Bachelorette Cruise May 3-7

Having a drink before the flight to calm my nerves...

Our ship in the San Diego port, the Carnival Elation



During the emergency drill

An aircraft carrier that was in the San Diego port

Some of the airplanes on the aircraft carrier

Check out the gun on the front of the coast guard boat

Leaving San Diego

The pool with slide on the ship

I forgot my sunglasses in our cabin.....

At dinner the first night

Laurie and I played Bingo the first night

Just finished breakfast, getting ready to head to Catalina

On a wildlife tour at Catalina. Condos on Catalina in the background.

Two dolphins that were swimming around our boat.

A dolphin. They were about 3 feet away from us. And they were a lot bigger then I expected!

A dolphin at Catalina with our ship in the background.

On the ship in front of Catalina.

Right after we got done snorkling.

Getting ready for the Captains dinner.

Summer, Me, Laurie and Autumn at the Captains dinner

They turn down your bed each night and make these cute towel animals.

Playing mini golf on the 12th deck, top of the ship

Autumn and I at dinner the last night.

At the comedy show the last night.

On the plane home..... we played catch phrase the whole way back.

So we left for our trip Sunday morning May 3rd. We drove from Redding to Sac and then flew to San Diego. Our flight was uneventful but I still don't like to fly, I'm not sure why, i just hate it! Our stewardess was really cool though and gave us free drinks and lots of peanuts and pretzels. We got to SD and then headed over to the ship. It was kind of a long process to get on the boat but we got there about 1 pm. It was a little chaotic the first day because there are about 2,000 passengers on board and no one really knows what they are supposed to be doing or where anything is. We had lunch and then headed to our rooms to check them out. Our luggage wasn't there yet so we went exploring the ship. We took a tour of the gym and spa and signed up for our shore excursions for the next day. We had to do the emergency drill and then we set sail at 5:30. We had dinner and then headed to the big lounge where they had a game show going on and then we played bingo. Then we were tired and headed to bed.

Monday morning we had to get up early and get ready. Laurie and I had breakfast at the buffet and then we met everyone else so we could take the shoreboat over to Catalina. Summer, Laurie, Autumn and I went on a wildlife rafting tour, which was cool. We saw some blue herring, seagull nests, a bald eagle, and then went out and found dolphins. They were huge! and they kept swimming around the boat. Then we went back in and took a boat back to our ship to have lunch. Then Autumn and I went and met her brother and one of his friends and the four of us went snorkling. It was really cool, there was tons of fish! after that we headed back to the boat and we set sail again at 4:30. We laid out in the sun for a bit and then it got cold. We got ready for the captains dinner that night and it was really good. It's nice b/c all the food is included so you can have as many appetizers, entree's and desserts as you want! Then we went and looked as some of our pics that they take on the ship, then headed to a show in the Mikado lounge. I started to not feel so well so I went back to the room about 10:30. I ended up getting sick that night and was really sick and feeling like crap through the next day. I finally went to the infirmery around 12pm b/c i had been vomiting for over 12 hours and couldn't keep any fluids down. I was quite dehydrated and had to get some IV fluids and some nausea meds to help me stop dry heaving. The medicine made me really tired so when the IV was done I went back to the room about 2pm and slept till 5, woke up still didn't feel good so went back to sleep. Woke up about 6pm and was finally feeling better. I was told not to go to the dining room until I was cleard by the doctor so I had to order room service that night. So pretty much whole 3rd day was spent in the cabin.... we were supposed to dock at Ensenada the 3rd day but with the whole swine flu thing going on they didn't let anyone get off the ship. Everyone else just hung out, played volleyball and laid in the sun.

The 4th day was another day at sea. It was in the 70's but overcast. Laurie and I played some mini golf. Then wandered around the ship. We met up with everyone else for lunch and then we all played another round of mini golf. The dinner was really good that night too, I finally had my appetite back. We went to a comedy show but he wasn't that great. Then headed back to the cabin about 1am. We had to get up early to be out of the cabin by 8:30am. We got off the ship after breakfast and headed to the airport. Our flight wasn't till 12 so we all played catch phrase while waiting for our flight. The flight home was nice, very little turbulence. We landed and drove home thursday. It was really fun but I was glad to get home. I missed Aaron a lot and it was really hard to keep in contact with him because the internet on board is via satellite and really slow and there were international roaming/texting rates that were really expensive so I didn't talk to him much. For about 3 days after we got home I still felt like the ground was moving, it was so weird! I would like to go on another cruise sometime, hopefully with Aaron next time, now that I know what to expect.

Aaron's surprise 30th birthday party

Aaron and I on a bike ride at the river park

The spider on Aaron's wall..... it was huge! gross

Aaron and I at his surprise party

Aaron's friends playing in the pool at the party

Autumn and I

The horse shoe pit

Some of us girls at the party

Autumn and Darin's backyard, where we had Aaron's party

Maddy the cat and I

Aaron's friends thought it would be funny to give him Geritol for his birthday

Aaron and I

Getting the hot dogs ready

Playing beer pong

I made a ball in the cup

Aaron is turning 30 on May 24th so I decided to have a surprise party for him. He is very conscious about what is going on around him so I thought it would be really tough to get this party all together and invite all his friends without him knowing but I pulled it off and he didn't find out about it until we were pulling up to my friends house and one of his friends was running late and we pulled up right behind him. Then when we got there his roomate was right in the front of the house unloading an ice chest..... well at least I kept it a surprise until we got there..... so everyone was gathered in the living room waiting to yell "surprise" and aaron came in the back door b/c he helped his friend carry the ice chest to the backyard....

It was a really fun party. We had hot dogs/hamburgers, horse shoe pit, pool, lots of food and drinks, a slip n slide. It was a luau theme and overall it turned out really good. I got all of Aarons school friends and all his fishing buddies together and we all just had a good time. Autumn was nice enough to let us have this big party at their home, which is perfect for parties and it turned out great, so thank you Autumn!

One of the pics I posted is of this huge wolf spider that was on Aaron's wall. It was so big! I told him he had to kill it so when he went to kill it, it started running and Aaron was chasing it and tried to smash it again, and it ended up getting flung into the bed and ran down the backside between the mattress and headboard. Needless to say we tore Aaron's be apart and took off the Mattress and box springs and found it on the back of one of the box springs. Gross! I'm glad we found it. Then we cleaned all the dust from under his bed b/c I don't think it's been cleaned in like 7 years so there was tons of dust. I'm glad it was the weekend b/c that little adventure turned out to be about 2 1/2 hrs.....

Aaron and I have been riding our bikes as much as possible. The weathers been great and we've been going after he gets off work. I hope to ride again this weekend, or maybe fish. Tomorrow is Aaron's actual birthday so I guess he gets to pick what we do :)

I'm a slacker....

A Cool Thunderstorm in Redding

View from our Hotel room at the Luxor Las Vegas


Jake Owen performing on Freemont Street

Having fun at the free concerts

Aaron on Freemont Street

Me and my yummy Margarita

Aaron and I at the Tournament of Kings dinner

Tournament of Kings at the Excaliber

Las Vegas!

Kellie Pickler performing on Freemont Street

Aaron at Bass pro shops, Las Vegas

One of my fav pics... Aaron watching all the fish in the big tank at BPS

Me in front of the big fish tank

The shooting game at Bass Pro Shops

Trying to figure it out.....

The Bass Bench

Aaron winning big money on my favorite Machine, Jackpot Party

The girls at the Red Lion in Redding

At Johnny's in Redding

My bestie April and I

Riding my bicycle.....

A beautiful Anderson Evening.....

Aaron and I taking a break at the Sacramento River

Well i've been keeping myself pretty busy these days and my schedule is only getting busier.... April 2-7 Aaron and I went to Vegas for a vacation and to visit some of my family. It was a great trip other than the flying part (I just hate flying!) I was able to visit with my Aunt, Uncle and Cousins, so that was really nice. We got there Thursday and went to dinner with my Cousins for my cousin Jen's b-day, it was super good! Then Friday Aaron and I went to a Cirque de Soleil show "Ka" at the MGM Grand, it was okay, but I think Mystere is better. Then we went down to Freemont Street to the free concerts by Jake Owen and Jason Aldean. Saturday we went to the tournament of Kings at the Excaliber and then headed back down to Freemont Street for free concerts by Kellie Pickler and Leann Rimes. Sunday we went bowling and to dinner with my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin Jen, I love buffets :) Monday was Bass Pro Shops day, we spent over 3 hours in that store and then gambled a little at the Casino there and ate dinner since it was much cheaper than on the strip. Tuesday we had a nice breakfast and then got ready to head home. We slept in late and did a little gambling here and there, i mostly stick to the penny machines, lol. And just an FYI, never use the public transportation bus in Vegas! Its called the deuce and its horrible, we rode it twice and it took us an hour to get from the strip to Freemont Street! Will never ride it again, not to mention the annoying drunk people that ride it. The $20 taxi ride is so worth it!

April 17-18 was the Kool April Nights car show in Redding. I had a bunch of friends come into town and visit so that was fun. I had to work friday night so I slept most of Saturday but we all went out to dinner Saturday and then to the bar.... it was a fun night but the bars just aren't as fun as they used to be. I was missing Aaron the whole time we were there...( he had gotten up really early to go fishing and was too tired to go out) But I did have a blast with all my girl friends that were in town, it was great to see them all.

Aaron and I were able to go on a few bike rides this last weekend through the Anderson River park area. There are some really fun trails and its a great work out. Aaron and I are still getting used to riding but we're getting better. Aaron has been going a lot after work with some of his co-workers, finding new trails for us to ride on.

Other than that I've been working, cooking yummy dinners and spending time with Aaron cuddled up on the couch watching tv. I'm going on a cruise this sunday for 4 days for a bachelorette party. We are flying down to San diego on Sunday (yikes!) and then the ship docks at Catalina for a day and Ensenada for a day, however as of right now, Carnival is not docking in Mexican ports so we may not go to Ensenada. Even if we do dock there, I don't plan on getting off the ship, but i'm sure if one person picks up the swine flu, everyone on board will get it because ships are such close quarters. I'm not very concerned about it though, no one in the US has even died from the swine flu yet and the regular human flu kills 40,000 people in the US every year. I'm just watching the news and seeing what happens by this weekend.....

I love daylight savings!

Not much going on..... Aaron had a big FLW Stren Series tournament last week at Clear Lake. He did okay, about middle of the pack..... He has another tournament this Sunday at Clear lake, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed because he really wants to do great at this one... AND also on Sunday is our 1 year anniversary since our First Date. This past year has flown by so fast and it has been absolutely wonderful. I'm still as excited to see him everyday as I was when we first started dating :) We don't have anything big planned because he won't be home till late that night but we are going to Vegas in about 3 weeks so we can celebrate then.... other than that, it's just been the normal grind. I've been off for 4 days so tomorrow is my monday :( but it pays the bills so I can't complain.... Aaron will be going out of town on Saturday morning anyway. Oh and did I mention how much I absolutely love the time change?! I don't know why but it just puts me in a much better mood when it's lighter later, I love it! And hopefully Aaron and I will be able to go on some more bike rides soon, the weather has been gorgeous (however we still need a lot of rain to fill up the lake).... that's about it :)

Just another week.....

Well I don't have any new pictures since last post but I decided to post anyways to keep up with it. I worked a few days this week, then was on call thursday night and Friday I headed to Sacramento with Autumn to look for dresses for her wedding. We got there friday evening, went to dinner at Elephant Bar (it was really good) and then went back to her brothers house and we played Tripoly (a card and chip game) and spoons (another card game) until 3 in the morning..... We went to brunch at a restaurant called Roxy that her brother works at and that was super good too, and then went dress shopping at 3 different places, I think I tried on about 40 or 50 dresses, there are several that we both liked..... I got to use Autumns portable navagation device in my car while we were driving around Sac and now I want one! That thing helped a lot, maybe I wouldn't get lost so much if I get one, lol! I came home Saturday night and watched a movie. Today I slept in and just ran some errands etc, nothing too exciting to report. Just working on my Journal and watching TV......Hope everyone has a great week!

Finally feels like winter

My new specialized bike

My flowers :)

Our first mountain bike ride

Kelsey and I

Woopsie, its been a little while since i've posted. The last month has been great. It finally started raining and hasn't let up much since but that's okay because we really need it to fill up the lake.

A couple of my friends came back from Humboldt and visisted again, which was really nice. Kelsey and I got to catch up a lot and play lots of card games (we were friends back in grade school but haven't seen much of each other since) and Breanne did my hair while they were here (she is my hairstylist back in Humboldt). So it was a good weekend.

Aaron finally bought a mountain bike, I bought one (a cheap one...) about 5 months ago and had been waiting for Aaron to get one but of course since he's so tall, it took awhile to find one that would fit him. So we went for our first ride a couple weeks ago, it was just supposed to be a mellow ride and it turned into 8 miles! But that's okay, it was really fun and we only had to get off the bikes and walk up hill a few times. I did however realize that there is a BIG difference between a cheap Wal mart mountain bike and a "real" mountain bike. Needless to say, I now have a "real" mountain bike and it works great! We love to ride now, especially off rode. We are really lucky because there are a ton of trails in this area and it has been really fun exploring them.

Valentines day was great. I really wasn't expecting anything, I told him I didn't want anything except for a card. Then the door bell rang, and it was flowers :) 2 dozen to be exact. I'm sure you'll like our improv vase.... lol, its a bachelor pad! We went bike shopping for me and later had dinner at applebees and got to have our fav desert, a blondie and it was delicious! So we had a great first Valentines day together.

Aaron and I are planning a trip to Vegas in April to get away together and visit family and I can't wait! I'm also planning a cruise to Mexico for a bachelorette party for Autumn in May so I have a lot going on this spring. Also going to Sacramento this weekend to dress shop with Autumn for bridesmaids dresses, so i'm definitely keeping myself very busy :)