day 3 of cancun honeymoon...

on day 3 we decided to get out and go see one of the mayan ruins that was near us... so we got on a tour bus and headed for chichen itza... as our tour guide stated several times... its not chicken pizza... its chichen itza.. ha! we got up bright and early like 6 am grabbed some breakfast to take with us and waited for the bus to pick us up.  once on the bus we drove for an hour and a half till we reached this natural sink hole in the middle of some mayan village... people could jump into it if they wanted... the sink hole was like 20 meters down and then the water was 12 meters deep... i think... ??  but anyway you can walk 112 steps to get to the bottom... it was really pretty.  we didn't swim... it looked like a bath with 200 people in it... then we shopped a little... chris saw this really neat chess set that was like 80 bucks... but we decided to wait and get something at chichen itza instead... but i did buy a really pretty green necklace...  then we went to lunch at some buffet place where all the tour buses go... it was ok... chris didn't care... he was hungry and had seconds.. haha.. typical...

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i was really excited once re arrived to the ruins... they are sooooo neat!! sadly 4 years ago they decided you aren't allowed to climb up the steps anymore.  apparently its the new 7th wonder of the world.  but there we some really neat things about it... the place was huge with the temple itself being this giant calendar... 91 steps on each side (equaling 4x91=364) plus the big step on top made 365 for the days in a year... it also has this crazy snake shadow that appears ONLY on march 21st and september 21st... how did they know that stuff?? crazy!  but they also did a lot of really weird stuff.  they were required to sacrifice their first born baby... and throw them into this other sink hole filled with holy water... they say they sacrificed 400 babies a day! and they also made daily slave sacrifices on top of the sacrifice tower which was across from the temple..  they say the sacred sink hole is filled with like 9 meters of bones... creepy!! when we were visiting the sports arena there was this tiny mayan woman waling around selling little hankie... hand stitched... but i could not believe how tiny she was!! she is in the picture above... i am 5'2 and she barely comes to my shoulder... she was under 4 foot! so i bought 2 from her just cause she was so cute! 

the sports arena was way neat... it was built like a natural amphitheater... you could hear the other side talking and it was really far away!! 

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by the end of the day we were super hot and sweaty and tired... we slept a lot of the bus ride home... and then once we got back he got ready and went to dinner... we went back to the fancy shangri-la... this time was terrible!! our waiter was sooo scatter brained! he forgot to get our drinks and then didn't bring the bread... and at the end he asked if we wanted dessert... we said yes, he took my plate... and walked away... not taking our dessert orders... and then never came back! haha needless to say we didn't leave a tip that night... and didn't really feel bad about it considering he had totally forgotten us... we had no problem falling asleep after the longest day and longest dinner....

cancun honeymoon.. day 1 and 2

chris and i had to wait to go on a honeymoon since he was already in school when we got married... so we decided to go for his spring break instead... which happened last week!! so on saturday.. very early in the morning we got up and went to the airport.  our first stop was to the LA airport.. we hung out for maybe 3 hours had something to eat and then boarded our plane headed to MEXICO!!! the plane trip was fine.. it was about 4.5 hours and fairly smooth.  once we landed and made it through customs (which was WAY easier and faster than i expected) we grabbed our bags and headed out of the airport.  after being solicited by several people wanting to give us rides, we found the ones we had actually already paid.  Once we got to the hotel and checked in we were off and exploring.  our room was awesome! on the top floor (6th) with an ocean view and balcony... and a giant bathtub/jacuzzi... they had rose pedals all over the room and a fruit plate.  outside they were having a bbq by the pool which we enjoyed and then walked on the beach.

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 the next day we decided we just wanted to be on the beach all day.  we slept in... had breakfast... and then went to the beach... which only took 20 steps to reach.  it was BEAUTIFUL and had turquoise water!! it was clear and warm water. amazing! being a natural red head with freckles a white white skin... i am also the sunscreen police.  immediately i made chris put it on... which he strongly protested but i didn't want to get burned and be miserable especially on the first day... besides... skin cancer is not cool.  then we just sat and read for hours and hours with breaks in between to jump in the ocean and play in the waves for a while. that night we had dinner at the fancy restaurant Shangri La.  it was the kind of place that you really only know what half of the menu is... so you stick with things you know... like beef.. or chicken leg... we also had really good desserts like the creme brule and some apple thing. that night we went on a really long walk on the beach to check out the hotels near us... we even went up and walked around their pools... we ultimately decided we liked ours best! but really it was a good day!  the next day we basically did the same thing.  all day on the beach with a quick trip to the other hotel... it was one of those sneaky timeshare speeches where they say its for a club thing and we will give you t-shirts and 1000 pesos to use at the hotel spa... so we went and listened to the speech.. they took us around the big hotel that is sisters with ours and then at the end we spoke to the sales manager... some creepy lady with BAD bleach blonde hair and who has been smoking since she was 10... bad HUGE teeth and creepy dirty finger nails.. she had some crazy accent like from the south... and she spoke real loud and with a drawl said "oh-kay" at the end of everything.. she was a terrible sales person.. didn't even really tell us perks about it or anything just went straight to money... of course we were never going to buy a timeshare... but still... she was right in our face with her hands like she was going to almost touch us but didn't... it was torture! haha never knowing if she was really going to touch you or not... what a character... we went back to our hotel and to the beach for a while and the to dinner at the other restaurant called sumo.  it was way good! that night they had a show in their small theater that was a history of mexican dancing... it was fun with all the big mexican dresses and stomping of the shoes and yelping... chris said they sounded like the girls off of avatar.. haha... both days were amazing! cause really what beats 2 days on a beautiful beach??!!

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stay tuned for the next 5 days of the trip i'll post at  a later date.... 

murder mayhem high.. the 80's

chris and i were invited to a murder mystery party that took place at "mayhem high"  the setting was prom night and was to take place in the 80's.. so chris and i headed over to savers thrift store where we found his suit which was way too short on the legs, but perfect... and some shoes to make it look like michael jackson... and t=i found 2 dresses that i combined into one for a little material girl vibe and then found an awesome cut off jean jacket that i took the liberty of bedazzling the back with pom pon captain as that was my characher... i was the dance team captain and chris was the star quarter back... bobby backer and dolly dancer.  oh i also made our corsages out of tissue paper and hot glue and our homecoming pins as we were royalty... actually king and queen.. thats right... we won.. ahha

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chris ended up being the one who dies... the whole night was great fun as our friend tara had decorated the house with black plastic covering the walls and silver stars hanging from the ceiling and 80's music videos playing the whole time... everyone played their part and others just tried to steal your fake money the whole time, but we enjoyed ourselves.  the only bad part of the night was i had come down with a cold and my nose would not stop running... it was gross and i felt bad talking to anyone for fear of getting them sick. other than that we had a blast.... and i always love dressing up so that was awesome as well...

some personal space please...

so tonight chris and i went on what we call a "coupon date"... its where i have coupons for buy one get one meal at TGI Fridays and then i also had a coupon for $2 off each movie ticket... it was a really good night... we had a really fun time talking through dinner and laughing... one thing that i think really works in our relationship is that we are able to laugh at one another... we both have some awesome quirks and dumb things that we do... 

chris often spills food on his shirt when we go out to dinner... and then once we get to the movie and sit in a seat after 10 minutes or so i find a reason that we need to move... with out fail every time we never sit in our original seat.... well tonight was definitely a test of that quirk... 

we arrived at the movie fairly early... there were maybe 6 other people in the theater... and then about 1 minute before it started an older man... lets say 75... came in with a blonde woman who could be no older than 40.  they decided to sit on our row... there was no one else on the row and we were off to the far left side.  keep in mind this is a large-ish theater that only contained at most 10 people... but they decided to sit on our row... they entered from the right and proceeded to walk all the way over to where we were on the left and began to sit... at first the old man was going to sit one seat away from chris and then last minute moved into the seat directly next to him... but in the process of sitting he missed the seat a bit and nearly sat in chris' lap... he told me if it hadn't been for the arm rest he surely would have sat on him... hahaha... 

by now the old man is breathing heavily and chomping down on the large bag of popcorn he had purchased... at the point i leaned over to chris and asked if he wanted me to move down one seat... and he said no! if it were me we would have moved the second he sat down... but chris isn't me.... so we stayed.  to make it all better the old man occasionally would begin kissing the 40 year old woman he was with and whisper (very loudly) sweet ridiculousness in her ear... ha! luckily the movie was very good or i may have been very annoyed.  when the movie was over we stood up and quickly left the theater as the old man and blonde began to vigorously make out.... gross right?! 

more than anything i am shocked that he sat right next to us.  i think this will always bug me when a stranger sits right next to you when there are hundreds of empty seats around.... i like to cuddle and be close to those i love... but that does NOT go for strangers... i think there should always be a courtesy space of at least one.... one bathroom stall... one seat in the theater.... one seat on a bus... one grocery cart length... as long as space permits it.... i like personal space... chris is definitely better than i am. he won tonight. 

wedding bliss...

i have finally had a chance to do a little catch up on life.  between getting our apartment all settled and changing my name and everything that goes along with that and finishing projects for school on time... i feel tonight as though i may actually be caught up on life... so i decided i would blog some of my favorite memories from the wedding day and from newly wed life...

the night before the wedding chris and i and our immediate families got together at memphis bbq and had dinner. it was great fun to get together with all the families and babies and just laugh and talk and get to know one another... and the food was fabulous!!!

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i was glad to be able to go to sleep fairly early that night... i did take a shower and put my hair in pin curls so i wouldn't have to worry about curling it in the morning... really nice. my mom showed up at about 8 am to check in with me and take a few pictures of my getting myself ready... haha they are awesome pics!!

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then chris and i and my mom headed out to the temple... it was a really special moment for my mom and i to be together right before we got sealed and she helped me get dressed... it was really neat! the sealing ceremony itself was really awesome and beautiful and i was thinking the whole time... don't cry don't cry... it was like chris and i had been waiting so long to get to that moment and then it was there and i was overwhelmed... but so was chris... his eyes were a little watery... which was really touching to me since i have never seen him emotional at all... in that way.

it was fun after to get congrats and hugs and kisses including words of love and advice... judy hicks... chris' best friends mom told me i had better take good care of him... i promised i would do my best!

then leaving the temple was surreal... walking out with everyone cheering... so many people there to congratulate us including a bunch of my young women from church...

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after we took a few pics and left the temple chris and i made a stop at arby's cause i was starving and didn't know if we'd get a chance to eat at the reception... then we went to my mom's to vege out for a minute.. it was nice to sit down. i can't say i totally felt married yet but we were.. ha!

then we headed for the reception... it was beautiful!!! the whole gym looked amazing!! peacock feathers every where... purple and turquoise bows... little lights... more feathers... it turned out so beautiful and the food looked amazing!!! i never did eat any that night... but it looked amazing! along with my awesome purple cake~!! sarah prince of Sugar Prince  did an amazing job and it tasted AMAZING!!! super rich and moist and left everyone with purple lips!!

we did do a little ring ceremony before that my unlce dave did for us... he gave a few words on the importance of temple marriage and some other things and then chris' mom read some beautiful scriptures on love and then chris and i shared some words about each other that were sweet and funny... i was nervous but it worked out really well!! then we exchanged rings and kissed... it was a sweet moment for us :)

we decided that just chris and i would stand in a line to greet guests as they came in and we stood so that they would walk right into the food line.. it was fun to say hi to everyone as they came in! then we cut the cake... amanda was soooo excited for the cake she stood right by my side the whole time! it was too cute! she just wanted to be a part of it. we had a blast dancing and i surprised chris with a song. he had asked me to sing but the week of i told him it was stressing me out to think about singing... and then i got the brilliant idea to have my family join in so i wouldn't be so alone... we sang "happy together"... after we just danced the night away until chris and i decided we were ready to leave.

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we walked out to the car which had writing all over it... just married etc... and on the back they tied full cans of pop so they exploded as we drove away. on the inside there was confetti everywhere!! in the air vents so it blew in our face when we turned on the car... there were also balloons all over and other things..

then we spent the weekend at the encore which was a beautiful hotel room and awesome view on the 57th floor. the only problem i had with the room is the toilet was too tall and my feet didn't reach the floor... i also neglected to pack any shoes for the weekend so i had to wear chris' flip flops all weekend.. we were going to buy some in the souvenir shop but they were $90 for something you could buy at walmart for $5... ha! it was overall an amazing weekend!!! i'm so glad i got married and even happier i married chris.

wedding photo book

http://www.mypublisher.com/?e=OHm3Q8zJl3TyhqLlh2OUGjP_42-SW1S_&showForm=true

here was a book i created with all my favorite wedding photos that my cousin (and AMAZING photographer) took for me.  Jennie Slade Photography http://www.jennieslade.com/index2.php#/home/

my husband likes stitches...

i keep meaning to write about the wedding, but i have been super busy this week and have a project due for school at midnight tonight... but i had to blog about last night so i dont forget... it was bizarre to say the least.

in the past chris has gotten many... and i mean many stitches on his face... all acquired as an adult... he dove into some rocks at lake tahoe and then split his chin sledding... well tonight's adventure started with a basketball game.  chris and a couple friends from the dental school signed up for intermural basketball out at unlv main campus.  it started last night.  the game was supposed to be from 8:30-9:30.  i stayed home to get things done, but at about 8:50 chris called to say he was on his way home... and needed to get some stitches over his left eye... what?? apparently with in the first minute of the game... and i mean minute... some guy on the other team rammed into him with his head... so head to head and chris' exploded.  split right open a gash about an inch long and in the shape of a y.  bled a lot... needless to say the game was over for him.  

i called my mom to find out where to go... but she was too asleep to totally comprehend what i was asking (she goes to bed at 8pm)  but she did say to call my uncle david who is the family doctor... his phone was off... so i texted my aunt joan and she said to try an urgent care by our house... chris got home and we left... the saddest thing that happened when we left was i left my coat on the couch... meaning i froze the rest of the night... it was only 30 degrees outside... which is too cold for me and the sweater i was wearing.  we got to the first urgent care center at 9:30.... after waiting in line for a while... we find out our insurance isn't accepted there and it would be $600... so we left and decided to try umc quick care... so we headed for the ghetto... which was the closest location to us... and realized we badly needed gas... stopped at one place and eventually realized they had no gas.. just weirdos gambling inside... and then the second one was full of people getting off the bus.. chris ran in to pay and i stayed in the car... freaked out of course cause i'm afraid of the dark... especially in the ghetto... we got gas and drove to the quick care... which was shut down... not in operation.  awesome right? so we decided instead of driving forever to find another one we went back to our neighborhood to go to umc emergency room... 

we got there at 10:30 pm.  signed in and got initially checked out... by 11:45 nothing had happened except that we were surrounded by homeless and scary drunks... and random people who had a cold just hanging out... it was bizarre... and people were mad and yelling... or just plain crazy.  the place was packed!  but at 11:45 a nurse came out and told us we could go to the trauma center and they would treat us... yay! she asked if we had been waiting long and i was like yeah since 10:30 tonight... she laughed and said people had been waiting there since 10 am... oh.. woops then no it wasn't that long.  in the trauma center they took chris right back...and i had to wait in the waiting area with the security guards... they were funny teasing me about beating my husband and said next time because of his size i need to use an iron skillet and hit him when he's asleep.. i laughed and said i hoped we hadn't gotten to that point in our marriage yet considering we had been married like 2 weeks.. ha!  i then sat there and watched the history channel that was all about how greek gods... from the iliad and odessy were actually aliens... and that they had spacecrafts and motherships... it was bizarre... it even said that enoch from the old testament was an extraterestial... because god took him away in a chariot of fire.. meaning a spaceship!!! awesome right?  

chris badly wanted to take a picture of the wound before stitches but they wouldn't let him use his phone in the trauma center... but she told him he could go to the bathroom ;)  so he took this picture:

the cut took 9 stitches.  there were other people in the trauma as well... one guy who was drunk on his motorcycle and crashed... he left in handcuffs with a cop... and another guy who was smoking hooka with his wife and got dizzy and fell in hit his head on a coffee table splitting his forehead and chin... ha!  the whole ordeal was definitely an adventure and bizarre night... we left the hospital at about 1:20 am... i was freezing and when we got home chris showered and went right to bed... i of course could not go to sleep i was wired and freezing so i stayed up till 3 am relaxing and warming up while reading a book... i didn't get to sleep-in much either as my mom called at 8 am to get the full report of the night... ha! my accident prone man... now he will have another scar on his face and make his stitches count on his face over 30... go chris!