San Fran on Segway

Dallin and I just celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary and I can hardly believe we've been married that long. The time has flown by, and to be honest, it feels like we've been married a lot longer (in a good way!). So, for our anniversary, he surprised me with a trip to my favorite city, San Francisco. He arranged for a young couple in our ward to watch our kids for the weekend, so we were able to enjoy a true getaway with no kids in tow. He got us an awesome hotel right in downtown San Francisco with the most amazing views of the city, and made several reservations for us at various restaurants around town. We ate delicious food while we were there, which if you know me, is a must! I judge all of our vacations by the type of food we eat! :)

Enjoying a wonderful dinner at WaterBar

One of my favorite things in this whole wide world: fresh CRAB!!

He also got us tickets to see Wicked, which I've been dying to do since it opened there in San Francisco. We had fantastic seats and got to go in the VIP area before the play and during intermission, which was kind of fun! The musical was fantastic -- I would highly recommend it to everyone.

Getting ready for some wicked fun!

Hanging out in the VIP room
During the weekend, he also surprised me with a San Francisco Segway Tour. I was so excited, but a little nervous to try this out. For those of you who don't know what this is, you basically ride around the city on a motorized scooter (think Paul Blart in Mall Cop!). Those things can actually go quite fast and with all of the hills in San Francisco, I was actually nervous at times. But it seriously was SO MUCH FUN! It definitely was a unique way to see the city.

Learning how to use the segway

Taking a stop in front of alcatraz

The rest of the time, we drove throughout the city and visited some of my favorite spots: fisherman's wharf, chinatown, nob hill, lombard street, etc...

I always have to stop in chinatown!

I've decided that I do officially have the best husband on earth and this surprise weekend trip earns him a couple more "ski on Saturday" passes without me complaining too much! :) So, thanks Dal, for a wonderful getaway.

Everything In Between

Obviously, I've been catching up on my trip to Guatemala on my blog, but a lot has happened since we returned. So I'm doing a quick post and including some recent pictures of the kiddos. First off, a few weeks back, it was Dr. Seuss' birthday so they had all kinds of fun festivities at Jacob's school. One day, they had to dress up as their favorite Dr. Seuss character, so Jacob dressed up as Thing 1. It was hilarious going into school that day. There was one girl who dressed up as Cindy Lou Who and her hair was PERFECT!

A few weeks back, we got a nice big snowstorm, so the kids were chomping at the bit to go sledding and build a snowman. So, we of course did both. I got a quick snapshot of the snowman before it got annihilated by Jacob and the neighborhood kids going at it with a baseball bat! :)

The snowman before its demise

Moving on, Dallin and I recently went skiing over at Tahoe at Alpine Meadows. It's been about 7 years since the last time I went skiing and I've really only been a handful of times in my life AND I've never actually taken lessons. So we decided I would take official lessons this time around. And I loved it! A few observations: skiis are A LOT shorter than they used to be... like at least half the size, which makes it soooo much easier to learn to ski. I had a ball and am hoping to go at least one more time this ski season, if I can.

Me About to Hit the Slopes

EXHAUSTED After a Looonnnggg Day of Skiing for This Old Bird

And lastly, today is my Evan's 2nd birthday. I absolutely adore this kid! He is such an easy baby (except the recent attitude adjustment that comes with becoming two!!) Seriously though, he hardly ever fuses at all. When he wakes up in the morning, he never cries. He always just sits there until we come and get him. It doesn't matter how long we take... he just sits there and waits patiently!! He has Dallin's looks and personality and I am completely enamored by him. We have family coming into town this weekend, so I'm sure I'll have some fun birthday shots of him and the cousins to post sometime next week. So, happy birthday to my big boy!!

The End of Our Journey

We ended our Guatemala trip with a get together with some cousins and extended family in Guatemala city. I thoroughly enjoyed being with everyone again since it's been almost 20 years since I've seen them. But I have very fond memories playing with my cousins in Guatemala when I was little and staying with other family members on previous trips. We had a great time catching up and meeting their spouses and children.

The next day, we drove to Jalapa, which is where my father was born. It has changed a bit over the years, but we loved visiting with his cousin Sergio and his family. My father always talks about Sergio because they were such great friends growing up (and always got into a lot of trouble together too!)

All in all, we had a wonderful trip, but we were really missing our kids by the end of the trip. We couldn't wait to get back and see them. We definitely gained a greater appreciation of all that we have back home that we often take for granted. And although we won't make it back any time too soon, we are looking forward to the day when we can take our own children there and teach them about their heritage.

On a random side note, on the flight home, we stopped by a restaurant to eat dinner and recognized a guy from a show we used to watch called "Men in Trees." So, of course, I had to go up to him and ask him if we could take a picture together. Cheesy, I know.

The last picture in this post is of Dallin's parents who bravely agreed to watch our kids for a total of (gulp) 10 days! They were troopers, although we sent them both home with bad colds that our kids has passed along to them. We definitely would not have been able to go on this trip without them and were very greatful for all that they did for my children while we were gone.

The View

Days 6-8: Lake Atitlan & Tzununa

After finishing up touring Antigua, we hopped in the car and drove straight through to Panajachel, a small town by Lake Atitlan, which I have to admit is one of the most beautiful lakes I've ever seen. Lake Atitlan is surrounded by steep hills, picturesque mayan villages and massive volcanoes, one of which is still active and you can see it "smoking" in the early mornings. The first evening there, we stayed in the Hotel Atitlan and by luck, we were given a suite for the evening, which my parents enjoyed. It overlooked the gorgeous grounds, the lake and the volcanoes.

The following morning, we just walked around the grounds of the hotel enjoying all of the birds and flowers and took a dip in the infinity jacuzzi pool overlooking the lake and volcanoes. It was incredibly relaxing and I almost didn't want to leave the hotel.

Hotel Atitlan was gorgeous and had great views!

Dallin and I relaxing after a swim

Enjoying the infinity jacuzzi pool

After checking out, we headed into town and did some shopping at the mercado. This is where I bought most of our "souvenirs" from our trip. I bought some really pretty textiles, a few nativities and some really cute dresses for my daughter and toys for the boys. I love looking at the native mayans. Their clothes are vibrant and they carry everything on their heads... it's impressive. I don't know how it doesn't keep falling off, but they carry everything from clothing to baskets full of food, etc... on their heads.

Visiting the "mercado"

I love how they carry everything on their heads

We had made reservations at a really quaint (but remote) hotel called Lomas de Tzununa for the next two evenings, and we wanted to arrive there early because you could only get there by boat and then climb 400+ stairs to reach the cabins which were literally built into the side of a steep mountain. The beauty of this hotel was that it was away from all of the "tourist" stops and you had completely unobstructed views of the lake and volcanoes.

So after shopping, we headed over to the pier and got on one of the "ferry" boats heading to the various villages surrounding the lake. By now the wind had picked up a bit and the water was pretty choppy so the boat ride seemed a bit harrowing at times. We got completely drenched from the waves splashing into the boat and after what seemed an eternity, we finally made it to the pier at Tzununa. Like I mentioned, there were 400+ really steep stairs to climb, so we called the hotel who sent down 2 hotel workers to carry up ALL of our luggage. We had 5 pieces of luggage, 3 of which were BIG pieces and those 2 guys carried our luggage all of the way up the stairs. It was incredible. It was a workout getting up these stairs, let me tell you, and we all needed to sit down and rest a few times on the way up. But once you got up there, you were rewarded with FANTASTIC views of the lake and volcanoes.

A view of the hotel from the lake as we were pulling in

Getting soaking wet on the boat

Getting ready to climb the 400+ stairs

The next morning we woke up and enjoyed breakfast while overlooking the lake and volcanoes. Then hopped aboard another one of the boats and headed out to visit the many villages around the lake. Once we were in the villages, we had to board what they call "tuk-tuks." They're kind of what you imagine people riding around in India or someplace like that. They're like little buggies with a driver in front and room for 2-3 people in the back. Anyway, we visited the villages, enjoyed some local food and did some more shopping with the local vendors.

Bartering over a beautiful textile which I ended up buying!

Riding in the "tuk tuk"

Enjoying the views from Lomas de Tzununa

Enjoying a delicious breakfast on the hotel balcony

The Luxurious Part of the Trip

Day 4-5: ANTIGUA!!

So, I have to admit, I LOVED this part of the trip. Antigua is a small town that resembles the streets of Europe, I think. It's actually pretty small, in radius, but the streets are made of cobblestone and the houses and stores there are brightly colored. We arrived in Antigua in the evening and checked into our hotel, which was awesome. This was by far the best hotel we stayed in during the trip. It was called Meson Panza Verde, which really had kind of a rustic quality to it. Dallin and I splurged here and got a suite, which included a big canopy bed , its own fireplace, and a private balcony with this huge hammock hanging in it. The restaurant here was FANTASTIC!! By far, one of the best meals I've had in a LLLOOONNNNGGGG time! And the grounds were gorgeous -- made up of all kinds of exotic flowers and plants. At night, they'd bring in local artists to perform so people would sit around the bar and lounge or dance (and I've got some fun pictures to show you of this too!)

Enjoying some fine dining at Meson Panza Verde

Posing for pictures on the rooftop terrace

Mom & Dad shaking things up with a salsa dance!

Day 5: Elizabeth Bell

The next morning we had arranged for a tour of the city by a woman named Elizabeth Bell. She was absolutely wonderful. Her parents had moved her from California to Guatemala when she was only 11 and she's stayed ever since. Not only did she know everything about the history of Antigua and it's current political and economic state, she's also dedicated her life to improving the quality of life for the native people of Antigua, to cleaning up the streets, bringing in more tourists, and preserving the heritage and culture of the people there. She and the foundation she runs, have really started excavating some of the local buildings there and putting any of the "treasures" they find in nice museums , in hopes of luring more tourism dollars into the city. She was truly a fascinating and really inspiring woman.

Elizabeth leading our tour group

The rest of our stay in Antigua was spent walking the streets, visiting the different stores there and shopping, and eating delicious food. While in Antigua, we tried a new dish called pepian dish. It is a chicken stew with a tomato based broth and spices that I couldn't quite figure out what they were. But it was delicious!

Pepian Chicken!

Posing in the center of town

How do you add heat to a dish? Try one of these!

Antigua definitely had a rustic charm to it.

Hitting the cobblestone streets

And of course, no post about my Guatemala trip would be complete without me obsessing over the flowers and plants there. Everything grows big out there -- all of the flowers are HUGE, the leaves from some of the plants are almost bigger than I am, and everything is green. Its fantastic!
Check out the leaf! It's almost as big as my mother!

Zippin' Along

Day 3: While in Tikal, Dallin and I (my parents decided to sit this one out) decided to zip line through the jungle. I was terrified when we were climbing up the first tower to get all harnessed up. In fact, I was pretty much terrified the entire time... up until the very end. But it was really neat to go through the jungle this way. We were so high up that we got to see a bunch of howler monkeys up close and I think we would both do it again in a heart beat. Afterwards, we just relaxed and walked around our lodges to look at all of the cool birds, animals, and flowers until it was time to fly back to Guatemala City and head towards Antigua.

Here, Dallin is showing off and hanging on the zip line upside down!

I have NO idea what animal this is. All I know is that there were about 30 of them walking right behind our cabin.

Me and my mom just hanging out until check out time.