How sad am I?

So I am officially ridiculous. Aaron will kill me when he reads this but....So I admit it, I keep up with celebrity gossip, its true. I never did until I started working and now that I am at a computer all day I find myself wondering around. Okay enough justification, I keep up with the stars. So I also unashamedly LOVE High School Musical, love it! So I'm reading about Ashley Tisdale dating her back up dancer, Jared Murillo, I'm thinking I know that name. So I read his bio (I know sad) and there's a ton of kids in his family, probably Mormon, but then his brother is Josh Murillo, this I know for sure. I taught him in the MTC, he went to Chile, kinda funny. He told me all about his brother and how he was in High School Musical and had a pretty big part but he did NOT tell me his gossipy dating life. So I had seen lots of pictures of the family and I think he gave me a signed copy of the movie..somewhere. The worst part is that I thought it was really cool. Aaron just laughs at me and says, "who is Ashley Tisdale?" Sigh...

Back to Cali

On our way home from the cruise, we were able to stay with my sister in law, Cassie, and her family and spend some time with our niece, Abby, and our newest nephew, Drew! We were so lucky that they would be in California that weekend because they live in DC, too far away from us. :( We loved spending time with baby Drew, he is so sweet, just sleeps and eats, he is SO tiny. And of course we worship the ground Abby walks on, she is such a princess. She just wanted to play the whole time and just kept saying, "guys...I love you." We missed her so much when we got back to Utah that we couldn't resist sending her a little package to tell her!

Puerto Vallarta

So my favorite of the 3 stops was our last Puerto Vallarta. I love this place, seriously, if you only go to one place in Mexico go here! The downtown is so cool, cobblestone streets and tons of shops and the restaurants are so yummy. We were in PV last year so I knew the main thing I wanted to do there was swim at the beach, they have great beaches. So we read about all these wonderful beaches that we didn't try last year so we decide to go to a new one. Well we spend 6 bucks on a cab to get to downtown and then 14 bucks on a cab to get to this new beach. Well we got there and it was SO small, I'm totally bummed. So we start counting our money and don't have enough to get to any of the other beaches we wanted to go to. So we're waiting at the bus stop when I see this sign for horseback riding through the jungle. So after some "negotiationing" we get her to agree to take us on a 3 hour tour up to the waterfall and then that will leave us with 4 bucks to get back to the ship. It was so worth every penny. It was amazing! It was Aaron's first time on a horse, so he's pretty adventurous to do it in Mexico. Our horses were pretty tame on the way up but then on the way down, they took off. I couldn't belive how gorgeous everything was. Then we got to this place that has a little waterfall that is a natural waterslide and they had a rope swing, with clear water. It was so fun, we played there for an hour. Our guide was american, so that was nice. When it was over we rushed to take the bus into town, then jumped on another bus that took us 2 blocks from our ship, all for 2.50! So we made it back...exhausted. It was my favorite day.

So we took a picture in this exact same spot last year :)

This is an overall view of where we went riding.

Some pictures of us on the trail.

Aaron loves this one because he thinks it looks like a scene out of Last of the Mohicans. :)Us playing at the waterfall.

And finally the end of our ride (my head was getting burned), we made it safely.

Mazatlan

Our second port of call was Mazatlan. I had unfortunately gotten very sunburned in Cabo (of course) and so I didn't want to swim in Mazatlan. I wore pants and borrowed one of Aaron's dress shirts because it was the only long sleeved shirt in either one of our bags :) So we did more shopping here and I watched Aaron swim for awhile. It is a very old, cool town. We also did this 6 mile walking tour, which turned into 8 miles because we couldn't find the ship at the end. I avoided being in any pictures this day.

We just went to some hotel's beach and Aaron didn't have anywhere to change so he changed under a towel, it was hilarious. This lady selling something was resting under the shade next to us and wouldn't leave so Aaron just changed while she was there.

The walk we went on took us right along the beach through old Mazatlan to new Mazatlan. Okay funny fountain story. So by the end of this walk we are SO hot and out of water. So we get to this fountain, guys it is so dirty. Its spraying out dirty water the water circulating has trash in it, its gross. But we were SO hot and the water coming out felt so wonderful. We both stood in front of it for a few minutes to cool down. (I know, I know, we may have come home with diseases).

Cabo San Lucas

Okay enough of the sad stuff on the to all the wonderfulness of our cruise. It was such a blast. The first stop was Cabo San Lucas and since we had two days there instead of one, I have twice as many pictures. The water in Cabo was for sure the clearest, just gorgeous. Cabo is an exciting town but expensive, very Americanized. I guess the nightlife is pretty happening but poor Aaron has an early to bed, lame wife.

Instead of taking a water taxi to the arch and lover's beach we went on a hike there. It was so gorgeous. Here are some pictures from that.

Here is our very Mexican hotel, it was so cute. The owner ended up being Mormon and so we bonded with him. He told us everywhere to go and how much everything should cost. He was wonderful.

Here is us snorkeling and laying out at Lover's Beach, it was so gorgeous.

Back from the cruise that almost never was...

So we are finally home for our extended vacation, it was so, so, so much fun. It was so hard to go back to work this week but the weather here is finally warm so that makes it better. We started off our trip by spending the weekend in California with my brother Stephen's family. It was Abby's birthday party on Saturday, a very Dora themed party. It was really fun and perfect weather. She had a BBQ and very yummy Dora cake with strawberries. Aaron and I got her a little swimming pool for her back yard, which while it was the only non-Dora present, was a big hit. Here are some pictures from the big day.

So as you can see, its all smiles in the these pictures because this is before Sunday, which was supposed to be our cruise day. So even though Aaron doesn't want me to tell people this, I'm sure SOME day (not today) we'll look back on it and laugh so I wanted to document it. :) So....all along the cruise people tell us be at the ship at 4, be at the ship at 4, it leaves at 5. So we take it kind of as a suggestion, like when the airlines say be at the airport an hour early. I checked in online so it said we would have a speedier entrance onto the ship. Well we leave my brother's house on Sunday afternoon pretty casually planning on arriving at the boat by 4 but it takes a little longer than expected and we get there right after 4. Big Mistake. We get to the gate and the guard tells us we can't get on the ship anymore. Panic sets in, but its right there just sitting there. Well its too late, I guess with coastguard rules they have to put in a ship count one hour before sailing time. I called everyone at that stupid cruise place to no avail. No one could help. It was a nightmare. The be there at 4 was not a suggestion. So I'm on the phone crying to the people and it comes down to 2 options, fly to Cabo San Lucas and meet the ship there or do nothing and get no refund (that's right, no refund, nothing, at this point I'm completely and totally regretting my decision to not purchase that stupid travel insurance). So we're struck we have to buy the tickets to Cabo. I'm thinking of the cost of last minute tickets to Mexico, freaking out, but one way tickets from LA to Cabo were suprisingly only $89 each. So we took Aaron's graduation present, bought the tickets, and left the next morning on the first flight out. It was crazy but actually we ended up having a blast with 2 days in Cabo and then the next day got on the ship 3 hours before it left Cabo and made sure we were back early every port after that. :) Many, many stories and pictures to follow!!

Oh and I came home to 3, that's right, 3 of my best friends having babies. Congratulations - Mandy, Rebecca, and Ambyr. I can't wait to see them all!!

Aaron's Graduation

Last Friday Aaron graduated. Yay!! I was so proud of him. He has worked so hard and is finally done. Now he gets to work and support me for the rest of our lives. :) The ceremony was really great, but LONG. the MAcc students were first so Aaron passed by and then we waited like 2 more hours for everyone else. Aaron was so happy! Aaron's parents came in town for the graduation and it was so much fun to spend the weekend with them. We also went up to Kayesville and spent time with Jedd, Marcie, and the boys and went down to Payson to be with the Hiatts too. It was a busy weekend, but we had so much fun.

This is at The Brick Oven with Aaron's family and Spencer's girlfriend, Bekah.

Here we are after the ceremony. Sun in our eyes.
This is for my grandma, Mimi, who made this blanket- they love the blanket, isn't it beautiful? Blake posing for the camera :)