Vamos, Let’s Go! – Round 2

Say hey, friends!   Well, I finally have something exciting to post about…we went on vacation last week!  In fact, we went back to the resort in that Jeremy and I honeymooned at, in Mexico and we went with Jeremy’s parents and younger sister.

Yay, for missing a week of work!

Our 8 day vacation was spent at the Aventura Spa Palace Resort which is an adults only all inclusive resort, located in the Riviera Maya area south of Cancun in Mexico. It is an all inclusive resort that included optional excursions, 24 hour room service, dining at any of the resorts  restaurants and unlimited food and drinks at the pool.

The resort was just like we remembered it and our week consisted of: laying out, going to Isla Mujeres, snorkeling, getting spa treatments (I love facials), eating mass amounts of chips and guacamole, taking a tour of the kitchen area of the resort, going to an adventure park and staying inside playing board games because it rained.  Well, it didn’t just rain, it poured actually.  As a matter of fact, I heard someone say that they usually get 2 inches of rain in the whole month of April, but in three of the days that we were there…they got 6 inches!

 

Laying out.

Snorkeling in the lagoon.

On the boat to Isla Mujeres.

About to go snorkeling.

It’s raining…again.

Kitchen tour…complete with hairnets and aprons.

Dinner.

Xplor Adventure Park.  We did 16 zip lines, swam in an underwater river and drove amphibious vehicles.

Brother and sister.

Us.

Hey, we look kinda tan!  What a fun vacation!

P.S.  For those of you wondering, Diesel had a little vacation of his own and he spent 9 glorious days at the Hassayampa Canine Spa!  He must have just run around the entire time he was there because he slept for about 1 1/2 when he got home.

He found a stick on our walk.

Lake Powell 2009

Our summer vacation to Lake Powell has come and sadly gone, but it was a fun time this year.

Jerm and I drove out and met up with his mom, dad, sister and her friend.  We spent 3 days playing in the lake, getting some sun and hanging around the hip-hopping town of Page, AZ (please note my sarcasm, and if you're from Page, AZ...I'm sorry because that sucks).  Some highlights from our trip include:

1.  No bed bugs this year!!  I'm happy to say that the Days Inn in Page, AZ does not have bed bugs...unlike the Best Western did last year.

2.  Jeremy put sunscreen on my upper back the morning of our first day on the lake, while I put the rest all over my body.  By that afternoon, the ONLY part painfully sunburned was my upper back.  Thanks, Jerm...in 15 years when I have skin cancer there, I'm blaming you.

3.  My new bathing suit top from Target broke...while I was wearing it!!  Jerm's response was, "Babe, just go topless."  Yea, riiiiiiight.  He used a zip tie to fix it.

4.  Jerm wake boarded for the first time. (His feet are too big and he's never been able to find a board that fit...until now.)  "Insert Video Here"  It's taking FOREVER to download onto YouTube.

5. Fun times were had by all and it was a nice vacation.

Jerm and Heather on the tube.

Us kids swam out to some rocks.

In other vacation news, we were gone for about 4 days and during that time Diesel stayed at the Hassayampa Canine Resort.  He loved it!  We got a call from the place saying that he was such a good dog and that he was having a great time.  Plus, he got a "brushing and a biscuit" one day and a grooming right before we picked him up. 

So cute, with his purple bandana!

 

Glad to be home.

Seriously?! It's 2009?!

Happy New Year everyone!  I can't believe that it's 2009 already!  The years are just flying by these days, aren't they? 

Well, Jeremy and I just got back from our whirlwind trip through 3 states in 3 days...and we're exhausted.  Our trip started on Monday morning at 7am.  Jeremy works the mid-shift Sunday night to Monday morning, so once he got home at 6:30am and got his stuff together, we hit the road for Orange, CA.  We got to Cali around 12:30pm, had lunch with Jerm's family and then went to see a movie.  We saw the new Will Smith movie, "7 Pounds," and I do NOT recommend it.  I won't spoil it for those that haven't seen it, but it had potential to be a good movie; however, it just turned out to be a bit creepy and odd.  Oh well.  After the movie, we came home and had dinner, then opened our Christmas presents!  Next came dessert and bedtime because we had another busy day coming up.

  

 

On Tuesday, we left Cali around 10am and headed to VEGAS!!  If you refer back to my post, Happy 1st Wedding Anniversary, you'll remember that Jeremy got me tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera in Vegas on December 30th.  For our quick little trip to Vegas, we stayed at the lovely Mirage Hotel.  Our room faced the Strip and we had an awesome view.

The view of the Strip.

The Mirage's volcano show, right below our room.

Before heading to the show, Jeremy placed his sports bet (which he won about $52 on!) and we ate dinner.  We tried out a new, yummy burger restaurant in The Mirage called BLT Burger.  They had delicious burgers and excellent shakes! 

  

After dinner, we headed across the street at the Venetian to see Phantom.  The show was AWESOME!  I saw Phantom on Broadway a few years ago, but I loved it so much and I knew that I had to see it in Vegas.  It is a bit shorter than the Broadway version and it's "Vegas-ified" with elaborate costumes and pyrotechnics.  To quote the website, "By incorporating special effects and enhancements made possible today by modern technology into the timeless music and story of Phantom, new audiences and loyal fans alike will be awed by and all-new Phantom."  Though I think I'm a bit bias to the Broadway version (just because I saw it first), I still loved this one.  Oh it was so good!  The actors had amazing voices, the music was incredible and as always, the Phantom won me over!  If I were Christine, I definitely would have chosen him over Raul.  Plus, even Jerm was humming some of the songs when we left!

The Phantom of the Opera.

In line for the show.

On Wednesday morning, we departed Vegas for the fabulous city of Scottsdale (oh, I love home!), to have Christmas and New Years with my family.  My parents made us a delicious dinner and then we opened presents. 

   

 

After presents, we played a board game that my parents got us, Clue.  But it's not just any Clue...it's quite possibly the BEST Clue ever...it's Harry Potter Clue!

  

As the night went on and our game of Harry Potter Clue finished, we had about an hour to spare before ringing in the New Year.  At this point, I was so tired and getting goofy, that I would have gladly went to bed at 11...but we stayed up.  At midnight, we toasted sparkling cider and popped a bunch of party favor poppers in the backyard.  Fun, fun!

Then, this morning we left Scottsdale around 10am, since Jerm worked today at 2pm, and as I said before, we're pooped.  So, our whirlwind trip has come to a close and it's quite possible that we'll never do it again.  Maybe I should do the holiday planning next year and not leave it up to Jerm. :)

As for presents, we both got some great stuff this year!  Jerm got a bunch of Blue-Ray DVDs, some much needed clothes, ESPN magazine and some other great stuff.  I got a ton of stuff, but I am particularly excited about my peanut butter variety pack (yes, I am a nerd and I asked for peanut butter for Christmas) and my blanket/wrap/snuggie thing (I wearing in the picture above)!  There will most likely be blogs about these to specific items in the near future, so stay tuned.

We had a great Christmas and New Years and we hope that you all did too!  Hopefully, 2009 be a great year for all our family and friends!

 

Our first picture of 2009...we look a little tired...

Nothing New to Report

I've really been wanting to blog  for the past few weeks, but sadly I have nothing exciting to blog about!  I've been waiting for something fun to happen, but nothing "blog-worthy" has occurred.  I haven't cooked any new recipes or baked any tasty treats, we haven't gotten a house yet or a doggie, we haven't gone anywhere fun and we've just been busy with the boring everyday items of life. 

Well, I've finally given up on waiting for something exciting to blog about...and I'm just going to share the boringness of what we've been up to.   Since our last post:

• We pulled an offer on one of the two houses we wanted because we decided we didn't want it anymore.

• Jeremy got Madden '08 for his Xbox 360...and now plays it all the time.

• I read all four books of the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer, and I highly recommend them!  (Thanks for getting me obsessed, Julie)

• Jerm went to Cali last week for a little "goodbye" visit to his sister, Heather.  She has just moved to Northern Cali to start her nursing career at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital.  Woo, woo!  Go Heather!

• I'm starting a list of all the books that I want to read before the year is out, so if you have suggestions let me know.

• I changed the layout of our blog and added some new widgets!

Yup, that's about it.  Sad, huh?  Well, at least we have something to look forward to...this Saturday I embark on the "fall travel season" for work.  Over the next 3 months, I'll be spending 6 weeks total in my territory....the grand state of TEXAS!  And ya know what...I'll mess with Texas, if I want to!  Hopefully, my adventures will amount to some "blog-worthy" stories!  Or at the very least, maybe Jerm will start blogging about what he's going to do without me for those 6 weeks...or better yet, what exactly he's going to eat for those 6 weeks, since I do all the cooking around here.  Now that sounds quite entertaining, doesn't it? 

P.S. On a random side note, it rained this evening and when I walked outside I found this totally complete rainbow!  Of course, it made me think of this song. :)  I couldn't get a complete picture of the whole thing, but here it is in pieces!