Something I’ve learned about being a Gee 1. Life is never bring 2. Never go on vacation without a A) Bathing Suit B) Passport… you’ll never know where you’ll end up. Garrett’s mom told us on Sunday that she had an extra room on the boat Allure of the Seas. There was a special press screening for media and travel agents of the new boat. The boat is Royal Caribbean, it’s the biggest ship in the world and this would be its first voyage. Cool! We tried our hardest to find cheap tickets and make it work.

We hopped on a plane on Thursday to Ft. Lauderdale.

Side note: Spirit Airlines is the WORST. I swear Aeroflot (Russian Airline) gave them their old plane and they now use it. There is NO leg room. And they charge you for CARRY-ONS and luggage. Gay. It was miserable.

BUT, once we landed in Florida the warm weather washed all of our troubles away. We met up with Garrett’s mom and Lisa, the photographer. We ran to the mall to grab some sandals, bathing suits, and sun glasses and were off the next day to our cruise.

The boat was incredible. I felt like I was in a mall. It was so much fun. The first day we explored. We headed right off to the sports deck where there was the Surf Rider, Zip Line, Putt-Putt course, and Basketball/Soccer Courts.

When we headed up to the pool the first thing we saw was Adam Sandler with a pink swim cap standing in the pool, acting like the idiot he is. They were filming the movie Jack and Jill. (This is also the movie that they were filming in Central Park the week before) At first it was cool to see Adam Sandler, Al Pachino, and Katie Holmes and all of the production crew around the ship, but after a while it got annoying when they would shut down parts of the ship for hours at a time for filming. (The picture to the right is of Katie Holmes and her entourage... including Suri Cruise)

We enjoyed the pool, a fancy dinner, and an AMAZING aqua show. We also went to see the How to Train Your Dragon on ice show as well as Chicago the musical. I was excited to see another musical, but turns out Chicago is completely trashy. I would’ve walked out if I wasn’t in the middle of the row.

Garrett and I were tempted to stay in the room w/ all of the great movies that they have. We watched Salt, Karate Kid and Oceans.

Saturday we played at the sports courts, swam, played soccer and basketball, rock climbed, saw the new Dreamworks film, MegaMinda and watched the awesome Aqua show again. The night ended with a fantastic Italian dinner.

It was a quick trip. But well worth it. Sunday was a grooling day of travel. We got home (well to Joanna’s) Sunday night after midnight.

New York snuck up on us quick. Garrett helped me pack. Of course he insulted my wardrobe as he helped. I need new clothes. I still have so many clothes from high school. Anyway… I packed light. Turns out my style is not the New York sleek style you should have. But Joanna’s is! So, once we got to Joanna’s she basically gave me a complete makeover for the Big Apple.

It was a long day of travel, but once we got into the city we were like deer in headlights. The huge city and lights, not to mention our taxi driver was absolutely INSANE. I had told Garrett how crazy drivers in NYC are, but he saw first hand when our driver was backing up over 200 yards on a bridge and when he almost killed a guy on a scooter.

I hate to even write about this night, because I really do just want to forget it, but I’ll write it anyway. We tried to find the cheapest hotel in NY. Done. We paid $120 for one night. But we definitely got what we paid for. It was a super sketchy place. A shared bathroom with 12 other rooms that were nastier than anything I ever saw in DT Freshman year or the MTC. We hardly slept all night with the crazy creaking sounds form the heater, the tapping of the fan and then the sirens and people running up and down the hallway in the middle of the night.

Anyway… the night ended fine and we went straight to Church. We went to the church that is right beneath the Manhattan Temple. Again, it ma

kes me so grateful for the Gospel in our lives and it is the same everywhere we go. We spent the rest of the day exploring Soho and shopping.

We stayed with some family friends of Mel’s that live out in Connecticut in the most beautiful town ever, Bridgewater. I think they convinced us to move there when we are older. Fun place, but a LONG commute there and back everyday on the train. Luz made an amazing dinner for us on Sunday night and we were exhausted from a day of walking and the night’s previous terrible sleep.

Monday Garrett went to his conference. He LOVED the conference. He loved the people there and learned a lot about mobile. He mostly learned that he is really behind and BYU isn’t teaching him anything.

Monday I bought a bus tour pass to go uptown and downtown. First, I got on the downtown bus tour. It started off in Time Square and took me everywhere. It was cool that I got to see EVERYTHING. I saw Wall Street, The Bull, China Town, Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower, Rockefeller Center, Madison Ave,

Trump Tower, the UN, Central Park and the best part… The 9-11 Memorial. It was so cool to see where it was and the new memorial that they are building. The Spirit there was incredible. Everyone was very respectful. They had a really cool sound booth where you can record your story of where you were on 9-11. So, I recorded my story of sophomore year in Chemistry class.

I was nervous that I’d be lonely all day, but the tours made the day go by quickly and very entertaining. I met Garrett for lunch and in the afternoon went off to see the Uptown tour. Uptown, I got to see some beautiful churches, central park where they were filming a movie, The Natural History Museum, The Apollo, Harlem, Museum Mile, etc. It is an incredible city that is anything but dull. There is so much to look at all the time.

At night, Garrett and I walked on over to see Time Square at night. Garrett had never seen it and was blown away at all the lights and things to look at.

Tuesday, my feet were killing me. I was already dying by how much I walked. Tuesday I went to the Manhattan temple. It is a beautiful place where I got to see what it is like to truly be in the world but not of the world. I also went over to the Museum of Natural History and walked around there for a while. I walked around a bit and shopped. I enjoyed my time in the 4-level Forever 21. That evening, Garrett and I went and had some frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity. Mmmmmm.

Wednesday I slept in a little bit while Garrett went in to town and shopped the day away. He literally walked all around town from Soho to Chinatown back up to Time Square. Wednesday was my favorite because I saw Wicked. LOVED IT! Its such a fun musical. The plot is fun, the music is incredible, the scenery and costumes were great. That night, Garrett and I grabbed a bite to eat and then headed home because… we decided to leave a day early and go to…. FLORIDA. What???

When Garrett and I were first dating I went all out for his birthday. Last year, it was weak because I got in late the day before from a surprise business trip to New York . So this year, I tried to do go all out.

I had his close friend and family help me out with his 100 list. That can be seen on a different blog post.

Garrett’s besties, Morgan & Alex took him to breakfast. We then spent the day getting ready for a birthday party for over 35 friends. I made a yummy dinner for everyone.

The best part of the whole day was when his sister, Gabes, surprised him. Morgan came to the door and told him, “I have your present, but it’s too big to carry in.” Garrett walked out the door to look at it and Gabes walked around the corner. He was SO shocked. His face was priceless!

We then had birthday cake and I gave him his next surprise. His annual piñata! Which this year it was FERB. He also got 2 gifts that he wanted from my mom and Laurie. A Mac Track Pad and Wireless Keyboard. A few days later, he got an AMZAING package from his mom. She always sends the best packages.

To top off the evening, we went with some of our closest friends to the Reale Salt Lake soccer game at Rio Tinto Sadium. It was a close game, but someone forgot to tell them it w was Garrett’s birthday and n

eeded to win. It was the first home game they lost in over a year.

Anyway… it was a great birthday. I tried to set the bar a little higher this year so that come December, he remembers his great wife!

This year, one of Garrett’s New Year’s resolutions was to be in the Utah Student 25. This means he was nominated by someone as one of the top entrepreneurs in Utah for 2010. Last year, he volunteered as a student coordinator and said that he goal for this year was to be on the stage. CHECK.

My company asked me that day to go represent ONO as one of event’s sponsors. Convenient. Not really our demographic for recruiting… but it was good to get our name out there.

There was a very nice dinner put on at The Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. The event is very fancy… but what does Garrett show up in?!!? A bow tie. And his hair back in a shoelace. Urgggg. I was SO mad. He refused to take it out.

So, he and Morgan Lyman (his “business partner”) walk up on to the stage and are awarded #17. They are ranked in order and they count down to the #1 business. The order of students is ranked off of growth and revenue in the past 5 years.

Next year, his goal is to be #1. He has a LONG way to go!

1. I love how much Garrett loves my girls. He always takes time to really play with them and make them laugh. I love that Violet calls him Garbum.
2. I love Garrett's fabulous style. That everyone else at the banquet was wearing boring suits while he and Morgan rocked the bow ties!
3. I love that Garrett is the most innocent looking, deceptively powerful salesman I know.
4. I love that Garrett always believes everything will work out...which is why it always does for him.5. I love how creative and nonstop his mind is.6. I love that Garrett found the perfect match for him in Jessica!
7. He has lots of projects

jessica....she's a great sister in law!
26. We like that garrett is going to byu, so you guys live relatively close by (for nowat least).27. I like it when garrett tries my food i make and then he says he likes it, cuz i know he's a picky eater, and if he likes it, than most people will.

35. This is easy. The #1 reason why I love Garrett is definitely his baby sister Gabrielle.36. And the other 99 reasons why I love him are basically the SAME reasons why I love myself.37. Garrett loves sharing in other's excitement and is easily excited
38. I love that Garrett is relentless, helps to have him on your team
39. Sharing O's at 2am while watching Boy Meets World at full volume to hear over our loud crunching
40. Garrett is the world's best team mate
41. He is a terrible liar42. His jokes are harmless, and usually very funny, BUT always hysterical to Garrett
43. He's a ridiculously great dancer with GREAT rhythm44. My favorite shopping partner

ensitive to others
46. Garrett's reasons for calling are usually legit47. I never tire of talking to Garrett48. I love the semi-ridiculous projects Garrett has convinced me to do- brick his wall in cardboard
49. He can recognize something great
50. Extremely sentimental
51. We can call each other to explain how funny we just were
Garrett's advice is reliable (just make sure you recognize 1st where it benefits him!)
52. EVERYTHING is more fun with Garrett53. EVERYTHING could be made more fun with Garrett
54. That he isn't afraid of cold water or foreign food
55. That he has inspired Shelby to grow his hair out again56. He has more will power than anyone I know...not to be mistaken for stubbornness...ie: 67. Remaining on his detox diet while we all ate fillet mignon

57. His dedication to his dreams, whether it be family, school, his mission, or soccer, ect. he gives everything to achieve the BEST!
58. He is kind59. He likes to dance
60. He can make Gabes smile the most genuinely
61. The fact that he shares the same name as Olivia the Pig's Uncle Garrett, and that just like that Uncle Garrett, he will one day help Olivia dance a pas de deux for her show and tell kindergarten class
62. He inspires me to eat less candy and more blueberries63. He's creative
64. And my most favorite thing about Garrett...he is my little brother and therefore we will always be tight gee-six thugs!!!
65. He is loyal to and maintains friendships66. He has great relationships with siblings. Jessica has great relationships with her siblings---good family relationships is a key quality and I notice it with your siblings also.67. He is a hustler-as in the day you hid in wait to speak with President Holland from UVU-that took guts.

It’s been a crazy 2 weeks. Garrett left me for a week adventure in LA. He spent the weekend with his sisters, Gabes and Miristi and the week at the Adobe MAX conference.

I still have yet to hear everything he learned, but I know they put on a fantastic conference. There were lots of hands-on classes about the Adobe Suite. He was able to do some major networking with people from Google and Lynda.com. Garrett has mastered Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator over the last year and is now moving toward Dreamweaver and After Effects.

The main highlight of the conference was when they gave all attendees the new Google Phone as well as the Google TV for FREE. A ticket for the conference cost

$1,800 but Garrett talked one of his past clients into sending him there for $195. After the free Google gifts,

everything learned, and all the free food, Garrett really made out like a bandit. He will leave to his next design conference later in November to New York City.

Meanwhile, I was at home with a hacking cough (that Garrett left me with). I had a girlfriend stay with me for the weekend where we were pampered all weekend with manies, petties, and scalp treatments. We watched a few scary movies and went to a haunted house (bad idea while husband is gone). It was a blast, but I missed Garrett so much that I bought a plane ticket to New York City so that I didn’t have to be alone another weekend while Garrett attends the Future of Web Design conference.

He came home late Wednesday night and I left on Friday for Denver. We did manage to squeeze a Thursday date night in there with Outback and Step-up 3. (Garrett has now seen Step-up 3, 3 times!)

The very next day (Friday) my mom flew my sister Amanda and I home to Colorado for her birthday weekend. It was so much fun. We went to the temple on Saturday morning and did some family names. I love being there with my family. It brings on a whole different meaning to the song “Families Can Be Together Forever” when you are all together in the Celestial room. It was an amazing experience. I’m sure nothing makes my parents more happy than seeing us all in the temple together.

We enjoyed a nice lunch at Hacienda with Grandma an

d did a little bit of shopping. Saturday night was spent at the ward Trunk-or-Treat. We didn’t bring costumes but managed fine when we spent a few minutes looking in my dad’s

closet. I found his vintage Boy Scout uniform and Amanda wore some Indian thing my grandma sewed for him when he was 14. It had tassels on it. Jim came out in the epic mummy costume. Dad was the wizard. Typical.

Sunday was amazing. I enjoy going back to my home ward and seeing the people who helped raise me. We had dinner with Dan and Dan Doerfein and the Sigmons. It was the quintessential Sunday.

Back in Utah, Garrett was busting the Beiber-doo. He spent some time with the boys going to haunted corn mazes and dressing up as "Thing Wild” His hair sure has gone wild. He needs a haircut. Bad.

But I missed Garrett even with his moppy new hair style. I’m glad I’m finally home.

The last few weeks we’ve both been sick, out of town and crazy busy with work/school. I’m excited to be home with everything back to normal.

Hopefully things will slow down and allow us to relax (ps. Garrett is launching a business on Thursday, meeting the Governor for his design business being named top 25 student-owned businesses in Utah, his birthday is on Saturday, he just got an MRI and found out he needs surgery this month as soon as we get home from New York... Then we will relax.)