Fun with the Girls

After Justin and I got back from our cruise last week, I was able to hang out with some sweet college friends for some good girly time! Friday night I went over to my friend Jessica's house to talk and hang out with her, her sweet baby girl Emmy and our fun friend Lair. Emmy was so nice to let us sit around watching her and gab about the good ole days of Baylor and Chi Omega!

Here's sweet Emmy! Isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen?!?Thanks Emmy for letting us hang out in your room!

Then, on Saturday I got to hang out with many other college friends at Jason and Hailey Weems wedding. It was a gorgeous wedding and I had so much fun seeing so many people I hadn't seen in years!! I miss having all those people around. Poor Justin couldn't make it with me because he was still recooping from the flu. So, I had another fun night with the girls!! I'm so thankful for sweet girlfriends. We definitely decided we need to have more girly weekends soon!The beautiful Bride and Groom! Lair and Jess Amy, Lair and I

Cruisin' through Spring Break

Yesterday Justin and I got back from a fun-filled five day cruise to Mexico. We went with Jeff, Jenny, Matt and Tonya, our good friends from our Lifegroup at Church. (We missed you Hutsons, Mosleys, Sonnenbergs and Cordes) We had such an incredible time! Below are a few highlights from our trip. I had so many things I wanted to show, I decided to post each day by itself. Here we go..

Day 1 - All Aboard

We arrived on the "Splendor of the Seas" Saturday afternoon. We were all so excited to be there and spent a lot of time just looking around the ship. We got settled into our rooms and were off to watch the boys play a round of putt-putt. We all had to put on our kickin orange life vests to go to our emergency session on what to do if the ship sank. The rest of the evening we hung out by the pool while this Carribean band played as we sailed out of the Galveston harbor. We changed for dinner, and saw our first show of the trip which was this hillarious comedian who put on an amazing show. Then we were off to our first sit-down dinner which lasted almost 2 hours! yummy.

Day 2 - First Full Day at Sea

This was probably my favorite day on the ship. Although the weather was a little cloudy and chilly, there was so much to do and see that there was never a dull moment. We started with sleeping in then joining Jeff and Jenny for breakfast at the "King and I" restaurant. Tonya and I jumped in for the last part of the 70's style dance lessons where we learned a 70's line dance we would later use that night! Tonya, Justin, Jeff and I spent a couple of hours playing Bingo in hopes of striking it rich...no such luck! Then, onto lunch and Salsa lessons which everyone of us tried!! One of my favorite parts of the trip. Jenny and I grabbed a crepe in the "Solarium" which is an indoor pool area then headed off to the back of the ship to lay out and relax. We met up with Tonya at a fun wine sampling where we learned a lot of sophisticated wine connesour tips! After an afternoon nap, we headed off to our "formal night." We went to the captains party where we met the captain and crew in "The Top Hat" ballroom. Then we ate dinner at "The King and I" restaurant that evening. We finished the night with some disco dancing on the top deck 70's style where Tonya, Jenny and I got to show off our disco moves. What a full, fun day on board!!

Day 3 - Cozumel & Playa del Carmen

Our first "port of call" was in Cozumel, Mexico. Unfortunately the island of Cozumel over to Playa del Carmen. This seemed like no big deal, but as we began our trip on the ferry with waves and swells up to 9 feet high, we were very glad to have made it safely to the other side. We then took a taxi about 45 minutes to a town called Tulum.a big storm had come in that day so it was a bit cold and cloudy. The McDonnell's and us decided to take a ferry from We got to explore and see some ancient Mayan ruins. They were beautiful. This ancient city was resting upon the most beautiful beach. Justin and Jeff took a quick swim in the ocean near these ruins while Jenny and I watched from the beach. Justin took some great National Geographic type photos of all the ruins. There were also tons of iguanas. Big ones, small ones, they were everywhere!

As I mentioned it was very windy this day which made for some frustrating picture taking. With hair blowing everywhere it was so hard to get a good pic. Here is my "I'm so mad at my hair" pic and then the "good" one to follow. Jenny and I laughed at each other as we tried to tame the muffasah hair to get a good pic. I vowed then and there to buy a hat to throw on during these picture emergencies!Right before we left, we saw these creepy crazy looking Mayan guys. We don't really know what they are but they looked cool enough to want to have our picture taken with them!Our amazing taxi cab driver then took us to a private, secluded beach down the road. We ate an authentic Mexican lunch on the beach, and spent a few hours relaxing in the beach hammocks and hanging out.

Although it was a little windy and chilly, it was wonderful to be somewhere so secluded with absolutely nothing to do! The last part of the day we went back to Playa del Carmen where we walked the streets and markets of the city as well as along the beach. We got back to the ship late that evening and ended the day watching a dance show and of course a yummy dinner. We were supposed to go to the "dancing under the stars" tropical dance later that evening, but Justin and I crashed early exhausted from the full day of fun!

Day 4 - Costa Maya

The six of us got to spend this day together relaxing on the beach. Costa Maya is a small town with lots of market shopping, bartering and of course relaxing! My goal was to purchase a fun little hat and I was very proud of my negotiating from $45 down to $15. Most of the day we just layed out suntanning. We were so thankful that we finally got some sun! Justin, Tonya, Jeff and I also took a snorkling trip for about an hour. It was fun but so wavy that we got quite a workout. There was also this guy who had his giant pet iguana with him on the beach. I got up the nerve to hold this giant beast. I can't say I was totally brave, screaming whenever he moved. But it was my little way to be adventurous. Heading back to the ship, Justin found an internet cafe and slipped in to check on flights for our next summer trip! I laugh at him in all his travel/trip planning but of course am loving all the places we get to go, so I won't complain a bit. We spent a little too long at the cafe so we were running back to the ship. People on the ship were all cheering us on as we were one of the last people back on board!

Day 5 - Last Day at Sea

Our last day at sea was the only full sunny day we had on the boat. Soo, you know all us girls spent as much time as we could basking in the sun on deck. Poor Justin spent all day in our cabin feeling so sick!! We found out later that he had the flu!! That night we went to watch the last Farewell show...some Argentinean dancers and comedy. My hubby still sick in his room. Even though Justin had a crummy ending, all in all we had an incredible time with our friends and we are so thankful for the chance to take this trip together. We've decided that this trip has become the first annual lifegroup spring break trip!!

It's been too long...

Okay, you know (those of you who scrapbook) how when you get a year or two or three behind in your scrapbook you kind of lose any motivation to even try. Well, getting knocked out a week ago (for 10 days) with the flu, I got SOOO behind on blogging I kinda went on strike out of overwhelmingness (yes I know that's not even a word). But, i'm back in the saddle again and will give some highlights, and low-lights from the past couple of weeks...

1. The FLU stinks!! Two of the kids in my class had it and of course gave it to me! Aweful thing is I got it the day I left to go to FUSION in Orlando!! Just imagine fever, chills, coughing and aching during the 2 hour flight. I was pretty much in bed for a full week. All I have to say now is maybe a little flu shot every year wouldn't be so bad!
2. Valentines Day - Justin was actually out of town on this day! He flew out to FUSION in Orlando the on Feb. 13th so I was up until the wee hours of the morning making sub plans! So exciting. But, my sweet mom sent us some beautiful flowers and Justin's sweet mom sent us home-made Valentine sugar cookies. (Thank you Moms!)
3. FUSION Orlando - I went a couple of weekends ago to help Justin with this conference. It was absolutely AMAZING!! David Crowder came to play in concert and over 2,000 young adults plus 500 pastors came for the event. Check out their website at www.fusionconferences.com. It's actually coming to Dallas next fall.
4. New Furniture!! Woo-hoo. Justin and I got brand new living room furniture. Our new couch and loveseat came a couple of weeks ago! We feel like grown-ups now with our big people furniture..so fun!

And our newest favorite thing in the world....a King Sized Bed!! It's actually a bad thing because now we don't want to ever get out of it and this causes some problems with not being late everywhere!

1. And...the most recent exciting event....Justin and I leave tomorrow morning with two other couple friends from church for a five day CRUISE!!!! Ahhh, I can't even explain how excited I am to relax on the tropical waters. Suntanning, snorkling, great food, crystal clear water and good friends...what could be better. I promise to post lots of pics when we get back next Thursday! HAPPY SPRING BREAK!!