TRUDIE

CRUISING THE CARIBBEAN ON THE RUBY PRINCESS

2009-03-01T18:45:00.001-08:00

On February 13, I went on a cruise to the Western Caribbean. I went with Gwen, her nephew James and his wife Fabiola. We flew to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Friday and stayed there at a Marriott Hotel. We left on Saturday morning to board the ship the Ruby Princess. It is a new ship as of November 2008. It was beautiful. We had 3286 passengers and 1210 crew members on board. There were 44 nationalities represented on the crew. If you stand this ship on its end it would be as long as the Empire State Building is long. I have about 335 pictures to try and choose from to share my experience of the cruise with family and friends. I hope some of the pictures help to capture the trip. It was breathtaking to see the ship. I have never seen anything so big!!!!!

This is the Ruby Princess

As we pulled away from the docks at Ft. Lauderdale, we had boats escorting us out to sea. The houses along this inlet were beautiful and big.

We left on Valentines Day and as we boarded the ship they had all these Valentines cakes in the main Pizazz.

There was a group that played in the main Pizazz the day we boarded the ship.

This is all the luggage lined up to get on the ship. You just pray that yours makes it to the right cabin. There was a GIANT movie screen on one of the top decks. We watched Mama Mia under the stars.

Gwen and I at the life vest drill. Aren't we cute!!!

This is a chandelier in the main area and another picture of the Pizazz.

One of the winding staircases in the Pizazz. It was so pretty.

On Jamaica we went to a place called Shaw Park Gardens. This is Gwen and I by one of the waterfalls. Everything was so green.

Overlooking the Carribean Sea.

Our tour guide showed us a Banyan tree that was huge. He is swinging from the vines.

We went to Dunn River Falls in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. This was beautiful. You start at the bottom of the falls then hike up to the top. We didn't hike the falls but walked from the bottom to the top along the walking path.

Our next stop was Grand Cayman Islands. This is where alot of banking takes place. There were over 60 plus banks here. We had to take the tender boats over to the Island because the boat couldn't get close enough to the dock because of the coral reefs.

Grand Cayman Islands.

James and Fabiola on the bus for a tour to the turtle farm.

All kinds of turtles, big and little.

Me holding a turtle. It was so cute!!! I was a little nervous because he flaps his front flappers to try and get away so you have to hold them just right or you could drop them. It felt alot different than I thought it would. I thought the under shell would be squishy but it was hard like the top shell.

James and Fabiola with their turtles. Gwen rubbing her turtles tummy.

While on Grand Cayman we visited HELL. I can

honestly say I have been to "HELL"

They drive on the wrong side of the road and the steering wheels on the the right side of the vehicle.

Taking the tender back to the boat.

.
The ship from the pier.

Our next stop was Cozumel Mexico. We went on a tour called Discover Mexico. This chest was an example of the artwork done in Mexico.

We saw alot of scale models of buildings and ruins in Mexico. Some of these we went to in November when we went to Cancun.

This is the Catholic Church in Zacatecas Mexico where Fabiola comes from.

The main square in Cozumel overlooking the ocean.

We took a tour of the Galley and these pictures are from there. This ship has four different galleys where they prepare all the food.

The chefs preparing the fruit plates for dinner.

The salads chilling for dinner.

Carvings made out of breads.

The head Matre' d and the main chef.

King Crab legs night.

Starting at the left is our waiter Julian, from Bulgaria, Me, GwenMario from Italy(the head waiter), Fabiola, James and Ronnie from the Phillipines.

Our cabin stewards name was Marlo (not sure where he was from). He made this cute elephant and put it on our bed one night it is made from towels.

Me at Princess Cays, this is a privately owned Island that Princess Cruise Lines owns. The beaches are white sand.

The water at Princess Cays was crystal clear and green/blue.

More of Princess Cays. This is our ship when we were heading back to it.

The last night of the cruise we had Baked Alaska for deseret.

Our Waiter, "Julian" wearing this America Vest.

Coming back into Ft. Lauderdale. The houses along this inlet were huge.

Just as the sunsets in the West, the Cruise came to an end. This was one of the prettiest sunsets I have ever seen. Everyone should take a cruise at least once in their lifetime. Everyone save your money and we can all go.

I hope that this hasn't been boring - it is hard to condense seven days in a few pictures.

2009-02-12T21:45:00.000-08:00

On January 30th I took a days vacation and worked as a volunteer at the Draper Temple Open House. What an awesome experience.

There were so many people that came through on our shift which was from 10:00-2:00. They estimated aht approximately 1,500 people came through an hour that day. It was very interesting to see peoples reactions as they went through. I was stationed outside the marriage waiting room and close to the brides dressing room. The brides dressing room is beautiful. Then I did a shift from 5:00 - 9:00 p.m. at the Church. I helped to get people on and off the buses that went up to the temple. That was very interesting. We heard that Elder Ballard came through the temple after the 2:00 shift ended and he had Martin Luther King III with him. Martin Luther King III is very impressed with the LDS Church and what they do with the welfare program. He was very impressed with the Hurricane Katrina relief that the Church helped with. I have to say this was one of the most tiring things I have done with very inspiring. I have not been on a tour yet but I am going to in the next couple of weeks.

UTAH AUTO EXPO

2009-02-06T20:53:00.000-08:00

The middle of January the New Car Dealers of Utah produce an Auto Show where they have alot of new, shiny, beautiful cars. These are some of the pictures that I took .

This is me in the new little Smart Car. It has alot of leg space, no trunk and very little head space if you are very tall. It would be a fun run around car for the bank or whatever but I would not like to be in 5:00 p.m rush hour traffic on the freeway while driving it.

This is one of my younger friends - Samuel - He thought this convertible was cool, but he really liked the Hummers

These are some more of my younger friends. They are triplets, Hannah(in the back) Rebekkah in the drivers seat and Sarah is the front seat passenger. They also like the convertible.

I am not sure what all of these cars are but they were pretty.

This car is a Bentley. It is owned by a pro sports agent who loaned it to the show for a few nights. The back seat has those massage rollers that go up and down your back. Price is around $259,000.

I thought this stationwagon was quite ugly. It looks like one of the old ones.

This is a Dodge motorcycle. (I think)

I think this one was a Bentley also.

As you can see there were alot of nice cars.

Cancun

2008-12-20T07:42:00.001-08:00

First of all, I apologize for all of the pictures. I have over 200 pictures

to choose from and it was very hard. But here goes my second attempt at blogging.

In November we went to Cancun Mexico for seven days

for our annual convention.

We arrived at the airport. Jason, Me, Lori and Gwen.

I think our boss Craig was taking this picture.

We sayed at the J. W. Marriott in Cancun. It was

a beautiful hotel and this is our room. This is the view from our balcony. The Carribean Sea

has the prettiest blue water I have ever seen.

The is the lobby of the J. W. Marriott. The
flowers were beautiful.

We went to see the ruins at Tulum, these guys were
entertaining and flying
upside down.
This is our group from the office, Gwen, Me, Jason

Craig and Lori.

We saw alot of ruins and heard how they tied in with

the Book of Mormon.

A friendly Inguana. He liked to eat flowers

that we feed him.

This was a mode of transportation. I think he

is serving sodas and treats to people on the

street.

Me and a friendly security guard. (Pretty short, Huh!!)

These are the Myan Indians that were the waiters and

waitress that served and entertained us at the

restuarant we ate at.

We traveled to Chichen Itza. This is probably the most

famous ruin that I have ever seen. We were

not able to climb to the top because over the

years the steps are crumbling. I think it has 90

steps to the top. It was impressive.

We were able to go to Merida and do a session at

the temple. The temple is very small and no one

spoke English.

Gwen & I got up at 5:00 a.m. one morning and

went out to walk along the beach. The beach was

wiped out from one of the hurricanes that went

through Cancun a year ago. I told Gwen I wanted

my picture taken standing in the Carribean Sea.

So she waited until a big wave came and I got wet

up to my butt.

Gwen wiping the sand off her feet.

The sun coming up at 5:00 a.m. over the water.

At our convention we had Myan people entertain us.

These are a couple of the dancers

One of the entertainers

More of the entertainers.

Gwen and I standing with three great warriors. We

thought maybe we could bring them home with us

to cook and clean. But decided against it.

Washington D.C. Trip

2008-11-25T23:34:00.000-08:00

This is my first attempt at blogging, so it may not be to great.Everyone who knows me knows that I love to travel. In early August I had the opportunity of going to a meeting for my job in Washington, D. C. Gwen was able to take vacation and go also. We took a couple of days prior to the meeting and saw the sights.

The first night we were there we went to the National Zoo. Well, it would have been fun, but it was closed.

We didn't get to see the real thing but this was a neat statute. We were looking forward to seeing the Panda Bears. We did see a red tail panda

before he went back into hiding.

This is a picture of what our room looked like and what
$200.00 a night gets you.

This is the hotel that we stayed at. It is the Omni Shoreham in Washington, D. C.
close to the metro and the National Zoo. It was a big place.

This is an escalator that we took to get on the Metro Subway. It was dark down there but I think it went for two blocks.

he Washington Monument was really neat. You can go up to the top but we were to late getting there for tickets.This is The South Lawn of the White House. This is where thePresident comes out and speaks to the reporters. This is the National Christmas Tree that will be cutdown for a new one to be put up for this Christmas. This is a space capsule at the Air & Space Museum The National Capitol We went to the Capitol from Senator Hatch's office and we got to ride on this little train underground from the Senator's office to the Capitol Building. This is a mural in the Capitol. This scene depicts the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Gwen & I in Statutory Hall. Each state has two statutes in this hall. Utah has Brigham Young and Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of television. For my Wyoming family I took this statue of Chief Washakie.This is the center of Washington D.C. It marks the way the streets go every direction. This is the Metro- subway.The metro Another picture of the Capitol Building

This is where all the money is made. The Bureau of Engraving

and Printing.

The Jefferson Monument in honor of Thomas Jefferson.

The is the Potomac River with the Washington Monument in the

background.

This is President John F. Kennedy's Grave and the eternal flame in the

background. This was really impressive.

This is a granite wall around the grave and eternal flame.
It has alot of President's Kennedy's famous quotes. This one is the

one about "My Dear Fellow American's, Ask not what your country can do

for you but what you can do for your country."

Arlington Cemetery - Very impressive with all the white headstones

lined up just perfect.

This is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

More of the changing of the guard.

We went into the Ronald Reagan Building and Gwen is standing

in front of her political mascot.

Me in front of my political choice. I think my is cuter.

This could be every girls dream. The Hope Diamon is 45.35 carat's.

A monument to honor the World War II Veterans.
Washington D.C. is a fun place to visit. Lots of history.