Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2005 May

We've had a good few days playing video games with the boys and "cleaning" Jamie's scrapbook room. I'm glad we found an apt. so we could relax and have a little fun. We're leaving in 1 1/2 hours for even more relaxation and fun! Yay!

I have about a million things to say about our wonderful trip. I even made a list so I could remember everything.

First of all, our free "obstructed" balcony was wonderful. There wasn't anything in the way of the view. It was wonderful to wake up to the sun rising, and to read out on our balcony, watch the ship come into the port- I'm so spoiled!

On Monday we changed clothes seven times- I counted. We worked out in the gym, went in the spa, sat out in the sun. Tuesday we went to one of the shows, with a swing singer and a few dance numbers. We also went to an art auction, the first of three we attended, to get the free seriographs they were handing out after. We now have three nice pieces of art, each of which at least one of us likes.

Wednesday we were in Puerto Vallarta. We went shopping, then went on a "jungle tour" to Mismaloya. We went on a hike in the jungle and swam in a natural pool with some fishies. I got lots of mosquito bites. We saw baby pineapple, a gum tree, tons of mango trees (these were all over in rural Mexico) and bamboo. We saw an iguana from the bus on a tree in the city. By the way, 100% of the tequila in the world is made in this state. That night a local mariachi band came onboard and played, and there were also dancers. It was a pretty good show.

Thursday we were in Mazatlan. For all the hype, I didn't think the shopping was that good. Of course, that was the day John got sick, and we didn't have a lot of time to shop anyway. We went on a seven hour bus tour to some tiny villages in the Sierra Madre. We got to watch people making brickes, baskets, and really nice wood furniture. Lunch at a Mexican restaurant was included. There was really yummy coconut banana cream pie.

Friday was the best day. In Cabo San Lucas, we ended up going on a boat tour and to a beach club, which we hadn't planned before. The boat tour went around the arches, and the sea lion rocks at the very tip of Baja California. The sun was just coming up and it was beautiful. Then we went to a private beach club and spent a few hours playing around in the beautiful, warm, clear water. I saw a school of fish swim by. I found three pieces of sea glass. We met a couple there from Tehachapi named John and Susie and, even weirder, they were the only other people we met on the cruise that didn't drink. After the beach we got dropped off downtown and walked back to the port, shopping along the way.

The only thing we really bought the whole time was a yellow bowl with chillis painted on it. One of the free things I got was a silver Aztec calendar charm that I can put on my charm bracelet. I also got a free sapphire and a cheap gold charm bracelet- you could get a different charm at each port.

Saturday we mostly just lay around watching movies so John could feel better. Poor thing had a really bad fever for a few days, so we got lots of sleep. One thing I was disappointed in was the food on the ship. I guess I'm just not a fancy food person.

Part of my job is sending "no thankyous" to people who applied for jobs with us. My latest batch is in Texas, and I've decided that Texas has the fruffiest street and city names ever. Friendswood? Sparkling Water? Sugar Land? Misty Lake? I never knew there were so many forests and springs in Houston.

I also had someone who spelled his name wrong at the top of his resume- with three Ls.

I didn't realize it was Friday the 13th until I read an email from Kathy, who was scheduling something. So Happy Friday, which happens to be May 13th.

May is a great month. I feel like I missed part of May, maybe because I wasn't paying attention to the dates on our cruise. Well, back to work.

John made Matzo soup for dinner. Yummy! He's so good.

The thought that we may be moving in as soon as 6 weeks is kind of freaking me out. I guess I should get back to getting rid of stuff then.

I've only been at work five minutes and we've already had an adventure. Hugo killed a giant spider for me. Don't worry, this isn't a QA problem (they just sprayed a few days ago). We have three sets of emergency doors leading out of our office, and the bugs come in from outside. Yuck. Good thing Hugo was here to save me.

Tomorrow morning we are going to Moab with Jodi and Franco. I'm excited to go hiking, eat s'mores, and also to take pictures so we can get our film developed!

Linda brought in The Notebook for John and I to borrow. Now that it comes to it, I realize that I've read this book, but I'm not sure where or when. I can only vaguely remember it, but I don't think it was a long time ago, so I think it might have been something I read at my night job. Don't worry, I won't ruin it for John.

While I was looking up Romania on the Atlas, to see where Odesa was for Rachel, I noticed that all of the city names used Romanian letters and were spelled in Romanian, except for Bucharest (Bucharesti- with a little comma on the t). Weird.

We had a great time this weekend, hiking Arches. I think it's so awesome that you can climb right up into most of the arches. I especially enjoyed Partition Arch, Wall Arch and Private Arch (which we actually got to have for ourselves for a while). Even though I'm not that fit, we probably hiked about 15 miles and I'm hardly sore at all- my body is just exhausted. As John said, this is a good reminder to do fun things before we have kids. We should go camping again.

Today was a very busy day at work. I had lots of projects I had put off so I could do them today while everyone was gone. I didn't quite get caught up, but I did get a lot done, including a bit of training for the receptionist so she can take over some of my work for the travel dept.

Also: I recently sent a letter at work to someone who had "Ass. Manager" listed on her resume.

I'm excited to move, and especially to have a piano in our apartment! Maybe I will become good at it again. I'm also excited to be close to my mommy. We'll come help you in the yard!

I love three-day weekends! Not only do you get a three-day weekend, but when you go back to work, you only have to work four days!

We spent Friday night up at John's parents' house. We saw Brynn and Kristen sing and dance on Friday night, and James, Hannah and Ashley dance on Saturday. Ashley teaches a class for little kids. Hannah was cute in her little pink tutu. This was at the mall during a "Children's Fair" so there were all kinds of booths there, including one from the zoo. They had a ferret, a parrot, a snake and a skunk. Hannah was more afraid of Spiderman than of the animals. The ferret was pretty dang cute.

Sunday we hung out with Tyler and Tasha, our next-door neighbors. We had dinner, played Racko and watched The Phone Call. Then yesterday there was a huge thunderstorm most of the morning. Since going to the cabin wasn't a possibility, everyone else wanted to stay home, but John and I said we were going to visit Grandma still, so we all ended up going to lunch with her. Then we went to see Robots at the dollar theatre. John and I (and Logan and Ember) went to get the tickets and save seats. Ember almost cried when I made her sit in a row by herself (she also had refused to dance in the mall on Saturday). The movie was worth a dollar.

We dropped by the Provo Cemetary, having already missed the Whitneys. Then we watched scrapbooked some more. Our cruise pictures are nearly done, but we haven't started our trip to Moab yet. Or Christmas or Easter....

The other day I saw a billboard that said “Getting to hot? 555-COOL”.

Also, when John and I were driving back to Provo, we saw lots of hangliders near The Point of the Mountain- I counted 22. The sun was just setting- it was really cool.