October 2025

I was sad that I missed Blair's homecoming dance. We had a cruise planned with the Tanner family months in advance and it just happened to be the same day we left for the cruise. The theme was "Wicked" or something related to that. The plan was for Elora to wear pink and Blair to wear green. Gracen decided last minute to join them and somehow they all ended up wearing green?!? Haha! We were a bit stressed out because we ordered Blair's dress online and it took forever to get here. I think it ended up coming about 3 days before the dance...Way too close! Good thing it worked because I don't think we would have had time to find something else.

So cute!

Not a fan on Blair's dress color in this lighting...The flash turned it a different shade.

 

Gracen, Blair, and Elora

Picking up our rental car

Beach!

This was probably the worst beach we have ever been to. There was so much trash everywhere which was crazy because I swear there was a trash can every 20-30 feet from each other down the entire beach. Are people really that lazy?!?

We took the girls to Rainforest Cafe.

Day 1:

Cruise ship time!

We only took the two youngest since everyone was still in school. I figured it would be easier to catch up on work in elementary school than middle and high school. The girls both had school packets that they worked on most days. Plus KK was only 13 months when we went on a cruise and Eden had never been before. I was a bit nervous with Eden since she always gets carsick but she did great! 

We checked out the Alice in Wonderland restaurant. We didn't actually eat there. It seemed more like a bar than restaurant but the girls enjoyed the decorations.

Eden: "Off with your heads!"

The carousel was definitely a big hit with the girls!

The waiter taught KK how to make a bird.

Ice Skating Show

We tried to sign up for open skate online but for some reason it kept giving us errors. Annoying!

Day 2: Day at Sea

Carousel with Sydney

Rock climbing

Water show!

It started raining really hard. They paused the show but didn't know if or when they would start up again. I figured it would be cancelled so we left but apparently they eventually started again. Oops!

Skip the 1st 30 seconds.

Balloon drop

Day 3: Cozumel

The girls had a lot of fun with Sheldon.

Our first excursion was in Cozumel at the Chankanaab Park

We got to swim and eat lunch/snacks. The weather was great when we first got there. Eventually a rain storm came through right as the sea lion show was about to start...We were soaking wet! The rain started to let up just after the show ended...

 We also got to "swim" with manatees! I'm not sure if Eden enjoyed herself. The waves were a bit rough while we were out there feeding the manatees. Unfortunately we weren't able to take any pictures.

We decided to check out the self guided archaeological tour and that was a mistake! The mosquitos were brutal! They attacked Nathan and he swelled up instantly! He ended up buying an antihistamine ($$$) before we boarded the ship. I'm not even sure he ended up taking any though...

We went back to the water show the next night and KK wanted to sit in the front row (Splash zone). I opted to sit further back and off to the side.

Ignore my leg in the middle of the video...oops! I thought I turned the video off.

KK got soaked!

Poor Eden! 

Her mosquito bites took longer to swell up but I think she got it worse than Nathan overall! This picture doesn't do it justice! KK also had some swelling as well but not as bad.

I'm usually the one that gets bitten the most. I guess mosquitos in Mexico don't like me nearly as much as U.S. mosquitos?!?

Day 4: Honduras

We started out going to the Roatan Chocolate Factory and souvenir shops. The girls got beaded animals (peacock and dolphin). The chocolate samples on the tour were decent so we picked up a box of chocolates to bring home to share with the other kids. We dropped the box as we were checking out and it broke. Luckily they gave us a new box. When we got home to share with the kids, the chocolate was gross! It was definitely a different texture than what we got in the factory. So disappointing!

Next we went to Manawakie Park- a monkey, sloth, and macaw sanctuary. This was a big hit with everyone!

I finally got to see a sloth!

Holding a sloth!

Last we went on a glass bottom boat ride.

Ninja!

Day 5: We stopped at either Costa Maya or Belize (can't remember) but we didn't get off the ship because we didn't find an excursion that excited us. It was a little more difficult to find an excursion that the girls could do. Many times Eden wasn't old enough or the girls weren't tall enough or didn't weigh enough.

Haha! I caught Eli outside our house at almost 10pm.

Not sure what he was doing in our backyard...Luckily he saw the camera and ran away!

I think it's funny because I check the camera system all the time when we aren't home. I bet if he would have done this while we were home, I probably would have never noticed! Haha!

I texted Blair about it and said, "Tell Eli that the "cats" might be away but we are still watching and the "mice" better not play!"

Day 6: At sea

I didn't take any pictures except for the towel. We made some crafts, went to the pool, went to another water show and another ice skating show.

The day after we got home we had our primary program!

Blair's 1st choir concert as a Junior. She's still in Bella Voce

Someone Nathan used to work with puts on a huge Halloween thing at his house every year. This year's theme was Harry Potter. Nathan took the girls this year. Only the two youngest wanted to go.

Carving pumpkins with the neighbors! It was cold and rainy this year so we moved it in our neighbor's garage.

Halloween!

Halloween was different this year. Dyer was moved up to the Varsity team and they had their first state game on Halloween. We knew there was a small chance that Dyer might play for a little bit. Plus it was a home game so I knew I would regret not going if he did end up playing. He didn't end up playing which is weird because they called him over as if they were going to play him. Bummer!

Easton was volunteering at the temple that night so he was busy. Blair was kind enough to stay home and pass out candy. Blakely took the two youngest out trick or treating.

Our ward didn't do a Halloween party or trunk or treat this year so half of us didn't even use our costumes this year. Sad!

We did classic monsters this year.

Nathan was going to be Frankenstein

I was going to be Frankenstein's bride

Easton was going to be a Mummy

Blair was a Zombie

Dyer was going to be a Grim reaper

Blakely was a Witch

KK was a Vampire

Eden was a Werewolf

1/2 of our costumes are still in their packaging and probably will never be used...We probably shouldn't have planned that far ahead because then we might have been able to return them. Oops!