Lists, LISTS, lists

As of lately Jake and I have created some lists, of things we want to do and accomplish. The first list was inspired by my sister, Jamie. The second list was inspired by the tv show "How I Met Your Mother".

The first list I decided to do around Christmas time. It was right after that awful school shooting, and all those precious lives taken. Ann Curry from the today show posted an idea how we always seem to focus on the shooter and you see his name all over the news, when in reality we need to focus on the lives lost. They were a total of 27 killed including the shooter himself. But since we aren't focusing on him there were 26 lives he took. She decided how neat would it be if we did 26 random acts of kindness in honor of those kids and teachers. My sister Jamie told me about the article and idea and she showed me some of the things she had already done. I was sold. I loved the idea. I didn't make the list however until after Christmas. But I figured I could give service anytime! So here is my first list. (some things are not on the list cause they are private) But I took pictures of the things I have done this far.

26 Acts Of Kindness

1. Leave box of Oreo's for mailman with thank you card

2. Put $5 dollars on a persons windshield

3.Leave 4 quarters on a vending machine

4.Collect carts at Walmart parking lot and put them back

5.Leave a big tip at dinner-we had the BEST waitress, and left her a 100% tip

6.(a secret)

7.Send flowers to someone random

8.Write a letter to someone who changed my life

9.Shovel someone's sidewalk- I shoveled our whole town home section

10.(secret)

11.(secret)

12.Send classroom some supplies

13.Leave a book for someone to read anywhere

14.Leave money on a cup at a gas station for a new drink

15. Leave a $1 and a bag of popcorn at Redbox

16.Leave a random post it note on a bathroom mirror with an uplifting thought

17.Send a pizza to a fire station

18.Ding dong ditch one of my neighbors with a box of ding dongs

19.Leave $1 bills in the toy section

20.Write a cute little note and send it to someone in a diff. state

21.Bring in doughnuts to my coworkers at the hospital

22-26. Hand out 5 suckers to 5 random kids with a balloon

Now for the second list. One day I was watching How I met your Mother and two of the characters are married named Marshall and Lily and they had been trying to get prego for over a year, it was consuming them and making them really upset. (sound familiar) One day they decided to stop thinking about it and enjoy the time they had together and make a list of things they wanted to do before they got pregnant. They called it the "Crib List". A bucket list for pre-baby. I was inspired and we created our own together.

Our Crib List

1. Drive up to Park city just for a few hours and eat at Bandido's

2.Take a random on the spot trip to St. George or Vegas AKA ROAD TRIP

3.Spend an entire day watching movies- we each picked two movies, it was so fun!

4.Partake of all the crazy "Ice Cream" we can, at different places and different times (this is sex people)

5.Travel, Travel, Travel- one place traveled two more to go

6.Go to Montana

7.Accomplish a goal from our "bucket list"- we have already done 3 this year: Go on a cruise, sing karaoke  and save over $10,000.

8.Reach ideal weight

9.Save money

10.Go camping

11. Scrapbook our lives thus far

12.Serve people

Bahama's part {3} our last day :(

This was our last day on an island and our last day at sea. I really really didn't want to go home. Usually I feel pretty great about leaving but this vacation I could have stayed for another week..or two. :)

Our cruise ship took us to Nassau, Bahamas which is the capitol. When we got there it looked really run down, and not anything like what you would pictures the Bahama's to be like. I was really grateful we had planned an excursion and that it was at a well known and well run place...known as Atlantis. I was also super excited cause people pay big bucks to stay at this resort and all we did is a day pass which was well worth it and I thought decently priced.

Today was also the day of our 2 year Anniversary! But this also was a really rotten day for me! I was on my period and I wasn't thrilled to be going to a water park, but YOLO and Carpe Diem, RIGHT?? 

(This story is a little TMI but thats who I am so JUST WARNING YOU) Well we arrive at the resort and I had on a white cover up I pull off my coverup and my sister was like "Jenessa go to the bathroom." I looked down and I had bled through my swim bottoms. Sad day. So I go to the bathroom and just decide I would wear my cover up the rest of the day. Well we go on a couple rides and than my sister and I decide to go to the bathroom, but I told her I had to go grab a tampon real quick. We go to our chairs and once again, someone says "Jenessa you need to go to the bathroom now." I look down and I had bled through my cover up in 3 different places. At this point I kinda started crying in the bathroom cause A) I'm emotional B) this is SO embarrassing C) I am at this amazing water park and cant really enjoy myself and D) this was the period from HELL!! I compose myself and decide I will just wrap a towel around me and be done with swimming. I put on a towel that had blue and white stripes. By this point the entire family is there and they all know the situation and can tell I'm upset. We start walking and my dad asks "You okay?" I just nodded and walked ahead of him, I hear him call to my older sister and she comes running up to me and whispers in my ear "You soaked through the towel!" I just start bawling into her shoulder. I had had it!! We finally found a dark blue towel and I got through the rest of the day, by the time we got back to the cruise ship things had died down, and I was okay. But so sad huh?

Once we got back on the ship Jake and I got all dolled up, cause it was our last night and our anniversary. I had ordered an anniversary cake before we got on the ship that they brough out to dinner and sang to us. We felt pretty special. We also partook of the Martinelli's! We took pictures with our awesome dinner service men, who rocked it!

We got up the next morning and we were in Miami, I was so bummed, I really didn't want to leave. It was the trip of a lifetime and I am so glad we did it! I am so grateful to my parents for paying for it, thinking of it, and actually getting us all to do it!! I already am planning our next trip as soon as possible! Stay tuned!

Bahamas part {2}

This was my favorite day of the Bahamas!! This was the day we went to Half Moon Cay! Carnival was the cruise ship we went on, and they own this island all for themselves. It's got gorgeous blue water and white soft sand. It was literal paradise! I could have stayed there for days and days!

When we first got there we went on our first excursion which was Kayaking! We went to a separate beach on the island and Jake and I were in one together and we went around the island and saw different parts of it!! It was so fun and exciting!!

After Kayaking, we grabbed lunch and went and layed out on the beach! It was breathtaking!! We swam in the ocean. My little bro even got his swim shorts taken off!! Good times!! 

After that we did Snorkeling with Sting Rays! It was AWESOME!! At first I was really hesitant cause I was afraid of them, but after petting them and having them brush up on my leg a couple times I eased up!! After a while we all got in a circle and we put squid into our hand and let the sting rays come up and eat it! It was so crazy and cool!! Unfortunately all the pics of that are on my sisters camera! :(

By the time we were done, it was almost time to go. But there were a few local shops that Jake and I decided to look around and see! I found a gift for my mother in law and a really cute hat for me! I loved it! I am glad I got something from the island!

We finally got back to our ship and had literally two minutes to get ready for dinner. But we did! And it ended our perfect day at Half moon Cay!

Bahama's {part 1}

There is just so much to share about my cruise that I will have to do it in 3 segments. I don't want to overwhelm you with the awesomeness of my cruise!!

We flew into Miami at around 5:35 AM and went to have breakfast at the hotel. We were all so exhausted from flying on a red eye on a uncomfortable plane that we all were falling asleep at the breakfast table. We ended up going out to the pool to sleep on lounge chairs till we could check in at 11. We all loved the weather and enjoyed some local animals.

We checked in and decided to go to the local mall. It had over 200 shops a movie Theater and 30 restaurants it was huge!! My family went and saw Les Miserables but Jake and I had already seen it so instead we went to Wreck it Ralph cause I had been begging him to go! We loved it. We went and grabbed some new flip flops for Jake and two new roxy shirts for me! I was so happy! We met up with my family and went to Dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. My cute brother fell asleep at the table.

We got back to our hotel around 9 and we were all exhausted. All the boys went to play basketball and the girls went straight to bed. I was laying there in bed when I was thinking about how I wanted to wear one of my new shirts the next day, I got up and started searching for it. Jake had been carrying the bags all day and I realized he never brought him up to the hotel room. I started freaking out a little cause Jake is known to misplace things like.... ALL THE TIME! He came back from ball and we confirmed that he left it in the Taxi cab and there was no way to return it. I was so livid. I didn't talk to Jake till the next morning. But were okay now, just a sad story I wanted to share.

We woke up and drove to our cruise ship. We got on with ease and it was so crazy that we were finally there. We all got in swimsuits and grabbed a lounge chair and soaked up some Miami sun till we set sail. All the girls ordered specialty drinks and I knew it was going to be a good week! 

That night my mom, sisters, and I went to play bingo. We were so excited it was one of the things we were looking forward to. We were told when your one away from a Bingo you should stand up, well both my mom and my sister Kylie were standing. My mom started chanting B13, B13. When all the sudden they called B13!! My mom had won $500 dollars! Unfortunately a guy tied with here so they gave them the choice of sudden death or both to walk away with $300. My mom took the cash!

I gambled for the first time on the cruise and won 16 dollars in the penny slots. The next day was our day at sea. We enjoyed some more laying out. Jake and I also went to the very top deck to play mini golf and only did 3 holes, because it was so windy I was literally getting knocked down and my clothes were coming off. That night was formal night, which was so fun! We got to dress up in nice clothes and ate amazing meals! They had a variety show after that was fun! It was a perfect end for that day.  

The next day we went to our first Island which was Turks and Caico's. It was the furthest Island from Florida. We decided that since it was the shortest day we would just spend it at the beautiful beach. It was gorgeous. We took lots of pictures, played in the sand, layed out, ate local food and just had a good relaxing time. Jake was in heaven playing volleyball on the beach. He also was a good sport and let us bury him in sand. That night we ended it with the casino and Karaoke.

Stay tuned for part 2!