A Week of Rafting

Well friends, I have survived a whole week of rafting, and being in a river. I know, I know, we're all shocked. BUT - I went and had an all right time. This is the first time I've been since our raft flipped, but I was like, I should probably get back in at some point. I was nervous and cried a little after we went through the rapid that flipped us, but overall, did all right! There was a rafting trip every day, and by today  I am really sick of water. For people who like water, that's all right, this is a great trip, but I get really sick of water after about 2 days. But I did find a cupcake shop here and found a delicious lemon cupcake.

Tomorrow we go home, and I am just so jazzed to be back in my own bed again. There's been too much traveling this month, I miss my house and Cookie!

Stamping and Chatting

Last night was Stamp and Chat, and good times were had by all. We made our cutie cards:

 and then afterwards, we had delicious treats. The theme seemed to be lemon, as multiple people brought lemon-flavored things, but I brought Brookies and was pleased with all of them.

Darth and Gecko

I also really missed these guys while I was gone.

 Look at his smile!

 He makes such the weird faces.

Look at these two dapper gentlemen with their hair done. What great guys.

Ice Skating

Tonight for YW, we went ice skating. I was pretty jazzed, I hadn't been in a while. And...it showed. I definitely struggled! I can't believe how hard it was to skate! One of my YW is an honest-to-goodness competitive skater, and she tried to teach us some tricks, with no luck from me. I could sort of skate backwards, and sort of stop when I tried to, and sort of do a small spin, resulting in a garbage looking spin. One of my other YW tried to do a trick and ended up on her bum. She was game enough to give a good pose:

We ended with some ice cream, and it definitely made me want to go skating sooner than 10 years, which is how long it had been last time!

Missed this Joker

I can't tell you how much I missed this joker while we were gone.

I'm so glad to see her and give her snugs. 

Last Day of Orlando

Today, we just had plans to chill. After a morning of packing up all of our suitcases, and playing with cute babies, we got going.

 We went to Disney Springs, which is basically Downtown Disney in Florida. It was hot as the sun again, but we ducked in and out of stores. I really enjoyed Cinderella's carriage here, and had to include.

 After we exhausted all of the stores we wanted to hit up here, we went to the Orlando Temple, and enjoyed a bit there.

Then it was time to head home. It was a great trip with family, and I enjoyed it so much.

Family Vacay Time

We spent the day in Sarasota, hanging with Husband's grandmother. We went to an Amish restaurant for dinner, which was just about the most delicious place I've ever been to. We took her dog on a walk that evening, and snapped a photo in the blinding and still really hot sun.

Even though we are having a great time, after 2 weeks of being away, I am ready to go home and be back in my own bed. Tomorrow we head home!

Last Night on the Cruise

Today was a sea day, and since it was the last day of the cruise, we decided to get fancy for dinner. After a day of sun and cards, it was just a chill day, which was nice. After dinner, we snapped some pics of us being fancy.

 The sunset added some really pretty background light.

Then my SIL and her friend were taking pics on their balcony. Did I decide it would be great to photobomb? You bet I did.

Cozumel

Today is our last day of leaving the boat before we get back to Florida, and we stopped in Cozumel. Of course we found the sign first:

 we decided to do snorkeling today, and I was more than happy to stay in the boat and watch the kiddos, since snorkeling is just not my jam. After our niece watched everyone outside snorkeling (and said out loud to me, "they're all having fun out there") Husband took her out into the water for a bit and she had a great time.

 After our snorkeling adventures, we stopped at a Starbucks to get some refreshment. I got a chai creme frappucino, and when I said my name was Even, this is what they put on the cup, 'If'. I about died laughing its just funny the differences that our languages make.

This was a fabulous vacation, and it was so fun. The heat of every place made me appreciate the dry heat here, and I am glad to return to slightly cooler temperatures. Farewell, cruise!

Costa Maya

Today in Costa Maya, we went to a waterslide/zipline park. It was so great and fun. I rode water slides that made me so nervous, they were so steep and long! But I did ride them. They also had an amazing zip-line park, which was just so great. I wish I had pictures of our adventures, but with no place to put them in our swimsuits, we just have to settle for imaginations. But here's us on the way into the park, with our niece:

 And luckily, there's a Costa Maya sign, so we snagged a pic with that as well.

It was just such a great day, and I really liked what we ended up choosing, this water park. I had reservations when we were  on the way, but they were exceeded and it was such a great time.

Belize

Guys, Belize was kind of a bust. The cruise boat took us to their own private island of it, instead of like, actual Belize. Our plan was to make it a beach day and enjoy the sights. Unfortunately, there were giant storms this day, and so they closed the beaches and the pool. After about an hour of laying under a gray, stormy and lightning-y sky, we gave up and went back to the boat. But I did snag a pic of the colorful Belize sign:

We spent the day ob the boat, swimming in the pools there that were open, and doing the ropes course on the boat. It turned out to be an all right day.

Roatan, Honduras

Today, we went to Roatan, in Honduras. Was it the hottest place I've ever been in my life? Maybe. Maybe. BUT we went to a monkey zoo place, and got to hold the monkeys!

 It was fun to have these little guys on your shoulder, you had to lure them in with treats.

 I got to hold a boa constrictor which was actually pretty terrifying.

 Also this parrot. I'm holding my niece because they said her arm wasn't strong enough to hold the bird herself, so this was our way of having her sort of hold it.

 This is us atop the highest point of the island, it was pretty cool.

 We then went to an iguana farm, and got to feed these GIANT iguanas. They let us hold tiny baby iguanas. We had to hold them tight, because they would try to jump out of our hands at every moment.

We had lunch in a local restaurant and had delicious food. We melted in the sun and sweat through all of our clothes, but then grabbed a pic in front of the Roatan sign. It was a great day.

Busch Gardens

Yesterday we went to the beach in Sarasota, and really, no pictures were taken. It was a nice chill day, which was great after our days of parks. But then today, we went to Busch Gardens, the roller coaster capital of the world (it seemed, and I deem it as such). After a few crazy coasters, we rode on a fabulous little train around and saw a lot of animals.

 We had a great time in the shade of the train.

After the train, we walked through a little zoo-type place, and they let me feed the flamingos! It was super fun and I thought their beaks would hurt, but they didn't. 

Our last ride of the day was a ride that took us up, turned us on our faces, and then dropped us. It was INSANE and it was FABULOUS. Unfortunately for us, today was as hot as the dang sun. There was no shade, there was no respite with any rain, we just boiled all day and sweat all over the place. I will be glad to be in Utah when this trip is over. Tomorrow, we board a ship for a Caribbean cruise, and I am so jazzed for this! 

Universal, or more importantly, Harry Potter World

Guys, today we did Harry Potter World. I have been once before, but this time was more extensive and amazing. Naturally, today rained as well, and it was chilly. Still prefer it than the hot, of course. We got to Gringotts first off, and took in the magnificent dragon.

 That was the Gringotts ride, which we did later and it was very nice. We drank Butterbeer, and took in the sights.

Y'all KNOW I got a wand, too. It is glorious and I am proud to own it and will use it when necessary.  Despite the rain, it was a great day. I rode an amazing roller coaster that was probably the greatest one I have ever been on, and it was amazing. I hope to go back to this park for longer - we only had the one day, and there was so much I wanted to do.

Disney World Adventures Continue

The Disney World continues, but today we went to Magic Kingdom as our whole group. I say whole group because yesterday, the big kids went to Hollywood studios, but the littles went to Epcot. We all had good days. We were ready for today: 

 We have our shades, on, we're ready to go.

 Today rained a horrific amount. This is not an exaggeration. It was pouring on us so hard, we were soaked to the bones. I gotta say, I prefer that than the extreme heat we had yesterday. But it took forever to dry, in the dang humidity.

Luckily due to the rain, a lot of people left. We had our run of the park basically, after it stopped. We had a great time on the carousel. I will say, I prefer Disneyland to Disney World, but both are pretty magical places. 

Vacation Time!

The family vacation has arrived. We are taking a 2 week vacation, starting today, for my SIL's graduation trip. I'll be taking you guys on an adventure these next weeks, so hopefully you enjoy it as we did haha. Today we went to Disney World, and spent the day in Hollywood Studios. It was a great day here, hot as the sun of course, but we handled it like champs. 

I've just realized looking at this photo, that one of my SIL's is missing, and I honestly don't know where she was in this. Hmm. 

We immediately went onto Midway Mania (the Toy Story ride) when we entered the park. What a great day. We were so tired by about 5:00, because we had taken the red-eye in, and nobody got the sleep they needed/wanted. But by 5:00, we had ridden every ride in the park, so we were pretty happy to cut out of there early and get the rest we needed. Stay tuned!

Darth and Gecko

 I don't know what's up with his face here, but I just think he's too cute.

 He's still mastering food and eating, but he gets better every day.

He was so proud of his mustache here ha ha!