Thanksgiving 2007

I know that it has been a little too long since my last update. I'm sorry. Things have been kinda crazy lately. Not bad crazy but just a lot going on.

So back to things at hand...Thanksgiving!!! This year was a little...lot...different for me. In years past here is how my Thanksgiving has gone...first I wake up on Thanksgiving morning and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. At about one or two o'clock we sit down for Turkey, dressing, green bean cassarole, yams, cranberries, etc. The rest of the day is spent watching Christmas movies and snacking on leftovers.
This year however was spend on a cruise to Panama, Costa Rica, and Belize!!! Mark and I joined his mom and stepdad and grandparents and so forth on a cruise! It was so much fun!! The cruise started on the 15th and went until the 23rd of November. Mark and I decided on the 14th that instead of taking Bailey and Roxie to the kennel where they were going to have to stay for like ten days and Mark and I didn't really feel too comfortable with leaving them there we were going to ask my brother if he wanted to earn some money and watch them. So that morning I called my parents to ask if they would be ok with it, and they were! Then I asked Eric if he wanted to and he said yes. So after Mark got home and we got done what we needed to do we loaded up the truck and headed down to Florida.

The next day Mark and I got on a plane and headed to Fort Lauderdale to board on the Carnival Miracle!! Mark and I were the first ones from our "clan" onboard and since we couldn't get to our rooms we decided to explor the ship. It was amazing!! It was huge and gorgeous!! Unfortunately I did not take any picture of it. Not only because I didn't think about it but because I cannot find the charger to our digital camera anywhere. Anyway, that first day was pretty much just a lounge around get to know the ship day. It was nice for Mark and I cause we were exhausted. We drove 9 hours the day before, got to my parents house about 1-2 in the morning, the dogs were so excited that they did not sleep hardly at all and kept us up much of the few hours we got to sleep, then we had to catch a plane at about 655 so we were up and gone by 530-6...hence to say that Mark and I were exhausted. In fact we took a nap that afternoon once we could get into the room.

The next two days were days at sea headed to Panama!

Once we got to Panama Mark and I and his cousin Kyle prettymuch just stayed closer to the ship. We went to the shops and tried the food, which was ok I guess, and then we went back to the ship and hung out there.

The next day was a day at sea headed to Costa Rica!!!!

In Costa Rica I faced one of my fears...white water rafting!! Now if you do not know, I have a fear of drowning so something where I am in a raft going down RAPIDS is not something that I ever really saw myself doing. I was very weary and excited and unsure and...haha Ok ok I was kinda scared. BUT once we started and we hit the first small set of rapids I was having a blast!! What we went on were class 3 rapids but because of the days of rain that they had had the water was up and faster than normal. The photographer that was there told us that he would not take a cruise tour to the class fours because of it. Once we got to a slow area we had to wait for the other rafts. Ok wait, I am getting ahead of myself. When we got there they gave us helmets and life jackets to put on and then paddles. We were all split into groups of 8 and since there were 8 of us in our group anyway we were all together. It was Mark and I, Kyle (Mark's cousin), Margie and Abe (Mark's parents), Lynn and Helen (Margie's sister and her husband), and Cindy (Abe's sister), then there was our guide, whose name slips my mind at the moment, I will have to ask Mark if he remembers. So we get in the raft and the guide is going over what we need to know; where to put our feet, what to do if we flip, what to do if another boat flips, and the code words. Those were a lot of fun. If our guide was to say "Oh my god!" we were to pull our paddles in, grab the line around the raft, and lean into the raft as far as we could. If he said "Oh shit" we were to pull our paddles in and get off the side of the raft and INTO the raft...IN A HURRY cause we were about to hit something. Initially I thought that we were not going to hear those very often and I really just wanted to hear each command atleast once. Oh we heard them a lot!! Not long into our journey we heard "Oh my god!" and as I am leaning in hanging on for my life I see this wall of water. Yeah we hit it. So after that we hear "Paddle" so we are paddling again and we are going. After going a bit, and doing very well might I add, we hear the command for "it's a big one!" and we all get down into the raft and immediately after we hear "Paddle hard!" So as rough as it was, and it was really rough for me cause I kept sliding around and back into the raft (lol), it is a good thing that we did because there was prettymuch a drop! I don't even know how far but let's put it this way, we were ALL UNDER WATER!! Probably something like a 5 ft water hole. Crazy! But we came out with flying colors!! It was such a rush!!! There was a short kinda clearing after that before we get to the next set of rapids and I look back and the boat behind us had hit that same hole sideways and stopped paddling and they flipped. We have pictures of it all which I will post later, I left the CD of the pictures at my parents house in Florida. Anyway, so we had to paddle hard UP stream as best we could so that we could rescue the people from the boat that flipped. Our raft pulled two people out. The way you rescue is that the person closest to the person in the water pulls them in by the shoulders of their lifevest. I was just praying that I wasn't the one closest to the ones in the water!! haha I was thinking "I'm not strong enough!!" haha I could see me trying to pull her in and in turn falling out myself. haha Anyway so we got the two ladies, one of whom was pretty hysterical, and went through the next set of rapids until we got to another calmer spot and then met up with their raft which had been recovered and they got back in and finished. We went through other rapids and when we got to the last set we went through them BACKWARDS!! I wasn't a huge fan of going backwards cause that water is cold and when you can't see what you are hitting you can't brace for the coldness!! haha All in all it was AMAZING!!! I would so do it again!!! On the bus back to the ship our guide (not the same one from the raft) was telling us that they actually do another 3 and rafting tour!! It involves hiking and rafting and camping. That sounds like so much fun!! And that was Costa Rica!!

Next we had a day at sea headed to Belize!

In Belize Mark and I went our seperate ways. Where I had faced a fear in Costa Rica, I was NOT ready to face another one in Belize...ziplining!! No thank you. Now, I will admit that I thought about changing my ticket to ziplining but in the end decided not and...and now I am glad that I did not..haha You'll see why in a moment. So Mark went ziplining, I went cave tubing!! I went with Abe and Margie while Mark and Kyle went together. I woke up and got ready while Mark was still sleeping and I ate breakfast with Margie and then we were headed off. So I woke Mark up and kissed him goodbye and I was out. On our way to the place where we were tubing we saw a crocodile on the side of the road!! NOT DEAD! We were going to fast to get any pictures. Once we got to the tubing site we find out that before we even got to tube we had to hike for 45 minutes through the jungle. Not that I was complaining. It was gorgeous!! There were 95 species of snakes out there but only 9 were poisoness. haha Yeah that made me watch my step too. Oh!! So how about we are hiking right and it is muddy and rocky and everything, we were all wearing water shoes or Crocs (that is what I was wearing, just in case you were wondering), and our guide was BAREFOOT!! I mean of course he does that all of the time so his feet are used to it but still! But he had no problems. Another guide that was there at one point was barefoot and RUNNING. Craziness! Anyway, so we start our walk where our tubing is going to end and we have to cross the river. Here again, because of the rains that they had had the water was faster and higher than usual so we had to hold onto a rope to get across the river! Then our hike started and we hiked up and to the place where we got into our tubes. We were given little waterproof flashlights for the caves and we were on our way. Oh I forgot to mention that the water was anywhere from 1 ft to 50 ft!! But we did it!! Inside the cave the guides had us turn off our lights and it was SO dark!! You could not even see your hand right in front of your face!! But when we had our lights on I got to see BATS!!!

Once we got back to the pier Margie and Abe and I were walking around in the shops since we had a little time. I kept looking for Mark cause I knew that we were on one of the last ferries back to the ship. Oh yeah, we had to take a ferry to the pier because of the coral reef. Plus not to mention that the water is too shallow for a huge ship like that. It wasn't until we got on our ferry that we saw Mark and Kyle get on the other ferry back to the ship. So sad! But once we got back to the ship I went to the room and waited for him cause I figured that that was the best place and probably the only place that he would find me. Once he got up there we were sitting out on the balcony with Margie and Grandma Rose and all talking about our trip and come to find out that it is good that I didn't change my ticket to ziplining because they were 300-400 ft ABOVE the canopy tops of the trees!!!! That is just a little TOO high for me.

The next day was another day at sea headed for Fort Lauderdale.

Once in Fort Lauderdale Mark and I headed back to the airport and headed back to Jacksonville.

In Jacksonville we just hung out at my parents house and ate Thanksgiving dinner again, which was FABULOUS!!! And just recovered for a few days.

On Sunday Mark and I and Bailey and Roxie headed back up to Virginia so that Mark could get

back to work on Monday.

All in all we had a fabulous trip and a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Oh wait! You think that I am done but I am not. Just a couple of points...First off, Thanksgiving dinner onboard and second, Thanksgiving Day Parade.

As far as dinner went, I did have turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. The chef had taken the turkey and stuffed it with a stuffing/mashed potato/sweet potato mixture...it was so good! I also had cranberries and for desert pumpkin pie!!

And the parade, went I woke up and turned on the tv and watched some of it and then later on that day Mark and I watching Miracle on 34th Street cause they were playing that. I was excited about those!!

I do want to make one more point before I end this...there was this amazing restaurant onboard called Nick and Nora's. It cost an extra $30 a person and reservations to eat there but it is SO worth it!! I was so full!! I got the filet minon cooked medium but it came out medium rare and although I do not usually like medium rare steaks this was the best steak I think I have ever had!! It was perfect!! I just had to throw that out there. If you are ever on the Carnival Miracle, DEFINITELY make a reservation and pay the extra $30 to eat there!!

Well I will end this for now. Once Mark gets home I will see if he would like to add anything; as well as once I get my pictures from mom I will add those from our white water rafting trip.

Ciao!

The Pocono's!

Ok so I have not blogged in a bit because Mark and I were out of town...up to the mountains...with limited internet connectivity and cell phone signal...IT WAS GREAT!! I had to go to the cafe once to take some exams but other than that there was no internet.
Ok so I told Mark about the Pocono's and how I wanted to go and such and he said "ok". haha Yep, prettymuch he said ok and then put in leave at work and we went like a week later. It was so nice though!! We stayed at Ceasar's Pocono Resorts up there in the mountains. We fished and we went to Bushkill Falls (waterfalls) and just hung out. It was so fun though!! They only had one fishing pole though...lol The lady said that it was because it was the end of the season and the poles had gotten broken and such...haha But still, that's funny. So I rowed our canoe while Mark fished. I rowed good though!! We caught 4 fish...well probably more but we pulled 4 out of the water. The others bit and would let go right before mark pulled them out. We caught two large mouth bass...and two pirtch I think it was...

Oh yeah! And a Tree Fish...

haha ok so that wasn't really a fish but it was so funny. We also caught a few Lillypad Fish but I didn't get a picture of that...lol

Our Story

Well before I go on with what is going on in our lives lately let me tell you our story...

In November of 2005 I was invited to go over to a former friends house to watch a movie because he was having a friend over who had a date with him and the former friend did not want to be the 3rd wheel. I had just gotten off of work at about 10pm and I was tired and wasn't really wanting to go anywhere; however since I know what it is like to be the third wheel I decided that I would go anyway. I get to the house and walk in and there is this girl in the theatre. Her and I start small talking and such and then HE walks in. My thoughts were along the lines of "wow", "lucky", etc. I found out that his name was Mark and he was in the Navy and stationed in Virginia; however, he was from Jacksonville. I'm thinking at this point that this is a plus cause maybe that meant that he visited often. So anyway, the night goes on and we all watch 'House of Wax' and then small talk and then we all parted. Turns out that he was leaving the next day to drive back to Virginia to be back to work. Mark and his date left, as well as I, and I didn't really think too much about it afterwards; I mean after all he WAS on a date and for all I knew that was his girlfriend. Although I thought about him I didn't really think that there was anything going to come of it. Then it happened...the next day I received a message on Myspace from Mark!! Since then I guess you can say that the rest is history. Mark and I talked online and on the phone and then one day as I was getting ready to go into work I get a call from my manager...I HAD TULIPS (my favorite flower)DELIVERED TO WORK!!! At this point I still was not sure what was going on but I knew what I wanted to happen.

By this time it was almost time for Thanksgiving and Mark was coming back to Jacksonville to see me. I was SO excited! I absolutely could not wait!! When Mark got back to Jacksonville we spent all weekend together! He even came to church with me on Sunday! We had talked about me coming back to Virginia with him for a week or so but I had not brought it up to my parents or anything. So at church I talked with my parents and they were ok with it so off Mark and I went...road trip to Virginia!! For the next couple of months I spent majority of my time going back and forth to Virginia. When he could, Mark would come to Jacksonville as well.

Mark and I had been talking about marriage for a little bit and on Christmas Eve, which we were in Oklahoma visiting his family, he took me to a custom jewelry shop to pick out my ring. He had already been thinking about and looking at rings so he had an idea of what he wanted to get me. What he wound up getting me was a 1.04 karat heart shaped diamond with a pair of blue teardrop cut sapphires, one of either side of the diamond; it was all set in platinum.

Since Mark and I were not able to spend Christmas itself with each other we wanted to spend New Years so I decided that I would drive from Texas to Virginia to spend it with him. Seth, my brother, said that he would go with me seeing as though he was ready to get home anyway. Seth stayed up in Virginia until New Years Eve and then he flew to Jacksonville while I stayed. Mark and I spend New Years watching the Nightmare on Elm St. series. It was a great New Years and even more so because of the fact that it is the only one that we have spent together so far in the two years that we have been together.

Next I'll skip to January 10, 2006...Mark was at work and I was at his house waiting for him to get home when he called and said "I am on my way home. Why don't you look up City Hall and get directions and when I get home we'll go get married." I was like "Today??" haha It was so exciting though! We had talked about eloping a few times but I didn't really think too much about it. I knew that I wanted to marry him as soon as possible but I didn't really think that it would really happen. Then it did. It was wonderful not only because then was I really going to spend the rest of my life with the man that I loved so much more than I ever thought was possible but I also knew that he was going to be out to sea a lot during the year getting ready to be deployed that October. I am so glad that we did it, I would not ever change anything about it!
On August 4th, 2006 we had an actual wedding ceremony. It was beautiful and I am so glad that we did it the way that we did. Everything was perfect. Plus we now have two anniversaries each year. It came in handy this year because since Mark was deployed for our wedding anniversary in January, which would have been our one year, he actually made it home just in time for our August anniversary!!

So that is the story of Mark and I. I know that it is long, he is sitting here giving me a hard time about writing a novel, but I hope that you enjoyed it!

This pic is from Christmas '05, we were at a bowling alley with his dad and step brothers

New Years Eve '05

Wedding Day August 4th, 2006

The First of Many

Hello Friends and Family!
I have thought about doing this for quite some times but I had not actually found anywhere that I liked enough...I know, I was being picky. haha This spot looked perfect though!
Ok well I will start off now by saying that Mark and I were married on January 10, 2006 (with a ceremony on August 4, 2006...story for another time) and have been stationed in Norfolk, Virginia ever since. Since I know that many of you would love to know the story of how we met I will post that in a seperate post all itself. haha
Mark and I have two purebred bullmastiffs, Bailey and Roxie, and are looking forward to breeding them when Roxie gets a little older.
For right now Mark and I are staying in Norfolk, where he is attached to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. However, in the near future we will be transferred, most likely to Charelston, South Carolina, but nothing is set in stone yet. Mark is a nuclear mechanic on his ship and is doing a wonderful job of moving up in rank at a very good speed. He has been in the Navy for going on 6 years and has made 1st class already. For the past two years he has submitted his package to become an officer but that has not panned out for us yet. Hopefully next year!! If that happens it would be wonderful! The Navy would send him back to school to get his degree and then he would be wearing khaki's!!
The Navy is not as bad as a lot of people make it out to be...BUT in their defense, it is not for everyone. I have seen more marriages break up in the past 2 years that Mark and I have been married than I have seen in my 23 years alive. Sure we live in constant wonder of when the next underway or deployment will be and we also have to live on the spur of the moment a lot with only so much that we can plan a head of time, but it makes life interesting! It is not always fun when you hear "we're going out to sea for two weeks...and we leave day after tomorrow" but those times that he is home is so much more special!
Ok well now that I have kind of given you a glimps into our lives I hope that you will keep checking back...you never know what might happen next!