Cruise Day 1: Leaving Tampa

Day 1: Leaving Tampa!!!
Let's recap: Ashley's wedding was Saturday. The reception was Saturday night. I left the reception at 9 to drive to the SLC airport where I caught the red-eye back to Atlanta (left 2:50 GA time), got into ATL and then tried to catch the earliest flight at 7:20 to TPA (I had a ticket on the 8:40 flight, but wanted to get in asap). So Erin arrived in Tampa around 8:45ish dead tired. Justin drove down with Mom/Dad/Claire, and Katie and Scott both flew in to Tampa Saturday night. Anyways, M/D/J had errands to run, so they dropped me off with the other kiddos and the girlies took a nap to get ready for all the fun they were about to have:


We finally got the car loaded and ready to go. We had the trailer hitch thing on the back with all 6 roller carry-ons, threw Scott in the very back with luggage beside, on top, and behind him (see his hand waving from the back), and put the four of us across the middle. We just hoped no cop would pull us over :)

So finally we park the car, drop off the luggage, wait for D/J to return from parking the car, wait in line to check in/go through security etc.. and are about to get on a boat! Justin's first cruise:

It felt like coming home ;) PS - my favorite part of all these pictures is the look of excitement in everyone's faces. Even if they're waiting for their turn to walk across.

We get on the boat, and everything was decked out in Christmas stuff! There was even a darling little Christmas village in the main lobby. I wish we'd gotten more pictures of the inside of the ship. We were on the Carnival Legend and it was SUCH a beautiful boat! I've only been on 3 cruises, but my parents are now in the teens and kept saying how the Legend was the most beautiful boat they'd ever been on. The theme was "legends" - so there were statues and paintings of famous legends like Hercules, Colossus of Rhodes, unicorns, fair maidens, Gulliver, etc... Very cool.

Since our staterooms were not yet ready, we hopped in an elevator to go get some lunch and then do some exploring of the ship. Can't you tell we're happy to be here?

One thing we found was SUSHI! They had 3 different kinds every day. We usually forgot to come, but we did hit it up a few times. Bless Katie's heart, she keeps trying sushi hoping she'll fall in love with it, but every time she tries it she doesn't like it. Justin and I did, although we have a great sushi place here that was probably better. Still: free sushi? Yes, please!

Katie and Claire were quick to find the ice cream stations. Katie said her total was somewhere between 24 and 25 chocolate frozen yogurts. Yum!

As we explored the boat, Katie found the opportunity to take some fun pictures. The rest of us followed suit.

This is dad's ANTM audition picture.

In front of the iconic Carnival steam thing (what are they officially called?) What's cool about the Legend is the smoke stack (is that what's it's called?) was see-through and from the top floor on the elevator you could look right up into it and see a BEAUTIFUL painting. Did I mention what a beautiful ship it was?

Scott found the hot tub but had a hard time adjusting from the cold outside air to the hot water.

We decided to get a head start on our tanning while we could. Unfortunately it was FAR too cold to take any more clothes off.

At the mandatory safety drill. Now on the other cruises I've been on you actually wear your life jacket, which turns into a wonderful photo shoot. Not today :( So we just stood on the deck with our fellow cruise passengers. We were just down the row from K/S/C...

...who apparently DID try to wear their life jackets. They were stopped before getting too far and so they returned the life jackets to their stateroom. But who says you can't have a photo shoot anyways?

SO HAPPY TO BE HERE!!! (Although I am tired)

Somewhere after 6 we passed under the Sunshine Bridge. This was SO COOL to see. The boat clears the bridge by mere feet. If you cruise out of Tampa, I recommend you go watch this. I only wish it was light outside so Justin could see the Sunshine Bridge. It's a GORGEOUS bridge. The Travel Channel actually ranked it in its top 10 bridges in the US. I've been over it (EFY St. Petersburg, yeah!) and know how gorgeous and big it is. Still, going in night was fun.

Crem-brulee for dessert. Claire and Justin enjoyed it.

And when we came home we had a pet walrus waiting for us. Such a fluffy comforter and pillows, such a good night's sleep!!!!!!!! Stay tuned for Day 2... AT SEA.

We are the Champions!

Our football team made it to the state championship game this year. SO EXCITING. Our team lost :(, but in the week leading up to the big game, the school had a door decorating contest. Ms. Emily Woodward and I (teacher next door) decided to combine forces and create one monster, award-winning door by combining forces. The result was life-changing. And yes, we did win the competition :)

And in picture form:

yes, we went on the ceiling!

(if we had won, our record would have been 15-0, thus the score) The students who put the most work into it Mrs. Badger and Ms. Woodward - door decorating CHAMPIONS!
ps - it was a REALLY fun day and it made me feel so cool when so many kids would come by and gawk at it and say "Oh man, that's SO cool." I swelled with pride each time. By the end of the day it was hard to get out of the building because my head had gotten so big!

Ugly Sweater Party/Ashley's Wedding

Before I feel justified in posting about the cruise, I must first blog about the Ugly Sweater Party we threw and my best friend's wedding.

Ugly Sweater Party: we had LOTS of yummy food and played some very fun games. I think we all laughed so hard we cried or snorted or both. It was SO fun to do stuff with other couples in our area. It was the first party we've hosted and I think I sense an annual tradition. Plus a lot more fun in store with all the people who came. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and loved making more friends. Yay!

Played a game called "warewolves" - like Mafia but better

Laura skinned a Sesame Street animal to make hers. And Amy's blinded you it was so sparkly with sequins and her necklaces. Kristin... love it.

Our official Badger Christmas Card picture. :) Maybe next year we'll do real pictures that are less cheesy. And hopefully we'll send out a lot more. It was our first and trial year, so we didn't send very many.

Best friend's wedding: My best friend of 20+ years got married!! I can honestly say that she was the MOST beautiful, happiest bride I have ever seen. Her dress was GORGEOUS, her husband overjoyed, and everything all day went off without a hitch. WONDERFUL DAY. I was beaming like a proud parent all day and am SO thrilled for Ashley and Brian.

Highlights of the weekend: getting nails done with all the bridesmaids, eating Cafe Rio (SUCH a treat), wedding day breakfast of chicken biscuits from CFA and toaster struedles (sp?), and of course all the wedding day magic. *sigh* I love LOVE!

Ashley's excited face when she woke up :)

Eating our YUMMY breakfast. And yes, all 6 of us slept in one hotel room (thank you dear inventor of roller beds)

Eating lunch before the temple with my other two best friends (all from PTC, GA). We've all been bridesmaids for each other and I LOVE them! We're the 4 Muskateers.

So many people love Ashley and flew in for the wedding :)

Yeah, we're cool and we know it.

Back view of Ashley's AMAZING dress. Sorry, didn't get one from the front.

Amy + Tanner = crazy dancing fun. Love that family

Congrats Ash!!!! Love you SO much and can't wait to go on couples cruises and to Disney with you!!!

*Marriage = LAST GREAT HOPE*

;)

Festive Holiday Update

Well it is that time of year again to reminisce and share our highlights and downfalls and make resolutions to be even better next year. For us, this year has been FULL of blessings mixed with car problems, a dash of sickness and one not fun funeral of a very loved grandpa:( but overall we have been blessed beyond what we could have hoped or imagined. Let us give you a little update on how we are doing...

Erin
Erin is in her second year of teaching at Starr's Mill High School in Peachtree City, GA and is LOVING it. She teaches freshman math and is pretty much the favorite teacher. There have been a lot less tears and trials this year than there were last year, for which we are both very grateful. She also finished her second year of coaching the JV girl's volleyball team. They had a FANTASTIC winning season, also a great improvement from last year. However, teaching full-time and coaching one sport was not enough for our Erin so she is going to start coaching the girl's JV lacrosse team starting next month, which she is nervous and excited about.

Erin is serving at church as the first counselor in the young women's presidency. She loves her girls, LOVES the women she serves with, and is especially excited for the Disney-themed Girls Camp in June :) Serving in the program definitely makes for a busy Wednesday and Sunday, but it is all worth it.

Justin
Justin is still working for Delta Airlines, but has been extremely blessed with two job promotions in the last six months and is currently working as a Program Manager for In-Flight Service Communications, which is basically internal corporate communications, but specifically for the In-Flight Service department. It is a great place to work, great people to work with and he is learning a lot and loving it. (definitely better than throwing bags)

Justin is serving at church as the first counselor in the young men's presidency. Which he absolutely loves. He teaches and works with the Teacher age boys and has a GREAT group of guys. Again, it also makes for busy Sundays and Wednesdays, but it is fun we are both in the youth program together.

US
We have been blessed beyond measure this year, with a great apartment, fun trips, new jobs and thanks to the help of Dave Ramsey we are DEBT FREE! We have been working hard and saving up and only pay cash for EVERYTHING! Because of this it has taken us a little longer to furnish our house, we still eat on a card table and sleep on a double mattress on the floor, but we are working to remedy that soon. We have seen so many blessings as we have worked to follow the prophet's counsel to get out of debt and stay out of debt and it has truly changed our lives. During this process we have had some struggles and challenges with our cars and feel like the shop is where we park our cars and we are just use them for a couple weeks. However, these challenges have only made our successes and blessings more sweet.

We have had some fun trips throughout the year to DC, NYC, Utah, Idaho, Las Vegas, Disney World and North Carolina and we will be going on a cruise later this month, more to come on that when we get back. Overall 2010 was a fabulous year and we look forward to another great year together. We love you all and wish you the best, thanks for reading and have a very merry Christmas!

We may have overdone it...

Every year the SMHS choral department has a candlelight processional Christmas concert combined with a silent auction. The money earned goes towards choral student scholarships (of which both my sister and I partook).

Being adults who actually have money, last year I thought it would be fun to buy something. There were some GREAT decorations and it was our first Christmas and I was so excited. Well, wouldn't you know but everything I bid on was something that this lady Jana also wanted. She was such an animal! I'd outbid her, she'd outbid me. I think she was hiding in my shadows! Much to my disappointment, she beat me on EVERYTHING and we walked away empty handed :(

This year, I was going to get SOMETHING. I don't like losing, especially not when cute Christmas stuff is on the line. So this year, Justin and I spread ourselves out and did two things: 1- we outbid others by only $1 (ex: if the last bid was $20, we bid $21), and 2- we bid on a few more things than last year. We figured that combining these two would result in our spending as little money as possible but actually walking away with something.

Wouldn't you know it, but we won EVERYTHING we bid for. Even though there was a full 10 minutes more of bidding left when we wrote our names down. And, of course, it ALL had to do with food. Needless to say, lots of comments that night and at school the next day.

The bounty: mini-Christmas tree (not edible), Snowman cookie jar (I OUTBID JANA THIS YEAR for this one, but kind of accidentally - I was only trying to drive up the price b/c I knew she would get it b/c she's so hard core. oops), Fondue Fun Basket, Cookie Basket (BEST COOKIES EVER), Fudge Brownies, Dining In and Dining Out Basket, and a cake. We gave the cake to one of my student's younger siblings. But here's our loot:

Only In High School

I don't have any biological children at this point. But I do have 125 students and feel like they count for something, right?

The other day in class, a very eager young man who NEEDS A BELT was at the board doing a problem in front of the class. As he's working, he's getting lower and lower on the board. Yes, he needs to bend over to get closer to the bottom of the board. You can guess what is happening to his pants.

Another student in the class decides to inform our friend about the situation by saying, "Your trousers are descending."

Did you really just say that? Oh my word, couldn't help but burst out laughing. Love my kids.