Happy Birthday, Dan

I am the youngest in my family by 5 years. When I was at home with my parents everyone moved out of the house so I spent the past 10 years practically as an only child. Last January I had the chance to move in with my brother Dan and his family. Before I moved in, I had kind of been in a slight depression. But I now feel that I am back to my normal happy self because of them and their love that they show for me. My brother Dan is an amazing guy. He is one of those people that knows how to make you feel special. He loves to call and tell funny random stories that just make your day. He remembers the little things and will call just to tell you he was thinking about you. He is an amazing father to his children and a fabulous husband to his wife. I look up to him so much! There are not many things that I have that I can give to him so I made him this video of his beautiful children. I love being able to have my brother in my life. I love you, Dan!!!

Sad that it had to come to an end!

Us enjoying the ferry ride to St John...
My sweet "hand bag"
Us after our Ecotour.... we are so cute!
Outside my favorite restaurant Romanos
Here we are with our desserts and our knot cookies....

This was seriously 4 of the best days of my life! Sam and I had a blast every second! On our last day we took the 45 min ferry ride over to St John. The ferry ride was so relaxing and beautiful! We got to see a lot of St Thomas that I have never seen. When we got to St John we found a taxi that took us out to Cinnamon Bay. While there we wrapped my hand up in a plastic bag by tying it as well as using hair ties to keep the water out. We had a football with us so we decided to play catch. Sam claims that he was the quarterback on his football team in high school and I claim to have been the quarterback sometimes when the boys would let me play in elementary school. The pressure was on. With those mad skills we had under our belts we played a sick game of catch. By the time we had finished we had a crowd and cheerleaders... ok so maybe we just had 3 old men clapping and cheering us on. after a SWEET throw by Sam and a SWEET catch made by me in the water, I noticed that i had ripped my "hand bag". That ended our game of catch. we did our best to patch it up and we went snorkeling. My hand was hurting pretty bad from all the salt water so i went back to the beach  and watched while Sam played catch with himself in the water. We had signed up for an Ecotour at Caneel Bay so we headed over there. on the tour was were able to Kayak, Hike and Snorkel. it was SUPER fun! While we were snorkeling Sam was making me laugh SOOO hard. he was screaming into his snorkel excitedly like the little kids do. he is such a riot. the hike was a little difficult because I forgot to bring hiking shoes so i was hiking in high heeled Crocs. Silly me! While snorkeling we saw a bunch of sting ray, a turtle (my favorite) and got to hold a sea urchin. on the way back to the ferry we rode in the back of this truck that was converted into a taxi in the back. what made me laugh was that it had this persian looking rug on the truck bed to make it look better. it was so funny cuz it didn't go with it at all. simple pleasures...

We were able to get showered when we got home and we got ready to go on a fancy date. Sam treated me like a princess all week and so to end it all he took me to my favorite restaurant on the island called Romano's. it is an italian restaurant and the food is always divine. I know the owner so he threw in some romantic dinner salads for free. the whole meal was awesome. we even got desserts! they gave us little cookies that are tied in knots. we took a picture and sent it to my mom saying that "we tied the knot".  Ha ha. It was the perfect way to end a perfect week. now we just have to wait 2 months to see each other again :(

Ups and downs...

Sunset at the top of the tram
Hmmmm, maybe next time i won't wear high heels bouldering...
The cutest people ever at the point look out
"let go fly a kite..." oh wait, that is us up there!
Getting dunked and loosing my bottoms in the process...notice the face and hands.... silly water

So today was another adventurous day in paradise! We started it out by eating chocolate chip pancakes. Our idea of going scuba scootering fell through so we went with the next best offer which was parasailing. We met at the dock and got picked up by the boat. Our parasailing captianeer was hilarious and helped us to have a great time. We had a great time up in the air. The view of the island was spectacular because we were up so high. The boat driver thought he was funny and he dipped us into the water twice. The first dip was just a little tappy tap but the second one dragged us for a little bit and it pulled off my swim suit bottoms a bit. SO funny! Try getting a wedgie out while being pulled in the air by a parachute... not that easy! After parasailing we went off and saw beautiful look out points of the island. At one of them i showed Sam where a private little beach where I was planning on taking him. it was overlooking Magan's Bay. on the way to it we stopped for shakes at my favorite Udder Delight where we made up a new shake and named it the Lizzie. Original huh? We were on our way to the little beach and i lost my way. i knew that i had passed it so i just decided to take him to St Petersborg point. It is a very rocky place with an incredible view and a neat little water pool. to get to the water pool you have to boulder over a few rocks. some of them are very pointy. as started to go down them i could tell it was going to be trouble in my high heeled Crocs. Sam could too so he said for me to wait til he got to the bottom so that he could help me down. I, being the stubborn person i am, said i could go down alone. next thing i know i have slipped and my hand had been jabbed into by one of the pointy rocks. it started gushing blood and we decided that i should go get it stitched. silly me! I sure know how to make everything an adventure. Sam had to drive on the other side of the road and it was so weird for him. We got to see the doctor and she said that it  was just minor and all i needed was to bandage it up a bit.  Nonetheless, we didn't let it hinder our fun.  It's just made our adventures even more just that...adventurous.  We went back to the town and I was able to pick up my two rings which were generously recoated with silver.  When we went swimming the first night the chlorine discolored them a bit.  Now they might even be more gorgeous than before.  I just love it!  

Our adventure then went to a new high yet again when the group of us went on the tram ride to a top view of the island.  We couldn't have picked a better time either.  The sunset was divine, and the view was more than expected.  We played a bit on the top and took some pictures.  I even bought a hammock which was made in Guatemala.  I just had to have it and really can't wait to find a place to use it.  Then we found a bbq truck on the side of the road, picked up some dinner, went back to the house, and tuned in to our show "So You Think You Can Dance."  What a day its been here.  It's had its ups and downs as you can see in a literal sense.  We went to huge heights in a parachute, and on rocks, and on a tram.  And yet, with a little trip to the family practice center we still made a possible "downer" just another "high"light to our day!  We are living it "up" in paradise. 

From the words of Lizzie and Sam

Lunch at Giggling Gecko...We are so hot right now!
Posing on our jet ski... we actually each had our own but we needed a pic and it was so much more fun to pose like this
Sapphire beach fun!
Now there is a REAL man... sporting the pink sunglasses. you know i love it!
Pensive thinking... to snorkel or not to snorkel, that is the question...

From Sam's perspective

WHAT A DAY!!! Lizzie is tied up right now and asked me to write about our adventure today.  It was beyond amazing!  Today was like living in a movie, or having a real life like dream, because it truly was.  The day started out with very little sleep from the night before, but because Lizzie is the most generous person i know, she got up early and took her roommates (crazy awesome girls) to work).  We then went to Sapphire beach and got a sweet deal on a jet ski trip.  We each had our own and just ripped up the ocean on these new, powerful jet skis.  The people here are so laid back and just seem so trusting.  They pretty much just gave us life jackets and told us to have fun.  And that's just what we did!  We even both fell of the jet skies to make the adventure complete.  Lizzie unfortunately lost her "pink" sunglasses in the process so we'll have to get her some new ones.  The adventure from the ocean on something so fun was just the way to start off a wonderful sharing time with someone so amazing fun.  We were able to see many of her favorite beaches and places from the view of the sea.  We were also blessed to just sit and visit on a picture perfect beach and play a bit in the water.  

We then changed gears and traveled the island by car, and by the way... they drive on the wrong side of the road.  It is still very odd to see cars zooming by on the right side and intersections are still just a trip.  The sights here are like none other.  The lifestyle is just fitting for what is seen.  I am very excited for Lizzie to be here and at the same time, very envious.  She took me to many of the down town shops and let me met many of her friends.  She is the talk of the island.  Everyone knows her and loves her here.  I even saw the pink diamond ring that she loves.  It's even better in real life.  

We then met up with the girls (roommates) again and headed to another beach and went snorkeling.  Holy shootskies... that is something everyone must do before they leave this earth!  Life is always better, down where its wetter, under the sea. :)  I saw a turtle even and a star fish!  We finished the night with an amazing pizza, oh and the crazy girls went and did their full moon party again tonight.  Lizzie will have to post something about that another time, i obviously didn't participate. haha. 

Its been a day in paradise!  Its not quite over yet either, time to watch a movie and maybe get a little sleep.  However, sleep might be a little unnecessary for such an adventure as the one we just started; we'll see.  I love being here.  It so amazingly fun with Lizzie!  We're having a blast.  I'm sure she'll fill you in on what I've missed.  Glad to be able to throw my two cents in on this amazing day.

-Sam McGee

My exciting life!

Sam and I after our swim at the Marriott
Right after I picked him up at the airport... the lights made our heads look weird
Fireworks from St John
Girls' Night out at Amigos

Wow there has been so much that has happened since the last time i blogged. My roommates and I have decided to start planning out the activities for the week at the beginning of the week. We are starting to do a lot of things. We went out dancing one night and had a very drunk lesbian hitting on us. We enjoyed the 4th of July on a yacht in a harbor as we watched the fireworks going on on the next island over. I had a lady come into my store at work that bought the shoes off my feel. she really liked them so she gave me $23 for them with exchange for her flip flops. She came back in maybe 2 minutes after walking out  and said that she "couldn't walk in them outside so she had to trade them back." Her husband was not very happy so my guess is that he got mad and made her give them back. so crazy! I guess the most exciting news in my life right now is that a guy from my singles ward in New Mexico decided that he would fly out to St Thomas to spend time with me. He got here last night. I picked him up at the airport and was waiting with a shell necklace to give him. I took him straight to the Marriott to go swimming in the beach and in the pool. We had a great time just talking and swimming and getting to know each other again. After we came back to the house and made no bake cookies and watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. After the movie we talked til 4 AM and decided to have scripture study in Spanish. when we finished the sun was starting to come up and he gave me a kiss. Oh yes... just for you folks am I giving the juicy details. he then told me that he had something for me in his bag. it was 3 fake flowers that smelled like his cologne. he brought that to me due to the inside joke that the song Lucky by jason mraz is our song. Listen to the song and you will get the joke. He is an amazing guy and we are having so much fun together. It is totally natural between us and we just get along great. We fell asleep for about 2 hours and now we are off on our first adventure.... jet skiing on the ocean! SWEET! I will continue documenting this for all of you interested :) I love you guys! Have a great day cuz i know that i will.