Western Caribbean Cruise

Last August, my parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary! And because my family didn't take their usual annual summer trip to visit family California, my parents wanted to do something fun with the whole family over Christmas break to celebrate. After some deliberation, the family decided that they would like to cruise somewhere warm for the holidays. No one had been on a cruise before, and the fam wanted to get out of dreary, cloudy Washington. And that is how we ended up going on a cruise through the western Caribbean during Christmas break! Thank you parents!

8 Day Western Caribbean Cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line

We left Seattle to fly to Tampa (where our cruise ship was docked) late the night before our cruise left. We flew through the night with a short layover in Houston. Though the flight was a little last minute--thank goodness we didn't have any delays--we didn't have to worry about booking a hotel in Tampa for the night, which was a plus. This trip was the first time we utilized Uber, which we are now huge fans of. We took an Uber from the airport to the cruise ship port on Sunday morning, December 18th. After some hassle of checking our bags in, checking passports, etc. we boarded our cruise ship and began our adventure! We stayed on the cruise through Christmas, returning back to Tampa on Monday, December 26th. Below is a map of all the stops we made on our cruise, and I'll just write a little bit (or a lotta bit) about each day on the cruise.

Day 1: Embark in Tampa, Florida

We went straight from the airport to the cruise ship after an all night flight, boarding around noon that Sunday. We were happy to learn that our staterooms were ready for us as soon as we walked on board. We were sharing two tiny rooms between the seven of us on the trip. My parents shared a room with Leah and Michael, while Dustan and I shared one with Sam. It was nice to drop off some of our things before we grabbed some lunch and began exploring the ship.

A little bit about the cruise line and ship we were on. We booked our cruise through the Norwegian Cruise Line, and we were on their ship the Jade. Norwegian Cruise Line is known to be more laid back (they don't have any of those required fancy dinner nights) and more family oriented (unlike Carnival, which is basically a party boat). It is cheaper that other family oriented cruises like Disney or Royal Caribbean, but that is probably because there are less activities on board. The price was right for us, even during the peak season. The Jade can accommodate up to 2,402 passengers and has 1,037 crew members (isn't that ratio crazy?!). The Jade is one of the smaller cruise ships having less floors, shorter length and width, less passengers, and less amenities on board. You can read more about our ship here, on the Norwegian Cruise Line website.

The very first thing we did after getting into our staterooms was figuring out which restaurants on board were complimentary. We immediately went up to one of the top floors to the Garden Cafe buffet to eat some lunch. This was where we ate most of our meals throughout the trip. We were impressed with the quality of food for a buffet! It was delicious.

Dustan, Sam, and I went up to one of the top decks to play some games and soak up the sun while the cruise ship was sailing away from the port. It was fun to watch us leaving Tampa. In no time, we couldn't even see land anymore!

We hadn't made any dinner reservations on the ship, but we decided to try our luck with the fancy (you were required to wear nice clothes) complimentary restaurant on board, Grand Pacific. Oh my goodness, it was delicious! Everyone ordered an appetizer, main dish, and two desserts. The steak I got there was one of the best steaks I'd ever had, weirdly enough. Everything was great!

We settled in to our little staterooms after dinner, unpacking our suitcases, napping, and taking showers. That evening and each following, our steward Edison brought us a schedule of the next day's events and activities along with an adorable towel animal. Here are a couple from the week:

At night, we went to an introductory show in the Stardust Theater which was introducing all the fun shows and acts we could attend in the evenings throughout our time on the boat. Soon after, we hit the hay--we were exhausted after the previous night of flying.

Day 2: At Sea

Our first full day on the cruise was spent at sea, which gave us some time to relax and explore the ship more before reaching our first destination in port. On the schedule brought to us the day before, we had highlighted and chose a few fun activities to do during our first day at sea. First though, we got some sleep! It felt wonderful.

After the breakfast buffet, we went up to the top deck to go swimming in the salt water pools, relax in the chlorine and child filled hot tubs, and participate in some on board activities. I convinced Dustan to enter the "Sexy Legs Competition" that was happening poolside, hosted by the cruise line. No win for him from the judges, but he won the audience vote by a landslide ;) Sam entered the ping pong contest and got smoked first round, haha.

That evening, Dustan and I attended a lame tango class before joining the family at the only complimentary asian restaurant on board. Somehow though, the asian food was pretty bad--the buffet had better! We never returned. After dinner, we sat in the onboard bar watching people sing karaoke while we played games. Leah got up there and sang, and did great! Sam, Leah, Dustan, and I made an appearance at a dance up in the bar lounge at the top deck. It was worth the 10 minutes we stayed, haha.

That night, a small storm rolled in. The boat was rocking enough to make a few of us nauseous by the time we went to sleep. That was the only reminder that we were on a boat though!

Day 3: Cozumel, Mexico

The next morning, we woke up on the island of Cozumel, Mexico! Cozumel is a fairly small island off Mexico's eastern coast. It is largely undeveloped and the economy is almost completely based on tourism. It is known for it's amazing reef scuba diving--unfortunately, none of us are certified, so that wasn't a viable option. This was one of the port stops we had completely planned out and bought an excursion in advance. For the day, we were doing a dune buggy tour of Cozumel through Cozumel Cruise Excursions. We met up with our tour guide Johnny off the pier where the boat was docked, and off we went! Our tour guides drove a little Volkswagen bug while the family shared two ghetto, manual dune buggies, haha.

Our first stop on the tour was at a nearby private beach, where Johnny took us snorkeling. Aside from Dustan and me, no one in my family had been snorkeling before. It was a blast. Though there weren't many reefs to explore, there were a lot of neat fish and even a small manta ray.

After snorkeling, Dustan let me try driving the dune buggy (only my parents and us knew how to drive a manual, so the rest relaxed). I'd only driven a couple manuals before, and this one was tough! Very non-responsive--but I safely made it to our next stop without even killing it. I let Dustan drive again as soon as we made it to Punta Sur Eco Beach Park, an ecological park on the south side of Cozumel. Here, we first walked out on a dock and checked out the swamp area and observed a crocodile hanging out under the dock. Then our tour guides told us about the little Mayan ruin just up the road.

We drove a little further into Punta Sur to the lighthouse. At the base of the lighthouse, and man had two macaws that we held for just a couple dollars for donations. Then us kids hiked up the many steps of the lighthouse to a stellar view at the top while my parents wandered along the beach.

As we drove to our next destination, we saw beautiful ocean landscapes. White beaches, clear turquoise ocean, blowholes shooting up water from rocky overlooks, the whole shebang. We made one more pitstop at a more rocky beach before heading to lunch.

Lunch was at a restaurant on the beach. We ate fajitas (pork, chicken, or fish), each of us ordered a giant virgin pina colada, and we all shared a side of chips and guacamole. It was a delicious meal! After lunch, Dustan and I walked along the beach a little where I attempted save a hurt bird that was stuck in a tide pool. The usual.

Then sadly, it was already boarding time at the cruise ship. We drove our dune buggies back to the port and boarded. Just beforehand, Dustan and I made it a goal to get a picture at our port with the cruise ship in the background at every single stop!

Soon after getting showered off, we went up to the top deck to watch the sunset. Mike saw a crew member picking up beach chairs on the deck, began helping out, and earned himself a free Coke (which is quite expensive on the boat).

That night, we went to our first real show at the Stardust theater. It was the Blazing Boots country concert, and it was a blast! There is a performance team on board, who performed a majority of the concerts and activities we could attend. They sang and danced popular country songs from artists like Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, and more. They were incredible! We were amazed that they could dance so well and not fall with how much the ship was rocking that evening.

Day 4: Harvest Caye, Belize

When we woke up the next day, we were docked at Harvest Caye, Belize. We were a little disappointed to be going to this port in Belize. Harvest Caye is a man made island owned by the Norwegian Cruise Line, used solely by them at the time being (though they may allow other cruise lines to visit in the future). So though there was a lot of hype about this totally private island, we were disappointed that we wouldn't be seeing the real Belize. We had heard amazing things about the culture and lands full of rainforests. Oh well.

Since we pulled in late to Harvest Caye, we had time to try a restaurant for breakfast rather than the usual buffet. We went to the fancy Grand Pacific, and it was delicious as always. Nearly everyone ordered the eggs benedict with a side of bacon, fruit, and a cinnamon roll. Then, we headed to the island!

Our afternoon at Harvest Caye was our only absolutely completely unplanned day. We knew there were some fun activities on the island such as ziplining and kayaking, as well as many restaurants. Once we had walked off the pier, we quickly strolled through most of the island (it was quite small). We visited the free nature center and checked some activity pricing. We immediately decided that $80 was not worth one short zipline across the island, and posted up at the beach to just have a relaxing day.

We alternated between sun bathing and swimming in the warm ocean. My mom and I collected/stole some seashells and coral we found at the beach. Unfortunately, my goggles fell off in the water and were never seen again haha. After realizing that there wasn't any great food on the island, the Nielson boys returned to the ship for lunch, while the girls and Dustan explored the giant pool and sunbathed a little more. We also ended up back at the ship for lunch though. And that was our Belize experience!

Somehow our faces in this one ended up completely black... HILARIOUS

After lunch, the family played shuffle board on deck (it went poorly, we were all awful haha). We played some games, watched movies, or took naps. These quickly became our cruise evening routines. We had dinner at Alizar's that night, the second fanciest after the Grand Pacific. The food choices were very similar, but slightly less delicious. Dustan did try escargot though!

 

That night, we went to another concert in the Stardust, called Uptown. It was a group of three black guys that sang major hits dating back decades from popular artists like the Jackson 5, putting their own spin on the songs. They were really good, and very entertaining!

Day 5: Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala

Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala was our first stop on mainland! It was a little port city on Amatique Bay off the Gulf of Honduras, and our cruise ship was actually in a shipping yard. Santo Tomas was probably the most authentic and not tourism created place we visited (though four cruise ships each month dock there, helping Guatemala tourism). This was definitely one of our favorite stops.

We hadn't bought a guided excursion for our time in Santo Tomas either, but we did have a small plan for what we wanted to do. Though there were neat ruins and rivers we could have bought an excursion to, the only thing on our bucket list was to visit the Las Escobas Waterfalls. We knew it would be cheaper without a bought excursion tour guide, so we just winged it! We walked off the ship and immediately taxi drivers began hounding us. Eventually we were able to find a couple slightly reasonably priced taxis that would take our big group (one disadvantage to traveling with seven people, we had to take two cars) to the Falls.

Reminding me of Jamaica, the roads and homes in Santo Tomas were very run down. The people, even the children, were working hard everywhere we looked. It was really neat to drive through the local town and through parts of the jungle to our destination.

Once we arrived at the Las Escobas Waterfalls, we paid an entrance fee and a young guide took us out hiking. It was a little shy of a mile to reach the Falls, but the walk was wonderful. We were in a dense green rainforest with animals calling out all around us. We heard the falls just before we reached them. They were incredible!

Picture by Dustan :)

There were a couple people swimming. Dustan, Leah, Michael and I immediately got in as well. It was chilly, but nothing like the Pacific Ocean or rivers and lakes in the Northwest. It was very refreshing in the humid air. We did some swimming by the Falls, explored a few caves, and held on to Mike so he didn't get swept away by the current.

Dustan, of course, took our nice camera and tripod into the river to get a few beautiful shots of the Waterfalls. The results were worth it though.

The picture Dustan took is the beautiful waterfall a few pictures above

Once a few tour groups had come and gone (they were in and out so quickly, I'm glad we didn't book an excursion), our guide took us back up the path to another set of falls that the tour groups didn't visit. Though slightly less impressive, they were still beautiful falls. We didn't get in the water this time, just admired the scene.

Taking the picture just above

We continued our trek back to the taxis on a different route that crossed over slippery bridges and by even more falls and rivers throughout the jungle. The taxi drivers were a little peeved with how long we had been gone. We insisted it would take us at least two hours, they argued that we wouldn't be there more than one hour. We were gone for just over two hours. Ha! We won.

We had the taxis drop us off in the small city we drove through so we could walk around the market (Michael really wanted to drink a coconut). It was neat to see everything that was sold and how the people lived. After exploring the market resulted in no coconuts, half the family walked back to the port. Sam, Dustan, and I continued to walk around Santo Tomas, exploring some neighborhoods. As we walked by one home, we saw a pile of empty coconuts sitting out front. With some decent Spanish, Sam was able to ask where we could find some coconuts. The man immediately got excited, showed us a huge pile in his garage, and cut off four for us to have! When we tried to pay him, he refused. Throughout the whole day, we were impressed with how kind the Guatemalans were.

After a little more wandering, we walked through the neighborhoods back to the port, about half a mile. We found the rest of the family in a giant market warehouse right next to the cruise ship, doing some shopping. Michael absolutely loved his first coconut and Sam bought a bunch of musical instruments.

The only family picture in Guatemala. Fail, haha we love it!

We took some fun pictures outside of the warehouse, because we love signs! As you have probably noticed. Some of them failed though, but we love the pictures all the same. Then it was time to get back on board for some lunch and relax for the evening.

Sunset view from the cruise ship

That night, we attended another show! Surprise surprise. This was one of the favorites of the whole cruise. It was a married couple named Dmitry and Ksenia that did an acrobat show for us. It included everything from crazy lifts, ballet, flying through the air on ropes, and roller skates. It was awesome.

Day 6: Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

Our fourth port stop was at the island of Roatan, Honduras, the largest Bay Island off the Honduras north coast. Similar to Cozumel, tourism is the most prominent economic sector, especially for scuba divers, snorkelers, and cruise ships. Roatan is located near the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the largest reef in the Caribbean. The cruise ship docked on the southwest side of the island, and we spent a majority of our time on the northwest side.

This port stop was the first time Dustan and I had plans different from the rest of the family. Everyone wanted to visit Gumbalimba Park, which was a sort of interactive zoo with history about Roatan. There was a paid excursion to go to Gumbalimba Park through the cruise line, but we weren't sure if you could just take a taxi to the Park and just pay an entrance fee. This was pertinent because Dustan and I wanted to go to the West Bay and go snorkeling as well. So the family split up! Everyone but us paid for an excursion to Gumbalimba Park that included transportation and a tour from the boat. Dustan and I would go snorkeling early on, then try to meet the family there.

Dustan and I got off the ship soon after we docked, at about 8:30 in the morning. We were a little concerned about all the rain, but decided we still wanted to try and go snorkeling. We walked off the pier and found a taxi that would take us to West Bay. Our taxi driver, was hilarious, and would be picking us up again later to take us back to the ship. Once we arrived at a public beach at West Bay, we walked west along the beach (it had stopped raining by now, thank goodness) until we reached the Infinity Resort Beach. Technically, we weren't supposed to be on this beach--it was for resort members. But we had read that the best snorkeling on the island was in front of this resort, so we snuck on! We immediately laid down or towels, pulled out or snorkeling gear and cameras, and got in the water before anyone noticed that we didn't have the required wristbands to be there.

We had to swim quite a ways out to reach the reefs, but once we did, we were speechless! They were absolutely incredible. It was the best snorkeling we had ever done. Better than anything we saw in Jamaica, southern California, or Cozumel. There was so much color in the reefs and so many unique and beautiful fish.

There was a snorkeling tour nearby, so we kept an eye on them and visited a few of the areas that they went to, hoping to see the coolest sights. At one point, we reached where the ocean floor and reefs drop off--like in Finding Nemo. Everything just suddenly disappeared into the deep, dark blue/black of the ocean. It was a little freaky, I kept imagining sharks coming for me.

We snorkeled far off the beach for nearly two hours straight. I had no problem with this because I float so easily in the salt water. I can lie completely vertical and without moving, having no air in my lungs, and still be able to float. Dustan has to work more to stay above the surface. At one point, his breathing was getting hard enough that he wanted to swim back to the shore for a break--but that would have wasted time! Instead, I tread water while holding his back up near the surface so that he could just float and take a break, haha.

About an hour in to our snorkeling, it started dumping rain! It was raining hard enough that we knew all our stuff on the beach would be soaked within minutes (before we could even get back to it), so we just kept snorkeling. After a little longer though, the waves began to get bigger so we decided to head in. Once we got to shore, we picked up our dripping towels, backpack, and clothes and headed undercover. We were glad we had checked the forecast beforehand and only brought items that wouldn't be ruined with rain.

How I felt about the rain...

Our towel completely filled with rain water

Once the rain had let up a little, we began walking to Gumbalimba Park. My family had texted saying that there was just an entrance fee, that a paid excursion wasn't required to get in. It was just over a mile away, so we didn't think it was worth getting a second taxi. Lucky for us though, a driver thought we were with the resort and told us that there was a free shuttle to Gumbalimba! Score. Once we arrived, we found that my family had already started their tour of the Park, so we got combined with a couple and started on our own tour.

The entire time we were at the park, it was absolutely pouring rain. Coming down in buckets. The tour was still really neat. We learned a bit about Roatan's history and some fun facts about the island. But we especially enjoyed interacting with the animals. We got to hold monkeys and parrots, and see all sorts of other wildlife, such as lizards and rabbits/guinea pigs. Unfortunately, a lot of the animals were hiding because of the weather.

Eventually, we met up with the family again, and the rain let up. We walked through the park one more time with my parents before it was time to head back to the ship. Here are a few pictures of my family with the animals--their pictures turned out so much better because it wasn't raining when they were with the monkeys or birds!

My family boarded their shuttle, and Dustan and I needed to meet our taxi driver back at the beach (he wouldn't take us in the morning unless we agreed on round trip). We again sneaked a ride from a car going to the Infinity Resort. We had time to walk along the beach for a while before we met up with our driver and he took us back to the cruise ship.

That evening, we did our usual dinner, games, and a show. The show that night in the Stardust was a comedian. His name was Rod Long and he was from Seattle! He was a hoot. We were sad our time on the cruise was nearly over!

Day 7: Costa Maya, Mexico

Our last port stop was at Costa Maya, Mexico, a wonderful stop for Christmas Eve! Unlike Cozumel, Costa Maya is on the mainland of Mexico, but very close to the border of Belize. Again, Costa Maya is a city that has grown due to cruise passengers and tourists. One of the reasons Costa Maya is so popular as a port is because of the close proximity to various Mayan ruins.

We were a little concerned about the weather when we walked to breakfast as the rain was pouring outside. Thankfully, by the time we had walked off the boat, it was only sprinkling a little bit. We had to walk about half a mile from the port to get to our meeting place for our excursion in Costa Maya: we were exploring some Mayan ruins!

We booked our excursion through The Native Choice. They lead tours to various Mayan ruins around western Mexico, the most popular being the Chacchoben ruins. My mom decided that she wanted to visit some lesser known ruins because 1) they would hopefully be less crowded and 2) we could climb on the ruins, which was a total "no no" at other sites. So we ended up touring the Dzibanche ruins. After getting to their office, we hopped in a large bus-like van and drove to the ruins. It was just over two hours to get there, but our guide was giving us information about Costa Maya, the Mayan, and the ruins for a majority of the time. By the time we arrived at the Dzibanche ruins, the rain had stopped and it was once again warm and humid. My mom had made a good choice--there couldn't have been more than 30 people maximum in the whole park at one time.

We were so impressed by the ruins. We couldn't believe that buildings built from 500 to 1,000 AD by the Mayans were still in such great shape! After entering the park, we immediately went to one of the largest temples in the park and hiked the tall steps to the top. It was fun to be above most of the treetops in the area. We even saw a few monkeys with their babies swinging from the trees around us!

We continued to walk through the ruins. Between each site and at the base of each temple, our tour guide gave us information about the history of the Mayan and the buildings we were looking at. Apparently the city of Dzibanche was once the capital of the empire in the area during the Kan dynasty. There are two pyramids in the city, one of which is a temple containing two royal burials. There are many other temples on the grounds as well.

After exploring the Dzibanche ruins, we drove the two hours back to Costa Maya. Once there, we did a little shopping in the fancy port, including swimming pools, restaurants, and stores. We also got a lot of people commenting on our matching Seahawks shirts :)

That evening, we went to eat at the fancy Grand Pacific for dinner after attempting to watch the sunset. Again, we ordered way too much food and stuffed ourselves full. When my mom booked the cruise, they told her to celebrate Michael's birthday while we were there (which wasn't until two weeks later). So we also got some birthday cake!

We went right to the Elements show at the Stardust Theater afterward. This show was a combination of multiple acts from throughout the week. The cruise line performance team, the magicians, and the acrobats. It was an impressive act showcasing the four elements.

Day 8: CHRISTMAS at Sea

Waking up in a pitch black, tiny little stateroom on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean certainly didn't feel like Christmas! But it was a fun day nonetheless. The family got dressed up and headed first to the fancy Grand Pacific for breakfast, which was very delicious once again.

After breakfast, we headed to a small meeting room for a church service. We had met a few members of our LDS Church during our week on the boat, and they had gotten permission to hold a sacrament meeting. It added nicely to our Christmas morning to be able to think a little more about Christ. I was able to convince the family to take a few pictures before we put back on our play clothes!

Around lunch time, we went up the lounge on one of the top decks to play some games a snag seats early on, because Elf was going to start on the semi big screen! We loved watching Elf. It is a Nielson family Christmas tradition, we watch it every year. It is the best Christmas movie!

We ate a late dinner at the Garden Cafe buffet, and we were treated to some yummy holiday treats: ham, eggnog, yule logs, and more. We made sure to get a picture with the "washy washy" lady, who exclaims "washy washy happy happy!" every time you enter the buffet and sprays your hands with sanitizer, haha. We'd brought more games with us up to the Cafe, and we snagged an empty table in the back and played until the last show at the Stardust, the Christmas Spectacular. It was a fun show, but not quite as good as the other shows we had seen throughout the week.

Afterward, we headed to bed, sad to be ending Christmas Day and our fun filled Christmas cruise!

Day 9: Disembark in Tampa, Florida

We woke up back in the United States :( we had packed our bags the night before, so we just headed up to the buffet for breakfast. Michael ate his last pile of bacon before we grabbed our bags from our rooms and headed off the Jade!

We absolutely loved going on a cruise over our long break from Utah--it was the perfect vacation for the Nielson family! We were so grateful to have that time together, adventuring and bonding. Dustan especially enjoyed getting to know my family even better. And right after the cruise, we got another week of constant, quality time together.... Because we headed over to Orlando to hit up Disney World and Universal Studios!! They will be up next on the blog!

Christmas with the Nielsons

Christmas break this year was packed with adventures! BYU blessed Dustan (and therefore me by association) with THREE WEEKS OF CHRISTMAS BREAK. It was amazing. And since Dustan had his only two finals early during finals week, we actually got nearly four weeks of break. If you ever talk to us at all or follow us on social media, you already know that we flew to Florida and went on a cruise through the Western Caribbean (blog post up!) and spent a few days exploring what Orlando had to offer--which of course meant Disney World and Universal Studios (blog up!). We were able to still have a bit of fun in Washington before and after our trip.

We arrived in Kirkland on a Tuesday evening after an uneventful (thankfully) drive. We had left around 5:00 am so that we could make it to my little brother Michael's band concert. He is in 6th grade playing the tuba! It was awesome, and the flute players need to learn how to tune their instruments ;)

That week was just spent relaxing. Most everyone was still working and in school, so we got our extra sleep, did some Christmas shopping, and ate too much food. We played a lot of games and didn't watch nearly as many movies as we normally do. We also loved spending time at my grandparents house--we love having them live so close in Seattle area!

One game we played a lot was Super Battle Pets. Sounds ridiculous? Well, it's awesome. It is a card game that my brother Samuel designed and created completely on his own: the rules, the pictures on the cards, the rulebook, etc. It make look/sound silly and childish, but it really is an awesome game for all ages. Yes, I am shamelessly trying to sell it to you :) HERE is the link if you are interested in buying it (his website with more instructions is HERE)! We seriously played it dozens of times over break and plan on playing it way more. We've played it with a few friends and they also loved it.

Christmas day was going to be spent on the Norwegian Cruise Line's Jade cruise ship. As a result, many of our Nielson family Christmas traditions were put off in lieu of this adventure. We didn't put up and decorate a tree and we weren't attending the Nielson family Christmas Eve party, and we were doing minimal presents. Obviously we didn't bring our presents with us on the cruise, so we celebrated the material part of Christmas beforehand. The morning before we flew to Florida for our adventures, we opened presents! Our presents were stacked nicely on a table in the living room. We had fun spending that morning together and playing with some of our games. After opening presents, we ate baked french toast--like we do every year.

That afternoon, we began packing and flew to Tampa! We were on an 8 day cruise through the Western Caribbean. Afterward, we traveled to Orlando and spent one day at Universal Studios and three days at Disney World. We flew back to Seattle two weeks after leaving.

After the trip, Dustan and I just had just under a week before we needed to get back to Utah for his classes. We did much of the same--eating, sleeping, and playing games. We did spend one afternoon in downtown Seattle, playing games and eating even more good food :) We walked around Pike Place, ate macaroni and cheese from Beecher's and pastries from Piroshky Piroshky Bakery, and took many pictures.

On the way out of downtown, we stopped by Kerry Park and Nielsen's Pastries. Kerry Park has a beautiful skyline view of Seattle with Mount Rainier in the background. Nielsen's Pastries has been frequented by the Nielson family for years. We love their "potatoes" especially, a custard filled pastry with a marzipan topping.

Finally, it was time to head back to Utah :( We loved all the adventures we had in Washington (and Florida and the Caribbean haha) over Christmas break! Next up on the blog: OUR CRUISE! Thanks for reading!

Fall Fun!

There is so much to do in Utah Valley in the fall! Unfortunately, Dustan is also in full swing with his mechanical engineering master's program and keeps busy. We always find the time to get out and have some fun :)

One of the first things we did when we reached Utah was go camping at our favorite spot in the Nebo Loop up Pole Canyon. (We have gone camping here every fall since we have been married, we wrote about it a little more here.) Our absolute favorite spot was actually taken, but after driving up the road just a few more minutes we found a spot almost just as good and way easier to drive to--just slightly less beautiful. We went with our good friends Ashlee and Adam, once again. Highlights of the camping trip: it only rained for about 30 minutes, roasted brats and starburst, seeing mama deer and her babies, playing lots of games of horseshoe, and shooting clay pigeons with our shotgun.

We hiked Mount Timp a few weeks after school started, but that feat deserved it's own blog post! I preferred the camping, personally ;)

I had a couple days off in October while all the Utah schools went on Fall Break. So I hung out with Dustan! On Thursday I accompanied him to his lab and tried out their sweet virtual reality system (an HTC Vive)--it totally blew my mind. On Friday, we drove up near Brighton Ski Resort and did a couple short hikes/walks. We were hoping the hikes would still have a few fall colors on the trees, but alas, it was mostly dead up there, haha. Willow Lake would be absolutely gorgeous with the fall colors, so we hope to go up again next year before it's this late.

Willow Lake

Silver Lake

One of the main staples of fun during the fall semester in Provo is the sporting events. As usual, we purchased BYU All Sports Passes (I almost cried because I couldn't get a student priced pass anymore). We made it to most of the football and basketball games this semester, and a couple women's soccer games. We loved being able to go to the games, cheer on our school, and hang out with friends that we otherwise don't get to spend too much time with.

BYU Football vs. Southern Utah

BYU Football vs. Southern Utah

For Thanksgiving, Dustan and I were blessed to be able to take off an entire week to go hang out with our Kraus family! We really packed in the fun that week--enough to make up for our boringness the rest of the semester ;) That trip was blogged about here, though.

Recently, Costco held a BYU alumni event. The first ten people at the alumni event would receive a free one year Costco membership. So naturally, we sat in 20 degree weather for two hours before Costco opened and we won a free membership!

And that was about our last exciting thing before we head off to Christmas break in Washington!!

A Kraus Family Thanksgiving

Our first Thanksgiving together was just a few months after we were married. We went to Colorado to spend just a few short days with the Kraus family. After two years (switching off with my Nielson family), we went back! That first Thanksgiving together back in 2014 was before we started a blog, so I'll post just a few picture highlights from back then :)

Hiked to the top of Castle Rock in Castle Rock, CO

The farthest our Honda Civic has ever gone on one tank of gas...

16 mile bike ride as soon as we arrived, typical Kraus fam ;)

Took some early Christmas photos in downtown Castle Rock :)

And fast forward to now, we went back to Denver for Thanksgiving with the Krauses again in 2016! This time, I convinced Dustan to skip a couple days of school, so we left the Friday before Thanksgiving and were there for over a week until the following Sunday! It was wonderful.

We arrived just barely 15 minutes after Bryson and Taylor, who are now living in El Paso, Texas while Bryson is in medical school. Sadly, this means we got the small guest bedroom. Only half the family was there the first couple days while Jen, Bryan, and Erin were in Arizona for a cross country race.

Our first day there on Saturday, we did the typical Kraus activities. We went mountain biking, went to Levi's piano recital, played games, and watched a movie. The mountain biking trails still had some snow on them, so it was a very muddy ride--only minimal injuries though!

Awful picture for everyone, haha

Sunday was spent going to 1:00 pm church (the worst), eating, playing games, and watching movies. At around midnight, we left to go to the airport to pick up the rest of the family. It was time to party!

Monday was our first day with the whole family--unfortunately, the kids still had school. We pulled out the youngest, Levi, around lunchtime and did some more mountain biking. (It was supposed to snow on Tuesday, so we wanted to go before the trails were ruined wet again.) We did a 5 mile loop from the house, and I was able to make it to the last 10 yards of the trail before crashing! After a short break for lunch, we drove to a nearby bmx style biking course with jumps and banked turns and rode around there until the high school kids got home and joined us for some indian ball.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent doing some shopping in downtown Castle Rock, and the usual games and movies that the Kraus family loves so much. It had snowed Monday night so the usual mountain biking, outdoor sports, etc. were out for Tuesday. The snow made for perfect hot tubbing on Tuesday night though!

But on Wednesday enough snow had melted, so we again went to a park to play some games, such as football and ultimate frisbee. Afterward, we visited the Red Rocks Amphitheater, which is an outdoor concert area within the Red Rocks Park. It was pretty neat. Bryson and Taylor serenaded us on their guitar and fiddle.

Thanksgiving Day arrived! We spent the morning cooking up all the best dishes: turkey, candied pecan sweet potatoes, raspberry pretzel jello, mashed potatoes, carrot timble, and of course MORE PIE. Everyone in the family weighed themselves before the meal and again afterward to see how much weight they had gained. We sat down for an absolutely delicious meal around 3 pm (the Krauses like to eat early) before weighing ourselves again. Dustan gained 4 pounds and I gained 2.8 pounds, haha. We spent the rest of the day fat and happy, watching movies, playing games, and eating pie.

Most of Friday was spent at the Epic Sky Trek Challenge in Castle Rock. If the workers are to be believed, this is the largest ropes course in the world! It has over 110 different challenges and obstacles. Aside from losing feeling in my hands and scraping off the skin on a few fingers, it was a blast! There were different levels of courses, rated similar to biking or skiing, with green, blue, and black courses. Everyone tried a few each. That evening we played more games and watched the 5k episode of The Office in preparation for Saturday morning.

Saturday was our last full day :( That morning, we participated in the Stake 5k Turkey Trot. Honestly, I don't think anyone in the family was looking forward to it (except maybe Bryant and Erin, since they just finished their cross country season), but we all participated! Dustan and I had been doing no training for this whatsoever, and we definitely aren't runners. A 5k was much farther than anything we had just run in a while (since we've been married). Dustan had the goal to never walk and my goal was to actually finish the race without walking a majority of it, haha. Dustan did great, completing the race in 24:51 minutes, which is an 8 minute mile pace. Thankfully, Jen and Paul ran with me and kept me going, or I don't know if I would have finished! I completed my first 5k in 34:29 minutes, which is about an 11:06 minute mile pace. We both met our goals!

Just before sunset on Saturday, we got all dressed up and took some family pictures. It was absolutely freezing, especially once the sun went down. But they turned out great! Only a few tears were shed, which is apparently a new record for the Krauses during family pictures ;) The rest of the day was spend vegging out, watching movies, and playing games.

On Sunday, we went to church, ate some lunch, packed the car, and we were off! We were really so blessed to have been able to spend a whole week in Denver with family. They were so good to Dustan and I--feeding us, housing us, taking us on adventures, and serving us. We are very thankful for them, and to have them living so close that we can travel there for a short week!

Whole30

Over the past year or so, I have been feeling really dissatisfied about our health, especially my own. First and foremost, our eating habits were horrendous. We began limiting our eating out budget at the beginning of 2016, which was beneficial. But we were eating large desserts (like ice cream with a side of popcorn and soda) many times a week. We did not have a good balance of fruits and veggies compared to carbs. My portion sizes were much larger than they needed to be. In addition to this, we were not very consistent in exercising--Dustan did more through all the sports teams he participates on and through biking to school and work. Neither of us were at our healthiest, and I had gained more weight than I would like to admit since our wedding.

When I first began realizing that something needed to change, some friends tried out Whole30. After some research and discussions with Dustan, I decided that this was something that I wanted to try--not as a permanent lifestyle change, but just to help jumpstart new, more healthy habits.

For those of you that don't know what Whole30 is, the website can tell you all! But basically, it is a diet that has you abstain from added sugars, grains, alcohol, legumes, and dairy for 30 days. Does that sound crazy? Because yes, it was crazy. And one other caveat--no weighing yourself for the duration!

We started the Whole30 near the end of September and continued through mid-October. And yes, we finished! And yes, it was REALLY HARD. I obsessed with meal planning those 30 days. If I didn't plan, there was nothing really substantial that we could just eat on the fly. Try making a quick and mildly good tasting meal using basically only protein, vegetables, or fruits.

But anyway. Here is just a brief summary on how Dustan and I felt throughout the 30 days. The first week for me was actually easier than the rest of the time, probably just because of the novelty of the program. Our fridge was stocked and I was trying out some new recipes and we were eating good sized portions. The second week was similar to the first, though I had a few more cravings--and not my usual chocolate cravings, but for any regular foods. That second week, I was also shocked at how quickly our groceries ran out. The third week, we really started getting sick of the foods we were eating. There just wasn't a ton of variety. But by then, we were already halfway through, so we were committed! The last week was actually the hardest, I think. On the Whole30 website, they provide and timeline that they think people follow during the diet. That last week they described how people would panic about what they would eat once they finished the diet. We did not have that problem! The cravings were the worst during that last week. I thought about food constantly, and all the things I wanted to eat once we finished.

But even with many negatives that we seemed to feel during the diet, I really do have some positives to list. (I didn't notice many of the positives until once we started eating normally again though, haha.) So, here are some thoughts, realizations, and impacts from each of us!

Ellen:

• Fell asleep faster and didn't wake up as much
• Lost 11 pounds
• Clearer skin
• Pants are looser
• At first, had a hard time getting satisfied/full
• Felt satisfied on less food by the end
• Same amount of energy
• After finishing the diet, would feel sick after eating others foods
• This diet is expensive!

In general, I thought that Whole30 is a great way for people (like me) to realize how unhealthily we are eating and what impact that can have. I don't want to live on protein, vegetables, and fruit. I think there is good in others foods, and that I need to treat myself sometimes. I am hoping to incorporate more Whole30 recipes into our regular meals.

Dustan:

• Never felt really satisfied/full after a meal
• Lost 11 pounds
• Hungry much quicker
• Could see his abs better ;)
• Same amount of energy

After finishing, Dustan wanted to note that limiting sugars is really important, which is one of the rules of Whole30. But Dustan doesn't agree that grains should be limited (they are the bottom of the food pyramid!), but there are healthier grain choices. He is also willing to try and be more healthy, especially after finishing this experience.

We have set some new goals for ourselves on how often we will be exercising, eating treats, etc. Hopefully, we can get our health back on track with less extreme action!