Strawberry Bisque Requires Patience to Eat! (Jaiden's Cruise)

Okay where do I even start?? This cruise was AMAZING!!! It was definitely the coolest senior trip ever!!!!! Basically, last Saturday (July 9) we left at like 4 am to drive to California so we could make it on time. It was a long drive, but we were all asleep most of the way. Oh yeah, also it was me, Emily, Lizzie, and dad who went. So, we got there, and we had to go through a whole process of stuff to get on the boat, but FINALLY we got there!! It was a HUGE boat!!! It had a sky ride, a ropes course, two waterslides, pools on every side, like it was massive!! Basically, at first, we just explored the ship. We got food and ice cream and found these crazy hand washing machines that are like mini washing machines for your hands, and they feel soooo weird, but I love them!! 

After we explored and got lost a few times everyone went out on the main deck, and we did a bunch of line dances! Then they introduced the cruise director and the fun squad, and we had a party as we set sail!! It was tons of fun!! There was mini golf on the ship too so we did that and then we went down the water slide a few times!! Then we got ready for dinner and our server was LITERALLY the best his name is Gede and he's soooo awesome!! I felt so fancy and all the food was incredible!! So, now I have to explain the title.... basically, I got an appetizer that was strawberry bisque and it sounded interesting. When they brought it to me it was just a little circle of jello with three dots of sour cream on top and a mint leaf. I was like huh that's weird...isn't bisque soup?? So, I took a bite of the jello and then a second later out server poured in the soup and I was so embarrassed lol it was SOOO funny!!! That's why it takes patience haha. After dinner we snuck into the adult serenity lounge. We thought it was 18 and up but really it was 21 and up lol. Lizzie was the only one who got caught.  😂

After that we went around and explored some of the shops!! They had a ton on board, mostly jewelry and carnival merch shops, but they also had an adorable little candy store! That night we went to the welcome aboard showcase, and it was super fun! Then Emily and I went to the nightclub!! You had to be 18 to get in and everyone there was drunk, except for us, so we just had a dance party and went crazy and it was so much fun!!!! 

On Sunday (July 10) we just hung out and took it easy! We went to the gym for a bit and did some yoga with Lizzie, and then we read scriptures in the serenity lounge, and then we got breakfast! Later in the day Emily and I did the sky ride, and it was super fun!! Then we hung out by the pool a bit and fell asleep lol. We got lots of ice cream and then we also got ready because it was formal night for dinner!! So we got in our formal dresses and ate fancy foods lol I got lobster and Crème Brûlée and it was soooo good!! The sunset was super pretty so after we ate, we went outside and took tons of pictures! Then we went to a show put on by their show cast and it was a ton of Broadway songs at it was fun! Some of the singers were crazy good and the dancing was awesome!

 On Monday (July 11) we were still at sea for another day! It felt AMAZING outside so we were out by the pool and going on the water slides a whole ton! We also got Pina coladas and they were super delicious! (don’t worry they were alcohol free lol). Also the DJ on the boat was so so good!! Like he made remixes of the songs as they played and like faded them together it was so cool! Also, an ice carver came, and it was super awesome to watch! Later we did the ropes course, and it was really fun, but a little sketch cause it was windy up there 😅😂 and we were moving on a boat haha. At dinner I got escargot and it was actually super good! Like the texture wasn’t even bad. 😂Also the dining team did little show tunes at dinner and they would dance and we would go up and dance with them it was super fun! That night there was a MEGA DECK PARTY!!! It was basically just a huge dance party on the deck and Joey (our hilarious British cruise director who we are in love with) taught us a ton of super fun line dances, we LOVED it!! And we didn't care was anyone thought because we would never see them again so we just partied super hard!!! Then after that Emily and I went to the club at like midnight and it was a blast 😂we met this guy who goes to SUU, so that was awesome!

Tuesday (July 12) we got to Puerto Vallarta!!! It was super pretty and green!! We wandered around for a bit and then we went to our excursion!! Dude. This excursion was the BEST EVER!!! First they took us up the mountain and it literally took like 30 minutes we were up so high!!! Then it started with ziplining! We did a few zip lines and they were SO HIGH UP! Then we rappelled down, and then zip lined some more, and then rappelled again, and then zip lined, and then we did a zip line that went STRAIGHT INTO THE RIVER! It was so fun! And then we got to tube down the river, and then WE GOT TO RIDE HORSES BACK UP THE MOUNTAIN!! It was seriously such a party! Then we shopped a bit and then went back to the boat for dinner. Oh, we also went to the beach for a bit too lol.

Wednesday (July 13) we went to Mazatlán!! We did a whole photoshoot on the beach and it was tons of fun! Then we played "jump over the waves and try not to die" and it was awesome, I love that game!! Then we went back and shopped a ton!! I got a seashell anklet and a shark tooth necklace and also some little clay pigs for Josh and Jenna and also a shark tooth necklace for Maddox! It was fun and really pretty there! Also, me and Emily got coconuts! They were like the green cool ones it was fun and we drank the milk and then at them it was yummy! That night I tried alligator beignets and they were way good! After dinner we went to the gym and there was like no one there it was so awesome!! It's at the front of the boat and has tons of windows and the sunset was SOOO PRETTY!! After that there was an 80's party!! So basically another deck party and it was A BLAST!!! Some of the workers were all dressed up and it was awesome!! They gave us these light up foam stick things that we danced with and it was just such a party!!  

(Note from Wendy: Rick did a whole photoshoot of the girls on the beach, but for some reason the camera settings were wrong and they all turned out white. I was able to edit some of them and included them in the collage above, but most of them were un-usable, which is really too bad, because they looked like they were really cute pictures! I really like this one though!)

Thursday (July 14) we went to Cabo San Lucas!! We did our excursion first, and it was kayaking and snorkeling!! The water there is sooo pretty and way clear!! Dad doesn't know how to kayak and he was my partner so that was pretty funny, haha! But the beaches were so pretty and some of the waves were HUGE!!!!!! Like crazy big! And snorkeling was SO AWESOME!!!!! There was an INSANE amount of fish all around us!! Like seriously I could reach out and touch one! Also Emily got stung by a baby jelly fish a few times so that was lovely lol. After that we went shopping and I got this super cute jumpsuit that has like embroidery on it and I LOVE IT!! And I bargained and everything, haha! We got back on the boat and took naps lol because we were so so tired. 

We had another formal night for dinner, so we took pictures and ate, and then we went to another show!! It was called soul bound and it was kinda Halloween ish but it was like R&B music so it was super fun! After that they had the silent nights party!! Basically, they gave us all head phones, and there were three different settings. There were three different DJs, so each setting on the headphone was a different DJ. It was SO COOL! Because all you could hear was your own music and we partied so so hard!!! It was hilarious to take off the headphones and hear everyone singing at the top of their lungs! Some would be belting Justin Bieber while others were doing the Cupid shuffle! It was so awesome. After that we got some ice cream and then Lizzie went to bed and Emily and I stayed up just in the lobby hanging out. We saw this kid and he was pretty cute and he kept looking at Emily and it was super funny, and then later that night a super drunk guy came and sat down next to us and talked about how we should appreciate our parents and it was super funny! 😂

Friday (July 15) we did the sky ride and I was fun but super duper windy lol. we got mango daiquiris and they were super good (also alcohol free haha). we also played hearts with dad and for the record I won. 😂 We went to the sauna cause it was cold outside and it felt so nice in there haha! Then we hung

out outside and we were looking for that kid from the night before. he was from new Zealand and Emily was like dang I should have asked for his name! and I said his name was probably Charlie so we called him Charlie it was funny he would always look at Emily whenever we saw him it was hilarious. and then we did karaoke and sang Mamma Mia!! It was way way fun!! Then we had dinner, and after that we took more pictures! Then we went to another show called celestial strings, and there wasn't much of a storyline, but I loved the dancing!! Ffter that we were going to go to the club, but then Charlie finally came and talked to us!!! Turns out his name was actually Brooklyn haha. So we talked to him probably til around 3:30 in the morning!! He was super funny! And he had an accent so it was even more funny! The next day we just ate breakfast and left! I was so sad to leave because the trip was such a party!!!!!! But we had to go :( 

But here are 10 things I learned on this cruise lol: 

1. strawberry bisque: don't eat the little jello with sour cream on top....because then you will look like an idiot when they pour in the actual soup

2. learning line dances from a British guy is 10 times better because of the accent

3. tik tok by ke$ha hits different when you are the only sober people dancing at the night club

4. it's pretty easy to sneak into the 21 and older adult serenity resort 

5.  funfetti cheesecake >>>>>>

6. if you think you have good balance try doing a ropes course on a boat in the wind

7. if you go ziplinging/tubing in the mountains of Puerto Vallarta...wear bug spray 

8. Mazatlan taxis = mini golf carts 

9. hand washing machines should exist everywhere 

10. don't try to kiss the little crawdad lobster thingies they put on your plate for decoration 

^^^this last one is because it's arm fell down while I was about to kiss and they were like IT MOVED ITS ALIVE and it gave me a heart attack 😂 The cruise was such a blast!! 27 out of 10 would definitely recommend. 

 

Janelle Montana Trip

I had the opportunity to take a senior trip to Montana with my friends Brea Bulkley and Ellie Kenworthy. We had been planning this trip for a long time and after scheduling and rescheduling and countless meetings it finally happened! We flew out of Vegas and headed to Brea's cousin's house, where we would be staying. We started out by getting a little settled and taking a cute little hike from their yard to a small creek. The area was super pretty! Later we went to Hungry Horse Dam, which was huge and really pretty. Since it was raining when we got back and it was the perfect drizzle rain, we did what we had to do! By that I mean we danced in it, jumped on the trampoline in it, and then just laid in it for about an hour. It was fantastic. 

The next day we woke up bright and early at 4:00 am and headed out to Glacier national park. Brea's cousin Weston was acting as our tour guide since he knew Glacier better than anyone. We started out with a nice 4 mile hike called Avalanche. It led to a lake that was super pretty and really clear, and it was pretty foggy so that just added to the effect. Since we had come so early we had the whole place to ourselves, which was really nice. We came back from that hike and then visited a cute little lodge and Lake McDonald. It was super pretty and had lots of super pretty rocks. I am still in awe of the sheer amount of water there was there, and that it was all so clear! There were too many rivers, waterfalls, and lakes to count and I was only there for three days! It was so incredible especially since we're from southern Utah. The environment was jungly in some areas and it was so cool to see. Anyway, after that we did a small hike that was super pretty and had a lot of views of the river/waterfalls. It was a little muddy and it was a horse trail so there was a good amount of horse poop, but it was super pretty! We finished all of our hikes around noon or oneish and were able to go to some stores and sample huckleberry pie (Montana is famous for its huckleberries and they have huckleberry everything). We still finished up early enough to get back and take a nice nap to catch up from the early rising. After that we visited Whitefish Lake which had a really pretty beach and had lots of cute little pebbles and sediment instead of sand, it was quite fun! That was about it for the second day! We tried to get to bed kind of early since we were going to be waking up early again the next day. 

The third day we woke up bright and early at 4:00 am again, and headed out to Logan Pass. The morning was super foggy, and everything looked so ominous. It was really funny, we had a lot of inside jokes about that. Logan pass was really cold in the morning and would get packed super early, but we had brought jackets to stay bundled up. We started out with probably the most difficult hike of the trip, which was hiking to the mountain peak of Mount Oberlin. This was considered the "family friendly" hike of the peaks, which I personally thing is false advertising. I am pretty out of shape so I definitely made us stop a good amount of times and the elevation didn't help :) but it was probably my favorite hike! There were some super pretty meadows and flowers and the mountains were super pretty. Although the hike wasn't long, it was pretty steep and there were parts where we had to climb. I didn't want to carry my sweatshirt during the climbing portions so I left it in a little cave to come back for (which was a mistake cause it was really cold at the top but it was all good). We got to the top and it was super cool! It was super foggy and looked like we were in a cloud. It was really incredible. The way down was significantly easier, except we had to slide at some parts and I have a broken toe so this wasn't exactly my strong suit. But it was so much fun and gorgeous! Right after this hike we did another one to an overlook that was really pretty. There were ground squirrels everywhere haha. We were planning on doing another hike, but the parking lots were all packed and so we ended up pulling over to take a lunch break and found a cute little lake across the street! It was an adorable place to have lunch and we ended up skipping rocks and chilling for a bit. Afterward we found a place to park around a mileish away from the hike we were going to do, which was a waterfall one called St. Mary's I believe? We just walked to the hike and did it, there were so many pretty waterfalls! One of them had a bridge and lots of people would go to jump off the bridge. We kept hiking and passed several more waterfalls on the way to the biggest one at the end of the hike. It was super pretty and the water misted us and felt really nice! We hiked back to the hike entrance and then kept going back to where we were parked. By the time we got there I think we were all pretty dead and it was only about 2 in the afternoon :). We ate at a really good burrito food truck on the way back and then went back to the house! Since we still had lots of daylight left we ended up walking around the neighborhood a bit and walked in the little creek. Then we chilled and talked on the porch until late into the night and it was great. Tuesday was our biggest hiking day by far, I think we went a little more than 14 miles that day. It was so fun. 

Wednesday we got to sleep in to about 6:30 which was nice and then we headed to the tiny town of Polebridge. Seriously, this town had more bars than houses :) and we explored a cute little mercantile that they had. I bought some huckleberry lotion haha and we got a whole bunch of pastries that were fantastic. We went to a gorgeous lake called Lake Bowman and hiked to a little area so we had the place to ourselves. It was super fun and we walked around and skipped rocks and played some other games. We also did a little more hiking and then swam in the lake, which was super fun! The only downside was that there were horseflies EVERYWHERE. But other than that it was super pretty and probably my favorite lake that we visited. Then we went and got sushi and went thrifting! Some of the stores were closed so we couldn't go as long as we wanted to but it was still fun. After going back to the house for a bit we had the opportunity to go to a combined mutual activity with Weston, which was cliff jumping at finger lake. It was a little more than a mile hike to get to the lake and there were some mosquitos but the way there wasn't bad. There were some fun cliffs, a smaller one and then another that was about 23 feet up. This one was a little freakier because there were some rocks at the bottom and you had to get a running leap to get over them, but I did it and it was fun! We also went to another area with a rope swing but we didn't go on it since it was pretty sketchy. The hike back was like mosquito feeding time, especially for poor Brea. And she's allergic. We had put on bug spray but it hadn't done anything, and even back in the parking lot we were being attacked and had to go sit in the car because it was so bad. Surprisingly, we hadn't really had a problem with mosquitos until that day though, so that was nice! We headed to the store really fast to get mosquito stuff and then went back to the house to watch a weird movie called Sasquatch Gang that Weston had been wanting to show us. We finished the movie around one in the morning and got to sleep on the trampoline that night! It was a little chilly but I was between Ellie and Brea so I wasn't too cold. The stars were really pretty and we didn't have a problem with mosquitos that night so it was great!

Thursday morning we woke up around 6 and then went back inside and slept for probably around another 2 hours. This was our last day so it went by pretty quickly. We got to go kayaking down flathead river which was fun and relaxing! There were a few rapid areas to keep things spicy but most of it was calm. Afterward we checked and made sure everything was packed and ready to go and then stopped at a souvenir shop to get some last minute things. I got a sweatshirt and a bunch of huckleberry candies. Then we headed back to the airport and flew back to Vegas! The business of Vegas was kind of a rude awakening to the fact that our trip was over and we all kind of wanted to go back to Montana :( but at least we quit while we were ahead! Brea's mom picked us up from the airport and we drove home and got back at around 10 that night. This was a super fun and memorable trip packed with the perfect amount of relaxation, spice, nature, and plenty of inside jokes. I'm sad it came to an end so fast but I'm so grateful that I was able to go on this awesome adventure with my two best friends! It was definitely a senior trip to remember! 

Senior Lagoon Trip

Janelle went with a group of friends to Lagoon for a mini Senior trip (she has bigger trips planned for later on). They drove up on Friday and headed to my mom and dad's house in Salt Lake. They then went out to dinner and picked up some groceries for the next day. They then played a little Jackbox and then slept over and then headed to Lagoon! They had a great time and the weather was perfect, although it was a little crowded -- probably because it was Memorial Day weekend! Saturday night they stayed over at my mom and dad's house again and then headed back early Sunday morning in order to make it back in time for Janelle to speak in our ward! She spoke on member missionary work and did a great job! I am grateful that Janelle has such great friends! I am grateful that my mom and dad were willing to let the gang stay over at their house this weekend and I am grateful that they had a good time and made it back safely!