Trip to Mexico!!!

 Matt and I went to Mexico!!!!                                                                This took place at the end of February for about a week.  We had the time of our lives.  It was beautiful and so much fun for Matt to be back since his mission.  We stayed at an all inclusive resort near Tulum.  Here's a picture of us ready to snorkel at Akumal where we swam with the turtles and other fish.  A nice lady took this picture of us.  She would not quit until she got a picture with both of us in the air.  It took about 10 times before she actually got this beauty (Matt just couldn't stay in the air long enough like me--he he!)

One of the first animals we saw!  He was just chillin' near the side of the trail at the ancient ruins of Tulum.

Swimming at the beach of Tulum.  It was a little cooler that day--mid to upper 60's, but that didn't stop me from swimming--I'm a GERMER!!  I tried to get Matt to come out because the water was really nice and this was our first swim of our trip.  He eventually did--a little reluctantly.

Going to church at the branch in Tulum.  It took Matt right back to his mission.

Matt demonstrating how he walked right into a pole and nailed his head pretty badly on his mission.

These next few are pictures taken at our resort.  It was really beautiful. This pool that Matt is standing by looks like it goes right into the ocean. 

The swimming pools we never went in!!  Why would we when we had the ocean!!?

Playa del Carmen beach. 

Doing a little shopping at Playa del Carmen.

Eating at our resort.  Great food!!

Just call him Indiana Jones.  That's what this place looked like.  This is the the ancient ruins of Coba.

Here we are at the top of this ancient temple (the pictures above and below this one show what we climbed).  It was pretty steep with irregular steps.  This is the highest ancient site that you can still climb in the Yukatan Peninsula.  Who knows how much longer they will allow it.

We could've payed to have one of these guys push us around--or rented bikes.  But of course we didn't want to pay the $3.50 each for the bikes when we were perfectly capable of walking the 5 miles!!

We may have missed this beautiful bird had we rented bikes.  But wait, it was actually some guys on bikes that pointed it out to us!!

Holy Jungle!!

Ready for whatever comes.

Quality advertising.

More swimming at the beach at our resort.  We swam nearly every day.

Oasis is the name of our resort.  You probably guessed that.

Another one that made us laugh.

The beautiful sign we came home to!!  Thanks to all the family who helped with the kids--especially Craig and Margie!  And a huge thanks to our wonderful kids for letting us take this great trip!!

These have nothing to do with our trip--but a week later, we had a quilt show in our Relief Society and Margie and I got to display our first real quilts!!  Mine is above and Margie's is below.  We had a great time making them and learned so much.  A huge thanks to our teacher, Shawna Wilde.

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Wow. I thought it had been a long time since I last posted, but I just looked and it's only been a year and a half! Not bad. Lets face it, I'm terrible at this! However, I am going to be better. You see, my parents are on an LDS mission in Nauvoo and are sick and tired of not seeing us (at least that's what I think) and so I really need to do this so we can stay better connected. I could use facebook. But. . . my problem with facebook is that every time I go on it--I get sucked into the vortex and before I know it--hours have gone by. That's the way I feel about the computer in general--(no, I am not a cell phone owner and so I still consider the computer to be my only access to the internet). Yes, yes, I know it has so many time saving abilities too, so I can't completely discredit it.

It may seem a bit selfish--to go on my own blog where I really only talk about my little family and myself (as apposed to going on facebook where I could check out what other people are up to)--but I say, I'm going to do it--for my parent's sake (at least for now). Who knows?--maybe I'll actually get in some sort of habit and do this every 6 MONTHS or even better--every MONTH!! Wouldn't that be something?!!

Well, to start the year off, the word is. . SNOW.  And more SNOW and, yes, you guessed it---MORE SNOW!!  We have had so much snow this year. . it's almost convinced Matt to buy a snowblower.  But alas, he hasn't pulled the trigger.  That's okay though.  It gets us out, borrowing our neighbor's snowblower!  Mostly kidding, but it has happened once this winter. 

We have loved it.  We've gone sledding, mountain sledding, had snowball fights, built an igloo, shoveled, shoveled some more, knocked icesicles off our roof, knocked snow off our roof, and more--all thanks to the snow.  But now, especially tonight (we just received another 5 inches at least) we are ready for SPRING!!

Here are some pictures (a few from Christmas) to enjoy.








Christmas morning--everyone's excited exept Clara.  She's in shock.


 

Here's Craigers and his cousin Sven at their Joy School nativity party.

 

Owen and his Dad--mountain sledding up Millcreek Canyon. 

This is all the same sledding trip on New Years day.  It was bitter cold but the kids were great sports.




This is how we do it.  We hike up the Salt Lake Overlook trail up Millcreek Canyon until we can go no further and then we all connect our sleds together.  We then brace ourselves and hope for no serious injuries as our snake slides down the trail.  We've been blessed so far. 



Cute Owen and Craigers below in snow heaven.




Here's a look at our house after one of the good storms.  Note the huge snowflakes on the window made by Clara.




Owen and Neighbor friend, Gabe battle it out with icesicles.



Here is the present I made for Matt's birthday--the chess board quilt.  (He got the chess set for Christmas but it didn't come with a very good board.  So I put my newly aquired quilting skills to use).



Speaking of quilting. . here's some starts of my quilt this year.  I tried to upload a few other blocks that I've finished, but the computer for some reason wouldn't do it.  It has become a pretty darn fun hobby I have to say.  I quite enjoy it.  Especially while the weather is cold, dark and sometimes a bit gloomy.  Quilting brings fun, bright color into my life and I feel so satisfied to see my creations!!  I've almost finished my quilt from last year.  I just need to bind it.  I'll post it soon hopefully, as I'm trying to have it done by March.




And more snow pictures!  Here are Ella and Clara with their creation--and mine.  This was about a two hour project.  A great workout too!!



We call it our cone-shaped igloo.  It is still standing because it's been such a cold winter.  This picture was taken the day we built it--sometime in December and it is now Feb. 9th!!  Of course it doesn't look exactly like this anymore--more like a bridge.