Playa del Carmen - Mexico

So we decided to surprise the boys with a trip to Mexico. We had to avoid a lot of questions when it came to going through the whole passport process with them. Dylan was starting to suspect something the day that we left. Tuesday night we told them that they could stay up late and play the wii. At 10 pm, I went downstairs and told them to change out of the pjs and don’t ask any questions. Of course, they asked lots of questions…we told them we were going on a drive. They soon realized that we were headed to the airport. Then the guessing game began. Are we going to DisneyLand, DisneyWorld, Mexico….Tyler even asked if we were going to Africa or Australia. We had a lay over in Atlanta and they were convinced that we were going to Florida since we were so close. Even when we were on the plane and they announced where we were going…they said, “We’re going to New Mexico!” We laughed.

The view from our room.

The 3 Amigos with their slushies.

Jen & Tyler at the beach at night.

Dallas with one of the crabs he caught.

Dylan with one of the crabs he caught.

On the pier in Playa -- eating our yummy pineapple and mango

Playing at the beach


We went to Xel-Ha on Friday. We snorkeled, chased iguanas around, looked for shells, and Dallas and Tyler swam with the dolphins. Dylan said that he didn’t want to, but then regretted not doing it. I think once he saw that it wasn’t scary for Dallas and Tyler, he realized that he wanted to do it.

Posing with the parrots

Do you see the big iguana?

The dolphins jumping over all of them.

The dolphins dancing.

The dolphins swimming around everyone.

The dolphin kissing Dallas

Tyler dancing with the dolphin....so cute!!

Dallas with the parrots

Dylan at Xel-Ha holding a parrot and toucan...He is a little nervous.

They also held a big lizard...scary!!


Dylan and Dallas loved the beach. Tyler would rather have been in the pool the whole time. He didn’t care for the salt water.

Tyler playing at the beach

Shane and Dallas -- They seem to look alike today.

I think we all ate at least 5 gallons of ice cream while we were there. Every time we ate a meal, we had to get an ice cream cone for dessert. The resort that we stayed out was great. It was huge and they had golf carts to drive you from one end to the other. We just so happened to be on the opposite side of where the beach was. But we had a couple of pools right outside our room.

To procrastinate or to not procrastinate

I was planning on posting about our fun trip to Mexico...but haven't had a chance to download the pics and all that...but I couldn't resist writing about this. For all of you who don't know this story...let me start from the beginning and tell you. First of all, it was a couple of weeks ago that Shane was bragging that he didn't have any speeding tickets on his record. So Shane procrastinates and doesn't register his vehicles. He got a ticket for this awhile ago. I paid the ticket and told him to go get his vehicle registered. Well, of course he hasn't done that. He got pulled over a few months later. The cop asked where he was going. He was on his way to Huntsmans and the cop has what that was and why he was going there. Shane told him Huntsmans Cancer Institute and that he had cancer. Long story short...the cop didn't give him a ticket...but said something about impounding his truck. So still doesn't go get it registered. So a couple months later, he gets pulled over in Highland and is given a ticket for....yes...expired registration. So now I tell him that I will not pay the ticket until he gets it registered. Now he is very capable of writing a check and paying the ticket himself or just going and getting it registered. But noooo.... So every envelope addressed to him from Highland, I have left I on his desk unopened. Well the other day, he thought he was being pulled over. I commented that I am sure he would have a warrant out for his arrest. He said...oh no, i would have received a letter telling me that. So about an hour ago I receive this phone call from Shane...he was headed up into Alpine to go hiking. He asks me if I have $165 in cash. I told him that I had just deposited the left over cash from our trip in the bank on the way home from work. He tells me that if I don't come up with $165 in cash right now, that he will be going to jail. He got pulled over for speeding and there was a warrant out for him. So I was able to come up with the cash and take it up to him. The cop told him that he didn't know why he was going to let him off and not impound his truck...but to go get the truck freaking registered. Of course, Shane and his smart ass question....so how long do I have before i get another warrant. Yep, that's Shane for ya!!

Scouts Cake Decorating

For the Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts, the boys all had to decorate a cake. Dylan with his Bunny Cake.

Dallas with his Sailboat Cake.

The tooth fairy has been busy!!

So Dylan, Dallas, and Tyler all had loose teeth. Dylan and Dallas both pulled theirs out on the same night. Tyler's was very loose and we are trying to talk him into letting us pull it out that same night. We were trying to tell him how cool it would be to have the tooth fairy come visit all 3 of them on the same night. But he just wouldn't do it. Dylan and Dallas both lost the same tooth just on different sides of their mouth.

Dylan

Dallas

So a couple days later at church, Tyler kept playing with his tooth. It was so loose that he could push it back and forth with his tongue. He asked to go get a drink and a couple minutes later came running back into sacrament meeting whispering a yell (yes he was trying to be quiet but had a hard time disguising his excitement) "I pulled out my tooth!!"

Christmas 2009

Christmas was fabulous!! We always say that we are going to cut-back, but it seems like it never happens.
Here are some fun pictures of the boys in their Christmas pajamas.

CRAZINESS!!

Other Misc Christmas pics

This one made me laugh. Dallas was freaking out when they opened the Wii.

Dylan showing his ipod shuffle

Dallas showing his knex set

Tyler opening his Dinosaur Lego set

All the boys got hiking backpacks from their Grandma Mindy and Rick.

Shane opening his fish spear

SANTA CLAUS

Jill & Jerry invited us to Riverside to see Santa Claus. It was no ordinary visit. Dylan, Dallas, and Tyler were hanging out with their cousins.

They were serving hotdogs, chicken strips, and mac & cheese.

This is the kids patiently waiting for Santa Claus to come.

Santa Claus arrived in a helicopter. They all thought that was the coolest thing. It was hard to get a good picture once the helicopter blew snow all over the window.

Dylan, first asked Santa Claus for an elf for Christmas. Santa Claus said that he didn't think that he could spare one of his. So then Dylan said...ok well then I guess an ipod nano.

Dallas had a hard time thinking what he wanted, but he did ask Santa if he was on the naughty list.

Tyler had a whole list of things to tell Santa....idog, dog, hamster, night vision.

Boys with Rudolph

Dallas, Dylan, Tyler

Sofia, Samantha, Molly

They also had clowns making all sort of things out of balloons for all the kids.

Thanks for the invite Jill & Jerry!!

The boys loved it!!

Temple Square

We went to Temple Square on Thursday night. It was fun to see all the lights.

The Whole Family

The reflection pond with the Nativity.

Tyler, Dallas, & Dylan in front of the big Christmas tree.

Gingerbread House Building

Here is our annual gingerbread house construction. There was a little bit of issues this year and we had to pull out the glue gun. Normally, I instruct them on what to do by following the picture. This year, I decided to let them do whatever they wanted as long as they all agreed. The agreeing part was the hard part.

Tyler loses another tooth

Tyler had been wiggling this tooth for awhile and wouldn't let us pull it out. I talked him into letting me have one try at it and I almost had it. It started bleeding. Well the next day he pulled it out himself. :)