Easter

My sister Claire and I had a great time dying Easter eggs. I promise, I haven't done this in years. I wanted to make deviled eggs with them, then Claire wouldn't let me. :) I'm sure they've been deviled by now...

Claire, my dad, and I.

Showing off her masterpieces.

Jess with his nephew Ethan. Ethan wanted to "race cars"--in the arcade part of the bowling alley we were at. Jess, being a good uncle, let Ethan sit on his lap while Jess did the driving. :)

Bowling with Jess's family.

On our way home, we were able to stop in Brigham City and visit one of my mission companions--Analisa. She looks adorable pregnant.

New Job

I failed to mention that Jess got a new job. He still works at the same hospital, just in a different department. He now takes care of more sickly people, in the Intensive Care Unit.

He went from this...

To this.
He is loving it and is doing a great job. I'm voting him employee of the month. (These aren't actual pictures of patients, by the way).

Jazz Game

Jess finally was able to use his Christmas present on March 20th (nothing like a present that you can a few months later...) when the Jazz played the Lakers! He got to see one of his favorite teams and one of his favorite players play some ball. The player is not on his favorite team. You can see this is below.

Any guesses? You may have to zoom in. His initials are KB. :)

The teams warming up during half time. We had a good night on the town enjoying some B-ball.

Pastorero Taco Grill

So, Jess and I found the best Mexican food ever! Jess served his mission in Mexico City, where a dish called Tacos al Pastor was one of his favorites. We ask every time we eat at a Mexican restaurant (often, since I love Mexican food!) if they serve Tacos al Pastor. These restaurants have been in Utah, Idaho, and even Mexico itself (Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco)! The answer has sadly been "no," and it wasn't only Jess that was disappointed. This all changed recently. Jess was sooooo excited when we got a mailer advertising a new restaurant on University Parkway in Provo, boasting traditional Mexico City favorites including Tacos al Pastor!!! Jess was excited and I was thrilled to try out a new Mexican restaurant. We ate there the day after getting the mailer and were not disappointed! The restuarant is reasonably priced, has delicious authentic Mexican food (including Tacos al Pastor, tortas, palletas, quesadillas), has awesome decorations and paint job, and great service. You need to try the $5.99 Tacos al Pastor! We already frequent the place, so we'll see you there!

The meat for the Tacos al Pastor is cooked on this rotisserie. Delish!

Valentine's Day

So, this is the giant cookie Jess got me for Valentine's... after I ate the right corner.

Snowboarding at Brighton. Jess and my sister Amanda enjoying the sun, or the snow...

Yeah, Amanduh!

I don't know how I managed this osteoporosis stance, but here we are waiting to get on the lift.

Mexican Riviera Cruise

Pre-cruise excursions...
San Diego (it sure beat the weather at home)

San Diego temple at night. Jess and I decided to rent a car once we got to San Diego. We were going for a reasonable priced car--but still nice--maybe an Altima. Instead, the guy offered us a Mustang convertible! It was great! We drove up the highway with the top down, even though it was a little chilly, to see this beautiful sight. It was well worth the drive.

Still enjoying the rental car. We crossed the Coronado bridge to Coronado Island to enjoy the beach and the quaint houses.

From a small park on Coronado Island.

The beach on Coronado Island was great. We just strolled and enjoyed the sun!

This was our second choice of rental cars... J/K. I saw this parked by our hotel and couldn't help taking a picture.

Oh, yeah... What would sunny California be without an In-n-out burger?

In the 'Stang.

Daytime drive by with our burgers in hand. Isn't it beautiful?

On board the ship! Jess and I thought we were going to miss boarding because we got stuck in traffic, then the GPS was whacked out and we circled around Qual-Comm (Sp?) stadium a few times. We were getting pretty nervous, and I'm sure we were some of the last to board the Carnival Spirit. But, here we are at the Muster Station (safety run-through). We also tried to play a trick on my family and call them telling them we missed the ship, but they saw us... Next time....

My sister Elyse, her husband John, and my mom in the background.

Leaving San Diego and the US.

I love sunsets and sunrises. We got to watch the sun set nearly every night during the cruise from the window in the dining room.

Miniature golf on the ship.

My dad, Jess, and I had a good time and I didn't even hit my ball into the ocean. I did have a few close calls, however.

Our first stop: Acapulco.

At an open-air restaurant in Acapulco. It was really good, or we were just excited to have authentic Mexican food.

View of Acapulco from a memorial church.

One of the comedians on the cruise ship had commented on this phenomenon in Mexico. Everything is made of rebar and nothing gets finished. To quote him, "FINISH SOMETHING!!"

The brave Acapulco cliff divers. They climb down one cliff, jump into the water, climb up the other taller cliff, then make their spectacular dives. We were wondering if this is an optical illusion, because it seems like the cliff has quite a bit of a slope to it. It's amazing that the divers can clear the sharp rocks at the bottom! If you go to Acapulco on a cruise or whatever, know that it only costs $3.50 per person (or 35 pesos) to see the divers. Don't let anyone talk you into something different.

The cliff.

Two divers diving at once. Some even did flips, etc.

Our favorite stop: Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo. We played all day on the best beach of the trip and got fried. It was wonderful!

Getting ready to para sail.

Coming in for a smooth landing. :)

Jess, getting ready to take off.

Jess

Our cruise ship in the port at Zihuatanejo.

At our last port, Manzanillo. We decided to take a taxi drive 45 minutes inland to a waterfall. When our taxi driver pulled over for "agua," we thought this was the waterfall he told us about...

Three taxis to take 12 of us to the "cascada"--waterfall.

The real waterfall...

No jumping into the waterfall.

My parents, Elyse, and John hiking back to the taxis.

Swimming pools near the waterfall. A Mexican style swimming pool.

This was a pretty view of Manzanillo, but the port area itself is the industrial area of town (not pretty).

Our ship in the Manzanillo port.

This is our cabin. It was cleaned twice a day by cabin stewards from Romania and the Philippines.

You have all heard of or seen the creative figures made out of towels by the cabin stewards. Here are a couple of ours.

I lost one of the eyes...

The ship's Gala Buffet at midnight on the second to last night of the cruise. The food looked too organized and pretty to eat.

The next day I went on a tour of the kitchen, and the workers were trying fruitlessly to melt the ice dragon from the Gala Buffet.

Eating dinner our last night, at our usual table by the window facing west.

Waiting to get off the ship, back in the good, old USA.

Jess and I had some extra time before our flight left, so we made a visit to the San Diego Zoo. The polar bears were trying to get a beach ball which was stuck under a rock.

I felt like one of these after the cruise--I had plenty of storage...

Jess and I... on the cruise ship sometimes...

We were glad we had time to spend at the Zoo. We walked around until our feet hurt and we had seen about everything. We had a great vacation!