A Sandy Slice of Heaven

183 Miles from Ft Lauderdale Florida is a little slice of heaven

Surrounded by nothing but aqua blue waters and skies to match

It's known by the locals as Half Moon Cay Bahamas

In my mind it will always be synonymous with laughter

relaxation and beauty

The shore line is dotted with charming little buildings

Wander off any worn pathway,

and you will be led to the waters edge by the finest, powdery, white sand you will ever see

The beach is one giant party, laughter and conversations weave in and out of the music. The air is rich with the smell of burgers on the grill and coconutty suntan oils

You can wittle the day away reading

resting and just chatting away

or worshipping the warm carribbean sun

wandering in the waves

or sailing,

even if you haven't since you were a 12 year old scout

the possibilities here are endless

You can even try to fly

Just hold on tight,

and only look down if you dare

the experience will almost equally thrill and terrify you

but the view from above will most certainly be worth it

and the ride won't be long enough

The only thing wrong with this sandy slice of heaven, is that eventually you WILL have to leave

Schmell Bell

Happy Birthday to my youngest sister Janelle. Somehow while she is the youngest of the 3 Hurd girls she is also the one with the most. Janelle has the most inches in height by a long shot. Tara tops out at 5'2"and a half, I'm 5'4" and Janelle is 5'8". She also has the most obvious talents. I'm sure Tara and I are good at things, but they're not things you would think of right off the top of your head. Janelle she has the most of these too. Janelle is the only one of us girls that really can sing, and she does it well. She is also is incredibly artistic. She takes beautiful photos with such a creative eye and she is a whiz with photoshop. I've seen her iron a wrinkled dress, remove a chin or two, flatten out a lumpy tummy, add a touch of color to cheeks and swap out heads in family photos seamlessly. She is a magic worker. Janelle also does the most amazing scapbook pages that her children will cherish forever. Janelle also has the most kids of all the Hurds to date. They are one dang cute bunch and full of personality. Janelle is a patient mom and relishes in motherhood. As she was growing up she would always say she wanted at least 10 kids. If anyone could do it, Janelle can.

Janelle is always bending over backwards to help out anyone in need. She was the one who would always leave us notes on the fridge as we were growing up reminding us when it was fast Sunday. She has always been more mature than her years would ever let on. We all adore her awesome husband Peter who she still swoons over. We miss having them in town to hang out with but know they love it right where they are in their little community in Lehi Utah.

Nelly, Janellie-kins, Schmell Bell, mother to all and friend to just as many, happy birthday. You are loved and appreciated more than you know. Hope you are pampered and cared for today and that you treat yourself to a little selfish fun!

(Be grateful my scanner is down. I had every intention of posting lots of old family pictures here today! Maybe I'll come back and add them later... In the mean time I thought I'd post these pics from last year. Good times!)

Let the Fun Begin!!

For me, being a woman of many words, the hardest part of going on a trip like this one is knowing how to tell my story of an amazing week. Do I tell it day by day, or thematically, or one giant post trying to cram it all in at once? The other problem is deciding which pictures to post and how many is just too many. I have thousands. About half of them are from my camera, probably more, and I also have everything from everyone elses cameras too. The biggest problem though, is that there are no words to describe just how much fun we had. It was simply the best. I still don't know how my story will be told but I know that if I don't start somewhere it will never happen. I still haven't documented our Hawaii cruise last year for this very reason. I'll do my best to tell the stories and give you just a taste of our fun, but let this also be a warning to you. I will say too much and show too much and still you won't know the half of it. On that note, lets start at the begining...

Friday afternoon all five couples headed off to the San Francisco airport. Most of us were fairly sleep deprived. Haley and I had been texting eachother while packing at 1 am that morning! I was getting a horrible cold, which throughout the week I ended up sharing with Jeff and Tara. Jeff and I rode up with the Poulsens and after a few failed attempts, arrived at the long term parking garage at the same time as Tara and Jason. You could hear our whistling, yelling and honking at eachother echo throughout the structure. This was pretty much how we rolled all week. You knew when we were coming...

When we met up with the Brothers McCauley and their beautiful blonde babes, we had the passengers around us all entertained.

We were taking the red eye direct from San Francisco to Ft Lauderdale leaving at 10:40 pm, and arriving in Miami at 6 am. Jeremy had ordered up Ambien for all of us since we all swore it was impossible for us to sleep on planes. That stuff is amazing. I watched as everyone nodded off in a drunken daze before we even took off, and then I joined them in dreamland.

I think I got in about 2 1/2 hours of sleep on the entire 6 hour flight. Aaron slept like a baby and continued to do so as he waited for his luggage.

When we arrived in Ft Lauderdale and then shuttled to Miami we were told we couldn't board the ship until noon and it was just 9 am. We took a taxi across a brigde and over to a shopping area where we had a great breakfast. The guys spent their morning getting massages and in Brookstone, and we women hit up all the little shops!

By the time we boarded the ship we were dead tired and in desperate need of naps. We had booked our rooms all next door to eachother, but none of us heard anyone else as we each left our rooms after showers and naps. We all bumped into eachother on the deck by the pool with ice cream cones in hand!

Not a single one of us could wipe the smiles off of our faces even when we had to go to our muster station!

As we pulled out of the port we could still feel the warm sun beating down on us as it set behind the high rises of Miami. Let the fun begin!