conference

i love conference weekend.

i love being fed spiritually and feeling renewed and making new commitments.

we had a few extra visitors at our house and it was great.

we got everything set up to help entertain kids.

 we made raspberry and cinnamon rolls.

both were delicious.

i exercised little self control- but more than my hubby ;)

 the kiddos all listened and did great.

 these were our questions and some of the answers we received.

the talks were amazing.

a few of them really struck me.

i loved the one on pondering scriptures- been implementing this.

loved jeffrey r hollands talk on women. i needed to hear this. i think most women did.

i loved when the 3 new apostles were called. it's amazing to feel the spirit and know that their calling was of God.

Grateful for an amazing conference and weekend.

22 random pictures

c got to race real, crazy fast go karts. 

he loved it.

i cheered him on.

he didn't love getting stuck behind someone who was going half speed.

 a friend made this delicious cake for me for my birthday.

chocolate and vanilla was cookie butter frosting in between.

mmmm.

 we headed up into the mountains for a picnic for family night.

 beautiful. love being close to them.

 we found a visitor near our house. 

yikes.

just in time for halloween

 we enjoyed a visit from grandma. 

she was a good sport to babysit.

 g races his pinewood derby

 and also got tied up 

 the kids love going to this bounce house place.

always a lot of fun

 i love the skies here.

they are amazing.

seriously. when i'm feeling homesick for the east. i always look up and just admire the sky. 

helps me not dwell too long on missing friends.

 took the kids to visit santa fe. we met friends. went to a movie and lunch.

very cool town.

 loving the mountains.

 amazing views.

 we have a family of quail who visit us quite often.

 LOVE THIS GIRL!

 he wants to share his cupcake with you

 we put the pool away for storage.

kids loved having one last time to play in it.

mexico and an unnamed birthday

i had a major birthday this year. i didn't want to focus on the age i was turning, so we decided to plan a trip to mexico-keep my mind off of it. totally worked. i didn't focus on how old i was turning, but more on our upcoming trip. my mother in law was so nice and even more brave and flew down and watched the kids for a week so we could go.

ah. so fun.

these pics are in no order whatsoever.

we took an excursion. we went 4 wheeling in the jungle, zip lining, rock climbing and repelling, swimming in underground caves and swimming with turtles.

it was such a fun day.

C got to drive into the jungle.

 ziplining was so fun. loved it.

 rock climbing was fun to. I'd never done it before, but loved it.

 this was getting ready to snorkel in the underground cave. 

that's about as far as i got on the first one. there were TONS of bats swarming and flying all around. YIKES.

I did swim in the second one though ;)

 here's my hubby snorkeling in the cave

 we also swam in the ocean and got to see a ton of turtles. it was very cool.

we went back a second day and C got really sick and ended up throwing up 3 times in the ocean. luckily no one was around him.

 we also got to visit tulum. it was really cool. right on the coast and we got there early in the morning so it wasn't too hot yet.

this was a panoramic picture i took. C thought he was funny because he ran back around to get in the picture a second time.

 we took a trip to the isle mujares. we got to take a ferry out. it was so fun to be out on the ocean and the amazing view. we also rented a golf cart and drove the island. we decided our golf cart was the slowest on the island. we even got stuck on a speed bump and had to get another run at it.

 while there, we also snorkeled. 

we found this other cool spot and found tons of big shells 

 we ate at a delicious restaurant right on the beach. so fun.

 we headed back to cancun one day. 

it was perfect. the waves and beach were so nice and not crowded. perfect.

 we found a taco place in the strip mall and had some delicious food.

the two guys went back for seconds. ;)

 we played some corn hole on the beach

we had such a great time. 

here's to my next birthday ;)