Love...Exciting and New...Come Aboard...

The Hawaiian Island Love Boat Cruise went off without a hitch this past Saturday night. We had sooooo much fun (in case you can't tell by the pictures). I have to say that Ryan was truly a star. He totally dressed and acted the part of Isaac, the ship's bartender. He was mixing up a mean strawberry lemondade and one crazy "mango with bubbles." Everyone loved him! Especially me! Thanks, Ry, for being such a great sport and so willing to make the party great. You were a big hit!

As the passengers entered the building (or more correctly boarded the ship), they were greeted on deck by the whole crew. I had my clip board in hand to log in our passengers and the crew shook hands and introduced themselves to the bunch. Everyone got a good laugh as they came on board. We had it all decorated like a cruise ship with railings and all. It was great. Our ship's awesome activities coordinator, Louisa LeSueur, had a golf putting game lined up just as they boarded and a couple of quick games inside include some Love Boat Trivia.

Pictured above is the whole crew. From left: Chris Colvin (aka "Doc") - he'd ditched the stethescope by the end of the night, but he was doing a mighty fine job making sure our passengers were in good health; Bishop Jim Goodman (aka "Captain Stubing") - he couldn't have been more perfect for the part; Me (aka "Julie McCoy" - the Cruise Director); Ryan (aka "Isaac Washington" the ship's bartender); Drew Solomon (aka "Gopher").

The entertainment was terrific. Thanks to our neighbor, Forrest Tyson, who knows all things Hawaiian, we were able to line up a great Hawaiian band, complete with three hula dancers, to perform throughout the night. They were very professional and played for over 2 hours. They played background music throughout dinner, then did a full show after dinner. It was great. Near the end, they called up a few willing guests (Karen Rowley, Forrest Tyson, and Nicole Barney) from the passenger galley to learn a Hula dance.

Isaac & Julie sneaking a little private time together towards the end of the show (actually, we finally stole away and grabbed a quick bite to eat.) Our dinner menu was Island Terriyaki Pork, Hula Chicken Tenders, Sweet Pototates, Roasted Potatoes, Homemade rolls, Fruits, and Salads with assorted dressings. Super delicious if I do say so myself!

And our dessert bar was just fantastic thanks to our RS presidency: chocolate mousse pie, key lime pie, cherry & blueberry cheesecakes, and pina colada cake. I'm pretty sure no one went home hungry (although I didn't make quite enough pototoes - everyone except for about 6 of us who were on "shift" got plenty of pototates, though, so we were pretty close. I should have made one more pan. And there was no leftover pork, either. Every single morsel got devoured by the end.)

Here is our fearless leader, Captain Jim and his beautiful bride (also my wonderful Aunt Diane), posing for a great shot. A huge shout out to Corinne for being our ship's photographer that night. She got great pictures of all the couples posing with this huge life preserver ring (courtesy of JD's handywork. Thanks so much!).

This is a shot from one of the crazy cruise games Lousia planned at the beginning before dinner. The band lead singer called up six couples. The wives were instructed to smear shaving cream on their husbands, then the competition began. Each wife slung cheerios and the winner was the couple with the most highly decorated husband. Too funny. (I'm so glad Ryan and I were on shift and couldn't participate!)

Our momento from the night.

The turnout was pretty good. We had about 70 people there. During the planning, I was worried about that a little because of people traveling and such over the 3-day holiday weekend. But even with a good number of couples being out of town or otherwise schedule conflicted, it was still a packed house.

The decor in the center of our buffet table.

Nedra & Dale Goodman

Karen & Billy Rowley

Corinne & J.R. Berrey

Cadi & JD Winters

Thanks to everyone for making it a super fun night! And a super duper duper huge thanks to my mom for all of her help! I couldn't have pulled it off without her (as usual!) You're the best, mom. We'll be doing the duo thing again this weekend with our Stake Women's Conference. I can hardly wait!