Christmas Break

This year for Christmas, we went on a cruise with my family. We both had a terrible semester and were in desperate need of a break. Almost every day we said, "this is exactly what we needed!"

A lot happened over the break, so I will quickly summarize a few things.

Before we left on Saturday morning, we had our faux Christmas. This consisted of an hour long break from working and packing, only to be resumed immediately after gifts were opened.

Hank's favorite gift: Bbq....Thank you Barbie & Chad

George's favorite gift: The Snuggie....Thank you "mean Uncle Willie!"

The next morning we flew to Florida where we met up with the rest of the bunch. While there, my sweet mom felt inspired to get everyone $5 sweaters at Old Navy...and it was a good thing because it was freezing! You would never guess I packed over 100lbs of clothing based on the pictures.

First stop: Grand Cayman. Due to inclement weather, the government closed down the stingray alley, all snorkeling beaches, and any other plans one might have made on the island. Chaddie had arranged a private yacht to all the "hot spots," but after establishing the captain could not take us to any of the agreed upon destinations, we remained in the bus and took a unique tour of the island. Please pray that he will get a refund!

Highlight: sea turtle farm, containing countless tanks of baby turtles to the huge adults that will bite your hand off

Next stop: Cozumel, I think. My sweet dad again rented a yacht that would take us to a few snorkeling destinations. It was fabulous. The water color was unreal.

While snorkeling, Hank found something shiny at the bottom of the ocean: his wedding ring!!! I was quickly made aware it had become a few sizes too big.

And on every yacht, there must be...

yacht shoes!

Next stop: Belize City, Belize. It was at this destination that I had an emotional breakdown. I had studied extensively what to do here and concluded we needed to go to the Blue Hole. Its a sink hole in the middle of an island famous for snorkeling and diving. Also, Belize is famous for having the 2nd best barrier reef in the world. But as you probably know, Belize is also famous for many ancient ruins. Everyone else in my family wanted to do this. I wanted to snorkel. Everyone else was just fine with splitting up and I simply wasn't. This clearly earth shattering decision led to an embarrassing emotional outpour, sparking concern from "Jessie" the tour guide trying to hustle a deal. During the ordeal, Taylor decided to take a little rest....

We struggled to find her. Yellow happened to be the official uniform of all tour guides in Belize.

Verdict: Ruins were pretty amazing. Our tour guide Edgar filled us in on all the ancient history, while managing to emphasize each syllable in every word clearly. Hank talked to him about the Book of Mormon account, which he claimed he had read parts of an it "seemed to be accurate".

My outfit is hideous in these pictures....all I can say is I thought we were going snorkeling :)

On the way to the ruins, Edgar taught us about the "squatters" from Guatemala that lived in the jungle. [he seemed to think squatters are special only to Belize] A few of them were at the ruins trying to make money by charging to take a picture with an animal they pulled from the jungle. The coolest part about this experience (to me) was seeing the clothing they were wearing. A few months ago I toured the LDS Humanitarian Center and learned that about 90% of the clothes we donate go to developing countries. [I've always thought they just went to DI, where someone bought them to wear on Halloween]. One man was wearing a "Faith in Every Footstep" EFY t-shirt. :)

Maybe I just wanted to give the guy money to buy new clothes, but the anteater was pretty sweet! Once we got back in the bus, Edgar warned us NOT to touch them. Blessed Purell.

Last stop: Roatan, Honduras. We jumped in a bus and headed to the beach to snorkel. Besides Hawaii, this was some of the best snorkeling of the trip. Unfortunately, I continue to have a secret (not anymore) fear of the ocean and couldnt handle the rough waves that kept thrashing me against the coral. Hank, on the other hand, spent every second with the fish.

When we weren't touring the destinations, we spent hours upon hours eating or planning when we would eat next. So gluttonous. Good thing New Year's resolutions were right around the corner to minimize the damage.

The rest of our time was spent playing & being entertained by this little princess....

(Wardrobe: Dress by Bags by Bernice in Accra, Ghana/Gladiator shoes by Baby Gap, all compliments of me! )

At the end of our cruise, we went to Longboat Key to spend a few days with my mom's entire family. One of the best parts of the trip was definitely getting to see our relatives...it had been way too long!

If you've managed to read this far, we hope you had a wonderful Christmas!