All I Want for Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth!

Mark had a dead tooth pulled a while back. The other front tooth became loose but wouldn't really fall out. It was pushed to the center of his mouth and crooked. It looked pretty weird. It finally fell out just in time for Mark to sing, "All I Want for Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth!" YES! I'm so glad it's finally out!

Finding our tree!

Over the river and through the woods, we went in search of our Christmas tree! Yay!

Maxine loves the trees. She wanted this boi. We said no.

Merril found one that would fit in the living room a little better.

Jack helped tie it to the car.

Then the kids played a game in the snow. They were trying to build a fort to stay the night.

I think had they stayed the night, they might've frozen.

Bring on Christmas!

I Lost my Bubbies!

The Campbell Thanksgiving was supposed to be at the Pine Valley cabin but Grandma got sick. We decided it probably wasn't the best idea to have 7 different families sleeping in the same house during COVID. We moved Thanksgiving to a stake center pavilion in St. George. It was a little cold but clear and sunny. It was nice. 

The kids were playing hide and seek and the adults were chatting. As we got ready to go, we yelled to the kids to come and get in the car. Caroline was going to sleep at our house and Mikayla was going to sleep with Janalynn's family. Then we all jumped in the car and started for home.

About 5 minutes later, just before we got on the freeway, Emily calls and says, "Hey, your little boy just wandered up." 

"OH MY GOODNESS! We'll be right back in 5 minutes!"

We flipped around and headed back towards the pavilion. When we got there, Mark seemed fine and Emily said, "We were trying to navigate to an address and it wouldn't work. We tried like 6 times and it held us up."

The Lord was watching over my little boy. I don't think we would've noticed Mark wasn't in the car until we got home to Hurricane. After realizing, we would've driven back to the pavilion. In that time, probably 40 minutes, Mark would've been sitting by himself in the dark and cold. *sigh* That's a long time for a little kid to be by himself when he's scared. He may have wandered off, trying to find someone. Bad things could've happened. 

None of those things happened. Jared and Emily were simply delayed, giving Mark enough time to realize that hide and seek was over and that he needed to come out of his spot. He wandered over to Jared and Emily and they took care of him until I could get back. He wasn't scared. He wasn't cold. 

The Lord takes care of us in the big ways and in the little ways. I believe He is mindful of us and helps us. I am thankful He was watching over my family today!

 

Odds and ends...

As part of a challenge from President Russel M. Nelson, we were supposed to post about gratitude for 7 days. These are the people for which I am most grateful. They challenge me, love me, and make me happy!

And I made pomegranate jelly. I think it has the most beautiful color! 

Also, I signed up for a Hurricane Recreation Health Challenge for November. On this particular day, I was supposed to walk with a family member(s) for 20 minutes. I forgot until the near end of the day. When it was cold. And Windy. 

I persevered and put on many, many layers and headed out for my walk. Mark and Jack actually came with and rode bikes around me while I walked. They chattered non-stop about all the things boys talk about. It turned into a nice part of my day and I wasn't even that cold!

Finally Finishing my Denim Quilt!

I started this quilt years ago. I saved denim for a decade. I finished the denim topper in September of 2019. I pulled the project out again, more than a year later. I'd stitched part of the back but not the whole thing. Then I could not figure out what I was trying to do in the first place. I ended up finishing it like this because I couldn't remember how it was supposed to go together.

And then I added a red H, last minute. It's for Hurricane!

And here it is! Bound and ready for picnics, laying on the grass and keeping us warm. It huge and heavy. I wanted a blanket my whole family could sit on together. YES!

Update: We took this blanket to our outdoor Campbell Thanksgiving and it was a hit! 
 

Last day in Mexico

Last day here in Mexico and we zoomed out to Chichen Itza. It was a little bit of a struggle to convince Sheri to go. Shelly and Dave had never been and it's impressive. It looks just like I remember it.

It was a great way to end our vacation. I got a few mosquito bites for the ride home but it's okay. Now back to real life! And hopefully we didn't get COVID. :)

 We raced back to Cancun to catch our flight. We made it in perfect time. It was an awesome trip!

Out to Coba, Mexico

So this day in Mexico started with getting the boys out to cenote Dos Ojos (2 eyes). They were scheduled for a cavern dive. The 2 cenote eyes are connected by an underwater caverns. The boys were going to dive it. We didn't think it would take long but learned they were going to be busy until the early afternoon. The girls decided to go drive to the Coba ruins. I was nominated to be the driver. That's fine with me. I have GPS on my phone. No worries. The hurricanes that have pounded the Yucatan have flooded parts of it. Coba was no exception. The whole entrance was under water!

The area with the ruins was fine though.

Then we were able to buzz back to the boys and pick them up. We ate some more tacos and walked along the beach as the sun set. It was lovely.

 

Cenote Calavera

 There was a snafu with the car rental place. They could only get us a 5-seater wagon instead of a van, like we requested. The van was supposed to be there in a few days. So Wade rented a scooter and we went to a cenote. 

I didn't even take any pictures. I grabbed these from the videos I took. There were small holes to jump through, into the water below. The water was a little cold so I didn't stay down in it. I did a backflip off the side. Fun times!

Last Day in Cozumel

Sheri is not feeling well today. She thinks she has a sinus infection brewing. She got some antibiotics and is staying at the hotel. I decided to go snorkeling right off the ocean by our hotel and have a self-care morning. After that, I came back to the hotel and did laps in the pool for exercise. It was raining lightly but still very pleasant. Then I went to the room for a hot shower and did a meditation session, during which I fell asleep. After that, it was about 12:30 and I thought the scuba peeps might be getting close to getting back. I headed down to the dock to hang out and watch for them and listen to my audiobook. This was my view!

Here are the divers! Shelly, Dave, Wade, and Merril. 

Also, this is a Cozumel racoon. They have a striped tail like American racoons but are slimmer.

After scuba, we ate lunch and decided to ride around the island on scooters, while Sheri slept.

And my hair gets a little big in the humidity.

The boys went spear fishing and the hotel cooked it up beautifully! It was mostly lionfish but also a lobster and a crab. It was fantastic! So good!

Beautiful Cozumel!

While the scuba peeps do their thing, Sheri and I rented scooters to buzz around the island!  

 We found a Mayan chocolate factory and we got our own private tour and tasted all the chocolates. It was flipping fantastic! We stopped at this gorgeous beach on the other side of the island.

The water is so nice here!

I had read about a bee sanctuary on the island and stopped there as well.

Mayan bees are smaller and look more like flies than bees. They make less honey and it supposed to be used medicinally instead of as a sweetener. This little man guards the entrance to the beehive. If a bee comes close, he moves out of the way and allows him entrance. 

The bees there built their hives in logs mostly.

Later in the trip, we saw on on this banana peel. If I hadn't been to the bee sanctuary, I totally would've thought it was a fly. Crazy! I'm glad we were able to go!

The scuba peeps came back. I took a nap and the boys took out the scooters. I'm sure they were going the speed limit. At least they are wearing helmets.

I'm pretty sure that's not in the rental agreement we signed.

And Dave wouldn't be Dave without trying to touch the wildlife. He caught this pigeon and tossed it into Wade's room. *shaking head*

Flying to Cozumel!

Scuba Dave invited us and the Beattys to Cozumel because he was turning 40. I stressed about whether we should go, because of 'rona and I don't like to leave the kids for long amounts of time. But, we never did anything for our 20th anniversary so we decided to do it! The kids mainly took care of themselves, with Grandmas coming over to help here and there. Lets be honest, Juliet was probably running most of the show. 

So here we go! Because of COVID, our original flight to Cozumel was rescheduled a day earlier with an overnight layover in Texas. That was a little annoying because it's one more day of figuring out what to do with the kids. Alas, we are finally on our way.

These signs are cracking me up for some reason. Instead of the "6 feet apart" rule in the States, we are supposed to stay 1.5 meters apart. 

This is the first time I've ever gotten off the plane on something other than a jetway. It was a really big ramp!