The Many Adventures of Genny and Jefferson in Roatan

As aforementioned, we spent our first Christmas out of the country. It was such a rush! I never imagined I would be going out of the country and so I didn't even have my passport. We got a call one chilly December morning as we were piling in the car to get to work. The basic gist of the call? "Genevieve has got to get her passport ordered today!"

We got an hour or so off work and rushed to the Post Office here in Provo to get a passport. (Luckily, we had thought about getting me a passport for our honeymoon, so I had already filled out all the paperwork, but we ended up deciding to go to California instead.) The man behind the counter was about halfway through my paperwork, and moving so slowly, when he asked to see my driver's license. "The name on the passport application has to match the name on the driver's license," he said (yes, he even talked slowly. I don't think the man knew the definition of the words "time crunch"). I hadn't changed the name on my driver's license and we'd been married for 6 months already!

So we had to rush back to the DMV in Provo (which is right next to where we work) and then get that all worked out with proof of residency and all sorts of paperwork (it was early in the morning, though, so there were barely any lines, which was a plus) then rush all the way back to the PO and finish with that! Needless to say, after over-nighting and expediting the paperwork, we were just glad to be done with all that nonsense and all there was left to do was wait. About a week later, it showed up! Whew! One worry down.

One night, before our trip, we were over at the Palmer Sr. residence, double-checking plans and scuba gear equipment. Jefferson went downstairs to get his passport out of the family safe when they made a discovery: Jefferson's little sister was missing her passport and it was less than two weeks before our trip! Ahhh! They scoured the house, and when we left that night, they were still searching frantically. Finally, they decided to apply for a new one and hope it came in time. They got the application all filled out, over-nighting and expediting and crossing their fingers. Two days later, Angie found the missing passport in her purse, but it was too late! They'd already voided that passport in leu of the new one! Ahhh! The day before we were to leave for Roatan, Honduras, her passport came! The day before! If that had been me, I so would've been panicking! But as it was, it came and the trip was still on.

Now I will reveal a secret: I had never flown on an airplane before this trip. Never in my life! I was super nervous, being afraid of heights and all, but it wasn't bad. Granted, it wasn't anything like in the movies, but it wasn't awful.

When we landed in Roatan, we loaded our baggage in the waiting taxi and drove to the nearest grocery store to stock up for the week. Then it was off to the our rented vacation house, which was super nice! I had expected a little bungalow with maybe one bathroom on the beach, not a condo with seperate bathrooms for every room, a full kitchen and laundering facilities! Wow!

The first day, we were so tired, everybody basically crashed. (We had been up since 2 am.) The next day, Jefferson, his dad, and his oldest younger sister were heading out early to go scuba diving (the rest of us weren't certified yet, but I'm starting lessons this friday!) when Jefferson shook me awake and said, "Genny, look at this!" He then pulled open the curtain that covered our balcony (every room had it's own balcony, too!) and the sun illuminated a gorgeous scene of palm trees and white sandy beaches and teal, clear water lapping at the shore.

Those of us not scuba diving, slapped swimsuits on and headed for the beach! We splashed and jumped off docks and got thoroughly tan (okay, okay, I didn't get tan, but everyone else did! I'm just glad I don't really burn either. I just stay pleasantly pale 24/7/365). That was the only really sunny day we had the whole week we were there, but that didn't stop us! We still went zip-lining through the jungle, played with monkeys, souvenier shopped, and snorkeled to our hearts content (though I will say that breathing under water is so wierd. The whole time my brain was panicking, not understanding how this was possible!)

We had a blast and here are a few pics from the trip:

Day 2:



genny--bob marley style

sand fleas are not our friends

my emoticon man

a room with a view

the beach (well, part of it)

me want cookie! (Jefferson's favorite

 shirt and we bought it just for this trip)

dinner with the family at Eagle Ray's Bar & Grill

(Every restaurant in Roatan is a Bar & Grill)

the braidy bunch

Megan and I both had our hair braided different days by natives on the

beach. By the end of the day, though, we were both going crazy!

little Meagan-Lou Who

really good crepe dessert

lit pier to Eagle Ray's

the... door?

ahhh!...

(the brutal aftermath of the horrid braids of death!)

...it's alive!

Day 3:

they made me go first...and I didn't want to...

...scared of heights...'nuff said

the first bridge, called the "Indiana Jones Bridge"

and I was doing just fine until

Jefferson started bouncing and

making the bridge sway

the Calipso Bridge

the last bridge

whew! what a relief! it's over! we made it! wahoo!

cute couple....

...and then Jefferson started bouncing

this is Diego the Monkey

you know that game you play with babies...

...the "I-got-your-nose" game?...

...well, Diego takes that game literally

tender moment

When it came time for them to put Diego back in his cage, he clamped on to my arm and would not be moved. It was super cute and I wanted to take him home with me right then, but husband said no.

Before the trip started, Jefferson and I had started to read books to each other, like novel-fictional books. We had just finished one and had brought a new book on the trip (Ender's Game) and we got the whole family wrapped up in it! It was fun to read after dinner and when it was raining (which happened a lot!)

clever Jake

the symbol of the island

Final Day: (yes, we skipped a few)

Oh Roatan, we shall miss your seventy-five degree weather, your lush greenery and sandy beaches. As a matter of fact we missed them almost as soon as we got off the plane! The day after we got home, and after sleeping in really late (we got home at 4 am. We were so tired that we crashed at Jefferson's parent's place instead of drving the five miles home) we had Christmas morning with the Palmer Sr. family. It was really sweet. We all sang songs, read the Christmas story in Luke 2, and then sang more songs before having family prayer. After that was present time, and oh my goodness! We are so spoiled! After a vacation like that, I was thinking we'd get one gift from the family, something that Jefferson and I could share, but boy was I wrong!

Jefferson got an ipod touch and I got the motherload: a Cricut machine, complete with all the trimmings (extra blades and cutting mats) not to mention seven cartridges! I spent most of New Year's Day cutting out different shapes, oohing and aahing over the simplicity of it all! Wow!

Anyway, one last story to slip in: New Year's Eve Jefferson and I planned to spend with my family. We went out to grab a bite to eat (no groceries at home, you know) when my dad called Jefferson's phone. I answered. My dad broke his shoulder sledding that morning! It is shattered into six different pieces. He had to have surgery, and thirteen screws and a metal plate later, he's back in one piece, but boy! Now he has to heal and we're praying he heals right and quickly, with no complications. A broken shoulder is not the ideal broken bone for a violinist! Why couln't he have broken his leg, or something? Poor Papa. He came home from the hospital on Monday and crashed all day long on the recliner. He's feeling much better now, but goodness! What a way to start the New Year!