Mexico Vacation

Ohhh Mexico.... we miss it already :) The weather was absolutely beautiful the whole week we were there. It was in the 80's every day, overcast some days and sunny and hot others. I loved it all! We stayed at an all-inclusive resort in Riviera Maya, the Bel Air Collection Resort and Spa, which was just south of Cancun and Playa Del Carmen. The resort included a buffet-style restaurant, a sushi/martini bar, a pool bar, aaaaand a ZOO! There were crocodiles, lions, a tiger, pumas, apes, monkeys, leopards, tortoises, beautiful birds and more. Karson and Chloe would have loved it... but this vacation was just for Cris and me :)

We spent the first afternoon enjoying our resort. To our dismay we found out very quickly that the drinks were pretty bad... for the most part. Cris ordered a margarita that didn't have any lime flavor and had the aftertaste of a diet soda....what a bummer! Most of the fruity beverages, alcoholic or not, had the diet taste which I have always hated. I had envisioned this vacation as a week of sitting by the pool/beach drinking margaritas... which obviously was not going to be the case. Fortunately the food wasn't too bad (if you're not expecting 5 star meals), and you can't go wrong with cervezas :)

 

Thursday morning we got up and had breakfast, which was delicious. The main restaurant had a woman making omelets, and they were soooo yummy! We spent the rest of the day in Playa Del Carmen trying to fend off the aggressive vendors all over the streets. They were quite relentless... and if you didn't want what they were selling in their shops they tried talking you into buying drugs instead! It was a little bit overwhelming, but after making our way out of the market we were able to spend a few (minimally interrupted) minutes on the beach. Playa Del Carmen has such beautiful beaches with super fine white sand, and amazing blue-green water. It was quite the site... but we were all getting hungry so we didn't spend much time there. 

Friday was spent at Xplore.We swam through an underwater cave full of stalactites; drove amphibious vehicles through similar caves, over bridges and through the jungle; and we did "the highest zip line in Latin America," which zipped you all across the park, through water, over crocodiles, etc. The first zip line was scary, but after getting the feel for it we had a blast! We did lots of climbing to get to the tops of the towers, but it was definitely worth it! To end our day we paddled through the underwater cave in a kayak/canoe thing, then headed back to the resort. That night the resort's entertainer hosted a competitive game of movie trivia that Cris really enjoyed :)

Saturday was spent doing exactly what I wanted to do in Mexico... lounging by the pool. I love the heat! Cris and I made some new Canadian friends and hung out at the lobby bar. We played Bingo while we were there and I won, which seemed great...until I got my "prize." They gave me a shot of tequila, shook my head while I was drinking it, then made me spin in 2 circles, squat down, stand back up and say "Chaca chaca." After who knows how many tequila shots later and practicing Spanish with some guests from Mexico, we finally went to bed. 

 

Needless to say, Sunday was a day of rest and recovery... I felt awful and definitely paid for the fun I had the night before. I slept in, ate, took a nap, ate some more and didn't do much else. We spent a little bit of time at the pool, then just enjoyed each others company for the rest of the evening. Regardless of my hangover, I enjoyed the time spent with my husband :) 

Monday we drove out to Chichen Itza, one of the Mayan ruins. It was a neat experience. The downside was that they allowed vendors inside of the park and they were constantly haggling us, which really took away from the experience. On our way back from the ruins, we found this amazing little restaurant that served delicious food and yummy margaritas! Yay!!! I could have stayed there for the rest of the day, but we were still about two hours away from our resort. We decided to head into Tulum and watch some dancers at a street festival. We had a couple more margaritas (which were pretty terrible) and cervezas, then went back to the resort. 

Tuesday morning was the last chance we had to enjoy Mexico, so we had breakfast, lounged by the pool (Cris hung out at the pool bar), then went kayaking in a cenote at the resort. We were told there were manatees in there, but we didn't see them. 

When the time came we were reluctant to leave the nice weather, but we were starting to miss the kids and our comfy bed :) Overall, we enjoyed a much needed vacation and can't wait to do it again! Next time we will do things differently, but we had a pretty good first experience with Mexico.

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This cute little lady was hand stitching kerchiefs, which we bought from her at Chichen Itza

Cenote at our resort

Pretty peacock

These monkeys were so sweet. They would come to the side of the cage and let you pet them, or they would hold onto your finger with their adorable baby-like hands. They were our favorite!

This guy was a ham... he obviously got lots of attention and enjoyed every second of it

Fox of some kind...??

Cute little tortugas :)

Five crocodiles were right off the side of the road to the restaurants

Iguanas were everywhere!

These parrots were right outside of our room...so pretty! (but quite chatty early in the morning)

Entertainers...reenacting scenes from Titanic LOL!

Ready to go home... notice the nice family sticker on the back of the van we rented LOL

What i learned from this trip

• Take bug spray... we got eaten alive by mosquitoes
• Get an upstairs room when possible... our room was upstairs and we had no spiders, but our friends were on the ground level and they encountered 3 spiders that were not small
• Bring shoes that you have already broken in and know that you can tolerate walking around in for a whole day
• Headlamps would have been convenient. Our friends brought theirs and it was a great idea!
• If you're staying at an all-inclusive resort you most likely will have to ask for extra alcohol in your drinks...
• Have a basic idea of what types of activities you want to do. If the purpose of your vacation is to relax then don't plan on doing many activities. Everything you do off of the resort pretty much takes up a whole day.
• Perks of all-inclusive: having most of your expenses paid for before you get there, not having to find places to eat, not carrying money everywhere you go, and onsite activities/entertainment.
• Cons of our all-inclusive resort: crappy drinks; feeling "stuck" at the resort (which is fine if you just want to hang out at the pool/beach); some of the food wasn't that great but there was always something that was good enough; our resort had a crappy rocky beach... but you could walk about 100ft to a prettier beach, we just never got around to it 
• Bring tank-tops... t-shirts are too hot. I honestly spent most of the trip in my swim suit and shorts. I planned on getting a swim suit cover, but it just never happened.
• When bartering with the Mexicans they will try to rip you off, especially if you're paying with US dollars. Once you start walking away they usually cave and take whatever amount of money you will offer them (within reason)
• We took beach towels, but really didn't need them because the resort had towels at the pool.  So if you need to free up some space when packing I would recommend leaving towels at home.

I'm sure there's more... but that's all I can think of for now :) 

Fun DIY projects from the last few months.

I recently made this bag to hold the new DVD players we got for the kids. I was pretty proud of myself! Unfortunately I don't know how to use interfacing yet, which I think this bag could have used... but oh well, this serves its purpose for now :)

DIY infinity scarf from a baby blanket headed to the thrift store... (not a very good picture of the scarf haha)

A fall wreath for our front door :)

I also decided to do a few handmade Christmas gifts, here they are...

Monster's Inc. hat (... it's hard to get a good picture of an always moving toddler)

Headband with a flower

Birdseed ornaments for the grandmas :)

And finally, I found the motivation to make this recipe card holder. I have had the box for a few months now, but just kept putting it off. Now all of my amazing Pinterest recipes have a home :-)

Making crafts is one of my favorite things to do with my spare time. It makes me feel so accomplished, and homemade gifts are so special! I can't wait to make more!

Reflecting On 2013 and Pushing Forward Into 2014

I have been trying to do this post for like 3 weeks now... oops. I am feeling like a slacker lately, but life has been busy! I started charging at work a few months ago as a back up, and then a couple nurses quit so I have been working overtime (more often than I'd like, to be honest)... but I have a vacation to save up for so I guess it's okay for now. Last weekend we visited my family, since Karson had a long weekend for Martin Luther King Day (or Human Right's Day is what they're calling it now I guess). We really had a good time while we were there. My mom and I went to a couple yoga classes that were just right. The second class we went to was a fun new challenge compared to what I'm used to. The instructor had us kick up into handstands in the middle of the room... no wall to support ourselves with or stop us from kicking all the way over into a back flop... just core strength and self confidence. Mastering handstands is one of my resolutions this year, so I have been doing a lot of core work lately to help with that goal, which gave me the self confidence to give it a try in this class. I was able to kick up for just a second, but I felt so empowered and capable of anything in that brief moment. I haven't done a handstand without a wall for support in who knows how long! Go me :)

Back to resolutions... last year's included doing more yoga, reading books on alternative medicine/therapies, living on a budget, and just being happy. Overall those goals went well enough. This year my goals include redecorating the house, taking a trip to a new place with the kiddos, paying off some credit card debt (boring!), working on my communication skills (maybe clearing my chakras to help with that), being more patient with the kids, mastering headstands and handstands, and eating healthier. I feel pretty motivated to do these so far, but we'll check back in a few months and see how it's all going.

Now for an update on the kids... Karson is still enjoying 1st grade. He is becoming such a smart young man. Reading is one of his strengths, as is spelling. He amazes me all the time. He is a pretty happy kid with a bright personality that makes me smile, especially when we get to spend quality time together. Chloe is becoming quite the little busy body. She can be sweet and shy, or defiant and loud... or anything in between, which can be fun or overwhelming. She is growing so fast, it's hard to keep up (I'm sure I'm starting to sound like a broken record with that comment...sorry). We have started taking her binky away from her except for at naptime and bedtime, which has immensely helped with her language skills. She jabbers all the time now, and has a handful of words that are very clear like "puppy," "cookie," and "kitty." It is pretty adorable. While we were in Utah, she became about as attached to Granny as Karson is...which was cute. I wish we lived closer to my parents so that she could be around them as much as Karson was at this age. If Karson had a choice he would live with them LOL. Maybe one day we'll live closer together... for now we will just keep on keeping on :) Here we go 2014...

Breakfast at Granny's

Sledding in the backyard



Scary emu down the street



Story time with big brother :)

Count down to the holidays...

Time is flying and I can hardly keep up. I recently passed my neuroscience certification test. Preparing for that test totally consumed me. For the last couple weeks of October all I was doing was studying/stressing, so now that it's over with we are a much happier family :) I have decided I will use my bonus to go on a nice vacation with Cris to reward myself for such hard work.

Anyways...the kids are still doing well. Karson still seems to really like school, and wishes that he could have the same teacher for the rest of his school years. He lost his first tooth not too long ago, which was pretty exciting. He was going to let Cris pull it out with some floss, but that was too scary for him and ultimately he let me just pull it out with my fingers LOL. It was a fun experience for all of us.

Chloe is of course keeping us very busy. She loves attention and does almost anything she can think of to get it. I adore her! Cris on the other hand seems to be getting warn down by this "stay at home dad" thing... which is pretty understandable. By the end of my maternity leave I was pretty excited to get back to work and be involved in more adult conversations. Hopefully Cris can find a job that fits his criteria sometime soon; I get the feeling that he's getting a little stir crazy being around the house so much. But back to Chloe... she only says a couple words so far. Lately she has been saying "mama" and "dada" and "bubu" for bubbles. If we catch her in the right mood she tries to repeat what we say... like animal sounds which are always fun :) She is growing up fast.

We recently went to Utah for Thanksgiving, and I will be the first to say that Chloe is not as good of a traveler as Karson was. He used to sleep for about half of the drive and was mostly content in the car, especially after he was old enough to enjoy watching movies. Chloe cried for most of the drive and hates being in her cars eat. I worked the night before we left and decided to try to sleep in the car... which was a big mistake, but I knew that if I only slept for 2-3 hours it would be close to impossible to get out of bed and into the car for a 6 hour drive... so instead I got maybe 3 hours of crappy interrupted sleep in an uncomfortable car.  But I love to spend time with my family, so it was worth it. I got the opportunity to see my beautiful cousin Ashley who I haven't seen for about 3 years now, and I also met her new husband. We ate lots of yummy food, spent times with fun family, and just relaxed for the weekend. It was hard to come home and jump right back into work (with an extra 12hr night shift on top of it), but oh well. I love this time of year, and am looking forward to Christmas for the kiddos.

Almost to Granny's... Yay!!!

Chloe wants whatever Karson has... of course. Let the sibling rivalries begin ;-)

Swingin' around in the Planetarium in Granny and Gramps's garage

Just me and the kids at Granny's house

Every year Cris goes up to Fish Lake in Oregon with his Grandpa's friend and his cousin. They usually go the first weekend in August, but I had to work that weekend. I had the following weekend off, so Cris went on his trip and I took the kids down to Utah to celebrate my birthday with my family. We had so much fun! Granny got 2 new kittens and Karson couldn't get enough of them! He held them about 75% of the time we were there... it would have been 100% if we would have let him.

We went to the Hogle Zoo... which is undergoing some construction, but we still saw lots of cool animals. The coolest animal we saw was the polar bear. It was showing off for us by doing the backstroke in its pool haha. Chloe was so tired that she fell asleep within minutes of getting back in the car. My grandparents came over that evening with a delicious ice cream cake... mmmmm!

The next day we went up to my grandparent's cabin. My mom rented a paddleboard so we took that, a kayak and a wind surfer down to the lake until the stormy weather hit and we headed back up to the cabin for some 4-wheeling. The kids loved the 4-wheelers!

 Stand up paddleboarding!

Sunday we headed back to my parent's house and had my dad's family over for a little birthday party for me... yay for another ice cream cake! Then on Monday we went to the new rec center in Provo. They had the coolest pool ever! Inside there was a lazy river, a rock climbing wall, slides and a huge kiddie pool. Outside they had a couple bigger slides, another kiddie pool and some lap pools. We had so much fun! Chloe loved the lazy river and Karson was all over the place, just having a blast. Tuesday, we headed home :( It's always sad to leave, and Karson asked me to turn around almost the whole way home. Cris was missing us and it was our 2yr wedding anniversary, so we had to get home.

Mmmmm blueberries!

Provo Rec Center

Camping, camping and more camping!

We took Chloe for her first camping trip of the summer a couple weekends ago for a redneck wedding. She did pretty good, and we had a fun time! The wedding was right along the river up at Boiling Springs, which was so pretty! Chloe loved running around in the dirt and actually slept semi-okay for us (with a lot of patience/determination on Cris's behalf). It was a good trial run, but we were kinda bummed that Karson wasn't with us (he was off spending a fun-filled weekend at Aunt Janet's house instead).

The next weekend we made our annual family trip to Lava Hot Springs and had a blast!  Mom and Dad made some delicious Dutch oven meals, and the weather was somewhat cooperative. It rained for awhile on Saturday, but the sun came out just long enough for Mom, Dad, Karson and me to float the river a few times. We sat in the hot pools on Saturday night, which put me right to bed when we got back to camp LOL. I had full intentions of staying up to socialize with the fam, but fell asleep while putting Chloe to bed... oops! We spent our last day floating the river, and it was nice and sunny until the last few minutes of our last float... when it started raining again. But I do have to say the rain was a nice break from the hot weather we have been having.

Cris had a couple unfortunate experiences during our trip. On the first day there he got tossed around by a waterfall while floating the river and scraped his back up. The last day he slipped walking down to the river barefoot, which resulted in a blood blister on his heel about the size of a half dollar... ouch! And if you didn't already know, we came home to a destroyed chicken coop and 4 dead chickens :( Sad day! Fortunately, one of the chickens survived and we were able to get her home... so there might be some more chickens joining our family in the near future. It has been a busy summer, and I think we're about ready for school to start and life to change pace for a little while :)

Cris caught a whopper!!!