Mexican Cruise - for real this time :)

Last week Kenneth and I had the opportunity to go on a cruise with his parents and all of his siblings. This was Kenneth's second cruise, and a first for both Danny and I. Our cruise left from Long Beach, and we were supposed to go to Catalina Island & Encinada but due to all the terrible weather they changed our itinerary and instead headed to....CABO SAN LUCAS!!! We were absolutely thrilled as Kenneth spent some of his mission in Cabo.

Monday we got on the ship and it was raining SO hard! I got entirely soaked and had to change everything once we got to our room. It took all week for my clothes to dry! But, we were soon off on our adventure. The sunset and lights were so beautiful as we pulled away!





We were on the boat all day Tuesday and did some random things around the boat. The sky looked amazing and we had a lot of fun eating, playing games and lounging around.


The stormy sky

We woke up around 5am and didn't know it (there were no clocks in the room and Kenneth's cell phone was off). We walked around the ghostly ship and took some early morning photos like the one above.

Dinner Time!

Kenneth's shrimp...he ate a lot of it on our cruise!

Our creature Tuesday night

On Wednesday we arrived in Cabo and it was absolutely GORGEOUS and the weather was fantastic!
While in Cabo Kenneth, Danny and I got separated from the rest of the family and were unable to find them. We decided to go ahead with plans of our own. We paid for a boat tour of the famous arch and other rock formations of the Peninsula. The owner of the boat (who was speaking in spanish basically the whole time) asked where we were from, and after finding out we were from Utah he asked if we were LDS. Kenneth told him that we were and that he was actually a missionary there several years back. The man was baptized about 10 years ago, and was very excited to talk to Kenneth! It was so fun listening to him (I understood most of his spanish and was thrilled!) and he was a great guide. We were the only ones on the boat so he got us up close for all of the pictures Kenneth wanted. We got to see some beautiful schools of fish, lots of huge Pelicans everywhere, a ton of seals, the beautiful rock formations and Lover's Beach.




A whale "waving" at us


A pirate ship


Beautiful rock formations


Our ship at sea




That is Danny under the life-jacket




Seals


The last rock formation of the Baja Peninsula. I love the Pelicans on it.

We stopped at Lover's beach for awhile to enjoy the sun and waves. This is the beach in between the Sea of Cortes and the Pacific Ocean. Our guide picked us up after we were done. While at the beach, we did some bouldering on the gorgeous rock formations, played in the water (1 at a time...) laid out to soak up the sun, and played with Danny in the sand. It was so relaxing! We were only able to be there for a short time, but it was totally worth it!




Bouldering on Lover's Beach


Fun picture of the cruise ship






Leaving Cabo

We got some beautiful pictures of the Baja Peninsula before we left Wednesday evening.


Baja Peninsula at night


A Carnival cruise ship at night (pretty much identical to ours)

Thursday and Friday we were on the ship all day again. It got REALLY rocky due to stormy weather and everyone felt a little under the weather. Danny did well overall besides not sleeping through the night (as soon as we came home though he was back on schedule! I guess he just missed his bed.) Here are some other random photos from the cruise in no particular order:









By the way: have any of you ever been running on a treadmill on a cruise? It is quite the experience! ;)

Mexican Cruise

coming soon...

Dashboard Confessional Concert

Tonight Kenneth and I have a fabulous date...with Danny. We had Costa Vida for dinner and then headed to Ogden for an outdoor concert by one of our favorite bands - Dashboard Confessional! It was awesome! It was the first concert I have been to where I actually LOVED the performer. The only other ones I have been to are 1) Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band (BYU date) 2) Kelly Clarkson (with my older sister and her roommates) and 3) Story of the Year (some of their songs were good I suppose). Anyway, my first official concert did not take place until I was 20 years old...Danny is starting his concert experience at the tender age of 6 months.

Danny's 6 Month Stats

Kenneth took Danny to his 6 month appointment today (about a week late) and it appears that he has stopped gaining weight but is getting VERY tall! Here were the stats:

Weight: 12.4 lbs (0 percentile) - at 4 months he was 12lb (4%)
Height: 25.5 in. (13th percentile) - at 4 months he was 23in (2%)
Head Circumference: 16.1 in. (1st percentile)

The doctor is not worried though, so I guess I won't either. Go Danny!

1/2 A Year

Danny has now passed the 1/2 year point! He turned 6 months on the 5th. I definitely did not forget, but I haven't posted about it yet because we don't have any stats on him and won't until his appointment later this week. Here are some fun facts and pictures though:

1. He likes to stick out his tongue and make spitting noises - he started this just a few days ago

2. He LOVES to "fly" - either being swung upright, upside-down, being thrown onto pillows, or being flown as an airplane on my legs. He just laughs and laughs!

3. He is the most mellow baby I have ever seen! We can poke him as much as we want and he never cares! ;)

4. He prefers to stand, and doesn't realize yet that he has a waist. He doesn't understand that he can bend.

5. When he gets excited he likes to grab his hands and bring them close to his chest

6. He likes to try to fit both fists in his mouth at the same time

7. He loves "Patty Cake" and "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes"

8. He always laughs when you bring his legs up to his face

9. When you shake his binkie in his mouth he always starts giggling.

10. If you put Danny's mouth up to your cheek and make a kissing noise you will receive the BIGGEST smile ever!

Those are a few of my favorite "Danny" things. He is so much fun, and I can't believe he is already 6 months!!


Daddy remembered to take a picture for his 1/2 birthday. Thanks Dad!

Anniversary & New Years Eve

Kenneth and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary on Dec 29th. It is amazing to think that so much time has already passed, and yet, it feels like we've been together for so long because we have been able to accomplish so many things and experience so many wonderful adventures together. In the 3 years that we have been married we have worked in Alaska, purchased a home, been to Hawaii, had a baby, and Kenneth has had many wonderful engineering internships to help for after graduation. We have also had countless rockclimbing trips and hikes galore throughout Utah. It has been such a fun adventure and I can't wait for all the many other things we will do in the future as our family grows.

This year, we headed down to Vegas. I laugh because it seems like we go there ALL the time, but NOT for the conventional reasons! We stay away from the strip (honestly, who wants porn thrown into their faces??) and spend most of our time in Red Rocks either climbing or hiking, and we just can't say no to the warm weather (at least compared to Utah's 20 degrees). This year was even better because my brother Michael and his wife Kim are living there for a few months, and they were gracious enough to watch Danny for us. The rest of the week we hung out with family and had a wonderful time.






It is so gorgeous here! It is a shame most people go to Vegas and miss it!


Reading with his Uncle Michael


We learned that Danny LOVES to lay in the sun! He was in heaven.


Conquering the rock!







We were also down in Vegas for New Years. In the early evening we spent some time with my brother Michael's friends - Allison and Chris. They had lots of people over and we had BBQ ribs, pizza and other goodies and spent time playing the Wii. It was really fun! I was a little chicken to try to Guitar Hero when everyone was around, so I played afterwards once most people had left, and I loved it! It was great! I will admit that my brother and I are made from the same mold...we both concentrate so hard on it that we barely move, while Kim and Kenneth rock out. It was hilarious. Afterwards we headed back to Michael and Kim's and watched the Vegas fireworks on TV. Silly huh? We were in bed by about 12:15 am! We had a great time! We'll be heading down again in less than a week on our way to Los Angeles for our CRUISE TO MEXICO!! :)

A Very Late Christmas

Wow...I'm a little late on this Christmas update. Better late than never! For Christmas Eve we decided we wanted to have the tradition of sledding with our kids and to go see Christmas lights. We have received mixed reactions about the sledding. Some people have commented that Danny is way too young for sledding, and others have commented that we are hilarious for taking him. Let's be honest - Kenneth would DIE if we had to sit around for 3 years until he was considered "old enough."

Danny didn't even seem to care about the sledding, except for the hour later when he was covered in snow and his pants were all wet. That is when we called it quits. It was great!





We wanted to see the lights at Temple Square, but we got home too late after a Noyce party, and after taking Kenneth's grandma home, so we opted on lights where we could stay in the car. When Kenneth was little, there was this street close to their home where they all decorated and had displays showing the words to "The Night Before Christmas." We decided to go, and Kenneth said it was not nearly as good as when he was little. Kind of sad. I remember I used to go see lights in CA and they were always so amazing! Now we will have to include a huge search every year to find some REALLY good lights!







Christmas morning we opened our few gifts together. Kenneth got a new lens that he was oh-so-excited about, and I got a red Pea coat that I have been wanting for a long time. Fabulous! Danny got some fun books/toys from Lito y Lita and we also got him a few books and some clothes (on sale of course...what do babies really need anyway?). I realized we didn't even get a family picture in front of our tree. How lame are we??




I checked and realized I looked dumb in all of my pictures with Danny...this one shows how excited he obviously was ;)

After we opened gifts we went to the Noyce's. We had their traditional breakfast casserole for breakfast (it's true Adams' family...I only get Creamed Egg on Toast at Easter. Sad huh!). Guess what? Here are MORE pictures!


This was Danny's little Christmas outfit. Cute huh?!



After spending some time at the Noyce's we went to visit Kenneth's grandma in Salt Lake.





Well, that's it! Hopefully I'll get New Years up here soon!