Life is Sweet

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Cancun Diaries: What We Did

So much to do, so little time. Especially when relaxing is your #1 priority.

Which we actually DID... some of the time.

But when we weren't relaxing, we kept ourselves busy.

We played on the beach and in the ocean.

We wrote things in the sand.

We played in the pool.

We saw some sites. We went to Tulum, on the Winter Solstice, no less. Had we been there at 6am (which we weren't), we could have had an Indiana Jones moment, as the sun rose and shone through a specific window on the wall of the highest structure. We also realized that we had exactly two years left before that Mayan calendar runs out. Good timing.

We shopped and negotiated Mexican-style like there was no tomorrow (maybe that Mayan calendar stuff made us worry that our shopping days are numbered - haha).

At the resort,

in Playa del Carmen,

and in Puerto Morelos.

(Although all of these cute sweaters are alike, we paid more for some than for others.

I think I made the best deal.)

We enjoyed the live entertainment... some better than others.

(The "Las Vegas" magician. With such a heavy Mexican accent, we couldn't understand most of what he said. We stayed for the entire act out of courtesy, unlike over half of the audience, who were MIA when the lights came up.)

(Our favorite show. It was a circus night, and some of the acts were incredible. We caught most of them on camera-video, and I don't have time to post them now. Maybe another day.)

(Mexican culture and dance night... the guy with the rope was excellent.)

(What I like to call Nacho Libre night. Interesting, that's all I have to say.)

We have our own Nacho Libre... his act is better.

Our favorite activity? Snorkeling. A first for all of us.

It was awesome. Thanks, Grandpa and Grandma, it was an amazing Christmas gift!

Well, gotta run. But I'm not done. More Cancun Diaries to follow.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The Cancun Diaries: Where We Stayed

While in Cancun, we stayed here:

Minus all those people, and it would truly be a tropical paradise. But beautiful nonetheless. Probably the most beautiful place I've seen, as far as landscapes go. The area in and around the resort was kept meticulously, which added to the natural beauty surrounding us.

The sunrise out our back door was incredible. I have realized once again that there are some things that just can't be duplicated on film. Or digitized camera SD cards. Especially a point-and-shoot. But I am not complaining... I will always remember that the sun was an amazing, uncapturable, brilliant red. Like I've never seen before.

Same view, made even better by adding my love interest and favorite companion.

We spent some of our time together in one room or another. Whose room would vary, but the whole family would gather to play games, hang out, and visit. Grandma has a blanket here because Grandpa liked his rooms nice and cool.

Mauri soaked the sand off in the jetted tub on more than one occasion. I don't think you're supposed to add the bubbles, but hey, this is a vacation.

All four of our rooms had plunge pools attached. Mauri plunged the first day,

but the pools were unheated, so a little bit chilly, especially since we were on the shaded side of the resort.

The weather was perfect... not too hot, not too cool. Sunny and warm, with clouds only on the last full day we were there.

The beach was beautiful.

The pool was beautiful.
My pearly-white knees? Maybe not so beautiful. But I don't think anyone noticed much anyway.

The sunrise was beautiful.

The sunset was beautiful.

Even at night, it was beautiful.

But what made it the most beautiful of all, was sharing it with the people I love.

The next installment of The Cancun Diaries: What We Did.

Monday, January 3, 2011

I Left My Heart...

We have had the craziest Winter Break ever. Culminating in our eternal car trip home yesterday. I think we pulled in around midnight. Now we are up and ready to pretend we are back in the game.

Yeah, right.

We left Lex at home as we traveled through Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. How could she have passed that up? For a New Year's Dance? She didn't even stay at the dance through the New Year. The whole time we were gone, I felt like something was missing. I had left {a piece of} my heart back home in Colorado.

After a few more {tiny pieces} were left on the dark, snow-blown, slick, white-out-conditions-cars-off-the-road-everywhere, treacherous freeway (I thought we were all going to die several times), I left {another piece of} my heart in Provo (well, American Fork for a few days),

and still another in Rexburg (okay, Rigby for a day).

And to top it all off, I left {another piece of} my heart back in Bountiful... for a whole week.

Thanks to Bill and Shi, I wasn't completely heartless. Ha ha.

We are all a little sad. I loved having the whole family around. I look forward to future days when we will all come back together again. For now, I am half-heartedly ready to get back to the routine of everyday life.

I do have some awesome memories to share... maybe tomorrow.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Holiday Cards and Parental Sacrifices

We're back from our most-likely-once-in-a-lifetime vacation to Cancun. It was awesome. Everything I had hoped for and more. On our return flight home, the pilot mentioned several times, "Welcome back to reality."

Yep, we're back.

I'll have to share Cancun memories another day. Or two. Or three. Spread them out so as to enjoy the reliving of them. But for now, I am smack-dab in the middle of

laundry (still... for the third day)

Christmas clean-up (not the take-down kind... that will have to wait)

entertaining (Britt's boyfriend is visiting... but I'm really not entertaining him, poor guy... he's fending for himself, like everybody else around here)

college packing (okay, we haven't started that yet... maybe today?)

general catching up (especially in the scheduling department)

and holiday card sending.

Ah, yes. The holiday cards. I would call them Christmas cards, had I sent them prior to Christmas. They are actually New Year's cards. I had planned all along to send them once we returned from our vacation. That way I would have tons of family pictures to choose from. I had the vision: white shirts and jeans, on the sandy beaches of the Caribbean. Except I forgot to tell Tay and Bill to bring a white shirt. And I forgot to bring a picture-worthy white shirt for myself.
So we made do.

And the humidity? Hair havoc.

Once home, we reviewed the photos, trying to find one that we all could agree on.

Personally, I liked the jumping ones.

(our attempt at a family Buddha pose)

But it's pretty tricky to get everybody up at the same time with decent expressions and open eyes.

After much debate and many opinions, we settled on this one:

Nice. Except for my hair mustache and Bill's Jack "The Joker" Nicholson expression. But the children were happy. So we sacrificed our best picture, for theirs.

My favorite picture taken that day was this:

So cute.

They should be in the mail today.

And guess what's sitting in my kitchen at this very moment??

Now I just hope Bill has time to install it tonight. If he gets home from work at a decent hour. And after we clean the church for FHE. Reality's telling me not to get my hopes up.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

O Ye of Little Faith

I lied.

One more post.

This one involves a confession, a public apology, and a big thank you.

THE CONFESSION

I do not react very well under stress. It's one of those things that is a constant challenge, and I have set numerous personal goals on overcoming and conquering this personality flaw. That being said, I am far from achieving the success I hope for.

Last night was a little ugly. It's a long story (one I don't have time for all the details right now), but it involves the United State Postal Service and a passport. Britt's to be exact. After consultation with close friends who "know," AND with the airline company, it was determined that Britta's passport that we had here at home, should probably be with her in Utah before our big trip tomorrow. She may not be able to board the plane, since it's considered an international flight, even though she will be stopping here in Denver to meet up with us before heading out to Mexico.

After the airline consultation, I immediately sent Taylor to the post office right before closing time. He Express-mailed the passport, and came home happy to report that if it didn't get delivered by the next day, we got our money back. I didn't want the money back, I just wanted the passport delivered.

In all the busy-ness around here, I forgot to call to text Britt to let her know that it was coming. She has a locked mailbox, and we had declined the necessity of a signature because we didn't know if anyone would be home when it came. I didn't want any delay.

When I called her last night (after business hours) to see if she had received it, she said that she hadn't, but that she hadn't checked the mail. She would call and have her roommates go get it.

It wasn't there.

We checked the tracking number online.

It said it had been delivered at 11:32 that day.

Oh my, the stress that ensued.

I was running the swim carpool, and I let it fly while on the phone to Bill. He, in turn, reacted strongly to the children at home, resulting in a letter to me from Mar about the "pressure" it puts on the kids under, making them work "sadly and slowly," and could I please just handle things a different way. She even added some suggestions.

THE APOLOGY

I am sorry for my poor reaction to the stressful situation. I should have handled it better. Children, please forgive me.

THE BIG THANK YOU

After some early phone calls this morning, and a boatload of prayers (to which I felt faithless), an inspired phone call to the Provo post office led to Marty. It was before business hours, and Bill called in a supposed futile attempt to contact ANYONE who could find the passport. Marty answered. He was the manager over Express mail. He told Bill he would check into it and call him back.

15 minutes later, Bill's phone rang. It was Marty. The envelope had been placed in the wrong mailbox. He knew because he had driven there, found it in the incorrect box, and placed it in the right one. Bill thanked him profusely.

We called Britt, and in less than 5 minutes, she had her passport in her hands.

A SIGH OF RELIEF

Things I've learned: Christmas miracles happen. Prayers are answered (which I believed anyway, but I had that sinking thought that sometimes they aren't answered in the way or time-frame we desire). And now all the other little stressors, don't seem so big.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

All Things Christmas

Yesterday I made these for Lexee's cheer Christmas party:

Yum-o. But can I just say, I am DONE. No more candy making and sweets baking around here.

Last night we attended Shilo's Christmas concert. Here's a sample:

Shilo didn't try out for choir this year, so she's in the "non-audition" choir. She's regretted it, only because she hates how the choir director ALWAYS mentions it at every concert (like all the parents don't already know the choir hierarchy at the school), like an apology. AND they are the only choir where the girls don't get to wear a colored satin ribbon around their waist. So not only are they mildly dissed by the director, it's loud and clear that they, being sash-less, are on the bottom rung of the choir ladder.

She's going to try out for next year's choir, in the hopes to move up.

Regardless, I thought they did a great job with their musical selections. Especially Shilo.

For the finale, all the choirs converged for a sing-along rendition of White Christmas.

The sound of the snow blowing machine adds such a nice touch, don't you think?

Then to top off the evening, Mauri got to see Santa. AGAIN. This one was much more believable. Even Mar noticed his authentic-looking beard.

I don't think I'll be posting again before our big Vay-cay. Cancun, here we come.

Merry Christmas!