Our typical holidays in Arizona involve rotating houses in the Valley, but this time Dallin's parents each had different ideas for a fun week. 

For the first few days of our trip with the Samuelsons, we enjoyed a peaceful stay at their new cabin in Heber-Overgaard. Beckham and his two cousins enjoyed romping around and riding quads.  Dallin's sister Danielle planned out gorgeous and delicious meals and appetizers, and the rest of us did our best to help her put together the perfect Thanksgiving meal. 

For the second half of our trip, we joined the Urness family in Tombstone. Originally Dallin's dad, Danielle and little Maverick were scheduled to compete in the mounted shooting rodeo event, but the rodeo was cancelled last minute due to an outbreak of an equine illness. We all went to Tombstone anyway and stayed at the historic China Mary Inn.  A carriage ride, gold panning, and meals at the Big Nose Kate Saloon all made for a classic Tombstone trip.  Beckham's favorite part? Sprinting along the old boardwalk as fast as his legs could carry him. 

It wouldn't be the holiday season without various illnesses, such as Dallin having no voice above a whisper for the entire second half of the trip. A Chipotle worker thought that Dallin was deaf and recruited someone who spoke sign to try to take his order. Beckham, on the other hand, was already on antibiotics for an ear infection, and then on our last evening in Tombstone he started vomiting. He threw up again four times on our car ride back to Mesa (while stuck in stop-and-go traffic in the middle of nowhere at night) and then once or twice a day over the next three days. Thank goodness we survived the plane ride to Utah without incident. Poor Dallin finally got his voice back after we got home. 

watching Grandpa land

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