Mexico cont...

I couldn't fit everything into one post so here are some of the fun things we did on our vacation...

The pools were BEAUTIFUL. We spent a good bit of time by the pools. Looking back I wish that we had spent even more time there but I am always so hesitant to overdo it because I don't want to get a nasty sunburn. It was also fun because there was a swim up bar in one of the pools so I felt like we were at one of those really nice, exotic places that you only see on trendy TV shows. I could swim right up and order a diet coke or a pina colada like a superstar. :)

We did play in the ocean once but when you compare the salty, sandy, sometimes rocky ocean to these fresh water pieces of heaven...it's easy to pick a favorite.

Peter in the pool - notice how there are lounge chairs IN the pool? AWESOME!

Casen and Shannon in a cabana by the pool.

One of the pools at night. Sadly this is also the scene of the crime on our last night there where someone stole Peters phone out of our bag while we were off swimming.

We didn't really participate much in the resort planned activities but we did have our own private version of a Spanish lesson where we just asked the lady how to say certain critical phrases such as "where are the tortillas", "can I have a bottled water", and "how much is that"?

Part of the fun of a vacation for Peter and I is to spend our time doing things that we can't do everyday so we work to balance the hang out/relaxing time with actual activities that embrace whatever is available at that location. Most of the time Peter and I just did our own thing and then met up with Casen and Shannon for the meals.

Here is Peter and I engaged in a fierce Bocce Ball Battle. Of course, I was defeated by the master.

Shannon and I went shopping a couple of times. One morning we took a taxi into Playa Del Carmen and did the regular tourist shopping thing. We were, of course, harassed at every stop. We held our own though. We kept getting asked if we were sisters so eventually we just said "yes". There wasn't really an option for "snacking" at the resort so I spent a ridiculous amount of money for snacks like m&ms, Doritos, etc which was the major part of my shopping but I did get some great earrings and a pendant.

Before we left Playa, I wanted to find some yummy fresh salsa since there wasn't anything like I wanted at the resort. I went into a couple restaurants by the shops and one told me they didn't have salsa and the other said they didn't sell their salsa. What?!?! So when the taxi driver picked us up, I asked if he knew of a good place where we could get some salsa on the way back home. He said yes and I got excited. I imagined him taking us to this little hole-in-the-wall neighborhood restaurant where my American dollars would buy me buckets of amazing salsa that we could enjoy by the pool with the tortilla chips I had just bought. Guess where he took me? A convenience store. Seriously? Well maybe good salsa is so common here that they even have it at the local 7-11. So I go into the store and search each aisle looking for the salsa. No luck. Not even a Pace Picante bottle. I go back to the car empty handed but we tried again. This time a hole-in-the-wall convenience store. (Gotta happen this time, right?!) This time the taxi driver goes into the store for me to look for stuff and comes out with hot sauce. Is this what I want? No. He goes back in and comes out again with a canned "salsa". Something I could buy in any grocery store, anywhere...not some yummy fresh concoction with lots of cilantro and jalapeno. At this point I figure, this is the best it's going to get so I take it because I will not accept complete failure at this mission. Funny thing though, when I go into the store to pay for it I see all the ingredients for guacamole sitting there (fresh avocados, lime, onion, etc). So I guess the lesson to learn here is --- Mexicans don't eat salsa but they do eat guacamole. :)

There were also shops at the resort so one night Shannon and I checked them out before dinner. We saw this guy doing paintings on tiles with his fingers. We watched him for a bit and I really liked the piece he was currently working on. I decided to get it but the best part was that because he was working on it right then, I was able to customize it exact like I wanted. For example, I didn't want the dolphins he usually put into his other stuff. And I didn't want it to say "Mexican Riviera 2009", etc. It was really cool to watch him paint my piece right in front of me and now I have a great looking, hand crafted souvenir.

A few nights we went and watched the live shows put on in the theater. We saw a couple that were good. (Below is the show I thought was the best. It was numbers from a bunch of Disney/animated movies. This was the number from Madagascar. Their costumes for this show were so creative!) We also saw some shows that were really bad. We wasted 1 night sitting through a bad one and after that, if we didn't like it after 5 minutes, we left.

This picture doesn't really fit here but I forgot to put it in my previous post. This is a HUGE palm tree. It was more than 2 stories tall.

Trip to Mexico!

The first full week of December we went to Mexico with our friends from Utah - Casen and Shannon. I was so ready for a vacation and it was nice to get away from the cold weather of Texas!!!

Let's just say that the trip DID NOT start out well. As we were on the plane, nearly ready to pull back from the gate at DFW, I got a call on my cell phone from someone at the airport saying that they had my blue suitcase and did I just fly into the airport? NO! I did not just fly into the airport - I am RIGHT NOW flying OUT. I am ON THE PLANE and why is my suitcase not on the plane?!?! I tried to really help this man see how close my plane was to leaving and how important it was that my suitcase made it on the plane too. He assured me that he would make it happen. So Peter and I watched out the window as the last few pieces of luggage arrived and were put on the plane. None of these were mine. Maybe somehow, I rationalized, there was another spot they loaded luggage that we couldn't see and my suitcase made it on the plane. Needless to say it felt like the longest flight ever and the whole time all I could do was stress about my luggage.

We landed and Peter's luggage came off but that was it. No Kallie's suitcase. So we dealt with the luggage people and then worked at getting a taxi to the resort. We got a taxi and then when the guy found out where we were going he wanted even more money and rather than pay that much, we decided to take a group shuttle. (WRONG DECISION!) The shuttle made 7 stops and guess which one we were? That's right.. number 7! Thanks to the luggage and the shuttle it took us 4 hours after we landed before we got to the resort. By this point it was after 11 o clock and we were hungry and tired. Room service was the only option for food and thanks to a couple more obstacles put in our path, we didn't end up getting food until 1:15 am. So, the first night in lovely Mexico was a disaster.

This is how sad it looked with just Peter's suitcase.

The next day was mainly spent in our room talking to American Airlines trying to track down my suitcase. They had no idea where it was and since I only had the clothes I was wearing (pants, longer sleeved shirt, and tennis shoes because it was cold in Dallas), I was not game to be sitting outside in the hot sun. We did meet up with Casen and Shannon for meals and then the nightly performance in the theater. Guess what? My suitcase finally showed up at 2 am that night! I will never again pack all of my stuff in just one suitcase. Going forward, we will be splitting our stuff between the suitcases. :)

After that drama was over, it ended up being a fantastic vacation. The weather was perfect and the resort was beautiful. It was called Barcelo Maya Palace Deluxe and was an all-inclusive resort just South of Playa Del Carmen. We made reservations each night for dinner at a different restaurant (spanish, brazilian steakhouse, caribbean, thai, etc) which allowed us to try a big variety of food. We didn't like that there were times during the day when you couldn't get food, you couldn't take any food out of the restaurants so there was no snacking by the pool, and you had to pay for room service (it was a really crummy menu, but still - this was suppossed to be ALL-inclusive!)

The absolute best part of the resort was the beautiful grounds. I thought the landscaping was perfect and there was great attention to detail. Then, thanks to the Christmas season, at night there was tons of Christmas lights everywhere which just added to the beauty.

The courtyards where the rooms were.

White sandy beach!

There were cool Mayan sculptures along the paths.

Paths and pools Me and the cool fountain.

Peter and Casen

Marabeth's Birthday Party!

Marabeth turned 30 on Thanksgiving but we didn't do much to celebrate that day...

We found out that on Saturday Michael was throwing a 80's themed surprise 30th birthday party for Marabeth. He made of point of asking us to stay so that we could attend the party. A suprise party is a hard thing to say "no" to! The party ended up being so much fun! I certainly felt like I was back in the 80's. The party was held was in the basement of of Michael and Marabeth's friends. This guy had created the perfect place to have a party. He had basically turned it into a club complete with strobe, lazers, bar, and dance floor! Michael decorated with 80s games, 80s snacks, and had a great 80s cake and of course we danced to 80s music.

Peter and I are ready to go, 80's style!

Rockin' it out! Me, Marriann, Katherine, and Julianne

The Birthday Girl!

All the girls

All the boys
Marriann and Peter
Boy, this pregnant woman can dance!!! Katherine kept the dance floor alive!

Party Peter

She had to crash eventually :)

Fun Fun Fun!

Thanksgiving in Nashville

Okay, I know it...I'm way behind again. Oh well, maybe this whole blog thing isn't for me if I need to be timely. :) I am going to have to do this blog in two parts because apparently it is too long.

So for Thanksgiving we originally were just going to stay in Dallas but the closer it got the more I was sad that we weren't going to be around any family. So, the Sunday before Thanksgiving we decided to go to Nashville. It feels like it's becoming a tradition to do a Hough/Nelson (even though we were the only Nelsons there this year) Thanksgiving. It was a riot and I'm SO GLAD that we went.

We did a ton of fun things while we were there. We stayed in Julianne's new house (which was beautiful...I should have gotten a few pictures of just the house) and it was like a big sleepover because Marriann slept there, Derek slept there, Katherine and her boyfriend Tony slept there (their place was full with his family who was in town) and Marabeth, Michael, and Aiden stayed a few nights as well. I sure enjoy being around a big family!!! The party never ends...

We got there on Wednesday and just hung out which was nice. We helped Marriann do some shopping and we visited Katherine at work (the spa). That night we went to see Tony's band play at a bar called "Losers". His band was great! We dance, enjoyed the great music, and even played some shuffleboard.

Thanksgiving was perfect. There was, of course, PLENTY of good food. One of Tony's friends had smoked a turkey and deep fried a turkey for us. Yummy. The house was filled with friends and family. Michael's parents came over and Tony's parents, sister and her kids came too. Now, you know how I love playing games and luckily nearly everyone was up for the challenge so we got in some Apples to Apples, Scattergories, and BIG BOOTY!

Katherine and Tony

Derek always keeping us entertained

Getting ready to play games

Julianne sprucing up her tree

Cracking up at old Saturday Night Live clips

Thanksgiving was Marabeth's birthday so we had to find some candles for her to blow out!

Originally we were just going to stay until Friday morning but we were having such a great time and felt so included by the Houghs. Plus, quite a few people made a point of asking us to stay especially for the big event that was going to happen on Saturday night.... So, we extended our trip and I was so glad that we did!

On Friday we went to the movies and saw The Blind Side and then a Parade of Homes was going on literally across the stress from Julianne's house so we all walked through those. The houses were beautiful but I really don't care for homes that are so over decorated. Peter and I did see a few things we loved, like a really great porch setup with outside furniture and stuff, so hopefully someday we can create that for ourselves if we ever buy a house (...grrr....stupid short sell...).

Saturday was the PARTY DAY. In the morning we went to the spa and I got a facial by Katherine(heaven) and my haircut. Then after Kat was done working, we all went shopping for our costumes. More to come on that in the next post...

Derek, Katherine, Julianne, Marriann, Peter and I - having lunch

Sunday we met with Kat, Marabeth, and Aiden for a family style southern lunch- yummy. Then we all went to the movie "The Incredible Mr. Fox" (or something like that, I didn't care for the movie at all so I've pretty much tried to put it out of my head). Before she took us to the airport, Marabeth drove us around downtown so we were able to look at some of the famous Nashville sights.

It was a great visit with family and I look forward to going back to Nasvhille!

Enjoyed it? YES Do it again? YES!

New Restaurant

I'm behind again....and I can promise this weekends stuff will probably be late as well. Oh well! So I don't have much to post about last weekend because it ended up being a pretty quiet weekend. BUT we did get out of the house and went to the movies. We watched the new Twilight movie "New Moon". It was okay, I'm still a much bigger fan of the books than the movies. After the movie, we tried a new restaurant. I can't remember what it was called but it was a Japaneses Teppan Yaki style restaurant. It was fun and soooo good. I had been basically perfect all week in what I was eating so I really enjoyed having some rice. Good date!

Our first visitors from out of town

Before I get into this post, let me just say that while I enjoy this blog because I can look back on what we have done, I do not enjoy the actual blogging. I find that I am putting it off each week and soon I imagine I will be more than a week behind. UGH! It's becoming a pain to take the time (like I'm just so busy and can't fit it in, right?) and sit down and do it. It's much easier to put it off like I do with all my other "chores" like laundry, cleaning the bathroom, and ironing. :)


Last weekend, Peter's brother Alex came to visit. But he didn't come alone...since his daughter Lola was under two she could fly for free and came too! It was so fun to be around her and see how she has grown since our visit to Utah.

FRIDAY:
We picked up Alex and Lola at the airport on Friday afternoon. I figured Alex needed to experience some REAL Mexican food so we went to a restaurant called The Blue Goose. I have been there twice before but Peter hadn't gone yet. The food was so so so yummy and Alex loved it. (I, in fact, have been craving it all this week which is a bad thing since I'm trying to be good about what I eat until our trip to Mexico.) We spent the rest of the night hanging out and watching Lola be stinkin' cute.

Peter being a great uncle and playing with his niece.

SATURDAY:

We start out Saturday checking out the free pancake breakfast at our apartments but that just wasn't going to be enough so we went out to breakfast. Here is Lola enjoying a lemon. (She asked, i.e. pointed and grunted, for it so don't think I'm totally a mean aunt!)

We then headed to downtown Dallas. When we were talking with Alex about what we could do in town he was really interested when we suggested going to the Grassy Knoll. Until I one of my trips to Dallas for CROSSMARK, I never realized that JFK was shot in Dallas. He was part of our parents and grandparents generation and has always been just a note in a history book to me. We toured the 6th Floor Museum which was very interesting and I found myself getting somewhat emotional. I learned so much and feel so much compassion for those who lived through that tragedy. I want to go back again so that I can take the time to read each caption under each picture and watch each of the movies.

This is the former Texas School Book Depository building where Lee Harvey Oswald worked and this is the spot from which he shot President John F Kennedy.This is the 6th floor window where Oswald was.

The window is permanently open.

Peter and Alex looking at the building and discussing whether there really was only one shooter...

The X on the road marks the exact spot of the President when he was shot.

Alex, Peter, and Lola

This is the Grassy Knoll.

It has remained basically the same since that day and has not been changed.

After the Grassy Knoll we walked to Reunion Tower but it was closed so Peter and I will have to hit that tourist site later. We also drove to the Stockyards in Ft. Worth but none of us were really that jazzed to check it out once we got there so instead we headed back home for some lunch. We hit up some true Texan BBQ at a place near our house. YUMMY. I am picky on my meats so the meat isn't always my favorite part of the meal but I won't turn down any of the sides that come with the meat. I can see how if you let it, the food in Texas can plump you right up! Plus, let me tell you, I really do love BBQ sauce. Put it on meat, veggies, mac-n-cheese, rolls...whatever - it works with everything.

After that heavy meal we all just wanted to take a nap, but thankfully Alex pushed us to get out of the house. So we went to the mall and walked around.

Here's a pic of Lola riding the carousel.

She was so cute and waved each time she went around.

After the baby went to sleep we played cards. Alex kicked our butts at Phase 10 and then Peter kicked his butt at Texas Hold 'Em.

SUNDAY:

Saturday was a FULL day, so on Sunday we were more lazy... We made breakfast at home and just hung out. We hit a restaurant for lunch before it was time to take them back to the airport. Overall it was a fantastic weekend and was a lot of fun. It sure is nice to have visitors come to see us. Hopefully next time Alex's whole family can come!

Here are a couple other cute pictures from the weekend.

Lola - you can see what a cute personality she has!

Uncle Peter and Lola

Cowboys Football

I spent Friday and most of Saturday in Louisville, KY at a funeral for a co-worker's son so consequently I didn't really want to do much the rest of the weekend as far as an activity. I just wanted to hang out at home. I figured that this weekend would just be skipped and we wouldn't do anything. But then, on Sunday afternoon, my co-worker Jana invited Peter and I over to her house to watch the Cowboy football game. Now, I have never really been interested in the NFL however it quickly became clear to me once we moved to TX that if I continue to not care about football (not including BYU) that I will not fit in very well in Dallas! So, it just wouldn't be right to turn down this invitation. (At the very minimum, it would ensure that I could finally participate in the day-after-the-game-in-depth-discussion at lunch on Monday.) It was fun to hang out with Jana and her family and friends. We watched a little Bill Cosby, a little 4th grade football, and, of course, some Dallas Cowboy Football. They won the game!

Enjoyed it? Yes Do it again? We'll have to or they might kick us out of Texas.

Trick or Treat

For Halloween, we went to a Haunted House (Supersized)... :) There was a place about an hour away from our house that was apparently ranked as one of the top 10 haunted houses in the nation. Thrillvania may not have been the BEST haunted house I've ever been to, but it certainly had the most attractions. There were two haunted houses, a muddy maze, a haunted bayoo, a walk through the dark fields, and a animatronic type show. I was really looking forward to this date and then about 30 seconds into the first haunted house had the thought, "What was I thinking?!?!" It's been nearly a decade since I had been to a haunted house and clearly with time, my brain forgot how freakin' scared I get. Peter had a good time laughing at his wife screaming, clinging to her husband while burying her head in his arm, and walking with eyes closed. ha ha I thought the coolest thing were these halls we had to walk down (forgive me as I try to explain this) where you had to push through these black big puffy walls (in the dark) in order to get through. It was the oddest sensation to not be able to see anything, feel the walls closing in around you, and HOPING you would make it out. This was the first time I'd ever encountered anything like it - crazy!!! We have never really done anything for Halloween since we have been married so it was a lot of fun.

Enjoyed it? Yes. Do it again? We'll probably try a different one next year.

Casino Night

Last night CROSSMARK had a Casino Night fundraiser for Children's Miracle Network that we attended. It was Peter's first time inside my work, so that was fun (even though all he saw was the lunchroom). There was food, drinks, door prizes, a raffle, and a silent auction. I bid on a few things (with no real intention of getting anything) but then I went to check things out before the final group closed out and noticed that there was a Yoga package that no one had bid on. I figured, hey it's for charity and it's silly to have something not have at least one bid. So I wrote down 20.00 and of course won it. So now I am the recipient of a one month unlimited pass to some fancy yoga place (package worth 180.00)! Now I enjoy doing Yoga in the privacy of my own home but do it in public? Yikes...good thing the package doesn't expire for a year and I can get myself in better shape before I do any Warrior 2 poses publicly. :) Peter and I spent the majority of our evening playing Blackjack. I certainly do enjoy playing blackjack especially when it's with fake money! It ended up being a great night and we had fun. Enjoyed it? Yes. Do it again? Next year for sure (and I will probably participate more in the silent auction).

Texas State Fair

So this evening we hit the Texas State Fair. It was certainly big and we didn't see even a fraction of all there was to see. But, we saw the main points we were interested in. We wandered through a butterfly garden which was beautiful but lacked butterflies. We figure either they didn't like the cloudy weather or the cold temperature.

(This is the first time I have tried to post a picture on this blog and I really hate the way you upload them....grr. Also, I didn't bring my camera so all these pics were taken with my cell phone.)

Above is Peter with in front of "Big Tex" the symbol of the Texas State Fair.

As it came closer to the start of the fair I started hearing about the food of the fair. Apparently this is a major deal and each year there is a contest for the best food at the fair. I guess I should clarify that it's all about things that are either FRIED or on a stick or both! Here are some of the things you can get fried at the fair - carmel apple, pecan pie, oreos, ice cream, funnel cakes, snickers, onion strings, and alligator.

Here's a list of what we ate at the fair - Deep fried cookie dough, deep fried peanut butter and jelly, deep fried garlic butter, chili cheese nachos, corn on the cob, cotton candy, fried corn dog, and a fried green goblin (green chili stuffed with chicken,guac,cheese and then fried). I think the deep fried cookie dough was my favorite. By the end of the evening, just the smell of all the fried food made me sick.

Just like every fair I have been to, there were rides, carnival games, animals, and the multitude of booths filled with crap to waste your money on. I am proud to say none of these got our money. We still found plenty to entertain us, though. We watched a pirate/high dive show. We checked out the butter sculptures and the massive pumpkin carvings. We watched a music/light/fire spectacular. There was also a Polynesian dancer show with hula girls and fire dancers. I loved watching it and hearing the rhythmic drums. It make me miss Hawaii.

So, all in all, it was a fun time and I'm glad we did it! Maybe next year I can get Peter to watch the pig races or we can milk some cows. :) Enjoyed it? YES. Do it again? Next year!


Oh, and the action didn't end once we left the fair. Just as we were getting off the tollway, Peter got pulled over by a cop. This is the first time I've ever been in the car with Peter when he's been pulled over. Apparently my husband was going too fast on the off ramp. But the cop was nice and let us off with a warning("consider this your Welcome to Texas). Enjoyed it? Nope. Do it again? Better not.