Sisters Trip - Cancun, Mexico

I had the incredible opportunity to go on a Sister's Trip for my littlest sister's 30th birthday. We have each been saving for years (since Melissa and I flew to Jenna's house in Iowa for her 30th birthday). We talked about a lot of places - everywhere from Italy to Costa Rica. In the end, we decided to go to Cancun and it was fab.u.lous. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect but I loved it SO much. I loved the people, the culture, and the Spanish language. Everything about it was just so incredible.

As soon as we got to the airport we realized that our flight was going to be delayed. We were already worried about missing our connecting flight and the delay would make us miss it for sure. We were incredibly blessed to speak with a man who was willing to help us before his working hours officially started, which led his manager to help us get on a different flight. If he hadn't been willing to help us at that point, we never would have made it and their best flight option was to go home and come back in 2 days for a different flight. Miraculously, the manager was able to book us onto a direct flight leaving that morning. (At one point, she was going to be able to get Jenna and Melissa on that flight but I was going to go on a different flight with a transfer to Mexico City. It's really just incredible that they were willing and able to help us. (We bought chocolates for the entire Delta service team at the airport to say thank you, ha.) One short flight, with a viewing of the new "Cinderella" which had us delightedly laughing in our seats.. and we were in Cancun! 

The first night and the last night we stayed in a hotel right by the airport and took an Uber/Taxi to the local beaches (Dolphin Beach and Puerto Moreles). The rest of the time we stayed in the best all-inclusive resort. When I say the best, I mean, we looked at lots of different resorts and even though this one was more expensive it was truly incredible. Unfortunately, it may have ruined us for resorts because nothing will ever be able to compare to it's amazingness - but we knew that going into it and it did not disappoint in ANY regard. 

It's hard to really explain how incredible the Xcaret Arte resort was - but here are a few highlights of why we loved it so much. 

-The food was incredible. I think every meal I finished by saying "This was the best ___ I've ever eaten." (Except for the fish tacos served on a fried fish skeleton - that was too much for me, ha.) 

-They were so accommodating when we said we didn't drink alcohol and made us incredible, non-al custom house drinks which I loved. (So much pineapple and fresh yummy flavors!) Even when we stayed up to find the hidden speakeasy (bar) because it was fun - the bartender was super willing to mix us up some non-al fun drinks and we really enjoyed it. I felt safe and comfortable the whole time. 

-There were so many things to do at the resort, pools and rivers where there were people willing to bring you a pina colada while you relaxed, classes in each of the casas (we went to a pottery painting one), kayaking along the river, photo opportunities, the most incredible spa I will probably every go to. 

-Did I mention that I felt safe and comfortable the whole time? One of the reasons we went to a resort was because three girls traveling alone made us a little nervous -but I was comfortable enoguh to leave the room in the morning while the sisters were still sleeping and walk by myself to the top of the spiral to the church at the peak and watch the sunset. It was an incredible experience and I felt so safe. 

-Did I also mention that the food was amazing? I don't think I did it justice. I'm still dreaming of the french toast, tacos, hot chocolate, house drinks, and more...  

The other reason that we chose this resort is that it has several parks associated with it and you can go for free (and free food) as a guest at the hotel. They are  "natural amusement parks" that are full of culture, history, adventure, and the natural beauty of Mexico. There were so many options of places to go, but we chose two parks close Xcaret and Xplor. Xcaret was beautiful. We snorkeled, got rained on, swam down a beautiful river, and attended a cultural presentation performance that was outstanding. Xplor had ziplines, underwater cave river systems, and ATV driving. 

The parks were amazing, but one cool thing about them is that they had "photo ops" everywhere. We would scan our hotel bracelet and 3 seconds later a camera would flash. We didn't have to worry about taking our phones with us to take pictures because the photos were automatically loaded onto our guest account at the hotel and would play on our screen when we got back. We got some great pictures that we wouldn't have been able to get otherwise and that was really fun.

The food, the ocean, the luxury - it was all amazing, but I just loved this trip so much because it was an opportunity to connect with my sisters. I love them both so much and I am so grateful for them in my life. We had such a beautiful time and I am so grateful that I was able to go. (Both the financial ability and the effort David put in to taking off working and making it possible for me to go.) 

(The pictures below may be my very favorite from the whole trip because it makes me laugh so hard. Jenna said "Do you want me to take a picture of you?" and I said yes, and proceeded to tell her that I wanted a picture of "all of this" meaning the pool and chair and restaurant - just something that could capture how incredible it was to be sitting in lounge chair IN a pool, next to a restaurant with the ocean in front of us reading my book without a care in the world. She understood the assignment and started backing up to get a better shot. Neither of us realized that the pool, which was only about 12-18" deep by the pool chairs but dropped to about 3-4 feet. Jenna backed right off the dropoff, so she was there taking a picture of me and then suddenly she was completely submerged in the water except her hand holding my cell phone that was still sticking out above the surface of the water.  (What dedication to keeping my phone safe! She's such a good sister.) We both were laughing so hard that we couldn't breathe and I love that memory so much. 

A beautiful trip with my beautiful sisters. I love them and love love loved Mexico. 

Dad Does Homeschool with the Kids

Shantel went with her sisters on a "Sisters Trip" to celebrate Melissa's 30th birthday. I took the week off of work to be with the kids. As part of that it means that I was also in charge of homeschool this week. 

I loved the chance to do homeschool with the kids. It was a really great way to connect with them. It also gave me extra insight into the challenges that Shantel faces every day. I tried to stick to the normal schedule with the kids and so we were definitely busy doing family economy, going to co-op and doing language arts, math and science. 

It is hard to talk about all the things I loved, but here are a few. Not a lot of pictures from the week because I was obviously trying to get through all the school stuff, keep the house clean and make dinner. 

I can't remember what Caleb was saying right here, but he had come over to make a very important point to me and I loved just these little interactions all day. 

Caleb was still sick on Monday. (I took all the other kids to the co-op and sat with him in the van while he was throwing up). Then on Tuesday Lucy ended up sick as well. One night she came up to bed all on her own and laid down and went to sleep all on her own. 

Below Austin was working on doing some watercolor in his language arts book. For one of Caleb's lessons it had a little thing about apples, so I cut up an apple and after he finished each section he got to eat an apple. I loved watching them learn. 

Caleb and I also practiced some words by having him jump to each thing and say the word written on the paper. May favorite thing is not pictured. Austin and I practiced spelling numbers by shooting a basketball and every time we made it we had to write that number and race to make ten baskets. Then the next day Lydia and I raced making baskets and doing her spelling words. 

On Thursday we broke the schedule and did a movie afternoon to celebrate our hard work and had a great time together. Then that night it was time to go pick up Shantel and her sisters. 

I am really grateful for all the work Shantel does each week. She shows patience with our children and is loving and kind and works extremely hard. I loved being able to connect with each one of the kids. I had some good chances to just snuggle and talk to Lucy. I had a lot of Caleb one on one time I don't really ever get and I loved working with Lydia and Austin. We have such great kids and I love them. 

October General Conference

General Conference was a little bit different this October. Shantel and her sisters trip to Cancun was scheduled over General Conference, so it was just the kids and I. However, we wanted to keep up our tradition of visiting the Saratoga Springs temple and checking its progress, so we went the weekend before conference. The outside is completed and they are just finishing the inside. It looks beautiful and we had fun walking around the temple. Shantel also took the chance to do baptism pictures for Austin. 

After stopped at the temple we went to our normal spot that we get to see the progress of the temple. It looks so tiny in the pictures but is really quite beautiful standing there in person. 

On Friday night Shantel was packing and I got all of our conference bags ready. Then I took Shantel and her sisters to the airport on Saturday morning. (It was so early that we told Lydia we would just be leaving all the kids asleep and that if anyone woke up, she could watch them until I got back. They were all still asleep when I got home. 

First thing before conference the kids were excited to each make their own fort. Austin and Caleb ended up building a fort and then Lydia and Lucy built a soft pile. 

We had a great time watching conference together. Unfortunately Caleb got sick on Saturday afternoon and did not feel good Saturday or Sunday. 

Jenna brought cinnamon rolls for us, so we baked those on Sunday morning and had a delicious breakfast. The picture of Lydia is during Elder Holland's talk, so you can see that she loves listening to him as much as Shantel and I. 

Sunday we did some new forts. One of my favorite things was that Lydia had a conference notebook and was taking really good notes during multiple of the talks. 

I'm so grateful that we have a prophet and apostles to lead and guide us in our day. Normally I include some of my favorite things from conference here - but I did not have a lot of notes this time since I was also taking care of all 4 kids I just tried to listen and take really good care of them. I'm going to be re-reading conference talks over the next couple of months and I'll try to come back and update this post or add a new post on some of my favorite things.