Belated Honeymoon Cruise...

Ryan and I went on our actual {belated} Honeymoon cruise during winter break.  It was fabulous and we'll definitely be cruising again in the future.

We went on the Norwegian Cruise Line and were pretty impressed.  {It was kind of fun to go on a cruise for the honeymoon because the ship reminded me of the tackiness associated with Las Vegas where we had our wedding/tiny honeymoon.} NCL has a different approach to dining that's called "freestyle" where you basically get to pick whenever and where ever you want to eat, and just make reservations in the morning.  It was very convenient to eat whenever you wanted rather than having a strict schedule.  We liked NCL a lot, but we want to try a few other lines to see what we like best.

Since we've never been on a cruise before and we wanted some fun company to join, we invited my sister and her family to come along. We're so glad they came because it made our trip much more fun and enjoyable because we got to spend our vacation/holidays with loved ones.

{Sidenote} We're also very happy with Delta Airlines.  They got us to our destinations EARLY and didn't lose our luggage.  Fantastic.  We still hate United.  My sister used them and had a few problems with them, go figure.   Word to the wise, never use United.

Our cruise left from Tampa, Florida so we flew there the night before we disembarked.  Maggiano's happened to be in Tampa so of course we made an appearance there for some yummy dinner.

The boat had "very rough" sea conditions with 12-16 ft wave swells...and you could definitely feel the boat swaying back and forth, but luckily I didn't get sea sick.  We didn't have much to do on the first two days at sea because it was stormy and cold leading us to become pretty worried about what the trip was going to be like in the Caribbean cities we were scheduled to port in, but the sunshine decided to come out in Honduras, which was our first stop.

Holiday Cheer

We bought our very first REAL Christmas tree.  Isn't it just charming?

We also went to Temple Square with the family.  We decided to ride using Utah's public transit system: Tracks...it was pretty fun.  Although it was an extremely frigid night {of course, the only cold night Utah's had this entire season} we still had a blast and Asher LOVED all the bright lights.

Oh, and since we are going to be in Belize over Christmas, we went to Five Alls for 'Christmas' dinner and opened presents early afterwards!  Ryan got me my 1st nice pair of sunglasses {my favorite Ray Bans} and I got a fondue pot and make up from the family.  Ryan only wanted new workout attire so that's what I got him.  Also, since I graduated, my parents got me an awesome new camera lens.  Thank you for all the wonderful gifts!!

Senior Thesis

Well, my years at BYU have come to a culmination with my most important Art History class: Senior Thesis.  It's pretty much where I have to re-research and re-write an existing paper I've written and it's a nightmare and just a taste of what I'll have to do when/if I go to grad school one day.

The class is finally done and I formally presented my paper in front of a panel of teachers today with a rigorous Q&A afterwards where I had to defend my arguments.  One of my favorite teachers was there, but she is also a specialist in my area of research so I was scared stiff with some of her questions.  I was literally sweating bullets with nervousness.

I guess we'll see if I passed in a few weeks when grades are posted...wish me luck!

HallOwEeN

Our Halloween was simple but fun!  We went over to our friends the Bye's house to celebrate at a costume party.  We went as the Burger King and Wendy's.  I wish we had pictures....

We also had Paige and Eric over for pumpkin carving.  Asher ended up eating the pumpkin guts.

Hawaiian Wedding

Ryan's best friend just got married in Hawaii.  I wish I could have gone, but I know that Ryan had a blast and we're so happy for Kaimi and Kiira. We can't wait to go visit them in Hawaii this summer!

Home Sweet Home in Orem

I came back to Utah 2.5 weeks earlier than Ryan and it's been so hard not getting to see him for this extended length of time.  Originally, we were both going to stay out there until the weekend before school started, but then we realized that we had zero furniture and had WAY too much stuff to cram into one weekend.

So far, I've moved everything over to our new little basement apartment in Orem.  I really like the location because we're close enough to campus to get there quickly, but far enough away from all the crazy and loud single students {there are many benefits to BYU married student life}.  We're only paying $595 with a washer and dryer which is a steal of a deal.

I've cleaned EVERY inch of the apartment including the walls.  I'm a {little} OCD when it comes to cleanliness, but I suppose there are worst things in life to be OCD about.  I've even re-finished the kitchen cabinets so they look brand new too.

We didn't have any furniture so I've been bargain hunting all over DI, craigslist, and KSL, as well as my parent's house.  So far, I've gotten an awesome orange chair, dresser, coffee table, kitchen table/chairs, sofa table, and buffet.  They are all in pretty rough condition so I'm currently in the process of refinishing and painting all those items too.  But for getting all those things for $50 is pretty incredible and I can definitely devote some time and a little TLC into making them look decent and hopefully cute.  {I hate living in college student hodge podges that are tacky and don't match...I can't wait for the day we're not on the college student budget}.

Adios Philly

It has been a very bittersweet summer for us and I'm emotionally torn at the moment because I have a love hate relationship with this summer in Philadelphia.  We are both so completely and utterly ready to go back out west, but we are so sad to leave behind our first little {humble} home and friends.

I hated Philly because I never got to see my newly-wed husband and because I was far away from my family and friends {I actually missed Utah}.  I didn't have anything to occupy my time and I was home alone 90% of the summer, so I was miserably lonely and bored.

On the other hand, Philly was the best thing that happened to us.  Our relationship blossomed and grew so strong because of the very challenging obstacles that came our way.  We also met new friends and grew to love them dearly. 

Before we ended our Philly summer, we added a few more adventures to our list of {fond} memories.  Here are a few highlights:

Valley Forge 

Valley Forge was literally right around the corner from us so we spent some time wandering around and learning different Revolutionary War factoids.  We took more pictures, but of course they are gone, and this is the only one that survived...

New York 

Deep Sea Fishing in Jersey

The Evergreen Crew

Of course, I have zero luck in the fishing department, but Ryan caught a huge blue fish!