Our Western Caribbean Cruise

We were seriously so lucky to have gotten to go on this cruise! Steve had won this trip through the Utah CDC! I was nervous to leave the boys (it was our first time leaving them for more than a day) so I made myself feel better by writing the boys a letter for every day that we were gone and left a little present with the letter! Also my mom came and stayed with them for the whole 8 days- she is a saint for sure! I knew they were in good hands and honestly we really enjoyed ourselves!

 The day we left bright and early for Tampa, Florida which is where our port was. We were so excited because Steve's sister Jen and her family live in Orlando and they were so awesome and drove 2 hours each way to come see us and spend a couple of hours with us! They picked us up at our hotel and we went out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory...yum! I felt right at home with her little boy Ethan who is right in the middle of my boys ages! Isabella and Natalie are just darling and we had so much fun seeing them!

 Oh how I wish we lived closer... Ethan kept asking to come to my house-I wish he could!

 So Sunday the 15th of April we got on our ship- the Carnival Legend! It was a little smaller but our room location was awesome! This is us going under a bridge in Florida- heading for international waters!

 The first night we were there Steve and I went to a show and he ended up on stage because he had the best Tarzan impression- haha! It was so embarrassing and it was so fun to se the goofy side of him! Since he was on stage so many people came up to us on the cruise and would say "hey Steve"- my husband was famous for a week!

 As if his fame wasn't enough, on Monday, Steve decided to do karaoke and was roped into doing a James Brown song " I feel good"in the final show on the ship- those pictures are at the end!

 But these pictures are of us before Steve did karaoke and our first formal night!

 Tuesday we went to our first port which was in Cozumel, Mexico. We decided to rent a scooter and just drive around the island......um.......it was crazy! When you husband says he has ridden a scooter before......once and then decided to drive around with the craziest traffic ever and can't stop ....... let's just say it was an adventure and I was praying for my life almost the whole time- haha! We did have fun and it was cool to see the culture there!

 We stopped off at a beach at the tip of the island!

 Steve on the TORO! This side of the island had beautiful sandy beaches and yet no one lived there. We wondered if the weather was too bad on that side.... it was super windy that day. So randomly on the side of the road there would be a little shop of restaurant. So we stopped and took this picture!

 Riding back into the city seriously was crazy- the only reason I am smiling in this picture is because we   made it back alive and I felt like falling to the ground and kissing it- j/k!

 Steve practicing his karaoke!

 On Wednesday we went to Belize and took a 2 hour bus ride to some mayan ruins!

 It rained the whole time but when we got there it was beautiful! The ruins were so cool! And we were in the middle of a rainforest with tons of Howler monkeys in the trees- I felt like I was in a jungle....oh wait we were!

 Here is Steve being totally crazy and taking pictures!

 After the ruins we stopped at this little restaurant and had a Belize staple.... rice and beans! The best I ever had- made with coconut milk- so yummy!

 Thursday we went to an island called Roatan, Honduras- this was by far my favorite port! We went to a private island called the Maya Key and I seriously just sat on a white, sandy, postcard worthy beachy while Steve snorkeled!

 They also had and animal exhibit there. Steve is holding an alligator and I an holding a Howler monkey......

 until it climbed off me to Steve to nibble the salt out of his ears(from the ocean water of course, my hubby does not naturally have salt in his ears)!

 Steve is on this railing taking pictures of a jaguar for Cohen because Cohen is totally obsessed with big cats!

 I know right!!!!!

 Our second formal night

 This is Jose and all of our waiters were performing for us

And this is Yasa- he is from the Philippines! And Marko was our main waiter but I never got a picture of him but he was from Serbia! It's cool to see where all of these people were from and they are all so nice!

Then Friday we went to Grand Cayman Island! We shopped for a little while and then went to Stingray city which is this really cool sand bar in the middle of the ocean where you can just walk out off the boat and the water is only waist deep and crystal clear. Then you bring out some bait and the stingrays come in dozens. Now I am not a fan of wild creatures but this was pretty cool! I did touch them and one ran across my leg... but that was the extent of it! Steve on the other hand was feeding them (you hold a piece of squid in your hands and they come and suck it out of your hand), and he actually held one! We had a fun time- it was a really cool experience!

As I said earlier Steve got roped into doing a James Brown song in the final show! They tok is really seriously, as you can see, with full costume and rehearsals!

Steve was the first one to perform- there were like 8 others- and he was the best..... no seriously he did so well!

We seriously had such a fun week together and by the end we were ready to go home and see our kids! We met lots of great people and did lots of fun things! And my mom was so wonderful.... the kids did great! She even started potty training Carson- yep we are in full potty training mode and he is actually doing pretty well......knock on wood!!!