Our 1st Cruise!

Our boat Carnival Glory!

1st stop Bahamas -- Atlantis Resort

Our thrown! 

2nd stop - St. Thomas 

Us at Saphire Beach in St. Thomas

The notorious iguanas that bit Paul's finger

Leaving the beautiful beach!

3rd Stop - Peurto Rico - At the Fortress 

Us girls! :) 

The fellas! :)

Amazing Fortress in San Juan 

Over looking the cemetery (Tyson has this same pic from his mission!!)  

Tried authentic Puerto Rician food...Casey not too excited! Me I stuck to my grilled cheese :)

New San Juan 

Casey found a motorized bike...we thought he would never get off he was so happy!

Yummy ice cream waiting for our tour guide. 

El Yokkahu National Forest

Observation tower we climbed to the top and it was an amazing view!!

View from the tower...beautiful!!

We hiked to a double water fall! Awesome!

Our group we had some much fun with! 

Last Stop - Grand Turk 

Picture perfect and we got to go spend the day there!

Me and our boat in the background! Look at the clear beautiful water!

We ate lunch on the beach! Perfect way to end the cruise!

We actually made it I can't believe it! We flew on a red eye flight, which was my first red eye, and holy cow it's so hard to sleep on a plane! I used to be able to sleep anywhere back when I was young but apparently not anymore...at least we made it! And the kids are in good hands! Since my sweet mom is having back surgery this week...ya bad timing to me out of the country when your mom has a big time back surgery...Aubrey and Kyle so kindly said they would watch the kiddos for us until Brandon's mom came on Wednesday. A little nervous leaving my kids for that long I hardly ever leave them! Aubrey and Kyle and LouAnne are great so no worries there. I had lots of anxiety going on this cruise; 1) I am not a water person, 2) Being stranded on this huge boat in the middle of the ocean with sharks...scary! 3) What if something happens there are no hospitals close by (yes I am weird like that & have to know where hospitals are when I go places) 4)  Leaving my kids for like 8 days is crazy long! 5) What if I get sea sick?! Those are just to name a few yes I am a worry wort! When we boarded the boat I had no idea those things were so big!! Little claustrophobic in the tiny room but I can get over that not too bad! We set sail when were on the top deck and it was a really weird feeling. But totally cool at the same time. The Coast Guard helicopter flew by us a few times which was really neat. Then we were off to our first stop the Bahamas the next day. So we all hung out for a little bit then it was time to get ready for the first meal in the dinning room. As we were sitting at our table I could really feel the boat moving and rocking big time! Which then I started to get sick! :( I have never been motion sick or sick when I am pregnant so this was all new to me and it was not fun! So sad to say the first meal I did not partake because I couldn't even look at it or it would make me more nausea.  So we just went back to our room I took some meds and slept til morning.  Luckily when I woke up we had already ported for our first stop. We took an excursion to the Atlantis resort which is amazing! Had a delicious lunch there then soaked in some rays before it was time to get back on the ship. I now know keep meds in me at all times and I can do a cruise, so I did! That night we ate with everyone and then went to a comedy club which the dudes were pretty funny! The next day was all at sea so lots of sun tanning (my favorite thing ever) and hanging out with friends and people from Brandon's work. We learned some fun new card games and had a really fun time getting to know lots of people! Brandon works with some pretty amazing people and their wives and I get along so great!! Wednesday came and we were so ready to get off the boat luckily we ported early again. This time we stopped in St. Thomas. It was beautiful we went to Saphire Beach and hung out for the day soaked in some sun and a bunch of us played beach volley ball. While a lunch there were two huge iguanas hanging around so of course boys will be boys and they started giving them food and goofing around with them well Paul thought it would be cool if it actually ate food out of his hand so he held it by two fingers and well the iguana wanted the food a little too bad and bit Paul's finger. It got him pretty good too! Ouch! Then that night we watched a concert thing in the theater on the ship I think it was called something like Divas. It was entertaining. On Thursday, our stop was San Juan, Puerto Rico! We were stoked to go because Tyson just served his mission there! So before we left Tyson gave us things we had to see and try! So that's exactly what we did and it was a blast! We went and saw Old San Juan Fortress which was just awesome! Ate some authentic Puerto Rican food well everyone else did I stuck to my grilled cheese! :) Then we had enough time to take a tour to El Yokahu National Forest. So amazingly beautiful! We went up this look out tower and then saw a double water fall that got to hike up to. We got back to the boat had a fabulous dinner as usual, on the cruise ship at dinner you can order how ever much you want so we totally took advantage of that ! :) Also it was pretty sweet when we realized this waiter that came to know me through out the cruise was giving us free diet cokes!! Yep that's right! He would spot me in any of the dining areas and bring one right away! It was awesome! He also would bring Brandon his miami vice drink for free too! It was rad we got the hook up...we figured out by the end of the cruise he saved us like $60 in diet cokes and miami vices!! Anyhow we will just say he got a pretty good tip the last night! What a nice guy seriously! Then Friday, our last stop, was Grand Turk! I think it's one of the prettiest beaches I have ever seen! The water was a beautiful aqua blue color. So we did a snorkeling excursion. There were tons and tons of awesome fish and the guide took us to a drop off. He said it is similar to the grand canyon just under water! Pretty amazing! Then soaked in the sun while Brandon played some volley ball then back to the ship. We then set sail to head back to Florida to get back home to our kiddos for Christmas! So ported early in the morning but our flights didn't leave until 7 in the evening! So we had all day to kill. We first went and checked in for our flights then us and Casey and Tyese rented a car. We went to downtown Miami which was really neat but I felt so out of place everyone was like ritzy with dark hair...a whole other world there that's for sure! Then we still had tons of time so we went to a movie then luckily it was time for us to get to the airport. Off we went nothing to worry about now all we had to do was catch our connecting flight and we were homeward bound!! We got off the flight and knew we only had a few min until we boarded so we were a little nervous but we knew it would be ok. So we headed to our gate, Casey gets a phone call saying they have over booked our flight!!! I was furious! This was my biggest worry of going on the cruise so close to Christmas. So now Tyese and I start to freak out a little bit thinking there is no way you are going to let these two moms miss this flight we have our kids to get back to!! We start running through the airport thinking that we may not make it home until Christmas Eve afternoon, I was panicking!! Trying to keep it together behind us Brandon and Casey were discussing what they should do if we all don't have seats so they had a plan to let Tyese and I go and they would come the next day (Christmas Eve). They weren't saying anything until they knew what the deal was. We made it to the gate when they were boarding and THANKFULLY we all had seats!!! Oh it was a Christmas miracle! Now I was able to breathe and think again. We made it home to our sweet kids that got to have a fun late night with our best friends the Thuesons. We got them home....I loved seeing my kids open their eyes and be so excited to see us! We all slept in the same bad and snuggled all night it was so much fun to come home to them! All in all the cruise was super fun! Great food, awesome locations, and wonderful new friends with great memories to keep! :)