Puerto Vallarta

I love spending time with my husband, even if it means we have to leave the country!

I love to walk on the beach!

Dale and I enjoyed 3 great days in Puerto Vallarta. Dale's company takes the entire office somewhere each year for some well earned fun. This year they chose a more exotic location, which was fun for everyone. I have to admit, it really is a nice perk and goes a long way to make up for the long hours Dale puts in for the firm. What's especially impressive is that this vacation is not only for the partners and consultants, but administrative workers (assistants, mailroom, etc) are all included, as well as their spouses/significant others. Everyone is treated equally, which is the way it should be.

We left the kids with my parents and met up in Puerto Vallarta on the 23rd. The resort was actually located in Nuevo Vallarta, just 20 minutes or so from the main town. The resort was beautiful! It was called the Grand Velas Resort and for anyone interested in a beautiful all-inclusive vacation, this place does not disappoint. The views are beautiful! We enjoyed lounging at the pool, swimming, walking the beach, and drinking virgin pina coladas every chance we could! I definitely drank my fair share of pina coladas, but considering I've been on such a restricted diet for so long and had 3 days of freedom, I made sure to enjoy every moment. By the way, I also ate pizza, ice cream, chocolate cake, and anything else that looked good. It's amazing how much one takes life for granted until something is taken away from you.

Here we are sitting at the swim-up bar near the pool. Although we are in our street clothes in this photo, we enjoyed plenty of drinks from the pool. I just thought it was so cool that I could order something to drink and swim at the same time!
Here is a great view of the infinity pool. There were three pools on the property but we found ourselves frequenting the one with the bar so we could enjoy endless Diet Cokes and pina coladas. I'm so glad that we could get away and remember what it was like to walk out the door without a diaper bag, sippy cups, and fruit snacks. With that said, I was so glad to return to our kids and get back to every day life. What I have taken away from this great experience is that parents need a break sometimes, even if it is for 2 hours on a Friday night. I hope to be better at taking those moments with my husband. One of the greatest words in the English language is "recreation" . . . as the root of the word suggests, we must "recreate" ourselves and our lives so that we can better enjoy and appreciate every day life.

Date Night

After spending the day ripping down wallpaper from our walls, we decided it was time to take a break and have some fun. But before I get to the fun stuff, I need to express how much I dislike wallpaper! For those who have seen the movie 27 Dresses, let's just say that if I could scream into a room like Jane (Catherine Heigl's character) did, I seriously would have done that every single day this past week. I wouldn't have said what she said, but I would have screamed and it would have felt so good! I think it's safe to say that wallpaper will never, ever grace the walls of this home or any home we ever own.

Now for our fun weekend. We attended a baptism for our church, which was nice. Afterwards, I picked up our babysitter and we left the kids at home for a few hours. We almost went to a movie, but decided not to do that because it doesn't allow us time to talk with each other. Nowadays we don't get much time to just talk with each other. We had such a great time! We ate at Pei Wei and then browsed Home Goods, my new favorite store. Afterwards, we walked around the new shopping center near our home and found a great new chocolate store. We enjoyed some gelato and sampled some unique chocolates, all while playing 2 games of dominoes on a nice table near the back of the cafe. We then headed over to Barnes & Noble and picked out some fun magazines and reading material to look at together. It reminded us so much of our college days when we were dating . . . simple, inexpensive (except for the babysitting - babysitters in my town make more than I did as an admin at BYU), but fun.

I arrived home feeling like a new person and ready to face a new week. Unfortunately, my disdain for wallpaper didn't change and if I look at one more piece of it, I will scream. So, I'm going to just forget about it for now and think about the fun Saturday night we had.