New Year's Eve 2012

This year we did our traditional New Years Eve party at Mandy's house.  Trudi and Tyler were in town, staying at Mandy's and with a couple of sick kids we figured it would be easier to go there, where the little ones could sleep.  Lucas was working on the strip as usual.  We just hung out, ate tons, watched TV while the kids played.  We didn't make it all the way to midnight but we did see the ball drop east coast time.  Baili had a youth midnight breakfast so Sam took her there and I took our kids home just before midnight because we were all asleep.  Happy New Year everyone........bring on 2013

The Nutcracker at The Smith Center

My dear friend Leslie from one of my classes invited me to see the nutcracker with her. I've always loved the music and learned the story from watching the Barbie movie *hee hee* but I have never seen the ballet or any ballet for that matter. We had a wonderful time together, visiting and then seeing the performance. The production was amazing. My favorite scene was a dance with a man and woman dancing together. Snow was falling in front of them on the stage and it looked like a live snow globe, it was breathtaking. The dancers were amazing. This was a really fun seasonal treat, thanks Leslie.

Dear Santa....

Really?

Things are a little bit crazy - to say the least - right now with Christmas only 3 days away.  I just got back from the store with Kami.  Lines are outrageous, everyone is bitter (except me of course), time is running out and I am planning on staying up all night till Santa comes....lol 
So I decided to make my bed - 12 hours late - but better late than never.  Kami asked me why I was doing that.  I said "i think it helps Dad when he gets home to feel like he has a nice home to come home to..."  and she replied............"Oh, he never feels like that"  That's just great!!!!  haha.....

Christmas Carolling with Cub Scouts

How did this happen? We have a teenager...

Birthday Party on Freemont Street

Thanksgiving - I am thankful for Family!

We had almost all the Bainbridge Family in town for this years Thanksgiving.  Grandma & Grandpa were here from Florida and Kevin, Tiffany and kids came down from Salt Lake City.  We ate more than we could handle and shopped till we dropped.  Who will ever forget the madness of Black Friday, Ipads and hot cocoa in the the freezing cold lines, waiting for the all those great deals?

Baili performs with ZYSC at Smith Center

We are constantly impressed with Baili and the things she devotes her time to.  She and her good friend, Emma Dickinson got to sing and perform with the Zions Youth Symphony & Choir at the new built, Smith Center.  What an amazing experience this was for Baili.  The had one intense week of practices while Sam and I were in Cancun, then a beautiful performance Sunday were they did two shows for the public.  We are so proud of our little girl.  She said she loved every minute of practice and performing and as you can tell from the last picture, might have had a little energy to spare by the time the final show was done....

 Climbing the rock wall at resort - Terrifying!!!

 Day Trip to Playa Del Carmen - sister property 

Awesome tree growing out of the ground behind us.

 Didn't discover the spa until the last day - ahhhh!

Sunrise the morning we left to come home - beautiful

Bust a move!

On our very last night in Cancun, Sam REALLY wanted me to go to the disco on the resort for the last time. We had gone a number of times and it was fun but this night I was tired. I had already danced my shoes to pieces, we had just eaten dinner and I really just wanted to relax and rest. He insisted we went for at least 30 minutes just as a last "horah" to Cancun. I danced a little bit, even Sam danced with me a little bit but then it was time.....I was so tired. As I was getting ready to leave, Sam said, "watch this..." and got up to the dance floor..... Mind you, most everyone that was there, was drunk and had no clue what anyone else was doing. Sam started dancing and being silly and I was literally dying laughing. I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures to try to remember the moment. It was hilarious!!!! I nearly wet myself laughing.....and Sam was in tears also. The pictures only do the moment some justice but it was definitely one to remember.

Fancy Dinner in Cancun

Beautiful Beach

Tulum is set up high from the ocean, so after we were done with the tour, our guide told us we could walk down to the beach to kill time. It was a small beach with white sand, perfect aqua blue warm water with the ancient ruins as the backdrop.  The weather is perfect in Cancun so this seriously felt like a mystical island or something.... We took some photos and lay our towels down and just hung out before we had to get back to the bus. Thinking back on days like that makes me really miss vacation.  Life is too much of a rat race, I'm definitely good at running around and multitasking but the truth is there is nothing like that relaxing moment, truly stress free, in a beautiful place like an ancient beach in Mexico 

 

 

 

Tulum

Tulum is an ancient ruins site about 30 minutes from where we stayed in Mexico. The resort gave us two free tickets to travel to the resort and have a guided tour. It was truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. They say this "little" ruin site is one of the smaller ancient sites and that it doesn't compare to the other more famous ones like Chichen Itza but to us it was amazing.  Our guide was really knowledgeable about the history of the Mayan people and talked the whole bus drive there as well as around the site.  We were fascinated imagining the ancient culture and people living in this place. 

Hanging out by the cove for my birthday

The resort we stayed at was different from other places we've stayed at before because it didn't have a natural beach. The rock that you can see behind Sam and I actually stretched the whole length of the resort blocking you from going to the ocean. I don't know why they have it like this other than maybe the water is dangerous right there. What is kind of cool about this resort is that they created a man-made beach within the barrier, where the ocean water came into a lagoon and you could swim, snorkel and rent kayaks. There are exotic, tropical fish just swimming right beside you.   It was definitely unique but we liked it a lot.  We snorkeled a few times and saw a Barracuda one of the times!  The kayak was really fun also as we "tried" to fine tune the art of team work....haha!