our mexican cruise

Where do I even start??
I can't believe it's 2013{first post all year!} and that our cruise and Christmas has come and gone. I miss it but I love all the memories and pictures we have.
So many photos! I am a picture addict. It's a problem sometimes. I have the urge to take photos constantly to capture every moment but sometimes that's impossible so I have to level with not having every experience and memory captured. Which is hard for me. Thankfully, Tyler is very understanding and helps me realize how ridiculous it is to let photos inhibit my ability to truly enjoy myself and have a good time. Though there is nothing quite like a well taken, successful photo to brighten my mood =)

Get ready for picture overload!
p.s. the reason i changed my blog back to the traditional layout is cause you can view my pics easier this way. Just click on the pic and it will allow you to view them all in a row.


This is me and Tyler's first big vacation together. We went to Vegas and stayed in the new Planet Hollywood Westgate Towers for our honeymoon but that's the most extravagant vaca we've had together. My most extravagant vacations without Tyler have been London, England and Cancun, Mexico =) I plan to return to Cancun with Tyler one day. By far the best beach with white sands and crystal clear water.

The group

We went with our friends from high school.

three high school sweetheart couples + Tom and Russ high school friends =)

Just leaving Long Beach, Cali. It was a bit nippy!(but not compared to the snowy Utah weather we'd just left)

russ photobombing my picture =) the hot tubs were not hot enough in my opinion. maybe they were trying to conserve energy or something. 

enjoying all the food we can handle at the buffet

Tyler with his ice cream while watching the Katy Perry movie. (her real last name is actually Hudson..who knew!)

Ah the endless ice cream! Tyler has some talent when it comes to the ice cream machine. I however, do not haha. The ice cream made me freezing though so I resisted the temptation to get some every time we passed it. Blessing in disguise i guess.

Fun looking water slide that we never went on haha.

the statues in the spa were captivating.

Surrounded by ocean! So cool! We saw dolphins jumping out of the water! super neat. Although someone later told us they were Porpoises.

looking down from the 9th floor out of 11 total. Huge ship!

Tyler and the boys were playing basketball so there I am..all by my lonesome.

i love sunsets!

formal night at dinner.

my first legit lobster. yum yum!

the comedy club

leaving the boat for Cabo

 famous Los Archos of Cabo

sea lions! They were cute but oh my goodness. They reeked!!! SO bad. As soon as the boat got this close we were dying of their stench. It was funny cause we were wanting to get close and then immediately regretted it!

 Whooooo whoooo can you see in the rock? Haha. [an owl of course}

the tourist who took this...is fired. It baffles me how some people simply don't know how to take a decent picture!

overpriced henna tats...my favorite! =)

Me and Nicole. 

I bought that hat on the cruise =) I loved it until I realized I would poke peoples eyes out trying to take a photo with them haha.

Our friend Tom kicking back and enjoying himself some Cabo

Lovers beach

you had to climb through that hole in the rock to get to the other beaches.

me, Nicole and Heidi.

Russ, Zach, Spencer, Tom and that one guy I talk so much about.

Divorce Beach named for it's big waves! Although you can't tell in these pics...but they got big and they would drag you around like a rag doll.

Heidi & myself.

Tyler doing some snorkeling. I don't know if it's my fear of deep waters but snorkeling/scuba diving is just not #1 on my list.

 the water would go from being at your feet..

 to being at your thighs

so it was hard to keep your footing =)

awe =) This was Tyler's idea haha.

another hole to climb through. 

Probably my favorite part of the whole experience. Cabo's magnificent beaches. 

It was as amazing as it looks =) I can't believe I was here just a couple weeks ago!

On our way to the zipline in Puerto Vallarta.

 Our friend Tom soaked his whole head and then back in the water!

 We rode Mules back up the mountain..it was so fun! And scary! The trails were steep at times and I felt very inexperienced to be riding a mule up a steep mountain side.

 HUGE {dead} spider!

the neighborhoods of Puerto Vallarta

 Tom captured me indulging in some local flea market shopping =)

sand people playing Chess

Gorgeous pic of the sunset Tom also captured.

basketball court

 the ceiling opened up during the day =)

  I read and read and read 'til my hearts content! We read under the stars out on the boat which was fun but it got chilly! and windy!

 room service was amazing and these animals they'd make out of towels were the cutest!

 They had a sports bar and these boys loved it.

our servers at dinner for the whole week. They were all from Indonesia or Phillippines or somewhere cool like that. It would say on their name tag where they were from.

I miss having our bed made and new sheets every day....ahh it was nice being lazy for a week.

gotta load up on that mexican vanilla =)

The drive home was the longest ever. We hit holiday traffic and lost 3+ hours just creepin' along. Torture! I was hoping to get home to see Halli before she went to bed! We carpooled with our friends in a 7 person{Tom flew...lucky lucky Tom} suburban. A little cramped but it saved money. 

Overall, the cruise was super fun and we loved it. I recommend one to everyone. Cruise ships are HUGE and amazing. They're like little cities! Definitely worth it. Because if we were to have flown to Mexico, then stayed at a hotel, paid for food and all the in betweens...it would have been way more than we could afford. Which is why cruises are so awesome. I kept hearing phantom cries everywhere! It was nice to not have to worry if it was my baby =) 8 days was a little long in my opinion to be away from Halli and on a boat. But i'm glad we were able to spend 3 days in beautiful Mexico! Tyler loved being able to speak spanish again. It was fun to see the locals faces when he would start speaking with them. I need to learn more spanish! I know un poco espanol.

I saw lots of babies on the cruise surprisingly. Every time I saw one I would creepily smile and watch them thinking about Halli. Tyler didn't think he would miss her so much but by the end of the cruise we found ourselves watching videos and looking at photos of her =) I do not regret leaving her though. She got to spend time with her grandmas and it would have been very hard to have taken her. We couldn't have really enjoyed ourselves and it wouldn't have been in Halli's best interests to spend a week on a boat AND 3 days in Mexico. Plus, you had to pay for 60% of their ticket! We appreciated some time to get away =) I almost forgot what it was like to have a baby...

Halli Ann is almost 7 months!!