15th Anniversary Trip Part 5: Coming Home and Our Actual Anniversary

On January 4th, we disembarked from the Carnival Sunrise, got a ride back to the Miami airport, and headed to...Phoenix. Thankfully, there was no stinky bathroom behind us, and aside from the fact that our original flights would have returned us to Idaho Falls that night, things were pretty uneventful. 

I hope I never lose my wonder and awe at flying above the clouds. 

It took forever for our hotel shuttle to arrive and get us, but it finally did, and we had an uneventful night in Phoenix that involved dinner and sleeping. 

The next morning, we were finally on our final leg to Idaho Falls! 

Mom, Rachel, and Gabe picked us up at the airport, and it was so fun to see how excited Rachel and Gabe were to see us. We grabbed lunch at a nearby Mexican Restaurant, which the kids loved so much. 

Then we headed back to Ririe where we packed up the rest of everything and remade the beds. We had gotten home early enough that we decided to head back to Utah that afternoon. 

We were excited to see Michael again, who had spent most of the break in the woodshop at my Grandpa's house. 

Before we left my mom's, I helped her call Carnival to book a cruise with her and my sisters. My kids were jealous that I was booking another cruise when I had just gotten back from one. I can't believe that my sisters all committed to going! This cruise would be for my 40th birthday, just a year early. More on that coming later. 

We made it home, and our regular life began again. School started back up, and Brian started work again. 

On January 10, we celebrated our actual 15th anniversary by going to the temple to perform sealing ordinances. As always, it was wonderful. 

We got lunch together at Gourmandaise, where we witnessed a murder (of crows). 

Brian took me to the store to pick out my own flowers. I made a really beautiful arrangement that I never took a picture of. 

The traditional 15th anniversary gift is crystals, and Brian surprised me with a beautiful Swarovski crystal necklace. He told me they tried to put the necklace in a beautiful yellow bag, and Brian said, "Actually, is there another color of bag? She hates yellow." They were surprised that he knew that about me. Or maybe they were surprised that I felt that strongly about yellow. 

Here I am modeling the new necklace. It really is so beautiful. 

I got Brian watch cufflinks with actual working watches on them, since the modern gift is a watch. Unfortunately, the face fell off one of the cufflinks, but they were really cool until then. 

I'm so grateful to be married to Brian. It still feels like the biggest miracle of my life that I found him and convinced him to marry me. He makes me so incredibly happy. He puts up with all my weaknesses and quirks, and he believes in me more than I believe in myself. I love you so much, Brian Saville!!!

 

15th Anniversary Trip Part 4: Half Moon Cay, The Grand Turk, and a Day at Sea

The incredible staff of the Carnival Sunrise helped us welcome in 2024 with this guy. 

After breakfast on January 1, we tendered into Half Moon Cay, Carnival's private Island. It was a gorgeous day. 

We walked from the dock down the beach until we were past most of the people, but still had a beach chair. 

We swam in the water 

and relaxed on the beach.

It was beautiful, warm, and relaxing. It was strange to think that it was January 1. 

All too soon, it was time to head back to the ship. 

We had another chill night on ship, and the next morning, we woke up in the Grand Turk. 

We rented a golf cart and took ourselves on a self-guided tour of the Island. 

The Grand Turk is part of Turks & Caicos Islands, a British Territory between the Bahamas and the Dominica Republic. It's possibly the the first place that Christopher Columbus landed in the New World, and it is also the first land that Astronaut John Glenn stepped onto after his orbit around Earth in 1962, which is why there his pod (or a replica of it) is here in a little grassy area near the airport. 

The Grand Turk is home to lots of wild donkeys. Apparently they were brought in to help with the salt mining, and now they roam the land as if they own the place. 

We found these big conk shells in the North Creek Grand Turk Bird Observatory. It was a beautiful secluded spot in near the north end of the tiny island. 

We checked out the famous lighthouse and read more about how this was the most likely spot of Columbus's first landfall. We learned about smugglers and pirates. 

And we got to see the water hitting the rocky shores below. It makes sense that there have been many, many shipwrecks here. 

We saw lizards. 

After the lighthouse, we continued our explorations. I loved seeing these rock formations and the sea below. It is just so beautiful there. 

Surprisingly, there isn't much to this Island. There is a town, which is also the capitol of the country, but there really isn't much here. I was surprised to see lots of abandoned or run down homes. This beautiful island's main draw was the salt salinas. 

We stopped near the port to get some food. We walked on the beach a bit and saw that the storm clouds were actually approaching our location, so we decided it was time to head back. 

As soon as we dropped off the golf cart, the heavens opened and we got dumped on! 

Once we embraced the fact that we were just going to be wet, it was actually pretty fun. 

We were greeted by this awesome lobster in our room. We got changed and spent the rest of the day reading. 

The next day was our only Day at Sea, and we soaked up some sun to fill our winter canteens. We enjoyed lounging, eating, and reading, and it was fabulous!