Breakfast with Santa

Our friends have an annual breakfast with Santa that they were so nice to invite us to again. It was a lot of fun spending time with friends and having the kids sit with both Mrs. Claus and Santa. Sienna did a lot better with it than Sadie. Sadie preferred sitting with mama.

Another Snow Storm

We woke up this morning to another snow storm in Texas. It is always such a surprise when we wake up to snow. There has only been one other time that it snowed this much since we moved here three years ago, and the state pretty much shut down. I am waiting for a phone call from Matt letting me know that he is on his way home but this storm isn't as heavy so I better not get my hopes up yet.

Good thing we put up the Christmas Lights before we went to Mexico. It just makes the whole look complete. Maybe I should turn them on to add more to the mood. Maybe I'll decorate for Christmas today!

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Sienna chilling on the couch enjoying the snow and a morning show.

We're probably going to be taking another lazy day today. Darn!! (not) The past couple of days have been so nice just to relax and not worry about anything.

Most Beautiful Beach

Here is our last post from Mexico. We spent Saturday at the flea market and one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. Sunday morning Bryan, Allie, and I got deep tissue massages and then we all went to the airport to catch our flight home.
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Sienna at one of the many places we ate.

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Sadie eating some fresh fruit.

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Sadie sleeping at our last dinner together.

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I wish we would have spent every day at this beach. We rented boogie boards and played in the waves and beautiful sandy beaches.

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Daddy and our girls in the Ocean.

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Adri and Sadie waiting for the waves.

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Watch out!

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Adri and Nana with the girls watching everyone boogie board.

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Don't we look relaxed? It was the perfect end to a perfect vacation.

More Tulum

Here are some more pictures from Tulum.

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The only souvenir we bought in Mexico was this replacement shirt for Matt after getting thrown up on. It is a hideous shirt but will always remind us of this amazing vacation.

TULUM!!

The small rock square with the opening on the left of the tower has a neat story to it. On June 21st sitting from where I took the picture, the sun will shine perfectly through the hole at sunrise. Our guide was telling us how the Mayans and the Egyptians both used a calendar of 12-30 day months and both also had 5 ceremonial days through the year which adds up to 365 days. The Babylonians also used the 12-30 day months but didn't include the additional 5 ceremonial days so every six years they had to add an extra month. It was such a blessing to run into the LDS guide in Tulum because he added so much more insight that we would have missed out on with the local guide.

This is the temple.

The surroundings of Tulum were phenomenal.

I am so impressed at the construction of these building from years and years ago without any machinery, etc.

Our guide was telling us that not far off of the beach was the second largest reef in the world. He explained that there were always many ship wrecks along the reef but in the center was an opening. The way that the Mayans would return safely to Tulum was by using the temple as a point of reference. If they went straight towards the temple, they would avoid the reef. I really loved hearing all of the symbolism and history that the guide shared with us. If we center our lives around the Gospel and focus on getting to the temple, it is the only way we can return to our Heavenly Father.

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All of us together at Tulum.

Thanksgiving Dinner and Tulum

Thanksgiving we decided to go to a Caribbean restaurant that everyone that worked at our resort said was their favorite. It was one of the most beautiful restaurants we ate at but easily the worst meal we had the entire week. Nobody ended up eating their food but we still had fun.

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Bus ride to the caribbean restaurant.

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Adri and Dana's Thanksgiving FEAST! I mean this totally fits the description of a, "delicious pineapple and mango rice salad with fruit."

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Papa and his little buddy.

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Happy girl on the bus ride to Tulum.

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Matt, Dana, and Sienna prior to the incident. On the way to Tulum, Sienna was facing Matt and said, "Daddy, my tummy hurts." Within 30 seconds of saying that she threw up all down the front of him, three times. Matt was extremely collected and handled it like a pro. He just sat back and let her finish then handed her to me. He went into the bathroom and threw his shirt away. Luckily, he was in his swimming suit so he was able to rinse it off in the sink and was as good as new. Sienna didn't get anything on herself so that was a bonus too. I think it was motion sickness because she was completely fine the rest of the day.

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Sienna and Nana entering Tulum.

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Tulum was Matt's and my favorite part of the entire trip. The history was so neat and it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

Me and my babe.

The beaches and water in Tulum were breathtaking. I wish we could've stayed there all day.

Hola Senorita

The first night we mostly just walked around the resort and tried to figure out what was around us. We spent the night figuring out what tours, etc we wanted to do over our trip and then ate dinner and played some basketball. The next day we the boys went golfing and then we all played on the beach. Our resort had the nicest pools and private beaches but the water wasn't as pretty or clean as the other beaches we went to later in the week. We were able to play in the sand and kayak though.

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Nana and Sienna trying on a sombrero.

The girls playing chess.

Finally, they got to play in the sand. The girls had so much fun on the beach and could've stayed there all day.


Trying to walk in the sand.
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Not the best picture but it is our only family picture from the first day on the beach.

Getting There

Here are a few picture of us at the airport on our way to Cancun and then a few as we arrived. It was a wonderful trip. The best part was being with everyone and we all had a lot of fun together.

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Jamming in the airport.

Waiting for our shuttle to take us to Moon Palace.

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Daddy and the girls testing out our hammock in our room. The resort was beautiful and our rooms were amazing.

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Walking around the resort the first night together.

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The first night in Mexico after everyone got there. Bryan, Allie, Matt, the girls, and I arrived a couple hours before Dan and the rest of the gang. We had a couple of hours to scope out the resort and get the girls a nap.