Cruise.. Finally!!

So I know it has been over a month since our cruise but better late then never, right? Seriously this cruise was my dream vacation. The weather was awesome, so much rest and relaxation, and SO much food. I want to go back!

Taking off with the Bennionsfirst stop: Grand Cayman Island. found the best deal out to sting ray city. Our husbands are shameless bargainers. Standing in front of about 30 island people all trying to get us to come on their sting ray tour and buddy yells : CAN ANYONE BEAT $25? of course one woman could/would and everyone else was ticked... Here we are getting ready to take off from the harbor.Jen and Bud. Great great traveling friends.Can you beleive the color of the water? I was in awe the whole time.
Sting Ray City

Seven years good luck for kissing a sting ray! These pics were taken on a water proof disposable camera. I was pretty pleased with how they turned out BFF's
We stopped at a beach on our way back to the cruise ship. Does this picture look familiar? (refer back to the last post) ..... So nice Hondoras!!! Despite the hoards of people attacking us, the chain link fence, the little kids begging for money, and the many guards supervising, hondoras was beautiful!

Carlos... Our dependable driver. It took us a while to get to the beach but we finally made it. Oh Gary, we liked you so much more before we actually met you Beliz City. It was rainy and drab the day we were there so we decided to forgo the beach and see the city. Parker and Henry.We went on a horse-buggy ride around the city.oh don't worry, thats just some people breaking into a car in the middle of the day..A little tienda we stopped at to get treats.Our driver, Ryan. He loves Obama. He also likes to play basketball and smoke pot. ONe of the days at sea we went on a tour of the kitchen which was actaully really cool because it is HUGE... but this was my favorite picture from the tour...like seriously who makes this? we really dressed up for formal night...
mmmm... drinking our well earned pina colada's on deck. :)

Last stop: Cozumel Mexico.We cruised arouned the entire island on this little scooter. One of the highlights of the trip: watching buddy trying to get on this floating platform. He literally tried for 10 minutes. of course parker didn't help.Jenny's cute baby belly.Pretty rocks that water would splash up against and come up through little holes in the rock.
George and BANCHA!!! the best waiters on the cruise.mmm... the sushi bar you could find me at almost every night.
The mini golf course we played at least 5 times.

Shuffle board at dusk...

The cruise was amazing. It was absolutely ideal. So fun. So beautiful. Such a great time. It is amazing to see different places on this earth and how beautiful and diverse different places are. I love the desert and the mountains but I think the carribean takes the cake!

cruise to the carrib

so we are heading out on sunday to the carribean for a whole 7 nights! I seriously can't wait. I haven't ever been on a cruise so I'm a little nervous of getting sick, besides the fact that there very well may be numerous hurricanes down there with us... we are stopping in beliz, cozumel, grand cayman, and roatan islands. I love anticipating a trip almost as much as I love going on it so this week I have been trying to research things to do/pack/wear. Have any of you been on cruises? What did you wish you would/wouldn't have done/had/couldn't have lived without?

I want this to be me... (isn't there something funny about this picture? it makes me laugh).

Mabey Farm

I've been in the davidson family for more than a year and half and still hadn't been over the mabey farm yet. Mark mabey is married to park's sister jen, and it was pretty much a crime that I hadn't been there yet. The corn fields are gorgeous and it's in the shadow of the south jordan temple. The corn is the best corn I've ever had too. It makes me want to have a farm...or a horse... or maybe just a really good garden. I don't know if I would be cut out to live on a farm. Reminds me of a book I read this summer that I absolutely loved called These Is My Words by Nancy Turner. amy gave it to me to read and it so so good. Read it...

122 days until this is for real

graduation was great. It gave me a twinge of desire to get a master's degree but not at the same time. Thank you family for coming to support me! It was a beautiful day. I love the student speaker that talked about all the hard work we have done to graduate but that sometimes it is the people around us that make bigger sacrifices than we do. Parker has put up with a lot and has given up things he wanted to do so that I can finish school and I am so grateful for that! Also my parents have been there every step of the way and been so encouraging and supportive. Thank you family. i love you. I'm almost done!

posterity

i have been working on a little project the past couple days to get a bunch of my grandma beverly's photos scanned. here are a few of my favorites.

*take more pics for your posterity

happy birthday amy

today is her golden birthday and also the day she comes home from India. can't wait to have my best friend back! happy birthday lil sis! we will celebrate when you get home!this picture cracks me up everytime.

katie + ryan

katie got married on tuesday at the draper temple. it was such a beautiful ceremony, beautiful day, beautiful bride and groom. I love going to temple weddings because I don't think I heard a thing on my wedding day...I was way too nervous and overwhelmed so going to others peoples weddings lets me here everything I missed. Ryan's grandpa preformed the marraige and it was really beautiful. katie has been one of my best friends since freshmen year. She and Ryan make a great couple. I couldn't be happier for her.claire the photographer/bridesmaid. Her pictures are much prettier than mine. Check them out at here. Claire also did my engagement photos which I love.Claire, me, Linda, Emily. We all lived on the 7th floor of Deseret Towers freshmen year, may it rest in peace.

graduation

today these roles will be reversed! my graduation is slightly premature since I still have 4 months left of school and over 200 hours of clinical left to do, but since there is no december graduation, most of my class opted to walk in graduation now. even though i won't have my diploma for a few months i am so thrilled to be almost done. i never thought this day would come. i have only ever imagined myself going to college and being a college student but never graduating. i know that may sound strange but i really never thought about the day i would be done. i went up to campus a couple of days ago and was filled with such a overwhelming sense of gratitude. as much as the nursing program and BYU alltogether has driven me crazy, i have loved my college experience. i feel so lucky, so blessed to have spent my 4 undergrad years at BYU. there is such a spirit on campus that i forget about when i leave. i think it's a spirit that comes on any college college--a spirit of learning and hard work and that feeling of being just one tiny person on a huge university campus with thousands of students, yet feeling like you have a small ownership over the campus because of all the time you have spent there and memories you have made there. i have also loved the mixing of spiritual and secular. i love sitting in anatomy or chemistry or humanities and having a professor bring up the plan of salvation or joseph smith. i love that i was never afraid in class to ask how this principle or that teaching applied against the background of the larger knowledge of the gospel. i know that i maybe didn't have some trials or "normal" college experience by being at BYU but i loved it. i loved the diversity, yes diversity, and the unity at BYU. i would never trade it.

so as thrilled as i am to be graduating, i have thoroughly loved my college education. i love school. i love learning new things. i love being scared to death on the first day of an intimindating class and then walking out of the testing center on the last day of class, knowing that i accomplished something.

i know i have been extremely blessed. i know i am going to try to do something with myself to not let it all go to waste. i am scared and excited to be a grown up although i don't know if just graduating college qualifies someone as grown up. So i just wanted to say that as i start my last semester of undergrad that i plan to take it all in and love it as much as i can because i know i am going to miss it when it's over!

i like long walks up the canyon, sushi, and sweet boys named parker

I love summer nights with nothing to do but hang with your husband

Angel's Landing

Hiked out in Zions on the 24th. Thoroughly enjoyed angel's landing with parker and melissa and an overcast day kept things bearable temperature-wise. This hike is a must-do sans small children and those afraid of heights. the view from the top is beautiful!

Pioneer Day

today

parker out of town + my day off work + access to online netflix = me watching movies all day. would recommend all three. back to work tomorow. Can't wait for this on Saturday!

10 minute top

found this tutorial a while ago...bought the fabric...didn't have anything to wear today...so I made this shirt. basically my kind of shirt...loose fitting and simple but still cute...i hope. I would make this shirt a few times over if I could find some good fabric. If you find some....make yourself a shirt!

4th

this is the only pic we took on the fourth of july. we watched the fireworks from the stadium fire on the MTC field with Brian and Ashlie. We had a great view but it took us an hour and a half to get home...an hour and a half and we live 10 minutes away. And most of that time was spent within one block of the temple. Traffic wassn't half that bad in downtown Seattle last year! But we had a great holiday up until that point. We spent the day up in South Jordan with parkers family playing tennis and bad minton, and went and saw the movie Up (the movie had me crying in the first 5 minutes... such a sweet show...would definitely recomend it). I love the fourth. I love the weather and bbq's and the fireworks and family. Next year, we will find a remote hill or mountain to watch the fireworks.