Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Mexico was wonderful! I had a hard time coming back to reality. I told Jim we should just have the kids sent down to us and we could stay there. Loved it! We left on Tuesday morning and had plenty of time to relax by the pool and enjoy the warmth before the sun went down. We went for a walk around the area where we were staying and was greeted by several "locals". This one is one of the biggest ones we saw around our condo.

This is a Dolphin Discovery center that was within walking distance from us. You could pay to swim with the dolphins or watch them as you ate, there was about 8 restaurants in the area along with shopping and conveniences.

We spent a couple days on the local beaches. We drove around to find some secluded ones to avoid the tourist traps. This beach was great except it was very windy that day, so I didn't get a lot of pictures because I didn't want to get sand it my camera, but I did manage to get a picture of this little crab that was digging a hole close to where we were lounging.

TULUM: On Thursday we found a business card in the condo of a lady anthropologist who gives Book of Mormon tours around the ruin sites. We thought it would be interesting so we called and met up with her on Friday morning at 8am. She first took us to Tulum, a well known ruin site, and gave us accounts of the Book of Mormon and tied the ruins and the area around us to them. At first I found myself believing everything she was saying, but I had a thought to just take if for what it was worth. She made some interesting probabilities, and they quite possibly may be true, but I try not to be too gullible and believe everything I hear. Regardless, it was a very interesting tour and I enjoyed the sites and listening to her tell us what she has learned and researched herself. The site of Tulum is believed to be where temple ordinances occured. A very sacred area and all the buildings served their own sacred purpose.

The ocean views from Tulum were breathtaking. Where the white cap waves are is where one of the worlds longest coral reef is. She said that this was a great protection for Tulum because invading ships where unable to go over the coral.

EK BALAM: After our tour of Tulum, Ruth drove us to Ek Balam. A newer site that was discovered in 1997. Our first adventure was getting to meet "Lola" the boa constrictor. The guys disappered when this picture was taken. They aren't snake people. I suppose I would have done the same thing if there was a spider involved. I had to pay the guy a dollar to let me get a picture with her.

We were able to climb the stairs on the buildings in Ek Balam, unlike Tulum where everything was roped off. Quite a physical feat. Stair Masters have nothing on these stairs!

This picture is from the top of one of the tallest pyramids I have ever seen. Ok, I haven't seen that many in my life, but this one is very tall. I would have to guess 5 or 6 stories high. We could actually see the ocean from up here.

Bad thing is that once you where up there, you had to get back down. A very challenging thing to do for someone who is extremely scared of heights. My palms are sweating just thinking about it. I made it down though, one step at a time, on my tush.

Ruth said that she and her LDS archaeologist friends claim that this is a baptisimal font. And the way she explained it, it makes sense and possibly could have been.

This is a water collection area. The stones are placed tilted so that when it rained the water would drain into an under ground storage well.

After a really hot jungle tour, we were ready to be cooled off. Ruth took us to a cenote to do just that. A cenote is a giant sink hole that is 40 to 60 feet deep and has under ground rivers. The water is from the rain and there are catfish in it. At first I didn't think going into stagnant green water was such a good idea, but I was too hot to care at that moment. So in we all went. It was refreshingly cool, but like I said, green. The roots of the near by trees travelled down to get water. A very cool exposed root system.

Here are the 4 of us being cooled off. Jim and I and our friends, Josh and Dana.

Saturday, Jim and I went into Playa to do some shopping and enjoy our last day there.

Sunday it rained all morning, Mexico was sad that we were leaving. I know I was. Except I could probably do without the rain, as refreshing as it was while it was actually raining, it was humidity overload when the sun came back out. It made it very hard to take a deep breath. This is the view from the deck on the condo we were staying at. You can't see the rain but it was coming down very hard.
Farewell to Mexico! Hopefully I don't have to wait another 7 years before I can go back. I was really picking up the language quite well. Anyone for hambugesea con queso y limonada?

Happy Birthday, Kortlan!

5 years ago I was at Lagoon 9 months pregnant with Kortlan on the Saturday before his birthday. How fitting it was to be at Lagoon with him the Saturday before his birthday 5 years later. Kortlan's day began with a surprise gift in the garage. He didn't see it at first and we had to point it out to him. He loves his new bike and rides it almost daily.

We went to Lagoon with some friends of ours. All the kids had so much fun.

My favorite was watching all of them float down the Rattlesnake Rapids and get completely drenched. I think it is so funny that everyone tries to duck out of the way of the water. There is just no hiding from it!

A little Wild Mouse to dry out Kort's hair!

At the end of the day, what really counts is the friends you were there with and how many prizes Daddy won for you!

Back at the house, we had a pirate party. I found this pirate cake at the local Smith's. Kortlan loved it and asked that we not eat it so he could save it to play with.

On Monday, the actual day of his birthday, I took him to Toys R Us for a shopping spree just him and me. He got to pick out 3 things that he just couldn't live without. Here is one of them.

Four Things

I have never been "Tagged" for anything and I suppose I am a Kim in the sense of any and all, so here goes my reply to Nancy's tag:

Four jobs that I have had in my life:

Dairy Queen night shifts got me through high school

OSU research fields weeder got me through the summers

Blockbuster, ZCMI Juniors department manager, and Radio DJ

(all at the same time, talk about time management!)

IKON Office Solutions Admin. Assistant

Four movies I could watch over and over:

Somewhere in Time

Sweet Home Alabama

Legally Blonde

Star Wars (all episodes)

Four places that I have lived:

Corvallis, OR (17 years)

Pocatello, ID (5 years)

Windsor, CO (3 years)

Mesquite, NV (3 1/2 years)

currently in Layton, UT waiting to see how long this move lasts

Four television shows that I watch:

ER

Dancing with the stars

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

American Idol

Four places I have gone or will go on vacation:

Spain

Caribbean cruise including Cozumel, Princess Cays, Grand Caymans, & Jamaica

Disney World

Playa del Carmen (Cancun) Mexico this Tuesday! Happy Anniversary to us!

Four websites I visit almost daily:

All your blogs

Kohl's to see if they have any cute dresses in yet

Hollister to see if they have any new shirts in yet

Zappos to see if they have any great shoe sales

Four favorite foods:

Italian anything

Steak and Potatoes

Citrus Salmon from Mimi's Cafe - Yummy!

Mexican

Four things I would like to learn or be better at:

Piano

Singing

Photography

Interior Design

Four places I would rather be right now:

I don't know that I would want to be anywhere else than here in my home with my family.

(As much as this is true I am really excited to be on the beach in Cancun!)

Four people who I tag:

Mom

Kari

Kristen (both of you!)

Teala (that means you have to set up your own blog now! :)

You are laughing at me right now, aren't you?)

Wednesday and Thursday Nights

While Jim and I were doing this:
Kendrie was doing this:

Carpet is getting laid in the playroom as I am typing this. I will get an after picture in a few hours.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

My sister missionary returned to Temple Square on Wednesday. She flew in from her 4 month mission transfer in Georgia. She will be at Temple Square until the end of her mission in September. I so miss her and can't wait to see her. However, I don't want to be a pest, but it is so hard being so close and not go down there to see her. I know she has a higher calling right now than meeting my selfish needs, I will try to refrain from driving down there. Anyway, I picked up my mom from the airport on Tuesday night and Wednesday we made Kourtney's favorite: Macaroni Salad. We drove it down to Temple Square and left it in the break room refrigerator so she would have it when she got back that afternoon. While we were there I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures. It was such a beautiful day. There was a couple getting their wedding pictures taken in front of the temple and Kortlan told me to take their picture. He thought it was so awesome that they got married there. I didn't take a picture of them, I felt weird taking someone else's wedding pictures, especially ones I didn't know. But these are a few of my favorites from that day:

Can you imagine the how the world would be if every single person lived according to these laws and statutes? What a wonderful dream! One of my favorites, especially during this time of war:

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty

What a strong, powerful sentence! It gives me goose bumps.

We arrived at the newly remodeled Tabernacle just in time to hear the acoustic demonstration. Without a microphone, we were able to here a pin drop so loud that it sounded like a spoon hitting the floor. Amazing acoustics in a beautiful and unique building.

Sunbeams

Some of you have probably seen this floating around in the email system, but my mom got an ear full about my Sunbeam class and she emailed it to me. The first time I read it I found it funny, but now that I am in that situation I laughed. Enjoy

This is originally from a physician in Utah:

I work part-time as a teacher of family doctors. The program provides training on psychiatric disorders and emphasizes the importance of emotional support. The new doctors are given plenty of time in clinic to visit with their patients and learn about their challenges. One of our interns who has never lived in Utah and knows nothing about Mormons is still struggling to understand the cultural climate here. Last week he was interviewing a new patient and stumbled on what he thought was a raging psychosis.

Doctor: "Well, Mrs. Olsen, we've talked about your high blood pressure and your medications. Are you experiencing any particular stress in your life?
Patient: "Oh, yes! It's the Sunbeams. They're driving me crazy."
Doctor (very surprised): "The sunbeams?"
Patient: "Yes. I've never had trouble with them before, but this group won't sit still. They bounce all over the room, and run out the door and down the hall."
Doctor (reaching for a pen): "Have you told anyone about this?"
Patient: "Of course. I told the president."
Doctor: "Really! What did the president tell you?"
Patient: "She said Sunbeams are like that I'm just going to have to learn to deal with them.
Doctor (concerned that he may be missing something): "I know people who are sensitive to sunbeams. Do they cause you a rash or anything?"
Patient (confused): "A rash? No."
Doctor: "What's the biggest problem they're creating?"
Patient: "It's the noise. They just won't quit talking."
Doctor (astonished): "The sun beams are talking to you?"
Patient: "Well, yes. But mostly they talk to each other."
Doctor (scribbling furiously in the chart): "I see. Can anyone else hear them talking?"
Patient (after a moment of stunned silence): "You're not LDS, are you?"

Partner's Western Riding

We like to keep our kids involved in things that interest them. Kendrie has been our guinea pig for this since she is the oldest and gets to try stuff out before we know if she is going to like it or not. She has been involved in soccer, ballet, tap, jazz dance, hip hop dance, gymnastics, and swimming. Since moving to Utah, we were not sure what to get her involved in. She said she wanted to be in soccer again, however the first 2 go arounds she just stood there and picked the grass, so we weren't too sure about that. We haven't found a dance studio less than 8 miles from our house, so that hasn't gone over very well. So we have been keeping our eyes open.

About 2 months ago we were driving the back way home and drove past a little ranch that had a sign by the road that said "Partner's Western Riding Lessons - call for appointment". Kendrie flipped out! Ever since she has watched Dreamer and Flicka she has been obsessed with horses and tells everyone that she is going to be a rancher when she grows up. (I guess I better start selling some more swimming suits!) Anyway, I called to ask questions and wound up putting her on the waiting list. This past Sunday night, I was called and Kendrie started her riding lessons yesterday afternoon. I didn't tell her about it before school, I knew she wouldn't concentrate on her work. I picked her up from school, took her home for a snack and then headed over there, still no word about where we were going. We pulled up to the ranch and she said "Hey, this is where the riding lessons are at, why are we here?" I said, "Well, I guess if this is where the lessons are then we are at the right place, because you start your riding lessons right now." I wish I had had the video going! She was dancing, hoopin' and hollerin', saying thank you thank you thank you over and over really fast. It was fun to see her excitement.

Kortlan on the other hand was quite upset that Kendrie got to go and not him. He tried so hard to hold back the tears, but they flowed anyway. After waiting for students to arrive for their lesson, one of them didn't show up and the instructor told Kortlan that he could take her place. He lit up like a firecracker! With helmet on and some borrowed cowboy boots, he took a hold of Rambo and enjoyed the day with Kendrie. He is now on the waiting list.

My mom has been here for about a week. I have been helping her get some scrapbooking done. For those of you who know about the Creative Memories Power Sort Box (it holds up to 2,400 photos), she has 5 of them overflowing with photos ranging from 1965 to now. Anyway, she brought the one filled with grandkids pictures and we have scrapbooked close to 70 pages (front and back) over the past week. She went to the riding lesson with us and this cat decided that it was not going to leave her alone until she picked him up. He was quite pleased with his determination and followed after her until we left.

I was very impressed with the owner/instructors of Partner's. They are very knowledgeable and knew how to teach kids the safety of horses as well as the fun. I have to admit I am somewhat jealous. I have always liked horses, I just haven't had very many good experiences with them. I have only been on 3 horses that I can recall. 1 bucked me off, 1 took off running while I screamed, holding on to the saddle for dear life, and the other one decided that it was going to teach me how to jump over creeks. Not good outcomes of any of the 3. But I still really like horses and I was proud to see my kids not be afraid of them and take charge and really enjoy themselves. This is one "involvement" that I don't think I will be disappointed with.