Mexican Riviera Princess Cruise 2013-2014

We are so grateful for the opportunity we had to go on the Mexican Riviera Cruise over New Year's! My co-workers and I worked really hard at work this year and we were rewarded with an amazing Princess Cruise to Mexico! Luckily, I absolutely love everyone that I work with! We have such a good time at work and all get along great! It was so much fun to have Jase get to know everyone I work with better too. He now fully understands why I love my job so much!

The best part of it all though, was that Jase and I got to go on another vacation together. It really is my favorite thing to do with him and I just want to travel EVERYWHERE now. Now we just need to both keep working hard, so we can play hard!!

Day 1: Ydraw (my work) rented a shuttle bus to take all 22 or so of us to the port in LA. We hopped on EARLY Sunday (Dec 29) morning and made the drive to LA.

As soon as we got on the ship we went and CRASHED in our room (no surprise there). We were so tired from the early morning drive and didn't get much sleep on the bus and on top of that Jase had just started to catch a cold. We did  manage to wake up for dinner that night tho! We explored the ship after that and watched for dolphins! It was kind of cool becuase the ship was still decorated from Christmas and they played Christmas music the whole week too!

Day 2 : We were on sea this day making our way to Puerto Villarta. We slept in and just hung around the ship all day.

Day 3: This was another sea day! We were a lot more lively this day and finally felt rested! We laid out a little bit, had a ping pong tournament with everyone that came on the cruise (FYI: Jase and I are the ping pong champs), Jase probably played some ball with everyone, and then we had our first Formal Night at dinner. It was New Year's Eve this night and everyone was all dressed up the whole night.....not us! After dinner we went and changed into sweats and played some shuffle board.

Right before midnight we ran to the "atrium" for the balloon drop and I was WAY too excited about this! Jase could have cared less but I thought it was pretty cool! What a perfect way to welcome the new year....in the middle of the ocean on a cruise!

Day 4: Puerto Villarta! We wanted to take full advantage of our day in Puerto Villarta so we woke up early to get a head start! We were so tired from the day before and staying up for New Year's but it was totally worth it.

A group of us had decided that we wanted to go zip-lining this day, so once we were off the ship we found someone to take us all. This was definitely my favorite part of our trip! It was BEAUTIFUL and amazing! I wish I would have taken video when we were on the zip line cause it was just amazing! It was so green here, I loved it! The only downside to the zip line excursion was that we got EATEN ALIVE by mosquito's...it was B-A-D! We all got back to the ship that night and our legs were covered in red dots. And to top it all off....they itched like crazy! I woke up that night to the sound of Jase itching his legs, like it was so so bad! He finally went into the bathroom and got a towel and just scrubbed his legs. To this day I still have marks on my legs from these stupid mosquito bites! So my advice, if you ever go zip-lining in Puerto Villarta...TAKE MOSQUITO REPELLENT!

This doesn't even do the mosquito bites justice! Jase counted 40 on one leg and then stopped counting....

Day 5: This day we woke up in Cabo! Cabo was amazing too! This day we kind of did our own thing. We went and got massages, grabbed some nachos, then decided we wanted to go para-sailing! The massage was great...the boat ride to go para-sailing...not so much! It made me feel a little sick! BUT once we actually were para-sailing it was definitely worth it! It was such a cool feeling to be that high up, it's SO quiet and beautiful! You can see forever!

 

 

Day 6: We were back on sea this day! We slept in this day, Jase played some bball, laid out, you know the things you do on a cruise ship! 

Day 7: Our last stop was Ensenada. There isn't a whole lot to do here so we just walked through the town, got some nachos, and headed back to the ship! It was kind of chilly this day so we didn't last too long!

Day 8: Time to get off the ship :( We had SO much fun during this week! It really was such a fun trip! The comedians on this ship were hilarious, we loved them and bought their DVD, the food was delicious, and the places we visited were amazing! We are so grateful for my two boss's that gave us this awesome opportunity! I'm so lucky to have the job that I do! We will never forget this trip!

Christmas Catch-Up

It was so fun getting to spend our very first Christmas together this year! I have waited so long for this and it was everything I thought it would be!

We celebrated early with the Langston's the Sunday before Christmas! We had gotten everyone their gifts right after Thanksgiving and I had been SO excited to give them to them. It will be fun to see how they actually spend Christmas day next year when we get to spend it with them. We'll also get to skype/call Jase's cute sister, Jessica, because she will be out serving her mission in Texas! Bitter sweet!

We headed up North to spend Christmas day with my family this year. We were able to make it Monday night to the big "Campbell Christmas Party" at my grandmas house where we get to dress up for the Nativity, share our talents, and sit on Santa's Lap. Neither Jase or I did a talent this year, but Jase played the piano last year (and he wasn't even officially family yet) and it was so good that I think he was okay for him to take a year off. (; As for me, I don't really have any excuse. Maybe next year (;

Jase this year got to dress up as a Shepard for the Nativity. Nixon and I were his sheep! My dad thought he was funny and he put on the angel costume. Mom was a king, Ry was a king or shepard (can't remember), and Shay and Nick were Mary and Joseph!

Nixon giving knuckles to Santa

 

This was Nixon's talent, he was definitely the life of the party!

Christmas Eve we did the usual, we had lots of munchies and food to snack on all night and we played games! It was a lot of fun!

Christmas morning was fun like always! It was so great that all of my family was there and we got to spend that day together. We sure missed everyone in Jase's family though! I'm sure it was hard on him being away from this year but he was a great sport and I think he really enjoyed spending Christmas with my family this year.

There were plenty of presents for everyone. Nixon got a new basketball hoop that he was OBSESSED with. It was hard to get him to open anything else after he saw that. It was so fun to see him excited that morning and I can't wait to see him be more and more excited each year as he gets older!

Mine and Jase's Christmas presents consisted of new tools for our house, a nice camera, clothes, watches, and more. We spoiled ourselves this year...

We headed back down to St. George the next day to get ready for our big trip to Mexico! I wish we could have stayed longer to spend more time with everyone but I'm so glad we got to spend the time with them that we did! Holiday's are the best times!