Puerto Vallarta Take 3

 Jake and I got to spend a few days in Puerto Vallarta.  Greg and Tracy were so nice to take all the kids there.  This was our third trip there, and we continue to love it every time.

We went on a couple of hikes, hung out on the beach, and by the pool, went into the city, and had a fun day exploring a bit.  The resort we stayed at had amazing food.  Like really really good.  Our hotel was up on the hill, not right on the beach.  So every time we went to and from the beach we got to climb like a million stairs.  My legs were feeling it.  But probably a good thing to try to burn some of the many calories we ate.  The weather was amazing.  We had fun with all the Higleys.  The only down side was a mix-up with our room.  Let's just say our first night there we essentially slept in a night club.  Definitely don't recommend.  But we still had a great time.  Thanks Greg and Tracy!

The view from our hotel.  Every morning we could see whales

Sitting in a really weird chair

Beautiful beach we boated to

Greg with all of the kids

The best coconut milk I've ever had

Tim and his wife treated us all to an amazing seafood feast.  There were multiple platters like this.  I ate a huge oyster.  Don't need to do that again.  Best seafood I've ever had.

We boated to this little pueblo and hiked to this waterfall

Well, we got to choose whether to hike or ride a mule.  I chose hiking and I'm very happy with that decision.

This hike was right by our hotel.  The water at these waterfalls was very refreshing.

Our first night there we got to eat on the beach with this beautiful sunset.

A Combo

 I'm probably the worst blogger out of all bloggers.  But I keep limping along because otherwise we'll have no documentation of our lives...  

This time we're combining January and February.  Not the most exciting of months.  At least there was no dumping of snow this year.  Really cold, but no snow.  Not sure which is worse.  My friend Audrey and I took a quick trip to St George.  It was so nice to get away and be in the sun.  And warmer weather.  The next weekend Kate came up and stayed with her boyfriend Cade.  This is a new experience for us, having a boyfriend join in.  But we had fun and enjoyed getting to know Cade better.  He didn't immediately break up with Kate after being with us for a weekend, so I guess he survived the craziness of our family.  While they were here we went tubing at Soldier Hollow.  This is always a fun activity.  It always feels like we're going real fast, but doesn't look that fast.  This was Cade's first time ever tubing as he's from St George.  Kate's also introducing him to the family movies that you have to watch (Tommy Boy, Goonies, Sandlot, etc.)

We had our one big snowstorm of the year in February.  We got like a couple feet of snow overnight, and it was not light fluffy snow.  Poor Jake and his crew spent like 6 hours clearing snow at the office.  Bless them.  Sage and I took them some McDonald's.  Always a cure for hard work.  Sage tried out for the lacrosse team and made it.  This is a new sport for her and our family.  I'm proud of her for trying something new because that's not easy.  It's been fun to watch her play and learn the rules.  Still learning those.  

Zack moved home in January to take a break from school.  He tried hard to find a job and it just wasn't happening.  (it's not easy in Logan)  He moved home planning to work for Jake, but ended up getting offered a job at the last place he interviewed.  So in February he moved back up to Logan.  I'm sure he was happy to not be living at home.  So now he's learning how to adult with a full-time job.  He works at an equipment rental place doing repairs on the equipment when it gets returned.  He's hoping to get more training in doing different repairs.  He seems much happier than when he was in school.  If he's happy we're happy!

Anyway, that's a wrap for January and February.  Not my favorite months, but we survived.

The only time we get pics of Zack is when people go visit him.  Uncle Randy went to Logan and was nice to take Z out for some ice cream

Sage had to have a minor surgery to get a cyst removed.  She did great.

The concrete snow

Our new lacrosse player

Walking up the tubing hill is exhausting.  The lines and the lift were taking forever though.

Quick St George trip

Kate and Cade

December and Christmas

 December came and went in a blur, as usual.  I struggled this year finding the enjoyment of the season.  I need to do better next year.  I loved having everyone home for the holidays, but it also takes some adjusting.  I'm still trying to figure out this parenting adult kids thing.  I think I'm not doing so well.  Hopefully next year I'll have a better grip on everything.  I'll let the pictures tell the story...  Of course they loaded in a crazy order, but I'm not taking the time to switch it.  I'm killing this blogging thing.

We went to St George between Christmas and New Years and went on this fun hike.

We went to a Japanese steakhouse to celebrate the new year.  It was a fun experience!

Sage tinted Kate's lashes.  It was quite the experience.  We were all laughing pretty hard.

Jake got a fancy new guitar and I love hearing him play it most nights.

Sage killed us all in Cover Your Assets.

We went to Top Golf.  The extra boy is Kate's boyfriend.  He's very nice, but I'm not sure how I feel about this development.

I really don't work very much, but somehow I always work on dress up days.  My family finds this hilarious.

Everyone in their Christmas Eve pajamas.

I was in charge of our ward RS Christmas dinner.  Way out of my comfort zone.  But thanks to an amazing committee it turned out great!

Sage went to the Christmas dance.  You can ask her for more details...

We went to the annual live nativity.  It gets better every year.

Started the season off at the Wright Christmas party.

November Happened

 November was a pretty unexciting month.  Maybe because we were so busy in October.  Mountain biking ended for the season, fall break was over, and we kind of just dug in to life.  Sage went to her first high school dance.  Girls choice.  She ended up having fun, but didn't enjoy the stress leading up to it.  She's chosen not to go to sweethearts.  I'm glad she went, and also glad she's taking a break.  She has plenty of dances in her future.

Kate and Zack were both living their own lives at opposite ends of the state.  It's still crazy to me that I have two kids in college.  Jake's busy as always with work.  

Thank heavens we had Thanksgiving to give November something fun.  For the first time in a while we stayed home.  The college kids came home and we all enjoyed some family time.  For actual Thanksgiving we went to the Spjute ancestral home.  To start things off some of us met to play some pickle ball.  The Johnsons showed us all up.  Then we went shooting up Farmington Canyon.  Dinner was amazingly delicious.  We ate, talked, ate, and talked some more.  It was a perfectly lazy Thanksgiving.

Jake decreed the rest of the weekend an auto mechanic weekend.  They all worked on Kate's car, Zack's car, and Sage's car.  Don't ask me what they did, but 2 of the 3 cars were more functional after.  The boys say this is fun.  The girls not so much.  But the girls are grateful to have functional cars!

Weekend of the cars.  My contribution was bringing food

The feast

Safety lesson pre-shooting

Sage does dry needling.  Seems very painful

Jake and Sage made a box for our home gym.  I was especially happy when I saw that they signed their names on it.

The annual turkey trot.  Even 10 degree weather doesn't stop us!

Midway Bakery opened again.  This is obviously worth documenting

The cute girls in Sage's dance group

Cousin time!  Sage had a sleepover and went to Sundance with Chloe and Sierra 

This is apparently how teenagers smile

Sage's dance group