the day we went to cozumel

 

The first stop of our journey was Cozumel.

And as you can tell, it was absolutely breathtaking.

I had a ball snapping these shots.

(sorry for the picture overload--it was so difficult narrowing it down to even this many!)

This day consisted of a relaxing day on the most beautiful beach.

And yes...with any beach, you will find my 23 year old husband building sandcastles.

Oh, Cozumel--thanks for treating us so well!

I love you because...

About a year ago, Taylor and I heard an elderly man give advice to another married couple.

He said, "You should make sure not to only tell your spouse "I love you," but also tell them why you love them.  Try telling your spouse "I love you because..."

I turned to Taylor and said, "What a cute idea! I think we should do that!"

Right on cue, Taylor whispered in my ear, "I love you because." 

That was it. No reason following the "because." Just the four words "I love you because."

After all, that is what the man actually said--to tell your spouse "I love you because." Clearly, he implied to put a reason behind it--but Taylor took it and ran with it. 

I should have known that he would have done something witty like that.

It's now become a somewhat sentimental joke.

We frequently tell one another, "Hey, I love you because."

And it always makes us both smile.

So for Valentine's day, I turned this inside joke into a somewhat creative idea.

I don't take credit for this idea by any means.

You see, my thought was to write something cutesy on the line...but, once again, my husband has taken the sentimental thought and turned it into something funny and witty.

I think this is why I love him so much. 

He always keeps me laughing.

P.S. More cruise posts to come tonight!

the night we all had two desserts...and then ordered room service

The desserts on the cruise were to die for.

And the best part--you don't pay for any of them!

So you can get as many as you want.

We definitely took advantage.

On this particular night, everyone (except Papa Gilbert) ordered two desserts.

And I'm not ashamed to admit that it was absolutely wonderful!

(sad Papa Gilbert for only ordering one...mistake.)

 We also got to celebrate G&G Gilbert's anniversary!

You know what else is free on a cruise?
Room service!
For some reason, the fact that it was completely free made it more fun.
So after our huge dinner and two desserts, Tay and I ordered room service.
Go ahead...call us fatties.
We totally deserve it.
Our bellies were so full.
But, oh so happy.

the day that it was windy

Cruise post #2!

The first day at sea was extremely windy--much to our chagrin.

But we found plenty of fun things to keep us busy.

This soft-serve yogurt machine was our good friend all week.

I stopped counting how many we had after the second day--it was too embarrassing. ;)

Day 2 was also our first formal night!

Taylor and I tried taking an artsy photo...but it didn't quite turn out the way we had hoped. ha

Oh well! Here was our best attempt:

The handsome Gilbert men and their bowties.

I sure do love this husband of mine.

Tomorrow is Cozumel!
Beautiful pictures to come!

the day that we boarded

Here is the first of many cruise posts!

On Friday night, the whole Gilbert fam flew to New Orleans.

One scary, yet funny, memory: Taylor and I were staying with his grandparents at a different hotel than  the rest of the Gilbert family.  One of the hotel attendants at the first hotel offered to take Taylor and I to the other hotel when she got off of work so that we didn't have to pay for a taxi. Nice, right? 

She dropped us off, and we thanked her as we got out, and then walked to the trunk to get our luggage...when suddenly, she starts to drive away!...WITH OUR LUGGAGE!

My heart dropped while Taylor booked it after the car and started banging on the door to get her to stop.

I'm being optimistic and hoping she wasn't really planning on taking our luggage--but it sure was potentially disastrous.

But, all ended well, and we got our luggage!
However...the luggage woes didn't end there.
If you've never been on a cruise here's how luggage works: you drop it off before boarding the ship with a tag that has your room number.
Throughout the day, they will take the luggage and bring it to your room.
It minimizes craziness.
Anyways...by about 5pm, we still didn't have our luggage.
And it seemed that everyone else had.
We asked a few people who said they would look for it.
We had to go to dinner in our jeans (which is a no-no), because we had no luggage!
We felt so out of place.
Still no luggage when 9pm rolls around.

It was quite the stress issue though--two luggage scares in less than 24 hours?
I just kept telling Taylor, "What will we do if our luggage is not on the ship?? They probably won't even have clothes on the ship that will fit me--there's no kids section!" haha
I was also ready to demand a shopping spree (paid by the cruise-line of course) every day to get new clothes. ;)

It wasn't until 11pm that we FINALLY found it.
The tags fell off on all THREE of our bags--ironic, right?
But...it all worked out in the end!

After boarding the ship on Saturday, it was a lot of waiting around as we anxiously awaited for the ship to leave the New Orleans wind!

Here's Grandpa Gilbert singing along at the Fudgery to get free fudge.

It was possibly the funniest and cutest thing ever.

 

Gilbert siblings :)

And finally--we were off to warmth and sunshine.