Caribbean Cruise!

We've been planning this cruise for months and it finally arrived! Brady bought and made these shirts for everyone (cute idea, right)? Nobody knew about it so once we arrived in Florida, Brady handed them out and said we had to wear them the first day on the cruise ship. My mom and dad, grandma and grandpa and one of my aunts had already been on the cruise for a week and we were meeting them for the last week of their 2 week cruise. We knew they wouldn't be able to miss us in these bright orange shirts!!

We flew to Florida on Friday night and got there around 11:30 p.m. We all stayed up until about 2:00 a.m. eating pizza and talking in the hotel room. It was so much fun. We woke up, packed our stuff, went to get a little bit of food and headed for the cruise ship. We met everyone on the ship and they LOVED our shirts and were so excited we had arrived. The weather wasn't that great and they told us that the weather they'd had so far had been cloudy and windy the entire time - we hoped the weather for us would be better and it was.
Later that night we went to dinner and Dazzles night club for music and of course a game show. Brady was chosen to be in the Weakest Link game and he was by far the strongest link, seriously. He knows so many random things that he did really well.

Great first day for sure!

Caribbean Cruise - Day at Sea

The second day on the cruise was a sea day. We went to the gym to try to burn off the calories we hade consumed and the calories which we planned to consume for the day. My cute grandma and grandpa go to the gym every day and work out as often as they can; the cruise was no different. They woke up every morning and went to the gym and rode the bike. They are just so cute! We ate alot and played a trivia game (which we lost horribly at). I felt like we would do well, but whoa, we didn't even get half of the questions right! So funny.
I bought this big black hat months before the cruise to protect myself from the sun. It definitely came in handy :)

Me, Brady and aunt Suzi. Love her!

Celebrating my grandparents 69th wedding anniversary!! How cute are they? The cruise staff came to our table after dinner and sang the song "Let Me Call You Sweetheart, I'm in Love with You" and gave them this cute cake. It was so thoughtful of them!

Yummy cake from the cruise staff

We ate dinner at the Four Seasons which was always a great time. Don't you love Brady's hate? I think it's so cute.

My dad and Mom. I love them. My dad has THE BEST skin tone. It tans so easily and I swear he's tan all year long. I am so jealous!

After dinner everyone danced the night away! Not me, I was the photographer because dancing really isn't my thing unless I'm in one of the crazy moods. Brady would love for me to just start dancing out of nowhere, but it's just not me! Tonight I wasn't in one of those crazy moods so I took pictures of everyone. It was really fun.

Oh my gosh, I love this picture of my grandma and grandpa dancing together. They love to dance.

This night was a great way to start off the cruise!

Caribbean Cruise - Cozumel, Mexico

We got an early start this morning because we had to catch a ferry to Playa del Carmen to meet a man named Helamen to tour the ruins of Tulum. We weren't in any sort of rush until we realized we had to catch the ferry at another dock a mile or so away! We ran through the town and made it just barely in time! It was SO hot and humid that once we got on the ferry, I was not in a good mood. I was so sweaty and just felt gross so Brady bought me a bottled water and I calmed down :). This is us on the way to catch the ferry before we realized what kind of rush we were in.

Finally made it on the ferry, trying to cool down! Brady wore the shirt he did because he felt like it looked like ruins and thought it was appropriate for the occasion.
Touring the ruins, which were pretty cool actually. I wasn't super excited about going, but it turned out to be really nice weather (not too hot or humid) and a great time to spend together learning about the history of Tulum.
Really cool, old temples

Listening to the tour guide. Helaman didn't actually give us the tour, it was his son Nefi (Nephi) and he was really nice. He gave us the tour with an LDS history of the ruins and talked about the Lamanites and stuff. It was really cool.

I wished I had brought my swimming suit because the beach there was so pretty and the water was too, but we didn't plan for it and didn't have enough time.

We stopped in the shops and looked around and enjoyed the experience. I bought the cutest Mexican bowl that was handmade and painted in the most vibrant colors. It was definitely a good time.

After a long day, we went back to the ship, so I had to get a pic of us in front of it, right?

Me and Miss. Phil and Alesha stayed back to eat at Margaritaville.

Later that night, Brady and Phil were both chosen to be in the Daning with the Stars competition! It was hilarious! I'll be honest, Brady can really bust a move and it was so fun watching him. Phil was so nervous, but ended up taking 2nd place! Brady got voted off because the judges thought he was too crazy and all over the place.

Brady busting a move...

This is him "backstage" being interviewed after he got voted off. It was so great.

Cozumel was a blast!

Caribbean Cruise - Grand Cayman

We were all looking forward to our stop at the Grand Cayman Islands because we've heard it's amazing, but unfortunatley, it was so windy that we were unable to dock the ship because the waves were so big. It was so hot and sunny that day that it seemed odd that we couldn't go play on the beach. We were all quite bummed. So we all just hung out on the ship and had a really good time. The water in the Grand Cayman is amazingly blue and clear we all just wanted to swim in it, but couldn't!
This night we at the Four Seasons restaurant which was always a good choice. We loved the food and I always walked away being so full.

After dinner we went to the lounge and watched the karaoke for a while, then went to a show then Phil, Brady and I went to a comedy show before I called it a night. All the fun in the sun made me tired!

Love this pic of us and my grandparents

This was taken at the show we went to that night. Some of the shows were better than others, but overall, they provided good entertainment for everyone.

While I was on the cruise, I didn't feel like I was that tan, but now that I look back at the pictures, I realize that I did get lots of color! I want to go back already!

Caribbean Cruise - Ocho Rios Jamaica

Jamaica was by far my most favorite stop. I loved everything about it! The hot weather, the people and how they speak (they always say "no problems in Jamaica, just situations"), the little shops and how beautiful it was. My entire family, except grandma and grandpa, swam with the dolphins and went to Dunns River Falls, while Brady and I went swimming with the horses and horse back riding. It was so much fun to spend the whole day with him. This is us on our way to the excursion, we were so excited.Jamaica was beautiful! I seriously loved it and the weather was amazing. Really hot and humid, but I loved it. While we were waiting to ride the horses, I asked someone to take this picture of us in front of the ocean because I loved it so much.

This is what we did! This was the group before us so I took a picture of them since I knew I wasn't going to take my camera with me in the water. We first rode around the island (see pics below) and then went bareback on the horse in the water. The horses were literally swimming in the water with us on their backs. It was so crazy. The horses make this weird noise when they swim and a couple times my horse almost made me fall off, but I stayed strong and stayed on. The next day my inner thighs were sore from straining to stay on the horse.

So amazing!

Striking a pose for the camera on my horse "Brittany" (that was the name they gave her, not me)

Brady looking sweet on his horse "Alex"

After riding around the island, we HAD to eat Jamaican Jerk Chicken - I mean we had to! I even bought the Jamaican Jerk spread so I can make it at home. I loved it. The Jamaican people eat the entire chicken, beak, feet, bones and everything! I think they thought it was weird that we threw all the bones and stuff away, but nonetheless, it was so good and I had to get a picture of Brady eating it. Btw, check Brady's sunburn. He got SO sunburned the first couple days and it was in such an odd pattern. You'll be able to see the weird lines in some of the pics throughout these posts. haha

After riding the horses, we of course went back to the ship and ate MORE food. it was great.

I absolutely love this picture of my grandparents. They are so special to me, I love them so much.

Later that evening, we went to a show (we went to a show almost every night) and Phil orderded so much food from the sports bar for dinner. We didn't go to a restaurant this night because we were all so hungry so we just did a huge buffet

Missy and aunt Suzi

SOOOOO much food!

Also, I forgot to mention that Brady was seriously chosen to be in almost every single game show. This night we were actually both chosen to be in family fued, it was so much fun. He was at the head of the group and had to introduce all of us. He said he was from Utah and that all the girls on his team were his wives and the boys were his cousins or something. Gosh, talk about living up to the typical Utah stereotype!!

Caribbean Cruise - Day at Sea

Days at sea are so great because we just lounged around, at ice cream and great food, played LOTS of dice (one of Grandma and Grandpa's favorite things), layed out and had a really fun time. Here is a pic of one of the many games of dice we played.Our two favorite restaurants, Seven Seas and Four Seasons, were great and we rotated almost every other night eating at one of the two. This night we ate at Seven Seas where we all loved the spring roll for the appatizer and this night Brady even got 2 of them because they were so good, and the chocolate fudge sunday was definitely a must for dessert!
My cute parents, grandparents and my aunt Julie

Lesh, me and Missy

Such a fun chill day on the ship. I loved it.