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.

Bienvenidos a Mexico!

Well, we have arrived safe and sound in Mexico! Our traveling day was quite long...we arrived 2 hours early to the airport, took a 6 hour plane ride, shuffled through immigration and customs, and then endured an hour and a half bus ride to our resort. But, we're here now.

Last night all we really did was unpack and eat dinner. And let me tell you, the dinner we had made all the traveling worth it. First, they brought out the most delicious appetizers (now, let me remind you, this is an ALL INCLUSIVE resort): chicken fingers, mini tacos, and chips with salsa and guacamole. Toren, of course, ordered his first (of probably thousands) virgin pina colada. And then....the main course: Toren orded this amazing flank steak and I got a quesadilla (I know it seems silly to come all this way for a little cheese between two tortillas, but it was what a wanted). Both meals were fabulous! I can't wait to have dinner tonight.

Today we spent the day getting a lay of the land and soakin' up some much needed rays. The boys played a little water polo and volleyball in the pool. Tomorrow we're going scuba diving, which should be incredible!

Here's our room (yes that's a jacuzzi tub behind the bed)

Kayaking in the mangroves. Toren, lounging as usual
On the bus ride to the resort (Did I mention there were 26 of us!?!?!)

Amazing Picture-Filled Posts Coming Soon...

MySpace Countdown Clocks

To Utah and Back

Well, we've been quite busy lately, and last weekend was no different. When we moved to Ohio last April we left most of our things in storage in Utah. Our apartment in Ohio was furnished by Icon, so we only took clothes and a few other small things with us.

We didn't need much either when we moved to Oregon because we were moving in with Toren's parents. Unfortunately, we can't live with them forever, but we can't really move into a place of our own without all of our stuff.

So, I flew to Utah last Friday, rented a big truck, loaded up our stuff, and drove back to Oregon on Saturday. My best friend, Amanda, is actually living in Salt Lake right now, and she was thrilled when I asked her to make the road trip with me (Toren had to work).

I'll be honest, it was a long day...but it was also tons of fun. We only had one running-out-of-gas scare (we made it, though we ended up driving in the wrong direction about 30 miles), and when we had about 5 hours to go we rented a couple Redbox movies to pull us through to the end.