We're such good parents!!

We found out that on the first Saturday of the month at Home Depot they do this Kids Club thing for FREE! So the girls get their own aprons and a project to make, then they get a pin to put on the apron for the project they did. We've gone to it the last few months and the girls LOVE it! They feel so proud of their projects, and we feel so proud of ourselves for finding something good for them to do :)

Halloween

We didn't get many pictures of the girls! Dave's dad took a bunch and I think that's why Dave didn't take any. It was a pretty eventful evening. I got the girls ready and Dave put them in the car to take them to Grandma and Grandpa's and Bree threw up when they got there. Awesome. So they came back and she cried on the couch with me while Dave took Emma out in the pouring rain. Poor girl, Bree was devastated that she wasn't out trick-or-treating. She had been practicing how to say it and everything. But I think the throw up was a fluke b/c she was fine after that. Emma lasted for about 3 houses before it was too rainy and cold. So she came back and we hung out with some family and friends for a little bit before it cleared up a little to take them out again. Dave had about 4 little kids huddled under our beach umbrella, walking down the street. It's so sad when you have weather like this b/c you can't really see the costumes! And because of the weather, we had WAY too much leftover candy.

Silvermist at the school parade. Her cute friend Ashley held up her wings the whole time!

Go Cougars!

We got tickets with a bunch of friends for a BYU game. We all lhad a blast, we won, we had cotton candy, could it be any better??

the Ericsons

the Hannas

Yes, we are teaching them the fight song.

awesome view, right?? so beautiful!

the Pratts

crazy face!

Family Time

Dave's sister lives in Idaho and they come down quite a bit. We're so grateful to have SOME family close by! On this particular trip we decided to drive up the canyon for changing leaves. We were a little early for the most part. We drove to Cascade Springs and I was shocked to see how different it looks since it burned a few years ago! But it was just a nice little jaunt.

Back to blogging

Well, I'm going to attempt to catch up on our lives. I definitely have the time to stay up to date on the blog, it's just motivation. I gotta remind myself, a little at a time and I'll get there! So, here's my attempt.

CANCUN. We went there. And took pictures. But most of the pictures are on Ann-Marie's camera. Highlights of that trip were definitely the ruins. We went to Chichen Itza, Coba and Tulum. We did Chichen Itza on our own and the other 2 with an LDS guide. What awesome insight she had!! I loved hearing about everything and seeing correlations between gospel teachings and the carvings/ruins. It was amazing.

We got dumped on at all 3 sites, but it felt good to be completely drenched in that heat. Holy cow, the humidity there is something to be reckoned with. I couldn't do my hair b/c of my arm, but if I had time to spend on it I guarantee it would have been a cascade of lucious, curly locks! hehe. Julianne blow dried and straightened my hair for one evening but it was pointless. We walked outside and it frizzed right up! Two hours of work for NOTHING!

In addition to the ruins we snorkeled at the resort, sailed on a catamarran, rented kayaks, went to downtown Playa (we stayed in Playa, about 30 minutes from cancun, so we never actually were in cancun except for the airport), tried different taco stands, celebrated Mexico's independence at the resort, got sunburned, ate a MILLION mangos (oh, those mangos...drool drool drool), and us girls got PAMPERED. I got my first facial. I would like another one :)

We went to this awesome park called Xplor. It was next to Xcarat and it had only been open for about a year. I wasn't going to go b/c I didn't think my arm could handle it, but I am SO glad I went! You paid one fee for the day and got to do everything and have meals, snacks, and drinks provided. Everyone was given a helmet to wear for the day and there was a chip in the helmet. Throughout the park pictures were taken and tracked on that chip, so at the end of the day all the pictures of you were on your helmet! The helmets would also capture pictures of the people you were with, so we ended up purchasing 3 helmets of pictures and shared them all. There were 2 routes of 7 ziplines each, then underground rivers to swim through with stalagmites and stalactites, off road vehicles, underground paddle boats. It was awesome.

Poor Dave started to feel pretty sick on day 4 and was out of commission for the rest of the trip. He ended up with a hardcore double ear infection. His lymph nodes were so huge it looked like his head was swollen. The Mexican amoxicillin we got didn't help any. He was pretty miserable. He missed out on the Tulum and Coba ruins and the cenotes, which I was most sad about because he was so looking forward to them!

All in all, we came back happy and addicted to mangos!

And for your viewing pleasure, a few pictures:

Poor Dave had to do all the paddling work :) I just lounged.

Poor Dave also had to pull me along the river. I couldn't really swim and it was deep so I couldn't push myself along. But he was so great about it. He didn't complain too much. :)



This was my first zipline where I was terrified that when I got to the end my arm would be shattered by the stopping. Surprisingly, the landings were smooth. I felt much more confidant after this!




Us girls had to hold on to our shorts when we came in on the water landings! All 3 of us gave the guys at the end a little show when the force of the water pulled them down a little!




Yes, Dave was in heaven the whole day. This was right up his thrill-seeking alley. On the very highest zipline (which was also the longest-we were in the air for 1 1/2 minutes!) we flew over an area filled with alligators and another enclosed area with a jaguar. It was the only time in the park we could see those 2 areas. We could drive by them on the off-road vehicles, but couldn't see into them.



These pillars each represent a warrior. I think our guide said there were 2,000.

This area was there all the water was, so it was set below the level of the rest of the area. It was pretty cool to imagine people coming to the edge to get their water.

I don't remember why we took this picture like this. My arm was taking a break from the brace, but you can't see my incision or anything. At that point I was still really afraid of taking it out of the brace.