A Very Merry Christmas

Kedra and I had a great Christmas. We are very, very grateful to both have in-laws that we love, and love spending time with.

This year, my parents took our whole family on a cruise over the week of Christmas. Other than my becoming even more rotund, it was fantastic! It worked out perfectly to have the cruise at the beginning of the break, giving us a few days to recover and hang out with the fam in Las Vegas.










After a few days at sea, we landed at Puerta Vallarta, Mexico. It was very cool. The one downside of cruises is that you can't really spend as much time as you would like to at each stop - Puerta Vallarta was beautiful, and I would have loved to stay there for a few days.

My dad did some bilingual wheeling and dealing, and got us hooked up with a van driver to go ziplining through the rain forest. Knowing the strictness of Mexican safety standards, we had no qualms about the finger-width ropes 500 feet above the rain forest floor.

In all seriousness, it was AWESOME!










Our second stop was at Mazatlan. We took a water taxi across to a lovely beach, and had a great time catching starfish, kayaking, and just relaxing.













(That funny-looking outcropping at the top of the rock is me...)









On Christmas Day we stopped in Cabo San Lucas. It was beautiful, and a fantastic way to spend Christmas. We hired a boat driver to take us around - we went whale-watching first, and saw a few whales really close-up. I was hoping to see one breach, but it was more low-key than that. It was still really cool - they are huge animals.

After whale watching, we went to a great beach and did some rock-climbing and snorkeling.

That afternoon, we got together as a family to commemmorate the birth of Christ, with a few scriptures and musical numbers.










The last day of the cruise was rough. After leaving Cabo San Lucas, we sailed for Los Angeles. The whole day was sailing through rough seas, with the boat rocking up and down for the whole time. Poor Kedra spent a lot of time sleeping in bathrooms and trying to feel better. She was hardly alone, though - it seemed like everyone had a greenish tint to them. I think that we were all very grateful to be back on stable ground.

All in all, it was a great trip, and a great experience. Travelling outside of the U.S. always makes me reflect on the great blessing that it is to be an American citizen, but also makes me reflect on our responsibility to do more for those who don't have that blessing.

It was great to spend time with my family - another of my great blessings. I have a weird, wonderful, fun, loving family. I love spending time with them, and I'm glad that Kedra does, too.

Most importantly, it was, as always, wonderful to experience Christmas. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ.