#kellycousincruise

We had an amazing vacation with 4 of Sam's cousins and his brother Scott and all of their spouses. We went on a royal Caribbean cruise to Roatan, Honduras and Cozumel, Mexico. It was delightful!

We met everyone in ft. Lauderdale on Sunday, Mother's Day, and headed straight to the beach! We ventured around with Scott and Michelle that evening to tour Sam's mission. We drove down to Miami and ate at a great restaurant that served food from Sam's mission. 

On Monday afternoon we boarded the cruise ship and went straight to grab some food and head to the pool! We did a lot of game playing, swimming, relaxing, chatting and catching up! It was so great to see everyone, it's been years!

When we got to Roatan, Sam and I decided to go zip lining and spend the rest of the day at the beach snorkeling. It was gorgeous! We had so much fun zip lining and actually got to do the largest zip line tour there, which was awesome! The reef we snorkeled on was amazing and beautiful! 

In cozumel, we spent the day riding around the island on scooters with everyone! It was a blast!! Until, Scott and Michelle had their scooter break down and we had to attempt to chase down the owner to get a new one. About 2 hours later, and thank goodness for Sam speaking spanish, we were able to get another and head to the beach. Sam and I rented a kayak and spent the afternoon kayaking and snorkeling. It was very relaxing! 

An amazing vacation indeed! Can't wait to do it again in 5 years!! 

Labor Day Virginia Trip

We decided to make the trip to Charlottesville, VA to continue Sam's 30th birthday celebration. He and his friend, Ryan (who attended medical school at UVA), wanted to see BYU play UVA over Labor Day weekend. So, we made a weekend trip out of it and visited the school, went on a hike and traveled to Burke, VA and hit the Cafe Rio on our way home!

Sam enjoyed the game and had a lot of fun with the guys. I was able to spend time with Cheryl, Ryan's wife, and the kiddos. We had a lot of fun driving around the city and eating yummy food! 

Sam and I wanted to get a hike in before we left so we could enjoy the beautiful outdoors. It had been way too long since moving to NC and we knew we wanted to at least get one hike in. It was amazing! It was about 4 miles round trip. Bristol made it .9 mi before asking to be held. We were proud! Burke loved the moby and slept through most of it. It felt so good to get outside and do what we love to do! We miss it so much and cannot wait until we settle in next to the mountains in a few years.. 

We wanted to travel about 1 hour out of our way to go to Burke, VA and hit the cafe rio there. It was definitely worth the trip. It was fun being in Burke and visiting the small town, but Cafe Rio tasted great! We miss that, too!

Nana to Visit NC

Nana came from Oregon to visit us and to meet Burke! It was wonderful having my mom here to help us out and to enjoy what NC has to offer. We were able to make it out to the beach for a quick trip to Wilmington. We rode on the ferry and Bristol was elated with the boat ride. It was beautiful weather, a little hot, but wonderful. It always takes those who are not from here some time to get used to the humidity and heat. It can be pretty brutal in the summer and in July is when it really starts to heat up.

Nonetheless, we had a great time enjoying each others company. I had was still in my last clinical rotation, so Nana was able to spend some quality time with the kids while Sam and I worked. It was great having her here and we cannot wait until she comes again! We love you, Nana.

2nd Annual Girls Weekend with My Sister!!

This is the second year Bristol and I have traveled down to beautiful California to visit my sister! We have loved doing this, especially when it is in February!! We enjoyed going to the beach, the zoo and the amazing outdoor market that I envied so much. It is always great to visit and to have fun in the 70 degree weather while escaping the 30 degree temperature in Utah! Bristol loves seeing KiKi!

Washington D.C. and NYC 11/2011

I was sent to a conference in Bethesda, MD for work. We decided to make it our family vacation and Sam and Bris tagged along. My conference was from Wednesday to Friday, then we spent Saturday to Tuesday to play! It was a lot of fun!! I love the East Coast, especially in the fall. The leaves were gorgeous, and the weather was spectacular! It was great spending time with the Hill family. Sam and Bris were able to sneak away during the day to spend with Kathryn and the girls! They had a lot of fun exploring D.C. with the locals! I was able to sneak away on a couple of afternoons and spend time with them also. We spent all day Saturday seeing the sites in D.C.

Sam and I were able to sneak away to NYC for Sunday night and spend all day Sunday and Monday being NYC tourists. We had so much fun in each city! It was an amazing treat for us to get out there, and a big thank you to the Hills for letting us stay at their home and for their free tour guides!

Weekend Trip to St. George, UT

Sam's brother Scott signed up for the St. George Triathlon this year and Sam was supposed to do it with him. Being Sam, and hating to run, he decided to back out. We still wanted to make the trip to go down to St. George and support Scott as well as get away for the weekend. It was so much fun to be in the hot Southern Utah sun for one last time before we all hibernate for the winter. We had a lot of fun during the race- Bris swam in the lake and loved cooling off. We also went swimming and the boys went mountain biking. It was a blast to get away for the weekend!!

BYU in Texas

Sam was very lucky this year that Michelle had Nixon right around the time that BYU flies their sponsors to a game. Scott asked Sam if he wanted to go, and of course he couldn't turn it down. To make things even better (what is better than a free trip with your bro to watch football, you might ask?) Jimmer Fredette was invited along as well. Those boys were spoiled. Sam was ecstatic, of course! They had a great time- touring the town, the college, the stadium, eating good food, and of course watching football!

HTC and Oregon Trip August 2011

This year I participated in the Hood to Coast race in Oregon. It was something I had always wanted to do and was never able to get that many people together who would want to do it. My great friend Rhoda had an extra spot on her team and I couldn't pass it up. I was assigned 3 legs at about 6 miles each. My runs were at 4:30 am, 2 pm and 1:30 am. It was awesome! I had so much fun and would love to do a relay again!

We also took advantage of our time in Oregon and spent it with Tom and Tracy. We spent a little time at the Oregon Coast and played in the sand. Bristol loved running around and throwing sand everywhere. She loved chasing Scout and digging holes with Daddy.

We also went to the Oregon Zoo with my mom, aunt and grandma. Bristol LOVED the zoo. She is into making animal noises these days, so it was a lot of fun for her to run from animal to animal and making the noises. She was all tuckered out by the end, but it was a great trip! My mother also gave Bris her first doll! She is in love with the thing! She always says "baby, baby!" We were able to meet up with my brother and cousin Amy for lunch after the Zoo. It was so nice to get everyone together for our quick trip!!