Adios de Mexico

Well, sorry, no pictures today. We will be leaving tomorrow and so this will be our last message.
We have had a wonderful time. Truly and experience of a lifetime. We will never forget how wonderful this has been, and of the beautiful places we've seen. We walked where the Nephites and Lamanties walked and had wars. We crossed the land of Bountiful and imagined being a part of seeing and being taught by our Savior. We seen such humble living conditions and met beautiful people. It has all become a part of us. Our testimonies have grown, our faith is sure. The Book of Mormon is true.

We love you all and will see you soon.
Mom and Dad

EARTHQUAKE

We just wanted you all to know we are all okay. There was an earthquake, 6.5, sort of by the beach town we stayed in at Hualtuco. It happened about 6:00 am this morning. Dad felt it and a couple of others on the tour. I slept. Kind of exciting.
We are headed for Veracruz, and Lake Catemaco. We´ve heard it is one of the most beautiful places we will stay on the trip. So Happy B day to me. It will be another really long day of travel with several stops along the way to see different things. I´m doing much better, dad is still struggling. Say a little prayer for him. Love ya lots MOM

More fun

As you can see, we are basking in the sun. The picture at the fountain was taken by a Tule tree. The legend says that when Jesus came here he blessed the tree to still be here when he returned. It was a pretty little area.

Doug, I thought you might enjoy seeing dad with his $5 shoes and his SOCKS standing in the ocean. It is so dad. He thought it was funny too. That photo was taken at Huatulco Bay on the Pacific Ocean. It was a fabulous day. We spent the entire day cruising around on a catamaran and stopping at little lagoons. It must have been 85 degrees out.

There is so much to tell, I don´t even know where to start, so I just pick out a couple of things. One thing for sure, I hate Topes. You can ask Heather what that means. There are no road signs to tell you what speed to drive, or any kind of regulatory signs, that just put in a tope wherever they feel like it. It is quite a nuisance. Also, if Oscar, our bus driver feels he needs to relieve himself, he just stops the bus in the middle of the road and does his business. In case you didn´t know, there is a potty on the bus.

We have had huge days, always busy. This morning we had our wake up call at 4:30 am. We only got back to the hotel at 8:00 pm. We did several things. We took a 16 mile boat ride down the Unamicinta River, proposed sight of the River Sidon. When we got there we climbed a hill and saw some spectacular ruins. We could hear howler monkeys but couldn´t see them. They were so loud. We did see some Toucans, and I was thrilled about that.

Dad and I have both suffered for a couple of days with bathroom business. But on top of that I got dehydrated and had motion sickness too. All better now. Dad is still struggling. But we´ll make it. Only 5 more nights. I think we will definetly be ready to come home.

Do you still have lots of snow. maybe you could get rid of it before we show up.

Rocio, I have so much to tell you I can hardly wait.

Family, check up on each other please and we will see you soon.

Seeing the Sights of Mexico

We thought you might like seeing the photo of the Oaxaca Temple. It is very pretty. We left our service project items with some missionaries at the front gate. The temple Pres. was not there. We also attended sacrament meeting in the chapel next door. It was a wonderful experience to be there on fast Sunday. When the ward members arrived they came over and greeted each one of us. Sometimes the women would give us a kiss on the cheek. What was really fun was the all wanted to bear their testimony and they waited up on the stand for their turn. Even the teenage boys. It was an emotional experience for dad and me. The other photo is while we were waiting for a little train to take us to the top of the hill to go into a castle. That was fun too.

We have had so many experiences, we are writing them in our journal, because there are so many things we´ve done. We went out on a Catarmaran in Hualtuco Bay. We stopped at

a couple of lagoons to walk the beach or have lunch. It was so wonderful. Today we went on a boat ride down the Grijalva River which is the proposed River Sidon, and also the city of Sidon. We have been traveling today thru the proposed Zarahemla.

The visited a highland Mayan village (Lamanite). That was a unique experience. We went into their village cathedral. It was full of flowers everywhere, right down to flower petals on the floor. The leaders of the village sat out front doing some sort of ceremony. We couldn´`t take pictures of them our of respect for their traditions.

Tomorrow we will go to Palenque and spend several days . We will try to write again. There´ll be lots to tell you when we get home. love ya madre and padre

Tired of the snow

I was really tired of shoveling snow and using the snow blower almost everyday, so I thought I would speed thing up a bit. We bought this last week it is a 2006 Suzuki Vinson 500. It only has 400 miles on it. We are looking forward to using this down in Torry this summer and Memorial weekend. Note that the snow is taller than the quad and almost buried the mail box.

P.S. If Angie asks, I bought this for her

Mexico

Maybe we can get some pictures here for you. If they show up on the blog it is pics of The Pyramid of the Sun, or Teotitehauacan. The largest pyramid in Mesoamerica. 365 steps to get to the top, and we made it. We are having a wonderful time and right now we are at a beach resort area in Huatulco. It is beautiful. We went for an all day boat ride with stops at beaches and lunch under a cabana. So far Montezuma has not attacked us. All is well. We love you all and miss you, but we aren´t ready to give up sun and surf to spend it in the snow. In the above photo, we are standing on the top of the pyramid. love ya, madre and padre

bring a friend to work day

If the nightly climbing gym sessions and riding on the tractor to plow the driveway wasn't enough, Tessie had to go to work with me this morning! We decided that ice climbing was out of the question for her since she couldn't really swing an ice axe, so we opted for the dawn patrol at Kelly Canyon. Since the ski hill isn't open on Mondays, the dawn patrol is simply looking for fresh untracked snow before the resort opens, which we've had plenty of the last few days.

We skied up the Moose run and followed another set of up-tracks off to the right and up the hillside. Tessie was pretty excited at first, but after a while, she realized we weren't going back to the car anytime soon We took turns breaking trail. Tessie would be out front until she'd get scared of the snow covered trees.

After about 45 minutes of up hill work, we reached the top of Kelly Mountain and Tessie pointed out the best line of untracked snow below us. Good dog! I wasn't sure what would happen with Tessie as soon as I started down hill since the snow was well over my knees with my skis on! Would Tessie follow in my ski tracks going down hill like she did going up, or would she cut a few powder 8's for style?

I did a few turns and stopped to check on Tessie. She was still sitting on the platform I had stomped out in the snow. Of course she was whining and unsure what exactly to do. So I did a few more turns and stopped again. Yup, still there. So, I called to her and without hesitation she leaped off the platform and into the untracked powder snow trying to beeline it right for me...carving sweet powder 8's! I couldn't help but laugh when all i could see was her snout sticking up out of the snow while she swam down hill. I suppose this is what others would call a mask and snorkel day on the ski hill! She'd connect with my tracks, stop to get her sights on me then bound off into untracked snow once she could see where she wanted to go. I was laughing pretty much the whole time.

Our open slope powder run turned into tree skiing near the bottom where we could connect back to the Moose ski run. Tessie drifted too much inot the fall line and got sucked into a large tree-well which called for a swim in waist deep snow sans skis back up hill to get her. She didn't like being down in such a deep hole all alone and out of sight from me. You can image the noise she made! Kind of like when mom and dad leave her home alone. I pulled her out and we headed down to the bottom of the slope. She bounded off following my ski tracks, chasing after me wagging and barking.

The groomer had been up the Moose run by the time we reached it and Tessie finally had the upper hand in speed. (skidog5.jpg), beating me to the van back in at the parking lot. She sat in the passenger seat all the way home with her tongue hanging out and that look in her eyes. I knew she was thinking about what we're gonna do tomorrow....

Hola familia and Amigos,
I sent a blog this morning but I noticed it wasnt posted, so maybe it will come thru later. In the previous blog i told you that i couldnt get the photos loaded with the zip drive. Also, our schedule is so full and busy, we are so tired at night, we just fall in bed.

So for a quick update
Today we went on a Catamaran for nearly 8 hours. We stopped at a couple of beaches, one where we sat under the cabana and had shrimp cocktail. It was a beautiful day, and we loved every minute of it. It was a lagoon that we stopped in for our lunch and was served under the cabana. Sort of just like in the movies without the booze or umbrella in our drink. We havent been able to do any laundry yet, ive been washing things out in the sink.

The previous blog may have some missing if it ever comes thru. Gotta run, the gang is here waiting to stroll thru town.

love ya,
madre and padre