Roatan, Honduras

Helloooo Honduras! Our first port was to the island of Roatan- we made plans to go snorkeling and kayaking to take advantage of the awesome reef right off the island... BUT to our disappointment, our excursion was cancelled!! (BOO!) They said the water was too rough and had cancelled all the water excursions. So we decided to just get off the boat and be spontaneous!

So we rented a scooter!! We were confident we wouldn't get too lost, considering the island is only 32 miles long and 1-3 miles wide. What an adventure it turned out to be!

I got to enjoy the beautiful scenery, while Jason concentrated on the pot-hole filled roads! He drove that scooter like a champ! GO JASON!

Bye-bye cruise ship! I hope we can find our way back to you! (yikes!)

Beautiful! (I'm talking about my husband, but you can say it about the background :) )

We made it to the tippy-top of the island, with beautiful views all around and an old lighthouse.

Gorgeous.

Look! We pulled over quite a few times to take a closer look at the wild life, banana trees, and breath-taking views.

We found it! (by accident...) We noticed quite a few people going down this little road, so it was only natural to follow! And look what we found:

THE BEACH!!!!!

Notice there really isn't anyone in the water. That made us feel a little better about not getting to go on our previously planned adventure. We did some a couple of people trying to snorkel, but they seemed to just be fighting the rough waters the whole time- plus they said they weren't seeing anything. So now I feel ALOT better :)

Stud.

Back to the scooter! Hmm... where does this road go?

Well let me tell you- we drove down this road and decided to pull over to look at some houses. We're standing there, on the side of the road, talking and I feel this weird sensation on my right foot. (PS- I was wearing sandal-like tennis shoes) So I look down and realize that I am standing right in the middle of a huge ANT HILL!! AHHHH!! My foot is covered in ants. You can imagine the freak-out screams and dance that followed. Yikes! It took Jason a minute to realize what was wrong with me, hehe, poor guy. And I'm sure the locals just thought we were crazy Americans! I got my shoes off as fast as possible, and took care of the situation with any grace that I had left. Luckily. they weren't fire ants- but they did leave some horrific little bug bites that itched like crazy! Ugh, dang Honduras ants.

Cool tree.Bus, house, shack, casa?

Love my camera timer :) and love this picture, it's paradise! (except for all the poverty...) This is the tip of the island!

Why can't I grow these in Nampa?!

Or these?!

There were some random locals watching us like hawks! Kinda like we weren't supposed to be there... so we left :)

So all the pictures of Roatan stop here. And let me tell you why: shortly after we got back on our scooter, we got caught in a tropical rainstorm!! At this point we were in the middle of nowhere, soaked. We kept driving and around the corner we came upon this little hole-in-the-wall diner with locals eating and a carport! We were mostly interested in the shelter from the carport, but then decided to be brave and go get something to eat. At first, we weren't even sure if it really was a restaurant- there was just an outdoor (but covered) patio with a coca-cola sign with a tiny 19-inch TV playing some soccer game. Finally, a woman came out from the kitchen and we asked her if there was a menu. She said no, but then proceeded to tell us what they had to offer. I had the garlic shrimp and Jason had the stewed chicken. Our meals also included a small side salad, beans, rice, and fried bananas!! Oh my, I have never had fried bananas like this before. DELICIOUS. AMAZING. FANTASTIC. I was head over heels for these things! Luckily before we left, I got the cook to show us how they were made- someday I will re-create the dish. Someday. Needless to say, this was the BEST dish we ate all week! Better than any of the cruise ship food even! However.... the dish gave me food poisoning later that week. Boo. More of that story to come later, aren't you excited. HA.

After our amazing, bacteria infected meal- the storm had lightened up enough to get back on the scooter and head back to the other side of the island. We found their city center and did some touring while trying not to get trampled- driving there was a crazy madhouse! Jason drove that scooter like a champ!

Then back to our little boat we went. We were exhausted! What a day!

Recuperating by enjoying the night's performance in the Stardust Theatre!

Caribbean Cruise!!

This cruise has been 5 YEARS in the making. I like to think of it as a gift to Jason for putting up with me for the last 5 years, and a sneaky way to try and get 5 more out of him :) We booked the cruise 8 whole freaking months prior to out departure date! Talk about self control! Jason had a count down on his phone, and as the number got smaller, the anticipation got greater! Neither of us had ever been on a cruise, but it seemed like everyone else and their dog had been there done that- so we jumped on the bandwagon! This is going to take a couple of posts to give a full review and do it justice, but here's day one and two!!

All checked in at the port, waiting to board the ship! We could hardly wait!

Here's to hoping we WON'T have to get in those rescue boats!

Our cozy room- since this was our first cruise we went with a room that had a window. Jason's gotta give me five more years for the fancy-pants balcony suite :) And yes, that's my own pillow I brought all the way from Idaho. It's my mom's fault really- she got me hooked on those memory foam pillows and I was nervous about not getting a good night's rest on the standard pillows (only fellow memory foam users will understand my addiction!) So I stuffed it (literally) into Jason's suitcase, what a guy!

Good-bye Tampa! Good-bye America! Good-bye stress! Good-bye reality!

HELLOOOOO VACATION! HELLO PARADISE! HELLO HAPPINESS!!

Had to locate all the Life Saver rings, incase Jason decided to jump... or push me overboard! Yikes!

We had been looking forward to the Shuffleboard, being seasoned pro's from East Canyon. When we found out they had a tournament- we were knew we'd be the team to beat! OR NOT. Do you know how much those ships move your disc? REDICULOUS. Totally threw off my game, but we still had a good time!

Enjoying the sun...

Enjoying the sun a little more!

Dinner time! Truth is we were honestly a little disappointed in the food. Everyone we talked to always said how AMAZING the food was on the boat, and you'll gain 10 pounds, and yadda yadda yadda. Unfortunately none of that happened. (not so unfortunate for the weight I guess...) That's not to say the food was bad, it was just OKAY. We tried almost everything on the menu and everytime we would ask each other how it tasted and I was always just ALRIGHT. We fully expected to be blown away and it seemed to always just miss the mark. Oh well, at least we didn't starve :)

CONFESSION: I did have a small love affair with the CREPE station though. A-MAZ-ING.

Next Stop: Roatan, Honduras!! Stay tuned!

2011 Photobook

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BE MY GUEST!

So remember about 8 months ago how I was all excited about re-doing my guest bedroom? Turns out my summer project turned into a much MUCH longer project than I had intended. Standard. But I'm all about doing things right the FIRST time, so it is what it is. I'm excited to finally get this blogged! I spent alot of time gathering inspirations and following tutorials to get the look we wanted for as little $$$$ as possible (although it still wasn't as cheap as I wanted, things never are these days... that's a blog for another day...) So next time you're in Idaho, we'd love for you to come and be our GUEST!

Remember this beauty??


First we sold everything to get some cash for the new look! And I mean EVERYTHING! Gotta love Craigslist!

And now for some inspiration. I have this lovely blank canvas and a guest room that needed to be created! I found THIS and fell in love with the color scheme. Grey, Yellow, White, and Black it would be. Walls were painted "Fashion Gray" from Home Depot's BEHR brand.

And WHALA!! Here's the final product! I just LOVE how it turned out... sometimes I surprise myself :) So come be my guest and you can stay in my lovely new room!

And now for the BREAKDOWN: Where did I find it, how did I make it, where did I buy it, etc.

FRAME: It just so happens that my neighbors up and left their house one day, and left a big pile of rubble in their driveway with a FREE sign! My favorite! White frame used to be blue... nothing a little $3 spray paint can't fix!

VINYL LETTERING: An inspiration from Hobby Lobby- found the quote there, but it wasn't the right color or size. So I bought my own vinyl using a 40% off coupon from Craft Warefouse and a friend in the ward helped me use her Cricut machine to cut it out perfectly!

VASE: Found on clearance from Graples Home Decor for only $10, what a steal!

FRAME: Already had it :)

HORSES: Don't be jealous, but Jason gave me those while we were dating (a story for another day!) and I've never had a good place to put them until now!

SQUARE FRAMES: These were a MUST HAVE item for me. Don't ask why, I just fell in love with them and had to have them somewhere in my room! Thus, they were one of the splurges in the room... $20 a piece from IKEA. But I love them.

PICTURES: The one on the left was taken by yours truly! Jason took the other two, and we had them printed at Costco for $3 each.

ARMOIRE: Yeah... I'm not gonna go over that again. Read THIS post!

CHAIR: Found this beauty for $6 on craigslist. Had a white seat originally and it was super easy to recover! I mainly needed it for my craft closet right there. That and the corner felt so empty! It fits perfectly though! :)

VASE: This incredible Tulip vase was given to us for our wedding, but it's been sitting in our cupboard since then! I was so excited to be able to display it because I just love it! Flowers and black sand was courtesy of Michaels and a 50% off coupon. $5 bucks.

R: Bought from Hobby Lobby for 0.75 cents and painted for $1.50

SHELVES: Got these beauties for FREE from a Home Decor Swap party! You bring your old (but still in good condition) home decor you don't use anymore and SWAP it! So fun, and so useful! Love them.

LAMP: My sister, Jill, made the mistake of showing me this lamp from Kirklands.com- Needless to say it was another splurge BUT it was a steal of a deal for a lamp! Got it for $30 bucks!

PICTURES & FRAMES: Already had those :)

SIDE TABLE: Okay! I am so excited about this one. I looked ALL OVER for a side table that met my demands and my budget. It did not exsist. So we built one! (Say Whaa?!) Found the blue print and inspiration HERE. It was definately a more tricky build, and Jason and I learned ALOT about what we know and what we don't know about tools, wood, angles, measurements, etc. But it was a fun project to do together and I just LOVE how it turned out! We definately surprised ourselves on this one! Only about $35, not too shabby! Painted it a "Du Jour" White from Lowe's VALSPAR brand.

WHITE PILLOW: This was my in-between General Conferences project last October :) Found my inspiration HERE but wanted it to look more like THIS so I changed it up a bit, and that's what I came up with! I think I spent about $25 on fabric and filling for all the pillows combined in the room. And I have tons of filling left over for future pillows! Yay!

BLACK PILLOW: This just might be my favorite pillow in the room! Made from a T-shirt out of my DI pile! Found the inspiration HERE and used it to cover up a pillow I made in my 8th grade home economics class... believe me when I tell you, you don't want to see what's underneath! :)

WINDOW SEAT: Do you know how expensive foam is? Holy cow! Seriously! I don't know how people sleep at night charging that amount. Luckily for me I didn't have to buy any because there was a large couch cushion laying in my neighbors big pile of rubble! How perfect is that? It wasn't quite the right size- but I cut it and re-shaped to make it work and saved like $25! Go me!

GRAY PILLOWS: Saw pillows at Walmart for $15 similar to these. Couldn't find any tutorials similar so I just kinda made it up... not too crazy about how it turned out but they will do.

YELLOW PILLOW: Do you know how rare yellow pillows are?? I hate looking so hard for something, only to find it for $30+ and that definately wasn't in the budget. I knew I wanted something like THIS and so the yellow pillow is what I ended up with just kinda winging it.

BED SPREAD: Why are they always so dang expensive? All I wanted was for it to be white and simple! Found this one at The Burlington Coat Factory for $80

HEADBOARD: Wow, there are some really ugly headboards out there. I was intending to re-do one from craigslist but saw THIS and knew it had to be built! This was our first major woodworking project, and I think it turned out pretty good! And especially for only $45! This was also painted a "Du Jour" White from Lowe's VALSPAR brand.

1993 Christmas List

Pay close attention to #4...

PLEEEAASE VOTE FOR ME!!!

I am in the top 3 to win FREE LASIX! I am so excited, but I need your help! Please take a moment to follow the link below and register to vote for me! If these crazy eyes do anything for me in this life... it'll be to get me free lasix! Thanks so much for your help, and maybe next time I see you... it'll be WITHOUT glasses!! I can't thank you enough! I owe you!


PLEEEAASE VOTE FOR ME!!!!
http://www.1033kissfm.com/pages/landing_contest?contestID=2438

(I have never done this much begging in my life!)

FINALLY!!!

BEHOLD, THE CHAIR!

Remember this little puppy that I posted about MONTHS ago? Well it is finally done! It's actually been done for a while- everything except the back pillow, and I didn't want to post about it until it was completely finished. And now it is!! WAHOO! So I picked this up on the side of the road back in May... it had a lovely cardboard "FREE" sign on it- Jason was out of town, so
I decided to start a little project! Which actually turned out to be a rather BIG project. But oh well. I think in the end this ended up costing around $80 which was more expensive than I thought it would be, but WAY cheaper than it would be to buy it! So it's a win win.

It took up my parking spot for a while- it was way too dirty and super STINKY, so I didn't take it inside until I was ready to put the new fabric on.

I read numberous blogs, tutorials, and DIY websites to make sure I did it right- but I don't think I could have done it without Jill! She is a DIY diva and I probably called her 100 times to get it right. She even mailed me her staple gun which was AMAZING! I love sisters :)

So this is pretty much what it looked like for a while... I just wanted to be done with it, but it still needed pillows for sure.

TA-DA! The back pillow was probably the most challenging part of the whole project, probably because it didn't have one before and I had to make it up. It turned out okay for a first timer. I'm just so glad to have it finished! (And I'm sure Jason is too! He's such a trooper!) Hooray for make-overs!

Now don't think I forgot to post about my guest bedroom makeover... it's not quite done yet either, but it's getting close!! Here's a little sneek peak! (And no, the headboard is not done in this picture.)