January in a Nutshell

The best word to describe the month January is BUSY. If we weren't at school, doing school work, at work, or eating, we were organizing our little apartment. I was doing what I could to transform our place into a home. That goal is still in progress even today.

I have close to nothing to account for our first month, but I do remember two very specific events. First off, the Draper Temple was having its open house. We were able to go to that with my family and it was such a good experience. The Draper Temple is so beautiful and especially exciting for my family; my family has lived in Draper since I was 8 years old...so how many years is that? (would rather not do the math right now, even if it is just subtraction)






Another very important event was Jason's 23rd birthday! For his birthday, after going through our usual routine of work and school, we met up with his family for a dinner at Ruby River. That was so fun and so delicious! That weekend I took him to Tucanos for our own private celebration. We had one of those free-meal birthday cards so it worked out perfectly! To anyone who hasn't been to Tucanos, I highly recommend it! Another night that weekend (same night we went to the Draper Temple open house), my family had us over for another special birthday dinner. My mom always makes the most delicious meals and this was no exception. Oh, and I figured it out...that makes 14 years that my family has been living in Draper...give or take :)



Well, that's all I have to account for January. Hopefully next January will be a different story.

Hitting the Slopes

Back in January, we were so lucky to spend the day with Richard Tadje up at Snowbird. He was working there over the winter and was able to get us a great deal on lift passes.





If anyone knows Jason, they know he loves to ski. He is quite impressive if I may say so myself. I do my best to keep up, but needless to say, Jason is very patient with me. He continues to try and convert me to the dark side (skiing rather than snowboarding) but I have yet to give in. I've been there, done that, and don't especially love pie-ing it the whole way down the mountain.

We were able to make it to the slopes one other time this season together and that was with Michael and Kaitlyn Pacada up at Park City. That was very fun and I hope that was the start of a continuing tradition. Going skiing only twice in a season leaves something to be desired, to say the least. We are hoping to get a season pass this winter, however, that may need to wait until next year depending on Jason's school load. We can only hope that things will work out in favor of the snowy mountains.

Our First Apartment

After a wonderful honeymoon, we couldn't waste any time getting our apartment organized and ready for living. We were so lucky to have our family members help out while we were away by moving in all of our things. All of our stuff was there for us by the time we got back Sunday night (just in time for school to start the next morning).

Here is a closer look of the cute sign our families signed for us,
"Welcome Home Mr. and Mrs. Gruber!"

I am so thankful to them and for all they did for us to make the transition into our new "home" such an easy one. I'm STILL working on getting it how I would like it, but it has definitely been a fun and exciting process. Skills in interior design and culinary art had to be quickly acquired to keep up with the married lifestyle. It's been challenging but I have come to love it. Who could have foreseen the day that I would be cooking meals regularly? I know my family couldn't have....I know Jaleah couldn't have...I certainly couldn't have...and I know that Jason is pleasantly surprised to say the least. Here is a peek at dinnertime one of the first weeks moving in:

Yummy salmon withe pineapple salsa!

Bon appetit!

The Honeymoon - Part IV

The final excerpt of our Honeymoon Saga-


The days that we were not hanging out at the pool, on the beach, or on the strip...













...we were taking little excursions. On one of the days, I believe it was Thursday, we took a beautiful catamaran to an island across the ocean from the strip. The name of the island is Isla Mujeres.



One of the cool things about this ride was that it passed right by our hotel; so we were able to see it in all its glory from the ocean. In the middle of the ride to the island, we stopped for a little snorkeling. The water was a lot deeper than I was used to for snorkeling, but the fish were beautiful and it was fun to be floating around on the bobbing water.



We stopped for lunch at our own private beach where they served a big buffet. The food wasn’t great, but it was all you can eat and the scene was beautiful. The water was crystal clear and a vibrant blue-green color.



After lunch, we went further down the island and were able to walk around the city. The city was very small and quaint; a very fun place to visit. We were so glad we decided to take this catamaran. It was money well spent!

The other excursion we went on was to the park called Xel-Ha. This was a very fun place. It was an all inclusive park that served all your meals in a large hut, buffet style.



There were also other areas throughout the park that you could choose to eat at if you preferred something more specialized. Xel-Ha was a huge place that included many activities. The main attraction was the large body of water that the park surrounded. The water was a nice temperature because it was where the fresh water and salt water from the ocean came together (or something like that, I try to put all science aside whilst on vacation). You could go snorkeling in the water or take a tube ride (all equipment was provided by the park).



The tube ride was so fun because you start in what looks like a tunnel of branches. I can’t remember the name of the plant, but the branches were growing out of the water and made a canopy just high and wide enough for you to float through on your tube. You take the tunnel for a little while and then it dumps you out into a different part of the water.



You could ditch your tube at any point to climb the various rocks to do some cliff jumping.



There was also an area where you could do some rope walking. One of my favorite things about the park is that they had a path that went around the whole body of water. Where it connected to the ocean, they had a rocking bridge that you could walk across to continue the path.



They even had an area where you could ride bikes down the path (again, they included the bikes!). Xel-Ha was awesome!



Well, that pretty much sums up the main things that I remember from the honeymoon. Wow, we really were lucky to have been able to take such an amazing trip! It was literally paradise! I look forward to returning there someday (many many many…..many years down the road)!

The Honeymoon - Part III

I wish I could remember specifically which restaurants we attended throughout the week, but time has allowed those details to escape me. I remember one night we ate at an Argentine restaurant inside one of the malls on the strip. It was absolutely amazing! The food was great. Jason’s favorite part was the breads they brought out before the meal. They had a basket full of a variety of breads with three different dipping sauces. Jason loves his breads (and I do too)!

Another night we ate at another Mexican restaurant. This one was a lot fancier than the first night and included a live Mexican band that would perform around the restaurant. I think we ordered fajitas with a combination of different meats, but the main thing I remember is the pig platter it came out on. It was like an oven, shaped and painted as a red pig. There were hot coals inside and the food was placed on top on a wire rack. That was a very memorable dinner.

The pig platter

Another memorable dinner was when we visited the restaurant in the hotel across the street. I believe it was called Mexican Steakhouse or something along those lines. It was a very nice restaurant and Jason and I had been looking forward to eating there. However, the waiter proved to be very annoying! When it came time to order, we explained to the guy that we wanted to share a specific steak. Jason says the waiter was trying to take advantage of his bad English because he kept suggesting different dishes and asking if we wanted to get that one too. When he was leaving to place our order he said, “Ok, so two of the (whatever) steak.” We quickly corrected him because we wished to share one dish, but he ended up doing the same thing when it came time to order for dessert. We told him we were not interested in getting dessert, but he continued to suggest each dessert, one-by-one, asking if we wanted that particular dessert. He understood that we didn’t actually want dessert, but was hoping he would frustrate us into just getting a dessert. He finally stopped when there weren’t any more desserts to offer. It was really starting to make me mad, and to this day I regret not telling him off!

One thing we were not prepared for was New Year’s Eve. We had planned to eat at the nice restaurant down the street, that we later visited (the one where we got our dinner on an oven pig). We got all dressed up nice and were very excited. However, when we got to the doors, they were closed and there was no music playing outside like it usually was whenever we passed by. We were very confused. We started walking a little further looking for an alternative restaurant; however, every restaurant we saw was closed. There were people working inside, but not people dining. We were so confused. We continued walking around, hoping to find anything open, we were getting very hungry at this point. We finally came to find out that on New Year’s Eve, all of the restaurants require reservations days in advance for their special buffets. All of the dinners are served late and are ridiculously priced. Most of the holiday buffet prices we saw were the equivalent of about $90 per person. Needless to say, we ended up going back to the hotel and ordering room service. I think I got a tortilla soup and Jason got a pizza. We ate the food and fell asleep watching a movie on TV. Our New Year’s celebration wasn’t the most exciting one ever (I even fell asleep before midnight) but it was definitely memorable and we still had a good time.



On the last night, we took the bus and walked a little ways down the strip and found a nice Argentine restaurant. We quickly realized that Argentine was our favorite style of food on the trip. This restaurant was neat because it was sitting on top of the water. Those who were sitting on the balcony were basically sitting on a dock and could look down and see the small alligators that were hanging out on the shore. The food was great; what a great way to finish off the honeymoon!

The Honeymoon - Part II

Putting the culture shock aside, we really did live like kings during our week in Cancun. Jason had chosen the Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach Resort as our hotel. Let me tell you, if you ever get a chance to visit Cancun, this is the place to stay! We lived in total luxury while staying at that hotel. It was so beautiful and clean, the service was great, and the view and beach were phenomenal. During the week we got a chance to walk around some of the other nice hotels and resorts; there were some amazing ones, but I would still re-visit Fiesta Americana first before considering any of the other ones. The room was very elegant. The bed had a white, full comforter with big white pillows and the bathroom had big mirrors and lots of counter space. The best part was our own private balcony that looked out onto the beach. I can’t describe the amazing feeling it was waking up every morning to the bright blue-green ocean just outside of our glass sliding doors. It just doesn’t get any better than that.

Our hotel room

The view from our bed

View from hallway window

The beach itself at this resort was enough to get me to put it at number one on my list. They had their own glamorous pool area just outside of the hotel, which included water falls, eternity pools, and refreshment huts. There was even a fancy restaurant that sat above the water. Immediately after you step out of the pool area, you walk right onto the beach of soft white sand. On the beach they had countless padded beach chairs for the guests to use. Jason and I enjoyed lounging and reading on those chairs while looking out onto the beautiful ocean. The hotel services would walk around the beach offering drinks and pina coladas that we could have brought right to us without lifting a finger.

View from our balcony

View from the beach to our balcony

Reading on the beach...Oh yeah, Harry Potter...

One of my favorite aspects of the pool/beach area was the refreshment hut. I believe there were two large huts located at opposite lengths of the pool and at these huts they serviced a variety of fun, tropical drinks as well as lunch platters. These huts were connected to land as well, so if you wanted to order from the side of the pool and eat at the tables you could do that; or, my favorite was the stools that sat below the water. These stools were the perfect height so you could sit in the water while leaning on the countertop of the bar. I remember ordering some delicious quesadillas one day, and another day ordering something with fries. Their fries were top-notch! I remember just ordering a couple plates of fries once because they were so good! We would also order some fruit smoothies from the bar whenever we felt like it.






We were really lucky, because at the time, the hotel was having a special promotion of some sort which allowed us to get a $200 credit at the hotel, just for putting a credit card on file. This hotel credit is what allowed us to take advantage of the refreshment huts and the great room service.

The Honeymoon - Part I

Sadly, we have let months go by without writing about our amazing honeymoon in Cancun, Mexico. I am afraid the finer details have drifted into the realm of Things Forgotten, but the overall feeling definitely lives on. The honeymoon can only be described as something from a dream; it was absolutely perfect. We lived in nothing less than paradise for a whole week.

Before we get swept away into the bliss of sandy beaches and radiant sun, we cannot forget the excitement that occurred between the time of the reception and our arrival in Cancun. To my complete surprise, Jason became sick sometime between the luncheon and the reception. A nasty flu bug had been traveling through the Gruber family over the Christmas holiday, and it was Jason’s turn to catch it. I had no idea that Jason was feeling ill until he finally told me about two hours into the reception. We still had a bit of a line of guests left to see when the sickness really started to show in his face. He looked ghostly white and was feeling very nauseous.




Somehow he was able to hold off until most of the people had been greeted before rushing to the men’s room. After that, we kept the activities short; we quickly cut the cake, pulled off the garter, and threw the bouquet. All of Jason’s siblings contributed in giving a special gift to prepare us for our trip: a framed picture of the Cancun strip (including our soon-to-be-home-for-a week) and a nice amount of cash that could be used for our Cancun adventures. It was a great way to get excited for the coming week (not that we needed any encouragement or anything). In consideration of Jason’s present state, we skipped over the dancing plans and quickly changed out of our wedding clothes. We had a grand exit of friends and sparklers. Reflecting back on it, it seemed to have all happened so fast. The exit and drive to Salt Lake was just a blur of excitement.




The first and second nights were spent at Little America. We had the most elegant suite (room number 1028, I believe). It was the perfect place to lay back and relax. They had the bed turned down for us and equipped it with a comfortable robe and slippers. The room service was excellent and was just what we needed to cure an upset stomach. We spent the next day relaxing and watching Kung Fu Panda and The Incredible Hulk.



Of course, one of my favorite parts of the Little America stay was the luxurious dinner at the restaurant there in the hotel. I had the most delicious steak I think I have ever had. The only sad part was that I couldn’t share it with Jason, he was too sick to try more than a tiny bite. Poor Jason and his shrimp-in-a-cup!



Thanks to some miracle, Jason was feeling much better by the next morning. We left bright and early for the airport Monday morning. We took a plane to Texas and then made our connection to Cancun. Stepping off the plane into Mexico was such an interesting experience. It was the first time that I had ever been out of the country and I was instantly reminded of that fact; going through customs, having to deal with the money exchange, and trying to understand all the Spanish that was being yelled at me was all new to me. Luckily, Jason can speak Portuguese, so that was very helpful in getting some of the information we needed. I was also introduced to a world where everyone thrives on tips. We stepped out of the airport and there was a swarm of Mexican workers wanting us to take THEIR shuttle onto the strip. It was almost to the point of being overwhelming with all of the yelling and the signs. Most were not afraid to confront you and try to persuade you to take their shuttle. Thankfully, Jason already had a reservation with a shuttle company and we were directed to him. Now, here comes the hard part. If you’re not careful or quick enough, the worker will start loading or unloading things himself and will expect a nice size tip for it. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, but for young newly weds like ourselves, we would rather do a little extra work ourselves if that meant we could keep a little extra cash in our pockets for dinner or something else like that. If you’re not careful, you can end up paying $5 for the loading of bags, $5 for the unloading of bags, and then $5 for the bags being brought up to the hotel room. Before you know it, you’re paying $15 on top of the fee for the shuttle ride itself just for carrying the bags, which we could do ourselves; and that’s just with a small tip. This was a lesson that we had to keep learning throughout the trip.

One of my favorite memories about the tip-suckers happened on our first night. After walking around the block near our hotel, we decided to have dinner at a real authentic looking Mexican restaurant. The name of it has escaped me sense, but it was a cute restaurant that sat you outside in the front under strings of hung lights and lanterns. They had curved chairs topped with poncho looking blankets. It was a very enjoyable dining experience under the clear, starry sky. The food was very authentic (meaning it wasn’t too appetizing for me; I’m used to a very Americanized-Mexican taste. Café-Rio anyone?). All-in-all, however, I did enjoy it and was able to eat/try all of it. Adding to the ambiance of the restaurant, there was short Mexican man walking around all of the tables and serenading the customers with his guitar and his beautiful tenor voice. It felt like a magical moment, sitting there in the nice breeze and dark sky. He came to our table and offered to play a romantic song for the two of us, and I didn’t think the night could be more perfect. After he finished the song, we thanked him and continued to enjoy our dinner. However, we couldn’t help but notice that he wasn’t moving on to the other customers. He just stood there tuning his guitar in front of us, looking at us with an expecting smile. At this point, it was getting kind of awkward. All of a sudden, he spoke in a small voice, “Tip?” We looked up at him and he said it again, a little louder this time, “Tip?” We began to realize that he wasn’t just a nice addition to the restaurant ambiance. Jason quickly reached into his pocket and gave him some money, and then he went on his way. From then on, we decided before hand that we would not welcome any little services like that.

The cute Mexican restaurant

Not five minutes later, we noticed another man walking around offering roses to the other tables. Eventually, he got to our table and offered a rose “for your lovely wife.” Of course, this makes Jason look like a jerk if he doesn’t want to get his “lovely” wife a rose; but I was sure to make it clear to both of them that I did not want a rose. The man finally gave up and walked away. Some of them can be down-right shameless!