CRUISE!

Jesse's parents have been taking each of their children and their families on a vacation to spend some time with that particular family and our turn came! We went on a cruise down to Mexico and loved every minute of it.

(And I apologize this is THE LONGEST POST EVER but I took about a million pictures and want to remember as much as I can)

Friday May 21, Day before we leave:

Jesse and Danielle go to Centerville to pick up our car that was in the shop. Jesse dropped me off since he had to run to work and I had to wait for an hour! I was bitter because they had already had it for a week and a half. Then I start making the trip home by stopping at Target for last minute items. Next it was off to my in-laws place to do some laundry so we would have clothes to pack and come home to. During a cycle I ran to walmart for more last minute finds. I finally got home around 11-11:30ish, and still hadn't packed. But I figured sleep was more important so we went to bed.

Saturday May 22, Travel day:

We woke up not so early and started to pack. We somehow got everything to fit in one suitcase, grabbed some snacks, and hit the road. We stopped over in St. George to pick up some books on tape (Thanks mom!) and continued on our adventure to California. After several hours, one gas stop, and no bathroom breaks we made it to our hotel in time to catch some sleep before we left the next morning!

Sunday May 23, CRUISE!:

We went to church that morning then boarded our ship. We were shocked at the size of our room! We had heard all the horror stories of how tiny the cabins are but we got spoiled and had lots of room, a couch, big bed, and a balcony! We didn't stay in our room long though because we were off to the buffet to start the day off right! We hit a show that night and ate some more. Jesse thought he had died and gone to heaven with how much food there was and acted as though he was malnourished by the way he ate. It was impressive.

Monday, May 24, Day at sea:

Jesse and I thought we'd be ambitious and we got up early and went for a run. Jesse rocked his 2 miles, I struggled due to my newly developed wimpy knee syndrome. (I'm pretty sure that's the real name) Then it was off to the Windjammer for breakfast! After stuffing ourselves full we went up to the pool to lay out and read our books. It was heavenly. Later was more of the same, exploring the ship, lots of food, another show, more food with a formal night in the dining room, midnight snack for Jesse, then off to bed.

I told Jesse to take a picture of our towel animal and this is what I got:
1st formal night

This is quite possibly the first attempt we have of using the self-timer on our camera as a married couple. It took a few tries.

Our camera started to tip over, so we moved to try to stay in the picture! haha.
Finally we conquered the camera.

Tuesday, May 25, Cabo:

Today started off with a big breakfast of course, since we'd have to miss a few hours of food while enjoying Cabo! It was beautiful! Lots of rock formations, fun beaches, snorkling, and fun. We road in a glass bottom boat and toured around looking at the rock formations, fish, pelicans (which were my favorite), and sea lions. Jesse and my father-in-law (Doug) snorkled while me and my mother-in-law (Linda) enjoyed the beach without fighting the waves. The rest of the day was spent at the beach playing in the water, burying Jesse in the sand, and laughing at Linda rolling around on the beach with the waves. Then it was back on the boat to fill our empty and complaining bellies.

(probably the best picture from the whole trip!)

Wednesday, May 26, Mazatlan:

Another day started off with a delicious buffet. (The food on those ships just can't be beat) Then it was off to town for some fun. We walked around for awhile and perused the shops, then signed up for a bus tour, after haggling down the price of course. We road around town, enjoyed the shops, loved the colorful houses, purchased souvinars for our price instead of theirs, watched a cliff diver, walked along the beach, and got some delicious nachos at Senor Frogs. We got back on the ship, tired after another fun day, and headed straight to the Windjammer for a late lunch. And did the usual that night, watched a show and ate more food.

(In honor of my dad)

Thursday, May 27, Puerto Vallarta:

We woke up to a completely different place here. It had big hotels, Walmart, Sam's Club, big roads, and parking lots. We jumped off the ship pretty early and headed out to see what kind of adventure we could find. We decided to do a canopy tour (zip lines) and took off in this huge bus thing. It was a bumpy and long journey but we had a blast once we got up there. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures while we were actually going but I did get the awesome shot of my ankle covered in greasy hand prints from pulling me to the end by my ankle! (I didn't quite make it all the way on one line) Then we had lunch at Margarita Grill which was delicious and then headed back to the ship and were rather lazy the rest of the day.




Friday, May 28, Day at Sea:

Boy was it chilly on our way home. I already missed Mexico the moment we turned around and headed back north. The wind was nearly overwhelming and forced us inside to stay warm and prevent us from blowing away. So instead of being pool bums and sitting outside reading books, and getting tan, we had to get a bit more creative and play around the ship. Luckily that's not too hard to do. We also had our 2nd formal night which of course was loads of fun.



Saturday, May 29, Day at Sea:

Saturday was nearly identical to Friday with blustery winds and chilly weather. This day we were booked with activities such as napkin folding, karaoke finals (where even the King himself performed), Q&A with the captain, and the family talent show. Today we realized that inevitably tomorrow was going to arrive and we would have to go home. It was a very busy but somewhat sad day.

(Taken in honor of Brad Shelton. Now that we know how much work it takes to make all the scenery we were extremely impressed with this.)

Sunday, May 30, Return to real life :(

We had such a great time. Thanks mom and dad Rich for taking us and enjoying everything with us. We are already trying to figure out how we're going to get back out there and go again!