Cabo

Our trip to Cabo was my most favorite trip so far of all of the Amarr Summit trips so far. The main reason was because we made friends and also socialized more and met some fun couples. Don't get me wrong. Cancun and Orlando were great and I love any trip with Marshall but this trip was all of that plus more. I also liked our flights better for this trip. We left first thing in the morning so I wasn't exhausted from the red eye flights we normally take.

 It was a snowy morning so they had to de-ice the plane. This was a first for me so I thoroughly enjoyed the process. It's the little things sometimes.

Another great thing was our layover in San Francisco. I have wanted to see the Golden Gate Bridge ever since I learned about the Golden Gate Movement. It is a pro kindness/pro social club named because the Golden Gate Bridge connected communities and the club is all about forming connections and being social. I think it's so great! We were able to see the Golden Gate Bridge when we left San Francisco headed to Cabo. It's not the best picture but it made me so happy to see it.

Going to a foreign country is tricky when you don't know the language. Thankfully Marshall knows how to act so we don't get taken advantage of. Another funny thing with the language barrier is how we would read situations differently. We would be communicating with a hotel employee and he would come away with a different interpretation than I would. They were usually opposite each other so then we were even more confused.

 Took this picture for the kids...they said it looked like Grandma Ruth's car got stretched out.

 The resort was all inclusive which is so so nice and stress free. I liked the resort in Cancun better for the food, beach, weather, and entertainment but I'm not complaining. It was still nice, just different pros and cons. This resort had a yummy buffet, ping pong, was smaller for walking from place to place, and shopping close by.
We got checked in to the hotel that afternoon. Then we signed in with Amarr and normally we would just bolt so we wouldn't have to hang around everyone drinking. This time we went to get appetizers at a little restaurant near the check in and we ran into a couple from Utah also there for the summit. They were getting appetizers too and had the same plan since they also don't drink. Dinner was going to be much later so they had the same thought to get something to tie them over until dinner. Well we sat there and visited and it was so fun! They were so nice and easy to talk to. I know I had met them at other garage door related trips but we usually just said hi in passing but never got to know them. My mind was so boggled at how we went so long without getting to know them. They were so nice and fun! Way easy to talk to.

This was the outside dining area for the buffet. I love how they were growing herbs in the garden. I also love the lights. One day I would love to have lights like this in my backyard.

These pictures were for the kids. We walked all around the hotel the first night checking everything out.

These are different angles of the lobby. It was large and open. 

This is a view from the back of the resort towards the pool.

This is outside our balcony the first morning.

This is the courtyard outside our door the first day. We moved to a different room on the second day and it was just as beautiful.

Thursday morning Marshall had meetings and I got to sleep in, exercise and study and relax. Then after lunch we went on a glass bottom boat tour. The glass bottom boat was probably the least exciting part of the boat ride. It was more about the view of the rocks.

Some of the rocks look like they have faces on them.

This is coyote rock.

Hole in the rock. One side is gulf of California and the other side is the pacific ocean.

The middle rock looks like a profile of Scooby Doo.

Arch of Cabo San Lucas

We had time to shop for souvenirs after the boat ride.

We moved rooms when we got back from the boat ride.

This was the outdoor dining area for the Japanese restaurant. 

Friday morning Marshall had meetings and I slept in, exercised and then sat out by the pool. The high for the day was 74. When Marshall finished his meetings we ate lunch at the buffet and then went to the beach. The sand was beautiful but more course. The waves were pretty rough and the water was cold. I didn't got swimming but Marshall took a dip.

We walked down the beach. It's hard to see it in the picture but the beach was pretty sloped so it wasn't comfortable to walk very far.

This is the courtyard outside our second room. Marshall is a kid at heart and had to walk in the fountain.

We played ping pong twice. I won the first time and Marshall won the second time.

This was a sitting area that we thought was really cool. There is a candle in each hole.

View from the back at night and the other picture is inside one of the restaurants.

The last night we had a catered dinner, ya know those meals where each course looks super fancy but the portion size is really tiny. It was yummy food but we all said how we were still hungry afterward. We got to sit by our friends- Trish and Jerry. We also met two other two other couples that we had a lot in common with. Since we were all hungry after and all of the couples had the same standards as us(no alcohol). We decided to head over to the buffet and we continued talking for at least another hour. We learned how all of the couples met, about their kids, etc. It was SO fun!

We had plans to have a ping pong tie breaker on the last morning but ran out of time before we needed to leave to the airport.

We talked with Trish and Jer while we had lunch. Hopefully we can meet up with them in Utah sometime!

We had a layover in San Diego and then headed to Utah. We took this picture for the kids.

HEDIS Time

It's HEDIS season again. This is my 4th season as a HEDIS RN. I am so grateful for this job! This season Cotiviti decided we all needed company equipment instead of using our own. I came home to four boxes of computer equipment on my door step.

I got it all set up and I'm ready to go!

Hoover Dam and Valley of Fire

Being on vacation on a Sunday is really not my favorite. Over the past year or two we have been trying to make our Sunday worship more meaningful. Keeping the sabbath day holy while on vacation can be done with planning but it's hard at times. Marshall went to the store Saturday night and bought some food for lunch and dinner. We ate a good breakfast at the hotel before church. We found a church about a mile away from the hotel. Sacrament meeting was chaos. Kaden and Sienna forgot how to act and it was a minute to minute battle with each of them. It was rough but hopefully through it all my kids will see how important it is to go to church even when on vacation. I always say that going on vacation doesn't mean you take a vacation from your standards, religion, values, etc. Sunday is still Sunday no matter where you are.

We had some down time at the hotel for lunch and the first part of the afternoon. By 3:00 we all had cabin fever. We decided to go see the Hoover Dam. McKay is on James's team and his family stayed in our same hotel and we went to church together and then to Hoover Dam. My parent's stayed in Henderson and met us at Hoover Dam.

It was as big as I remembered it. My kids share my fear of heights so they were pretty freaked out. James struggles with anxiety so he was ready to leave after being there for a few minutes.

The Legacy Bridge is massive and amazing!

The border of Nevada and Arizona...

Monday we drove to the Valley of Fire on our way home. My parents and McKay's family came too. We did the White Domes hike. It was an easy one mile loop with some slot canyons and lots of rocks to play and climb around on.The varying colors of rock were so beautiful!

We felt like James had a guardian angel with him. He got so comfortable with climbing and jumping around that he wasn't paying close attention. At this spot he didn't see the ditch and as he jumped off a higher rock and then as it was too late saw that the ground was much farther down. He was headed for the bottom of the ditch with no chance to change course. Amazingly enough he didn't break any bones as he landed down at the bottom of the ditch. It's hard to tell in the picture but the ditch was as deep as his height. He climbed out and came running to me in shock. I truly believe he was being watched out for because for how far he jumped down surely he should have broken a leg.

Then we went to Atlatl Rock and saw petroglyphs. 

Vegas Cup

Jameson's soccer team played in the Vegas Cup last month. When planning the trip we knew we wanted to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead with Jameson. We figured we would go to the Las Vegas Temple but then found out it would be closed for cleaning. The next closest is St. George Temple but it is also closed. Thankfully Cedar City has a temple.
I checked the weather forecast for our trip and a big storm was suppose to happen the morning we were leaving and basically covering all of I-15 through the state. I had just had a scary drive in a crazy storm and knew I didn't want to do that again. We decided to leave the night before and stay in Cedar City. My parents did the same and so they watched the other kids while we went to the temple Friday morning. It was so beautiful. We went to the Cedar City Temple open house two years ago so it was really fun to go back.

There is a statue of my ancestor, Helen Foster Snow, on the corner by our hotel in Cedar City. Of course we had to drive by and take a picture of it. My dad hopped out and told us about her and we loved having him be in the picture. We also drove by the house she lived in by SUU.

We got to Las Vegas Friday afternoon and checked into our hotel. It wasn't that warm outside and the pool wasn't that warm but that didn't stop my kids from taking a quick dip in the pool.

Jameson's team played that night and won!!! After a rough fall season it felt so good to start the tournament with a win! We celebrated by going to Steak n Shake.

Saturday morning he had his second game. They lost but they played hard and that's all I can say about that. Ali's family came to Vegas with Katelyn's team so we all went to lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. I love the salads there but not so much the rest of the food. We only go there every few years and I think that is why. I remember how yummy the salads are and forget how unsatisfying everything else is and then we go back.

We had some free time in between games. There are so many exotic cars in Vegas. Up until that point the kids were constantly pointing out cool sports cars on the road. Marshall found a Lamborghini Dealership so we walked around and checked out the cars.

Sienna went with Ali's family for the afternoon to Katelyn's game. Look how pretty the grass is where Katelyn played. The Vegas Cup is a huge tournament and has games all over the valley. Jameson's team played in Henderson on the opposite side of the valley from Katelyn. As you can see in the next picture he didn't have the luxury of nice green grass.

On the plus side the lack of grass was similar to a gym floor which is what they are all used to playing on since they are playing futsol. James's last game was a win. It was a great way to end the tournament for them. It was great for us because it meant that they wouldn't have to advance and play on Sunday. It might sound funny to some because we were happy about not winning the tournament. Here's the thing though, soccer is not life. Life is all about becoming more like Christ so playing soccer on Sunday is not a priority and it breaks the commandment of keeping the Sabbath holy. We left it up to James to decide if he would play with his team if they were to have a game on Sunday. He told us ahead of time that he wouldn't. I'm glad he is developing his own testimony of keeping the Sabbath Day holy.

That night a few family from the team and our family went and saw the movie Dolittle. I thought it was dumb but my kids liked it and that's who that movie was made for.