Life as a Cougar!!!!

So, last week I finally got to go on my senior trip with my parents to Jamaica, and let me just say, it was probably the most fun I've had while on a trip.  I got to do so many things that I've never done before and it was so nice to take a break from school and just be able to spend some time with my parents.  It was amazing.  Because it was right at the end of hurricane season, the weather was only in the 80's and it would rain probably once a day cooling things off a lot.  And, even though it rained, I was still able to get tan.  I mean, hello, rain and a tan, who could ask for more?

The view from our balcony

On to the actual trip.  Saturday afternoon I left Utah and got to Miami where mom and dad met me Sunday morning.  Sunday we went shopping, which I always find fun, but I still wanted to get to Jamaica.  We left Miami Sunday afternoon and finally got to our resort at about 11pm.  When we got there we were given cold, wet towels, which was amazing because it was a little bit hot when we first got there.  After we got all settled and got something to eat, mom and I decided to go swimming in the ocean.  The water is amazing and after swimming for awhile mom and I decided to go skinny dipping.  Well, after mom got all dressed again a security guard comes up and goes, "Now's not the best time to be swimming in the ocean."  Mom then replies, "Okay, we'll get out," and then starts to leave me.  Keep in mind that I have not finished putting my suit back on, so I'm stuck in the ocean trying to get dressed while the security guard it waiting for us to get out.  Well, we found out the next day that the jelly fish and stingrays like

 to come up close to shore at night so I guess we were pretty lucky not to get stung.

Monday was mostly a day of exploring, swimming, and relaxing.  We swam a bunch in the ocean and even got dad to go all the way up to his neck and pick his feat up in the water!!  He was a super good sport on this trip.  Dad and I rode on these cool water trike things.  We also signed up for our tours.  Monday night after dinner was the Sesame Street parade.  As little kid oriented as it was, I still had a lot of fun.  The photographer that followed us around all week got a picture with me and all of the characters and it was fun to watch the marching band and everyone else performing.  (This photographer, Shane, later turned into a little Dirty Dancing moment for me, but I'm not gonna talk about that here.)

Mom and me with Elmo and Grover

Tuesday morning was mom and my scuba lesson.  So, we went over to the water shop and learned all of the breathing techniques and everything we needed to know.  The people had told dad earlier that we wasn't going to be able to do scuba diving because of his diabetes, which was a big bummer because he was really looking forward to it.  But, when we talked to our instructor he told us it was fine so dad got to have his lesson Wednesday before our first dive.  After our lesson, Dad and I went and got ready to go on our canopy tour where we got to go ziplining.  After about an hour and a half drive we got to our starting place, we got on all of our gear, and walked up to our first zipline.  The first one was a little scary, but after awhile, it was just really really awesome.  We got to see so much of the rain forest, it was beautiful.  Let me just say here again how awesome dad was on this trip.  Everyone knows how afraid of heights he is, and I'm pretty sure the highest line was 100 feet off the ground.  The only bad thing about this part was that got about 30-40 mosquito bites on each leg.  Not so much fun for me.  Dad of course, didn't get any.  Tuesday night after dinner was the staff/guest talent show.  This was fun to watch and they had an amazing band performing.  After the talent show mom and I snuck our photographer friends a little contraband.  Now now, don't get any big ideas here.  The contraband was 2 bacon cheeseburgers because they were complaining that they were starving and could only eat at specific times laid out for the staff.  It was pretty funny to watch them eating these burgers and then fall to the ground every time they thought they saw someone coming.

Me on one of the ziplines

Wednesday was another big day.  This was the day of our first scuba dive.  We all got on the boat and were taken to a place called "Great White."  This is because it was a big, white, sandy area under us.  After we had all of our gear on, we all jumped in and had to use a rope to descend the 30 feet.  Then, we take off.  This was amazing and I don't even know how to explain it.  It was like swimming in a fish tank.  It was soo cool and the pictures I got don't do it any justice.  You can't see any of the amazing colors in the pictures.  Back on the boat, I guess dad got motion sickness and decided to throw up everywhere...not so much fun.  But the scuba diving was still great.  After we got back to the resort and took a little rest we got all geared up to go on OUR SHOPPING ADVENTURE!!  Okay, well the shopping wasn't that great, but what we did afterwards was.  We went to this place called Rick's Cafe which is one of the top 10 bars in the world.  It also has a place where you can cliff dive 30 feet.  I will admit that I was a little bit scared, but I did it.  And it was amazing.  I'm excited to do it again next year with Daniel.  Then we went back to the resort and watched the show they had.  This time they had one of the fire breathing guys who put out the torches in their mouth and rub the fire all over them.  They also had Reggae dancers and they pulled me up to dance with them.  I'm not so good at it.

Dad, Mom, and me at Rick's Cafe.  (A video of my jump is on facebook)

Thursday was our last day but it was just as exciting as the rest.  First off we went on our second scuba diving adventure.  We went to the same place again but it was probably more fun this time because we didn't have to worry about taking pictures or worry that we weren't doing something right.  This is when mom and I decided that scuba diving must be my calling.  This is because I sink like I rock.  As soon as I'm in the water I'm at the bottom and I don't need any extra weights then what they gave me at the beginning.  Mom however gets enough weights that they probably weigh as much as me and is constantly having to drain the water out of her jacket so she doesn't float back up to the top.  Getting back on the boat, dad decided to throw up again.  He was all happy because, "At least this time I did it in the water!"  Well, yes, but that also meant that we had to swim through it.  Oh well, I can't complain too much because he did come with us and he loved it.  Back at the resort I got my hair braided and then after it stopped pouring rain mom and I went swimming again for our last time.  She made me swim a forever long time to the farthest buoy.  I complained the whole way, but I will admit, it wasn't that bad and it was fun to swim.  The rest of the night we just relaxed and got ready to catch our 3:15 am shuttle.  I figured it was a waste of time to go to sleep so I stayed up and wrote in my journal while mom and dad slept.

Dad and me scuba diving!

This is mom and me at the red buoy.

Now I'm back in Provo and can't think about anything except how amazing this trip was.  I am soo happy I had the opportunity to come and am soo grateful to my parents for coming with me and the amazing sports they were through the whole thing.  I can't wait until we go back next year with the whole family.

At least now that I'm back in Provo I have other things to look forward to.  Amylynn and Kenny's adoptions were just finalized today and I am soo excited.  I can't wait to see everyone for Thanksgiving.  Also, Alice is about ready to have the baby and she thinks that it will probably come sometime this weekend.  I cannot wait to be an aunt!

p.s.

for more pictures you can visit my facebook page.