Look who's 40!

That's right! The Joey that we all know and love turned the BIG 4-0 in December. I figured I had one more surprise left  in me...after Mikayla's party and our big family trip...the final surprise of the year was to be Joe's birthday celebration!

Everyone knows that Joey is Mexican at heart...so I thought a FIESTA would be the perfect theme for his party! My sister-in-law made this amazing cake...loved it!

Trying to keep this thing a surprise was quite an undertaking! I think he was a bit suspicious when we got to the location, but he was so surprised to see some of his family there! They came from California & Texas to help us celebrate, and I know that meant a lot to him! Right before Christmas is not exactly the 'ideal' time to throw a big party! Thank-you to ALL of those who came to help us party it up!

Setting up the room...Shout out to the GREATEST FRIENDS EVER for all of their help with cooking, set-up, cleaning up, and moral support! We are so blessed to have such awesome friends!

Here, Caiser is studying up for the picture game where they had to guess Joe's age in pictures. Too bad he didn't know how 'precise' the answers needed to be! 

Jeff & Veronica- love them! They introduced Joey & I , 17 years ago. I, likewise, introduced them...so we have a good history together! :)

Jeff & Veronica also brought this AWESOME "Mexican Justin Beiber" pinata! It was hilarious, and a lot of fun watching Joe try to crack it open! Thanks to Kristin for providing the 'sassy' blindfold that went along with the theme beautifully! =))

Love these girls!

I wish we had a picture of EVERYBODY that was there in the following cut-out! Sadly, many of them had to leave before we thought to start taking pictures. It was such a crack up to watch, and still makes me chuckle when I look at these!

Connor & Holly

 Jose'- the Birthday Boy!

Joe's dad and his sister, Aimee

Caiser & Kristin...love it...love them!!

 Jeff & Veronica-- watch out for this bandito!

Michelle & Mark-- or should I say "Rico Suave"???

Brett (aka Ronaldo) & Teri...the look says it all!

And finally, me & the Birthday Boy (minus the mustache, sadly!)

Thanks to all of our family & friends who were able to come and help us celebrate! It was such a fun night, and I could not have done it without all of you!

HAPPY 40th BIRTHDAY, JOE!!!!

FAMILY SURPRISE #3: We're on a BOAT!

Seeing as we were pretty scared for our lives in our Miami hotel, we told the kids that we were not staying there another night, and to pack up their stuff! It worked as a perfect excuse to head out of the hotel and over to the Carnival Imagination. It was so much fun to tell them where we were going, and we were all excited to set sail! Our ship visited Key West, and Cozumel, and it was such a fantastic trip together with our family. 

One of many of the 'cheesy' pictures they try to take of you at every place in the ship...

This is our picture from "Formal Night"...which we have dubbed "Sick Night"! We looked so forward to the Steak & Lobster, and things didn't turn out so well! We were on some pretty rough seas that day, and Connor & I were the first ones to start getting sick. We took our medicine, got dressed and headed to dinner-- hoping for the best. Connor didn't last more than 5 minutes, and I followed close behind him. The other kids were uneasy, but Connor & I were bad! Poor kid inherited his mamma's motion sickness! The boat was rocking pretty good when we took this picture:

Landon was treated SO great! Everyone made him feel so important and special...he got to pick everything from the menu that he wanted, and they would make it Gluten-Free just for him. He tried Escargot, Alligator, Cheesecake, Sushi, Salmon, Chocolate Melting Cake...you name it, he had it! It was wonderful!

We had 2 adjoining rooms, and one of the cots was on the floor. One morning when we were getting up, we noticed that Connor was kind of folded in half! It didn't seem to bother him too much!

This is our first stop in Key West, FL. We had a fun time walking around the island, and seeing what there was to see.

Key West is very famous for "Sponge Fishing"-- any kind of sponge you can imagine is there!

This is "The Little White House"-- a neat part of history to visit

We thought this was funny...

Our second stop was Cozumel, Mexico. We would have preferred to go to Cancun, but were still excited to go to Cozumel! Joe LOVES Mexico, and was thrilled to get a chance to use his Spanish. I was a little more reluctant-- having all of the kids with us, but we hired a driver for the day, and he helped us figure out some really fun things to do. We all survived! YAY!

After some time on the beach-- snorkeling & relaxing, Joe asked our driver to take us to "Dee BEST ZIP-LINING IN COZUMEL" (imagine him saying that in his Spanish accent)... I was SO (not) excited to find out that the 'best' place happened to be in the 'inner city'... this was the scary ride to the place...which turned out to be the most AWESOME place!

We had the coolest guys helping us, and they played so many fun little games for some free soda while we waited...it was also beautiful and lush! I'm glad I trusted Joe on this one! I think it might have been the kids favorite!

I refused to do this for the longest time. I have a great fear of heights, and so this did not appeal to me AT ALL. Somehow I was coerced into doing it, and aside from the heart attack, it was pretty fun! I can cross that off my bucket list -- not that it was ever on it!

 Heading back to the ship from a fun day in Cozumel...

This is Ajsuli. She became Landon's best friend. She loved him, and helped him order all of his meals. She took such great care of him, and he loved the special attention!

The girls had some "ice-cream mani-pedi's" on the ship...they wanted a little pampering! I think they had a ton of fun together!

Our final breakfast on the ship...kind of a sad moment!

Once we were off the ship, and through customs (which took forever), we had MANY hours in the Miami Airport. 5 Hours gives you a lot of reading and thinking time! Thank goodness for books, electronic devices, and WiFi!

We had a layover in Atlanta, and were excited to find a Chick-fil-A in the airport! 

This was such a great trip! It was fun to plan it, surprise them, and to be with my family- who I love SO much.  We are so blessed, and I surely hope there are more trips like this to come!