It's been a month, I suppose my brain should come off vacation too

Our friends Charles and Becky invited us to come on a cruise with them a long time ago. Between moving, Kallens new job, etc. we just didn't think we'd be able to make it this time. Kallen decided just a few months before the cruise that we should go and it would be our Christmas/Anniversary/he needs a break presents....and that we would keep it a surprise. It was so hard for me to keep that secret, but so fun. We had the travel agent seat us at the same table for dinner, and we just waited until then to surprise the Grafs. SO MUCH FUN! Their faces were priceless and it was such a fun week with them and their friends, the Hancocks.

Our Ship- the Mariner of the Seas. We cruised on Royal Caribbean this time. Very nice.

The first day at sea we checked out the rock climbing wall on the ship. My funny Kallen got to the top and then JUMPED off the wall to repel down. The poor belayer guy was caught completely off guard and he went flying in the air. He caught himself at the last second and was holding onto the railing for dear life. Charles had to go over and pull his feet to the ground and help him get tethered to the ship. It was hilarious and I was laughing too hard to snap a picture. Becky caught this one after the initial "flying" excitement.

A favorite on the ship was the soft serve ice cream. I think Mitch needs to install a machine in his house- it would be well used.

Our first stop was in Mazatlan. We took a little glass bottom boat to a beautiful beach.

We did some snorkeling on Lover's Beach, and played in some pretty brutal waves just on the other side of the little island on Divorce Beach.

We ate at this great little restaurant and had the rooftop to ourselves. They had an amazing avocado dip.

Formal night #1 on the ship. It's always fun to dress up!

They should not fold the napkins to look like crowns if they don't want you to wear them!

Our next stop was Mazatlan. We went to a beach where we were SWARMED by local vendors. I don't know how many times I said no to cheap sunglasses, my name on a bracelet, bags, hats, etc. etc. It was a little comical after a while. Charles was our official negotiator and worked out a deal for kayaks, a catamaran ride, boogie boards, snorkel gear, etc. We went out to a little island just across from where we were where it was nice a quiet and no vendors! The waves weren't very big, so that was a bit disappointing to not get to boogie board, but it was a nice relaxing day. Kallen and I rode the catamaran over to the island and saw hundreds of jelly fish in the water. It was pretty cool...except the wind died and we were just sitting out in the water for a long time. I thought, if we have to swim we're gonners! The jelly fish will eat us

Our last stop was in Puerto Vallarte where we skipped the beaches and headed up to the jungle to do some zip lines.

I must say that I was super excited but also extremely nervous to do the zip lines since I'm not the biggest fan of heights (ask my brother why- it involves a hot air balloon and some serious tormenting!!) I ended up loving every last second of it and even went down one backwards/spinning around with one of the guides. It was a complete blast!!

Formal night #2

We played some basketball on the rocking ship- not the easiest feat, but it was fun. Don't show my high school coach this shot- the form is terrible!!

Mitch has much better form.

They even had a small little ice skating rink that we checked out for maybe 10 minutes.

We had a great time and love our new friends, Mitch and Holly. Kallen is already planning our next group vacation. We loved the shows on the ship, the food, and most of all for me, the SLEEP! Madison stayed with GG and Papa and did amazing. My dad said she didn't even seem a little bit sad until Friday (of a week-long stay!) Another bonus- GG got her sleeping better. Apparently I'm just a sucker and she knows it!? We're by no means sleeping through the night every night, but there is marked improvement. Yay! It was an awesome vacation overall and great to get some sun in before coming back to our cold winter weather.

Another highlight of the trip is on the way home we had a 4 hour layover in Salt Lake. My brother and his boys drove up and we went to dinner and then walked around Temple Square.