Florida and Cruise to Bahamas- April 2010

My husband is such a hard worker...and I am very proud of him. He was awarded a prestigious award from AT&T for their "Circle of Excellence" program that recognizes their top employees in their field. Along with this recognition comes an all expense paid trip for 2 to the destination of their ceremony. This year it happened to be Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to the Marriott resort and spa. It was amazing!


They paid for everything! Upon arrival, they gave us cool carrying totes with sunblock, lotions, money for lunches, had us pick out new $300 Maui Jim sunglasses (!?!) and sign up for our free activities. We chose to do a couples massage and spend time at their spa. A new thing for Mark, and it was so cool. we had an awesome time together, doing something we'd probably never spend the money to do ourselves:) But the whole three days we were there was filled with pampering, food, entertainment, relaxing, and gifts left on our beds. Very cool. I hope you are as amazing at your job to earn this trip every year, honey! Thank you!!


The AT&T welcome reception

A few of the sales reps that work for mark. They are some of the best at what they do.

the Marriott resort and spa. our room was just two floors above with a balcony and this view:)

Going down to the pool (right behind us)

On the beach outside our hotel. Its so interesting the differences in the different coasts, east and west. The water is like a bath and so clear and turquoise. But the sand is a lot more rough.

At the awards night gala. They said some wonderful things about Mark and his dedication and hard work for the company. Way to go, Babe!

And then because it was our 10 year anniversary that week we took a relaxing cruise to the Bahamas that left from the port right around the corner from our hotel! Perfect! It was so relaxing and fun just to be together and laugh!! We had a great time going to key west, Florida, and Nassau, Bahamas. This is the first night on the cruise. We went to dinner then the "show" they have for entertainment. We should have stayed in our room and organized our suitcases. That would have been more exciting;)

One night we came back to your cabin and the housekeeper had found my night shirt and folded it onto our bed...creeeepy!

A cool looking tree in Key west. The roots actually grow on the outside and they connect to the rest of the tree in the back of the house!

The end of highway 1! Mile marker 0. This is said to be the most stolen road sign, always being replaced;)

We took a 3 hour jet ski tour around the entire island of key west. It was soooo beautiful and fun!! A cruise ship at port almost ran mark and I over! oh, and our sunscreen washed off and we got fried!!!

We rented a scooter to drive around the island and had a blast cruising.

Most of the sponges that are sold around the US are harvested from Key west! We saw them in the waters while on our tour and we even saw a sea turtle!!

Formal night after dinner

Welcome to Nassau, Bahamas! Marks in there somewhere...

In the Bahamas I thought it was cool to see the traffic being directed with this mans, quick, stiff hands. He never broke character!

In the Bahamas, we went to Paradise Island to the Atlantis Resort. It is HUGE! And pretty. There was a ginormous fish tank throughout their lobby and hotel that had sharks, fish, sting rays, you name it swimming in it, oh and people! You could pay to snorkel in there!

Atlantis. Its rumored the suite that is on the bridge that crosses between the two buildings behind be is 2500 square feet and goes for something like $25,000/night!! They said the first person to book that suite when the hotel opened was Michael Jackson. And he only kept his luggage in the room...????

These are our dinner companions. The cruise ship assigns you to sit at a table every night and we were with this couple, originally from India every night. They were very interesting and we had some wonderful conversations about Mormonism and Hinduism. Thanks for the good conversation and laughs, Minish and Brenda!

The pools of our ship. It was so windy the last night!
We could barely stand up straight and take a step on the very top deck it was so windy!!


The wind almost held Mark up as he leaned forward!

The cruise was so much fun and the trip with Mark's work was enlightening. I was impressed with Mark so much. I learned more about what he does and how hard it is to achieve the results he does. It was wonderful to highlight him and recognize him for all the hard work and sacrifice he makes for our family:) Now that's sexy. I Love you honey!!

And I loved spending time with mark. It was truly refreshing to just spend time laughing like we used to when we were newlyweds! I can see why our leaders tell us how important it is to continue to court our spouses and spend time together ALONE from the kids. Its just different, and I'm truly grateful for the time we had together! And I have to give a shout out to my mom for making it all possible by watching our kids that whole time! You're an amazing Grandmother and we all love you so much! Thank you, Mom!!