Cruise!

Soo Dahl and I just went on a Carnival 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise out of Long Beach, CA sort of for our 2 year anniversary (a month early) that stopped at Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta. It was AWESOME! I have literally never been on such a great vacation. We had so much fun! The nice thing about cruises is they are so relaxing. They had activities we could participate in if we wanted to, so we were entertained, but we didn't have to participate if we would rather just lay out or something. And they also had food. So. Much. Food. If you're trying to lose weight, pick a different vacation. Buffets to your hearts content!! And it was so yummy!!

I've always thought these pictures from cruises were dumb... but seriously guys, when you see them in REAL life they are soooo cool!!

The cruise started Sunday afternoon. We were super blessed to have two families from Dahl's mission (Long Beach) help us out a lot. The Romes allowed us to stay at their house Saturday night after our long drive from Utah, and Sister Rome even fed us dinner and breakfast! The Kaveas drove us to Port Long Beach and let us park our car in their driveway for the week so we didn't have to pay $18 / day to park it. They were both so generous and kind. The Kaveas actually drove us twice when, in a terrifying turn of events, Dahl left his wallet in our car back at the Kavea's house. I was a seriously stressed out wife! But it all worked out, and we got on the ship just fine.

Monday was a day on the ship, so we explored, enjoyed the food, and had our first Elegant Night, where we got to (in my case) or had to (in Dahl's case) dress up for dinner.

We also did a country line dancing class with Sam, who was our awesome instructor. We did several other classes with him, including the Monster Mash and Thriller. He was a really good instructor, so it was a lot of fun.

Tuesday was our first day in Cabo. We went on a dune buggy excursion where Dahl drove us very adventurously through the beach sand and mud. We got super dirty!! It was a lot of fun, though, and had gorgeous views.
Wednesday was day two in Cabo, and so we went to the beach. This was a dumb idea. Literally every 20 seconds, NO exaggeration, we were harassed by a new person wanting to sell us something. We ended up buying some bracelets for gifts and sunglasses for Dahl. We left pretty early because it was literally the most un-relaxing thing you could ever experience. The food was good, though.

Thursday we were in Puerto Vallara, and we went on a pirate ship excursion. It was SO fun! (Except for the part where Dahl jumped into the ocean with his phone with all our pictures in his pocket... luckily we could recover the pictures, but that was the end of his phone :( !) They did a fun show for us involving a first mate rebellion where every pirate pretty much ended up walking the plank. They also fed us breakfast and lunch, which was awesome.

Then we were taken to a GORGEOUS private beach called Majajuitas where we snorkeled, ocean kayaked, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Then we sailed back with more fun like a line dance lesson to the Titanic song, and unlimited virgin margaritas and strawberry daiquiris, and even a cup full of pineapple slices that our personal pirate, Fish, provided me with, without me even having to ask!

Friday was another day on the ship, and another elegant day!

Saturday was our last day on the boat. We saw a fun show featuring people who were on the cruise as different artists like Brittany Spears, Elvis Presley, etc. Actually, the whole cruise they had some pretty cool Vegas- style shows with amazing dancing and singing. We also went to lots of comedy shows, which was really fun, and enjoyed watching karaoke as well. I would have participated, but my throat was a little sore because Dahl and I both had colds the whole time! Dahl's was way worse than mine, but mine got REALLY mean when I got home. It was okay, though, he was a good sport about it and I was good at taking care of him! The rest of our time consisted of eating, sleeping, and laying out. We also went on a fun water slide on the ship!

Sunday we arrived back and Long Beach! We hung out at Huntington Beach for a couple hours watching the surfers and then drove to Vegas where Dahl got us a great Priceline deal at Aria on the strip. It was especially awesome because Dahl asked for an upgrade and they upgraded us to the 51st floor (3 from the top) for free!! It was the nicest hotel we have ever stayed at. The room was all automatic, so when we opened the door it turned on all the lights and opened the window for a fantastic view of the city. There was an ipad- type controller that you could control the whole room with, which was really nice. We went to dinner at a burger place called Zingers and just watched Meet the Fockers on TV. The next day we asked for a late check out which we got, and so we went to the pool and hot tubs. Then we drove to St. George for lunch at Irmitas and a smoothie at Orange Peel (both places are to die for!). We finally drove home, ready to conquer the real world the next day!
It was an amazing trip, and we had SO much fun! Can't wait to cruise again :)

Our view from the hotel