December Misc.

It's amazing to me how busy I've been while I've been unemployed. Job hunting and interviewing takes time, of course. But it seems like something else is always going on. Did I just miss most of this stuff when I was working? :-)

We went on the annual trek to see the lights at Temple Square, with Kris, Sterling and Atticus, Hannah and Alex, and Kris and Sterling's friend Vicki and her kids. It was a pretty mild night, so lots of fun.

What a darling pair ...

Steph and Mickel went to Tucson for a job interview (haven't heard the results yet), and Kaiya and Teague spent the weekend with Grammie. We went to the library, to Dunford Bakers for a treat, out to breakfast at IHOP (you wouldn't believe how much those kids can eat when they want to!), to Grammie's first visit to Cabellas (and I think that will about do it for me), and to Thanksgiving Point for hot chocolate and to see the holiday lights. The kids said they didn't want to go home, but they were pretty happy after all to see Mom and Dad.

I found a bin of Kris' ballet and other dress up stuff ... which delighted Kaiya of course. She insisted on wearing this sparkly dress to Cabellas and Thanksgiving Point, and was very proud when people commented on it. Our girl LOVES to dress up!

We also took Kris out for a birthday dinner, at California Pizza Kitchen. Here's Atty and his "Popeye" face. Arrrg!!

The kids all came over for Christmas Eve. Here's Sterling playing the guitar for us. He's a very talented player, singer and writer.

And Kaiya and Teague dancing to it ...

... and our three little munchkins in their new Christmas pj's, happily awaiting Santa's visit.

LOVE these kids!!!!!

Oh, and it turns out that Kris misses her ballet and so she took her ballet shoes home with her to practice her "en pointe." Love my ballerina!!

"I Love You with my Whole Heart"

During one of our recent sleepovers, while in the bath, Teague held up a heart-shaped cookie cutter and said, "Grammie, I love you with my whole heart!" Well, of course I made such a fuss over the absolute cuteness factor of that, that Kaiya had to get in on it and insisted on being photographed as well. Please note the lovely pink washcloth inside the heart, which was her contribution. Teague, however, was not as interested in the paparazzi.

Kaiya's School Program

As I mentioned, one of the joys of unemployment is the ability to participate in things that I normally would not have been able to when I had my job - especially considering the fact that the job was in Provo and I live in Salt Lake. And one of those events was Kaiya's preschool Christmas program. What a treat! And Kaiya, as always, handled her parts in a very lovely and mature fashion.

Not a great picture, but here she is for her speaking part.

So fun to watch all the little ones, and their various levels of dealing with it - from polished to "deer in the headlights." I don't think the little girl in purple moved from this pose for the entire number.

After the program, we went to the cafeteria to have cookies and punch. Apparently Kaiya has a bit of a crush on one of her classmates, and she was getting all giggly about him. So I suggested that she take me over to him and introduce me. The next thing you know, she's doing just that ... although she got an attack of the giggles when we got there. Look out, Tate ... I think you have some competition.

Bear Lake

After enjoying a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner at Steph's (along with Kris and family, Nick and his girlfriend, and Alex), Stephanie and Mickel were kind enough to invite me to spend Thanksgiving weekend with them at Mickel's dad's place in Bear Lake. Though of course it was snowy and cold, we had a great time! Here's the kids getting their boots on to go for a walk (ha ha):

... and some pictures that Teague took of Mom and Dad. He's a pretty good photographer!

Cancun, Part 2

Well, a month later and I'm finally getting around to posting the rest of my Cancun trip. It's been a bit strange for me lately - the day after my return from Cancun I had the unfortunate experience of being laid off from my job. I'm still processing some feelings about that, but on the whole I'm excited to be able to take a different road in life. My job at NSP was a great one, but as my mom said as her first response to the news, that job wasn't the sum total of who I am. What a wise woman. And now I can say in hindsight that there was a lot of stress - both the stress inherent in any event planning job, and also stress due to political reasons in that particular job, that I will be very happy to leave behind. I have the good fortune - due to a severance package and also my own financial decisions - to have the luxury of a bit of time to find the right job. And to spend some time with my darling grandkids. When I told Kaiya that I didn't have my job anymore, she just clapped her hands and shouted "Yay!" Kind of puts things into perspective. Mom's right - there's more to life than your job.

So, back to Cancun ...

One day, we had the option of going to the Xcarret Park, or to the Xplor Park. Since I had already been to Xcarret, I chose Xplor. What a fun place!! The main activities are 4-wheel drives, zip lines, and an underground pool system that you can swim in and/or paddle a raft in. Not knowing what to expect, it didn't seem that there would be enough to keep you busy for a whole day, but in the end we only had time to do about half of everything available!

This is the heart of the property - literally. It functions as a central meeting place. Not to worry if you can't see it ... you can hear the heart pulse sound.

I thought the zip line would be just that - a zip line. Instead it was a whole series of lines, and took more than an hour to go through. You would climb to the top of one tower, zip down to another tower, climb to the top of that one, zip down again, etc., etc. I think there were close to a dozen different towers.

Here's the 4-wheel drive experience, with my new friend and driver extraordinaire, Ed. Again, it wasn't a simple short drive, but a 3 to 4 mile route that went through water, over very dicey bridges (I was driving for that one - freaked me out a bit), into caves, etc.

We also did the rafts through the underground caves. Not gonna post my pictures here - not my most flattering shots. But here's a generic shot. It was beautiful, and very serene (except when I couldn't make my raft obey).

If you're ever in the area, I'd say a stop at Xplor is well worth it. They also provide a surprisingly good buffet lunch in the price, plus all the beverages you could want (nothing alcoholic though, for probably very good reasons!). Just be sure to give yourself a whole day for it. They also have this ingenious photo system. You have to wear the gorgeous orange helmet everywhere in the park, but in it is a sensor. There are numerous points throughout the park where you pass by cameras. At the end, they are able to pull up all the shots with you in it, which is totally cool. I don't usually go for the photo package thing, but we all went in together so it was pretty reasonable. Note to self: if you ever open a public amusement thing, be sure to put this system in it.

Cancun

I just returned from a "fam" trip to the Riviera Maya area near Cancun, Mexico. I often say that site visits are the best part of my job, but I lie. A fam (familiarization) trip is even better than that because I don't need to worry about meeting with a bunch of hotels and other vendors to set up an event. It is simply intended as a means of familiarizing meeting planners with various destinations. I have to be extremely careful about which of these I attend, so I go on them only rarely. An added bonus on this trip was that the sponsor also set up some roundtable discussions and presentations that were very helpful. And they would like to set up a direct sales meeting planners association, so it's exciting to be in on that from the beginning.


We stayed at the Grand Velas, a five-star all-inclusive resort. And when I say all-inclusive, it truly was just that. There was very little that you could want that wasn't included in the rate, with the notable exception of the spa. However, our hosts were kind enough to include a massage, which also came with a "hydrotherapy" session. This was an 80 minute circuit of several different therapies, including sauna, herbal steam, a clay room, an ice room, experience showers, and this huge pool with numerous areas including bubble beds and jacuzzis (as well as an ice plunge pool, though I didn't venture that far). Oh, and the massage was the best one I've ever had!


This is a not-great shot of the main hydrotherapy pool, before they told me I wasn't allowed to take pictures in the spa (I guess people aren't all that happy about strangers taking pictures of them in their suits, although as you can see, I didn't actually get one with anyone in it).

This is the balcony of my suite (all rooms are suites), which included its own little soaking pool.

The suite was a little over 1,100 square feet, which is more than the main floor of my house! Here's the bathroom portion, which could be closed off with sliding doors. The door on the right is a walk-in closet.

Also, the food was absolutely fantastic, each dish beautifully presented whether it was dinner, the buffet place or room service - all were a piece of art.

We kept pretty busy with meetings for the first couple of days, but we did get an outing to the Xplor park. More on that - with pictures - later.

Lagoon

Yet another weekend in Utah with fabulous weather, and I'm happy to say that I didn't waste this one either. Since I had a couple of Lagoon tickets (I always seem to be traveling when we have our company party, but lucky for me they give me some tickets anyway), Steph and I decided a Lagoon Day would be fun. Kris and Sterling weren't able to join us ... but next time Atticus will be old enough to enjoy it a little more.

As Utahans know, they have "Frightmares" at Lagoon during the October weekends. There's something for every age, so you can get as scared as you want to be. For Kaiya and Teague, the trick or treating was pretty fun. You go through several rooms, each with a theme (Alice in Wonderland, Wicked Witch, etc.) and they all hand out a treat.


After the trick or treating, Kaiya decided that she wanted to go through the Tunnel of Terror (I think that's what it's called), so Mom and Dad and Kaiya and Teague did. We were a bit worried that it would be too scary, but they did just fine. :-)

We took turns with the kids in kiddie land, which I thoroughly enjoyed doing. It's so much fun to watch little ones have fun! Kaiya has apparently inherited her mom's bravery with rides, and is pretty much game for most. Teague is not as sure, but he is one heck of a trooper - even when it makes him nervous, he just soldiers his way through it. He had a death grip on my arm on the Jumping Dragon, but he never lost it. And he even agreed to go a second time on the Tilt-a-Whirl, 'cause Kaiya and I wanted to so much. Kaiya said "Again!" when it was through, but Teague thought he had compromised quite enough.

Teague's favorite was the cars ... but Kaiya thought they were boring and slow.


I. Love. These. Two!!!!

I mean seriously ... how could you not? Look at that face.

Today I am awaiting an overnight visit from my sister Karen and her family. They're in town for my neice's wedding (SO happy for Kara and Johnny!). It's always great to see them ... can't wait!

One More (?) Fun Weekend

Once again, we were blessed with great weather this weekend, and we tried to make the best of it. Kaiya and Teague came over to Grammie's house on Friday for a sleepover, while Mom and Dad finally made it on their long-overdue date to Takashi. As always, we had a lot of fun, but not as much sleep as we should get (sorry, Mom - I really am working on it!). In fact, in the middle of the night I ended up going into the other bedroom to get some sleep ... it's not that the kids weren't sleeping by then, but they're getting big enough to make it rather crowded!

The next morning Mickel took Teague to gymnastics, while Steph and I went to Kaiya's soccer game. She has really learned a lot since starting soccer, and now stays with the ball and knows what direction it's supposed to go. And she really gets after it! I think she takes after her mom. And her dad. But definitely not Grammie.

Gotta stay hydrated!

The little girl with the curly hair is one of Kaiya's friends from church. She's a really good player too.

The team. They haven't decided on a name yet, but so far Kaiya's favorite is the Speedy Turtles.

Then we met Kris, Sterling and Atticus at Willard Bay for some boating fun. Not sure how many more weekends will be boating weather, but it surely was this weekend!

Next year maybe Atticus can go out on the boat a little bit more ...

Our friendly boat driver ...

Teague waving to Dad and Kaiya

who were showing their daredevil sides

The Sharp family

Meanwhile, back on shore, Atticus was having his own fun. Isn't he such a handsome boy?