Alaskan Cruise - Days 2 & 3

Our second day was spent at sea.  We only got two of these days and quite honestly, I love them!  When we were in a port, we'd be running from place to place not wanting to miss anything.  It was quite exhausting.

So I really enjoyed the days at sea where we could read a good book, listen to the bands play and catch some shows.

Speaking of bands, let's talk about this one for a minute.  They were my favorite!  Here are these guys from the Philippines who could play and sing ANY song you requested.  (And they could sound like any singer!)  Their name was the Rockport Band.  We ended up listening to them several nights.  One night was Karaoke night and they were the back-up band!  Brent and Nate gave it a try and rocked it with them!

 Mom is such a good sport and even participated in the hula hoop contest.

 And how cute are they after 50 years of marriage?  So sweet!

 And then Jody and Thury joined in!

Day 3 - Our first port was in Ketchikan. 

 Such a cute picturesque town.  Looks like something you'd see on a postcard.

 This was one of the few ports where we didn't have an excursion or anything planned.  We got off the ship, found out the schedule for the bus in town, and took it to Totem Bight Stake Park.  We took a little hike around the park, viewing the totem poles, and thoroughly enjoying the gorgeous weather!

 Then we headed back to town and ate lunch at this Fish House which sat right on the water.  Yummy fish and chips and great company as we caught up with Grace & Thury!

After lunch, we hit the touristy shops for some souvenirs.  Little did we know we would see the same type of souvenir shops at every other port we would stop at it!

 And this is just funny.  You know how they display all of the photos they've taken of you on the ship?  We loved this 8x10 of me and Brent -- with his head chopped off.  We gave the ship's photographer a hard time about this one! :)

Alaskan Cruise - Bon Voyage

 So Brent and I will be celebrating our 20th anniversary this year.  So hard to believe! We had fun dreaming of all the places we'd like to celebrate in -- mainly tropical islands or my dream trip, a Mediterranean cruise.  I was getting rather excited about the idea, when Brent's parents had an idea of their own.  It was their 50th anniversary this year (and 50 years trumps 20).  

They've always wanted to do an Alaskan cruise with their kids, and so it seemed like the year to do this.

Which meant I wasn't going to be able to go on MY dream vacation for our 20th.  Sad I know.  We just wouldn't be able to afford two big trips, so Alaska it was.  

Quite honestly Alaska has never made my bucket list.  No desire to go.  I really don't feel like it's a vacation if there isn't sand for me to stick my toes in.  

But now that we're back from Alaska, it was truly an amazing trip spent with family!  Saw some beauty of the earth that everyone should see at least once in their life.  

And now here is my attempt at recapping it....

We flew into Vancouver the night before our cruise departed.  And dang, I sure wish we could have spent time exploring Vancouver.  Love that it was a big city, yet right on the water and gorgeous mountains in the background.  I'm going back there someday.... 

We went on Royal Carribean's Radiance of the Seas.  We've cruised on Royal before and love the cruise line.  This ship was a little out of date, smaller centrum than most, but hey....when great food is free, I'm a happy gal!

Whenever we are on vacation without kids, I always think, "Oh, they'd like this so much!" Or "I wish they were here to enjoy this!"  That's what I thought when I saw the water slides, rock wall and miniature golfing.

 I had every intention at eating at this Dog House which serves up all types of hot dogs, all day long.  But I was always too full to get one!  

Our cute little room.  Always love how they fold up the towels into some adorable creature.

 Far too cold for me to do any swimming in the outdoor pool.  In fact I never put on a bathing suit on this trip!

So my favorite part of any cruise is definitely the food.  Gourmet eating all day long.  And I love

 that I get to order however many desserts, appetizers or main courses that I want to sample!  YUM! (These pictures don't show it, but I think I had fish EVERY day on this cruise.  Heavenly!)

 Brent and I have never cruised with other people we knew.  I have to say it was so much more fun to eat at a table where you know everyone and feel comfortable with them (instead of some strangers you're trying to make small talk with).

Our waiters for the week.  They deserved a big tip for putting up with us and all of our special requests!

 And of course on one of the nights, we did a special celebration for their 50th anniversary!

I don't know that I've ever seen mom this happy as she was on the trip.  She had dreamed of this trip for so long and nothing makes her happier than having ALL of her kids with her.  Love these pics of her laughing even though they're fuzzy.

And loved spending one on one time with my hubby.  I don't remember the last time we went on vacation without the kids.  It's been that long!  So it was nice reconnecting and not having to worry about getting kids ready, or hearing them complain or fight.  However we did miss them.  A lot.  We were only three days into the trip when we looked at each other and said, "It feels like we've been gone over a week already!"

 After dinner each night, we'd try and run outside to catch the sunset.  Beyond beautiful and awe inspiring!

I don't know what it is about the ocean that rejuvenates me.  But it truly does make me feel closer to my Heavenly Father realizing that he had this beautiful earth created just for US.  

Hayley's SURPRISE party - Chopped Cooking Competition

I knew I wanted to do a surprise party for Hayley this year.  The only problem was that my children like to plan their birthday parties months in advance.  For weeks Hayley had been asking what she should do for her party this year.  I helped her brainstorm some ideas, but I didn't share the type of party I was secretly planning behind the scenes:

A cooking competition party - Chopped style!  She is really into cooking and baking and I knew she would love this.  Here are all of the fun details.

First off, I knew I wanted to have aprons for each girl.  My amazing mom agreed to sew them all for me!  It took her weeks and I couldn't be more grateful to her for doing this.  They turned out even cuter than I could have imagined!!  (Don't know what I'd do without my mom.  She also helped sew all of the owls for Kate's bday party here.)

Here's my mom.  Isn't she the cutest?

I purchased a darling printable set from Mirabelle Creations here.  They included the invites, the Welcome Chef signs, the Chopped sign, water bottle labels and the tags for my party favors.

So while we waited for Hayley to arrive, I had each of the girls pick an apron.  THEN I told them that they had also just picked their team depending on which color of apron they chose.

And then Hayley arrived and she was SURPRISED!  Yay!  She had no idea. 

Next up - we had the girls watch the opening segment of the show CHOPPED so they could understand the premise of the party.  I changed it slightly though.  We were only going to have two rounds - an entree and dessert.  And each team would be given two secret ingredients for each round.  But each team's ingredients were different.  I also explained that they would be making their own dinner - so they better make it yummy so they'd want to eat it.

There would be a time limit, and they'd also be judged on Creativity, Presentation and Taste.

ROUND 1:  The Entree

For the first round, each team was given pizza dough and told to do something creative with it.  They were given a bag of their secret ingredients -- pesto & bacon, alfredo & artichoke hearts, and bbq sauce & olives.  And then they were also given a list of available ingredients that I put on the counter for them.  I had pre-cooked meats like hamburger, sausage, meatballs and chicken so they were ready to use.  Other ingredients were pepperoni, all types of cheese, traditional pizza sauce, green pepper, onion, garlic, basil, tomatoes, pineapple and taco seasoning.

These girls blew me away with their creativity and what they came up with!

 The pink team created a bbq chicken pizza pie (and even mixed the olives into their pizza dough)!

 The blue team came up with a heart shaped pizza and mixed their alfredo sauce with marina!

 And the orange team created a cheeseburger pizza pie.  They topped their dough with bacon, and then layered meatballs, cheese and olives on top.  De-lish!

The judges had the hard task of choosing winners.  

Instead of chopping a team (can't be that mean), each team won a category, and then there was an overall winner for that round.  For Round 1 - it was the orange team.

On to Round 2: Dessert

They could pick a cake mix to use and then they could choose to either use the store bought frosting or make homemade frosting.  (I provided a butter cream and cream cheese frosting recipe.)  They all chose to make their own!  And then they had to incorporate their secret ingredients again.  And they could use any of the other ingredients available on the counter.  It was first come, first serve so they had to plan quickly!

 Once again, I couldn't believe the creations they came up with.  They were ALL delicious!

The pink team created a vanilla cupcake (to which they added sprinkles to the batter), and then topped them with bananas, frosting (to which they mixed in Reeses PB cups), drizzled caramel and a cherry.  They ended up winning for presentation and best overall. 

 The blue team created a chocolate cupcake and put an oreo cookie on the bottom of each.  They made cream cheese frosting with a snickers bar on top.  They won for best taste!

 And the orange team created a gourmet chocolate cupcake.  They hollowed out the center and put in hot fudge and strawberries.  Then topped it with cream cheese frosting and strawberries. They even thought to dip the strawberries in hot fudge to put on the plate.  They won for most creative.

 I couldn't believe what great bakers these girls were!  They thought outside the box and really came up with some amazing cupcakes.  So yummy!

The girls had a blast and were involved from the moment it started until it ended.  They were busy cooking and eating and all had a fun time.  I couldn't have done it without my mom and mother-in-law who helped the entire time!  Seriously couldn't put on a party without these two!

Happy early 13th birthday, my cute Hayley!  So glad we pulled off the surprise, and that you got to spend an evening doing what you love most with your darling friends!