Monday, June 11, 2012

CABO!!!!!!

Last week Travis and I ditched the kids and jumped on a flight with some friends to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico!  WaHoo!  (A HUGE Thank you to my amazing mother and mother in law for watching the girls.)
We left at 3:15 AM on Sunday morning for the long drive to Vegas.

After about an hour and a half of sleep the night before, we were pretty tuckered out by the time we got to the airport.

(Kirby & Brayden)

However, our flight to Mexico was the inaugural flight for AirTran so we got free t-shirts, free food, and several little gifts so that perked us right up!

Brayden and Kirby are the ones who invited us on this trip.  They are pretty big fans of Cabo and go there regularly, which was sweet because they knew the ins and outs of everything.  They surprised us by picking us up in a limo.  No big deal.  A LIMO!  I was so dang excited.  My first limo ride ever and it was in Mexico!

The driver caught me singing and dancing to the wiggle wiggle wiggle song (how can you not?) and so he kindly turned on all the flashing limo lights even though it was middle of the day.   I got a kick out of that for sure!

We've reached our destination.  Marina Sol at Cabo San Lucas!

Not too shabby eh?

Most of our days were filled with this:

We went to a time share presentation in order to get all the free goods.  This is what was presented to us.  Tough day but someone had to endure it!

Walmart Parking lot in Mexico.  Why the heck has the Richfield Walmart not caught on?  Bliss!

This is the beach next to our Condo.  It was on the Sea of Cortez side so we were able to swim and snorkel and whatnot.  Right around the corner of that point in the background is the Pacific.  The undertow on the Pacific side is strong enough that swimming is not advised.  It sure was beautiful though.

We did manage to find our way to the Pacific side a time or two for some fishing though.  Or at least some attempts at fishing!  Apparently the water there is normally really warm but for the week that we were there it was freezing (to me) and no one knew why (it was because we were there!) but that made for really crappy fishing days.  It was still fun though.


Kirby and I enjoyed great conversation while the boys fished.  I'm not going to lie, even the breeze was cold that day.

I fell in love with all of the trees and bushes there.  Every flower was so beautiful.  It made me feel really old admiring the flowers so much!

The display at the mall.  Awesome.  Doggie unders for men. 

Marina:

Every time I'm in Mexico (not that that's been a lot) I have to get my Manzanita Sol.  I'm not really a soda person so Trav had to document:

One of the perks from the time share presentation was a free ride on a pirate ship to a fabulous little snorkel place.  Some of our views included Lovers Beach, Divorce Beach, and the beautiful arch.  Snorkeling was a blast!  There were tons of cool fish, all within arms reach.  And yet the boys still swam out emptyhanded!




Can't blame those sunbathing seals at all for parkin it right there.  What a view!

They had party time on the Pirate Ship and the main pirate grabbed my hand and took me up to the front to dance.  No one else from my group was kind enough to go with me.  Travis just decided it would be the perfect time to blackmail me with the pics he took.  Thanks a lot guys!

While Brayden and Kirby watched laughed from the sidelines.

Preggie pic. 19 weeks:

Dinner at Desperado's was probably my favorite.  The guacamole in those fajitas was phenomenal!

Sometimes I don't know why I live in a state with no ocean.  It seems insane to me because the ocean is where I'm happiest.  (Especially if I get to boogie board).  Seriously though, I think I left part of my heart at the ocean.

We kayaked over to Lover's Beach which was awesome, and walked the short distance to Divorce Beach.

The Pacific side:

LOVED the strong waves!

Getting ready for the jaunt back to our Beach.  I've always loved kayaking.



Trying our luck with the fishing again.



We drove out to Todos Santos in order to stop at the reputable "Hotel California".  THE Hotel California! And I'm an Eagles fan so that was pretty cool.  To make it even better, the food was fantastic!  Don't mind the tousled beach look.  Just concentrate on the food!  Seriously, best pesto chicken quesadilla EVER!


Travis and I took off on our own to try our hand at a bit more snorkeling.  We were hoping to find some seashells to take home to the girls but really all we found was a bunch of dead jellyfish.  Although, Travis did spot a manta ray so I guess it wasn't a complete loss.  It was a good time all the way around.

Just a fun little side note.  We spotted a little gecko in our condo.  It was too quick to catch, so who knows if it crawled all over us in our sleep.  Yikes!

Another yummy Mexican meal. 

One of our FAVORITE places however, was this little restaurant called Gardenia's across the street from the condo.  The food was cheap, but the tacos were FABULOUS!  None of us could figure out what was in the white bottle.  It totally made the taco's taste better, but not sure what it was.  On the last day I braved up and asked the owner what was in the bottle.  He looked at me like I was a complete idiot and responded very shortly with "mayonnaise" and walked off.  We could not stop laughing.  Totally didn't taste like mayo.  Maybe that's why Trav and I have been sipping pepto ever since we got home!  ha ha!  So worth it :)   
(Note to self: STOP taking pics of me stuffing my face on vacations just so we can remember the food.  Not our best idea!)

Tough day on the beach.  Shortly after this picture was taken, a bird landed on my leg and scared the crap out of me.  So funny!

Our view:

Travis and I were so brave on this trip.  We both actually tasted calamari, cactus, AND sushi.  We lived to tell the tale but you can bet your bottom dollar that we won't be forking out mula for those items that some people call food. 
Dinner watching the sunset:

We were impressed by the sinks in the bathroom.  It doesn't take much to make us happy!

Now this is the life!

Proof that we like each other.

Our very last day.  So sad to leave but extremely excited to see our beautiful little girls!

Travis and I fully realize that without our family, there's no way we could have gone on this trip.  We feel very lucky and grateful for the incredible family that we have.  It's not easy taking on our two little whirlwinds, and yet they did a fabulous job of keeping my girls safe and happy.  There's not enough Thank You's in the world to cover that.  Mom and Dad, you guys are troopers. Seriously amazing. I'm in awe of how you took them on all sorts of adventures for most of the week.  Gary and Marg, you're there for us week after week helping us with the girls.  What would I do without you?! As much as I love my kids, I really needed this little break.  It made coming home to their excited little faces that much sweeter!!

Also, a big thank you to Brayden and Kirby.  Thank you for planning everything and carrying out so many fun surprises (like the limo!).  You guys are awesome and we had a blast. 

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Our Memorable Memorial Weekend

We started off the long weekend with a visit to see the alpaca's by my parents home.  I could NOT stop laughing when I found out that my friend Ben actually had to be the one to deliver this little guy because the mother was struggling with the labor and the vet wasn't around.  (Ben and Kristen: I can't wait to hear the entire story from you guys!!)

Taylee wasn't entirely sure what she thought of these spitting mammals (the alpaca's, not Grandpa ;))




City Creek:
Since Travis was gone Canyoneering with Uncle Randy, the rest of us decided to have a blast on the town without them.  So we took a trip to City Creek.  Love it there!


The girls especially fell in love with the Disney Store:

And I decided to splurge on Trav's favorite treat without him, just to rub it in a little!  My fabulously delicious Apple Pie Carmeled Apple:  (Don't mind the swollen pregnant nose, it's only going to get worse!)

Everything is so beautiful around City Creek, but I must admit that the water fountains were at the top of our favorites list:




 Temple Square:
Brielle LOVES everything about temples lately, especially after realizing that her favorite movie is "The temple movie" aka my wedding video!  She seriously asks to watch it every single day.  I don't know why she loves it so much but it has lead to great conversations about Temples and what they mean.  I told her that someday soon I'd take her to a temple and let her touch the walls.  She was SO excited!  So that's exactly what we did!

Brielle was so tickled to see the Temple where Mommy and Daddy got married.  Taylee was just a little bit more difficult!






We spent the rest of the weekend visiting the beautifully decorated cemetery's, thinking about those who have sacrificed for our country, and those who have gone before us, and just spending time with family. 

Silly Time:
What's a long weekend without some down time just relaxing and being silly?



Dancing on the couch, or anywhere for that matter, is kind of a big thing in our house.  In the near future we will have 3 little girls all under the age of 4. . . . . . . I kind of don't think the dancing will stop anytime soon!