Hola Amigos!

Well, we got another 5 inches of snow yesterday/last night and I am sinking into a deep, dark depression longing for the sunshine and green grass so I decided I would finally get around to blogging about our trip to Can Cun. It makes me happy to see the sun and beautiful water and me wearing shorts and flip flops.

Last November Javan and I went on a trip to Can Cun with some friends from our ward. We had the best time. It was such a nice, relaxing, and fun filled trip. Thanks so much Jim and Crystaleen for inviting us! And Steve and Ginger too.

This has turned out to be a really long post. I was so happy to see these warm pictures after several cold months that I had a hard time narrowing them down. So get ready. Here we go.

Jim and Crystaleen Hunt have a timeshare to this awesome place in Can Cun called the Avalon Baccarra. It is part of a larger resort but this part where we stayed only has about 10 apartment things that are all timeshares. So it was very quaint, and quite and personal. It was awesome. This is the front of the motel.

This is a view of the ocean out the back of the motel. There was a hurricane that went through the week before we went and most of the beach was washed away. You can see that little tug boat out in the ocean. It was there all week working with this huge barge thing that was dredging up sand and bringing it up closer to the shore to build the beach back up. It was such a beautiful view.

A view from our balcony, overlooking the pool and the ocean. Here you can see the barge/ship thing.

This is Jimmy and Crystaleen at Margaritaville. The amigo in the background was making us some fresh guacamole and made Crystaleen wear the hat while he was doing it. It was really good guacamole too.

Our crazy waiter made us all balloon hats (that's him to the left in the back). My flower hat was enormous, everyone that walked by bumped into it. I guess they have to make the atmosphere fun cause the food was nasty (at least mine was).

Ginger, Crystaleen, Javan, Jimmy, and Steve relaxing by the pool after a dip in the ocean. Some of us could use a little more sun.

Javan and I going to read by the pool. I was reading the book "Undaunted", it's a pretty big book, and I couldn't believe all the comments people made about the size of it. It was a good conversation piece. I had a nice talk about the Mormon pioneers with some guy from New York down by the pool.

We spent most night playing cards and games together which was so much fun. Here Crystaleen and I were dominating a game of Head and Foot.

We took a beginner course in scuba diving. Sadly, Ginger couldn't participate because of health reasons. This is during scuba school at our pool dive. From L to R: Jimmy, Crystaleen, Steve, Javan, Me and Horatio (our instructor). The little guy in the background was Sebastian, Horatio's son. It was his birthday and his dad promised him that he would teach him how to scuba dive so he was there learning with us. Crystaleen and I were pretty nervous, we both had some moments of panic during the lesson and Crystaleen decided not to continue.

Here we are with Horatio after successfully completing the pool portion of our scuba class.

Jim, Chris, Ginger and Steve on the boat on the way to our open water dive. They let Crystaleen and Ginger come on the boat even though they weren't diving. They were pretty sea sick when we got done after rolling on the waves in the boat for an hour while we dived.

Gearing up.

Javan and I scuba diving. Steve in the background taking a picture of Jimmy taking a picture of us.

Javan with a sexy scuba pose.

Me with a conk shell. I think it was against the rules to pick it up but I did and I was a little afraid something was going to come out and get me.

The group after a great dive. I love snorkeling but scuba diving really was one of the coolest things I have ever done. It was so awesome to be down on the ocean floor closer to all the marine life. It was so quiet and peaceful and calm down there. It was amazing. Now we can't wait to finish our certification.

After getting lost in downtown Can Cun looking for an authentic Mexican restaurant we had a cab driver suggest this place called La Parrillas (I think). It was delicious. And such a fun place. The waiter brought our drinks stacked on top of his head. (Don't worry, they are all non-alcoholic.)

They started our food on fire.

Brought it out still sizzling hot. Those green things are cactus.

I thought the bathroom sign at the restaurant was pretty funny.
It was actually Jimmy and Crystaleen's anniversary that day. (Now I can't remember how many years.)

So a Mariachi band came and played them a love song.
Waiting out front for our tour guide Helaman to pick us up. Ginger was excited.

The group at the cenote. A cenote is a sinkhole with exposed rocky edges containing groundwater. They are surface connections to subterranean water bodies. Cenote water is often very clear, as the water comes from rain water infiltrating slowly through the ground, and therefore contains very little suspended particulate matter. In many cases, cenotes are areas where sections of cave roofs have collapsed revealing an underlying cave system. (I got this definition from wikipedia, very informative.)

A view of the cenote from the top looking down.

From the bottom looking up.
From the inside looking straight.

We only had a few minutes to spend at the cenote so the girls decided not to get in. But he boys all went for it. Here are Javan, Jimmy (diving), and Steve taking the plunge.

Javan and I in front of the big temple at Chichen Itza.

Javan at Chichen Itza.

This is Helaman our tour guide. He and his sister, Alma, run an LDS tour company. It was really neat to learn about the Mayan people and Book of Mormon and how they all tie together. Helaman was great. His favorite line was "I will esplain you, you will understand." (Use your best Hispanic accent.) It was hilarious.

We also had the opportunity to go deep sea fishing. The day we went scuba diving we stopped at the fishing boats to ask them how many they had caught and what types of fish they were catching. The most they said was 7 fish. So since there were six of us were just hoping that we would all catch at least one and that no one would be left out. But I told the guides I wanted to catch a fish as big as me. As we headed out to the fishing spot we stopped to catch the bait fish. Yes, this is the bait. (They looked bigger in real life.)

Javan reeling in a big one. These fish had some fight. They were tough to reel in.

Ginger and Steve working hard.

Crystaleen with a needle fish. This was one of the bait fish. Our fishing guide snapped off that needle part before attaching it to the hook. I was going to say "poor fish" but then we did just stab a hook into it and feed it to a much larger fish.

The crew taking a breather. We all took a couple dramamine before the trip to prevent seasickness but we couldn't fight off the drowsiness.

Here's me catching a huge fish.

Now Jimmy was really working hard. It took him about 30 minutes to reel this fish in. He was exhausted after.
And with good reason. Look at that monster. He caught a record breaking fish!

It measured 58 inches. Now that's almost as big as me, I'm only 64 inches. Our guides said the biggest fish they had caught on that boat was 47inches. They suggested he have it mounted. Way to go Jimmy!

Crystaleen

Steve

Ginger

Javan

Me. They didn't think I was strong and gave me the smallest one to hold.

In all we caught 21 fish, which they said was also a record. We were having a contest with another boat next to us. The guides kept yelling to each other how many fish we had caught, which we couldn't really understand, except for some of the numbers. We had to go back 3 different times to catch more bait fish. By the end of the trip we were worn out. The type of fish we were catching were called Amberjacks. We asked our guides if we could take some home to fry up at our motel, so they cut a fillet out of one of the fish for us, and then said "Come, let me show you how to get the worms out." What!?! Come to find out Amberjacks are like the carp of the ocean, they are basically trash fish and you don't really eat them. Needless to say we threw the fish away the second we got out of the sight of our guides. They said they use the fish for bait when they go on shark encounters. After we heard all of this we were glad Jimmy decided not to get his fish mounted.

Our fishing guides, Raul, Ed, and Charlie, with all our spoils.

Javan on the jumping contraption at the mall.

Jimmy tried it too. It was hilarious because they kept telling the guy "Ok, I'm good" meaning "I'm done" and he would nod and say "ya, you are!" and keep bouncing them higher and higher. Thinkin they were super excited to keep going. They couldn't get him to stop. Jimmy catching a nice wave on the boogie board. We learned pretty fast that we're not as young as we used to be. We were pretty sore from working hard to catch the waves.

Aaaahhhhh, one last relaxing day at the beach. So beautiful.

Well this was one of the best trips Javan and I have been on. Great friends, beautiful place, delicious food, fun activities. What could be better. Thanks Jim and Chris for a great week. We loved it! And thank you to all the grandmas and grandpas for tending the kids so we could go.

Happy Birthday Ethan!

I cannot believe this, but on February 18, Ethan turned six years old. My how time flies. I had to go up to Salt Lake for a dental convention so I was gone on his birthday. I was so sad. While Ethan was in good hands he did switch hands to many different people that day all of whom helped make it a special day for him.

The kids spent the night before at my parents house.  My mom took him down to the store and let him pick out his own birthday present and totally spoiled him rotten.  And on the morning of his birthday my dad made pancakes for them and put a candle in Ethan's. He thought it was the coolest thing ever.  Then they spent the day a Becky's where she had made cupcakes and let the kids decorate and take them home. Grandma Shannie picked them up from Becky's and had even more birthday festivities planned with more cupcakes and presents. Finally Javan got home from Moab and let Ethan open a few presents. When I talked to him that night he was a little sad and worn out from a long day, but cheered up quickly and was excited to tell me about his new presents. Thank you everyone for helping to make Ethan's birthday special for him (and me).

Ethan is a little confused about birthday's in that he thinks on your birthday you have to have the party, or the day you have the party is your birthday. I left some treats for him to take to school on his birthday and he thought that his whole class was going to come to his party. I had to do a little explaining. Anyway, when I told him I was going to be gone on his birthday and we would have to have his party on another day when I got home, he said, "Mom, how about you make the cake and teach dad what to do." Javan had a moment of panic thinking that that is what I really might do. And after having the party I am thinking it might have been a good idea.

So finally, we had Ethan's party over this past weekend. I thought it would be a pretty easy going party, eat some pizza, have some cake, go to the movie. No, not easy going in the least.

Here is Ethan with his Transformer cake, that he picked out. It got kind of messed up in the car on the way home from the store. Oops.

The moment the boys arrived it suddenly turned into a WWF wrestling match.  And the decible level was off the charts.  I kept trying to get them to quiet down, but to no avail.  Poor little Ryan and Nache kept crying because it was so noisy.  Ally just kind of sat back and watched. Only a few tears were shed.

We finally got them all settled around the table for some pizza.  I don't know if settle is the right word, sitting at least.  There were spilled drinks, tooting noises, animal sounds, who knows what else.  Craziness is what else.

I did get them to sit still for a minute to take this picture.  Won't this be fun in the senior slide show.

Back row: Maddax, Porter, Ladd, Jensen, Ryan, Ethan, Preston, and Joshua

Front row: Jeter, Garrett & Nache, and Ally

But it didn't last long.  Everyone make a funny face.  Look at Ryan and Nache, totally oblivious to the world.

Thinking hard about his wish.

And finally blowing out the candles.  With a little support from Maddax and Jeter.

After the cake we took the boys down to the theater to watch the movie "Tooth Fairy."  I gave them a little pep talk on the way down about not running and yelling in the theater and standing quietly in line while we got our snacks.  What do you think happened?  The second we walked through the doors at the theater they all ran as fast as they could to get seats on the front row.  Once the movie started they settled down and were quiet and good.  All in all the kids had a good time and the party was a success.  And next time I think of taking 9 boys to a movie, someone talk me out of it, m'kay!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Much of the time Ethan and I butt heads.  He is a very strong willed and stubborn boy.  But he is also very loving and tender.  He is kind of a perfectionist like me, and has to have things just so, which is a little frustrating at times.  He is very smart and amazes me with how much he learns in school.  He loves the outdoors and spending time doing fun things with family and friends.  He loves the Wii, Transformers, Legos, playing guns, horses, trucks, motorcycles, riding his bike or 4-wheeler, and watching movies.  He loves to eat, and going out to eat.  Meat is his favorite food, any kind really.  His favorite color is red.  And his favorite place to be is snuggled up by me in my warm bed.  I love you Bud!

We're Being Buried Alive

These are some pictures of the snow we have received as of about 9:00 pm on Thursday. It has been snowing ALL day and this storm is supposed to continue until 6:00 pm tomorrow. I'm about to shoot myself.

The phone rang this morning about 6:30 and the Caller I.D. said "Community Emergency". I was a little startled. But it was a message from the school district that said school was cancelled for the day. A few hours later there was another call the said school was also going to be cancelled for tomorrow.

I'm serious, this snow is crazy. My back is about broken from shoveling because I have to lift the shovel above my head to heave the heavy snow off to the side. I don't think I can do it again. I'm not tall enough, or strong enough. This snow is pretty wet and heavy. And by the time I got one sidewalk done the other one would have another inch back on it.

This is me and the kids after I finally got the sidewalk shoveled. Javan is standing up on the porch so it doesn't look quite as high but it is seriously almost above my head. You can't see me from the other side.


One side of the roof. We have a metal roof so it doesn't stick like it does to shingles, I think there's a good 2 feet up there at least. It's about to rip the rain gutters off. Javan is going to try and get up there tomorrow and shovel some off. I'm a little nervous due to the slippery metal roof and also a still healing shoulder.


This is the other side of the porch. The snow is starting to slide down, but it's caught on the rain gutters and solid ice on the underneath. Javan tried to hit it as hard as he could with the snow shovel but couldn't make it budge.


This is the pile Javan made from pushing the snow out of the driveway and in front of the house. We already had a pile from previous snow storms but it doubled today. You can see that it's taller than the skid loader. I mean, look at the tree.


The back deck. It's almost up to the rails. None of this is snow that has fallen from the roof. It's hanging on to the rain gutter like in the front.


The back yard, swing set. The swings are completely covered. Javan had to go out to the shed and the snow was just about up to his waist, it was at his bum.


The sad part is: IT'S STILL SNOWING. (I know this is moisture that we need but I just wish we could spread it out a little.) We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Merry Christmas 2009 and Holiday Fesitvities

Okay, here we go! This is basically a recap of the whole month of December. I think you'll all agree that it's one of the busiest months, I especially felt that way this year because at the beginning of the month I didn't have one smidgen of my Christmas shopping done. I was a little stressed, but managed to get everything done in time. We had a wonderful Christmas and holiday season. Check out what we did.

We started off the month, on December 4th at Blanding's annual Tree For All. It's kind of like a craft fair where people from the area bring forth things they have made and sell them to the public (I have actually participated in this on a few occasions, but have vowed never to do it again). There are all kinds of things to buy. They auction off decorated trees for charity, community groups perform, and Santa even makes an appearance. Which brought us to the Tree For All on this night.

We arrived early because last year we waited in line for over an hour. This year we were just about first in line. Ethan proudly jumped up on Santa's lap and whispered in his ear what he wanted him to bring. Earlier on this day I asked him if he wanted to go see Santa and he said no. When I asked why he said "I don't know what I will say to him because I have been naughty." Well isn't that the truth. At least he knows it. But alas, he did want to see Santa after all.


When I turned to get Ally she suddenly started to throw a fit. She had been so excited to see Santa until that very moment. Well I knew that if we left and she didn't get to sit on his lap she was going to be sad that she missed it so I made her sit on his lap anyway. Then I threw Ryan on there too for the picture. They were both very unhappy as you can see but it makes for a funny picture and memory. I got some pretty nasty looks from some spectators so I hope you all enjoy this picture. Since I am probably now classified as a bad parent.


The next day, December 5th Ally's little dance class got to perform at the Tree For All. They are called the "Tiny Taps", and they looked so cute in their little red outfits.


A little of the dancing action. To the right of Ally is her cousin Ashlynn. They did so good, and were so cute. I'll have to see if I can get the video to upload.


The little dancer. She just loves going to dance and is so proud of herself.


Well Santa was there again on the second day and I asked Ally if she wanted to sit on his lap this time. And she did, she jumped right up there and told him she wanted a pony for Christmas. In fact, she went back time and time again while we were waiting for her turn to dance. See, she wasn't scarred for life. Ryan still didn't want anything to do with Santa but none of my kids did at his age.


Javan had shoulder surgery on December 11. This is from an injury that occurred during a tube ride of death this summer at the lake. It finally got the best of him and we decided to have it looked at, where we learned his shoulder had been fractured and healed but still required surgery. So if you're wondering, yes, I broke my husband's shoulder. Better watch out! (His step dad Glade also had shoulder surgery on the same day. No, I didn't do it, it was a mule.) This picture was before the surgery, Javan was pretending so we could get a funny shot for Redd Leader. Although he didn't look much different that that when he came out. We spent two weekends up in Provo for appointments.


On December 18 we had the Young family Christmas party. All the kids were supposed to do a talent but I couldn't get any of mine to participate. Ally had practiced a song for days before but then wouldn't perform it when it came time. Daniel played a song on the piano, Reed recited a poem and did the wave with his belly and Ashlynn sang a song. That's about all we got.


But we had a wonderful dinner and the kids got to open the present they had drawn names for. Here's Ally with her necklace making kit.


Isn't Christmas break great when you get to stay up late to play with your cousins and then sleep in. It would have been better if it wasn't in my bed.


Ethan is quite fascinated with the icicles (Isn't that a weird spelling, it's right, I looked it up, but it looks weird.) He notices them all over town, how big they are, how many are lined up, how they're curved. It goes on and on. Anyway, he was so proud when he found this giant icicle on our own house and he got it down all by himself without breaking it.


On Christmas Eve day, Javan busted out the Rhino, our family Christmas present to ourselves, and took the kids sledding.


Ethan and Ally had the best time just going up and down the road at my mom and dad's house.


That night we had our traditional soup and scones with just my parents and us, although we made enough soup to feed 100. After awhile Michael and Michele's family came up and we opened cousin Christmas gifts. Ryan was super excited to open his present, he was very impatient while Javan was getting it out of the box for him.


Ethan waited all night for the boys to come up so he could finally open his present this cool Spiderman puzzle book.


We came home and the kids opened their Christmas jammies and posed quickly by the tree before we tucked them into bed for the night so Santa could come. (Ethan wouldn't wear his Christmas jammies, he said they were too big and he hated them. That didn't make "Santa" very happy. I think "Santa" thought twice about visiting Ethan this year.)


But Santa couldn't stay mad for too long and gave Ethan and the others presents anyway. Kids asleep in bed, presents wrapped, stockings stuffed, all ready for Christmas.


I was a horrible picture taker on Christmas day. While I didn't think about it at the time, I'm quite sad about it now. Ryan was so funny. He got so excited about opening presents and loved to tear the paper off. He was pretty stoked about this little 4-wheeler he got in this stocking. Ethan and Ally loved all their gifts as well. They said their mp3 player were their favorite. We spent the rest of Christmas day visiting family, playing with cousins, eating delicious food, and hanging out. It was a great day.


Javan started a tradition a few years ago where he buys me the ugliest Christmas sweater/shirt he can find and I have to wear it all of Christmas Day. This year he really our did himself. When I opened up the box and saw the denim I knew it was going to bad, then I saw the flannel on the collar. It's my worst shirt yet. I felt ugly all day. These pictures aren't real great. I wouldn't allow a picture with a real camera but Amber wanted to see the shirts so these are from Javan's phone.


Last year I decided I was tired of being the only one humiliated on Christmas so I joined Javan in his tradition. He might not be so happy about it now. When I found this gem of a shirt I was super pumped. It looked just so tacky and horrible hanging there on the rack. I mean look at it, gold crowns and wings.


The back gets even better with the crown, and wings and fancy letters that say "Majestic". I thought I had really got him this year. But when he put on the shirt he really kind of pulled it off. It doesn't look that bad at all. It's a compliment for Javan that he could pull it off because I surely didn't in my shirt.

(So I need everyone's help in finding Javan a very "special" Christmas shirt/sweater for next year. I have found several on ebay but they are kind of pricey. So if anyone sees something on clearance somewhere snag it for me.)

Christmas outfits. So cute.


A few days after Christmas we went sledding with the Ivins family. We chained up the tires on a couple of pickups, tied a bunch of sleds on the back and headed down the road. The kids had a great time.


I guess, most of the kids had a great time most of the time. We got into some really soft powdery snow, and I think a combination of spray from the truck and just the lightness of the snow caused it to just come up over the top of the sled. Ally was completely covered. For awhile she was laughing and having fun and it took me a minute to realize that her laughs had turned into screams and the fun was over.


Michele and Nicole were laughing their heads off in the back of the truck until we realized she was crying, so I tried to lift her out of the snow to get her out of the spray. I couldn't, it was too heavy and Ethan was between us making it harder.


We finally stopped the truck and got her out. Her face was completely packed with snow. You can see it packed into the sides of her hat.


It was so sad. She was freezing. When I finally got her into the truck and got the snow off her face her cheeks were so dark purple they were almost black. I got kind of nervous for a second. But I held her and warmed her up quick and her cheeks pinked right up. (I lost my hat up there on Black Mesa, I'm pretty sad about it.)


Not that this has much to do with Christmas other than that's when it happened. Ryan helped himself to the egg carton that was in the trash and made a total mess. Thank goodness they were just shells and not whole eggs. Look at his face. It's like he's saying "Check this out mom!" He has no idea this is a problem.


Ethan trying to dig my little car out of the snow drift.


Now that Christmas is over and we have started back to work and school I look back and reflect on the great time we had together as a family. We had lots of fun days together and loved every minute of it, almost. I wish we could have spent it with all of our families, it was a pretty quiet Christmas and I missed everyone. I hope you all enjoyed your holiday season as much as we did.