November 20, 2018

Last Monday, November 12, I boarded a plane at 6:00 in the morning after getting only about 2 hours of sleep.  But I didn’t mind.  I made it to Cabo by 2:30 that afternoon and within minutes I was by the pool looking at the ocean.  It was beautiful.  My parents have a time share at the Hacienda Del Mar resort.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  Our room had an amazing view of the ocean.  The grounds were immaculate and full of beautiful flowers and bushes.  We spent our days walking the beach, collecting sea shells and sea glass, doing water aerobics, lounging by the pool, reading, napping, and playing the daily 2:00 game of Mexican bingo.  It was heavenly!  I’ve never done so little for a full week in my life!  It was so nice to have no one and nothing to worry about.

We saw a few whales, Kortney saw one breech (I only saw the splash.) We went snorkeling one afternoon and saw hundreds of fish.  I had never been snorkeling before and I was a little worried that being too close to the fish would freak me out.  I was also worried that I would struggle with breathing calmly through the snorkel.  I ended up liking it more than I thought I would.  The fish at the beach we were at were completely tame and overly comfortable with people.  They were surrounding our legs before we were even up you our waists in the water.  The fish would swim right with us.  I ended up loving it!  It was so cool!  It was something I would definitely do again.  The water in Cabo can be a little rough and there are a lot of rocks so Kortney and I only ventured out into the ocean one other time when the water was calm.  But I fell in love with the warmth and beauty of the ocean there.  I’ve only known cold ocean water my entire life, the tropical ocean is a game changer!

We usually came in and got dressed and headed into town for dinner every night.  The Mexicans live their Italian and Mexican food and fish.  We are that all week.  It was delicious.  Kort and I got a bit of an upset stomach one day (although we still don’t know what we got it from since we never ate anything my parents didn’t eat as well. And they never got sick).  After that we were extra cautious with our local water intake and didn’t have any other problems.

We spent time shopping in town for souvenirs.  Mostly at our parents friends (Rigo and his wife Favi’s shops.). They are really great people and I really enjoyed meeting them.  We also went to church on Sunday morning.  I loved seeing the ward there and the diverse group of people.  The church outside of Utah and Idaho is refreshing sometimes.

The one thing that I couldn’t get over while I was there was the wealth and beauty and the drastic contrast of poverty and a completely rundown city.  All right next door to each other.  Playgrounds with barbed wire right next to a neighborhood full of million dollar homes.  A beautiful restaurant next to condemned building.  Streets with roads falling apart right in front of gorgeous new malls.  The discrepancy was incredible and hard to make sense of. I’m so grateful to live in a country with rules and regulations and a government that enforces laws and a city that was built with planning and infrastructure in mind!

I completely enjoyed me week.  I had a blast with my parents and Kortney and laughed more than I have in a long time.  It’s amazing how easy is is to be happy sheik life slows down and you can take time to stop and smell the roses.  Literally.  I should remember that when I  home as well.

John’s adventures at home

Apparently Ainsley turned into a bit of a social butterfly while I was gone.  She has been hanging out with a girl in our ward, Hallie, and her friend Reagan.  Reagan is more social than Hallie and Ainsley and has gotten t out of the house a bit.  It’s a miracle!  2 stake dances and Ains even went over to Hallie’s to hang out with her new crew!  I’m thrilled!  She also had her swim banquet while I was away.  I asked about it and nothing much was reported.  But I know there was a taco bar, a slide show, and some lip syncing.  So it couldn’t have been too bad!

Emmie had a birthday party while I was away.  Owen spent a lot of time on the switch.  He is most likely dreading me coming home because his lazy life is about to end.  And John did a great job holding down the fort while I was away.  He managed work, being on call, and running the kids around, all with no dishwasher all week.  He’s a trooper.

And now it’s time for me to get back to reality.  I’m in a plane headed for home as I type this.  And now it’s time for Thanksgiving and Christmas and all the crazy that this time of year brings.  But I’m ready!