Domestic Duties

So as you may already know, William is back in the lab. I actually made the drive back to Denver with him last Saturday and it actually wasn’t that bad. I caught up on all the tech news and previews of Halo 3 by listening to the tech podcasts that he downloaded. Yes… he had enough podcasts to last the whole trip, and we still didn’t make it through all of them (apparently he listens to these on a daily basis, so he had 3 weeks to catch up on).

Anyway… now that I am not planning a wedding anymore and William is back in Denver, I decided to find a new hobby to fill my free time and I thought, what better way to start of a marriage than by taking some cooking classes to perfect my skills. Now… this is when William would chime in a tell you that I don’t cook, but the truth is…. I can cook, I just don’t. My schedule is always so busy (usually 12 hour days and this week I had a 17 hour day since we were working on the business plan and budget). So when I get home, I am usually exhausted and don’t feel like cooking even though I would prefer to do that. However, I decided that hopefully my schedule will calm down a bit to give me more free time, and I definitely want to be able to cook for William once we live under the same roof. So today, I took my first cooking class at the Viking Cooking School. I took a course titled Girls Night out in Vegas that featured several recipes from popular chefs of Vegas restaurants like Emeril and Bobby Flay. The menu included Emeril’s New Orleans Barbecued Shrimp, Emeril’s Petite Rosemary Biscuits, Bobby Flay’s Grilled Fennel-Spiced Pork Chops with Lemon-Sage Vinaigrette, Commander’s Palace Stone-Ground Goat Cheese Grits, and Chocolae & Peanut Butter Ganache Tart. It was a hands on class, so it was great to learn recipes and techniques while chatting with the other students. I had only one mishap when I spilled vinaigrette all over the cooktop, but I was able to salvage it. It was kinda embarassing, but oh well. All the food came out great and I am excited about trying the recipes at home on my own, especially the pork chops since William tends to order pork chops many times when we go out for dinner. I enjoyed the class so much that I think I am going to enroll in the 12 week essential cooking series, which includes classes like making stocks, making sauces, sauteeing and frying, etc… It will definitely allow me to expand my skills.

So… William can rest assured that I will cook more for him and be excited about coming home for dinner.

On an unrelated topic, I would like to share with everyone that Drew (our nephew) asked his mom the following question on Thursday: “Can we go get a brother on Saturday?” My sister tried to explain that brothers are not readily available, and so he asked if she could go get one to put in her belly. Looks like Kim and Rob have some decisions to make 🙂

Fantastic Voyage

Warning: The following post contains links to photos of our honeymoon in Turks and Caicos. Looking at the 185 photos can potentially distract you from work, ruin memories of previous vacations and/or cause you to spend your hard earned money by immediately booking a trip of your own. Proceed at your own risk. The Cody Report is not responsible for any actions or efforts you make to reach the state of relaxation found in said photos.

As you may have heard, Kyllan and I honeymooned on the Turks and Caicos island (TCI) of Providenciales (Provo) after our wedding where we stayed at the Regent Palms for 5 nights. (We made several post while on the trip detailing the amazing time we were having: Post 1, 2, 3 and 4 .)

One of the wedding gifts we received from my parents was a Nikon D40x camera. (The other gift was the honeymoon.) With this camera we took over 650 pictures of our trip. We have gone through these pictures and selected 185 honeymoon photos to share with everyone.


Did I mention we plan to go back at some point? Who’s going with us?

Oh, my good friend Neil (also one of my groomsmen) has started blogging again over at the Chronicles of NL. He made a brief post about the wedding entitled “Wedding Bells.”

Photos from the Wedding

My Uncle Sam, who is also my godfather, took over 900 photos during the weekend of our wedding. Knowing that he is into photography, I asked him to take photos at the events where we didn’t already have a photographer and to get some candids at the reception; He out did himself. Kyllan and I cannot thank him enough for capturing so many memories for us. He gave us the files before he left Dallas and we spent over two hour during the honeymoon looking the images. There were so many moments we didn’t see, guest we didn’t get a chance to talk with and little details that we were moving to fast to catch.

Now, we want to share my uncle’s images with all of you. (While I personally enjoyed looking at all 900, we only uploaded select images.) For those of you that were unable to attend, the weekend included the rehearsal dinner, the wedding ceremony and reception and a breakfast the next morning. There is a photo set for each event. View the entire collection here. (I think the “detail” view, found under the event title, allows for the easiest viewing of photos once inside the sets.)

If you have your own photos of the wedding, please share them with us. We will let everyone know as soon as the wedding photographer’s photos become available.


Wedding Play-byPlay

A very good friend of mine made a nice post detailing the wedding on her blog “Med Obsession.” If you weren’t able to attend, or were and just want to reminisce, you should take a look. The post is titled “A Beautiful Wedding.”

In the post she comments on a slide show that was played in the background during the reception. You can find it below. (As always, the flash player quality sucks but has the best chance of being compatible with whatever computer and browser readers happen to be using. The slide show is 12 minutes long. I’ve been having some problems with, so please let me know if they haven’t all been resolved)

Photo Roll Out

Pictures of our nephew’s 3rd birthday party have been posted to my flickr account. It was a few days before the wedding, but with everything going on, we didn’t have a chance to post about it.

I am going to try and post pictures from the rehearsal dinner, wedding ceremony and departure breakfast tomorrow, Wednesday at the latest. Honeymoon photos will go up the day after that. There should be a few videos going up this week, but they will require some editing and I have few things that need get done for the lab before getting to that.

As always, a link to my flickr account can be found in the right hand sidebar.

Reentry

We’re back! Turks & Caicos may be the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen and to spend a week there with my new wife was simply amazing. 50 years from now I will still be reflecting upon the memories we created these past two weeks.

I was supposed to make a post on Friday detailing our day, but relaxing and doing nothing got in the way. We spent all day at the beach Friday. We floated around on a few water toys, did a little snorkeling and reclined under our own canopy. The highlight, for me anyway, was sailing a hobiecat “wave,” a 13 foot catarmaran. (Apparently it doesn’t matter if you don’t already know how to sail, only that you can sign a wavier form.) We tried for the third evening to catch a sun set and the “green flash” Kyllan told you about, only to miss it due to cloud cover again. There was also a wedding that evening. It took place at the spa (you’ll understand after you see the pictures) and later they took photos on the beach. Even with the cloud cover, the sky was beautiful. Unfortunately for the couple, their photographer did not take a single photo into the setting sun. I snapped off a couple from my lounge chair on the boardwalk though. Friday night we ate at Grace’s Cottage, which is apparently one of the nicest restaurants on the island. Afterwards we walked about a quarter of a mile along the beach back to our resort and took a quick dip in the hot tub.

We left the resort at noon Saturday. We didn’t do very much before leaving, besides try to take in just how breathtaking the entire week had been. It’s Sunday morning now and we are trying to catch up on what happened in the real world while we were gone. There are over 650 photos on my camera, after deleting the unwanteds and duplicates. My Uncle Sam also gave me over 200 photos he took of the rehearsal dinner, wedding and breakfast, each. Oh, and we never posted about my nephew’s 3rd birthday and party on the 3rd. I have 200 photos of that. We simply can’t post all of those photos, but don’t worry, in the next 24 to 48 hours we will decided which ones are going up on flickr and make a post. (That gives me enough time to air brush on some abs!)

What magazines are made for

Today William and I discovered what magazines were made for. We spent all morning laying by the pool reading magazines and it was absolutely great. We were able to get outside early enough to snag a “pod” (the pictures will explain the popularity, but they are basically round lounge beds that are great for relaxing. After lunch we returned the scooter and were glad there were no mishaps with that. We also took the time to stop for souvenirs. We attempted to catch a sunset, and did except for the final part. The clouds kept us from seeing the final moments and the “green flash” that you see just as the sun sets, so hopefully it will be free of clouds and haze tomorrow. For dinner, we ate at Parallel 23, the resort’s restaurant, and celebrated 5 years since our first date. Tomorrow(Friday) we plan to relax by the pool and the beach again. There is also a wedding here, so we will probably watch at least a little bit of it.

5 years

So, apparently there were a lot of people that did not know why we chose September for our wedding. We went on our first date September 13, 2002, five years ago today…

(Speaking of wedding, ours was an incredible experience that has continued right into the honeymoon. Kyllan and I will be doing a wedding reflections post shortly after we return from our honeymoon, so I will save the rest of my comments for then.)

To celebrate five years together, the two of us will be spending the entire morning and afternoon by the pool. This evening we will be eating at The 23rd Parallel, a very nice restaurant at our hotel. After an afternoon of exploring the island by scooter, I am very excited about another day of doing nothing. Kyllan and I managed to only almost kill ourselves 3 times. Once when Kyllan, who was sitting behind me, grabbed the handle bars while I was accelerating from a full stop and twice in a round-a-bout. (They drive on the left hand side of the road in TCI.)

We are having a great time and I can’t wait to share all of the pictures; Only 301 from the honeymoon so far.

A little piece of Heaven

Surprise, Suprise!!! We decided to bring the laptop and we are having such an amazing time that we thought it was a necessity to share out first few hours with everyone. Don’t worry… we didn’t bring the computer to do work, we brought it to use as a resource to find info on Turks and Caicos (they have a lot of good sites about restaurants, sites to visits, and other good info online), and to download pictures, update the blog, etc…

Well, the trip got off to a rough start, but less than 24 hours later, we have forgotten completely about that part of our honeymoon experience.  However, I will share anyway. We arrived at the airport at about 5:45am Monday morning for our 7am flight. The flight was on time and although storm clouds were rolling in, we boarded and taxied to the tarmac ready to head to Miami. Unfortunately the tarmac is where we spent the next 2 hours since we did not get in the air before the storms began. We finally took off and made it to Miami only 10 minutes before our next flight was supposed to depart, so we were hopeful that it would be delayed or they could wait for us, but….. we arrived at a gate that required us to be “tugged” into the gate and before we could make it, the tug broke. We then sat on the plane for an additional 40 minutes before making it off the plane just after 1pm (in just enough time to allow the honeymoon couples going to Cozumel, Mexico to make their connection). Our connecting flight to Turks and Caicos was scheduled to depart at 12:35pm and had departed without us. We were told we were re-booked on the next flight that was scheduled to depart at 7:20pm…6 1/2 hours later! We tried to negotiate at least being given a day pass to the AA Admirals Club (as well as another couple that missed their flight), but that request was quickly denied by the airline reps (long story.. William has already typed a letter to American Airlines during our 6 1/2 hr layover using the little battery that was left in the laptop since the Miami airport has no working electrical outlets to plug in cell phones or computers. That’s not an exaggeration…. that went in the letter also). After another small delay on our second flight, we were underway to Turks and Caicos and arrived just after 9pm. We made it through customs with no problems and our luggage was the first out.

Here is where the real honeymoon story begins. We were taken by taxi to our resort, the Regent Palms, and were greeted by front desk staff with cold towels and punch in their open air lobby. While we drank our punch, one of the front desk associates gave us some general info about the resort and then gave us a brief tour (it was dark, but we were able to get an idea of where we were). Our suite is absolutely incredible. We have 1,500 sq feet of space complete with a full living room, dining room, kitchen (with Viking appliances, sub zero fridge, pots, pans, dishes, and silverware), bedroom, 1 1/2 baths and a balcony with a day bed. We even have a laundry room with complimentary detergent.

When we woke up this morning, we were like kids on Christmas morning as we went into the living room and see what the view would be like out our window and it was simply breathtaking. We started off the morning with buffet breakfast at the resort that had a good selection on cereals, yogurt, fruit, breads, cold cuts, eggs, grits, potatoes, bacon and sausage. We then explored the amenities the resort had to offer (gift shop, boutique, swimwear boutique, and convenience store). We also confirmed our couples massage for tomorrow (really looking forward to this!). Then, it was off to the pool for a little relaxing. I would just like to make sure you know that William and I have discovered a new definition for relaxation. He told me I ruined his old feeling that tv and video games are what you do to relax. He had no idea that sitting by the pool for almost 5 hours could be so much fun. I have to admit that I did not know that either. We found a couple of really comfy lounge chairs with an umbrella, so we just chilled there all afternoon reading magazines and mixed it with a couple dips in the pool, a dip in the ocean, and a bite to eat at the swim up pool bar. The pool staff frequently brought around cold towels and frozen fruit to keep everyone cool (the weather is hot and humid). Towards the afternoon, it started to get a bit crowded around the pool, so we came back inside to relax. In the morning, there were only about 10 or so people around the pool (September in Turks and Caicos is apparently the hottest month and the slowest month). In the afternoon, there were some people who came in for a wedding this weekend, so it may be a bit more crowded than we would have liked, but there is no doubt in our minds that this will be a truly unforgettable experience. For dinner, we decided to venture out from the resort and tried a restaurant suggested by the concierge. We enjoyed our meal and the service was excellent. We even brought back leftovers since we have a full kitchen. At this moment, we are just relaxing in the living room and excited about our couples massage tomorrow.

Well… that covers the highlights on Day 1. William will try to post pictures soon.

We’re Married!!!

We are now officially Mr. & Mrs. and we could not be more excited!!!! The weekend festivities were absolutely beautiful and way beyond our expectations. We were completely overwhelmed with the love we were shown by everyone and the way things turned out. I hope that those who came had as wonderful a time as we did. For those not able to make it, we know we were in your thoughts and prayers and appreciate that also. We hope to have a link to pictures from the wedding when we return from our Honeymoon, but for now… we are off and we’ll catch back up on our blogging in a week (we will be sure to post pics from the honeymoon on Flickr when we return).