Can we say AWKWARD?

WARNING: If you haven't watched American Idol yet, don't continue...

Did anyone else think that Brooke's goodbye was a little awkward? Like how David C. was like trying to comfort her and she just kinda moved away... and all of the other contestants were just standing around her... and then she started walking off the stage and you could hear Ryan Seacrest say "Brooke!"... and how she just like ignored him... and kept walking... and then he went and talked to her and her back was still turned... and then the show ended. I can't wait to read/hear all about this on every E!, Extra, Inside Edition show that I watch daily in the background while working.

grrr...

Dear 600 lb man working on our roof,

Ok, I don't really know that you are 600 lbs, but you sure sound like it. I don't know why you keep tripping right above my head, and creating the loudest thud I have ever heard, but I am beginning to fear that you are going to fall right through the roof and onto my lap. I don't know why you insist on starting work at the crack of dawn either... right outside our window. Also, the constant hammering is getting PRETTY annoying, especially when I am on the phone with customers. Please hurry up with whatever you are doing because you are getting ON MY NERVES. Actually, it doesn't even sound like you are doing real work. It almost sounds like you are walking along, tripping and banging a hammer wherever you choose as you are walking/tripping/jumping/leaping along. I am this close to throwing a fit and yelling at you from my window. So HURRY UP!

Yours truly,

Kristine

We've Arrived!

It is true. We are now official residents of Hoffman Estates, IL. We got in last night around 10 PM. It seems nice here, but I didn't really get a look at the town because it was dark. We really need to find a Walmart or Target or something because we have no bed sheets... or soap... or food... or toilet paper. Ok, we bought some TP and soap at the local 7-11 last night, but we seriously have nothing. We have a lot of errands to run today so hopefully we will be able to make our cozy apartment our home. I don't even want to think about how much money we will spend. It is going to be like starting from scratch because I didn't bring any spices or food or anything. Yikes.

We left on Thursday morning and Utah decided to give us a goodbye gift: Snow. I don't think that there could have been anything better to make me want to get out of there. The drive was better than I expected. Jordan and I took turns driving, but he did a majority of it. We were both able to finish a book which is a major accomplishment. Since I have known Jordan, I have not known him to read a book. He said that this is only like his third book that he has read outside of school. HUH? I am definitely going to find a library to get some books to get our brains churning for school.

We passed through Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa. I am convinced that I will never ever ever live in Wyoming. We stopped in Laramie to eat and decided to try to find something other than McDonalds, etc to eat at. We drove all the way through town and ended up doing a U-turn back to McDonalds. I hope that gives you an idea of the good things that we found there. We stayed in Nebraska overnight and I thought for sure we were going to wake up in the night because of tornadoes. (Did I mention there were some on the radio? FREAKY). But luckily all was safe and sound when we woke up the next morning... at 11... whoops. :) Iowa also wasn't very much fun mostly because the speed limit was 70 the whole way... even though I am pretty sure there wasn't much civilization. I mean, come on! 70?! But that took a turn for the worst when we hit Illinois and were welcomed with a 65 speed limit and rain coming down harder than I have ever seen. I was the one driving at this point and I seriously couldn't see out the window because of so much water on my windshield, even though we had the wipers on full-speed. Yikes. I wasn't convinced that anyone even lived in this state because we didn't see any sort of civilization until about an hour or so into Illinois. Apparently everyone lives in Chicago.

Our apartment painfully reminds me of my days in the Glenwood. And no, this is not a good thing. The halls of our apartment are eerie and have a gross smell. This has led to the conclusion that we are living by foreigners. Lucky for us, the smell of paint fumes are doing a good job of destroying that chance. But trust me, the paint fume smell is MUCH better. We also had to unload our car last night when we got there because our friend's car was broken into the night before. No thank you, I don't want our new TV stolen. AND for those unbelievers (including me), we were able to get everything we needed into the car to get here. I was quite amazed because we even had room to spare.

Ok this post is probably long and boring for everyone, and I have lots and lots to do. Jordan went to work this morning... it is the start of our wonderful summer already. Me at home by myself and Jordan knocking doors... Posts and pictures to come soon (sorry, not of the drive. I know you are disappointed).

Half Port--Cabo San Lucas!

Lover's Beach

The reason why this is called a half port is because we were literally off the boat for like two hours. I wish we could have stayed longer because it was soooooo beautiful. The boat docked (in the middle of the ocean) at about 7:00 am. We were so tired, so we kinda slept in and got off the boat by 10. Problem is, you have to be shuttled from the boat to the land, so you have to wait in line and then go on the slowest boats ever til you reach shore.

When we got off the boats, we were immediately swarmed by all of the people trying to get us to go to their special beach or ride their special boat, etc. Where we were dropped off, there wasn't really anything around, so we really would have had to pay to go somewhere... unless we wanted to walk. No thanks. So after listening to a few people, we thought that "Lover's Beach" was an appropriate Honeymoon location. They made it sound like it was all secluded, but it was NOTHING like that. It was beautiful, but there were tons of people there. We also got there on a luxury "glass bottom boat" which actually just turned out to be a small rectangle of glass, but only white foam could be seen since we were moving.

Pulling up to the beach

When we pulled up in the boat, Jordan said that it looked pretty shallow where he was going to get off the boat. Well he might have been a little off on his estimations because he "stepped" out of the boat and fell right into (and under) the water soaking himself and our bag that had our towels, clothes, CAMERA, etc. Luckily I had bough a protective case, so no damage was done. However, everyone on the beach just happened to be facing that way and saw Jordan plunge into the water and EVERYONE was laughing at him--including me. I mean, it was funny! He just fell out of the boat! And after this little experience, we did have to face all of the people that made fun of us (him) which was slightly embarassing.

Jordan after he stepped/fell off the boat

The people we had to face after the embarassing mishap... ok, apparently I didn't get pictures of anyone, but the beach was actually full of people, I guess all standing behind me.

We decided to go away from the busier part of the beach to a more secluded side. This side had huge waves that were crashing in and it was actually quite relaxing to just sit there and listen to them.

The beach really was beautiful. However, our trip was cut a little short because we had to be back on the boat. So we only got to stay there for about two hours before we got back on the boat for the last day on the cruise. Can't wait to go with my family in December!

The lovers at Lover's Beach

Cliffs on the beach

The view looking from the beach to the ships

Leaving the beach :(

Brain Dump

I needed to take a little break from the Honeymooning... I think people were getting a little sick and jealous of seeing my fantastic vacation... and the fact that I will be doing the same thing in December with my family, so I decided to do a little Brain Dump to let you all know what is on my mind.

-I am an EMOTIONAL WRECK when I watch the Biggest Loser. The weird thing is that I don't even ever cry. I know many of you are so sick of Mark crying over his brother and everything else, but seriously, when he cries, I lose it. I am glad that Jordan doesn't like this show and watches TV in the other room because I would feel like a doofus if he saw me bawling over these people losing weight. But come on! It is great TV. I don't really know who is going to win tonight. I hope that Roger isn't in the Top 4 (not because I don't love him) but so an underdog (smaller man or woman) can actually have a chance. I also want to find some way to support my sister's family so my brother-in-law could go and win the show. Because he would.

-This is my last week of work in my office. Hooray! I don't have to deal with some of the crazy people I work with... BUT on the other hand, I won't be able to see my friends at work everyday :(

-I move to Chicago in like a week. CHICAGO. I have never even been there and it will be the place I call home for the next four months. Remind me why we thought this was a good idea again?

-I am dead serious about that poll up there. I want to know how many people are going to come and visit me. Let me just give you a glimpse of how my day will be going when we move there. Wake up. Work for 8-9 hours at home in my living room perhaps while sitting on my exercise ball (Dwight said it was a good idea). Get done with work at about 6-7 PM. Sit around and wait for Jordan on the couch. Jordan gets home at about 10 PM. Go to bed. Wake up and do it all over again. See? I am going to be a loser. And seriously, I am never going to leave the house. Maybe I will have to take a half hour break each day sometime between 10-2 to catch some good rays. At least I will be tan for no one to see.

-I am growing out my hair. I am just as curious as you what I will actually look like. I have had hair no longer than my shoulders ever since I can remember. Most of you will probably think I look better with short hair, but since no one will see me this summer, I might as well give it a whirl. If it is ugly, I will cut it. I also plan to make my hair really healthy this morning. I am going to let it air dry and will probably only actually do my hair with a blow dryer and flat iron like twice a week. No more split ends for me. Just frazzled, ugly, wispy hair every day. Yesssssssss.

-I have really let myself go. I know I am not fat or anything, but I don't even remember the last time I exercised. Ok, I do remember and it has been a long time. The other day, we were at a work BBQ and we did this blow-up obstacle course. After about three times through, I was light headed and COMPLETELY beat. I thought I was going to die. So I sat down and ate some ice cream. Aside from growing my hair this summer, I am also going to spend some free time getting in shape. We will see how long this lasts... but I will have a gym at the complex and a pool and I am going to do some things from my apt. I am telling you, you will hardly recognize me once I get back.

-I want to go and visit my sister in Australia. I think it looks like so much fun. They also went to Fiji recently and after seeing the pictures, Jordan really wants to go there too. I think that might be a little out of the price range for newlyweds. But we are going to try really really hard to save all of our money to go to Australia sometime. Maybe NEXT Christmas... gosh, that seems so far away.

-School starts in like four months and I am not ready to go back yet. I don't miss it... not even a little bit. But I know that I am almost done, so I am just going to try my hardest and just push through it.

-I read a lot of blogs. I have a lot of spare time while I am listening to yelling customers on the other end of the phone, so sometimes I read random blogs that I find. I know that there are probably random people that read mine too and I want to know who. If you know me and you read my blog (or if you don't really know me), chances are, I most likely already read yours too. So just tell me who you are and we can become blogger friends. It is such a relief to get it off your chest, right Kaisa?

-My rash (excema) is pretty much gone. Hooray!

Mazatlan--the land of the Rip Offs

In honor of the snow we received last night, let's reflect back to our second port day laying in the sun and on the beaches of... Mazatlan.

Since our excursion the day before was so major and busy and LONG (post to come soon. It is on a different camera that requires a different cord... good luck to me)... we decided to play the next day at Mazatlan low key. We got off the ship and were immediately told to go here and go there and a million people were swarming us trying to take us places. I have never been on my own in a situation like this and neither had Jordan so we are a little confused by the whole thing and terribly gullible. Finally, we came to our senses and decided to ignore the many voices that were running through our head and just take a taxi to a beach. We told the guy we wanted to go to the beach, but he kept talking about shopping and we would affirm again... BEACH. Well, we ended up at some shopping place. Apparently, he didn't care where we wanted to go because of course, this was his vacation. Luckily, it was right by a beach (not a good one), so we just walked a mile up the shore and found a little resort. I am pretty sure it was residents of the resort only, but we made ourselves right at home.

Here is the last picture of Jordan ever laying out with me. He hated it, but was a good sport mostly because I wanted to do it and if he didn't do it, he would be hanging out with himself. :)

There were a TON of vendors out that day and they wanted to sell you anything that they could. With so many of the things, I was like, ok, honestly, who would ever want that? aka a Turtle whistle, a wooden statue of a deer, etc. Some guy came up to me trying to sell me sunglasses. He wanted $20 for them and I said no, so he said "Ok, how much you pay?" And I kindly responded "$5". He was like "no, no no, how about $15" and I would say no. "Ok, how much you pay then?" and I would once again respond "$5". We played this game for quite a while and he would threaten to just walk away, but I knew better, plus, I didn't really care if I got them or not. Sure, they were cute, but when it all boils down, I really didn't need them. I already had some. Finally we played the back and forth "10", "5" "9", "5" game and finally got him to $6. At that point, I just wanted him to leave and gave him $6. Man, I'm good.

Jordan got a little bored with laying out, so we decided to explore the resort a little and stumbled upon this:

A beautiful pool oasis. It was seriously the most beautiful pool I have ever seen. I thought that I would maybe go swimming, but the water was FREEZING, so I just dipped my feet. Even though we didn't get in, it was still relaxing to sit by the pool to tan for a bit. But after awhile, we got hungry and needed somewhere to eat. Luckily, the resort had a beach side Mexican restaurant (although the menu was more Mexican-American... apparently they really cater to the tourists.) Also, we paid in American money (that is what the total was in, so we assumed that is what they wanted) and they accepted it and brought us back some pesos. Not only that, but they were like $10 off. Our waiter was trying to pull a fast one, but luckily, I had just bought some sunglasses, so I was pretty much a master at the conversion rate. It took us asking a million times and getting passed to about five different people until we finally were able to get our American money back--however, it was also a few dollars short.

The veiw from our table.

This friendly bird decided to join us for lunch. How pretty.

A complete view of the beach including the parasailers... we were seriously asked if we wanted to go parasailing every 5 minutes.

I forgot to mention the taxi ride. It was interesting to say the least. Yes, the above picture is what we rode around the streets of Mazatlan. Our first taxi driver was absolutely crazy (remember, the forced shopping trip?) and would switch lanes and cut people off and honk and people and nearly run over pedestrians. It would have been scary in the U.S., but we were in Mexico... with a crazy Mexican driving... in something that you could hardly call a car... which provided little or no protection should we get into an accident. I think I definitely had the white knuckle grip. The first guy also took us on all of the back road and the really "not pretty" parts of the city. Our second guy didn't really speak English, but he did manage to take us the scenic way home past the beach. It was like we were on the PCH... but a little more ghetto.

Here is a video of the drive. We are lucky enough to have survived to tell the tale.

Ok I know the video wasn't that exciting, but I just posted it so you could see the pretty drive that we had and also the golf cart... I mean car that we drove around in.

I liked Mazatlan, but it wasn't the prettiest or funnest port that we visited. More stops to come!

The Honeymoon

The Golden Princess

Hooray! I found my camera cord. I remembered last night before I went to bed and I decided that I HAD to find it before I went to bed. I searched every box and bag to try to find it. I was getting so frustrated that I couldn't find it, so I went out to the car to search there too. No luck. Finally, I got so frustrated and looked in a front pocket of a suitcase. Success! It only took me like 30 minutes to find it, but I was determined. I am such a loyal blogger. Anyway, now to the important stuff... the honeymoon! Since I have so much to say and so many pictures, I am going to have to divide this up. The first post will be strictly dedicated to activities on the ship and the ports will follow after.

Sunset from the top deck.

I always knew that I wanted to go on a cruise for my honeymoon. It just seems so ideal because everything is right there at your fingertips and knew that it would be perfect. It was. If you are going to get married and are wondering what to do on your honeymoon, GO ON A CRUISE! It was so relaxing and we could do whatever we wanted when we wanted, BUT it did have a bit of structure so we knew there was always something to do. Plus, the weather was beautiful, the food was fantastic and it was fun! We went on a 7 day cruise to the Mexican Riviera.

Sunset from the back of the boat.

I know the above picture is freaky, but I wanted all to see how swollen my face was. I am scrunching my face and normally, there would be a bunch of lines all on my forehead and between my eyebrows. As you can see, there are no lines. Also, notice the awesome tan line that I received. I picked the perfect swimsuit to wear the first day--high necked with strings.

The next day was spent at sea again and I don't even remember what we did. I think we just wandered around the ship since I was so sunburned. Booo... stupid tanning beds did nothing for me. It was our first formal night to dinner. It was funny to see the different dress codes on the ship and the different ways people perceived "formal". We really weren't that formal, but there were definitely people more underdressed than we were.

Formal Night number one. This picture is in the common area which I believe they call the atrium. (Outfit look familiar? It kinda became my anything-to-do-with-the-wedding outfit)

The next day was our excursion (different post later) in Puerto Vallarta and it required wearing a helmet. My face was still swollen at this point and the pressure from the helmet on my swollen forehead resulted in this:

I know, once again... not a flattering pic. But please notice that the swollen-ness moved from my forehead to right between my eyes. As soon as I saw it, I wanted to become a hermit and reside in our room forever because I thought that I looked like an ogre. Seriously, I didn't even want to go to dinner one night and almost sent Jordi to the buffet to smuggle us some food. I seriously have never felt so ugly in my entire life.

One thing that I loved about the cruise is that there was always something to do. We enjoyed Princess Popstar and one of the girls that we me on our excursion and actually became friends with won the whole thing! She won two bottles of wine and a Disney board game! And yes, she is a little mormon housewife from Utah. They also had a surviver competition and the winner of that won a $500 piece of art. Apparently she entered into the wrong competition... Jordan and I also entered the miniature golf competition and it was the hardest mini-golf course I have ever played. There were no boundaries between the holes, so if your shot was off a little, your ball ended up three holes away. Plus, it was so windy. I ended up scoring a 10 (the max points allowed) on two holes. Let's just say, I didn't advance to the next round... I also gambled for my first time (don't worry mom, just for fun and just $5). We decided that we were each going to play with $5. Jordan wanted to play cards and lost his in a matter of 15 seconds. I decided that I wanted to make mine last, so I played the slots. I have to say that it was the lamest thing ever. I am never going to waste my money on gambling again. I lost my money so fast and it wasn't even entertaining because it was all based on LUCK.

This is our second formal picture. We sat with our friends from our excursion because they hadan extra spot open at their table. We decided to sit with them a few times and their waiter was awesome. He always took good care of us. The last night we sat with them, he brought us a "honeymoon" cake. They also sang, "Happy Honeymoon to You". The cake was seriously so good and sooo rich. Mmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. It was a chocolate cake covered in like a 1/4 inch layer of rich chocolate.

I want to go back!

Bad Day?

I know, I know. Your day just got much worse when you see that I didn't REALLY update my blog today. Seriously, I have boxes full of all of my stuff and it is not organized in any way. I had to be out of my apartment so a friend of my roommate could move in right away. So I spent an entire night packing as fast as I could cause I knew she wanted to move in soon. I was going to cut her a deal on the one month rent, so it was a win-win situation for all. WRONG. She moved in and now has decided that she just doesn't have the money and is going to move home. Awesome since I packed so fast that I have no idea where anything is--namely the camera cord. I am so glad that I really never have to deal with things like that again. And though my fridge is small (it is a mini fridge that most would feel with sodas and snacks), it is all mine and I don't have to label anything. It is great.

Anyway, so stop pitying yourself for not receiving an update because I am pretty sure your day is still going to go better than the following victims:

See? Your day isn't that bad!

The New and Improved Mr and Mrs Lewis

This is the real one. This image is not photoshopped fyi.

I am having WAY too much fun with this photoshop thing. I wouldn't doubt that there will be more to come.

It was funny because Jordan was like, I don't really like this picture of me. And then I proceeded to tell him that it was just a photoshopped picture. And then he said something like, "Oh... well I knew it wasn't the best picture of you, I just didn't look that close." Let's pray that I don't look like this on a daily basis. Thanks Jordi.

Presenting the Lewis'!

I FINALLY got my pictures back. Hooray! Here are a few to sample... actually there will probably be more than a few... Enjoy!

A kiss for good luck.

The parents

The in-laws

Everyone on the side of the temple. The front had construction, so we had to take all of our pictures on the side. I was slightly bummed.

The Gildeas...mostly

The sisters

My sisters thought this was soooooo funny. They actually requested this pose. You can tell that they are all really enjoying themselves.

The Lewis'

With some of our neices and nephews. Getting a lot of kids to cooperate and smile at the same time is not exactly an easy task.

My best friends, Tara and Michelle

Jordan and his nephews. It was so bright outside and Jack did not want to be in anymore pictures. Someone offered him some sort of reward and he cheesed it right up.

With my nieces, Hallie and Avery. Poor Avery's eye was bugging her so bad and this was the only picture with her looking at the camera. I thought it was so cute though.

The way I am angled, I almost look like I have one of those dresses with the big butt... you know, the ones from the olden days. I promise my dress really wasn't like that.

I like this picture for some reason. And I had a little fun with photoshop as well.

Another photoshop creation. This had the potential to make the blue sky pop. I think I found what is going to keep me occupied this summer...

This is one of my favorite pics.

As well as this one... we just look so happy.

If you would like to view the complete album, go to http://www.jordankristine.weddingherald.com/ and login with the password noahs.

Also, for family and friends, if you want to order any, let me know and I can send you the file and you can pay $.15 to get it printed instead of paying lots from that website. :)

Update...kinda

For those of you who care, I finally buckled down and went to the dermatologist to find out what kind of flesh eating disease I have. Turns out, it is just excema. I guess that with all of the weather and temperature changes I have been going through, my skin is FREAKING OUT. So I got some cream and pills to cure it right up.

And yes, a REAL update is coming soon. We have had so much going on with work, moving, etc and haven't had a lot of time to sit down and really write a blog. My apologies. Also, I should be getting my pictures back today... so look forward to some of those. Maybe I will just put on a few of my bridals for those to see... since I can officially put them up. We'll see.

Anyway, for now, enjoy the new template... it could be changing any minute now because I don't know if I am crazy about it. I barely figured out how to do it and by then, I was just too frustrated, that I gave up.

TTFN! haha, I really actually hate when people use abbreviations like this. LOL!

Excuse My Dust

Please ignore this hideous mess that I have created. Unfortunately, I can't get my backgrounds to what I would like, so please, just be patient.

Folsom Reception

- Jordan and I at our reception. This is where our "line" was. There was an awesome background looking over the deck.-

I know I am doing this horribly out of order... but many of you are requesting that I update my blog soon. My mom just sent me some pics of our reception out in Folsom, so I decided to post them. I WILL update my blog soon. I should be getting my real wedding pictures back soon, so I will post those. I also have all of my pictures from our cruise, but I don't know where my camera cord is at this exact moment because it is packed somewhere. Good thing I get to move all over again in like two weeks! AH!

We were lucky enough to have TWO wedding receptions. This means that I got to wear my wedding dress twice which was fantastic. I also got to be the princess for the day twice. Unfortunately, at the time of the trip, I was a little under the weather so I was pretty much useless for a majority of the trip. I wish that I would have been healthy because we were only there for three days! It was fun to see my family and Jordan's family one last time before we move for the summer. It was annoying though because we didn't have a car and we had to keep having people run us between houses. Thanks to those who did though!

-Jordan's sisters with the wedding cake that they made. This was their first attempt with a wedding cake and it turned out AWESOME. Isn't it so cute? It turned out WAY better than my real wedding cake that was made by professionals. Thanks girls!-

Friday we spent time with Jordan's family all day and went to dinner with his two sisters, friends and mom. I met one of his sisters for the first time, so that was fun to finally meet her! Saturday I spent the day with my nieces and we had lots of fun (I actually took a lot of pictures, so I will just do a separate post... hopefully... on this). Saturday night was the reception. It was so different than the one in Utah because I didn't really know anyone! I guess I know how Jordan felt now... Jordan's family did such an awesome job with the reception. It turned out great! Sunday we quickly went to Nicole's ward because Hallie was talking and Nicole sang in the choir in the Easter program. Then it was off to the airport to go back to real life. Booooo....

-The Lewis clan. -