Day 2 of Mexico

This day was pretty chill (Jan. 16). It started with breakfast on our own little beach and then a kayak trip out to the reef. We didn't reach the reef this day because the wind was so gnarly, but it did happen a few days later.

Breakfast on the beach every morning...oh, yeah!

 Can you see us?

 Here we are a little closer. Can you tell that Mr. Mitchell did most of the work?

 Garrison's first time in the ocean in over two years.

They tried to outkayak us.

After our lovely kayaking morning we decided to go hop in the cenote across the street. It was less than $2/person and we spent three hours in there. Sweet deal.

Getting ready to go to the cenote.

Hanging out.

Garrison's happy to be in the cenote.

Bubbles from Garrison jumping in.

My dad.

Taking a little rest on a rock we found.

I love  his mug.

Mr. Mitchell diving.

Ryan posing for posterity.

Beginning scuba class.

Our group as we're getting ready to get out.

I was glad he convinced me to wear the wetsuit.

In this video you will see that I win the "Chicken Award" for diving and Ryan wins the "Daring Award." Also, if you can see through the gunk you'll find lots of little fishies that we were swimming with.

This video shows some of the bigger fish we saw; they're swimming in the roots of the trees.



After we cleaned up from the cenote we went into town. We did some shopping where we picked up a Mayan calendar, Tulum magnet, and a Mayan mask for our 'around the world' souvenir collection. We also stopped and ate at this fabulous chicken place where we fed our entire gang for under $20.

They had some pretty jewelry.

It was a street of shopping.

Mexican version of Atlas?

We found tiny guitars.

Can you tell what he's holding?

Waiting for the food.

Enjoying our wonderful chicken and pop in glass bottles.

Garrison likes this stuff.

On our way back to the beach house Ryan decided they needed to run back into Tulum to buy ingredients for taco salad. While they were shopping, Garrison, Mr. Mitchell and I made sand castles.

The produce section.

 The very interesting meat section.

 All of the arrows meet here in the middle.

My own version of the ruins. 

Garrison's fortress.

Ryan and Angela made us a tasty dinner, we played Scum, and then we went to bed.

Post-meal chatting.

 Garrison liked to sleep outside in his hammock since 

he had spent the last two years sleeping in a hammock.

Arrival in and Day 1 of Mexico

On January 14, 2012  we awoke at 4:00am and didn't mind. Weird, weird, weird. We gathered our final things, picked up some McDonald's breakfast, and hit the road. Thank you so much to Sarah for getting up early to finish our drive to the airport for us. (Without her help, we would've ended up paying almost $100 for airport parking.) We got there 2 hours before our flight as requested and met up with my parents, Garrison, and Ryan & Angela.  Our crew for the trip was complete.

During the flight I couldn't stop watching the LiveMap as we got closer and closer to Cancun. I was picturing myself at the ruins and living on the beach; imagine my disappointment when we landed and experienced this:

Waiting for the shuttle.

In our rental van driving through monster puddles.

Big, fat, relentless raindrops. 

Our first night in Mexico we stayed the night in a hotel in Cancun. It might be the most beautifully landscaped hotel I've ever stayed in. 

Us being silly while getting checked-in.

We brought a lot of bags with us.

We had our dinner and breakfast out on the patio by the beautiful trees and water.

Our first full day in Mexico (January 15) was a Sunday and, luckily for us, the rain had ceased. We drove around Cancun looking at the 'sights' and visiting some of the places my brother lived while he was serving in that area. We then got to attend one of the wards he worked in where we got to meet some fantastic people and some of the missionaries he worked with.

My mom bossing people at the beach.

This is the picture Garrison's sending to his missionary pals to taunt them.

Mr. Mitchell giving me a Cancun smooch.

Me marveling at how little shade the supposed shade-provider provides.

Lots and lots of shops like this.

 The smallest gym ever - it looked like they had one of everything.

Family on a tricycle. 

One of the places Garrison lived.

The Poots - one of Garrison's families in one of his wards.

We showed up unannounced and they fed us all...and it was tasty!

Garrison and some of his fellow missionaries. 

One of the LDS church buildings in Cancun.

We went to church there. 

We went to the Cancun Costco to stock up for our beach house.

After Costco we drove about an hour and a half to our beach house, Villa Gummerson, in Tulum. We got there when it was dark, but that didn't stop us from jumping in the pool. I about froze, but it was a delightful frozen.

This video was actually taken after we'd been there for almost our full week, but pretend we're exploring it on our first night there.


End Day 1 of Mexico.

Prequel to Mexico

Many of you probably already know that we have journeyed to Mexico and back recently. The story actually beings a couple of years ago. In September 2009 my little brother, Garrison, received his call to serve in the Mexico Merida mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Almost immediately my parents started planning a family trip to Mexico for those that could afford to get their own plane tickets and pay for their own food and souvenirs. Mr. Mitchell and I saved for the two years while my brother served his mission so that we could go. 

It didn't really start to feel real until this guy came home.

Garrison finally home! The trench coat is because he 

didn't have a coat...he had been living in Mexico.

Then we had to/got to (depended on how anxious I was feeling to get to Mexico) do some holiday things before we could take Garrison back to Mexico as our tour guide/personal translator. 

We spent Christmas with Mr. Mitchell's family in Oregon and then had our own tiny New Year's celebration.

 Mr. Mitchell painting his Granny's nails.

 Wanda, Chanel, Joey, Mr. Mitchell, me - wearing hats... ...

 The Mitchell brothers.

We brought in 2012 watching 2012 (except for when we

 were watching fireworks) and drinking goodness.

After these things were done and it was officially January of 2012 we got to start getting ready for our trip to the Yucatan Peninsula. 

Pictures and Cards

We are sooooo married: we sent out Christmas cards this year! I wanted to do it last year, but Mr. Mitchell was a little 'anti.' After we received Christmas cards from friends and family he agreed that I could send out Christmas cards the next year. Yay!

In September my wonderful friend from BYU, Lindsey Cardoza, agreed to take FREE pictures of us. Mind you, she did this while she was 8 months pregnant. I decided since we'd been married for over a year it was appropriate to have family pictures taken and that we could use one of them in our Christmas cards. Now that the cards are in the mail I am excited to share some of the other pictures with everybody! (It was tricky picking a picture for our card because Paul and I were both being fussy about them. We ended up choosing one that didn't really show either of our faces. Convenient, no?) 

Here are some of the pictures:

I love my Grumpy Gus. Anyway, we couldn't afford to print as many cards as we would have liked so that we could send one to lots and lots and lots of people. I've decided to instead share the little gem on here. 

I was super stoked to have postcard Christmas cards and it just made my day when they arrived in the mail. I waited a few days to mail them out so that I could just have them for a bit. I'm weird like that.  Anyway, even if you didn't get a postcard from us, we probably love you! (Unless you're a stranger taking a peak at our blog...we don't love you...you are welcome to keep on peaking, though.)

We wish everyone a Happy Christmas and hope you'll check back for our Christmas updates!

November News

How's that for a snappy post title? It's concise, alliterative, and embodies what the post will hold. (I don't know what the inordinate amount of attention placed on my post titles is all about. I realize I've been a little obsessive about them.)

In November we spent a lot of time being sick and so not much exciting happened. We do have a couple of events worth sharing, though. One weekend we went up to Mendon to help my sister do a Thanksgiving feast. She called and asked for our help because she felt that Mr. Mitchell had the right 'dramatic flair' to play the part of Master William Brewster. I found that quite humorous while Paul couldn't quite decide whether or not he was supposed to be offended, and so we decided to help.

 The setting up process.

 My sister (a.k.a. The MasterMind)

 Mr. Mitchell (a.k.a. Master Brewster)

 Part of the kitchen crew

 Governor Bradford, Master Brewster, Squanto

Two of the best servers

While we were in Mendon we decided to attend the Logan, UT temple since it was so close. There were many brides there that day and it was freezing! (It made me extra glad that we got married in the spring.) It's a beautiful 'pioneer' temple and we're happy we were able to go.

 Can you see the bride?

 It was snowy and beautiful.

The bottom was cut off because we didn't want all of the cars in the picture.

Shortly after our weekend in Mendon it was my birthday. We celebrated by going to Tucano's with friends (thank you Mark & Liahona, Benson & Marisa, Colby & Talyn, Ashley & date, for coming with us) and then coming to our apartment and playing Disney Scene-It while eating cake and ice cream. I received many birthday wishes through the mail, phone, and person, and I feel so grateful for those. 

 Paul was being goofy so I told him to straighten up.

 He decided to poke me instead.

And then he couldn't stop laughing.

We returned to Mendon the next weekend to spend Thanksgiving with my sister's family and my brother's family. We had a great time talking and eating and watching silly videos. Unfortunately, Mr. Mitchell and I have no documentation of the event. We also went Black Friday shopping after most of the madness had ended and finally got ourselves a printer...now that we have two weeks until graduation. Woo!

Things are going well and we are grateful for our family and friends. Thanks for reading!