This Christmas the Urness family surprised everyone with tickets to an adults-only trip aboard a Royal Caribbean Cruise!  We dropped Beckham boy off with his Samuelson grandparents, and then off we flew to Texas to depart on the ship out of Galveston. 

I was incredibly nervous to leave Beckham for the first time, but text updates showed him having lots of fun, and for the first time I since he was born I was able to actually sleep in! For many members of the family, their idea of a fun cruise was participating in all the onboard activities, but me? I was ecstatic to be able to sit by the pool and read an entire book.  Our family was joined with a massive group of recent high school graduates (including Gracie) and their parents. 

The first full day at sea, Dallin entered a volleyball tournament. His shoes were not up for the task. A poorly-landed jump resulted in a severe ankle sprain, the symptoms so bad that our doctor brother-in-law Matt thought it was likely a break, although an X-ray on the cruise ship and again at home determined it was not broken. Dallin spent much of the cruise in a wheelchair and was only allowed to use the ship's crutches during excursions.

Cozumel:

In Cozumel, our big party with all the graduates was supposed to go on catamaran to a beach to snorkel.  Unfortunately, not long after getting on the catamaran, there was a major misunderstanding/argument between some of the adults in our party and the captain, resulting in our entire group getting kicked off. So the Urness family split from the rest of the group.  Dallin's dad gave a restaurant worker a tip in exchange for letting us swim at the private beach, and we swam and sipped virgin piña coladas until the restaurant manager kicked us out. 

Roatán:

Our day in Roatán was packed with adventure. We started off riding horses through the jungle and on the beach.  This excursion was followed by visiting an animal sanctuary where we were able to meet sloths, macaws and monkeys.  Finally, the group (excluding Kaeli and I) went zip lining.

We had to be careful to avoid the youngest macaw -- he bit hard!

Costa Maya:

More from the cruise:

70's night, when Danielle roped me and Devin into competing with her on an adults-only game show event. Some of the guys became cruise-famous for their participation in cruise activities, including the sexiest man competition.  Parley became known as the hot dog guy for lying on his side, wearing a captain hat and eating a hotdog during said competition.

Afterwards 

Our flight to Arizona was so delayed we thought it would be cancelled, but luckily it was not.  We pulled in very late and decided not to say hi to Beckham boy until he morning. When he woke up in the morning, I went in his room to find him with no pants or diaper, bouncing up and down with excitement to see me! 

Back with our baby on the flight home to Utah

The Carnival Miracle brought us to the desert beaches of Cabo San Lucas. We had two days to walk the docks, passing flea markets with all their wares and street sellers with iguanas on their shoulders.  Dallin was quite surprised when one such iguana was placed on his shoulder.  On the first day we enjoyed gelato, mangos with Tajin, and a few hours on the beach, alternating between the teal waters and the warm sand. 

On the second day, we met with our old theatre friends Bryson and Celeste who happened to be on the same cruise.  We all knew Adam was proposing to Hannah at Lover's Beach that morning, so after we received news that the deed was done we headed down to the beach where Bryson and Celeste snapped some family pictures.  Dick unfortunately woke up sick with tonsillitis after having water shot up his nose on the water slide, so we instead took shots of couples and sibling groups. After pictures we hired a little boat to take us to some of the famed sights.  The boat had a window into the bottom, but the water was so clear that all we had to do was look over the side to see dozens of colorful fish as the tour guide tossed bread to their hungry mouths.  Before heading back to the cruise ship, Dallin and I bought a few bottles of Mexican vanilla to bring home to our mamas and a pretty little embroidered dress for our baby niece.