Cancun - Day 3

 Happy Birthday to me!!! What an incredible place to spend a birthday! I know the kids were sad to miss it, but it was amazing! We got up early and hopped on a van to go to Xel-ha. It was breathtaking and by far the most perfect day we could've had. It's was on my bucket list to swim with dolphins (we swam with them in the wild in Hawaii, but I wanted the interactive experience) so when I knew we would be in Cancun on my birthday I knew it was the perfect time to check it off my list! We didn't have much time before we were scheduled to swim with the dolphins, so we walked around for a little bit and did the cave swim. It was really cool SO beautiful and peaceful. Josh and I left and headed back to the dolphin area. We had an AMAZING time! We got to do everything we expected and I loved every minute of it. Jeff and Amy came and took pictures toward the end of our hour. We ended up buying the pictures so those will come in the next post.

After the dolphin swim was over we headed out to enjoy Xel-Ha. We walked around and enjoyed every minute of the beautiful scenery and how peaceful it was. We cliff jumped, tubed down the river, zip lined, snorkeled, swam around, and soaked in all of it. I know I'm being cheesy, but it was perfect. The weather was perfect, the company was perfect, and all in all the day itself couldn't have gone better.

After Xel-Ha we showered and got ready for dinner. We went to an Italian dinner, which wasn't very filling so we ended up at the buffet later to eat a little more and have my birthday bowl of ice cream. We walked around, played some cards, and enjoyed the rest of the evening. I really can't even begin to explain how wonderful this day was.

Cancun - Day 2

Monday we slept in, took it easy, then met up with Jeff and Amy to go to breakfast. The breakfast buffet was pretty good. The rest of the morning/afternoon we spent relaxing at the resort. We checked out all the pools, the beach, had lunch on the beach, and enjoyed every minute of it. We headed back to shower and get ready for dinner then went to the "Fire Show." It took us a while to figure out where it was, but we did eventually find it. It was kinda slow with not a lot going on, but it was still fun to watch it. Here are some pics of some of the animals at the resort. We finally determined the weird looking animal is a weasel. Also, it was a lot of fun to have the waterproof camera. We tried taking pics underwater and that didn't go so well, but to be able to take the camera with me everywhere we went was awesome. We got a lot of cool pics that otherwise we wouldn't have been able to take!

Cancun - Day 1

It's finally here!!! We've been waiting for this trip for months and are SO excited it finally came. I spent all week getting everything ready for the babysitters, and that was no easy task with 5 kids! Josh's sister Rachael was scheduled to spend the nights at our house and watch the kids in the morning, then 2 sister in our ward that are home from college watched the kids all day and evening. We made it to bed and a reasonable hour, then got up early to head to the airport with Jeff and Amy! We got on the plane and taxied to the runway, then waited. And waited. Finally they had to taxi us back to the gate bc the brakes were overheating on one side. So we waited while they replaced the brake pads then headed out. We took off about an hour and 20 min late. That was a bummer but all I kept thinking was, "I DON'T HAVE KIDS!!!" So it wasn't so bad! 

We made it to Cancun, found our ride waiting for us, and headed to our resort. After we quickly dropped off our stuff we headed out to eat and walk around. It was beyond beautiful. Everywhere you looked it was jungle. There were animals all over the place and we loved the relaxed and calming atmosphere. The buffets at the resort ended up being just ok, but the restaurants were really good. I got a little sick the first night so I steered clear of trying anything questionable and just stuck with safe foods...a lot of waffles and yogurt for me. Josh was more experimental with the food than I was, and his stomach was a little queasy for most of the week, but he enjoyed those tacos! We walked along the beach, found hammocks and chairs and just sat and watched the waves come in. It's hard to explain how pleasant and peaceful it was. We probably sat on the beach for an hour, then headed back to walk around some more before making it to our rooms for the night. (Each of the kids gave me an animal to take with us so we would remember them. They were sobbing, like really sobbing when we said goodbye. It was cute...)

Pedicures and a Crazy Busy Day!

Last day before our trip!!! We were crazy busy getting ready for tomorrow. We also had the kid's primary pajama party and Brayden had a soccer game as well as a basketball game. We wanted to do something special with the kids bc they have been having a hard time thinking about us leaving. So I took Brooklyn and Brynlee to get pedicures and Josh played video games with Brayden for an hour (Brayden's choice.) We spent the rest of the day packing, cleaning the house, and getting everything ready to leave!