Thanks for Thanksgiving!!

We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I will let them do most the talking.

We made it to California in a short trip. Besides pulling over because smoke was coming out of the vents, a everything went well :)

We got to the Goodman's house and did a LOT of this:

Nertz, for those of you who don't know us.

So for some weird reason, we thought we were supposed to check in a 4:00 PM. It was about 3:45 when we got out our itinerary to see what address we should put in our GPS, when we noticed that check-in was from 12:30-3:30!!!!! The boat left the port at 5:00! We were so stressed. We thought we were going to miss our cruise! We had to call and say we were late, and run from our car to the port! According to pictures you can buy in the boat, we were 13th to the last on the boat, but we made it!

This picture is on the bridge from check-in to the boat, so we weren't rushed anymore, but we're probably still sweating!

It was Bobby's first cruise, so it was fun to explore the boat with him. This boat had clubs, theaters, restaurants, ping pong tables, pools, hot tubs, a library, a mini-golf course, a slide, basketball court, shuffleboard, lots of places to lay out, and more I'm sure that I can't think of. They're huge! I remember the first cruise I went on just being in awe of how big it was! And it's floating!

We got an oceanview room because with the military discounts we got, it was cheaper than an interior cabin. And it was so pretty! It was always a shock whether we'd see land or water outside.

We had a very spacious room too! Maybe it's the fact that I shared a room with all my siblings last time, but we definitely could have fit two more in our room (Jacksons!).

Bobby's phone was still getting GPS in the middle of the ocean. "Middle" being relative.

Here we are at Catalina.

We rented a golf cart and drove around the island. It was surprisingly really fun! We got to see all these cool sights and shops.

We were like the only young people on board. I'm sure everyone thought we were on our honeymoon.

Ensenada was a fun day too! It was warm so a lot of the day we sat out and got sun. Sunburned mostly, no tan. But we had to get off the ship because that was our first time out of the country together :) It's helpful that Bobby knows Spanish, too. He got to talk to some of the natives. We walked around the little shops (Bobby got a shirt) and we got a couples massage!

I was so sad when the cruise ended. I'd like to do a longer one next time :) I wish we would have gotten a picture of our cute Philippine waiter too. And we randomly met up with the Gundersons from our ward on the cruise too! It was so funny. We played ping pong, shuffleboard, and went to a comedy show together. What a great time we had on that Carnival Paradise.

On Friday morning we got right off the ship and headed to Knottsberry Farm with the Goodmans. We got in for free because we're a military family. This was a scary ride we're on. Look how tightly our hands are clasped.

Carly and I went on this straight up, straight down one. Only lasts 15 seconds. It was scarrry but one of my favorites. Bobby- not so much.

After Knottsberry Farm we headed to San Diego to another free admission to Sea World! I had been to Sea World when I was little, but I didn't remember what to expect. Bobby and I LOVED it! Everything except for the crazy expensive lunch. People were feeding sea lions and they'd get so close, I'd pull my hand back because I was scared they were going to bite me.

Of course we watched Shamu(s). We got to the show early to get good seats, but I kept getting nervous we'd get splashed and be cold the rest of the day, so we changed seats four times. Eventually Bobby refused to move anymore, and we were still close up so we had a great view, but we didn't get wet. But people on both sides of us and in front of us did!

They let you pet the dolphins! Probably my favorite part of Sea World. They are so friendly! I was standing next to this man who was making them come to him like crazy. He would clap his hands under water and it would make them come. If you ever go to Sea World, try it out!

To my dismay, Bobby wanted to go to a pet show at Sea World, which I thought would be dumb, but it was actually awesome. I never knew they could train cats! And pigs! And birds! It was actually, yeah awesome, like I said. But we have no pictures.

From San Diego we headed North to St. George for a Marshall reunion. I have zero pictures! But I stole some from facebook. One thing I love is family reunions. We played games, ate a marvelous Thanksgiving feast, swam in the pool, went skating, visited a volcano...

went to Zion's National Park...

ran in a race (Bobby got fourth overall!), visited my first ever apartment, and went Black Friday shopping. Black Friday was quite an experience. My mom, sister and aunts went together to Target at about 11:00 to wait for the opening at midnight. There were still 900 people in front of us! (Someone counted). I got up the courage to ask people at the front of the line to buy something for my aunt (two iPod touches). A lot of people were rude, but we found this cute 16 year old who offered to buy them for us! We trusted him with over $400 cash! Luckily, he got them! But the best part about St. George was seeing my family. It was another sad goodbye.

But after two weeks it felt good to be home! We got home and the next night headed to Mesa for a couples slumber party with the Jacksons:) We went to the Mesa temple to see the temple lights and see the nativities.

It made me really miss Chelsea because there were so many cute sister missionaries. That, and Christmas time always reminds me of my beloved Jerusalem, which we share memories together. This picture is of a nativity set from Chile.

We got home and got to decorate our house for Christmas. Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love the music, the lights, the memories, the anticipation, wrapping gifts, the smells, the jam-packed stores, and everything about it. I think the world loves Christmastime because as we think of Christ more often the whole community is blessed with the spirit. I think that what people call the "Christmas Spirit" is the same spirit we feel any other time of the year when we think about the Savior. And I love that Thanksgiving is right before Christmas. It prepares us for the next season of just giving thanks for our Savior. And I love that New Years is right after Christmas. We can think of the Savior for a season, then commit ourselves to being more like him.

This is our beautiful tree. Bobby went Black Friday shopping by himself and landed this beauty. 7.5 feet, pre-lit and very full! He did so well! And Alice was so kind to send us a bunch of ornaments from his childhood. Our tree only had one ornament before that box.

We are sure thankful for our Thanksgiving break.