Ketchup anyone?

Ok, so I think I've seen it all. Ever since I met Matt, I found out that the deluxe condiment of ketchup is a MAJOR staple in the Gadd family. I like my fair share of ketchup, on fries, burgers, hot dogs, etc. But Matt takes ketchup to a whole new level. He puts it on eggs, potatoes, which I guess a lot of people do, but Matt puts it on FRENCH TOAST. Seriously? YES!

Matt has taught our children to carry on the tradition of ketchup on everything. My kids put it on their chicken nuggets, eggs, and everything they see their dad using ketchup on.

Well, today, I couldn't believe my eyes. I walked in the kitchen and saw Sadie sitting at the table with a nice bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal in a bowl with milk. She was eating away. I then noticed the bottle of ketchup next to her and looked more carefully in her bowl. Yes, you guessed it, KETCHUP IN HER CEREAL!!!! Oh I think I dry heaved a little bit. She was licking the ketchup from her spoon and dipping it back into the cereal for another ketchup cinnamon toast crunch bite. Yikes people, that is gross. But she LOVED it.

I have no question as to why we go through ketchup like crazy. A huge Costco bottle every other week. It's unbelievable. I'm not sure where ketchup will be next, but if I have anything to say about it, ketchup is meant for fries and burgers, not cereal or french toast.

Danielle...the Graduate

Congratulations Danielle!

So it's been a week of milestones in my family....


Brittany having her first baby and now the baby of the family graduating from college! Way to go Danielle!


On Friday, Danielle received her Bachelor in Exercise Science from BYU! A lot of hard work Danielle! I'm proud of you!


Larena, Mom, Dad and I went to her commencement services on Friday. It was fun to see little Danielle walking with the hundreds of others who have completed their degrees.


I'm not sure what it is about moments like that...but they always make me cry. I always get a big lump in my throat and a tear in my eye on certain occasions. Not like a full blown ugly cry, just a little glisten. Here's a few examples...


When I go to the airport. I don't know why, but every time I go, I get that burst of emotion. It doesn't matter if I'm traveling, or coming to pick someone up...When I go inside...tears. Weird.


When I get to the gates of an amusement park...Lagoon, Disneyland, etc. For some reason as soon as I walk through the gates...tears. Weird.


Dance or piano recitals. Whenever I was in a recital or whenever I have attended one, as soon as I see the person I'm there to see....tears. Weird!



Those are the only ones I can think up right now...but I'm sure there's more. I just think it's kind of crazy!


I don't even think Matt know that about me. I try to just keep it to myself, but I just think it's funny that I do that.

So little sister..way to go...

now what?

Well...she's off to nursing school. To the "Lord's School" (Matt likes to call it) the University of Utah. Danielle was accepted into their accelerated nursing program starting in May. So if she can handle it, she'll have her RN in a little over 1 year! It's a lot of work around the clock, but Danielle is one smart cookie, she'll be fine.

My little sister is a MOM!!!

So here he is....

The biggest newborn toes I've EVER SEEN!!!
You can see Brayden's inherited lips from his mom...so sweet!!

Isn't Cory the cutest Dad?

Congratulations Brittany and Cory!

On April 17th Brittany gave birth to the cutest little baby boy. They named him Brayden Cory Hester. He weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces and was 21 inches long.

Here's a funny story about his name. Brittany and Cory have been keeping his name a secret the entire pregnancy. No clues or anything. So a couple of months ago I had a dream that Britt had her baby and I went over to their house to see him. As soon as I walked in the door I said, "OK, so what's the name?? What's the big surprise?" They declared with enormous joy and admiration, "His name is Willie Aiden Hester!" I tried not to laugh and then said, "OK, uh, he's your kid, you can name him what you want to." (no offense to anyone with this name out there)

I told Britt and Cory about the dream a couple of weeks ago. They laughed and laughed. So from then on, I always asked, how's "Willie" doing?

When Cory texted me a photo just after Brayden was born, I texted back and asked, so what did you name him...Cory wrote back...Willie!!! I laughed so hard. Then he wrote, JK, it's Brayden.

I'm still going to call him Willie. He's such a sweet little boy. He has Brittany's cute full lips and Cory's 10 inch long toes. I've never seen a baby with bigger toes or feet. The footprints would barely fit on the birth certificate!!! I guess that's what you'd expect because Cory is 6'5" and Brittany is about 5'10". Let's just say I think Brayden will be some kind of basketball star.

So Congratulations to my little sis on her new little guy! Love you Brayden!

We have a winner....

Well...sort of...

Technically it was a tie. So my friend Stacey was the tie breaker even though she didn't comment. Stacey is a very creative person and when I told her I needed help with the name, she actually came up with Pink Daffodil. Here's how she thought of it. Pink, for breast cancer; and Daffodil, since that's the unofficial cancer flower. I just couldn't get it out of my mind. So I decided to go with Pink Daffodil Photography. I like that it has a deeper meaning. I also like that I immediately have a logo I can plaster ALL over the place. If any of you would like to post my logo with my new blog link, please let me know. There could be some free photos in your future....

So...here it is...my new company....



I have started a blog for this company so check it out.... www.pinkdaffodilphoto.blogspot.com
It's still a little bit under construction because I'm working on getting all of my photos uploaded... you know on dial up how long that takes... 20 minutes per photo...

So tell all your friends!!! I'm really excited!

Photography Business....

Thanks to my sweet sister-in-law Robyn for letting me photograph her and her new little girl Avery. I had so much fun taking pictures of them both!!

So, I'm going to start a photography business and need EVERYONE'S imput as to the name of my company. Here is what I've narrowed it down to, so please let me know which name you like the best.

1. Pink Daffodil Photography

2. A Moment in Time Photography

3. More Than Memories

4. Time Stands Still Photography

If you have any other suggestions, please let me know. I need to get a blog going ASAP so I'm trying to come up with a name.

Race for the Cure

So most of you know that I am a breast cancer survivor. Every year the Susan G. Komen non-profit organization holds an annual "race for the cure". This is my little plug to get you all involved!
As you can see, several hundred survivors (wearing pink t-shirts) participate each year. It is a very humbling sight to see so many women who have struggled with or are struggling with breast cancer. It is particularly touching to me to see my kids wearing the signs on their back that say "I race in celebration of...MY MOM!" I don't think there's been a year I haven't cried! This year will be the 6th year I will participate. In September 2008 I will be a 6 year survivor!!! HOORAY!!!

So if you want to participate, or just show your support, here are a few details:

Date: May 10, 2008
Place: The Gateway, downtown SLC
Time: 8:30am
Race length: 5k run/ 5k walk or 1 mile fun run/walk.
Price: $25 (if booked online) $15 (senior citizens, survivors, and children ages 4-12)

Where does your money go? The great thing about this fundraiser is that 75% of all monies collected stay right here within Utah to help breast cancer awareness, patient costs, research, and family support.

What do you get? A race t-shirt, tons of free samples, products, food and coupons from local vendors and a really neat, unforgettable experience.

How do you sign up? Go to www.komenslc.org to register.

If you want to join our team just type in Team Gadd.

This is our family last year at the race. The weather was nice and warm and Spencer and I ran the 5k together! He did a great job! I was so proud of him!

I thank Heavenly Father every day for letting me be here and be healthy. I remember when I was diagnosed all I could think about was, "I just want to see my boys go to Kindergarten." Now with Spencer in the 3rd grade and Ethan in 1st, I just want to see them grow up into nice young men and see Sadie be a sweet young lady. And while I'm wishing, I'd love to see them serve missions and getting married and have children of their own. Oh boy, I better quit. I'm getting a little greedy. A friend I met in the "chemo room" years ago taught me, "every day is a gift." If I could only remember that when I feel stressed out with the loads of laundry, dishes waiting, kids screaming, dinner calling... Isn't it great to be busy? It means were healthy and we're able to do it. What a blessing.

So whatever phase of life you're in, stop a minute and give thanks. Stop a minute and be grateful. You just never know what tomorrow will bring!

Deal or No Deal...

I'm sure by the title you can guess where this blog is going. No I don't have any pictures, but I can say that I spent 6 hours of my day today at RC Willey standing in line to audition for Deal or No Deal. My good friend Stacey told me on Friday that she was going to try out and I should do it with her. I told her I had Ethan and Spencer's soccer games, but then I could come. So of course last night I stayed up really late filling out all the paper work and getting everything ready. Stacey called me around 10am and said the line is crazy long...like a mile or more. I told her I would be there around noon. Luckily when I arrived I was able to get with her in line. The people around us were so nice to let me in.

The line filled the entire parking lot....switch backs of maze type lines...the kind you wait in at Lagoon or Disneyland...they just seem to keep going and going. So after about 3 hours of standing in line, we finally made it inside the building. What an awful sight inside...more lines!!! We waited another 2 and 1/2 hours before getting to the front of the line.

So you get to the front of the line and they divide you into groups of 10. You walk up to a table all together and they start a stop clock and you have 20 seconds to tell them about yourself. I was 5th at my table to go. I'm not sure exactly what I said, but I know I was screaming and jumping up and down when I said it. I said something like, "My name's Erin, I'm from South Jordan Utah, I was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 26 and have started a support group and really want to get on the show to help my group and my husband relieve some of his stress from working so hard...PLEASE PICK ME, YOU JUST HAVE TO!!!" I really shouted and jumped towards the end.

My friend Stacey went after me and did basically the same thing and so on down the line. After each of the 10 of us had our turn. The woman behind the table asked 4 people to stay and the other six were done. I was one who got to stay!! Unfortunately my friend Stacey didn't get selected to stay...:(

On to phase 2. This time the lady at our table went and got some guy to come over. He asked the first person at our table a question and the they answered. Then the interviewer tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "What do you do for fun?" I was totally caught off guard. I stammered a little and said, "I love being outside, doing fun activities with my family and getting together with my cancer group since I'm a cancer survivor and really need to get my group going!!!!" And then the other 2 women gave a few quick answers. After the 4 of us had our turn, the lady and guy whispered a second and then the lady asked one of the girls to take her paper to another line. Then she said to me, "I'll take you're paper and we'll let you know.." Oh darn!! I was out. I seriously doubt I'll ever hear back on that again. I think she was just letting me down easy.

I feel proud of myself for at least getting to second cuts. The producer did say that they did call someone up after 2 years to have them come to the show and they just won $300k. So I guess you never know, but I'm guessing.....I'm out. We were around number 13, 650 in line and there was a huge crowd behind us!

They were doing casting calls not only for the regular show, but I guess they are going to be showing it every day on TV. They will have 26 contestants holding cases and then someone will spin a wheel and the number the wheel lands on is the next contestant. So I guess we get to watch Deal or No Deal every day.

Well, I just had to write about the crazy thing I did today. Spending 6 hours on my feet in a line with strangers (except Stacey) all day trying to act energized and acting like a fool in front of some judges...sounds like a great day to me! It was a fun experience. Spencer was disappointed I didn't get on. He was already planning how we could spend the money if I won!

So if I ever hear from the Deal or No Deal folks...you'll be the first to know!!!

Food Glorious Food!

I know I said I wouldn't talk any more about the cruise, but I just wouldn't feel right about leaving out such a big part of the cruise....FOOD!!!

Ok. So I have a serious problem...I LOVE food!! I know I could weigh 50 pounds less if I didn't love food so much. So me and a cruise...deadly combination!!! I had to take pictures of some of the food I ate. It was just too pretty not to! I did not take pictures of everything because no one else was, so I felt a little silly.

Here's a sampling of the fun food on the ship...

They had displays like these everywhere. I thought they were so creative and neat looking. I may just have to try it sometime!

My favorites of the week:

Best appitizer: Fettuccinne Alfredo

Best fruit appetizer: Kiwi's and strawberries with grapefruit...(of course designed so elegantly)

Best soup: Strawberry Bisque (it's a cold soup that tasted like a strawberry smoothie!!)

Best salad: Cesaer...they have some kind of secret recipe for the dressing...it was sooo good!

Best Entree: Butter Mahi Mahi with garlic mashed potatoes

Best Dessert: If I can't say ALL of them then I guess it would be a tie between the Peach Cobbler and the Blueberry Souffle

Best Ice Cream: Mango Sorbet....the best sorbet I've ever had in my life!!!

So I had to take a picture of what our table looked like every night after our main courses were cleared. It was just so hard to decide on what dessert to get! So...get all of them!! Pictured below are carmelized apple pie, peach souffle, raspberry creme brulee, almond sorbet, vanilla ice cream, and I can't remember the name of the swan one.

This was called Kapaloa cake...I thought it looked so pretty on a musical staff!!

This is yummy chocolate fudge cake...

I took pictures of some of the main dishes that I was proud that I tried. I'm mad because I forgot to take a picture of the Escargot I tried... I did like it, just not enough to eat more than one bite. I think it's a mind over matter thing for me... The duck was, well, "gamey". It tasted fine, but the texture was really dense and strange. The sauce was delicious. The King crab was really tasty. I actually ate the entire plate. I'd never ordered crab before because it's usually so expensive and I didn't want to spend money on something I wasn't sure I would like! I'm not sure if I would order it again, but I'm glad I tried it! Some of the other entree's I tried were the lobster tail with prawns and the butter mahi mahi. The lobster tasted a lot like the crab to me, but the mahi mahi was to die for!! I licked the plate on that one! Yummy!!!

This is duck...

This is Alaskan King Crab...

Just a beautiful plant, right? Look closer...the flowers are grapes, radishes, water chesnuts and colored peppers...It's so amazing to me how they come up with these ideas and then put them together!!

Here we are sitting at our feast....."I can hear you getting fatter, Erin!" (remember that line from Tommy Boy?) But boy was it worth it! The food was really delicious...and the fun part was no prices were listed!!!
So if you're not already in the kitchen grabbing a snack, something is wrong with you! Go now!! I am!

Hola Cabo!!!!

So this is Cabo San Lucas....
This is the most photographed oceanic scene along the pacific coast in Mexico. It's called Los Archos. Very picturesque indeed. I had to get up at 5:30am to get these shots! But it was worth it. Our boat pulled into port right around 6:00am and docked right in front of the rock formations. So cool.
After waking up to that amazing sunrise, we grabbed a bite of breakfast and ran down to deck 4 to disembark. Because the Sea of Cortes is so shallow, the cruise ships can't pull right up to the dock. So they have to use smaller boats, called tender boats, to transport 100 or so passengers at a time from the ship to the shore. It only took a few minutes of waiting and then we were off the ship and on our way to the dock.

We hired a water taxi (a small motor boat...reminds me of a little fishing boat) to take us out to the rock formations and to drop us off at the famous Lover's Beach. This was our first close up look at the cool rock formations. I think it's cool to see the pirate ship passing behind them....

This is a picture of Lover's beach. It was truly beautiful and you can see why it's a favorite for any tourist! We were able to spend several hours here just soaking in the beauty and a little sunshine.
As we made our way to the back of lover's beach, an entire new beach opened up in front of us. This beach was enormous. And we were the only people on it! It was great to have the entire beach to ourselves for a few minutes. Although this beach is beautiful, it has an ugly name. It has been named divorce beach. On this side of the rock formations is the Pacific Ocean. The rough, raw waves come tumbling in and pound the shores like thunder. The ocean is very deceiving because the big waves don't always come in every time. The ocean will bring in 2 or 3 small little hiccups and then all the sudden comes an enormous, frightening wall of water! It's because of the angry ocean that this beach gets it's name. It is the exact opposite of lover's beach, which still has waves, but very small, tranquil, and fun to swim in.

Despite the large waves, this beach was really fun to explore and look at. The backdrop of rock formations that formed this beach were very unique and worn by the salt and sea spray from the ocean. It was really fun to climb around on them and see the amazing shapes the ocean has carved into them.
As you can see from the photos above, the waves at "divorce beach" were extremely large and angry. It sounded like thunder every time the waves crashed. As scary as they seemed to me, apparently someone else thought it looked like nice frolicking water. We saw a girl crying on lover's beach and could not figure out what was wrong with her. She just kept sobbing and sobbing for 15 or 20 minutes. Her boyfriend or husband was trying his best to console her, but to no avail. Finally they hailed a water taxi and left the beach. I asked some people standing near her what she was crying about. They told me that she decided to go for a little swim out in those enormous waves! She obviously had no experience being around the ocean, and frankly no common sense. I guess a big 6 foot wave pounded her and she came tumbling onto the beach like a beach ball. If I had witnessed this event, I'm afraid I would have laughed my head off. Just picturing someone tumbling into shore sounds so funny. I realize there is nothing funny about it and it's a darn good thing she wasn't killed. People, please....don't swim in an ocean that sounds like thunder!!! Just don't do it!!!

The way the sun was cascading over the water and rock mountains made for such a breathtakingly beautiful beach! Such a shame it's too rough to swim in! It was still nice to sit and watch the waves come thundering in.
After spending a few hours at Lover's Beach, we took a water taxi back to town. Our goal was to get a great massage some time on this trip. The ship charges $200 per person and there's NO WAY we were going to pay that much! I also wanted to finish shopping and get the final souvenir's for our family and friends who graciously took care of our children while we were gone. As we walked around the beautiful bay, we found a nice spa that was running a special for massages. We only had about an hour or so left before we had to be back on the ship, so we decided to do a half hour massage. It was soooo relaxing. The 30 minutes zipped by so quickly!

So then it was time to pay. They told us before hand that they accepted credit cards, so we gave them our Visa to charge. They ran it through the machine....denied. Oh, dear I thought. I hope the card goes through. They ran it through 4 more times and it just would not work! What were we going to do now? Luckily, we brought all the cash we had off the ship with us and it worked out to be EXACTLY how much the massage costs. We would be left with only $3.00 left for the remainder of the trip!!! At this point we had 10 minutes left until the last tender boat left for the ship. So we gave them all the cash we had and left. I was sooo bummed. That meant no more shopping and no souvenir buying I so desperately wanted to do.

With some serious jogging, we made it back to the port, just exactly on time. When we got there we could not believe the line!!! It went for at least 3 blocks!!! I think all 2600 passengers were waiting to get back on!!! I told Matt since the line was so long, I could wait in line, while he looked for a pay phone to call the credit card company and find out what was going on. After searching for phones, and using ones that didn't work, Matt was finally able to get through to the credit card company. They said the card was just fine. It must have been the Spa's machine that was not working properly. That was a relief. But still didn't help the fact that we had $3.00 to our name!!!

So sorry Robyn and Teresa!!! You're Mexican souvenirs aren't going to be much!!! But we really did think about you!!!

Here's what the marina looks like in Cabo...it's quite a fun little touristy town...

Here's a picture I took from the water taxi out to Lover's beach. It was so cool seeing this pirate ship through the rocks!!!
Here's another shot of the pirate ship. I just thought I would throw this picture on too, since I love the way the water is sparkling.

So after finally making it back on the ship....we were able to relax a little more. Cabo is very beautiful. It's not because it's green and lush like Puerto Vallarta; but because the rock formations and the color of the sand are breathtaking. I would definitely love to visit Cabo San Lucas again someday. I really liked the cleanliness of the city and the shopping was so great!!! (Even though we didn't get to buy anything!! :) )
So I'm sure all of you are totally sick of the cruise details. I promise, this blog will go back to the same old random thoughts of daily life. I'm just glad I've been so blessed with a husband who loves to travel as much as I do and has been able to take me places I only dream about. One thing I've learned in life is not to take life for granted!

Mazatlan...fun at Stone Island...

Hello from Mazatlan.....
This is Mazatlan's finest...."Kah Kah" Island....

This picture was painted with spray paint!!!! Read below...This artist was truly incredible!!!

These sea lions were really cool and entertaining to watch! Some cool Marlins hanging in the bay.
Hooray! I did it!!!

My self portrait of a dream come true.

My handsome hubby atop his horse/mule.

Mazatlan brought it's own day full of fun and adventure.

We first started out the day by taking a "taxi" (riding in the back of a covered truck) to another area in the marina. We then road a catamaran across the bay to a place called Stone Island. It's a pretty big island, a little dry, but had nice sand and beautiful palm trees.

After getting off the catamaran, our guide, Polo, told us we would now get to ride in Mexican Limousine...A tractor pulled trailer with benches for sitting. So we rode the limo around the side of the island and through and EXTREMELY humble town, to a giant restaurant type hut. It was here that we were able to relax in lounge chairs and choose several activites to participate in during the day.

This little area we were in was enclosed by a small wood fence. Around the outside of the fence and in the opening to the beach, were of course...more swindlers!!! It was almost comical how they would try to get you to buy something. The land we were on was owned by the tour company, so these people could not come in and bother us at our tables. Instead they stood at the gate and held up all their products hoping you would come and buy something. Matt and I took our towels out of the gate, closer to the water to lay on after getting in the water, and the second we sat down we were immediately surrounded by vendors....more of the same products..."you buy bracelet for the lady? You need towel to be dry?" After having 3 or 4 of them come up to us, I told Matt, "Just play dead!" And it worked! If we layed there still with our eyes closed, they walked right by!! (of course we didn't have our money out there with us anyway! It was in a safer location...behind the fence...) The part that got me rolling in laughter was when a large group was coming back from a kayaking tour. There were probably 50 or more people coming in from the ocean and getting off their kayaks. The minute they stepped onto the beach they had dozens of vendors crowding around them. I laugh because most of these people didn't have any money on them! They had just been out on the ocean in a kayak! They didn't have their money rolls with them!!! It was really entertaining to watch every person say "no thank you and walk past." By the end of the day, we found a great way to make it from the gate to the water without being bothered...RUN!!!

Then we decided to go horse back riding. It has always been one of my dreams to ride horses on the beach. There is something so romantic or magical about galloping through the surf and sand. We walked over to the horses and got ready to ride. They looked very small and a little like mules. I had Matt ask the guide (in Spanish) if they were mules and the guide said, oh no, they are mules mixed with horse. Oh great, a horse equivalant of a mut...a hut. Lovely. That news disappointed me a little since my mule riding experience the day before wasn't so great!

But with a little background in horseback riding I was determined to have a great time. After getting a few other people on their "huts" it was off to the beach for my dream come true!

Well, it wasn't that dreamy. My "hut" was a little faster than the mule, but he was obviously the bully in the group and pulled his ears back and threatened to kick any other horse that came near him. So it was nice I could be in front. All of these mule/horses were VERY stuck in their ways and would not deviate from their normal trail for ANY reason. When we got close enough to the water to go running through it, the guide shouted, "No get in water! Keep to trail!" I guess the salt water can rust their shoes. Even if we could go in the water, I don't think my little Paco, would have ran anyway! He knew the path and stuck to it. In fact, when we were out on the beach, I tried to stop for a minute to hand Matt the camera to take a picture of this dream come true and neither horse would stop!!! So, I resorted to a ever so beautiful self portrait!

Even though the experience wasn't quite like I had dreamed, it was still enjoyable and a beautiful ride. The ocean was sparkling and the palms swaying. The ocean breeze was refreshing and the horse was stubborn.

After the horse back riding, we decided to go on the boogie boards. There were some decent waves coming in and it looked like fun. We got our boards and made our way out in the water...BBRRRRR!!! This was our first time getting in the ocean this trip and the water felt like ice bergs could float by! Matt told me you get used to it after a few minutes; I was hesitant, but jumped in anyway. He was right, in about 10 minutes, my body turned numb and the water felt great! We both caught some fun waves!

Matt was able to snap a few photos of me "boardin'" but when I came out to photo him, our guide was telling us that it was time for our "limo" to leave. So we gathered up our stuff and said goodbye to Stone Island.

When we got back to the catamaran, we got to take a little ride out to a few interesting sites off the coast a little waze.

The first one was a little island with a neat looking cave in it. Then beyond that was another island. All the rock on the entire island was almost completely white. Polo told us this was called" 'kah kah' island, cuz it has lots of s! (those were his words) And he was right, lots of birds had made this place their home and it was really covered with all of their poop!

After passing poop rock, we continued out further into the ocean. Way out in the middle was a tiny little rock. As we got closer, I could see sea lions sunbathing on it. We were able to get very close to the rock and hear the sea lions barking at us. Manuel got everyone on our boat to bark at them and then be quiet and listen to the sea lions bark back. It was pretty funny. They are beautiful animals and they were really fun to watch.

After the short "tour" of Mazatlan bay, it was back to the taxi to go back to the ship. After getting off our catamaran, we noticed someone had just caught some Marlin. They were hanging next to the dock with blood gushing on the ground. Beautiful fish...but stinky from rotting in the sun.

Before we got back on the ship, we wanted to call Sadie because we called the boys in Puerto Vallarta, but didn't have time to call her. So we hunted EVERYWHERE for a pay phone that you could use an international calling card on. Every phone we tried was broken, (big surprise) so we resulted in using our cell phone. Before we left we set up our phone to make international calls. I was surprised the call went through fine and I was able to talk to Sadie and my Mom for 4 and 1/2 glorious but very expensive minutes!! (Actually it was less than we thought, $1.00 per minute)

While we were walking back to the ship, we saw this artist working on his beautiful artwork. It was the most unique artwork I've ever seen. All of his pictures were done using spray paint. He put on a mask and began spraying many different colors. He would spray on a color and then use newspaper to smear the paint into the shape he wanted. Then to cure or dry the paint he would blow a blow torch on it. He repeated this process many times until the picture was complete. It was so cool.

After a long day of playing, there's nothing nicer than coming back to a clean room where your room steward has folded all your clothes and lined up all your shoes and left a bowl of fresh fruit out waiting for you to devour. Soooo nice!

We ate another delicious dinner with, of course, tons of dessert and saw more fun shows. We really liked the comedian this night. His name was Troy Thurdgill (reminds me a little of Cuba Gooding Jr., but fuunier). Soooo funny. He told some really funny jokes about teenagers and the stupid stuff they do. He talked about when your at a traffic intersection and the teenagers never wait for the Walk or Don't Walk signs. They just cross the road whenever they want and if you're driving you slam on your breaks and honk and the teenager throws their arms up in the air saying, "Hello? Don't you see me? I'm just crossing the street here? In the crosswalk? You got a problem?" And then the comedian says, at this point is when I just run over them. They need to learn their lesson. He was really funny.

Just another fun day on vacation!

Puerto Vallarta...

I think this picture says it all.... A real outdoor adventure in the jungle of Puerto Vallarta!

This is a picture of us in the Unimog truck...

This is the speed boat we rode to and from the jungle. It was a blast!

This is the first little plaza you come to when getting off the ship. This is where we did a little shopping and hunted down a pay phone to call home.

So here's Day 4:

We arrived into port around 7:00am. By the time we ate breakfast and got our stuff ready for the day we were off the ship by around 8:30am. We walked around this little plaza and did a little bit of shopping.

We were one of the first ones off the ship so the store merchants were like flies on crap. (I guess I just called myself crap...oh well.) All of them shouting in their best English.."you buy necklace for the lady? you need t-shirt? come inside and look" Annoying buggers, I must say! They really won't leave you alone. And of course you ask how much and it's 65 dollars but for you 50 dollars. Then you start to walk away and it's 35 dollars, you buy?

We decided that they are all a bunch of dishonest swindlers. We found a decorative clay plate that the price started at $45. We were able to get her down to $28. She said it costs her $25 per plate so she is really giving away her profit. She said the paint used is expensive also because it is hand painted. So she had a little credit card machine and she swiped our card and the amount said 3300 Pesos. We told her that's $33. She told us, oh no, I calculated the Pesos correctly, don't worry. So after checking out our credit card statement yesterday, yes, she did in fact purposely over charge us. The most irritating part of all of this was that the same plates were available a couple days later in Cabo San Lucas and their starting price was only $15. I guess you live and learn. Lesson learned.

After a few minutes of shopping it was time to meet at the ship for our excursion we pre-booked through the cruise ship. We met up with a group of other people from the ship for an exciting "outdoor experience", is the title the ship used.

We walked around to another part of the marina and got on a little zodiac style speed boat. The boat held about 24 people. Then we zoomed off across the bay for a 25 minute boat ride. It was really fun and we got great views of Puerto Vallarta. The boat took us to a little sandy beach and dropped us off.

The next part of the adventure was riding in the back of a giant truck, or what they called Unimog. We spent 25 minutes driving on very rugged dirt roads through a couple of very humble pueblos. Matt said the experience brought back a lot of memories of his mission in Guatemala. He said the homes and school yards looked very similar.

So after making our way up the canyon in the Unimog, we arrived at a supply station. Here, we were outfitted with rock climbing gear. Helmets, harnesses, caribeener's, etc. Our guide, Fernando, gave us brief instructions on how to properly use the zip lines. He was really funny and was cracking jokes in his broken English. One of the funniest things he said was to all the men...."you careful you harness in good place, you no want your 'kiwis' get hurt!" He then told us we could use the "pee pee rooms" if we needed to. It was really hilarious.

After getting outfitted, we walked over to the stables and got instructions about riding the mules. We hopped on the mules and followed a very steep trail up the mountain. Now I don't have any pictures of this because we weren't allowed to bring anything with us. No cameras, backpacks, etc. for safety reasons. I guess they don't want you hanging 300 feet above the ground trying to fiddle around with your camera. Understandable. So you'll just have to trust me on the mule part. They were tiny little horses who were very stubborn and unfortunately I got the slowest one in the group. No kicking or prodding would get my mule to move any faster. Maybe it was that extra dessert the night before....

It was still better than hiking up the mountain!

So after getting to the top, the real fun began. We started on a trail through the jungle, (a bit dry, because it's their dry season) and came up to our first zip line. This one they call the baby line, because it's the shortest in length and the slowest. The entire time the guides are joking around with you which helps you forget that you are jumping off a cliff and entrusting a little bit of rope with your life. After watching 2 people and Matt go ahead of me, it was my turn. The guide clipped in all my gear and said bend your knees! The second I bent my knees, I was off zipping down the line. It was exhilarating, frightening and complete fun all at once.

So this process was repeated three times, down three bigger, longer and higher zip lines. The views were unbelievable. You could look down and see rivers and waterfalls and huge canyons. I felt like I was in an episode of The Amazing Race! So after doing a few zip lines, it was time to learn how to rappel. I had never done this before and was a little nervous. We were standing at the top of a 100 foot waterfall waiting to descend down into the pool below.

When you rappel, you control your speed by holding or releasing your own rope. It's not too bad. I just didn't think about the height and just went for it. When the guide said sit down, I looked and said "where?" I saw nothing but air. So that first step is a big one! I just sat down and my rope immediately began to move. I did the best I could to keep my legs straight and walk my way down the rock wall. I made it! The cool water of the pool felt nice and refreshing.

Then the next part was really fun. There was another shorter, less steep waterfall where the rocks formed a little water slide. So you just kind of sit down and slide down right into a huge pool of water. I went almost completely under the water. It felt great!

Then a couple more zip lines led us to a hanging pathway in the middle of the jungle. All of the sudden the pathway ends and its time to rappel down again. Only this time, there is nothing to walk down! You just rappel in mid-air! So after freaking out for a minute, I began to descend. No problem! It was really fun!

And then we got to the last zip line of the day...the double. Matt and I got to ride down and the same time. I went really fast at first and pulled ahead, but Matt caught up with me and barely won in the end.

We hiked a short distance back to our starting place and took all of our gear off. A photographer took our pictures the entire time and they had computers you could view them on for purchase. As you can see, we only purchased 1, because they wanted $17 per picture!!! It was a fortune!!

But I had to get at least one to prove to everyone that I really did do it! I made it and lived to tell about it! What an AMAZING experience!

After a little snack, we got back in a passenger van and headed back down the mountain and loaded into the speed boat again. In another 25 minutes across the beautiful bay, we were back at the ship. We had about an hour left before we had to be back on the ship, so we walked around and picked up a few little souvenirs.

My overall opinion of Puerto Vallarta...totally amazing! It really is a beautiful place. I didn't get to go into the heart of town, but got to see it from the ocean and it's really nice. I would like to go back and visit again longer sometime!

After a long, fun day, we got back on the ship and set sail for our next port. It's so nice to see all these cool places and only have to unpack once!

That evening we had a nice dinner and went to more shows. Overall, it was a great day!

Come back tomorrow to find out about our next port!

Hola! Welcome back to reality...

Life size Chess!

The inside of the ship

The back of the ship. The very top floor is called Skywalkers Night Club. It was a fun dance club.

This is overlooking the main pool deck area.

This is a view of the ship from a little boat we were on.

This is me doing nothing all day...

Ok, so we made it back; SEVERAL pounds heavier, but we're home. Between the delightful desserts, 7 course dinners, 24 hour buffet, 24 hour room service, and afternoon ice cream buffet...lets just say I've packed on a few glorious pounds!!! What a dream vacation! There is so much to say, such a slow computer. So I'll have to divide out each day into separate posts. As much as I would love to download all 679 pictures I took, (I'm not exaggerating) That would literally take a month, so I'll try to pick my very, very favorites to share with all of you. Speaking of which, I'm not sure who reads this anyway.

Where do I begin? Let's start at day one. We fly into Long Beach airport and immediately are greeted by green palm trees and flowers blooming everywhere. But most importantly, SUNSHINE! It was still a little cool...66 degrees, but it felt wonderful. We jumped on a shuttle whose driver spoke oh so little English, more of some Asian language than English, but nevertheless, arrived to Berth 93 safe and sound. We were able to get our first glimpse of our ship from the highway and boy oh boy is it ENORMOUS!!! The size of the ship is something I don't think you're really ever ready for. I saw pictures, studied floor plans, but until I was face to face with the Golden Princess, I had no idea it's magnitude.

So we began dragging our luggage to the boat terminal and quickly left it to be loaded on the ship. We then started the check in process. Very smooth, check your passport, scan your credit card, give you your ship card, you're on your way. We arrived really early to the ship terminal so we had to wait about an hour before boarding the ship. While we waited, a live Mariachi Band serenaded the crowd. It really got me in the mood for vacation.

On the first day of vacation, you're still worrying about home, wondering how the kids are doing, hoping that they are behaving themselves, and that all is well. Each day into the vacation, you think about this less and less until you almost forget!

So around 11:30am we were able to climb aboard the amazing Golden Princess. We found our stateroom very quickly and were very impressed with the size of the room and the obstructed ocean view we were planning on wasn't as obstructed as we thought it might be. Only part of the lifeboat and a giant chain were in front of the window, so we still had a decent view out.

Then it was off to explore the ship. At every turn we were looking for a map...where in the heck were we? We never knew, and even until the last day, still could not figure out where we were!

So the ship has everything you could ever imagine. It has 4 giant swimming pools, one of which is indoor with a retractable roof; perfect for those cooler days at sea. There is one big pool in the very center of the ship surrounded by 3 decks of lounge chairs. That's where all the action happens. All afternoon a live band would play while servers brought drinks to your chair. One of the other pools was at the very back of the ship overlooking the ocean. What a great view from here! And the 4th pool is toward the front of the ship in the middle of the spa. And this one was particularly dreamy because no children were allowed here. That meant no annoying screaming, splashing in the face or fighting for the hot tub. Really quiet and relaxing. Matt and I spent most of our days at sea here at the pool, laying around, doing nothing. Boy, was it great.

After discovering the spa (and it's complete salon, massage rooms, sauna, etc.), the mini golf course, tennis courts, table tennis, life size chess, shuffleboard, dance club, full size theater, and piano lounge after lounge, we found the most important part of the cruise...the buffet. It was delightful. Everything from fresh papaya to hot ravioli was here. So naturally, we sat down for a plate or two or three...the desserts are just so yummy!

And then after more exploring, the kids places, the teen hangout, the 6 different dining rooms, the dozens of shops, and staircase and elevators galore which lead to who knows where; we made it back to our room to rest a bit and read up on the afternoon's events.

Around 5:00pm we were pulling out of port and were dancing at the "set sail" party on the pool deck. Lots of music and a bunch of people doing the electric slide, but very fun.

We stayed on deck until we decided the 3 plates at the buffet weren't enough, so we needed to get ready for dinner. We changed into our "smart casual cruise attire" and after searching for 10 minutes, found the dining room. It was definitely worth the searching because food paradise was truly found. Our server was this girl from Romania who was extremely attentive and fun to visit with. The service on a cruise is just unbeatable. My water glass was never below half way; I always had some kind of food in front of me; and I got a new fork for each of the different courses. None of this save your fork stuff. A fresh set of silverware was set before me each time I had a new item placed in front of me. It's really nice to be waited on so attentively!

The cool thing about a cruise is that there are no prices listed on the menus! Just order whatever you want...and more than 1 is perfectly ok! So we started the first night off great and ordered 4 of the 6 desserts on the menu. I had the best peach cobbler I think I've ever tasted...sorry dutch oven fans...doesn't even come close...this was way better!! SOOOOOO delicious. And then after dinner it was off to the "welcome aboard"show. We were laughing until the desserts were making there way back up; by a comedian. He used to sing with the Beach Boys for 20 years and now does these comedy/music routines. Sooo funny! The funniest song he did was "how many beans in a can of hormel, does it take to clear out a room? The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind...." I know it sounds corny with me just typing it, but the way he was playing it on his guitar like you were at a concert and then singing those lyrics...seriously funny.

Ok. So that was day 1.

Day 2: Woke up to breakfast in bed delivered by room service. Changed into swimsuit. Spent the day at the pool. Ate buffet. Slept by pool. Swam in pool. Relaxed in hot tub. Slept more. Showered, went to dinner. More awesome food. More awesome desserts. More awesome shows. Went to sleep.

Day 3: Repeat day 2.

Day 4: Our first port. You'll have to come back and read tomorrow about this day. It was another amazing day and there's so much to say!!!

So anyway, back to reality. (boy does that FREEZING Utah air hit you hard!) The dishes, cooking, changing diapers, breaking up kids fighting...but now done with a new level of patience, a refreshed outlook on motherhood. The "can do" attitude. I really did miss the kids. By the last day I was ready to scoop Sadie up and squeeze her little cheeks. The boys too. I couldn't wait to give 'em big hugs and get the latest scoop about the latest toy craze. And boy did I get an earful!

Overall, being away made me realize just how blessed I am to have such great kids and awesome husband. And what a great job I really do have....now how long this refreshed outlook will last, hmmm, just not sure. But while it lasts, I'll enjoy my job as Mom.