birthday time

I had yet another birthday!  Feels great to be 28!!

My mother-in-law went out of her way to get the kids involved while we were cruising.  She sure knows how to make a gal feel special.  We came home to the cutest cake I ever did see.  Custom decorated rainbow cupcakes in the shape of an M for Mommy.  Melt my heart please!

hard at work getting it all set

They were so proud and excited to show me, oh how I love those sweeties.

We found these precious hand stones baking in the oven when we arrived too:)  What a treasure!

My gal pals and I had a great time celebrating too.  Gecko Grill was fabulous!  I had a shrimp taco and fish taco with mango!

We had to try for another group shot after the blurry shot at dinner.  Here we are at Sweet Tooth Fairy!

They have the BEST cupcakes!! (I picked the cookie dough cupcake)

We were also celebrating Kristin and Amber's birthdays (us 3 squeezed together).  Such a fun group of gals, love them all!

I hinted to Cody a clean house is always a winner birthday surprise in my book, so he got the kids on board and went to work while I was out:)

Love me some birthday goodies.

The next morning was my actual birthday.  I awoke to these lovelies on my nightstand (Cody made good use of our front yard bush;).  Very thoughtful:)

These cards warm my heart (Jaden and I eating cupcakes together and Brielle is always sure to have every crayon in the box well represented:)

My sweet friend, Jen, surprised me with this chocolatey goodness and a book from Thomas S. Monson recounting tender mercies and personal revelations from his life.  He has such inspirational stories... it has been a treat to read!  (Even better... it's a pass along book so once I complete it, I get to pass it on to another family... how awesome is that?!)

those sweet Beehives are always good for a heart attack, love them!

Abby is a total sweetheart and brought these beauties over... gerber daises are a fave of mine!

It's no wonder I didn't lose my cruise pounds easily... oh the goodness!

can't go wrong with my favorite german chocolate cake!

the husband knows me well
(and he surprised me with Olive Garden take-out for lunch too! mmmm)

 after a day of sweet delights, I still got a night-out with my one and only

he surprised me with his traditional love song mix for our date night serenades... love him!

I'm not the only one that uses the selfie camera for touch-ups, right? ;)

 We went to the cutest, most quaint pizza restaurant ever!  Right in the heart of old-town Gilbert. 

Oreganos is coming to Queen Creek too!  Loved it!  (and this beautiful pizzookie was free!)

Sure grateful for friends, family, siblings, parents, in-laws, etc. that make for such a special birthday!  

Thank you for making this 28 year old feel like a million bucks:)

we be cruisin'

A couple years ago I booked a cruise to surprise Cody for graduation.  We ended up canceling our trip when we had a lot come up with selling our home, moving, redirecting our job plans, etc.  I called earlier last month just to check and see if we still had our credit.  Luckily we did, but we only had a few days left to book the cruise before it expired!  What!?!  I was almost certain I had another 12 months, but whatevs.  So we quickly booked a cruise, booked a flight for Cody's mom to fly in to watch the kids, and made plans for our get-away!

We went with a 3-day Baja Mexican Cruise, sailing from LA (just a 6 hr drive away).

It was kind of surreal not having to worry about anyone or anything really.  Just road trippin, and uninterrupted adult conversation... awww so nice.

ready to board

exploring the ship . enjoying the view

sunset

late night mini golf (no matter how much I tried, I couldn't beat the man at his own game)

I was a pretty dang good contender in chess and ping pong though ;)

cruise ship night life

1st time trying alligator fritters!

I think a highlight of the trip was catching up on sleep.  Wonderful sleep!!

Here we are enjoying breakfast after sleeping in nice and long... (well as long as my built-in momma clock would allow that is).

these guys were everywhere!  standing by for any abandoned grub...

Hello Ensenada!

oh the desserts

seriously.. the seagulls were all over it!  here they are chowing down someone's lunch.

had the course all to ourselves :)

spotted these guys while atop the boat

then it was time to check out Ensenada!!

Beautiful!

La Bufadora was most impressive

as was the flea market

we went for 2 rounds of the $1 fish tacos! so so good!

spotted some lion cubs

Cody couldn't leave without his favorite apple manzana!

we've sailed carnival before so we were bumped up to the red VIFP club membership.. woot!  

(I think the only advantage was complimentary liter-size water bottles, but we'll take it!)

and look how the bunch of sea lions grew while we were out!

a look at our loot from the flea market (stuff for the kiddos, Grammie, and our traditional mug collectable)

Elegant night!

he would...

After our fancy shmancy dinner and getting to know a bunch of fun couples, we changed and hit up the comedy club.  I guess I'm getting older since I couldn't keep my eyes open past 10pm!  But it was great nonetheless:)

The next morning we hit the gym to try and work off all the food we had indulged in... we got a bit dizzy though with the front of the boat swaying so we hit up some shuffleboard instead:)

Cody was all over the Mongolian Wok (stir-fry bar)

(our lunch time view)

pina colada baby

some afternoon entertainment (game show and newlywed game!)

competed in the cornhole tournament!

didn't take home the prize, but we got some pretty sweet medals for it;)

it was kind of chilly for the WaterWorks park being February, but why not?

nothing but ocean :)

that self-serve ice cream... got us every time.

one more dressy night just for fun

back to Cali we came! such an amazing trip!

We stopped in South Pasadena on our way out to see our dear friends, the Becks.  Love them!  Always so good to see them again.

Thank you Grammie Cutler for coming out to watch the kids!  Couldn't have done it without you!  They had all kinds of fun... glow sticks in the bath, arts & crafts, science experiments, movie night, birthday surprises for mommy, chick-fil-A run, and more.  She's the best!

Oh how we missed our kiddos, but are so grateful for the time to relax, recharge, and reconnect.  Get-aways with the husband are the best!