2nd Mexican Cruise

"totally amazing"

I have been wanting to start a blog for quite some time now. But, knowing just what I wanted to blog about has been a challenge. I would love to blog about my husband and kids and all of the wonderful things that we do together, all of the experiences that we have and how we learn from and because of each other but, Dave and I have agreed that we do not want to take the risk of putting our children and any information about them online in a public forum.


I love taking pictures so, I considered making a blog with my photographs however, I realize that the reason I love my pictures so much is because of the experiences that I gained while being in the places that they were taken. consequently I don't believe others would find them to be as enjoyable as I do.


After scrutinizing about all of the things that I love to do I decided to blog on my very favorite thing to do, VACATIONING!!! I can vacation with Dave and the kids while taking pictures, so how is that for wrapping all of my favorite things into one. I decided on doing the blog on my adventures a few weeks ago but it took me until tonight to figure out just exactly how I wanted to explain what traveling the world means to me.


I was born in Provo, UT although my parents and I moved not long after I was born. We lived in a couple of different places including Billings Montana which is where my first memories are. But, when asked where I grew up I reply California. Riverside, California is the place that I have considered home for as long as I can remember.


I (my family) moved to Utah when I was only 11 and although I was excited to move at the time, have never REALLY felt at home here. When we moved here we rented in Provo while our house was being built in Mapleton. While in Provo I made a couple of life long friends, for this I am eternally grateful but, I have always longed to go back to where "I belong."


I spent my entire 7th grade year crying. I was homesick for California and the friends that I left behind. I made friends and had some good times but I felt lonely and left out from what was happening in California. I found it hard to be myself and to feel comfortable in this new place. My grandparents moved to Utah not long after me and my grandma was also home sick. It helped to have her near by and to know that I had someone who understood.


I have ties here in Utah and I am not ready to leave people behind but, I find that I am continuously looking to the future and excited about all of the places out there that I can go and experience. I find that while vacationing I learn so much about so many people and their cultures. I see things that I want to incorporate into my life and things that I want to avoid. I have been places that I don't want to leave and places where I realize how lucky I am to live somewhere safe with so many amenities.


When the kids are grown and Dave can retire I desperately want to move from place to place experiencing all I can along the way. I want to live in Astoria, Oregon for a while and enjoy the people and the beauty that are there. I would love to spend more time in Victoria B.C. I have never been to NYC but I believe that I would enjoy spending a year or so there and being apart of the hustle and bustle of a big city. Being in Maui, HI I felt more at home then I have ever felt. Something there tugged at me, I know that someday I will go back to live on the island. To take in all of the beauty of the rain-forest, the volcanoes, the beaches and most of all the world under the sea. There is something about the ocean that warms my heart. There are so many unknowns under the water, so many things to learn and to experience. Swimming is a passion of mine and to be doing it with so many different creatures and to feel so free in the enormous ocean is a mind blowingly wonderful experience.


Not only do I want to travel the world but I want to experience what it is like to live in the places I love. I plan on blogging about the places I have been, what I liked and disliked about them. The people I meet, the things I eat and most of all the things I learn while I am there.