The Ultimate Spring Fling...Puerto Vallarta 2008

Living like the rich and famous.....total relaxation...over-eating.....plenty of poolside fun.....an abundance of chips and guacamole and Coke Light......quality time with family and friends.....incredible accomodations at The Grand Mayan Resort and beautiful weather. That about explains our Spring Break vacation to Puerto Vallarta.
Maury and Wendi Tanner invited us to stay with them at The Grand Mayan Resort in Mexico. We had never been....so we took them up on their offer. Of course, knowing the Tanner's, we knew if would be fun.....but it far exceeded my expectations. First of all, Maury gave us the best room he had. The view out our balcony window was breath taking. We were right on the ocean in a beautiful resort setting. It really took our breath away. We were overwhelmed at their kindness, but thrilled we got to experience Mexico. The Shockey's, Porter's and Whiteman's also came with us.
We were there for a week and had plenty of opportunities to experience Mexico. On Saturday we spent a wonderful, relaxing day at the pool. The resort had several pools and a big lazy river that we floated down every day. We spent the day sunning and eating! The kids had so much fun ordering food and drinks at the pool. It is a fun luxury to sit at the pool and read while you eat chips and guacamole and have a cold drink. What could be better? The resort had alot of activities for the kids, water volleyball, ping pong and pool games with teams and prizes.
On Sunday we did something very special. We decided to visit an orphanage right there in Puerto Vallarta. I was really excited to do this. First of all....I had never done this and second....I have a soft spot in my heart for little kids that have such a tough life. Sooooo Saturday night after dinner we all went to WalMart and bought tons of things for the orphanage and the kids. We had all of our children go through WalMart and pick out things for the orphans, (of course Maury had a wonderful list of things the orphange had requested!) It was a good experience for our kids to shop and then we planned on delivering it on Sunday after Church. It took a while to get all of the items together. Plus....it is a trip to shop in Mexico at Wal Mart on a Saturday night!!!! That alone was its own experience!
We had to take cabs everywhere! We had such a big group it always took 2 taxi vans to haul us around! We took a taxi to church....which was fun to sit through church in Spanish. It was fun to see the Missionaries there. One was from Provo, Ut. After church we loaded up all of our loot into 3 taxi vans and headed for the orphanage. I really didn't know what to expect, but I was looking forward to playing with the children and getting a look at their living conditions. I really didn't want to have to think about it! It is a tough thing.

We arrived at the orphanage and loaded everything into the front reception room. While everyone was arriving and unloading the cars.....the little kids stood behind a gate watching us. I just wanted to hug every one of them. They were so cute and excited to see us. They let us go into their activity yard and play with them. We brought them some toys and started handing them out. Some of the kids got too excited. We had these little bouncy balls.....you would have thought they were gold. Each child was so possessive of his little gift. One little girl started hoarding them in a little bag and would not share them! We also brought them bats and balls and some jump ropes. It was fun to take time to play with them. One little girl grabbed me right when I came in the door and would not let me go. She got mad if I put her down or paid attention to anyone else. At the end she would almost not even talk to me because I had to pay attention to others at the same time. They even let us go into the "nursery" and hold and love some of the younger babies that were just playing in their cribs. Ohhhhh I hated to see that. I wanted to steal one little one away and take her home with me. You always wonder how you could help.....should I adopt this little one......It was hard on my heart! I think our kids saw a different side of life.....what a great experience!

Sweet Jessica wanted all my attention...

Alyssa Whiteman, one of my old Mia Maids, having fun with the kids...

Wendi...saying goodbye was sooo hard!

The rest of the week was spent relaxing and having fun. On Tuesday we went to see Whiteman's beach home that they are building. WOW! That is all I can say. We then were treated to a barbecue on their beach. Total fun! Some people came down on the beach and cooked us some fish and we again had yummy food to go along with it.....plenty of chips and guacamole, or course! We had a big bon fire and just sat around and talked.....the teenagers hung together and Craig and Carol Willet came over to join us from their vacation spot close by. Man......it couldn't get any better than that!

The rest of the week was spent enjoying the wonderful Resort surroundings. You didn't want to go anywhere else because the Resort was so beautiful and restful. Wendi and I managed to work in a massage and that was a treat! Oh the good life! Maury is a gem.......Max called him "El Jefe" (in other words.....the head guy!) He was always on the phone planning things for us, or trying to figure out how to get us somewhere or make reservations for something. I took several pictures of him on the phone......it was constant. But boy did we have fun as a result!Maury...the vacation planner aka El Jefe

The teenagers had so much fun together. Kevin thought he was in heaven because he and Beau stayed in their own room for most of the time. They really had a great time with the Whiteman Shockey and Porter kids. What a great group of kids. They had a favorite game they played everyday in the pool. We had our lounge chairs right at poolside. There was a big fountain in the middle of the pool we were around. It had a deck that the fountain spray came out of....you could actually stand on it and be in the middle of the fountain spray. Nick Whiteman had a small football.....someone would stand on the deck and throw the football out into a crowd of kids standing in the fountain. It was a contest to see who could catch it. Of course I became the photo person for the "best catch" photo! It was so much fun for the kids. They spent some hours playing that game.
The hightlight of the pool time was Beau and Kevin modeling their speedos poolside. Hmmmmm....think I could have missed that one. The two of them found speedos at Wal Mart while we were shopping for the orphange and managed to sneak them into the basket! Kev...get a tan....Beau....not bad!

Needless to say....all our expectations were met. Maury took us to some marvelous restaurants. A new experience for us to eat in Mexico. Not to bad. The great thing is that Maury is at home with this culture and can talk and take us anywhere we want to go. Of course, he has all the "Connections." It was so fun to see him operate. We counted on him for everything. One thing I learned.....I need to learn Spanish!

I am thankful for such good friends that are so generous with our family. I don't think I have ever had such a restful vacation......Thanks Tanner family!!!!

It's A Jungle Out There

Emma's First Grade Play

Emma....the party animal!

Emma, sweet Emma had a first grade program last night at her Elementary School. It was called "It's A Jungle Out There!" It was set up so cute. All the first graders were divided up into different kinds of animals. Emma was an elephant. The little play was about a Lion who was on a search for happiness. Each group of animals presented their scheme for happiness. There were monkeys, laughing hyenas, cheetas, elephants and safari hunters. All the animal groups were trying to claim their fame to happiness. All of the animals and hunters had a darling song at the end that went with their specific group. The script of the play was written so cute with word and song.

It was fun to watch Emma come in with the other little elephants. (See those cute little ears??) When she saw me she had such a smile on her face. Lindsey and I pushed our way up front on the floor in the middle of all the little kids (trust us to elbow our way in!) so we could get some good pictures of Emma. Oh those elementary school days.......I miss my kids being little! Luckily Emma was on the first row and posed perfectly for the camera! She sang her songs and did all the hand movements like a star............Emma you're the best!

In the end, the Lion realized he had always been happy and just didn't know it. What a nice message for our own lives huh? I am so blessed to have such darling grandchildren! I love everyone of them!

"Road Trip" to visit the Folks

"Windblown Travelers" Nice hairdo Deb!!!

Infamous "Rest Stop"

Sweet!

The Gang In Quartzite

A long day on the road for Z-man

Where is Quartzite you may ask? Hmmmm good question. It is about 150 miles west of Phoenix, on the way to Blythe, California. There is nothing there in the summer, but in the winter it seems to come alive with RV's as far as the eye can see. I'm still not sure why, but there is some sort of attraction that calls out to all senior citizens. Max's parent happen to own a place in Quartzite and thoroughly love to spend time in the warm winter weather relaxing and doing all sorts of things they love.

We decided it was high time to get in the car and go for a visit. Amy, Scot and Zack decided to tag along. We drove down on Sunday to visit and have dinner with grandma and grandpa Boyer. We made a day of it! Half the fun was the road trip itself. There is always some sort of heated discussion in the car that brings a lot of opinions and laughter. We do have a good time together ya know?

The big event was stopping at the Rest Stop just outside Quartzite because Max couldn't wait (ya know what I mean?) We got out of the car and it was so windy we could hardly walk to the restrooms! Out in the middle of nowhere, Amy locked herself inside the bathroom stall and started to panic when she couldn't get out! Of course none of us were around to give her a hand. Kevin was busy loading his pockets with drinks and snacks, Scot was trying to handle Zack and I was getting blown down the sidewalk like a ball of sagebrush and who knows where Max was???? Of course we took a souvenir picture!

We eventually made it to Quartzite and had a nice visit. The wind really put a bit of a damper on things. We had to stay inside most of the time, but managed to take a little walk down the road for a few minutes. Grandpa even went with us and helped push Zack in his stroller down the road. Grandpa looked quite well. He is always so sweet. He smiled so much when Max came in to say hello. Grandma was up for her usual game of Skip Bo. You don't mess around when you play Skip Bo with Grandma. She watches every card put down so she can work her strategy! Game on!

We don't the folks often enough. Both grandparents got a good dose of Zack. It was fun to see him toddle around the trailer. Grandma and Grandpa love Quartzite. They have made alot of friends and enjoy everything they do there with friends and neighbors. If anything......it made for a fun Road Trip on a Sunday Afternoon.

Oranges Anyone?

Who can live in Arizona and not love the oranges? We moved to Mesa about 11 (?) years ago. When we purchased our home, we had no idea that we would be so lucky. We had lived in Phoenix for about 10 years prior and did not know about the novelty of having your own orange trees. Well, we have about 12 orange trees on our property. What a treat! We look forward to November. That is when we can start picking! We have navel oranges, so they are especially sweet and yummy! We eat them, we juice them, we give them away, Kevin sells them, the neighborhood kids throw them, the grandkids love to pick them, the yard guys hate them, the birds love them, Zack has just discovered them and we have tons of them! They look so pretty in the winter just hanging on your trees. Family visitors from Utah always love to have a few fresh oranges off the tree. They are not use to that. This last week I was tending Zack and I just let him have at it......orange peel and all. Isn't that what Nana's are for???

Lucy


"Goose" as she is lovingly called by all our family members is my 6th grandchild. She is absolutely adorable! When she was very small she reminded me of a porcelain doll with her big brown eyes and her curly, dark hair. No one can account for her nickname "Goose." I guess it came from family referring to her as "Lucy Goosey" (the rhyming thing) and it just stuck. What will happen when she is a teenager and we're still calling her Goose? Funny, but it seems to fit! She is growing up so quickly. Especially now since little Sophie has been born into her family. Lucy looks all grown up. I love it that Lucy loves to snuggle and she giggles alot if you play with her. She is use to getting bossed around by her two older sisters, Riley and Maddie......but now has someone smaller she can boss around (Sophie) in a few years! Lucy is two years old and is beginning to talk. When you drive around in the car with her she just jabbers about this and that. Who really knows what she is talking about, but once in a while you will understand a few words. She distinctly knows the words "No Zack!" She is posessive of her toys and her territory when cousins invade. Rightly so! She loves her "taggy"......how do I describe that? It is a small square of pink flannel fabric with different loops of ribbon trimming all four edges. I think one of Julie's friends made it for her. Little did we know it would be such a favorite! She loves to have it at bedtime and if she has it during the day she will carry it around and suck her fingers. It's amazing what these little ones love. It is so sweet when I come to visit.....Lucy will run up to me with a big hug. Who knows how long that will last? Lucy loves books and will do anything her big sisters are doing. Riley and Maddie take care of her so lovingly (usually!) She loves her new little sister, Sophie. When we went to visit her at the hospital the first time after she was born, I was surprised at how fast Lucy took to her. She wanted to hold her right away and touch her little head. It was so, so cute. I am sure she is one of Mom's best helpers. Lucy is a beautiful little girl. I love you "Goose!"