memories of a vacation, day 2

so day 2 started out with us ordering room service and eating outside on our patio. we kept trying to order eggs over easy and each day we got something else, but the breakfast was pretty good.

then we went to our first day on the beach. i didn't want to take my camera--i just wanted to enjoy being there, so i didn't take any pictures of the beach this day. (i promise, there will be some tomorrow.)
after our long day at the beach, we decided to try the japanese restaurant. we had heard that you needed to make reservations if you wanted to eat at the hibachi table, but we took our chances and just showed up. (i never thought we were real early eaters, but every night we were almost the first in the restaurant, so we never had a problem with any waiting at all. i guess everyone else was still on round 1 at the bars!)

this was our appetizer. i just loved their presentation of everything and love all those white dishes!

the chef made our rice into heart. how cute!

here we are waiting for our food. (we even tried sake--tasted like lighter fluid. not our thing.)

our guy put on such a good show and was so fast, he's just a blur in my picture!

this, to me, was one of the best meals we had. little pieces of steak, chicken & shrimp with veggies and rice, YUM!

the dessert was wonderful--fried ice cream.

every night we tried to get a picture of us in front of the restaurant we ate at.

then we sat in the lobby and listened to this guy play the sax. he was really good and looked like nate berkus.

relaxing on the comfy couch.

here's a view of the lobby.

here's the lobby when you walk in the front doors.

those are the front doors and this is the reception/check in area.

after we listened to the music for a while, we just walked around, taking pictues.

this is the entrance to one of the other restaurants.

this was just some of the buildings lit up at night.

we always try to take a picture of ourselves and it never comes out!

even though it's blurry, i love this one because i happen to get both our shadows!

day 3 will be tomorrow and you can finally see the beach! thanks for looking~

memories of a vacation, day 1

disclaimer: there will be a ton of pictures the next few days of our trip. just warning you!



i decided to divide this up into a day by day review (mostly for myself, so i will remember things when i start to scrapbook this trip.)



to start out, if you didn't know, we went here for our 15th anniversary. to say it was amazing is a huge understatement! it was the most beautiful, relaxing week of my life. we were met at the hotel doors with a "welcome home" and a glass of champagne. as we sat down to check in, we were brought cold, herb-scented towels to refresh us after our travels. the service was phenomenal. no matter what we asked it was always, "my pleasure" or "it's a pleasure." we recommend it to anyone who wants an all inclusive, no kids allowed, quiet, relaxing vacation.



here we are about to leave for the airport

on the plane

this is the little seating area on the patio

this is the swim out right outside our doors

the bathroom was gorgeous!

this jacuzzi tub was amazing!

the room was just perfect. the decor was island-y but not beachy. i felt like i was in a hollister store in the mall with the dark wood and shutters!

the sheers around the bed would be different every night they came to turn the bed down. sometimes they were all open around the bed or like this. it was so pretty.

the food was delish. we were kind of worried with it being all inclusive. what if the food was bad? we didn't need to worry at all. this was our first dinner. i had chilean salmon, creamed spinach and potatoes.

chris had the surf and turf with roasted veggies. both were divine!

we both had chocolate tiles for dessert. we loved how the portions were just enough, not massive like texas size food! and the presentation just made it that much better.

this was our view as we had dinner that first night. there was also this violinist and accordian player (don't laugh...it was really pretty) that i didn't get a picture of, but they walked around playing as we ate.

we got to the resort just in time for dinner, so we really didn't get to see a whole lot on our first day, but we did go down to the beach right away just to see and hear it. every time i go to the beach i feel the same way--like i'm finally where i'm supposed to be. i hope that doesn't sound too weird, but that is the place i just yearn to be. the sound of the waves, the sugar-like sand on my toes and all that blue...i told chris i could just weep i was so happy to be there! i also told him i would sell everything i owned just to live in a little cottage right on the beach. (he realistically informed me, it would probably be more like a hut! hee hee) oh well, i can dream.

more tomorrow...

meal plan

no...this is not on my meal plan. this was one of the fabulous desserts we had on our vacation. (that is coconut ice cream in a carmelized sugar nest! excuse me while i wipe off my keyboard...my mouth is watering. ok--more about that later.)

in the spirit of my uber-organized-gourmet chef-sister here are my meals for the week (yes i know today is wednesday. i am just a couple of days behind!)

monday: hebrew national chili dogs with homemade chili (you can't imagine how good these were)

tuesday: grilled new york strip steak, seasoned diced potatoes, caesar salad

wednesday: homemade pizza

thursday: bacon, egg, potato burritos

friday: green chile chicken, spanish rice (i love this website. this lady has a ton of meals that only cost $5 to make. check it out.)

saturday: firecraker salmon, couscous, asparagus

sunday: eat out (el pueblito)
this will be one of the last times we eat out before we start our cleanse, so i wanted it to be mexican. they have the best fajita tacos!

now i'm starving. better go get something quick!

her teacher

i guess i deleted the picture with mck and her teacher on the last post. here she is with mr. shelby, her homeroom teacher. isn't he a cutie?

school days

warning...picture overload!
these 2 pictures are from meet the teacher night on friday. mckinlee learned she has mr. shelby for homeroom. this is her first time to have a male teacher, but i think she is ok with it.

today was the first day of school. a lot of mixed feelings--so sad summer is over, but glad to get back into a routine. (when you have little kids, summer seems to go on forever. when your kids go to school, summer comes to a screeching halt!)

i had told mckinlee i would wake her up no later than 7 this morning so she would have time to do everything she needed to do without being rushed. i staggered to the shower at 6:40 and raced to get my clothes on and makeup done before she woke up. (no, i do not usually do this...but since i was walking in with her, i figured i should look nice.) i was about done when she walked into the bathroom fully clothed. she said she was a little nervous and couldn't sleep, so she got up early. she was dressed, had made her bed and when i walked into the kitchen, she had fixed her lunch and gotten everything ready for her breakfast! wow--what a kid!

so we had plenty of time for the required first day of school pictures.

please excuse my hair...didn't quite get that done yet.

i love how her school really makes the first day special. they roll out the red carpet (the red plastic as mckinlee says), teachers are lining the walkways welcoming them in, they have video going recording them as they come in. it's really neat!
standing by the 5th grade star (i can't believe i'm even writing that--i can't believe i have a daughter in the 5th grade!)

dropping her backpack off and coming to homeroomon her own...
then several of us moms went to a back to school breakfast. i don't think we knew how to act without kids everywhere!

i've got a ton of pictures from our trip to post...will try to start doing that tomorrow.

au revoir

we are headed to the...

will have a ton of pictures to post when we get back!

mckinlee's first concert

last month, mckinlee got to go to her very first concert...demi lovato! i don't think she had any idea what to expect, but she had so much fun!
these sweet girls invited her to go with them. ani and ursula are in our congregation. they and their mom and dad will all be starting their first year of regular pioneering in september. they are part of the persian group in our congregation and as funny and sweet as they can be!

i thought mckinlee got some pretty good pictures.

a couple of funny things...demi forgot the words to one of her own songs and had the audience sing along as she remembered a few words at a time!

ani was telling me this later: at the end, she announced she had a special guest. they got so excited thinking maybe taylor swift or someone like that would be there. it turned out to be demi lovato's little sister who sang a song with her onstage. thrilling, huh?

so i think mckinlee really liked going to a concert and will be glad to go to the next one. (i'm trying to get tickets to taylor swift when she comes in september, but they sold out in a matter of minutes--oh well!)

in other news...mckinlee and i meet sheri and brooke tonight so that mck can stay with them a few days before going to the grandmas. and we leave sunday! i still have so much to do. will try to post once more with pictures from last weekend when mom and danielle came. we had fun!