a last hoorah- of sorts

we knew our life of ultimate freedom was coming to a close, so we had to go out with a bang. in the midst of packing and hauling stuff to our new apartment in orem, we took time to smell the poppies.

here's us just trying to look natural in a field of poppies. completely normal.

eddie and kylee invited us to go to a condo in eden for a few days. it was fabulous. eden is a beautiful little city nestled clear up in ogden canyon. we played mini golf, swam, hiked, slept and just enjoyed having nothing to do. it was a great escape.

cade and eddie found some cowboy hats somewhere, much to the girls' delight.


a bunch of friends joined us as well for dinner and the evening festivities. as you may notice, it was a bit chilly for a june evening.

it was perfect to get away and enjoy time with our friends.

later on, we were also able to attend the conor oberst and the mystic valley band show which was playing at library square in slc. cade is a huge bright eyes fan and i have been wanting to see conor in concert for a long time now (we even tried to go in paris while we were in europe). we were able to meet up with cade's cousin, dylan, and had a great time.


after that- the only thing left to do was get some aggie ice cream and make the move official.

for those of you who don't know, cade found a fabulous job as a marketing analyst for a company called xactware in orem. we were excited to move- but i was worried about getting a job myself. after applying to a few companies i ended up with 2 offers that were great- but i was having such a hard time deciding which offer to take! one job was a writing position and the other was in human resources. after much debate, poll taking and prayers- i chose the hr job. this decision shocked some people because i have always wanted to write- but i just felt so good about the hr job. plus- this means that cade and i will be working at the same company again! the hr job was at xactware as well. we couldn't have planned it better. even though we work in different departments and rarely see one another at work, it is fun to be with xactware together. we were the first husband and wife set to start on the same day. ya, we're pretty cool. but really- we are liking the jobs and excited about the future. here we are on our very first day of work in front of our new apartment.

and thus begins real life.

ahhh yes, the cruise.

every year, my dear grammy takes the whole family on a vacation together. she has taken us all over the world and we love every minute of it. this year, our travels took all 23 of us to the caribbean for a pretty sweet cruise. this is a picture overload- so if you don't really think we are all that cool, just go ahead and skip to the next blog you were planning on reading today. i won't be offended.

so we flew into orlando in small, separate groups; yet, we somehow all manged to find our way into orlando's ghetto where super 8 rooms are a cheap 25 bucks a room (that even includes breakfast, cha ching!). despite the sketchy neightborhood, we all felt safe and right at home as we crammed into one another's rooms to catch up and hang out. little owen was as high as a kite until at least 4 in the morning.

the next morning, we all packed into the vans and headed out to board the ship.


cade was 'the most excited person on the entire cruise ship' and he let everyone know it. here he is making his first step from the gangway to the boat.

the first day we spent getting to know the ship and exploring as we sailed off to our desitnations.






our first stop was in the bahamas. we went out to atlantis resort on the island and visited the aquarium and such. they had cool statues and stuff, so we took a few jumping shots. yes, to answer the question i can already hear you asking, there was a crowd of people watching us jump of this ledge. but to see my grammy jump like this is priceless.



these are the jellyfish cade got to see because he snuck into some restricted area. he took a picture for the rest of us because there is no way anyone else but cade could get through without being caught. that's just cade's life.



the next few days at sea were spent gorging ourselves on delicious eats.




cade made sure to weigh himself before the vacation to measure how much poundage he could put on. in the end, it was a full 5 pounds. i wasn't that excited about stepping on the luggage scale at the airport so the ticketsales guy could shout out my weight for the record- so i will just assumed i gained 20 poounds or so... at least that is what i feel like.

nana and gramps loved spending time with the grandbabies.

our next stop was st. thomas. it was beautiful there. we did a little shopping and then boarded a ferry to another island, st. john, where we went snorkling. i wish i would have taken more pictures but we literally spent all of our time in the water.




our final stop was st martin. we had so much fun here. we all rented jeeps and took off to some great beaches. the unfortunate part was after just a few photos, our camera died and my sister left hers in another bag... so trust me when i say this place is great. here is one of 2 photos we got, and while it may look like we are safely enjoying the beach- a few seconds later a big wave took both of us out.

the coolest beach was about 50 yards off of the island's main landing strip. we would play on the beach and watch as all the planes would come flying in to land. it seriously looked like they were going to land on us. there was a huge jet that was getting ready for takeoff and we all foolishly decided to stand behind it as it powered up. dirt and rocks pelted into us and the blast sent one guy tumbling backwards into the ocean. if you ever get to st. martin- go to this beach! <- click that link to see a youtube video.

the rest of the time was spent on the boat as we traveled back to florida. cade was sure to keep a daily schedule in his pocket as to not miss anything. this resulted in a first place win in the ping pong tournament,


and our participation in bean bag toss competitions

mini golf tournaments


and free throw contests. cade didn't miss a thing and it was a blast being on a cruise with him.

on the way back to the airport, cade lied to my grammy and instead of taking us to get food, he took us all over tampa and even to his old apartment complex. i laugh now because i can still hear my grammy's voice yelling for him to turn back around because we were 'lost.'


really though, i am so thankful my grammy has these vacations every year. it is so fun to be with the whole fam and to make all these crazy memories.

i wonder where we'll go next year...

norton taylor boyle camping 09

i am pretty sure we have been off having some great adventures this june- and i have a bunch to catch up on...

first off is our camping trip to porcupine reservoir. i hesitate to talk this place up too much because it is such a well-kept secret; but because i trust most of you out there- here is my recommendation: go to porcupine.

after limited planning, we just headed up the mountain for a nice, little retreat. honestly speaking- this was at the beginning of june so my memory is a tad foggy, so i will just let the pictures speak for themselves.

here is our campsite right off the lake. despite what you're all thinking, there were no mosquitos. the water level was sooo high and the majority of the trees at this spot were buried. this left some fun moments trying to find some pee privacy. ever-clever kylee, however, came up with a great makeshift stall.


the canoe: we all freely climbed aboard which led to the song "six men in a little boat" to be sung whenever we passed fishermen or fellow campers. this also led to some canoe songs cade has picked up over the years. my paddle keen and bright, flashing like silver.....? we only managed to tip it once... well, i only managed to tip it once.



firewood: truth be told, we had little. some intoxicated men on another canoe, however, agreed to find us firewood in exchange for a hot dog. it was a done deal- and look what they brought back!


my name's sam, and i'm the man!


cream soda and hot dogs: need i say more?


cliff jumping: porcupine offers the best ledges to jump from. i think cliff jumping is one of the scariest things to do in the world. ever since my friends laney, beej and i jumped from that mammoth cliff in lake powell, i just get so nervous. my heart thumps and i start to imagine all the ways this idea cold go wrong and the next thing i know- i wish i was anywhere but on the side of that cliff. those willing to brave the frigid waters jumped and it turned out to be great. with blue lips and chattering teeth, we climbed the cliff and jumped again.

status: employed

today, we are moving to orem.

more details to come, of course. but for now, we have to pack this computer up!