Mexican Riviera - D and K Pictures Edition 2

Yes, I am stealing more photos from JaKell. (I'd just send you there, but her blog is private - so I steal)

Here are some of us all dressed up for formal night.

Mexican Riviera - D and K Pictures Edition

Here are a few random pictures of us. Seriously... this is about all I took of us the entire trip.

I might find a few more later. :)

Mexican Riviera - Food Edition Pictures

My sister took all the pics on the trip... I hardly picked up my camera. We actually took mostly video, but currently my laptop is too full to download them. Don't worry, we have a 2TB hard drive on the way so I can back everything up and delete a lot of my laptop. Yahoo! And maybe I guess I could start going through my pictures and posting a few. I am so lazy. I got use to not even looking or thinking about my computer for a week. Very nice.

Anyways, I just stole a few off her blog until I go get the CD of pictures.

So here are a few "food" photos courtesy of JaKell.

And a few of the Sapphire Princess:

Mexican Riviera - Food Edition

Here is a short recap of our vacation! (in a few posts)
We have decided that cruising is the way to go when you want to vacation! We had a great time and are glad that we were able to go! We can't wait to book our next cruise!

A food review - in list form!
-We probably ate the best food we have ever eaten, and a lot of it. On the Sapphire Princess they have one Buffet that is open 24/7. It has super yummy food and lots of it. There is also a pizza place that had some of the best pizza that I have ever eaten! So good... I am already craving more pizza. There was also a grill that served hamburgers, hotdogs, turkey burgers, bratwurst and lots of other good food (that I never actually got to). But every night we met (my parents, sister and her husband Brandon, and Chet) and had dinner in one of the five dinning rooms. We are talking fine dinning. So so good. We tried a lot of new things (and there were a few that I couldn't make myself try - like frog legs... ew) The food was seriously the best and totally worth every penny we paid. (And of course you could eat whatever you wanted and as much as you wanted - all included in the cost of the cruise. I can guarantee the cost of all the food I ate exceeded the cost of the cruise - for sure!)

-Here are some random tidbits about the ship/food/galley:
(I totally found all this interesting, feel free to skip it! lol)
+The ship stored about 110-115 tons of food at the beginning of the cruise (for a 7 day cruise).
+The Galley Brigade Consists of:
1 Executive Chef
1 Executive Sous Chef
4 Sous Chefs
17 First Cooks
137 Cooks
12 Galley Cleaners
10 First Dishwashers
40 Dish and Pan Cleaners
+The average amount of fish prepared daily: 1500 lbs
+The average amount of meats cooked daily:
Poultry: 1800 lbs
Beef: 2100 lbs
Pork: 1000 lbs
Veal: 400 lbs
Lamb: 460 lbs
+Average amount of salads served daily: 1600 lbs
+Average amount of shrimp used daily: 300 lbs
+Average amount of mayonnaise used daily: 28 gallons
+Average amount of sandwiches made daily: 1500 each
+Average amount of pastas made daily: 500 lbs
+Average amount of potatoes cooked daily: 2000 lbs
+Average amount of vegetables cooked daily: 2500 lbs
+Average amount of soups made daily: 550 gallons
+Average amount of flour used daily (for breads, pizza, etc): 1700 lbs
+Average amount of pastries prepared daily: 6000
+Average amount of ice cream prepared daily: 90 gal (They had the BEST sorbet!)
+Average amount of cakes and pies served daily: 300
+Average amount of butter used daily: 500 lbs
+Average amount of fresh fruit served daily: 7000 lbs

+Average amount of dishes washed daily: 70,000
+Average amount of glasses washed daily: 21,500
+Average amount of detergent used daily: 58 gallons

And that is just for the passengers. There is also 1100 crew member on board to feed.

We were able to take a tour of the galley. So, so cool! And it is HUGE! We only saw one deck that supplies food for three of the dinning rooms. The other two have another galley on another deck.
Deck 5 galley: 1200 sq feet
Deck 6 galley: 1200 sq feet
Other galleys: 2400 sq feet
Dry storage space area: 16,000 sq feet
Walk in fridge: 18,000 sq feet
Butcher and Fish Shop Prep room: 7,000 sq feet

They say the average weight gain on a 7 day cruise is 7-10lbs. I was going to be so happy if it was ONLY 10 pounds... luckily I must have walked it all off and was shocked I didn't gain any weight. YAY!

Okay enough random info. Hopefully my next post will actually be about the cruise!
Sadly, I didn't really take many pictures, but I have a few!

We're Back....

Yes, we made it home. We had a perfect time, but it's not always easy coming from this:

(Yes, that is Dustyn!)
To this:

(Yes, that is snow on those cactuses)

I can be random.

Just cause I know you wanted to see my fine face on this fine friday! (i heart my webcam)

So first off, I am already loving the daily question! Thank you so much for playing along! But we will get to that later.

Are you so excited that Nie is back! Wow! It good to know she is recovering! Of course, I have to admit that I had never heard of her before the accident, but I have a feeling I am going to start reading daily.

Speaking of plane accidents, wasn't that pilot/rescue effort in the Hudson River amazing? I just watched and was glued to the TV as everything went down. Even though I bet it was completely scary for those on board, it totally left me with a happy feeling! I love when things go perfect.

Oh, oh. I keep forgetting to mention that for some reason our url for Parent Profiles isn't working and goes to the PP home page. So if you are wondering why our adoption button seems to be advertising PP, that is why. I have emailed them and they are working on the problem. Until then you can use this link.
(http://www.parentprofiles.com/profiles/db19448.html)
Hopefully it will get working soon! Otherwise there are a LOT of pass-along cards out there are that advertising Parent Profiles. Ha ha.

Have I mentioned how excited I am to go on our Cruise? The countdown is on! Yay! Then I can show you my super bargains on my dress! But not until then, sorry.

I have been getting SO many lame spam emails lately. You know the ones. Give me all your personal info and I will send you 100 bizzilion dollars. Love those.

Dustyn and I decided that it would be fun to have a camcorder when we go on the cruise. We have been going to buy one for awhile, but just haven't. We finally bought one. Here it is. Dustyn designed it himself. I really like how it turned out. I told him I wanted black, red, and white stars. He did good! Oh yeah, and those little flip cameras? They are pretty cool.

We finally bought some new luggage! Yay! Well we only got one suitcase each, but they are super nice! The suitcases we have been using (the one from Dustyn's mission that is 15 years old) doesn't have the best zippers. I am glad I don't have to worry about it anymore. Now I am the owner of a nice Jeep suitcase. It did help that it was in clearance in Walmart. I love me a good bargain.

And, we bought the cutest orange/yellow polka-dot ribbon to help us identify our luggage quickly... so if you are going on the cruise to the Mexican Riviera when we are, chose another color. ;)

If anyone has suggestions on what I need to know to have the best time ever on a cruise, let me know! I would love to hear what you have to say.

Oh, oh! And I also bought a bag full of tomatillos yesterday. Anyone know a super good recipe? I love the flavor of them, but I haven't decided what I am going to make with them. I mean I could always make soup, but I am willing to try something new. So if you have a favorite recipe, let me know.

I think Dustyn and I might get to go to Steve's tonight! I am so excited! We are going for our anniversary! I know you are thinking... hey wasn't that like a week ago? Why, yes it was. We went to SLC, but decided to just eat out somewhere not so exciting and to come home and go to Steve's. We might finally make it.

Which brings me to our anniversary. We decided to go to Body Worlds! I was so, so excited. Dustyn bought tickets the week before to make sure that we would be able to get in (since it was the 2nd to last day of the exhibit). Once we got up there, I looked at the tickets and noticed that they said Jan 5th, not Jan 10th. Apparently something happened in the ordering process and the tickets were for the wrong day. They could not change the day, so we were out the tickets and the money. :P  So frustrating! We could have paid to go again I am sure, but I didn't want to pay double to go see the exhibit. So we didn't get to go. :P Instead we went shopping and bought a few outfits for me for the cruise. Well... a dress. I have nothing formal to wear, but I do now! Well... semi-formal. That is as fancy as I get right now. Once we were finished shopping, we went to Sweet Tomatoes to eat. It was okay, but not as good as normal. But we topped it off with some frozen yogurt from Red Mango, so that made it all worth it. We didn't even have to share!

Okay, my laptop is about to die, that means that it is time for me to get in the shower and be productive today! Yes, it is almost 11 and I have yet to shower OR be productive. But for now, here is your question for the day:

Question 2: What was your most favorite class in school? (high school or college)

Answer: Hmm...  of course I really liked all my math classes in high school. But some of my favorite classes were Mr. Walser's classes and Mr. William's classes in college. They were Criminal Justice classes that were quite interesting. I mean who doesn't want to listen to personal cop stories for two years. It was a fun major, for sure!

Have a lovely Friday!

Randomness

I decided that my blog is ready for a random post.

I haven't had a lot to talk about lately.  I just don't have much to say.  Thus the random post.  I always have randomness going for me!

I am so excited to go to the Twilight Party tomorrow night in St. George!  Wooohooo!  Thank you Amy and Haven for inviting me!  You guys rock!  We will totally have a blast!  Oh yeah, and I am sure the movie *might* be cool too.  We'll see about that.  ;)

I love all the holiday blog give-aways!  Of course I never win, but it sure is fun to have the opportunity.  I wish I could come up with something so I could do a blog giveaway.  I'm thinking.  And thinking.

I am completely stoked about Thanksgiving!  It got to be a favorite holiday of mine (aren't they all?).  Dustyn and I are hoping to get some suckers made before then.  It is becoming a tradition.  A fun one!  I got all the stuff out and washed the other day, now I just need to do it.  Soon.  I can not believe how fast it is coming!  ONE WEEK AWAY!

We decided to tag along with my family on a cruise!  I am so excited because;  1. I have never been on one.  2. Dustyn and I will be having our 5th Anniversary soon! Time to celebrate!  3.  Everyone needs a break.  4.  Mexico in February...  fabulous!

I need a new black dress.  I am really hoping for something like this... (I love, love, love it!) but I have no idea where to look.  I have been searching and searching, but have come up with nothing.  I guess I do have until the end of January to find one.

I had soooo many random thoughts earlier today that I was going to blog about... and now... nothing.  I love that.

Lately, I have been thinking about how old we are getting!  I can not believe that in 6 months, I will be 30.  Crazy!  I remember when my mom turned 30.  Ha ha!  It just seems so weird to realize that I am kinda growing up!  At least in age.

We watched Wall-E last night.  I love that movie!  It is a cute one!  But of course my FAVORITE part is when Wall-E charges and "boots up" when he is fully charged.  I love that.  Of course, it is a Mac start up sound.  That may help.  ;)

It's sad that I don't even have much randomness in me lately.

I suppose this will do for now!  :)

Have a great FRIDAY my friends!