Murray's Work Party

Does this look like a face of surprise or what?

Murray's co-workers threw him a huge surprise party at his favorite restaurant in Healdsburg, Ravenous. It's quite a long story, but Murray is changing positions within his company at NCPA (we'll just say it's not on his terms and was not done in any kind of a professional and/or ethical way). All the guys (and a few ladies) up at the plant put together a beautiful send-off party for Murray. It was evident in their words, emotions, and memories that they are all really sad to see Murray go. He will now be working in city of Healdsburg (that's a plus!) doing research in his field. I do not know more, as even Murray is still putting together a job description. Looking on the bright side and seeing this change as a huge blessing...he can now walk to work, go to the gym in the morning with my mom, meet friends, etc. for lunch, and create a very flexible work schedule for himself!!!

Below are more pictures from his fun night! He was beyond surprised and truly overjoyed!

They gave Murray a bottle of wine from Trentedue! That's not all though...they know how much he loves his Alma Mater UCLA, so they engraved the back side with UCLA's logo-

it is really neat...a keepsake.

Back at the house after Ravenous...they presented him with meaningful gifts, funny stories, awards, and they each shared how much working with Murray meant to them.

I love you Murph and I hope this new job opens up the doors of opportunity and a less stressful work environment in which you can begin to think about retirement!

Puerto Vallarta

In Puerto Vallarta we had a blast on our excursion.
The sun was hot and we were ready for an adventure!

We chose to do the Extreme Canopy Adventure, which involved zip lines, a mule ride and much more! When we reached the port in Puerto Vallarta we took a Zodiac boat across the ocean (quite a ways away from actual Puerto Vallarta). We cannot remember the name of the area we were in :( but it was very secluded and a true showing of real Mexico,

not commercialized Mexico.

The boat ride was an adventure all by itself...quite bumpy with view of whales at times. Once we reached land we were escorted by an adorable little Hispanic fellow (who thought he was quite funny) to an outdoor jeep vehicle. We loaded up our group and headed up the mountain. The drive was awesome because we were able to see a lot of the rural parts of Mexico and many homes, ranches, gardens, etc. About an hour and a half into this adventure we finally reached our base camp where we geared up for the next few hours. We were loaded down with zip line gear and left everything behind as we would be repelling down and zip lining into water

(this meant no camera...I was bummed).

We headed out on our individual mules up steep hills to the very top of the mountain range to begin our first zip line. When all was said and done we completed 9 zip lines and 3 repellings. We repelled down a waterfall as well as into pools of water. We crossed rickety little bridges and hiked throughout the beautiful lush trails. 6 hours later we were back down at the Zodiac boat and ready to head back to the ship. We had so much fun, I can't even put it into words. I would go back tomorrow just for this one excursion. I love thrills and this was definitely a thrill. The pictures in this post are from just before and just after our excursion

(remember...no camera was allowed).

Mexican Cruise Photos

Isn't this car/taxi just the cutest...?

We took this taxi from the port in Mazatlan to the downtown area where we were hounded by every business owner to step foot into their establishment...it was quite interesting. Mazatlan was where we first experienced warm sun, so I didn't care much about the hounding. We did not do an excursion in Mazatlan, but rather just walked around to enjoy the area...if ever a next time...we will definitely do an excursion.

Gotta love the turn down service creativity! It was so fun to look forward to.

First Few Days On The Cruise

For those of you who have been on a cruise...you know how many random things are offered as forms of entertainment...and for those of you who haven't...just wait- it is a kick in the pants!

The four of us were intrigued by a newlywed game show offered in one of the lounges so off we went, naive and excited to possibly be part of the action. Justin and I raised our hands in excitement to join the game, but unfortunately were not chosen from the 8 couples in our category based on our acting skills :) I am pretty sure those who know me could have guessed that...J and I are not actors! As we went back to our seats, a little bummed, we had no idea what was in store for the other couples...all I have to say is, thank the Lord we were not chosen. They asked questions like, "if you could make something smaller and bigger about your wife what would it be." What a horrible question eh! One husband, but not a smart one, replied with, "I would make her brain larger and her attitude smaller." I mean, really? The questions just went downhill from there and my goodness are we glad we were just observers in the end. I think I will be weary of all newlywed games or marriage-related games from here on out.

Poor quality, but this is Justin and I on stage acting out our "scene."

Here we are ever so thankful to be enjoying the game show.

Justin and Murray getting a kick out of the game show.

Okay, so moving in the complete opposite direction from the inappropriate game show, the next day we did spa treatments-it was a great way to kick off our vacation. The picture above was the relaxation waiting room, and that is just what it was. The ten minutes I waited were ever so peaceful. The view was amazing and like nothing I had ever experienced (obviously ;))

My Mom and Murph enjoying one of our first relaxing evenings.
More to come...I promise my next story won't be as long. Hehee!

Mexican Cruise: Embarkation Day

Justin and I went on a Mexican Riviera Cruise with my parents the day after Christmas. I had never been on a cruise nor to Mexico and was really looking forward to a vacation! We cruised on Norwegian Cruise Lines out of LAX. It was a 7 night cruise with stops in Cabo, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. The pictures below are from our first day on the ship. We boarded around 12:00 and enjoyed exploring the ship for the majority of the day.

The boys being silly in one of the shops :)

Gotta love safety drills with a couple thousand people...we all know it would have been complete madness had anything actually happened.

Thank you so much Mom and Murph for the wonderful experience and company!

More pictures coming soon...