Trip to Hurricane and Cedar City

Had a great Christmas with Jenna, David, Cyrena, Natalie, Rick and Lynette traveling to our home. Had a great Christmas eve program with the candy bar sled races, music, and various presentations. Curt's family came and shared the evening with us. Andy and Carrie came with them. Lynn, Debbie, Elise, Jacob, Chad, ShayLynn, Ty, and Isabelle spent the night. Fun times!

Christmas afternoon, we went to eat at Mi Ranchito and saw Valkrie - a pretty good movie with Tom Cruise.

We left Tuesday 12/30 and drove to Hurricane, UT. (stopping at the Red Barn in Santaquin on the way to pick up some great Fuji apples). Our friends, the Gardners, have a winter home right next to the Sky Mountain golf course. So of course John and I played 18 holes of golf on Wed and Thurs and Dee Dee and Jacque (say Jackie) shopped and played. We had some great food at Olive Garden and at a sports bar in Hurricane and went to see "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" - strange and interesting, and LOOOOONG!! We also watched some DVDs at their home - I Robot and The Spitfire Grill.

Friday morning we headed up to Janet and Allen's cabin 20 miles west of Cedar City. Janet joined us later that evening - Allen couldn't make it. We had a "24" marathon (season 6 of the TV series). Watched the whole thing and basically vegged until Sunday around 6 PM when we headed back home.

Cancun

We spent some very relaxing days in Cancun from Saturday 12/6 through Wednesday 12/10. We arrived at a very good time of the season. The weather was great and there were no crowds. We flew directly from Salt Lake to Cancun, a trip of about 4 1/2 hours - everything was on time. We stayed at the Excellence Playa Mujeres resort, an adult-only destination located way north of the hotel district, on the beach, on about 15 acres, all by itself with no other resorts or hotels anywhere close by. It is situated 45 minutes north of the Cancun airport and you can see Isla Mujeres directly to the east, about 5 miles across the water. When we arrived, we passed through three large iron gates with security guards and we met at the entrance by staff who presented us with cold, moist, rolled-up towels on a silver tray for freshening up (wow). We were stunned by the place - 8 restaurants, 10 bars, a meandering "lazy river" that you can float on and takes you all around the resort. Amazing food - we ate such huge breakfasts that we never ate lunch. Custom omlette bar, all kinds of juices, rolls, sweet breads, bacon, ham, cereal, tons of guacamole, salsa, ranchera sauce, waffles, - you name it, they have it. The first night we had mexican food at the El Agave restaurant. The last night we ate at the Grill (filet mingnon with all the trimmings). Monday we spent at Xcaret, an ecological park with animals, butterfly pavilion, paradise river, mushroom farm, beaches, and a fantastic show at night featuring Mayan and Mexican cultural events, music, and dance. Tuesday we paid a visit to Mercado 28 and picked up some souvenirs - we took a taxi from the hotel and the driver waited there for us for 3 hours while we shopped. Our room was fantastic - room #3203 - with a great view of the lazy river and landscaping. We had a large lounge on our balcony where we could read and nap. We had a fantastic time and are thinking of returning there next year same time. .

Trip to Arizona

Dee Dee and I drove to Arizona on November 1 to be with Jenna and David and Cyrena and the new baby (Natalie Mae, born 10/31). She came a little early, so we didn't make it to her birth. Jenna was home by the time we arrived Saturday evening. We took a different route this time, traveling through Panguitch, Kanab, Page, and Flagstaff - a very beautiful and interesting drive past the Grand Canyon. We had a great visit and ate some tasty food, both homemade and out to restaurants. Highlights were getting to know little Natalie, trips to the park, golfing, Olive Garden, Ajo Als, Ritter's Frozen Custard (yum!), BBQ at Jenna's, working (for Mick - ugh), a trip to David's office in Scottsdale (Araphoe Underground Utilities and Infrastructure), FatBurger (double yum), reading new books, Sacrament meeting Nov 9, Trader Joe's, Smart and Final, TEMPERATURES IN THE 70s and 80s!! We (sadly) drove home on Tuesday Nov 11. Looking forward to Christmas and more time together.

Halloween

Here are some Halloween photos from our wild and crazy family!!

Fall Colors in Alpine

Here are the fall colors in our yard and in the hills behind our home. Photos don't do this justice.

Dee Dee is Gone

Dee Dee and Debbie are in Surprise Arizona for Jenna's shower. They will return Tuesday.

Trip to Las Vegas, August 16 2008

We traveled to Las Vegas for Sara's Wedding, staying at Linda and Dick's house. The video at the bottom shows Elise dancing with her cousins.