Shooting!

So this post is a little bit late! I figured now would be a great time to post because I am sitting at work and no one is calling. I decided I could probably update my blog while im sitting here for the last half hour! While Jaron and I were living in Utah we went shooting with Jennalyn and Kevin. It was so much fun, even though I don't like shooting the larger guns because the kick scares me! I know I am not tough. Maybe one day I will get used to it since I married a hunter! We shall see, and if it happens I will let you know! Oh and another thing about me shooting...I don't have that good of aim. I can not shoot a pigeon that was launched in the air and because of that Jaron (he is so nice and makes it so I have fun) places the clay pigeons on the ground on logs and at different heights and just lets me have at it. It takes a while but eventually the pigeons are destroyed! I will get better one day don't worry!

Right after we finished shooting Jaron and I headed over to the Sportsmans banquet. It was a huge surprise to me. Everyone was so into it! We ate a delicious dinner and placed our raffle tickets in the items we wanted to win.  We figured we wouldnt win but I really wanted the hot pink ugly stick (a fishing pole), camping chairs and Jaron wanted a range finder. After we ate dinner we sat and listened to the items being auctioned off.  I for one do no think getting an Elk tag is worth $18,000 that is just insane. Let's be honest what is the chance of getting an Elk? Their money not mine I guess. When the insane people were finally done throwing their money away it was time for the raffle drawings.  I didn't get my pink ugly stick but I got a super cool Cabellas camping chair.  After waiting for about thirty more minutes Jarons name was not being called at all. That was when we decided to leave. Well as we were walking out I saw another camping chair and asked Jaron if he put his name it for it. He went over and checked and sure enough his name was in there. We decided he would not win so we were waiting by the door.  Well the man pulled out the blue card and we were walking out, and then we heard it! Jaron Child.  I was confused at first, lets be honest how many Jarons do you know? Not that many. A few seconds later he corrected himself and said Jaron Clyde! Ya totally awesome right! Jaron and I won matching camping chairs! It was such a fun day and so worth the crazy people at the auction! Now we just need to plan our first camping trip!

I'll keep you updated later! Right now you should know that we are at school and living with Callie and Wade for a few days! I promise I will explain later! 

Another day at work!

     Let me start off by saying my husband is a stud! The day after we had the amazing opportunity to go up to the bear den we went up to Park City, Utah with the DWR to take care of three moose.  The mommy moose had a broken ankle and was getting aggressive with the people living there. Since it was getting mean we had to relocate them. 

     Jaron and a few others tranquilized all three moose.  Once they were down we were able to take pictures with the mommy. It was awesome.  The one thing that I didn’t like about this was the ticks.  The mommy moose had more ticks than I had ever seen in my life. I have a fear of ticks in case you were wondering.  Once the mom was in the truck her two yearlings were loaded into the truck as well.  After a few minutes of them being in the truck I got to watch Jaron at work once again.  He gave the mom the reversal drug to pull her out of the paralyzed state.  Like I said my husband is a stud!

     Then trouble showed up.  One of the neighbors was really mad that we were moving the moose.  Apparently one of the reasons people move up to Park City is to have moose in their front and backyard.  Strange if you ask me.  Well once they were all loaded up in the truck we were off.  We then drove to the same canyon where we did the bear den and let the moose free. It was fun even though I was scared the moose would run me over when we let them out of the truck.  

It's a Bear!

     Since Jaron and I got married I have been going to work with him.  I didn’t go everyday but I did go a few times.  It was too hard to pull all nighters everyday.  So going to work with him every night was fun because we got to spend time together.  I got to see what he did and I got to experience being up close to deer and elk.  Before going to work with him I could never tell the difference between the two, but now I am a pro! In going to work with him I was also able to go to a few towns in Utah I had never heard of; Ephraim, Moroni, Whales, and a few others. 

     Shooting at deer and elk is fun and all but not as fun as going to a bear den.  That’s right I had the opportunity to hike to a bear den with the DWR.

     We set out early for Springville where we were meeting.  Once we got to the division office we all headed off to canyon we were hiking.  It was so cold.  The sun was shining and snow was melting but there was no sun shining directly on us. I was sure the day would be awful since it was cold.  Oh was I wrong. 

     After the first two hundred yards of the hike I was ready to turn around.  It was straight up and we were hauling! I have never hiked so fast in my entire life that might be because I don’t hike too much.  Once we got past that part the hike got easier.  No I did not say easy, but easier.  Most of it was at a gradual incline and I could handle that. 

     Once we had hiked a mile and half and hiked two thousand feet of elevation the bear was being tracked on the machine.  Jaron and a BYU intern for the division left the group to go and find where exactly the den was.  The rest of the group was standing on the other side of the valley watching them.  After they were searching for about ten minutes Jarons dad went over to help the find which den the bear was in.  Within another ten minutes or so the bear was found and the rest of us headed over.  I thought the first part of the hike was awful but by far this was.  We had to hike through snow and trees surrounded us.  This bear could not of made our lives anymore difficult.  She had dug her hole in an area where it was almost impossible to get to. But don’t you worry we did it!

     When the rest of the group finally reached the den Jaron was all the way in the hole. It was kind of strange seeing my husband completely buried sticking his head right toward a bears.  I did not like it but he was drugging the bear.  When the mamma bear was finally out Jaron pulled out two baby cubs.  They were so cute!

For the next twenty minutes we got to hold the babies and take pictures with the mamma. 

     I told Jaron I wanted to take the baby home but that wasn’t allowed.  I guess that’s fine since once it grew up it would get really mean. Once the cubs and mamma bear were back in the den we were on our way back to the truck. Time for another hike, it’s a good thing it was mostly all downhill. 

Crusin'

         The morning after our wedding we were off! We headed down to the Long Beach port to wait in multiple lines! It was quite obvious that everyone was anxious to get on the ship and leave. People were not too happy while waiting in the insanely long lines. But once we got through three long lines we were on.  Well, we got on to wait in another line. Our tickets were not at the check in desk. Somehow they got lost or something strange happened. So we had to wait in a line on the ship. Once we got our keys we were free to roam the boat.  It was HUGE! The first thing we did was go find our room. I was so nervous when we finally found it! It was at they way, way back of the ship. And when I say way back I mean it, looking out from our window we saw the waves breaking from the ship. We were above the propellers. So yes, we were in the way back!

            After we found our room we decided to wander! The first thing Jaron wanted to find was where all the food was. So of course that is what we did. We found the Buffet, the adult only areas, and the main dining hall, and other small things that we knew we would attend on our cruise. So earlier I mentioned how our room was in the way back of the ship? Well it turns out we were in the best location ever! All we had to do was get on the elevator and everything major was right above us, the buffet and the main adult only area. So we were quite pleased since most of our time was spent in that general area!

            A few short hours later we were on our way to Mexico! However before we could do anything we had to do our fire drill.  This was by far one of the best events on the cruise. The thing that made this drill so great were the drunk people providing entertainment for all of the sober people.  The drunk individuals had some pretty interesting comments about the matter. One of them went off saying; if there is a fire or we are sinking there is no way I am coming here to get on a boat. Ill jump off and swim. It was pretty amusing! Once that was over we were free to enjoy our first evening at sea.  Basically all we did was go to the Black Pearl (one of the restaurants) for dinner.  This quickly became Jaron’s favorite place on the ship.

            The next day we woke up and of course we went straight to the buffet to get a delicious breakfast.  They had more food then one could ever dream of. Once we were done with that we hit the deck to tan.

        So our first day out at sea was pretty fun! Until we got really cold! Once we decided it was too cold to lay out we wandered the ship for the rest of the afternoon.  While wandering the ship we got to witness the harry chest contest. Some of the people were pretty hairy! It was quite nasty if you ask me! 

         Day two was another day at sea so there was stuff to do but we decided to just lay out for the afternoon. This is when Jaron started to get his ice cream every time he walked by the machines. Not only did he get ice cream every chance he had but he would also get a Mr. Pib whenever he was asked he wanted a soda. 

      He definetely made his unlimited soda card worth it.  After laying out for a while we decided to go miniature golfing. Who can say they played mini golf in the middle of the ocean? It was awesome. Instead of looking over a fence and seeing the freeway we saw the ocean. The best part was we tied. The course was easy enough that I was able to do just as well as Jaron did.

     Before we went to dinner we decided to watch an outdoor movie on the deck. That was fun but this is when Jaron started his huge meal! Once we got onto the deck for the movie Jaron decided it would be a good idea to go look at the food at the buffet! Thats where he grabbed three FULL plates of food. And of course he ate all of it, give or take the few bites I had.  

Jarons pre-dinner, and one of his main dishes at the Black Pearl. 

Then about fourty-five minutes later we were off to dinner. There he had about four ship cocktails, two main dishes, and dessert. Once we walked down to our room we both felt like dying.  We ate so much that night that the only thing that felt good was to lay down. 

At the Black Pearl

          The next morning we woke up to the sound of our cruise director going crazy with announcements.  The reason being, we were in Mexico! We had finally made it too our first port. However we were not docked yet.  The first thing I did was ran up to one of the main decks to get a sticker(because there are so many people on the ship they have you exit by number so they are able to have control while checking ID and what not). Once I finally had our stickers I went back to get Jaron then we went back up to eat breakfast.  Once we were done with that they called our number to exit the boat. 

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

      Our first experience in Puerto Vallarta was Jaron getting sunglasses.  That was the one thing he forgot to pack with him.  So we found this street vendor, it was more like a mini outdoor mall it was insane how much stuff he had.  The first thing we saw were the sunglasses, perfect I know! After a few minutes of looking at sunglasses Jaron finds this pair of Oakley’s and he goes to pay for them. So takes the glasses to the man working and he said they were twenty-five bucks, well Jaron was was not about to pay that. The bartering began.  To make the story short Jaron went from paying twety-five to eight. The best part was jaron said he only had eight dollars to spend. It gets better, he gave the guy a twenty dollar bill and asked for change.  It was awesome. 

       Once he had his sunglasses we went for a short walk along the beach and then decided we wanted to go do something fun. We narrowed it down to either zip lining or swimming with the dolphins.  We got over to these travel agents and we decided to go zip lining. It was only one hundred dollars for the two of us to do eleven lines though the jungle. How could we turn that offer down? Well the group people who were also going on this trip had already left. This is where our experience in P.V. gets interesting. The travel agent walked us through this sketchey alley. Once we were through the alley he took us to a nice building and handed us over to this lady. She calls a taxi driver and then she hands us over to him.  First of all it was nothing like the taxis I have seen in California.  So we get in this car and neither of us have any idea where we are.  So there we were, sitting in the back of this taxi that is swerving in and out of lanes.  I was positive that we were going to die that day.  Then he pulls over at this random gas station. We were goners.  And then we found out he was lost.  I wasn’t sure if I should be more scared or laugh because he had no idea where he was.  After another twenty minutes of driving I felt safe once I saw the signs of the company we were going zip lining with.  So we drove for another ten minutes and we passed the sign that said turn left. I got worried again. Apparently he was lost once again.  After he asked another man on how to get to the zip line place we finally made it. 

In the middle of the jungle at the zip line place.

    Right when we got there they had us put on all of our gear. Not going to lie at first it was not the most comfortable thing in the world.  It was hot outside and the harnis kept riding up. Not fun. 

       And then we were off.  He had to hike a little, but then we were flying through the jungle.  Jaron had a blast.  When we were first planning out honeymoon this is the first thing he said he wanted to do. Of course I was against it but it turned out to be amazing.

    When we were finally done we ended up at the same place we started. It sure did not feel like we were going in a circle but we did.  It was amazing. The last line of the day went so fast and it was so long.  Not going to lie I was so scared to go on it. You couldn’t see the end of it and it was a pretty steep fall. I had to toughen up though. I went down and I was able to race Jaron.  My line went a little faster, I’m  not sure if it is cause I am lighter but I was flying and it was insane.

After zip lining through the jungle in Mexico.

      The car ride back to port was much easier. We were in a van full of people.  It was less scary but it was way hot and sticky.  We were all dirty from doing the zip lines and there was a weird smell.  It was fun though and the driver this time knew exactly where he was going which made the drive a lot quicker.  Not only was it not as scary as the first ride but he drove us through a different part of town that we were not able to see on the first drive.  Overall it was a beautiful drive.  Once we got back to port we were both tired and ready to get back on the ship and eat lunch.  So that is exactly what we did.  And Jaron got is ice cream.  One of his favorite things on the ship was the self-serve ice cream machines that were placed throughout the boat.  Just about every time we passed the machine he would get one.  One of his favorite things to do was to make a King Kong cone like they do at Macys.  

This cone was slanted and not as tall as some of his others!

     That night was so relaxing.  We ate dinner at the black pearl then went out onto the dock and watched us leave Puerto Vallarta.  It was so pretty watching the city lights fade into the distance.  Then we were on out way to Cabo.  We were supposed to go to Mazatlan for a day but because of the violence we were told last minute we were headed to Cabo where we would be for the next two days.  Oh how we were excited to be in Cabo. 

       The next morning we woke up to an announcement saying we were in the beautiful Cabo San Lucas. So we looked out our window to see, but since our room was at the way back of the ship all we were able to see was the ocean.  Oh well it was still a beautiful view.  This time it took us a lot longer to get off the ship. One was because I didn’t want to go up at six in the morning to get a sticker. So we were number twenty-six.  So we had all morning to kill.  Another reason it took so long was we had to take boats to port. The port in Cabo is too small to hold multiple cruise ships, and there were four of them there.  When we boarded our ship to take us to port we saw the arches at lovers beach. It was honestly one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. The rock formations are amazing down there.  Right then I decided Cabo was my favorite port of the trip, even though there were only two! It was a very easy decision to make. 

       After walking around the streets of Cabo and going into ocean side shops we decided it was time to do something. The first thing we decided to do in Cabo was go to lovers beach. However, the only way to get to lovers beach was to take a water taxi. The hardest part was getting a taxi. There were so many people holding signs yelling their deal at you trying to convince us to go with their taxi. And these guys were tough to bargain with. They had their set price and they were not going to budge.  Then we found these guys that went down. It was going to be twenty-four dollars for the two of us to go to lovers beach, round trip of course.  Which we thought was a little too pricy for a five-minute boat ride.  Then we talked them down to ten dollars for the both of us. It was awesome! We hopped on our water taxi, saw seals, fish and birds, and within five minutes we were on lovers beach. 

        After we had been on lovers beach for a while we decided to head back to the main port of Cabo.  While there we walked deeper into the city and went into many shops.  The next thing we did while in Cabo was we got a massage.  Yup, that’s right, we got a couples massage! And it was amazing.  We were able to relax and really enjoy ourselves.  It was defiantly a treat.  I had never had a professional massage before that day, Jaron on the other hand had had a few and he loves them.  All I have to say about the massage is I would love to get another one soon.

        We had been walking around Cabo for a long time at this point and we decided we should head back to the boat.  We only had forty-five minutes until the last boat would take us to the ship. We figured it would be better to leave earlier then risk being stuck on land and we were getting hungry.  On our way back to the boats we came a cross this lady with a Mexican Iguana.  The next thing I know is the iguana is in Jarons hand.  This lady was crazy.  Then Jaron puts the nasty thing on me.  I did not like it! It was dirty and rough and not something I would sign up to do again!

      Our second day in Cabo we spent it on the cruise ship.  We were only allowed to be off the boat until about one in the afternoon and we decided that we would rather enjoy a day by the pool then have to rush around Cabo and be back on the boat quickly. So that is what we did, we layed out by the pool, ate more ice cream, unlimited soda for Jaron and just enjoyed the warm sun along with the beautiful view. 

      After leaving cabo it was time to get ready. We had a formal night the night we started to head back to port.  Formal nights were so fun.  Everyone got dolled up and it was crazy to see people not in swim suits.  

      Saturday was our last full day on the cruise ship.  Most of it was spent inside and going to shows and movies.  The weather was not that great.  The ship was going really fast and we were coming up towards the United States, it was time to say goodbye to the hot Mexican sun.  Even though it was cold and raining we still had a blast.  Due to the fact that it was cold and we didn’t want to be outside we got our virgin drinks.  Jaron was wating all week to get his virgin Mojito.  However, when she told us what would be in the virgin version of a Mojito we decided it was not worth it.  I got a strawberry pina colada and jaron got a raspberry peach type drink.  They were both delicious.  It was a great way to splurge and spend our last day on the ship.

     Sunday morning we were back in Long Beach. The lines began and it was time for us to get off the boat and face reality.  I wish we could of stayed longer, it was amazing having no cares and no worries.  It was a great honeymoon. After a picture perfect wedding and reception we had the picture perfect honeymoon to top it off! 

I think I wanna marry you!

     

      Jaron and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Los Angeles Temple on February 19, 2011. And it was awesome! Looking back on it we could not of asked for a more perfect day.  Even though it started to rain while we were taking pictures, that didn’t happen until the end.  So we came out of the temple and our family and friends were there to support us. It was awesome to see the people who loved us the most there with us on our special day.  So once we walked out the pictures began (even though my eyes were closed in half of them they turned out pretty good). 

      It was a perfect day for taking picture.  The first half of our picture session they sky was bright blue with some white fluffy clouds.  Towards the end of our session the sky turned dark grey and we got some awesome pictures because of it.  

   The pictures below are of our amazing wedding party.  Jaron had his two brothers and his brother in law.  I had my two sisters and my practically sister Leigh.  I could not of asked for a better group of people. 

         

     We then headed over to our luncheon. All I can say is I love Stonefire! No one makes a BBQ chopped salad like they do. Once we were all done eating the cars were packed and we were on our way to the reception. Our reception was perfect. The decorations looked amazing, the video of pictures at the beginning was awesome, everything was perfect. We had amazing food, great company, and great dancing.  During the dancing I was able to see people who I had never seen dance and go crazy come out of their shell and have a blast.  Just seeing everyone we love enjoying themselves at our reception made the night so much better. 

     

     Towards the middle of our reception we had the opportunity to cut our amazing cake.  So we get the knife and everything and start cutting.  While we are trying to cut really hard into the cake nothing is happening. We then realize the bottom layer of the cake was fake.  So we then moved up to the second tier and cut our cake.  Of what I tasted it was delicious.  After we cut the cake I went up to my mom and told her what happened and she laughed. At that point she realized she forgot to tell us the bottom layer was fake.  Too bad red velvet bleeds too much and we had to have separate cake just for that so we could have a white cake! The worst part of the night was not being able to eat our own cake.  We were both so excited to eat our red velvet, but that’s perfectly fine with us.  Everyone said that all three flavors we picked were amazing, and if that was the only thing that went wrong we would take it. 

After we did the cake cutting we danced the night away and continued to celebrate with the ones we love.  After dancing a little bit we did the traditional garter and bouquet toss.  So Jaron took my garter off and tossed it. All my single guy friends were lined up waiting to catch it. The best part was a eight year old caught it.  Pretty awesome if you ask me! Then it was my turn.  Apparently I am not that good at tossing bouquets because I was told it went straight up.  Well needless to say my little sister caught the bouquet.  The funny thing is Haylie babysits the eight year old boy who caught the garter.  

       

    When the night was over we had a grand exit with the onces we love all around us as we walked out the Taylor Swifts song “Today was a Fairytale” and that is just what it was.  February 19^th was the most amazing day of my life.     

 *Just a side note..All of these amazing pictures were taken by Jarons dad.  I will post some other ones the photographer took when i get them!