25 Years and I finally Tried It

Growing up in Utah where the greatest snow on Earth falls every winter, you would think that at some point in my 25 years I would have taken the opportunity to try my luck with skiing.  Well I hadn't until Megan and her cousin from Nebraska, Kyle, decided to take me.  We went to the Brighton Ski Resort.

At this ski resort, like all others I'm sure, it seemed like everyone had been skiing for years; and that included the 5 year old's on their little ski's zipping down the mountain.  In the past I had tried out snowboarding and absolutely hated it! Seeing all of those little kids on their skis doing so well got me excited.  The first two hours were two of the most frustrating hours I have ever spent trying something new.  My body contorted in to positions that I never knew existed.  The highlight of the first hal of the day was when I decided to try and go through a little terrain...apparently I went in to the wrong section, because as soon as i went off to the beaten path the snow got really soft and deep, I did the splits, sunk in to the snow and fell head first in to the snow so that only my backside was uncovered...My skis were so far in to the snow that i could not reach them to un-clip the boots, it literally took me five minutes to push myself in to an upright position.

After our lunch break things began to get better.  I was actually able to make it down the mountain without falling every five seconds.  By the end of the day I was able to make it down the mountain with only falling maybe once or twice, and I was having fun.

I really did enjoy skiing.  Enough so that I day dreamed about the feeling of carving back and forth down the mountain for the next week.  I had a blast and am excited to go back!  Thank you Meg!

Antigua

Our second stop was in Antigua.  We learned a lot about the culture in Antigua, which was really neat.  Everyone there (the locals) were so friendly.  We started out our day by doing do a zip line tour over the rain forest.  I was a little nervous at first, especially after watching a lady do it and slam one of the workers into the tree because she didn't slow down, but it ended up being a lot of fun.  After zip lining we caught a cab to a beach from a cab driver named Charkie.  He was awesome, he took us past his house, told us about his life and gave us some advice on life.  At the beach we ended up renting a jet ski for $20 (much cheaper than Lake Havasu).  We then made our way back to the port where wedid more shopping.

 This was the beach we went to, the water was so blue

St. Thomas-2011

Our first port we stopped at on the cruise was St Thomas.  We had debated booking an excursion here, but after doing some research we decided we would "wing it" and we are glad that we did.  We ended up going to Magen's Bay.  It was so beautiful!  We took a cab there around 8 am and we were able to walk down the beach a few hundred yards to a secluded spot.  We played in the water and on the beach for a few hours before making our way back to the shopping area, where we spend a couple hours shopping.  It was a great start to the cruise!

Some kid walked by ad wrote this in the sand while Andrew was playing in the water and I was tanning.  Andrew thought it was hilarious so he snapped a picture.

Our goal was to write in the sand and take a picture at each place we stopped in. 

The Cruise

Andrew and I have talked about going on a cruise ever since we were engaged, but all we ever did was talk.  We decided that if we didn't just do it we probably never would, especially once we have kids.  So back in April we got online and decided to book one.  We didn't think about it too much, we just did it.

We waited 7 months from the time we booked the cruise to the time we left and by the time it came it was a much needed vacation.  Andrew and I were both completely overwhelmed with full-time work, full-time school and coaching basketball and we were beginning to get worn down.  Our flight left from SLC at midnight on Dec 2, so Andrew went home after the sophomore basketball game to get things ready and I rushed home after the varsity game so we could get to the airport to catch our flight.  I had imagined that red eye flying would be the way to go because we could just sleep........ WRONG!  It was the most uncomfortable flight ever.  We ended up making it to Fort Lauderdale around 9 AM, we checked into our hotel and slept until about 3pm.  That night we went sight seeing, shopping, got pedicures and ate delicious Italian food.

The next morning, Dec 3 we boarded the ship and we were off!  We spent the first two days at sea and that lead to us eating a substantial amount of mediocre food (the food wasn't as great as everyone says.  Andrew enjoyed it, but he just loves all food) and laying out most of the day.  The second night was a formal night.  We got all dressed up and headed down to dinner just to turn around and go back  to our room because I was sea sick.  I felt really bad, but we ended up having our dinner in our room, where you couldn't feel the boat move as much.  After the two long days at sea we began stopping at different ports including St Thoman, Antigua, Tortola and Nassau.  I'm going to attempt to do separate blog posts for each stop.  I can't guarantee that I'll get to all of them, but I will try.  Below are a couple pictures from florida.

 Getting Pedis in Fort Lauderdale

 Hanging out on the Serenity Deck.

Laying out

Black Friday

I know I'm a few weeks late but I'm trying to catch up on blogging.  The last few years I've been becoming quite the fan of black friday.  I love how I can get most of my Christmas shopping done in one day and I love how excited it makes me for Christmas.  This year I went with my best friend Haley.  I picked her up around 11:30 PM and we made it to Target by midnight even though we got lost.  Target was an absolute madhouse, but we each got everything we needed after hours of standing in line.  After target we got lost once again (this is a typical thing when Haley and I are together, luckily we both have husbands now that we can call to help us find our way) and then made our way to the mall.  We ended up shopping from about midnight to 2 PM.  It was so fun to spend the day catching up and shopping with Haley and I'm already looking forward to next years Black Friday!

Herniated Disc?

This morning at practice, the girls were running a sweet 16 and I decided I would run it with them. I ran with them all the time last year, but this morning it was early and I didn’t warm up and at about the 8th line I started feeling a sharp pain in my lower back every time I would bend down to touch the line. I probably should have stopped, but I finished it out and now I’m regretting it. I can barely move and every step I take shoots a pain down my spine. My guess is that it’s a herniated disc and if that’s the case I’m hoping with some rest it will go away within a few days. I guess this is what I have to look forward to as I get older .

Mr and Mrs Coach Vera

Basketball started last Monday and a couple days before I was able to convince Andrew to help me. I was a little skeptical at first and I don’t even know why. He is amazing to work with and he seems to enjoy it as much as I do. I am so excited about this season. We have some very talented girls and all of them have great work ethic.

Weekend With the Boys

This weekend was a busy weekend for us.  Ben's mission homecoming talk was on Sunday and Sofia (our niece) had her 2nd birthday on Saturday.  For the next few weeks Andrew and I are house sitting at the Day Treatment house so we've had three teenage boys that we live with.  We ended up bringing them along to Sofia's birthday party and we had alot of fun.  We made a stop in the mountains, ate some pizza, watched football, had cake and ice cream and then played some backyard football with all of the siblings.   It was really fun having the boys with us and they did great around our family.
After football we went to the church to practice the song that all of the Vera siblings were planning on singing at Ben's homecoming.  I was the only sibling who wasn't going to sing (I don't think I've ever sang seriously in front of a group of people).  The boys and I sat there and listened to them practice and by the time we left we all had it memorized.  Over the past few weeks Andrew's family had been teasing me about singing with them, but it was always kind of a joke.  Then, on the way home Andrew asked me if I would sing with them and he seemed really sincere.  I tried coming up with an excuse, saying that I couldn't remember the words and then all the boys started belting it and convinced me that I should try.  I contemplated it the rest of the night and even the morning of.  As we were getting in the car to head to Grantsville Sunday morning I told Andrew that if the CD the song was on would play in my car then it was a sign and I would have to sing.  (My CD player hasn't worked in over 4 years)  Well guess what! It decided to work that day and I couldn't go back on my word, so I sang.  It really wasn't that bad, other than forgetting the words for a second.

We took some pictures while we were up in the mountains.  We couldn't post any of the boys because of confidentiality reasons, but they were there.

We Come Up With Genius Ideas

A couple weeks ago my mom and I went shopping and as we always do when we see a Bath and Body Works, we stopped.  We found some amazing fall scents and my mom wanted to buy some for our houses.  We got what we thought was a genius idea to buy a bunch of candles and just break them up and share them between the two of us for our scentsy warmers.  After about an hour of trying to get the wax out of it's original container and creating a HUGE mess we finally had our new scents.  We've vouched  to never do it again, but I think it was worth it because now I have some great fall scents, including spiced cider (I recommend it, it's amazing).

Spinning

I just want to say I love the spinning class at Golds Gym.  Last night was my first class and I thought it was great.  The only down fall to the class is I think my butt was more sore than my legs because the seat it so uncomfortable, but I hear it gets better.  I plan on attending that class weekly so if anyone would like to join me let me know!!!!

New Positions

I want to start off by acknowledging how blessed Andrew and I are.  We put ourselves in situations that would make it financially difficult to get by, but somehow something always comes up that makes everything work out.  For example, last year during basketball season I was only able to work on Sundays because basketball interfered with my swing shift schedule.  But at the beginning of the season one of the Day Treatments Parents went to India  for a few weeks and asked us to stay with the boys which not only gave me full time hours, but also gave me some overtime and I was able to do school and basketball.  Well this time, both Andrew and I were trying to pay tuition and things were getting pretty tight, but right when we needed it most not just one of us, but both of us got promotions! 

I was at work a few weeks ago, when the principal asked me to come talk to him.  He told me that the health/aerobics teacher was leaving and asked if I would be interested in taking over.  I of course said yes and a couple weeks later I started. The best part is that I get to work out with the kids which I need to shed off those extra pounds before the upcoming cruise :).

Andrew had a similar situation.  He had really been needing a change at work, he was getting too comfortable with what he was doing and then one day a branch manager from Salt Lake called him and asked if he would be interested in transferring to his branch and being promoted.  Andrew said yes and the day before his interview, his current district manager called him and told him she had already promoted him and that she hopes he chooses to stay.  He was a little torn at first, but after some thought we decided that staying in Tooele would be the best option at least until he finishes school. So now Andrew gets to work more with businesses, which is exactly what he wanted.

"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings."
Eric Hoffer