Brian

                                                            Brian is in the middle


I've been meaning to post a blog all day about how life isn't fair for taking Brian and how saddened and angry at God I am, but instead I figure I should talk about how great he was and is.

First I heard from Brain was am email that Susan forwarded to me after telling him that we were engaged. He was so bubbly and excited for her and stoked that we were going to wait for him to come back from his mission to be able to attend. His email was full of "wow's" and "yea's". I could tell how much he loved Susan and how truly happy he was for her.

I got to go along with Susan and tom and Kathy when they picked him up at the airport. He was a turd; rather than coming down the escalator like the rest of the missionaries he snuck around another stairway and tried to sneak around the crowd of people to surprise his family. Susan spoiled that plan by discovering him. He laughed it off and threw his arms around Kathy.

All the way home he muttered things such as "where am I?" "what is this place?" "where are the trees?" Susan reached out her hand to him and he put a pass-along card in it and said "Jesus came to the Americas." I was being dumb and he'd mutter "who is this guy?" Whenever his mom or dad called him "Brian" he'd correct them by muttering "Elder Kelley".

I have dinner twice a week at his parents house where he stayed for a while after coming home and I'd get to laugh and joke with him and play card games and watch him try to cheat all the while directing his signature 'ssssssssssss' at his mom.

Brian moved in with us for a couple months to be closer to Provo. I remember nights of playing Mario while giggling like idiots and screaming in fright at the unexpected traps in the levels all the while with Susan laughing at us.

Of course he came out to Nauvoo with us when we got married and he made the trip hilarious. From climbing on statues to making friends with everyone out there to stealing Susan's cowl and parading around to being the self appointed cake-cutter/drink filler at our reception he just kept everybody laughing and happy.

Brian was a joy. He was truly a happy kid and he was beautiful and he knew it. Everybody was Brian's friend, they just didn't know it yet. The world is a darker place without him, and I am lucky beyond belief to have known him and to be able to see him again.

Second Verse, Same as the First

SO, back to the cruise...



Our third stop was in Belize where we decided to take an excursion. Most were expensive and not things we'd think we'd do but we found one to the zoo for about 60 each that both of us thought would be fun. It was cool. After a bus ride of an hour or so we got to the Zoo which was a fenced off section of jungle in the middle of nowhere. The thing I liked about the zoo was that instead of paddocks and cement like in America the Belizians fenced off sections of jungle and left dirt and gravel paths between the different enclosures. So basically all of the animals were in their natural habitat with trees and bushes and creeks etc. there were some really cool animals that I haven't seen in any zoo's here and the jungleness of the place was awesome.

This is one of the paths in the zoo.














Is to for Jaguar.






We had a lot of fun there and got to see cool animals and hold a boa.

Next stop Grand Cayman

Cayman is one of my favorite places in the world. I've been there 4 times now and I absolutely love it. We took an excursion here as well and went to the turtle farm. Incredible. We got to see the breeding tank that had hundreds of huge turtles, we held the little yearlings and got to get in a holding tank and play with them. it was awesome. Of course I had to try the turtle burger at the bar. Susan was horrified.  As seen in the picture if you rub a turtles neck he gets all sorts of excited and arches his neck back for deeper rubs. They were so cute.

After a couple days at sea we were back in Miami and not too long after back in the old UT. It was fun, we kinda maybe wanna sorta go again.

 

It's a Good Life on a Boat

Been a while ago, but Susan and I took our honeymoon in April over her spring break. We went on a cruise to Cozumel, Roatan (Honduras), Belize, and grand cayman. While the trip was incredible it was overshadowed by being able to be with her 24/7 as we had not had any "us time" since we were married. After a whirlwind of travel and wedding and reception it was right back to work and the real world. For that reason this trip was amazing.

I've been on a few cruises before so got a good deal on a balcony sweet that was midship on the 8th deck: Close to everything; minimal rockage from waves; big enough to spend time in without claustrophobia. It was fantastic

Left: our room. Right: our view aft.




It was also nice to have a balcony to stand on without having to share room with thousands of people.

Our first stop was on Cozumel. I love Cozumel, the beaches are incredible; white sand, clear brilliantly blue water, English speaking attendees... Anyway, we got to the beach before anyone else so got a front row beach chair and hung out for a few hours. I snorkeled and played with baby jellyfish. Susan  walked on the beach with me and otherwise had fun away from the water.

 Top Left: gearing up to snorkel. Top Right: My lovely Lady
 Bottom Left: our beach. Bottom Right: Baby Jelly.

We decided, after several hours, to go back to the ship and it was at that point that other people began to show up in force. Until then there had only been around 20-30 people out with us. Awesome :)

I won't go into how incredible the food was, or how plentiful, on the ship. Suffice it to say that we wanted for naught and I gained 12 pounds.



Second day was Roatan. Again we spent time on the beach. Again we were earlier than anyone so had fun before other people came out. The flowers and plants were the highlight of Roatan for me.

Susan got brave and got in the water! Then jumped on my back and had to be towed back in to shore when she stepped on some icky seaweed.

In my next post I'll talk about Belize and Cayman :) TTFN