San Diego, Carnival Cruise, Santa Monica, and Six Flags Vacation

This post has taken a few weeks to get up but better late than never. In September, Jon and I went on a Carnival cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada Mexico. This trip was to celebrate both of our birthdays as well as a graduation trip for me.

The trip was awesome and was definitely needed. We didn't go during the summer because I had to finish up a class at the U and Jon didn't have vacation time because he switched jobs in April. We ran into a few complications on this trip. It all began when we woke up for our 7:20am flight at around 6:00am. Our alarm didn't go off and luckily I just woke up and looked at the clock. The day before we left, the alternator in Jon's car went out and he didn't get home until 9:00pm. We didn't start packing until at least 10:00pm and went to bed really late with a list of things to do when we woke up a few hours later. When we woke up late, we threw together everything (forgetting several things including Jon's phone charger) and headed to my Grandma Hutchins' house who was taking us to the airport.

We were checking a bag and the rule is you have to get to the airport and check your bag at least 40 minutes before boarding. We made it by a couple of minutes. After arriving at LAX, we rented a car and went to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Hogle who live in San Diego. We had a lovely dinner with my grandparents and my Uncle Mike and Aunt Tracy which included my grandma's famous lemon meringue pie. The next day we took our car back to the airport to catch the Carnival shuttle, which we couldn't find. We were worried we would miss the boat and customer service was no help so we took a taxi (an extra $70 and we didn't a get the $60 shuttle fair refunded) but we made it. Luckily, the cruise from then on was smooth sailing! (See what I did there... )

You are not supposed to take photos on the loading ramp but we are rebels :)

The food was good and every night there was one appetizer that was exotic and Jon got it each night (with the exception of snails). He tried rabbit, frog legs, and alligator which are featured below. I wouldn't even try it but it's cool that Jon had the opportunity. One thing that was cool about our cruise was you could order as many appetizers/entrees/sides/deserts as you wanted. My favorite dessert was the fruit and cheese plate and the chocolate lava cake. They had the best pumpkin soup ever.

On our cruise we got a couples massage and I got a bamboo massage. Jon won a $100 massage gift card on the first day from a drawing. The entertainment was good and we went to a show called Diva's and another one that was similar to Rock of Ages. We went to the comedy shows a few times and sat by the pool. In Catalina we rented a golf cart and drove around the island which was super fun. We got some really cool pictures from that trip.

Then we went snorkeling at Lover's Cove. I wish I had more photos of that but we didn't want to bring our phones and leave them unattended. We got wet suits and fins and gear. There were a ton of fish and you could reach out and touch them. I was really scared to go under the water because I've been really bad at snorkeling in the past. When I got up the nerve to finally put my face in the water, I looked down and saw this massive school of fish which freaked me out and I might have screamed a little. Once I realized that was what was supposed to be happening, I was fine but it really surprised me. Our tour guide was really cool and he even fed the fish so we could see them up close.

In Ensenada, we went on a tour of a dairy farm and got to have lunch and a cheese tasting.

It was pretty far from the boat and we got to see a lot of Ensenada. It's sad to see all of the poverty and trash in Ensenada. To get to the dairy, we had to go through a stop of the Mexican military where they checked our bus. They had some pretty serious guns. That was kind of scary but the tour was cool and lunch was good. We went shopping after our excursion in Ensenada and I bought a necklace and earrings that are turquoise. The earrings are shaped like hearts. The negotiating is pretty funny in Mexico. "I will give you this for $75" and my response was:
"I can't afford this because I only want to spend $5"
"okay, okay how about $30?"
"how about $5?"
"$20?"
"No, that's okay, I don't really want it"
"$10?"
"Ok, fine $10"
I really wasn't super interested but for the necklace and earrings I ended up spending around $25 which was good enough for me.

We took a taxi back to the boat after buying an interesting soda from a 711.

Our cruise was fun and I want to go on another one, maybe to the Bahama's this time but I would like to try another cruise line. Here are some photos of our room. We had two portholes.

When we got off the boat, we got another rental car and stayed at a really fancy hotel in Santa Monica.

We walked to the beach, built a sand castle and played in the ocean. We found Santa Monica towels at a Walgreen's which made a pretty inexpensive souvenir.

We had food delivered from a local pizza place and I started feeling sick (with cold symptoms). The next morning before we left, we drove tot he Santa Monica pier and walked around. We sat at the end of the pier and watched people fish for awhile. We saw dolphins and this really funny duck that kept trying to steal the fish that this fisherman was using for bait.

We drove to Santa Clarita to a Marriot Residence in that I used Priceline to "Name My Own Price" on. We stayed the night and went to Six Flags Magic Mountain the next day. When booking our flights, I accidentally booked Jon to come home at 5:30pm on Saturday and for me to come home at 5:30pm on Sunday. So Jon took a shuttle at around 1:30pm from Magic Mountain back to the hotel and then caught a Supershuttle to the airport. I stayed the rest of the day by myself (Jon hates roller coasters so he probably didn't mind too much) and got to go on all the rides Jon didn't want to go on. I got a pickle because that is my favorite thing to get at theme parks.

Then I spent the night by myself and took the car back to the rental company the next day (which we were nervous about since I wasn't an authorized user on the car-being under 25). But it all turned out fine.

 

I met up with my cousin Tyler who I grew up with who recently moved to Santa Monica and we had lunch at a fancy restaurant near the beach. Then I took the car back and caught my airplane.

Then I was supposed to start my full time job the week I came home but by this point, my cold hit hard and I took a whole week off of work to just stay home sick. I ended up getting Jon sick too and he is still recovering.

This is a funny photo of all of the newspapers I had to deal with when I got home.

 I've since started my full time job (today is day 1 of my second week). I'm adjusting to having less time but it's also nice to be at work every day and know what's going on. Life is good.

 Already starting to plan my next vacation. I have a friend who is going to Hawaii in December and I'm seriously considering tagging along.

We also started construction on our yard the week we came back from our cruise. You'll have to stay tuned for the after photo but here is the before and the current photo. When it's all done there will be new sprinklers, sod and a fire pit.

 Before

For right now...

Thanks for reading!
~T

FHE: Goal Posters

In Mary Kay we are advised to make a goal poster that helps remind you what you want to achieve. You hang it somewhere that you will see often as a constant reminder of what you should be working on. For family home evening we each made personal posters as well as a family poster together.

Jon's:

Jon explains,"I don't like paying full price for anything so that... it's pretty self explanatory. I can't forget to sleep. There is an aquarium and a seal and lots of adventurous things. Maybe going back to school. There is a thing that says protect my family so I have to do that and stuff ya know (in a very manly voice)."

Tiffany's: 

This is mine. I want to have a family and be a Mom. I want a cute new Mary Kay red jacket. I want to have adventures and get my bachelors degree. I want to do more with my massage profession. I want to lose weight and strengthen my friendships. And finally I want to have inner peace and be happy :D But there is a big hole in the middle which gives me room to dream.

Family:

As a family we want to eat healthy, have a cute little family including kids, savings, have good health, and own a home with a dishwasher. Might I add a home with love (it's hard to see in the picture). There are two young men who are missionaries for our church and we want all of our sons to go on missions. We want to have a Christ centered home and to serve others.

And here they are featured on our wall. Cute huh?

Baby Quilt

It's been a long time since I have sewn and I actually started this awhile ago but I finally finished it today (adding the edging and fixing a few mistakes). It wasn't going to be a baby blanket originally but that sure does seem like what it's turned into. I wish I knew someone who was having a baby boy to give it to. All my pregnant friends are having girls.

This quilt is made out flannel and has flannel for the batting. The edging is made out of cotton.

 Front 

Back

Up Close

Why Jon needed stitches

Just when I was about to give up on blogging because I thought our life was too boring, something exciting happens to stir things up. Unfortunately it wasn't good exciting, but quite the opposite. Warning: You will see some gross pictures so if you don't like gore, gross things or blood, don't continue reading... :)

It all started last night, unlikely enough, as we were about to go to bed. I was in the bathroom taking off my makeup and my sweet Jon was making the bed up so we could turn in for the night. I heard a crash and ran into our room. Jon had flipped the sheet up and it caught on our light fixture above our bed. He then pulled the sheet down which broke the glass and then that proceeded to fall on top of him, cutting his arm. As he tells it, there was then a ninja riding a horse, riding a dinosaur that came in trying to attack and he was actually cut in the process of defending my honor but I don't remember that part. It's funny how people remember things differently.

Well anyway, when I walked in the room I saw this

Jon was very tough! He said it didn't even hurt but I was a wreck. He wasn't crying but I was haha. I can only imagine how I would have reacted if it had of been my kid! But anyway, my first aid certification kicked in and told me to have him apply pressure and get him to the Dr. so that is what we did. I took him to the Emergency room because that is the only place that can help you with this kind of thing at 11:00 pm. We were at the hospital until around 1:45 AM even though it was slow. He even got a cool wristband thing.

The Doctor (who was also named Jon), was very friendly and told us we did the right thing coming to the hospital because the glass had actually cut through Jon's muscle. Plus this way it's way less likely to get infected. Then the Dr. checked for any remaining glass but wasn't positive he got it all so he also had an Xray which turned out clean. Jon got 1 stitch on the inside to repair the muscle and then 5 to close the skin. They fixed him up nice and pretty!

He got a sweet purple bandage and everything was ok

Until.....................................................

We discovered that even with insurance our copay was still $200! How do people afford to get sick?

And then we went home to clean up all of the broken glass and found the piece that stabbed my hubby!

And we cleaned up all the glass and went to bed.

Dinner Last Night

We used our George Foreman grill tonight for the first time to make breaded Parmesan chicken (which ended up looking a lot like chicken nuggets), and breaded grilled veggies. The chicken was super frozen and we didn't want to thaw the whole package so Jon went at it with a hammer and a knife. Although slightly dangerous, it was very effective. The food was ok but the ratio of unhealthiness to taste wasn't worth making them (at least the way we did) again.

I also made some of the grossest deviled eggs ever, which I took no pictures of. They didn't look much better then they tasted. First off, they are way better with mayo (I used miracle whip), and second I used spicy brown mustard and I think too much of it, plus we don't own paprika. We have this whole cool spice rack thing, but no paprika. Haha so that was my experience with that. New wives are supposed to have a few bad meals right? I am pretty lucky. I have a very understanding husband and patient husband. He is very sweet about my cooking, even when I know it is not very good :D

Wedding sign

We got this sign from my Mom as a wedding gift.
It is pretty cool.

Honeymoon Pics!

Mr Davis and myself enjoyed a wonderful honeymoon at Lava Hot Springs in Idaho. We didn't take a lot of pictures but here are the few we did take:

Our cute bridesmaids and groomsmen decorated our car and here a few pictures I snapped on the drive to Idaho! When we had been at our hotel for a few days, the lady who worked at the desk asked us if we were the newly wed couple. We asked how she knew and she told us she had seen our car :D

We saw this cool mountain on the way to lava with snow that looks like a heart :D

This was our gourmet dinner that we ordered the night of our honeymoon. Fancy table cloths and sparkling cider in wine glasses with our pizza. And look how cute the little chocolate covered strawberries are with the tuxedos!

 We were able to visit the Idaho Falls temple on our honeymoon. It was beautiful!