Caribbean Cruise Day 1 and Day 2

Jake and I really wanted to go on a vacation just the two of us.  So last February we searched and searched and searched for the perfect cruise.  I found a ship that I fell in love with and we found ports that we had never been to on our previous cruises.  It was the following February, so we would have 1 year to pay for it.

That was a long year.  The anticipation killed me as it got closer and closer.

It was finally here!!  On Friday night Jake had a dinner for work.  So we packed up the kids and met my parents and sent them on there way and then we went to the dinner.  We got home and cleaned the house and got everything ready for our trip.

Neither of us could sleep we were so excited, but we finally fell asleep and woke and got ready.  My mom came and picked us up early Saturday and took us to the airport.  We wanted the cheapest airfare we could find, so we ended up having to fly from SLC to DEN and the DEN to TX and then TX to FLL, that was a long day in the airports.  We finally arrived in Florida, grabbed a taxi and made it to our hotel.  It was a nasty hotel, it was nothing like the pictures on the internet.  Thankfully we got there at 10pm and left at 11am.

Sunday morning we woke up, at some breakfast at the hotel and then waited for the shuttle to bring us to the ship.

The traffic getting to the ship was horrible, the freeways were all under construction so they were going random ways and then there was a huge line of cars waiting to get into the cruise port.

We finally got there.  We dropped off our luggage, went through security, got signed in and they said go ahead and board the ship!!  The ship was HUGE.  It had 17 floors (I guess technically 16, because there isn't a level 13).  We were on level 8 which was also Central Park. We had an ocean balcony towards the back of the ship.  So the highlights of the ship were:
LEVEL 3 was where our dining room was for dinner
LEVEL 4 was where the Amber Theatre was located for the nighttime shows.
LEVEL 5 was boardwalk.  They had a pizza shop, Cafe Promenade, Karaoke Bar, and the jogging track outside and the spa.
LEVEL 6 had a carousel, donut shop, hot dog shop, the aqua theatre, rock climbing wall and more
LEVEL 8 was central park , some eating places and our room
LEVEL 15 was the hot dog/hamburger/fries and ice cream cone eating area, it also had an arcade, basketball court, ping pong tables, flow rider and pools and hot tubs.
LEVEL 16 had the main eating area on it
LEVEL 17 was just a walk around with a few hot tubs.

So we checked out the ship and unpacked our stuff.  We already missed our kids so we face timed and showed them the ship and our room and the ocean and then we watched the ship pull away and then went to dinner.  That night was our first show.  It was the Broadway Chicago.  I had no idea what the play was about, it was really good.  The singers and actor/actress' were amazing.  We loved it and had an awesome time.  After the show we hung out listening to music and people watching (there are a lot of drunks) and then headed to bed at 2am.

Family birthday party

We had both our families over for the kids birthdays. We had spaghetti dinner and then cake and ice cream. 

Jr Jazz

Marshall is playing basketball again this year. He has improved so much. Last yr it was frustrating to watch him. This year he is really good. He is very good at dribbling and has amazing ball control. He is a good shooter and usually scores several points each game. He isn't afraid this year and dribbles right into the basket. Jake is very proud. 

Kambrias Christmas performance

Kam did a singing show at school. It was really cute. Kam sat there so serious and hardly cracked a smile. It was fun to watch. My mom and Jakes dad were able to come watch it with us. 

Kambria turns 5

Again, I can't believe my baby is 5. We just love Kambria. She is so crazy and makes us laugh all the time. 

For her birthday she really wanted her ears pierced. I tried to talk her out of it by telling her how much it hurt, but she didn't care. 

She really wanted a friend party so I let her invite all 13 of her preschool friends and some neighbors thinking not many would show because of Christmas and parents not knowing me, umm almost all of them came and it was crazy. 

We did a piñata, bean bag toss, find jewels in rice, musical pictures and played. Kambria had the time if her life!

Kambria goes to preschool M/W/F and loves it. She is so smart and can sound out words and wrote them. She loves to write us notes and draw us pictures. 

She loves to look at books and play with friends. She isna great sister and a great helper with everything I do. It's hard to believe she will be in kindergarten this fall. 

Marshall turns 9

I can't believe how fast time flies. It feels like Marshall just turned 8 and was baptized.

Marshall is in 3rd grade and loves school.  He is very good at school. He makes friends easy and is a good friend. He is good at math, spelling and reading. He excels in everything he does. 

On Marshall's birthday Kambria and I brought him lunch and ate at school with him. It was fun to see everyone gravitate towards him and want to sit by him. It's fun to see his personality and how He is at school. 

After school jake, Kambria and I took Marshall and two friends to Jump On It (it's like airborne). It was soooo much fun. We all jumped for three hours and then we were beyond dead. Jumping in to the foam pit and them trying to get out was hilarious and exhausting. We then came back to our home and had pizza cake and ice cream.

Christmas dinner with jakes work guys

I don't have a picture but wanted to post about this. All of the midvale detectives and spouses went to Tucanos Brazillian Grill. It was a yummy place to eat

But kinda pricey. We had so much fun just chatting. And then at the end they told the servers it was Glideons wife's birthday and came and sang to her and for some reason that was so funny. 

Jake is moving from Midvale to Herriman after 11yrs. It is really bittersweet. I know we won't miss the politics and silly things that happen in Midvale but he works with a really good group of guys right now. They always have each other's back and share a strong bond. Sometimes I get frustrated when Jake tells me certain things, but it is going to be really weird. 

Herriman invited us to their precinct party and there are a lot of good guys out here, so I know that it will be a good change but it's going to take some getting used to. Plus Jake is going from a M-F shift days to afternoons with weird days. It is for the better!!!