Day Six

Our final day :(

We awoke to the Jamaicain version of "Joy to the World." (Figuratively. There probably isn't a Jamaican version... we just couldn't understand exactly what they were saying.)

On Christmas Eve, we did Yoga on the beach. It was quite the experience and quite the stretch... but almost a waste of our final day to soak up the Jamaican sun. We took advantage of the free non-motorized water sports and went out in the ocean on paddle-boats. We could see straight through the water to the floor of the ocean where there were small fish, seaweed, coral reef, and rocks. After the paddle-boats we spent time looking for seashells. There were hardly any shells larger than an inch or two. Being the last day, we also bought all our souvenirs and gifts to take home.

Our choice of Christmas Eve dinner was the Xamaiyca Restaurant of Jamaica creole. Finished with the best pineapple and coconut ice cream we will ever have in our lives!

Merry Christmas mon!

Day Five

The most B-E-A-utiful day of our stay! No clouds, no waves, no rain! Just me and Logan, Jauque (our first pet) the hermitt crab, and the Barracuda (just like the one that eats the eggs in Finding Nemo that Logan absolutely swears he saw when we were far out in the ocean, but told me that it was a little fish so that I would not freak out.) Anyways, the water was so clear and crisp! You could see your toes in waist high water. It was nice to be able to see the bottom because the beaches were somewhat rocky... so we knew where to step so we did not cut ourselves and attract sharks.

We ate at the Indian cuisine called Bhogali's Restaurant. Not that great, but they brought out our food in these cute, little dishes that had a tea light underneath the bowl. It was adorable.

Day Four

Today it rained. All day.

What was the good thing about it?

We got to stay in our room. All day.

:)

We watched Christmas movies on TV. (Christmas with the Kranks, Home Alone, etc)

Dinner: Bubba's again! Could not get enough!

Day Three

The waves were really big today. It was hot, sticky, but cloudy. At one point it drizzled a little bit of rain. These kinds of days are the days you get sun burn really bad. With the sun going in and out, you hardly feel like you are getting any sun at all! Nevertheless, with SPF 15, I burned my tooshie a little bit.

We fell asleep for a long nap on the beach. We were lounging on the huge four-poster bed for the whole afternoon. It was one of the most relaxing days of our whole trip!

For dinner we ate over looking the main swimming pool at the Italian restaurant cleverly named the Reggaetoni Restaurant. Hahaha get it? Reggae... :) It was more of a seafood Italian place. I got the seafood pasta. I'm not sure what I ate exactly, but it was delicious!

Day Two

We were up and out of bed ready for breakfast at 8AM on our lovely honeymoon vacation. You're probably thinking who wakes up that early on vacation? We do haha! Logan and I were so excited to lay out on the beaches, play on the ocean waves, and test the swim up bar.

Everyday for breakfast I had a Jamaican omlet. Seriously, the best foods through out our whole stay were the omlets and fresh cut pineapple. Mmmm! I tried to remake the omlet here at home, but in order to make them legit and Jamaican, I have to learn to flip them in the air! Back to our Caribbean memoir; This day, truly the first day of our stay, was a little cloudly. There wasn't a need for SPF, but of course it was hot enough to spend the day in our swimsuits. We spend a few hours relaxing on the beach, enjoying the sound of the ocean. Logan can only sit around doing nothing for so long, that as soon as he started squirming around we made another venture around the resort. We ate lunch at the "Negril Buffet." Actually, all but one day we ate there for lunch. This is the same buffet where they served breakfast. Everything was so elegant and classy, you'd hardly call the resaurant a buffet. After filling up for lunch we spent more time at the other beach, where we found a little fire urchin. Fire urchins are dangerous, purple, creatures with spikes all over their bodies like porkie-pines. When we first found the little guy washed up beside our chairs, Logan played with it, making it hold on to a stick. We asked one of the resort's workers walked by we asked what it was and he said, "That's bad for your foot. You step on that, you go to the doctor. Ya' mon!"
After a long day of play, we cleaned up and enjoyed some really good Asian food at the restaurant called the Lotus House! I could not decide exactly what I wanted so I ordered two main course meals; sweet and sour chicken and spicy pad thai. Our waiter was so sweet. After we told him we were there on our honeymoon, he sang the whole song of "I swear" by 98 Degrees. It was hilarious. Logan and I were like when is he going to stop embarassing us, haha!

Day One

We checked in a few hours too early, so our room was not quite ready. It was about noon and check in was 3pm. The front desk lady gave us our wrist bands and all the information we needed for the duration of our stay.

First thing we did was eat at the buffet. Every item had five or more languages telling you what it was, along with the country's flag the language is from. Logan and I always looked for the British flag since the USA flag was absent.

One of the foods I grabbed was called beef patties. They were not beef patties like hamburger patties. Instead they were like a yellow pastry with a delicious, spicy meat inside. They were so good!!! Bad news: they never served them again after that day. We checked everyday at lunch, yet came out empty handed.

After lunch we walked around the resort and became familiar with where all the restaurants, restrooms, bars, beaches, pools, and also where our villa was. In our jeans and t-shirts, we were hot and sticky so we quickly became impatient for our room. We sat down in the lounge wicker couches and watch the giant koi fish swim around the lobby. About an hour later, we finally got our room.

By the time we freshened up, it was time for dinner. The steak house was number one on our list! (How much more original could we get?) The name of the restaurant was called Bubba's Steakhouse. After dinner we were ready for bed. It was a long flight, and a hot day!

The Honeymoon

Jamaica. What could be better than Jamaica? We chose the Grand Palludium all inclusive resort for six wonderful nights in Lucea Bay, Jamaica.

Our first flight plan was from Las Vegas, NV to Charrlotte, NC and continued from Charrlotte, NC to Montego Bay, Jamaica. All the while in first class seats. (We do not know how that happened.)

We did not eat at our wedding, so the last meal we ate was lunch. We were starving and made the silly mistake of not grabbing something to eat before we left Las Vegas. Four hours later we arrived in North Carolina. We found a BBQ rib restaurant that was serving breakfast sanwiches and also a Cinnabon.

Our next flight was only one an a half hours to Jamaica. We we arrived, we were the first off the plane and first through immigration and customs. It was pretty scary at first. Advertisments on the walls were absent. Everything was bare. We just kept walking down and down until it finally opened up to immigrations and customs, and then we were ready for the bus to the resort!

The bus ride there was hecktic. The roads were terrible. They are very narrow, dirt roads where they drive on the right side instead of the left like America. If there was a speed limit, no one obeyed it. Our bus driver was pretty funny, though. We passed a KFC and told us that it stands for "keeps you from cookin' ya' mon." We also drove by this lake with birds swimming in it; it did not look too bad. Our bus driver goes, "That water is full of s-words. It's our sewage treatment. Ya' mon."

An hour and a half later, we were at our destination and ready to start our vacation!

Hello, My name is Mrs. Logan Black

The day of our wedding!

During the ceremony, Bishop Scott Van Orden's funny fluff-speech included the first time he met me. It was at Homecoming 2007. Scott grilled steaks for our dinner, and since I was the only one who wanted a big, medium rare steak, and not to mention ate the whole thing... He remembered me, the meat eater. Now on the day of our wedding he reminisced on that day.

He completely forgot about the exchange of rings, so after the ceremony we placed them on our fingers in the reception hall. Positive thing about this: we got pictures!

So many of our best neighbors, friends, and family came! We were so excited to see Logan's family support us on our special day. Let alone have my Grandma Audrey from Ohio here to celebrate with us!

Immediately after the reception, 8 o'clock sharp, we were out the door and on our way to Jamaica (taxi service provided by my dad, Darin).

T'was the night before...

We went to the church and set up mostly everything. We have all of the tables and chairs set up along with the plants, back drop, and of course the twinkling lights! All of the tablecloths still need washed, so we could not place any linens.
Tomorrow we pick up all the flowers and center pieces. Tomorrow morning is going to be crazy; the whole day is going to be crazy!

Menu

I put my mother and grandmother in charge of the food menu. Whether or not that was a good idea, we will soon find out. So far it looks like lasagna, chicken parmesean, chicken salad croissants, salads, and maybe a chocolate fountain. At first they were all for lasagna only. I love lasagna, but Logan hates lasagna. How could I let them serve something my husband hates? It is his wedding too. So I convinced them that chicken parmesean would be a nice addition. Plus, I probably will not eat any of it because it has a red staining sauce. White dress + tomato sauce = disaster.

Letting them take over the food relieved some stress from the wedding and really the food is for the guests... but if I could do it over again, I wouldn't do a full course meal. Fingerfoods are the way to go!

Originally, I wanted a few different types of chocolate fountains with a whole bunch of goodies to dip in them, but my mom has to impress everyone around her for some reason. Weddings are not about what kind of food you have, or what the decorations look like. They are about the union of families. Who cares what kind of food they serve? Twenty years down the road no one will remember because it is not important. What they will remember is how much fun they had dancing and watching two people in love be filled with joy.

Do not get me wrong. I am very thankful my family is helping out with the menu. I just wish they saw it like I do.

4 days left!

We thought this day would never come! It seemed like such a long time back in September, but here it comes!

Logan and I have been together since May 2007, but it seems like it was only a few months ago we started going out on dates.

We cannot wait till the wedding day is over. It is one of the most stressful times of our lives! We wish we could just turn over all our responsibilities to someone else. It is so crazy and hecktic that we cannot help but look forward to its end. All we can do is remind ourselves that in five days we will be sitting on the beach, and not just any beach, Jamaica's beach.

Home Sweet Home

We finally finished the apartment. Everything is set accordingly, we just need a couch... and washer dryer. We are so thankful for our family members who helped out, gave us furniture, and assisted our move. Every little bit helps!

Layout

Logan and I went to the church today. We set up tables and a few chairs to help us visualize the wedding reception. We plan on eight tables of seven chairs, two buffet tables, a cake table, and a sign in table! We divided the cultural hall in two with the curtains, while using the half with the stage. It gives some colored lights and also the perfect amount of space for where the dj will set up. Of course we plan on setting up Christmas lights and Christmas trees. In fact, one of the bigger trees will be the tree our guests put our gifts under.

Planning a wedding around Christmas makes decorating fairly easy. Purchased decor can be reused and packed away for next year's holiday season. Plus, we are having so much fun!

Never Enough Time

Thirteen days left, and we feel like nothing has been accomplished! Who knew that planning a wedding would be so stressful. Especially now that we added our line of bridesmaids and groomsmen. Really there is only ten days of planning available when you subtract Sundays and the day of the wedding.

We still have to finalize the decorations and food!

Green Cymbidiums (My Favorite Flower)

I made a few last minute changes to our florial decor.
My bouquet will be all green orchids with a few red berries and curly willow twiggs! It is going to be the perfect bouquet!

Our table center pieces also now have oranges piled on top of each other with accent red berries and of course a beautiful green orchid atop. Around the base, I imagine pine cones, cinnamon sticks, and those wonderful & little battery operated candles.

The Perfect Medium

Debating whether to go with the termite invested dumps, the apartments above the mexican market, and dreaming about the ritzy, high class townehomes, we finally found the perfect medium.

We have officially found a cute, little, and not to mention cheap, apartment! It's only a few blocks from Dixie State College and has a back yard to plant a garden and place a grill!

Logan says the friendly neighbors are what sold him.
As for me? The spacious rooms and the garden area.