Oops!

In my excitement to finally get caught up on my blog I missed a trip to Disneyland!!  I'm not sure how I could miss this - so - before Dan's graduation, and before my cruise - surprise surprise - we went to Disneyland!

This time around we even got to meet Aladdin! 

And Dan got to meet his Disneyland crush - the evil queen from Snow White!

Waiting for my favorite - Space Mountain

The view from the Astro Orbiters.  It was so fabulous to be there in February when it is cold and dark in Salt Lake and beautiful and sunny in California!

I was enjoying trying out all the fun features on my new camera.

Lauren did a photo shoot for me so I could have a cute profile picture (ugh, online dating stinks!)

And we both had to get our picture with all the fun Valentines decorations.

 We found a new favorite place to eat - all you can eat BBQ was a great Sunday dinner.

Finally a good sibling picture in front of the castle.

 On our first ride on Big Thunder Mountain, Lauren's cell phone went flying out of her jacket pocket an into a little pond.  We kept calling it and taking pictures of it that night because you could see it light up in the water.  The next day when we went back on the ride, we could see it more clearly - dead.

Waiting for World of Color to start

I enjoyed using my color filter during the show

After one last sibling picture (notice the bulky coat I am holding - it is hiding Dan's graduation present)...

Dan and I raced back to Splash Mountain and rode it about three times before they closed the park down. It was a great trip!

Dan's Graduation

In May 2012 Dan, FINALLY (according to him) graduated!  We bullied him into going to graduation - we were just all so excited to see the baby of the family graduate!

Being "Mother #3", I took it upon myself to make sure we got lots of pictures of him during the ceremony.

Of course grandma kept us all entertained whenever things started to drag.

This is his, "Sister would you please stop taking pictures of me" face.

Hooray for a fake diploma!

Grandma was so proud of her grandson!

  The proud family!

I was really touched that Dan gave me his "stole of gratitude" for all my help in getting him through statistics!

Of course, you graduate, you get presents.  Julie and I were sneaky and got ours without him knowing while we were in Disneyland.

It was the Buzz Lightyear sweatshirt he had been eyeing every time we went, but was too expense to buy! 

Congratulations Dan! I am so proud of you!!

Cruise - the Finale

The next morning we got up bright and early for one last breakfast on the ship.  

We were so sad to leave!

We dropped our luggage off with a service that would take your bags from the dock to the airport and hold them there for you so we could enjoy the city without dragging bags with us.  Then we jumped on the trolley and headed into New Orleans.

Everyone we talked to about New Orleans told us that we had to go to Cafe Du Monde, so that was our first stop to try the amazing beignets.  

They were so delicious - and SO covered in powdered sugar!

We all had it all over us by the time we were done.

Then we wandered the city, of course we had to try on mardi gras masks :)

We took a long walk up to one of the cemeteries in the city - it was definitely worth it.  It was pretty cool to see all the old tombstones and the water line from hurricane floods.  Unfortunately my camera died at this point! I forgot to charge it before we left the boat :( so, I don't have any other pictures.  But after the cemetery, we wandered the city some more and then took a carriage ride around.  We had a delicious lunch - I love the food in New Orleans!  And then caught a shuttle to the airport to head for home.  I can't wait for my next cruise!!  

First Cruise Part II

The next morning we got off the boat in Cozumel.  A group of us decided to get a resort package together, the driver met us at the dock and we went out to a private beach and snorkeled.

 

Of course, they always try to make more money off of you, like selling a group picture.  

I could not get over how blue the water was! I was sure my friends were sick of hearing me go on and on about how beautiful the ocean was!  

The snorkeling was amazing!  The water was warm and clear, it was so beautiful, I was glad we decided to do that.

 

After snorkeling we relaxed on the beach - hammocks on the beach are the best!

And enjoyed some virgin pina coladas and margaritas!

Then it was time to head back to the boat - I wish we could have spent more time exploring the city.

My bravery item at dinner that night was a cherry soup.  It was pretty good, but I'm not sold on the whole cold soup idea.

After dinner we went to a couple of the clubs and danced -

 

one of our new friends, Jay, didn't want to dance, so he got to be the purse holder.

I don't remember what was so exciting about the water, the next morning, but when I came out of the bathroom, this was my view! 

After three days of cruising - Cat and I finally made it to the gym! I was pretty proud of myself for going at least once!

Our last day was spent at sea, so it was pretty relaxing, we just sat on the deck and soaked up more sun!

And enjoyed the view!

Our last dinner together.

 
The waiters put on a show for us every night - they were so much fun!

 
We had the most incredible sunset during dinner - everyone was leaving the table to run up on deck and take pictures!

Since it was the last night, we decided to go all out on the desserts, the molten chocolate lava cake was our favorite, we got that every night, some of us had two that night,

and we had to try Baked Alaska.

We went to a couple of shows after dinner, and then went back to our room to pack - where we found...

...Our favorite towel animal of the trip!!

At midnight we had to take advantage of the all-you-can-eat ice cream and pizza one more time - we had a contest to see who could get the tallest ice cream cone!

We went up to the top off the boat and took some crazy pictures before heading back to our room.

One last group shot in our cozy cabin.