had to leave earlier than Ben and Ness so we could stop in a city and get it repaired. Besides that, the drive home was pretty uneventful. We will DEFINITELY have to go again! So many memories made!

I almost forgot about my attack of the mosquito's! The last night there I apparently missed one of my ankles with the bug spray because the next morning I had 7...yes 7 mosquito bites on that ONE ankle! So I had to take a picture of it to show you. (By the way this proves just how WONDERFUL bug repellant really works!)

Cannon had to have some pictures taken of his leg because we were taking pictures of mine. So here are his cute little knees!

 

Anniversary Trip!!

So for our 5 year Anniversary Josh and I went on a Carnival cruise to the Western Caribbean! It was SO much fun, and so good to spend some time with my honey! (Although I did miss my Cannon terribly.) We had arranged to fly my Mom down from Oregon to stay at our house with Cannon while we were gone. That made it easier for me to leave, knowing he was with Grandma and would be in his own house and in his own bed. We flew out on Saturday April 30th to Ft. Lauderdale then rented a car and drove to Miami. Unfortunately we didn't check-in in enough time to sit my each other. (But he was just right behind me.) 

We spent the night at a hotel and then was on our way to the port! We had to return our car in Miami, then we took a shuttle to the Miami port. We didn't have to wait hardly at all to get on the ship, with a little creativity on my part. ;)

Our itinerary for the cruise was as follows:

Sunday May 1st: Depart Miami

Monday May 2nd: At sea

Tuesday May 3rd: Cozumel, Mexico

Wednesday May 4th: Belize City, Belize

Thursday May 5th: Roatan, Honduras

Friday May 6th: Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Saturday May 7th: At Sea

Sunday May 8th: Miami

Day 1:

Once on the ship, we ate lunch and went exploring to see what was on the ship. We then went up on Deck 9, Lido Deck, to watch as we left the port.  

Josh didn't actually gamble. (I wouldn't let him!) The casino stunk really bad like cigarette smoke anyway. Eww! Every time we would walk through it we would laugh because NOBODY who is in there looked happy! They weren't even smiling as they were gambling! We would rather spend our time ENJOYING what we are doing!

Other memories about Day 1:

* Welcome show in Amber Palace, our cruise director, Gary, was hilarious! 

* First dinner, we met Alex and Sasha. They ate at our table with us. She is from D.C. and he is from New Jersey but both originally from Russia! 

* Josh singing Sweet Caroline at Super Star Live! (Karaoke with a live band.) The host said he's never seen that many people join in a song!
*The extremely femmie dancer...so funny! 

Day 2: Day at Sea

After eating breakfast we went up on deck to get some sun. (We both definitely needed some sun on our white bodies!) We also went down the water slide. It was faster than I thought and got a nose full of salt water at the bottom! But it was still fun!

After dinner we went to the show, we ended up leaving because it was kind of boring. (And I didn't care to see Vegas Style dancers in thong outfits.) We went up on deck and they were playing "Despicable Me" so we decided to watch it. Then I got so homesick for my Cannon that I just started crying! I looked at Josh and tears were streaming down my face, and he said he missed him too. :( It was the first full day we had been away from him and not able to talk to my Mom. 

Other memories from Day 2:

* Eating 3, yes 3, desserts at dinner!

*Yummy hot chocolate with dessert.

*Josh ate 2 plates of lobster tail and shrimp!

Day 3: Cozumel, Mexico

After getting off the ship and meeting a lady, Angela, we decided to rent a scooter and drive around the island. We drove to some small Mayan ruins...really small. But they were still cool!

 After seeing the ruins we went to a beach close by called Alberto's. There was literally nobody there, except for the couple who was walking by that took our picture. The water was refreshing but when we tried to walk out into it there were rocks everywhere! Josh kept saying "sharp rocks, sharp rocks" over and over and over again. Finally I asked him if he thought the rocks were sharp. ;) So then we kept laughing about the "sharp rocks." Then as I looked down I realized it was dead coral, so that's why it was so sharp! OUCH!

 After leaving the beach we went back to the main town and drove around.  We were able to find a local market that reminded Josh of his mission. He ordered us some food to eat. He ate a pambaso sandwich, he was VERY excited about it! He hadn't had one since his mission. Then he ordered me a taco, quesadilla and a plain tortilla. I was a little worried I was going to get sick, but I didn't! Plus, the food was SO good! The tortillas especially were SO yummy! It's hard to explain what is different about them, but they are softer and more moist, and well...yummier!

Other memories from Day #3:
*Josh running back onto the ship!

*Meeting the comedian getting back onto the ship.

*Family Friendly comedy show...Cajuns!
*Josh singing Karaoke again!

*The hypnotist show after dinner...HILARIOUS!! (Belly dancing)

Day #4: Belize City, Belize

We had planned to just go to a beach once getting off the boat, but once we did we realized there weren't any beaches close by. (You had to take a boat to them and they were man-made.) Time was already ticking away because we had to take a boat from the ship to the shore, so last minute we decided to go Cave Tubing. Belize was definitely not the same as Cozumel, it was a lot scarier! We drove with some other people from both Carnival ships that were there. The drive to the caves was about an hour and a half and it seemed SO much longer! (We got stuck behind some really annoying couple! Grr!) Once we were at the caves we hiked up for about 20 minutes, it was really pretty. We couldn't take our camera because it would get wet but this is pretty much what we did:

It was really pretty! We had to wear head lights because once you are in the caves, it's really dark! Our guide was, okay, he made me nervous when he mentioned alligators! At first I thought he was joking but he told us if we saw one to not move and let him know! (Ahh!) After the hike the water felt so nice! The water was a little low in some places so we had to get up and walk a couple of times but it was fun...interesting but fun! Once we were done we drove home and it was MUCH better. We switched seats and ended up sitting by a couple that was from Las Vegas and they happened to be LDS too!

There is a story with this picture. We went to Super Star Live again, just karaoke with a live band, and Josh decided to sing a Garth Brooks song. All week long they had been holding auditions for the very last show the last night on the cruise. The show is called the Carnival Legends show. They have different famous singers that people try out to sing at the show. (Eg, Elvis, Brittany Spears, Elton John, etc.) When Josh got up to sing Garth Brooks the host of Super Star Live said that they were still looking for a Garth Brooks for the Legend show! After Josh sang he asked him if he wanted to be Garth Brooks in the show! Haha! Josh was not expecting that, so asked the audience what we thought and everyone cheered! So they gave him his packet and it was set! 

Other memories from Day #3:

*"I have 3 (tree) daughers." While holding up 4 fingers. hehe

*Land for $1,500 in Belize

*Expensive gas, over $5.00 a gallon (US) 

* Magician show after dinner--okay.

* Eating LOTS of food!

Day #4: Roatan, Honduras

 Roatan is an island off the coast of Honduras. It is SOO beautiful! We were determined to relax on the beach after Belize. So we took a taxi to the West Bay Beach, it was absolutely WONDERFUL! The sand was so soft it felt like I was stepping in flour! Walking out into the water it was smooth and crystal clear! After spending about an hour and a half at the beach we decided to go to a monkey zoo. Josh has ALWAYS wanted to see monkeys and hold them. We originally didn't know that we would be able to be in with them, so when our guide opened the door into the cage to let us walk in we were SO excited!

 They were spider monkey's and the babies were our favorite! As you can see, they kept trying to get into my bag because I had some oranges in it. Josh was in Heaven!

See how cute the babies are?! 

The monkey in the cage was in time out for not playing nice with the other monkeys. Since the tour guide said they couldn't have the oranges we shared our Frosted Flakes with them instead.

 We were also able to see parrots and tucans! They weren't quite as nice as the monkeys. They would peck at you and their beaks hurt! Josh was brave enough to let one on his shoulder, I was not. :)

I was okay with the bird on my hat though! Other things that we saw there were, blue land crabs, snake holes, and some deer. They were a much smaller species of deer than in Utah though! SO much fun! I could have spent all day with the baby monkeys.

Other highlights of Day #4:
*Cinco de Mayo Night Party up on deck! We danced and had SO much fun!
*ATM's NOT working in Roatan
*My run back onto the ship to get cash with only 15 mins to spare!
*Local homes cost around $7,000 (US)
*Gas on the Island around $6.50 per galloon (US)
*Watermelon slushy drink

Day #5: Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

We had already purchased an excursion online to go to Sting Ray City and snorkeling after. We had to get on boats to get to the dock again, and we were running a little behind so Josh pulled a few strings to get us on a boat to shore right away. We made it to our excursion just on time with Captain Marvin's Company!

I had actually been to Sting Ray City once before already, but this time was even BETTER! I don't know if it's because I wasn't as scared of the stingrays or if I was with my Joshy. But we had SO much fun! The locals say that if you kiss a stingray it gives you 7 years of good luck! So for kissing one twice do you think that means we get 14 years?!

We were also able to feed them and that was incredible! They don't have teeth and just suck them out of your hand kind of like a vacuum! I don't know if they liked my bright swimming suit, or what it was, but they kept coming up to me and almost getting on me! At one point I had about 5 different ones all brushing up against me! I was laughing so hard!

After we left that area we went to an area nearby to snorkel. I LOVE SNORKELING! It's so much fun! We saw a lot of cool fishes and even swam through a little school of fish! (Josh was trying to catch them with his hands.) Then as Josh was getting back into the boat I saw the coolest big yellow stripped fish with squiggly blue lines AND a stingray without a tail! Josh ended up getting out a little before me because he took a mouth-full of water. This is some of what we saw:

Once we got back onto the boat we realized just how much sun we both had gotten while out in the water. See for yourself! 

Josh's tanline

 My hand against Josh's back.

It was the last formal night for dinner. We ate A LOT, yet again, and during the dinner "Showtime" Sasha and I danced to work off some of the food! 

So there is a story to go along with the silhouette picture of me and Josh. It was actually taken on Saturday (a day later) and we were just waiting for a show to start in Amber Palace and the girl behind us said our profiles looked really cool in front of the curtain and asked if she could take our picture with our camera. So this is the picture she took. Kind of weird, but she was nice. :) 

Other memories from Day #5:

*My legs soo sore from running and dancing the day before!

*Dancing at dinner.

*Leaving the adult comedy show...SO inappropriate! (We didn't even last 5 minutes.)

*Our Jamaican bus driver on the island. He was VERY nice! (Can't remember the Jamaican word he taught us! I remember it was cool though!)

*Listening to Josh practice his Garth Brooks song for the show the following night!

Day #6: At Sea

They had a lot of different activities were going on on Saturday. In the morning Josh had his rehearsal for the Carnival Legends Show.While he was there I packed, since we would have to disembark the ship the following morning. Josh and I spent most of the day in Amber Palace. Josh played in a trivia game show and won a "Ship on a stick."  We also watched their version of "Minute to Win It" as well as "The Newlywed Game." (That was HILARIOUS!) Then Josh had to leave to get ready for the show and I stayed and watched a game of "Battle of the Sexes." Once the Legend show started, Josh was the 6th person to perform and as he started singing I heard a number of people say, "Wow, he is good!" He really did SO good! After the show they had all the performers go to the Lobby so people could take pictures with them. Below Josh is with the cruise director, Gary. 

Sasha and Alex wanted their picture with "Garth Brooks!" An interesting fact is that when Josh's parents when on their cruise last fall Josh's Dad was Garth Brooks in their Legend show too! Like-Father-like-son!

Here is a picture of most of the towel sculptures that we had each night. 

 Other memories from Day #6:

*"Ricky Martin" asking Josh if he sings professionally.

*Josh had to ask for Sprite instead of Champagne. :)

*"Ohhh, that's a hard one!" (From the Newlywed game.)

*Getting our last hot chocolate before bed. :(

Day #7: Miami, Florida -Disembark

We were the second to last group to disembark the ship, so we new we wouldn't be able to get off the boat until about 10am. So we took our time in the morning and ate breakfast, then just hung out. While we were waiting we decided to take some "funny" pictures. (I don't think Josh is a fan of my hat! haha)

 After we got off the boat we took a shuttle to rent a car and drove to Ft. Lauderdale. We just hung out on Sunday and went to bed early because we had to wake up early Monday to make our 6am flight. But we were able to sit by each other for at least one of the flights! 

 Josh is faking it of course! But we both really were tired! But SO glad to get home to our Cannon! He was happy to see us and kept wanting "hugs" especially from Daddy!

The Great Northwest!

The week of July 4th we went to visit my parents in Oregon! My whole family was going so it was a lot of fun! We decided to drive instead of fly, I admit I was terrified of doing the drive with a one year old. But he did amazingly well. We brought a lot of snacks, books and movies to watch on the laptop. We stop and let him play at a McDonald's in Boise, which also helped. From start to finish the drive usually takes anywhere from 12-13 hours. We wanted to get an early start to Cannon would sleep, so we ended up leaving the house around 4:45am.

While up in Oregon we were able to stay at a Beach house in Cannon Beach. Yes, that is the actual name of the city and the beach in that area. (If you are a fan of the Goonies, part of the movie was filmed in Cannon Beach. The three rocks just off the coast are actually in Cannon Beach.) Usually the Oregon coast has very mild weather. Even in summer it's not hot, however they were having record heat and the day we arrived it was 95 degrees! It felt like an actual beach, not just the coast! You will also notice Josh below doing his metal detecting. He went out one morning around 6am and was out for about two hours.

 

This is my favorite picture of Cannon on the beach.