Bahama Mama 2

The next few days of our trip was truly spent by the pool, riding the lazy river, trying our hand at the casino....and more lazy river. We ate at some really good restaurants, and Paradise Island has a wonderful Ben and Jerry's. So naturally we stopped there a few times.





On Thursday we went on a Power Boat Adventure. The bus picked us up at 8:30 am and we took a short ride over to a dock, where we boarded the powerboat. Listening to Lady Gaga and Juvenile, we took a 1 hour boat ride (at 40 miles per hour) to an Island off of the Bahamas. Zach and I called it Iguana Island because that is essentially all there was there. They let you off on the beach and give you a handful of grapes and tell you to feed these guys. So we found sticks, stuck the grapes on the end, and went to town feeding these guys their treats. They were hilarious. Zach was getting them to jump for the grape on the end of his stick. I fed a few, but wasted my last grapes by throwing them at the BIGGEST Iguana on the beach. We named him Don Vito (purely for his size.)









After about 20 minutes, we boarded back on the boat and went to another island where we stayed the remainder of our trip. It was gorgeous. Like something out of a movie, which we later found out it was being used to film an episode of Survivor, which will be airing soon.



We got to feed Sting Rays with raw slices of fish, and shark wrestle. It was crazy. These guys were circling the water right by our toes and we tied fish guts to a rope and wrestled them up on the beach. I was just observing and the guy (we called him Brownie) gives me the end of the rope and tells me to PULL. I pulled and sooner or later there was this HUGE shark on the beach, the biggest one we could see in the water. Zach didn't give his go at pulling, but was laughing pretty hard...especially when his brother Chad fell IN THE SHARK SWARM. Pretty intense. You know it is dangerous when the shark tamer is freaking out. Mark, Zach's dad, lovingly known as "Mark the Shark" refused to get in there as well, and stayed protected in his zip-up hoodie in ankle deep. He was the smartest of us all, I think. You should have seen Brownie's wet suit. It was duct taped in places that I pray were NEVER bit.









After the sharks we ate a surprisingly delicious lunch cooked by the Islanders. The funniest part of this odd island was this wild boar that lived on it with the natives. Just this huge wild pig, lounging in the sand. There was a huge sign next to him that said "DO NOT TOUCH THE PIG. DO NOT FEED THE PIG." The guys warned us that the wild boar would walk down to the beach at some point, and soon enough...there he was...waddling down to the water to get a drink of gross salt water.



After lunch, some of us went on a nature walk, while others took in their second to last day to tan. We were all pretty crispy that afternoon.

Friday was our last official day. We slept in (like we did every morning) went to the pool, ate lunch and then walked the beach until it was time to meet up for dinner. We showered up and met at the elevators for the best dinner we had had thus far on the trip. Seafire in the village. My birthday is on Monday, so we ate our delicious steaks and fish, and I got a birthday song with the most delicious piece of cheesecake I have ever tasted.





Overall, it was a great trip. It was so much fun to relax and do NOTHING. Isn't that pathetic? That my favorite part was having nothing at all to worry about? We got more sleep than we both have had in weeks, and took full advantage of our gorgeous suite we got to sleep in. I also loved spending time with ALL of Zach's brothers and sisters and their spouses. We very rarely all get together (considering our family is so large and since Sean and Siri live in AZ). It was awesome to get to eat with them every night and share a tropical drink by the pool with them. Not to mention have the largest known train on the lazy river...which by the way I did fall off and get run over underwater by MULTIPLE tubes. Worth every second.

A special thanks to my amazing in-laws who took us on this amazing vacation. Mark and Jeanene (who by FAR had the best bikini body on the trip) really now how to take a vacay. Thanks to both of you a hundred times for such a great week with such great people.

Bahama Mama

Since it is stormy in paradise, I figured we would blog about the first half of our trip, because I know I am going to forget some of the fun stuff we did.

Saturday we arrived at the airport at 5:30 am and got all checked in and through security. Our flight was at 7:00 am, and we arrived in Atlanta for a two hour lay-over and then off the the Bahamas by 4:00 pm local time. Both flights were actually great, and we both slept a bit.



Us on the plane from the Laptop.

Once we arrived, we had a bus come pick us all up (16 adults + 2 babies) and we stopped at a local grocery store for food. We were lucky enough to get rooms with kitchens in them so we could make our own breakfasts and drink our own drinks (considering that down at the pool and the rest of the resort they are over $7 a piece.) Good for us we found Top Ramen and Popcorn for Zach so it could be a REAL vacation.





By the time we got to the hotel, we had to race and get ready for the Jerry Seinfeld live show. We ate at Murrays Deli by the port and then rushed to the show. It was celebrity week so we were sure to be on the look out for anyone we could find. Day 1 we saw: Chris Tucker, Jerome Bettis, A-Rod, Cedric the Entertainer, and Ben Roethlisberger (whom we got a picture with.) We saw him walk in the theatre where the show was about to start. Siri wanted a picture SO bad, so I told her that if she asked him, I would go with her. I didn't think she would ACTUALLY go through with it. That girl has guts. She walked right up to him, told him that her husband was a huge Steelers fan, and he let us take a pic. Once again, he smelt so AMAZING. He must have an incredible smelling expensive cologne. The show was hilarious. We laughed the WHOLE night.

Sunday: We spent the WHOLE day at the waterpark. We spent 75% of the time on the Lazy River and the water slides.



The lazy river was CRAZY. It went around the whole resort essentially. The funniest part of it is that it really IS so lazy. It takes you around everywhere and if you want to go on the tube slides, you drift over to a conveyor belt that pulls you up to the top. We kept joking about how we wanted to bring our lunches and tropical drinks and have a picnic.



The coolest slide was one where you go right through a shark tank. It was SICK!

After all the sliding and lazy river riding, we all went to dinner at a place called Sea Grapes. It was a great buffet.

Monday we went on the Dolphin adventure. It was a blast. There was a pool called the Dolphin Cay at our resort, where you could go have a "Dolphin Encounter".



First they give us all wet suits and tell us to watch some video about dolphins. I sort of thought it would be a "what not to do" video, you know for SAFETY. The majority of it was facts about dolphins like how much they weighed and all that business. After the quick video they send you out to the pool in groups. Lori, Trav, Zach, Sean, and I were all in a group. First they teach you how to "ride" or get pushed by the dolphins. You sit on a body board and you lock your legs out straight behind you. The trainer counts to three and there comes the dolphin from behind you and pushes you through the water on your foot. FAST too, not like a dinky push, like a full speed push. It was awesome.



Next, they gave us these ski-do things where it is like an underwater propellor. You pull the trigger and it pulls you down deep to swim with the dolphins. It was our favorite part. The last leg of the adventure you get to touch them. I remember feeling the killer whale at Sea World when I was 12, and this dolphin felt just like it. Smooth like a wet rubber tire. They let you hug them and even kiss them right on the mouth. Zach refused to kiss the dolphin. We were laughing so hard, and I kept telling him just to do it. He would not have it. All the pictures we got of him were laughing and pursing his lips together in front of the poor thing. What was the funniest is that if you kissed it for too long, it would open it's mouth and stick it's tongue out at you. It smelt like pure fish guts, but it was cute. Zach and I both agree that our favorite part of this trip was the dolphin encounter, just because we had never done anything like that ever.





After that we spent the whole afternoon at the pool/beach. More riding the "current" or lazy river, the Mayan Temple and so on. The weather was perfect...about 75-80 degrees. Later that night we went to a place called Mosaic, which was GORGEOUS. It was another buffet, but was actually really good.

Just In Time

Warning: Long, but venting....

These last couple of weeks have been so crazy for me. To be honest, I thought when I graduated from USU, "real life" would be gravy baby. I am grateful for my degree and the intense program we were put through, because more than anything it taught me how to prioritize my time and get things done effectively (plus live on 5 hours of sleep continually.) Sure, I miss things here and there all the time, forget a wet load of laundry in the washer, but at least I had an idea of what REAL LIFE would be like when I graduated....WORSE! (Not worse, busier.) I just remember the days when I would say, "I can't wait until I graduate!" Don't get me wrong, I am SO done with school, but I feel like I see Zach even less now that we are both working full time. School was so easy compared to this. Between work from 8:30-5:00, THREE weddings I am designing invitations for, putting our house together, trying to be a good wife and cook meals for Zach, laundry, house cleaning, designing bridal shower invites, designing Thank-You cards, my grandpa having surgery....I feel like I might combust. That is why I couldn't be more grateful for this weekend. We're going to the Bahamas from the 23rd - 30th. There are so many fun things planned, it is going to be a blast. Between going to Jerry Seinfield, Power Boat Adventures, and swimming with the dolphins....I think I will be just as busy, but in a MUCH better way. Considering I have had ZERO time to pack/shop/SLEEP....peace out until Feb!

Atlantis, here we come....



Regardless of the craziness, I am so grateful for Zach, our jobs, our home, our families, and the gospel. Yeah...I'm going to go there....all spiritual up in your grill. Everyone has that thing they pray for continually. Whether it be for their families, or for safety, or to CONCEIVE (shout out to one of my oldest and dearest friends Whit B. A.), happiness, or maybe for that dream job....but whatever it is, we are all so blessed. A friend once asked me, "If you could be anything, anything in the WHOLE world, what would you be?" I know he was asking in terms of occupation, but I answered, "Happy." I think about that all the time. Happy.

On To the Next Room...

Sometimes it feels like Zach and I will never get our house furnished. It's my fault, because I can't decide on what to put where or what to go with what.

We have an extra living room, which Zach calls the "Mormon Room". A room of this sort would normally house a piano with an extremely uncomfortable white sofa with frills. Tons of frills. Zach made me promise we would purchase furniture for a room that was rarely sat in, with the exception of our home/visiting teachers. So this is what I have so far....





Our reclaimed wood + iron coffee table





Our Skinny Jeans Table

(Both of these things we have already purchased. This room looks so lonely with only the two tables.)



The Tripod Lamp



The Townsend Sofa from R&B



The Grassweave Roller Shades (in Mocha)



C&B Chairs



This Bad A Table from R&B



Screen Printed Pillows by SS + R&B Avacado and Chocolate Velvet Pillows



The Cyprus Sideboard

And last but not least....




The Infinity mirror from CB2 (on top of the sideboard, like shown here.)
What officially makes me a freak/spaz is that I have already compiled it in Illustrator. Here is our future room....







I know I am crazy...ok. I admit it. BUT in my defense, work has been SO slow today. DON'T JUDGE.

Yellow + Grey

My obsession continues with yellow + grey. I also have a thing for coats lately, and have about 29 at various retail stores I want. And maybe....it's somebody's birthday coming up in a few weeks....just saying. Zach. Hint.

Anxious. WAY too anxious.

So, I think it is pretty pathetic that I advise people on what type of wood, color, countertops, tile, and so on that they should put in their house EVERY DAY and I can't even design an entertainment piece for my house without having a major melt down. I went crazy over hardware, doorstyles, types of wood, thickness of the wood deck, and thickness of the shelves for over 3 whole weeks. Pathetic. So here it is...the real deal.



Well...it better be the real deal because we already paid for it, and it is going into production THIS week. I also picked an install date (Feb. 1st) today as well. So this is really happening. My work does all their own millwork and has all their own installers and floormen. So everything happens here. We have huge production boards that have all the designers' jobs on them. You usually put the name of the residence (in our case my job would be called HENDERSON RESIDENCE) and post it on the board for everyone to see. Steve told me I could name my job whatever I wanted, so of COURSE I called it my given T-Ville name...K-TOWN. It has caused quite a ruckus in the office. I also had to fill out all this technical information and every time it said "Job Name" I chuckled to myself as I filled it out.

I know it is ridiculous that I have been doing this for the last 4 almost 5 years of my life and I can't even pick out my own materials and design. I had to have Derek over twice to help me pick the paint colors. I just thought it was quite ironic that I tell people what to do, and they do it! They spend thousands of their dollars on random things I pick out. After having this experience of my own, I am thinking twice about mine and Zach's dream of building our own house one day. Can you imagine what that would be like for me? I'd be a freaking stress case.

Fine Two Thousand Nine

Thinking back on 2009....



Graduated.



Left some talented friends.



Built my first website.



Started my new job.
+ Designed my frist kitchen that was actually BUILT!
(This is actually not mine)



Went back to San Fran.



Went back to Paris.



Made a home.

I can't wait to see what happens in 2010.
K+Z. I love you.