Graduation Celebration Trip: Dominican Republic

Josh & I gifted ourselves a graduation trip. Josh originally surprised me with a trip to Cancun, Mexico about 3 months ago. I was really excited, we had things planned we were going to see and do. Then, about a week before we were to leave I checked the weather. 90% chance of rain EVERYDAY and it said, 'downpour'. Could we be this unlucky? Josh spend 5 hours, literally 5 hours, on the phone with our booking company to change our trip location. Thanks Josh! We got it changed for the same week to the Dominican Republic.

I will say, I wasn't fully prepared at what the Dominican Republic had to offer. I didn't look into it too much because I simply didn't have time. We landed in Santo Domingo and drove about 45 minutes to our resort, Bahia Principe, in La Romana. It was a complete culture shock. They didn't have speed limits, people honked all the time, swerving, and it was a very poor/run down area we drove through. The resort, however, was completely different. It was gorgeous!

 The view from our balcony.

 Exploring the beach outside our resort.

 Altos de Chavon.

 After touring Altos de Chevon, our tour guide took us through an outside market in La Ramona. I didn't have an appetite after seeing the meat-to say the least.

 Lounging and relaxing at our resort. I got used to that pretty quick!

 Catamaran to Saona Island. The ride was almost two hours so we relaxed and danced Merengue.

 Saona island was gorgeous! Crystal clear, warm water! We collected seashells for the kids and drank straight out of a coconut. It doesn't get more island-y than that.

 On the speed boat ride back we stopped in an area where starfish frequent. We picked some up and hung around there for a little bit. It was seriously amazing water.

 The last day of our stay. We soaked it all in.

Dr. Joshua Sharp, DMD

We were kept very, very busy the last few weeks of school. There were a lot of events that we went to. There was an Awards Banquet, 4th Year Banquet, Family BBQ, Graduation, and then our own celebration.

Our first kick-off event of the last week of school was with Josh's friends from school. One of their parents has a gorgeous house and pool so we hung out there for the afternoon. The kids had a ball.

 The dental school graduating class had a formal banquet at Thanksgiving Point. We had dinner and they gave out awards. It was a fun night in a pretty setting.

 The next night they had a family BBQ for the graduating class and their families up Provo Canyon. They also had a family BBQ before school started their first year, so it was a little bit of deja vu. It was a lot of fun with everyone's families there. The kids had plenty of room to run around.

 The big day finally arrived! Graduation was held at Capitol Theater in downtown SLC. It was completely surreal at graduation. The past 4-5 years kept running through my head. Graduating from UVU, studying for the DAT, applying to schools, getting the call that he got in to Roseman, starting school, and all the sleepless studying nights. It seemed like this moment would never get here. I still am in denial that it's over. It was such a HUGE part of our lives. We have known nothing else since we've been married. It's almost sad in a way that it's over, now real life starts. We are all so proud of Josh. He really has given it his all to be at this point. It's a huge accomplishment and we couldn't be more proud. The moment they called his name to get his doctorate degree was one i'll never forget! Congratulation Dr. Joshua Sharp!

 The next day we had a big celebration at our house. We had a lot of people come and congratulate Josh. We had dinner, treats, and made smores. It was a great, relaxing night!