GOLDEN BIRTHDAY... it's a big deal.

this year i turned 27 on the 27th. that means, this year i celebrated my one and only golden birthday. i have been looking forward to this moment for 26 years and cade did not disappoint. he surprised me with

A CRUISE.

i love that man.

so, we dropped violet off at my mom's and headed out on an adventure for just the two of us! first, we wanted to see our friends who live in california and spend some time with them. we drove straight through and met up with them in time to spend the weekend with them. it was great to catch up, meet their adorable daughter lucy, and sneak in a few competitive games of wii tetris. my highlight of the first night with them was our root beer tasting party. russ manged to find like 30 different kinds of root beer to try and our goal was to find the best. let's just say there is really tasty root beer out there and there is root beer that is hazardous. it was a fun, creative way to relax and enjoy the company.



the next day (my VERY birthday), we made sure to hit up the beach and the temple with these folks.

the newport temple is gorgeous.... i wish we would have arranged to go inside but it was sunday. maybe next time.

corona del mar was also beautiful. we walked the beach and checked out the tide pools- both awesome sunday activities.




later that night, katie prepared a delicious meal complete with a cake and sparklers. it was a perfect ending to a great day spent with good friends. with adjectives like that, life can't get more positive.

the next day, we were off to the ship- but first, we decided to use russ and katie's disneyland passes for an hour or so before it was time to board. that hour had us hooked- and we decided that we would come back to disneyland again after we got off the boat as well.

let the cruise begin....

as we were boarding the ship, there were massive lines of people being shuffled here and there as we were showing paper and such. in all the madness, cade wondered if we knew anyone in the crowd. this is so typical cade. whenever we walk in to a crowded place, he always assumes we know someone there. truth is, he is usually right... and he was right again this time. from behind us in the line i heard my named and turned to see an old high school friend! what are the chances!? cade is always right! we didn't really end up seeing them much the rest of the trip but it was just a coincidence worth noting.

cade and i were excited to eat, sleep and relax. we did PLENTY of those things and it made the trip excellent. at dinner on our first night, we met our table guests who happened to be a couple from kaysville. we made instant friends and ended up hanging out with them quite often.

our first stop was catalina island. before we could go ashore, cade wanted to compete in the ship's ping pong tournament. while he played, i watched as scores of dolphins played in the bay. everyone marveled at how many dolphins there were- the cruise staff said they had never seen so many. meanwhile, cade handily beat out the other competition and walked away with the trophy.

now we could go on land. once on the island, we went miniature golfing with our new friends.


afterward, we rented a golf cart and explored the entire island. it was awesome! we were able to see all the cool houses, the bay and we even picked up a couple of latinos that looked tired of walking. we loved driving oscar and ruth around as we saw the sights.



the next day, we docked in ensenada. we decided we wanted to see the blowhole so we jumped on a random tour bus and took off. the bus ride itself was worth the money we paid. cade loves talking to interesting people and the crowd on our bus sure fit into that category. we made numerous stops at corona stores so the passengers could get more and more tipsy as cade and I laughed more and more at the craziness.

we made it to la bufadora in time to see it shoot off a few times. after that, we shopped through the stores and made out like bandits. we bought a few adorable dresses for our little vi, a wallet for cade and a pendant for me. here i am looming over a small mexican woman who sold me a dress.




the final full day of the cruise was a day at sea. we spent it poolside with good books and great food. one highlight of the day at sea was watching as a contestant in the "hairy chest competition" slid down the banister right in front of us and broke his leg almost clean off. his ankle was twisted all funky and he was writhing in pain- but cade was sure to let the crowd know that he had indeed broken his leg. they handed him his trophy as they carried him off the deck on a stretcher. an odd highlight but something you don't see everyday.


our rest, relaxation and extreme eating had finally come to a close and the next morning we left the ship and headed to disneyland.




i had not been there for YEARS so it was fun to see all the rides from my past as well as enjoy the new ones. it did, however, make me miss my little girl terribly. i wanted to get home to her more than ever. we still enjoyed the day and saw all the attractions. it was fabulous. i left more tired than i have been in a long time but it was worth it.

that night, as we slept at russ and katie's again, cade and i weighed ourselves to see the effects of our eating. cade gained 9 pounds and i gained a whopping 12 pounds! i hope your mouth is gaping. mine was as i stared at the scale in disgust. luckily, the next morning we had aleardy lost half of the weight. we think we were just swollen with disney love the night before as we stepped on the scales.

finally we rushed home to see little vi who had double ear infections while we were gone. she loved getting spoiled while we were gone and it was quite the transition to get her back on some sort of schedule. i sure did miss her though.

so, in the end- my golden birthday was my best yet. i love cade, i love vi, i love mexico and i love walt disney.

the end.