Mexican Riviera Cruise/9th Anniversary

This year we decided to go on a cruise for our anniversary! We went on a 7-night Mexican Riviera cruise with Royal Caribbean aboard the "Mariner of the Seas". This was our first cruise we've taken.



We decided to go formal. :)







Zac especially loved the dining experience: Lamb shank, es cargo, shrimp, duck - you name it!

It felt Titanic-ish! :)



Because we happened to be sharing the ocean with Hurricane Jimena, we spent an extra day at sea before we arrived at a port. We traveled and extra 700 miles to get out of his way and didn't get any closer than 200 miles away. :( Yes, Zac and I wanted to get closer to the Hurricane!

We had one pretty rough day at see where there was more water out of the pools than in so they just emptied them. We didn't see too many people that day - everyone was sick in their rooms.

Zac fell asleep out by the pool for 4+ hours and got FRIED! He thought it'd been less than an hour. Needless to say, we didn't spend anymore time in the sun. :(

Anyway, we did our itinerary in reverse order. So, Puerto Vallarta was our first stop. First thing we see when we pull in to dock? Wal-Mart! It was extremely humid and uncomfortable! Puerto Vallarta had cobblestone streets. We had a blast shopping!



Senor Frogs was a highlight of Puerto Vallarta.



Our 2nd port was Mazatlan. Amazing boardwalk & beaches. Too bad Zac was fried and didn't feel like being in the sun. Instead, we found an AMAZING cab driver who ended up being our personal tour guide. He had air conditioning, spoke English well, and took us to some amazing views. He spent time doing what we wanted to see and telling us what we wanted to know about. Amazing. I personally think he's a Mormon.



It wasn't until I saw this view that I realized how gigantic our ship was!



Drinking coconut water. I never knew coconuts were full of water!



Our favorite place by far was Cabo San Lucas!
We got to hold & pet a baby tiger...





We also did an underwater sea helmet dive. We road a boat out to a diving platform and put on wetsuits. Then we put a 70 lb. helmet on our heads as we walked down a ladder about 20 ft. underwater. Underwater the helmet only felt about 15 lbs. The concept of the helmet is the same as an overturned glass of water on a solid surface -if the glass is level, the water stays in. So, we had to stay upright or we were in trouble. We also had an oxygen supply hooked up to the helmet. It was so much fun! I was the biggest one without weights so I had the most buoyancy and I had a lot of fun with it. It was kind pretty much a gravity free experience. There were thousands of fish and they had us feed them. One of the couples with us said they would e-mail us the pics they took with their underwater cameras but we are pretty doubtful after over 2 months.



Cabo San Lucas was also our favorite shopping experience. We had so much fun we had to spend every last dollar we'd brought. Our girls loved all of their fun gifts we bought them.

Despite Zac's awful sunburn that lasted 2 weeks, we had the time of our lives! I wish we could cruise the entire world (land & sea) on a cruise ship!

Ms. Accident Prone

Sunday right after church Emily decided to dive off a bar stool face first onto our tile.

Before:



After:





This is not the first time she has done this. The first time it was head first off her high chair several months ago. Thankfully, this time she didn't vomit. She screamed pretty hard and pretty much fell right to sleep (WebMD said this is okay!). When she woke up she was back to normal - well except her bruised forehead and eye. One of these days I'm afraid we won't be so lucky. :(

Favorite Zucchini Recipes From Mom

I have so much Zucchini & pick more & more everyday! Does anyone (that lives close) want any Zucchini?

Zucchini Cake

1/2 cup margarine or butter
1/2 cup oil
1 3/4 cup sugar

cream together

2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 rounded Tbl cocoa
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
2 cups grated zucchini

mix well

1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

put half of chips & nuts in dough & half on top or any combination you desire.

Bake at 325 for 50-55 minutes.



Zucchini Bread

3 eggs well beaten
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
3 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Combine beaten eggs with oil, sugar, zucchini, & vanilla. MIX WELL.
Add soda, salt, cinnamon, & baking powder. MIX WELL.
Add flour to mixture blending well. Stir in nuts.

Grease & lightly flour two 5x9x4" loaf pans.

Pour batter into pans. Bake at 350 for about 1 hour or until bread tests done. Let cool in pan 10 minutes then remove from pans to continue cooling.



Zucchini Casserole

6 cups unpeeled, sliced zucchini
1 onion cut as desired
1 tsp salt

BOIL in water 5 minutes. Drain. Then add:

1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup shredded carrot
1 8 oz. container of sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (*optional)

STIR well. Pour into a 9x13 casserole dish (cake pan)

In a separate bowl stir until well coated.

1 cube of melted butter
1 package of stuffing mix (including seasoning) or bread crumbs

Sprinkle stuffing/butter mixture over the top of casserole.
BAKE at 350 for 30 minutes or until golden brown & bubbly.

*funny note: I received this casserole recipe from my mom over the phone several years ago and wrote down the "1 cup shredded cheddar cheese". Come to find out later the recipe shouldn't have included the cheese. I love the cheese in it and have always included it - but my mom doesn't.

Crawford Family "Day"

My family after going through the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House...







Temples I've been in:

Las Vegas (open house)
San Diego (open house)
Navuoo (open house)
Draper (open house)
Oquirrh Mountain (open house)
St. George
Salt Lake City
Denver
Logan
Mount Timpanogos
Manti

So many more close one's I need to go to!

My Newest Pride & Joy: My Garden

When we bought our house over 2 1/2 years ago we thought we had it made - our landscaping was complete! Our first summer we found out that a steep hill of grass in our backyard wasn't going to work. The grassy hill was almost impossible to keep green (water runs down hills) or mow because of the steepness. We needed a retaining wall.

Our neighbors that border our backyard wanted to put a fence in but also had a retaining issue. They put in a row of boulders on their side of the property line & then installed a fence above. We couldn't complain much as we didn't pay for any of it & also gained a couple feet of property (unofficially).

So... we made do with what we had & this is what we did:

It has been a lot of work but I have thoroughly enjoyed the benefits: strawberries, squash, peas, carrots, lettuce, onions, tomatoes & maybe cucumbers, watermelon, corn & pumpkins!

July 4th

Emily managed to burn Zac's shorts and burn some of her hair off - all caught on video!

Ashley's Dance Production

"The Lion King"

Ashley's Pre-School Program

School is over for Ashley this year. :(

Thursday afternoon her class had a program where they sang some of the songs that they learned. Ashley's song was "Cathy Cook".

The words are: Good Morning Cathy Cook, Make something good for me. There are lots of yummy things that start with letter "c". Cookies, candy canes, cupcakes and a coke. Carrots, corn and cauliflower almost make me croak!

Zac's New Pride & Joy

A few month's ago Zac found a great deal on a chopper. Of course he needed to "make it his own" so it spent several weeks in the shop getting a new paint job...

He was so excited so he got new jacket, chaps, boots, etc. but had no motorcycle to drive! So he would take his scooter for little rides. I never actually saw it or I'm sure I would have taken a picture!

And now his new bike is his pride and joy!

I enjoy his $3.00 gas fill-ups!

Emily's 1st Birthday!

For Emily's 1st birthday, I decided to "do" her hair for the first time...



Her face explains why I'd put it off so long. :)

I really should know better, but I decided to do an experiment with the frosting on the cupcakes. I put punch powder in it to give it a fruity flavor/color. It was horrible! VERY tart/tangy - I would say I put at least twice as much powder in it as I should have. It wouldn't be a birthday at our house if we had a decent tasting cake!

I didn't think she'd want to touch the flame!



Ouch! Fire hurts!

Daddy always makes it better...

Pay It Forward

The Rules1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!

2. Winners must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your Three Friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love!If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! SO, REMEMBER... it is good... :) Pass it forward.