Summer sun, something's begun...

The first day on the ship

We all went up on the sports deck and played some mini golf. It doesn't take us any time at all to adjust to vacation.

The best and only way to start off a cruise, with a mustard drill. Cheers!

All aboard!

This is a picture after we finished playing in the first of two ping pong tournaments. The guy in the middle with the gold medal around his neck is named Larry. He quickly became our biggest challenger that we would try to overcome all cruise. I took the silver and Robert finished with the bronze.

Here is Rob in action! Go Rob!

Robert's parents relaxing and chatting on the pool deck.

Formal night.

Can I just tell you how much I love this chair! I love it! I need one in my house. While we waited to be seated for dinner we filled the time up by posing like supermodels.

True Love

Me and the boys

The family at dinner.

Robert's grandparents dancing at the Platinum Members' party. Aren't they cute?

Here is a video of Rob's grandparents and us dancing out on the dance floor.

Almost every night before dinner we would play shuffle board.

I think I won almost everytime. :)

The whole gang after dinner.

Robert and I shopping in the Promenade.

Ice Skating fun!

It was a little boring because they would only let us go around in a little circle, so we had to make up our own fun. Although, we did enjoy getting out there for thirty minutes to goof around.

I love this picture of the grandparents. Thank you so much for a wonderful cruise experience! We had a blast! It was a great way to start off summer vacation!

Laying out on the sundeck trying to get that base tan for summer.

Isn't he handsome?

Robert and I went out before dinner one night to watch the sunset. It was beautiful!

I just love sunsets.

We celebrated Mother's day on the cruise, as well as Chris and Teri's 24th wedding anniversary. Robert and I surprised the mother's with roses delivered to their staterooms, and we had the wait staff surprise Chris and Teri with an anniversary desert.

What a happy couple! Awww...

Yay, our first day at port! Look at our pretty ship. She is a beauty.

St. Maarten

Toes in the sand. In St. Maarten, we started the day off with a brief shopping visit and then we took a taxi to the French side of the island where we spent the rest of the day playing and relaxing on the beach. It was fun to take a taxi across the island because we got to really get a feel for the area. While on the French side, we did happen to see a few topless sunbathers, but all in all it wasn't too bad. Got to love the French right?

Robert taking it easy out on the beach.

Having fun playing in the ocean. The water was warm and crystal clear. We ended up following a school of angel fish as we watched them feed on a school of bate fish. Eventually we ended up feeding them by hand with bread. It was awesome. They completely surrounded us.

I think he is starting to look a little pink, don't you?

Hot rod Rob.

Our next port was San Juan, Puerto Rico. I loved their cobbled streets and colorful buildings. In San Juan, it was overcast and rainy all day, but it wasn't too bad. We were still able to do everything we wanted to. It apparently rains there all the time.

Notice the cool basketball court behind him. We thought it was awesome. They have NBA logos painted all over the court.

Here we are in San Juan on our tour of the San Cristóbal Fort.

It was a lot of fun and we were able to stay dry from all the rain for most of the day.

This is the dungeon area. It was our favorite part of the tour. We walked down a long dark tunnel to get here. You can't tell how dark it is by the flash, but it was. There were no windows because this tunnel system goes underground.

It would not have been fun to be held captive here.

These were some drawings that prisoners drew on the wall. Most of the prisoners held in this prison were held there for treason and probably did not survive.

This is how my hair looked most of the cruise. It was always so windy!

The view from San Cristóbal. As you can see, there is another fort on the island.

Our next and last port of call was Labadee, Haiti. This is one of our favorite islands to visit. It is Royal Caribbean's island, so it is completely private. We love it because you can just relax. You do not have to take a taxi to get anywhere. They also feed you a big BBQ lunch that we love.

Most of our time spent on Labadee is spent playing volleyball. Austin, Robert, and I were all on the same team and had a great time playing together. After that, we cooled off in the ocean, grabbed some lunch, did a little shopping, and then took a nap. What more could you ask for?

They allow certain Haitian vendors to come to the island. This is David, Robert's favorite vendor because he likes to talk politics with him. David is always reading and trying to learn new things when we come by. He is the only one in the warehouse that does not try to pressure you into buying his things. I always buy these cool mahogony bowls he makes. He is always in the same spot, so we know where to find him. This time David gave us a free mahogony plate and glass that he made because we always stop by to see him.

This is when Robert joined in the pool games out on the pool deck. Their team ended up winning.

Robert was trying to cheat...you were not allowed to hop.

Robert showing off his skills on the Flowrider.

So I have to apologize, I apparently stink at videography. I took the video from the wrong camera angle, so enjoy watching it sideways. Nevertheless, it is still a cool video because he almost lands his barrel roll. He did land it later on in the week.

Nice form!

This was my first attempt on the Flowrider. It is harder than it looks. The water is rushing at you at 30 MPH. Not bad for a beginner...

After that, I tried standing up. I was doing pretty good there for a little bit.

This is one of my favorite pictures! Remember Larry...well we played in another ping pong tournament and this time Robert beat Larry and won the gold! I just love that you can see Larry's disappointed face in the background! Go Rob! Also on a side note, Larry was the Canadian National Champion for four years between 1968 and 1973.

Here are the medals we won. Our main accomplishment, besides Robert beating Larry, was winning the dodge ball tournament with Austin and Chris.

I never thought this would happen...

Last Monday was my final day off before I returned to work, so I decided to go golfing. Since JoAnna was at work and I have no golfing buddies left in Provo, I went out on my own and got paired up with two older gentlemen. It turned out that one of the two men was the lead sports editor for the Deseret News (Provo newspaper). As we were golfing, we discussed many aspects of BYU sports because his main job is to cover BYU basketball and football. He even travels with the teams. He began to ask me my opinions on the BYU recruiting process and how I ended up at BYU. I spoke openly to him about it, and he seemed to agree with me. Well, JoAnna's co-worker found this column/blog the sports editor wrote about me a couple days ago.

Before you read the article, let me clarify a few things he exaggerated on, or simply misunderstood.
- We were talking college football and I mentioned Tim Tebow played in the same area as me. In the article, he says we are "friends", which is far from true.
- Next, he combined my academic and athletic scholarships together. I had academic scholarships at Florida and Florida State. I had athletic scholarships at Hawaii and Valparaiso.

Anyways, it was pretty cool to talk with this sports writer and discover that he wrote about me. I still can't believe our conversation was important enough for him to write about it, but I guess you never know. Oh and for those of you who are wondering whether or not I beat him in golf, the answer is, "Yes".

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.deseretnews.com/blogs/1,5322,19,00.html?bD=20090501&sc=dmn

Graduation Weekend

On Friday, April 24, 2009, Robert graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a minor in Communications.

Pondering on what the future will hold...

His parents were able to come out for graduation. We were so happy to have them visit again, and we had a lot of fun spending time with them.

We were so happy that it turned out to be a nice day! It was supposed to rain or snow that day, but it held off. At least for one day. It ended up snowing on Saturday.

Robert and his parents.

Robert going through the tunnel at the Marriott Center about to walk across the stage to receive his diploma.

There it is, the moment we were all waiting for, Robert receiving his diploma! Robert graduated in one of the biggest colleges, so we waited a looonnng time to hear his name announced. However, the actual graduation ceremony was wonderful. Elder Holland's son spoke. He was my professor for American Heritage (loved his class). He is leaving BYU to be the new president of Utah Valley University, so they had him speak at convocation. All the speakers were fabulous.



Here is a video of Robert receiving his diploma.

YAY! He is officially a BYU graduate.

My brother Jeff also graduated, so we were able to see his graduation as well! We almost missed the start of his because Robert's almost did not finish in time, but we made it! Jeff graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Recreation Management & Youth Leadership with an emphasis in Leisure Services Management. Congratulations Jeffrey!

My side of the family came up and watched both graduations as well. It was fun to have two gradutations to celebrate! We were excited to see Jeff and Laura again because we have not seen them since they moved to Texas.

My mom is so sweet, she gave both Robert and Jeff candy and money filled necklaces.

Robert wheeling my Grandpa Whitehead around campus. He is always so helpful! Grandpa has that big smile on his face. I think it is because after dragging him around from place to place we got him some milk to drink. He loves milk. He was such a trooper. We were so happy to have him there.

My Grandma Tolsma and my mom, two classy ladies.

High five, you did it!

It was a pretty windy day! It was hard to capture good pictures when the tassel actually stayed still. I think we were ready to be done taking pictures at this point.

After both graduations and taking lots of photographs, we all went to eat at the Olive Garden. The food was delicious, and the company was even better! After dinner we all went up to Robert's parents' cabin that they were staying in to spend the night. We ate ice cream, cookies, and treats while we opened all of Robert and Jeff's graduation presents. They were spoiled.

Speaking of graduation gifts, this is Robert's graduation present from his grandparents. Yep, that is a brand new 2009 Hyundai Sonata all expensed. We were totally shocked and excited! They are so generous and kind! It is unbelievable! We are so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents!

That smile can't get any bigger.

The interior of the car.

Off we go! It turned out to be an awesome graduation!

Thank you!!!!!!

Speaking of internships...I just got one!

As JoAnna was working on finishing her internship application, I was in the process of interviewing for a summer internship at the Law Offices of Ford and Huff in Lehi, Utah (Thanksgiving Point area). Of the 35 BYU students who applied for the internship, I was the student who was chosen to be their law intern for the summer. I will work there for 8 hours each week. It is not a paid internship, but the experience I will gain from it will be huge. The law office has 28 lawyers and does many types of law including criminal law, estate planning, immigration, and general litigation. The law office has an interesting focus. The office motto is "In serving each other we become free." The lawyers in the office complete an unbelieveable amount of pro bono (free) service for Latin individuals in Utah. On top of that, the law office is unique because it allows its lawyers to practice part-time if they would like or even only work a case for half of the time. Also, the lawyers get to choose the cases they want to work. The managing partner, which has an MBA, feels lawyers often are unhappy because they get stuck working long hours on cases they don't enjoy. Thus, the reason the law office is so flexible with their lawyers is that they want their lawyers to be happy doing their job. Lastly, I will be able to attend court with the lawyers, sit in on depositions and phone calls, and participate in training sessions with the lawyers. One great chance I will have is to participate in a training session in which the estate planning lawyers get trained on a will-making system. Since I am interested in possibly doing estate planning law, this would be an excellent opportunity for me to learn more about the field. Well, I will stop talking about this internship now. As you can see, I am quite excited that I received the internship and cannot wait to start it.

Application submitted

Last week, I submitted my application for an internship position at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital of Tampa Child Life Department. Most of you may know already, but I graduated from BYU with a major in Marriage, Family, and Human Development in hope of becoming a Child Life Specialist. Child life specialists are trained professionals with expertise in helping children and their families overcome life’s most challenging events. They provide emotional support for families and encourage optimum development of children facing a broad range of challenging experiences, particularly those related to healthcare and hospitalization. Since we about 80% sure we may end up at Stetson for Robert to attend law school, I thought I would apply for the hospital's fall internship program. The application process was very comprehensive, so it took a lot of time and effort to complete. I want to thank Robert for all of his help and others who took the time to write letters of recommendation for me. The internship is the next step I have to complete in order to be able to take my certification exam to become a Child Life Specialist. I will know if I get the internship in June. Hopefully by then, we will know for sure where we are going to be living! If we do end up at Stetson, I hope I get this internship because it will be a great opportunity for me to see if this is the profession I really want to be in. It would be a great learning experience for me and give me a chance to use my degree.

Robert is Graduating from BYU!

Brigham Young University

announces that

Robert Todd Fountain

is a candidate for a

Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science

with a minor in Communications.

The University Commencement will be held on

Thursday, April 23, 2009

at four o'clock in the afternoon.

The College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Convocation will be held on

Friday, April 24, 2009

at eleven o'clock in the morning

in the Marriott Center.

I just want to say how excited and happy I am that Robert is graduating. He has worked so hard, and excelled in everything he has worked on. Robert was awarded a University scholarship for 3 out the 4 years he attended school here. In the fall, as most of you know already, Robert will be starting law school. We still have not made an official decision on where yet, but we will let you know as soon as we know! Well I just wanted to take this moment to say how proud I am of him. I love how determined and smart he is! Robert just has finals left that start tomorrow before he can say he is officially finished!

Way to go Rob! I love you!

Robert will be walking in the Friday Convocation with his class.