Day Four of Our Trip...

I know it's taken me forever to finish posting on our trip. I took SO many pictures and video, it's hard to narrow them down. I wanted to warn you that this post is lengthy...yet fun all around:o)

Saturday, we woke up and we were in COZUMEL, MEXICO! This is what we saw when we got off the ship.

Here's the dinky Carnival Ship next to our beast of a boat...and here's Bryce & Whitney.

After we got everyone together, we took taxis to the dock...and boarded onto a ferry boat. The ferry took us to the mainland.

When we arrived, we were able to look around at the shops. Randy found some cool masks and decided to pose for us all!

Then, we took vans over to Xel Ha. It was "all-inclusive...and was so great!

Before enjoying all the activities at Xel Ha, we decided to eat at the YUMMIEST Mexican restaurant there. Here's the Conklins, Christophersons and us eating some dang good food. My personal favorite...loading everything I could on some corn tortillas for the greatest taco experience ever! It really was THAT good!

Here's Collin, Jerry, and Randy in all their glory:)


After eating we headed out. We went snorkling and saw some amazing fish and sting reys. This lame guy that worked there wanted to take a picture of the Christophersons and us. None of us had life vests on, and he wanted us to "move closer together". Anyways, long story short, Raelene and I kept kicking eachother with our fins and almost drowned because we were laughing SO hard! Then, after almost drowning, he asks if he can take another picture! Hello! He wouldn't leave, so we yelled at him to "take the stinking picture". It was hilarious! After we were done, we went cliff jumping. I was so freaked out to go, but ended up going once. About halfway down, I wondered what the heck I had just done! I also had a wonderful bathing suit malfunction...that was fun:) After jumping in from the cliff, we swam over to a rope "bridge"... there's one rope up high that you hold onto, and one that you walk on... It was seriously so funny! I really wish I had pictures of this...but knew my camera would get wet. While walking around, we saw LOTS of iguanas!!! Two of them actually ran right for us!

This is the part of Xel Ha where we went snorkling. It was beautiful!


Here's a picture of Damon and me back on Cozumel. We were able to go shopping for a bit, and had a near-death experience with one of the taxi drivers! He was going FULL SPEED towards a pedestrian, then slams on his breaks nearly hitting this man...then started laughing like it was the funniest thing! I have to admit, we thought we were going to die...but when he started laughing...we felt a sigh of relief and laughed with him.


Look at this spectacular sunset!

Then, we headed back to the ship.


That night at dinner it was Rhett's turn to be surprised with birthday wishes from all the crew...and from us!


This made me laugh...this waiter is using the butter lids as "symbols" when singing to Rhett!

Later on we all went to a show. I think it was just nice to sit. Here's the Smiths, Emmetts, Conklins, Christophersons, Collin and Randy at the show.

And...we couldn't skip out on karaoke...now could we??? Here's Dave and Randy.

Michelle and Cary...

Collin and Kirk...

This picture made me laugh! There were a bunch of girl singing and they invited Bryce to go up there with them. He's totally dancing with all of them, and Whitney is sitting on the side hysterically laughing!


We had such a great time! I just need to figure out a way to edit my videos...then I'll post them! Thanks everyone for a most memorable day!!!

Day Two Of Our Trip...

Day two of our vacation was probably the longest day I remember having...EVER! It was super fun, don't get me wrong! The day started really early, and I don't think we stopped going the entire day!

We checked out of the Hilton, had breakfast, and met as a group in the lobby. We took a bus ride to the "Everglades Holiday Park".

We went on airboats through the Everglades...

And saw 4 crocodiles. (Yes...this is a real picture...of a real croc...and it was really THAT close to us!)

For some reason I thought we'd be a little higher off the water than we were. When that first croc swam right up next to the boat, I screamed and almost knocked some people over (sorry Raelene!). It freaked me out! The Everglades are really pretty!

We saw iguanas and vultures! Our driver was very interesting. We'll just leave it at that! After the airboat ride, Damon and I were able to hold a baby crocodile.

Then, we took another bus ride over to the ship. Did the whole passport/paperwork thing and had a lifevest drill...thanks Jason L & Liz for making that more interesting;o)...By the way, this picture is on here solely for entertainment!

and went mini golfing on the ship with the Emmetts.

It was great at dinner because we all sat in the same section in the dining room...all 48 of us! During dinner, the ship started to move and we were finally sailing towards Cozumel! We shared a table with the Christophersons and the Conklins.

Let me tell you...the steak was awesome! You know what else is awesome??? Not cooking, cleaning, or making a bed for a whole week!

Later that night, we roamed around the ship...and decided to have a game night. It was Collin K, the Smiths, Emmetts, Christophersons, Conklins and us Casabars playing BS...and we all had a lot of fun!

Then we headed off to the club and danced to our heart's desire. We missed Collin's "dance-off" (which was supposedly hilarious), but had a lot of fun! The last time we went dancing was over a year ago, so it was great to get out there again! Damon and I didn't leave the club until after 2am. Then we slept in until 10:30 and called it good! What a life huh?

Spiderman Party!!!

We decided...kind of last minute...to celebrate Micah's birthday with his friends. Yes, his birthday was a month ago, but with the craziness of December, and the start of a new year, we thought this was the perfect time! Micah decided he wanted a "Spiderman Party"! I was super surprised when he came downstairs dressed like Spiderman! So cute!

When Micah's friends came in, we had them all decorate their own pizzas! It was cute to see what they came up with!

After decorating pizza, we had a contest with silly string...to see who could hit the middle of the web first! I'm sure the kids would've played this all day if we hadn't run out of silly string! It was a lot of fun! Then, we let the kids have a go at a pinata. Unfortunately, Micah wanted to be "very last" and didn't have a chance to hit the pinata before Braden busted it open, but they all had a fun time grabbing at the candy!

Lucky for me, Micah was easily convinced to have spider web cupcakes. Sure saved me a lot of time!

Micah started to open his presents...and there was a knock at the door.

It was Spiderman himself:0) He took pictures with the kids (that weren't afraid of him), and was a fun guest to have for this special day! At the end of the party, Micah said, "Spiderman was AWESOME!" That just made the entire party worth it for me!!! THANKS ANDREW!!!

Early Birthday Celebration!

What a fun afternoon! The Young Women leaders from church came and picked me up for lunch, to celebrate my birthday before all the craziness of Christmas! What a great group of women!!! Here's a picture of Diana, Renae, Summer, Monica, Linda, Lorrie, Me and Karen at Cafe Rio.

So, when Karen came to get me, there was this HUGE sombrero on her front seat with some velvet sunglasses. Karen, Monica and Diana were trying to convince me that it was a tradition to wear it during lunch. And...that they would bring in "shakers", say "Eye Yei Yei" super loud, and sing to me. You know...be all loud and crazy. I completely bought it until they got out of the car without their "shakers". I was ready to totally humiliate myself and at what cost????? I did have them take a picture of me with the sombrero and velvet sunglasses for a good laugh! Monica kept telling me to "make a funny face". Don't cha think I look funny enough?!? That thing was Enormous!

Highlights:

*Almost being tricked into wearing the sombrero! ALMOST! You crazy girls!

*Finding out that I unknowingly od on medicine for my cold sores.

*The guy sitting across from us, who apparently had an imaginary friend. He was first staring, then fell asleep for a bit. Then, he was talking and laughing...to NO ONE! Then, a long stretch and a roll of his head, and he was off! So funny!

*Seeing Renae's X, and remembering some of Monica's stories.

*Summer and her 8 tortillas!

*Karen's driving!!!!!

*Laughing for 2 hours straight!!!

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! I had so much fun! Kirsten...we missed you! Monica, thanks for the key lime pie, and Lorrie, thanks for lunch! You guys are so much fun and I'm so glad I get to work with all of you!!! You're the greatest!

Guitar Heroes

My friend Jess and I got together a couple weeks ago to do some "Product Photography" for a business that I'm starting. We decided to take a little break...before we even began... to play a little "Guitar Heroes". What an addicting game! We didn't do too well at first (all my fault for getting kicked off the stage twice), but got the hang of it eventually! We had a lot of fun in that short time! How fun it is to ROCK OUT!!!