cruise part 4: christmas cruise festivities

last, but certainly i want to share a little about our christmas on the cruise!

this cruise was the cutlers very generous christmas gift to the family and we were so ecstatic when we found out!
so we tried to make a very memorable christmas day!

it seemed like all day long though we had to keep reminding ourselves it was christmas day!

we went on a little walk around the ship trying to find the bow of this ship, but alast, we failed.

we did get close to the water!

we also went to a little christmas show and saw cute treyson in it!

treyson is on the very left

for christmas eve we read a cute christmas story while the kids were still awake and the story of Christ's birth in Luke 2. it was a wonderful activity and reminded us of the reason we were all together and of the most beautiful gift any of has received: our Savior who provided us the atonement so we can return to Him.

when mom c. was with us, she read us a christmas book as well

after the kiddies went to bed we went to the fancy dinner together (which was hilarious thanks to too much alejandro, our server),

took some super cheesy/cute pictures,

danced a little to live music (we actually did this many times while on board which was a blast! and casey got to actually use his awesome cha cha skills which impressed many of our onlookers! it's seriously so much fun to dance with him!)

 also, on christmas day the kitchen made some totally awesome food art for everyone!

these were our favorites:

the santa and words are a watermelon!

and lastly on christmas day, we watched a beautiful sunset together and tried burning that moment into our minds :)

it truly was a wonderful christmas with the cutlers!

thanks again family for the great memories!

 

cruise part 3: the kiddlings

so, if you haven't gathered from the previous,

we really did have a blast on the cruise

the only change we would have made would be being able to have the parents and karlee with us.

our cruise experience was much affected by the cute kids we had with us

pretty much all it being wonderful (with only a few minor exceptions:)

so all these pictures will be boring to everyone else but there were so many cute pics of the 3 little boys we got to play with for a whole week.

we truly loved being with them and were glad they were there with us!

so here's a tribute to the little boys on the trip

Treyson. 3 years. awesome monkey leash boy with lots of energy.

Porter. 1 year. adorable and happy almost all the time (the smallest of the batch)

Jaden. 1 year. hilarious in so many ways. blonde one. yes he really is 1 even though he wears 24 month clothes :)

we love these little boys!

thanks c&c cutler and c&k price for having your little ones with us on the cruise!

they added that extra element of fun and reminded us that we are thankful we don't have kids yet :)

cruise part 2: 4 days at sea

so with 4 days at sea, we got to know our ship pretty well :)

here are some of the activities that went on!

it was a cruise...so we sure did eat a lot (at least on the days that we felt good:)

it was nice of having so much fresh fruit available!

 better than just the food, there was endless ice cream and yummy hot chocolate :)

we all took great advantage of it

if you've ever experienced a cruise, you'll know that they are known for always putting way cool towel creations in your room at night.

it was always exciting to find a new one in our room, here are a few!

we played a little mini golf on the top of the ship too in the midst of high winds!

it was crazy to think we were mini golfing, randomly, in the middle of the ocean!

casey finally beat me! he was happy :)

and we played a little shuffle board

 we went to the fancy restaurant a few times with everyone for some fancy food

as well as some jacuzzi time while watching big screen football

 as usual, we tried playing lots of games with one another:

credit card monopoly (which casey whooped everyone in with his yellow properties),

card games, phase 10, catch phrase, and things :)

there were also a few days where we layed out on the ship and only got a teensy bit burned :)

apart from the pool and jacuzzi's, we did go down the slide.

last but not least we tried going to a bunch of the shows they offered:

sing/dance shows, comedy shows, christmas shows, and game shows etc

we really enjoyed a bunch of them! (especially the family comedy shows we went to:)

cruise part 1: excursions

so, out of our 7 days on the cruise, we stopped at 3 different places and hung out on the ship for the other 4.

first stop: Cozumel, Mexico.
casey's brother , cody, set up our excursion to some ancient ruins in Tulum with an LDS tour guide.
so awesome.
we loved every minute of it.
if i were a lamanite/nephite, i would most definitely live in Tulum, it was gorgeous there next to the ocean!
our tour guide, Helaman, was amazing. he knew so much! the pictures on the wall, the time period of them found, and the stories depicted in pictures all coincide perfectly with the timing and stories of the book of mormon, absolutely incredible and so fun to learn!
everything testified that the book of mormon was true!
this was sadly the 1st day that casey's sister, karlee, wasn't feeling well so his mom stayed behind with her causing neither to see the ruins :(
by the end of the day karlee, mom, and dad all left the cruise ship to the hospital and that was the last we saw them :(

(excursions are out of order, sorry)

3rd stop: Colon, Panama

this is the day where a lot of our family memebers were sick and not feeling well.

i was sick the previous day but somehow got enough energy to go out, and i was SO glad i did!

casey's sister (tayli), casey and i got to kayak the panama canal!

the water was much muddier than usual bc of lots of recent rain...

and it sprinkled/rained on us 1/2 of the time...

but the whole time we kept thinking "how many people can say they have kayaked the canal?"

so we still had lots of fun :)

the rain forest was incredibly THICK too!

i was waiting the whole time for some big dinosaur to pop its head out and eat us! (see 2nd pic on right)

 

we also took a stop at the actual panama canal locks,

pretty incredible is all i can say!

and the pic of our feet is the result of different wet flip flops rubbing on us all day (tayli's are peeling like crazy)

2nd stop: Limon, Costa Rica

our plans of just relaxing on the beach were dampened by the rain and the cost of just driving to the beach!

so with some last minute adjusting, we took a little tour of the city and then went on a boat ride through the rain forest canals!

we saw monkeys, little birds, wild banana trees, and a tiny alligator!

we then took an hour or two to relax on the beach after the rain had passed.

all in all, we really enjoyed our day in costa rica! 

(this is also the day i felt terrible most the time, as soon as our excursion ended i took a visit to the nearest trash can and gave it my lunch)

last day

today is the last day we have to deal with this

and tonight we'll be on a plane toward this

to go to this for a week

this has probably been out most stressful week of finals in our lives.

i don't know what we've eaten all week.

maybe pizza, cup of noodles, lots of junky food, cereal...that's about it.

we're ready to be fed again.

little to no sleep all week

work shifts til 2:30 in the morning.

worked 7 days straight at the library.

tons of laundry that needed to be done before the cruise.

head aches from studying too much.

but enough of this crying fest.

we're surviving.

we both have 1 final left.

neither of us have packed for this 8 day cruise of ours, but guess what?

it doesn't matter!

tonight, no matter what is or isn't accomplished,

that plane is leaving to ft. lauderdale and we'll be on it!

merry christmas!!!!!

i jinxed my family

story:

for christmas, birthdays and any other kind of holiday to celebrate, casey's parents were sweet enough to take us all on a cruise for christmas this year! we've all been way excited for awhile now for it

it was the one where you leave from san diego and go down to mexico (the mexican riviera i think?)

we were going to leave on Dec the19th, and get back on the 26th, 

it was going to be a blast!

then, like 5 days ago, i sent the family members this video.

it's of a cruise liner that went on that same kind of cruise we were planning,

but they had a fire in the engine room and were stuck out there for days with no electricity, lots of food rations, no running water, and a lot of other no fun stuff!

well, turns out that ship was going to be OUR SHIP!!!

guess what that means!?

cruise cancelled!!! :( 

wo is me, wo is me!

tragic/ironic huh?

so now, the family is facing a huge dilemma (no, not that big but you know how it is...)

the cruise line is of course being very nice and trying to be accommodating to passengers in exchanging cruise line tickets, and kinda helping w airfare etc.

so naturally, we're all freaking out a lot and trying to find another cruise to go on.

carribbean sound good?

don't mind if i do!

oh.

but wait.

originally, casey and i were going to drive to san diego making our trip only the cost of gas and excursions.

what does a carribean cruise mean?

 way cool? yes.

same price for us? yeah right.

now we have to deal with AIRFARE!

blah...

mmeh...

noooo....

airfare = an arm and a leg.

 airfare = a good portion of tuition

airfare = rent for 2 1/2 months

airfare = a bajillion cute shoes i could have bought

mmmeh

we just keep telling ourselves "the memories, the memories, we'll make so many good memories"

today my mom told me "you can't expect memories like that with saving all your money"

breathe kimber, breathe :)