Busy Summer (Part 2) - Jamaica

For our honeymoon we went to an all-inclusive, adults-only hotel in Jamaica, Jewel Dunn's River Resort. I would highly recommend this hotel to anyone wanting to have a relaxing Caribbean vacation. And man, all-inclusive is the way to go. We drank juice from the minibar everyday and ate so much food. Now I'm craving some pineapple guava juice and a jerk chicken wrap right. It was so carefree and Jamaica is beautiful. The ocean was so warm. and the breeze was perfect. Also, bartering with shopkeepers was fun; we bought a lot of stuff.

We had a beach-facing room so the view from our hotel room was amazing (look at that view from our balcony and my hunky husband--you drink that ginger Ale). The water is so blue there and it's so relaxing just hearing the trees swaying in the wind and the ocean waves breaking. Also our room was in a very convenient location, in the middle of everything but still not noisy.

Every restaurant we went to at the hotel was amazing. We had a 5 course meal every night. And the service was so nice. Also, we usually went to dinner earlier than most people so there was never a wait.

We did two excursions. One is the Dunn's River Falls hike. It's a 900 ft cascading waterfall surrounded by trees, that you hike through. The guides scrub the falls frequently so that they aren't slippery. It was gorgeous and there were pools in between sections of the falls were you can just relax for a few minutes. We also went to a botanical garden that was just gorgeous and the flowers were so bright.

Did I already mention that our hotel was cool? Well, they left little heart shaped slices of yummy chocolate cake with a cute swan design in our room on the second day. It was pretty cute and a nice surprise to come back to.

Another excursion we did was a zip-lining package; which included: zip-lining, a bobsled ride, a vertical drop and riding on a ski lift up and down the mountainside. For some reason I decided to do my last zip-line upside down. It was terrifying yet fun. And riding the ski lift over the canopy of trees and seeing the ocean from high up was such a magnificent sight. Jamaica is probably the most beautiful place I have been.

 At the top of the mountain was an infiniti pool with a water slide. You can't beat that view.

Here we are just chilling. Oh, how I miss that place.

Busy Summer (Part 1) - The Wedding

Ok so i am way behind on posting stuff for the blog so this will be a long post split in three.

As everyone knows (at least I hope only people who know this fact are following my blog) I got married on June 8th to Chris John in the Bountiful Utah Temple.

The temple was absolutely gorgeous and the day was just perfect (other than the fact that I didn't get to have any crepes at my reception, I hear they were delicious). I am so lucky to have married Chris. He is an amazing man who is so incredibly sweet to me.

I'm so grateful for all the people who came and celebrated with me. I am so loved to have so many family and friends support me.

Tiffany and Priscilla

Karalee, Mollie and Michelle

I love my sisters

This picture turned out difficult to take

Not sure what is happening in this picture but I love it.

 The temple was on a hill and had a nice view of the valley below. It was a warm day so we took most of the pictures in the morning before the ceremony. And good thing we did because my dress had like 10 layers, at least.

 The Thompson Clan. It was difficult to get the kids looking at the picture.

 Here are Flip and my flower girls, Ali and Kat,. My flower girls were so sweet. They held my bouquet in between all of my pictures. Not to mention they kept telling me I looked like a princess. What more could a girl want on her wedding day?

Soon to be Mrs. John

These past few weeks were very exciting due to the fact that my favorite person in the world asked me to marry him. It's very exciting! Chris proposed to me about 3 weeks ago but I have been very busy wedding planning, hence my slow posting about it. Let me tell the proposal story for those of you who haven't heard.

On Tuesday, January 22nd, Chris suggested we go to the movies, he also asked if I could come over to his house and then we can go from there (I should have suspected something then because he always picks me up for dates). Anyways I go to his house and it's all dark inside except the entry way. He told me he had food in the kitchen so we can have dinner and then go to the movie. However, he had something else planned for the night. I walked into the kitchen and there were candles and flowers on the table and his computer was sitting there too. We sat down at the table and he started a photo montage of pictures of us throughout our courtship. He also put a voice-over on the montage where he told the story of how he fell in love with me and then at the end of it he said that he wanted to be with me forever. And then I turned to Chris (I was crying by now) and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

It was so sweet and perfect and I love him so much. I am so lucky to be marrying someone as loving and thoughtful as he is. I can't wait until June 8th when we are sealed in the Bountiful Temple for all eternity.

That's the ring! He picked it out all by himself. It's so sparkly sometimes I just find myself staring at it.

A Very Happy Holiday

So Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years were the best this year than any other year. Partly because I saw so much family during the holidays but mostly because I spent them with my favorite person in the world, my boyfriend Chris (That's saying a lot considering how much I love my nieces and nephews). 

 I get pretty bad anxieties on planes so I'm glad he flew with me to Colorado. He handled my freak out really well.

At Thanksgiving time we went up to Rocky Mountain National Park and explored a little bit. My nieces and nephews threw a few snowballs (actually there wasn't much snow around so it was basically ice chunks they were throwing at each other). Ali photo bombed our picture. I love her pose.

Jasmin did all of our makeup.

Christmas morning. Chris went above and beyond with my presents. Among the presents he gave me were a 1 hour massage, and tickets for the Beatles Cirque du Solei show in Las Vegas. He spoils me like crazy.

And here we are looking at the temple lights at the Salt Lake Temple. They were really cool. We didn't stay too long because it was freezing (technically below freezing).

California and Cornbelly's

Me and Chris went to California this month and it was so much fun. I loved visiting family and the beach. We went to the Santa Monica Pier, Manhattan Beach, the Universal City Walk and hiked the Hollywood Sign.

One day we took my nieces, Ali and Kat, to the beach. I've missed them so much so it was nice to spend time with them.

We went to the Santa Monica pier and rode the rides and stuff. The view of the city and the ocean from the top of the Ferris Wheel was so gorgeous.

 For Halloween, I was Mother Earth and Chris was Father Time.

Back in Utah, we went to a Corn Maze. it was loads of fun. Here is us crossing the Victory Bridge.

And just for fun, here is a video of Sam and his girlfriend, Emily. In California, they came out to dinner with us to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co and Sam said it was his Birthday so the guy made them get up and dance for some ice cream.

Move over Rachel Ray

By the time you read this I could be the next Food Network Star!...Not really though. I'm not an excellent cook or anything. I'm not terrible, I can follow a recipe but I don't cook much. With that being said I made an excellent dinner last night, with the help of my boyfriend, Chris. We made Klöße (German Dumplings) and Lemon Garlic Chicken. It was quite delicious and it brought me back to the times when I was a kid and my mom would make Klöße for us. It was my favorite thing to eat.

Also, it was my birthday this week and Chris got me flowers and German chocolate and a Fossil watch. Why yes he is pretty awesome.

MTV Cribs: Provo Edition

Me and my roommate Karen moved into a new apartment. And it's so cute I love it. It is very spacious for the 2 of us and it even has a washer and dryer.

Here is a picture of our living room. Notice all the plants, it's basically a jungle.

 And our kitchen is so huge.

And what apartment would be complete without a Hello Kitty shower Curtain

 And just for fun, here is a picture of me and my boyfriend, Chris, on a hike. He's pretty much amazing.