I wasn’t totally satisfied with our all-inclusive because they did not always have Mexican food available. (I didn’t go to Mexico because of their Italian cuisine). However we still ate well and ate plenty.

Yummy, lets start the day with fresh pineapple, papaya and fresh orange-papaya juice. Add on a made to order omelet of chorizo, cheese, pico, and green peppers with a mexican red enchilada like sauce on top. Delicious. Then we can have french toast sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and hotcakes both drizzled with sweetened condensed milk. Oh my! How have I never had SCM on pancakes before?!

Lunch was usually pretty lame, but when we were lucky we had some fresh fillings to put into soft corn tortillas. Mostly I just filled up on nachos from the snack bar and virgin Tamarindo margaritas. Can’t go wrong.

Dinner was excellent so long as I passed by the quesadilla and sopa grill–cheese, beans, tasty meats, and lots of fresh pico and guacamole on top. My only problem was when I mistook the habanero salsa for a medium green salsa. It tasted absolutely wonderful until my face caught on fire. I made the same mistake that night so we could commiserate. You only make that mistake once though.

We also got some great creme-filled donuts and dulce de leche, flan, vanilla nog (a hot creamy spiced drink) and some yummy Pasta Para Duros with hot sauce and lime. I love food.

After months of Chad working like crazy and me going crazy we packed up our swimwear and sandals, sunscreen and books and went south of the border to Puerto Vallarta. We stayed in Melia, an all-inclusive resort from Sunday to Saturday. I just reached a deadline so I could afford to be away. Before this week, I had been working every weekend almost around the clock.

Back in July, while my parents were visiting after Alden was born I convinced my dad that he should vacation with us. We were able to spend some time with him and my brother, Daniel, before they continued on to Guadalahara.

During the week I kept saying things like ‘this is in my top 5’. So without further ado here are my favorite things…

We have been wanting to go camping lately–now that we are in the US where it is legal and in Utah where there are some of the best outdoor rec options around.

My parents took me camping at the ripe age of 2 months old so we figured it is possible. Finally we set up the tent on Sunday in our backyard for a trial run.

First we decided to break Eden into the camping experience by having a little Family Home Evening inside. It only takes a second to throw together an FHE when we remember to do it. So we sang “Popcorn Popping” and Chad told us about how the people in the Book of Mormon set up their tents toward the prophet Benjamin so they could hear his words. It was a great tie-in for our upcoming General Conference weekend. Then we sang “Popcorn popping” again and had… popcorn for a treat. (Eden also asks us to draw popcorn, mold popcorn with playdoh, etc. She is very much into popcorn right now.)

We made s’mores over at the neighbors’ fire pit so we smelled perfect to try an outdoor sleepover.

Then came bedtime in the tent. It was so nice to all snuggle up together in sleeping bags and read a story. The crickets were providing excellent mood music and the fall weather made it feel like we were up in the mountains. We had forgotten how cozy it is in a tent. However, the tent became too exciting and after getting kicked in the face a few times we decided we had better call it a night. Eden was like a little popcorn kernel herself. Foiled!

Hopefully by spring we’ll be ready to try again.