Happy New Year!

We're a full week in and so far 2011 has not let us down! We hope everyone else had a fun and festive New Year celebration! I've had fun reading and hearing about everyone's goals and resolutions for the New Year. Hopefully soon I'll really sit down and start coming up with my own for now I'm leaning on THIS one....cause it's my favorite! :)

So, I feel like I am still trying to get back into reality after a very fun and relaxing vacation/anniversary celebration with Matt! Our 10 year anniversary was actually back in April, but Thomas was a nursing baby until mid summer and then school started back up so the big vacation that was always in the back of our minds just kinda hung out there for awhile. Finally, Matt just went for it. We called my mom first to see if she was up for it and then Matt did it...he booked everything. A 3 night cruise over New Years, flights, hotel for an extra night in case flights didn't work out, etc. So really it was 5 nights total that Grandma had the kids and that Matt and I were able to get away. (I count my days in regards to how many bedtime routines we will be without or that Grandma will have to deal with!)

We have never ever done anything like this so we were very excited; but still scared to leave. Here is a picture as we drove away! Thomas had no idea what was coming! I kinda had a hard time. When we got food at the airport I grabbed tons of extra napkins, because that's what a mom of 5 kids does. Matt just laughed at me. Then a little boy and his mom sat by us with the same, soft airplane blanket that Thomas has. I was feeling a little guilty about leaving my little ones for so long.



But they were just fine! My mom was so amazing to do that for us! She even got them to 9:00 church on time and started up the school routine again on Monday. It sounds like they all had a good time without us and Thomas even survived them dressing him in pink and not having a winter coat which I finally found at Kaylee's school when we got back. We had left a few little gifts for them that Grandma took some pictures of. I was nervous because I knew we wouldn't get to talk to them much once we got on the boat. I think Kaylee was a little offended when she realized it was just because it was going to cost us more. She said something about how we should want to spend the money to talk to them. :) Hopefully she knows how much we do love them, but that we completely trusted them and Grandma and knew that they would be okay! (Love you Kaylee) :)




So we were finally off. Our plane was delayed quite a bit, but unlike our original plan, we luckily left ourselves enough time in case something like that happened. We read, talked, sat quietly, ate, relaxed. It was nice to just be us. Well, us and the Utah men's basketball team and then later in LA the TCU and Wisconsin fans. There was purple all over the airport and in our hotel....a little bit of red.

We stayed one night in LA and then went to the ship the next afternoon. And I guess the pictures pretty much speak for themselves. Great views, lots and LOTS of food, a clean room that magically stayed clean, and fun, fun people! We loved meeting the people!










We have a few ideas for 10 years from now when we get to do something like this again. The first would probably be timing. It was a little chilly in January, but to be on the boat during a New Year celebration was pretty amazing! The atrium was just gorgeous with lights and decorations from Christmas and for the big celebration!





Another do-over would be more excursions. We only had 1 in Ensenada, Mexico, but it was a BEAUTIFUL day! Especially for horseback riding. We decided the terrain of Mexico is very similar to the terrain of Wyoming. Obviously, Wyoming doesn't have the gorgeous ocean-views from the mountains though!

Matt's horse was "Dos Equis" and mine's name was "Gringo"...their white, lazy horse....I'm not sure if I was supposed to be offended by that. :) Either way, we had a blast and the people were so fun to ride with! They even fed us lunch after. It was a great day!





The man below made gifts for the girls and then we said good-bye to Mexico!




We decided we'll miss the sound of Phillipe's voice, our cruise director. We enjoyed him and all the activities. The art auction was interesting to see. We were amazed at the amounts of money just thrown around on the ship. Crazy! We enjoyed the shows, the food, the comedy, the Rose bowl, the ice cream, being together, bingo, cheesecake, the spa, the people and did I mention the food? Oh and the Love and Marriage game was absolutely hilarious! The gentleman who had been married 55 years was a crack up! They were the sweetest couple!



I was almost done with this post but realized I needed to find a place to do my I LOVE MY HUSBAND bit! I can't believe we have been married 10+ years! We had so much fun together! Even sitting at the airport with no small talk, but just silence and just together was all we really needed. We did have fun talking though and laughing and enjoying being US again even if the talking and the laughing was still all about the other 5 people in our lives! :) Thank you, Matt for the best trip ever! I am so thankful for the father and husband that you are! LOVE YOU!!




We met some awesome people on the boat! Before we even got on we met Esther! She and her husband were very cute! We ran into her a few times and really enjoyed talking to her. The boys below we also met before we got on...as we waited in the security line. We knew they were gonna have a good time. After Mexico we saw these hats from far away and knew right away who it was. They always gave us a big hello anytime we saw them!



The pictures below were from our dining table. I didn't know if I would like sitting at the same table with the same people every night, but it turned out perfect! The couples below were very fun to talk to. It really was fun and interesting to talk to them about how they met and where they were from!



It was hard as we wandered around on the last night kinda saying good-bye to everything. It definitely went way too fast! When our kids are much older we would love to go again and stay longer. Another picture of the atrium! It was beautiful!



We got off the boat early and our flight wasn't until quite a bit later, so we went to the aquarium and then to tour the Queen Mary which were both right by our ship. It was a little bit of a rainy day and we just kinda wandered, but it was also more time together.







From the Queen Mary we could see people getting on OUR boat for the next cruise. It was kinda heartbreaking to know that our trip was over. We took a picture of the rainbow below and decided it was time to go.



We were so excited to get back home though! We didn't get in until after midnight Monday night, and Taylor was the only one that woke up when we kissed them good night. Thomas was sooo cute the next morning as it took him a minute to figure out what was going on. I think it was good for us all to have our time to ourselves, but it was so much better to be a family again!

Thanks again to Grandma! (and Uncle Dale too) It was nice to know our kids were being very well taken care of! It was a perfect vacation! :)