Gingerbread Barn and Snow!!

Last weekend was our ward Christmas party. I was actually quite excited about it because, instead of a potluck and talent show, we were making gingerbread houses! Kalen and I decided to team up to make one HUGE gingerbread house...and pack as much frosting and candy on to it as possible. It ended up coming out more like a gingerbread barn, but we were pretty happy with ourselves.

You probably can't tell, but a few pieces of candy are missing....can you guess who ate them, after we specifically asked him not to touch the gingerbread barn?

Demolishing....

...and feasting!
It was delicious, though I think I ate too much because about an hour later I wasn't feeling so good.

Then on Sunday morning we woke up to a festivous miracle!! It had already snowed several inches and it didn't appear to be stopping any time soon. It was beautiful. This was Baxter's first experience in the snow. At first, he was a little freaked out. I let him outside, but he wouldn't get off the deck. Finally, I had to pick him up and throw him into the snow. At first he seemed paralyzed. He just wouldn't move. He then proceeded to tip-toe in the snow, sniffing it was he went. And then....he went wild! He started running all over the yard, just absolutely loving the snow. From then on, he would come inside just to warm up for a minute and then beg to go outside again. It was so funny!

Toren and I bundled up Sunday afternoon to take the dogs for a winter walk around the neighborhood. Yes, Toren is wearing snowboarding goggles.

Scuba Diving

We were lucky enough to go scuba diving many times during our 2 weeks, which meant that we saw TONS of cool things. My dad has an underwater casing for his digital camera, and he took lots of cool pictures. The pictures below came from all the different dives we went on. The diving in Cozumel was the best diving I've experienced so far.

Pictures underwater are not the most flattering. Here's me and Toren. Look at the chunk of hair floating on the top of my head. It kind of looks like a flame. Haha.

And we're heading off into the blue to see some amazing things. Toren is on the left and I'm on the right.

One (of many) turtle sighting.

These are squid. You'd almost mistake them for some weird fish, huh? Look at their big googly eyes.

A big school of fish.

Lobsters. Sorry the picture is sideways, and I'm just too lazy to upload it again.

I think this is a cow fish, but I could be wrong.

Another turtle.

Can't remember the name of this fish, but I thought they were pretty cool.

John (my brother) just getting out of an underwater cavern.

I'm not sure what this one is either, but it's a pretty freaky picture. He looks hungry!

A stingray and some big fish. Apparently the fish like to hang out by the stingrays because when the rays swim they churn up stuff in the sand that the fish like to eat.

Another stingray swimming away from us.

Again, I'm not sure what this fish is.

John hanging out by some sea sponges and coral.

Can you see the fish in this picture?

Another turtle. This one was rather angry at us. I think he was trying to sleep.

John and me under the water.

Another ray.

Look mom, no hands!

A spotted eel.

An octopus! This was probably my favorite thing to see.

The octopus even climbed out of his burrow and walked along the coral for us! It was incredible!!

And that's a pretty good overview of the things we saw. The only things we did see but didn't get pictures of were some barracudas and a nurse shark. It was really some incredible diving. Toren did a little more diving than the rest of us because he got his Advanced Diver certification while down there. He went to depths of 120 feet and even got to do an amazing ship wreck dive!

Cozumel Island

After a wonderful week at Xpu-Ha Palace, we packed our bags again and headed to the island of Cozumel for our second wonderful week! To get to the island we had to take a shuttle to Playa del Carmen and then catch a ferry across to Cozumel. It was an exhausting move, but once we got to our resort, we knew we were going to have a fabulous week. We decided to spend this week in Cozumel because the scuba diving sites near the island are the best in all of Mexico (pictures to come soon).

We didn't actually visit Margaritaville, but we thought we made a perfect Frankie & Lola.

They had these little horse and buggy taxis cruising all up and down the main drag of the island. Notice the sombrero on the horse's head. Pretty funny.

After a long day of scuba diving, John and Toren found the perfect way to relax: video games.

One of the most beautiful views off the island.

The island is so small that many people drive scooters instead of cars. We decided to rent a scooter for our last 2 days on the island. It was exhilarating to zip around the island with the wind breezing through my hair.

Toren, looking very much like a native.

Dinner was on of my favorite parts of each day. At the Cozumel Palace (our resort) we had 4 different restaurants to choose from each night. They were all SOO delicious. This is us getting prepared to eat at the outside grill.

This is us on our last night. We walked around town for one last time to enjoy the warm evening temperatures.

Nana & Papa's 50th Wedding Anniversary

Though we all desperately needed a vacation, the main reason my family was in Mexico was to celebrate my grandparents' (Nana and Papa) 50th wedding anniversary. They were married 50 years ago on November 28th. That night we had a special dinner in the resort restaurant, complete with balloons and cake! We gave Nana and Papa an anniversary scrapbook that we all contributed to and my mom compiled. As you can imagine, they were both thrilled. It was a wonderful evening. Happy Anniversary (again) Nana and Papa!!

Nana and Papa Blowing out the candles

The Spader Family (my mom's the one on the right) Toren and me...eager for dinner.

Doing What We Do Best

Though we did spent time exploring out and about, we also spent a fair amount of time just hanging out. For the most part, I'd lay by the pool while Toren played intense games in the pool. A few times, however, I did put my book down and hop in the pool. Who can resist water aerobics lead by a native Mexican man?

Aunt Shelby and me.

Cousin Justin working on his back tan next to me.

Cousin Hailey getting ready to snorkle in the pool.

Toren had to take a nap in any hammock he saw....at any time.


Taking advantage of the 24-hour, complimentary room service. Apparently the mini cheeseburgers are TO DIE FOR.

Ek Balam and Xcaret

Our first week in Mexico was spent with my mom's side of the family...the ENTIRE family. There were 26 of us, and we were there to celebrate my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary. We had so much fun being around everyone.

We all went to the Ek Balam ruins, which holds the tallest Mayan temple that you can climb. We had a tour guide show us around the ruins and give us an idea of what the Mayan people were like.

I think Toren is too tall to be Mayan.

The tall temple. Some parts of it are still being restored, which is why you see the coverings to the sides of the stairs.

At the top of the temple!

Coming back down. I had to scoot on my bottom most of the way. As you can see, however, Toren is already on the last couple of steps.The whole gang!

Later that week we all went to Xcaret (pronounced eshkaret). It's an ecological park. There we swam in natural lagoons, saw all sort of animals, snorkeled through a cenote (and underground river), visited a Mayan village, and watched a nightly show called Mexico Extravaganza. The first half of the extravaganza included scenes from Mayan life, including the famous ball game and what might have happened with the Spaniards arrived. The second half showcased dances from all the Mexican states.

On the way to they Mayan village.

Still on the way to the Mayan village.

And, here we are, with a brave Mayan warrior.

So Long Sweet Sun....

Well, we're back from our 2 weeks in Mexico. On Friday (the day before we left), Toren threw an interesting offer my way: let's stay in Mexico for good! He would work as a scuba diving instructor, I could sell my handmade crafts, and it wouldn't be hard to convince the family to ship little Baxter down.

As I lay by the pool sipping a virgin pina colada with the sun's 85 degree rays blanketing me, his offer was very....very tempting. Yet, in the end, I decided a life without my family and friends -- even in tropical Mexico -- would be no life at all. So, we came home, and now I have an offer of my own: let's ALL move to Mexico!!!

We really did have a fabulous time. It was my greatest intention to update our blog ever other day or so while we were down there, but we didn't take our computer, so that didn't really work out. Nonetheless, I'm going to try to share the essence of our wonderful vacation now.