still thankful

I realize this is waaay past due, but I wanted to share some highlights of our Thanksgiving trip to Mazatlan.  A big ol' snowstorm hit Salt Lake just before we left, and we had to drive 25mph on the freeway on our way to the airport...and the boys were actually sad to leave such a great storm.  Don't worry.  They got over it.    

day one

 This was the book Ben had been looking forward to reading on this trip.  He started it 

the second we walked in the airport, and because our flight got delayed (de-icing), he 

finished the whole thing before we even took off.  Book junkie!  

 Like I said, it didn't take long to adjust to shorts and t-shirts.

I knew that tacos were a staple in Mexico, but what I didn't realize is that they are a dinner staple, and they only open at dinner time.  We met up with our friends, Chris and Lucia, in Mazatlan.  Lucia's family has a house (right on the beach) and a condo, (right across the street) where we stayed.  Every day at 1:30 we ate a big meal at the house and then just ate tacos or something smaller for dinner.

day two

 our condo

 the pool right outside the door of the condo, and the "floating beds," which were Ben's favorites

 This is the beach right outside the door of Lucia's house.  Jake was always playing out there.  He loved playing in the rocks and water so much, but then he got stung by a jellyfish and didn't like it so much.

 We went out for a walk on the boardwalk near the center of town.  

The moonrise was beautiful.

day three

Lucia's family owns this beautiful sailboat.  We went out on it for a few hours on this morning.

 This is Lucia and Chris, with their son, Roman.  And Jake.

 Jake showing off his jellyfish bite.

 "Captain Will" was all smiles to steer the boat for a while.  He wants to be a captain someday. 

 The boys did a little kayaking from the boat to an island.  I was just grateful to anchor the boat for a while so my stomach wouldn't be so queasy from the rocking of the boat.  

 This is the other pool at the condo--a salt-water pool.  

The boys LOVED this place, and spent most of their condo time out there.  

 Dinner one night at the Seafarer Restaurant by our condo, with our three boys and 

our adopted-son-for-the-evening, CJ (aka: Churro), Chris' older son.  He could easily fit in to our family!

 These three--CJ, Daren, and Chris--went out golfing almost every day there. 

Yes, we hauled Daren's clubs all the way there, and he couldn't have been more happy!!

The other place they spent much time at was the hot tub...until the motor broke and it wasn't so hot anymore.  The boys didn't care, they swam in it anyway.

 Our night at Senor Frogs was very memorable for the boys.  Their favorite parts?

The loud music, the big hats, and the MARSHMALLOW WAR!!  

day four--thanksgiving

 Is this one of the most beautiful settings for a Thanksgiving feast (fiesta?!), or what?  This is the main house where everyone else stayed.  Lucia's parents, Caesar and Maria, cooked up a huge turkey and invited 12 or 14 of their closest friends in Mazatlan to join us for Thanksgiving.  Maria really had to search for a turkey, but she found one.  Thanksgiving dinner consisted of a turkey, yams, mashed potatoes (with about 2 lbs. of mozarella cheese in them!), shrimp, rice with cashews, garlic bread, pumpkin pie and guava pie (yum!).

 I am not a mushroom fan, but these were amazing.  And that was just an appetizer!

 Caesar had his sailboat "tiled" into the bar.  Very cool. 

 Caesar has been taking singing lessons, and he was amazing!!  Maria got up and danced with these clicking things that went along with his song.  

Not to be outdone, Ben, Jake and CJ had their own fun copying a Mexican dance...with golf clubs. 

 Jake sat outside with me to watch the sunset on our last evening in Mazatlan.

day five

And Will was up the next morning with me to watch the sunrise.   

We had the greatest time.  It really didn't matter where we were because we could still be thankful for all we have and for each other...but being in Mazatlan didn't hurt.  Much thanks to Chris and Lucia for the best time!!

some highlights to remember:

no buckling up in Mexico

Chris' 2 rules:  have fun and NO WHINING!

dominoes

Berta, who cleaned our condo every day

Phase 10

the kid's lifesavers--a tv room at the condo and McDonald's one night for dinner

Lucia and I get a 1/2 hour massage for 100 pesos ($10!)

no tivo + no internet + no cell phones for a week = catch up on sleep!! :)

Of course, the boy were thrilled that there was still some snow left over when we got back, and then a big storm came in a day later, so they got their first "snow day" from school in a long time, and had a blast playing in it all day.  Now the snow is all melted and gone, but we are crossing our fingers for a white Christmas.

second painting

With Julie's help, I finally figured out how to change my blog so it will show bigger pictures--yea!!  So it's appropriate for the first picture I post is Ben's second painting, which he just finished a couple weeks ago.  This kid has got some crazy painting skills!!  Once again, not from me. :)

This is the picture he painted it from--

my sister's grandfather-in-law makes these cute birdhouses, 

and this is one in his yard.

this is halloween

One thing I love about Will is that he is a kid that knows what he wants. This year for Halloween he was going to be Indiana Jones, but then came along Ghostbusters, the movie. Once he saw that a couple months ago, he knew that this year he had to be one of the Ghostbuster dudes. We ordered his costume weeks ago, so he probably put it on at least 15 times before Halloween got here. He was very excited to wear it to school and show all his friends in his class. Here he is in the Halloween parade with his teacher.

ready for any kind of slimer at his class party!

Isn't Mrs. Payne the cutest witch ever?! She is the greatest!

Later the same day...Will's other obsession with the Ghostbusters movie is the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. He replays that part of the movie over and over. After his Halloween party at school, Will insisted on making a S.P.M.M. costume. We used our noggins and this is what we came up with. He even slept in it that night, jeans and all.

A couple weeks ago we tried going to this pumpkin patch with the whole fam, but just as we pulled up it was getting dark and it started snowing. On Saturday--yes, the day we celebrate Halloween here in Utah when it falls on a Sunday (it took me a while to explain that one to my Vietnamese neighbor!)--Jake and I went back to the patch, and most of the pumpkins looked like this. We found a couple pumpkins to take home, but it took us a while to find them!

Which leads me to Halloween decorations...my brother, Darren, is even more into Halloween than we are. He did a great post about their latest and greatest decorations, which they are, so I thought I'd include some of our great finds this year. I'd much rather spend money on Halloween than even Christmas decorations. I'm totally picky about our decorations too, cuz I don't like cheesey ones, so I'm always on the lookout for something great.

Every year I buy a tombstone at Target--this year I got a gargoyle too!

Our meager showing of pumpkins from our patch this year.

Daren found this skull at Costco and it was a huge hit!

The eyes light up and it talks.

Spiders everywhere!

I couldn't resist the Mona Lisa, especially since Jake and I just finished the

Magic Tree House book about Leonardo DaVinci.

the mantle

mini-tombstones...I love 'em!

I love this tin haunted house that I found at World Market!!

I only buy candy to give out that I like to eat myself...in case there are extras. :) It was drizzling when the boys were first heading out, so there weren't many kids in the beginning, but after 8:30pm they were almost non-stop. I had to hold Will back from giving out all the candy to one little girl! Sadly, we ran out of candy just after 9pm, so out our light went. *sigh* It's just as well--not like I really need it anyway!

The best part of Will's evening was when we went trick-or-treating to Mrs. Payne's house.

The boys didn't stay out long in our neighborhood. Like every other food, they are also picky about their candy and were happy with the few Tootsie Rolls and Hershey's they got. They talked me into letting them sleep upstairs, so here they are crashed out.

I got these pancake molds from Williams Sonoma for breakfast on Sunday morning, October 31.

The boys were excited to put on their costumes again to go up to Grandma and Grandpa Train's house on Sunday afternoon. Not only did they get full-size Hershey's, but dinner too. Ben was Ben Franklin, Jake was a grim reaper, and then there was mr. buster himself. These guys are the cutest things ever--we'll keep 'em!!