Mexico City!

Feliz Navidad from Mexico! We've been in Mexico for all of the Christmas break so far, and it has been wonderful. Last Thursday morning, we flew from Hermosillo (where Choco's family lives) to Mexico City for a little vacation with his family. They lived in Mexico City for nine or so years: Choco attended high school there, etc. It was exciting to see a new part of Mexico. All and all there were a lot: a lot of people, food, traffic, smells (good and bad), and fun. It really is a huge city. Huge.

I was humbled at the large amount of poverty. Amazed at the quantity of people. In awe at the beautiful, historic buildings and sites. And warmed by the kindness and happiness of people. I loved the returned smiles from everyone I saw. In my experience, the Mexican people are so warm and friendly and giving. What a blessing it is to experience this wonderful country, at least a couple parts of it. We did a lot in the four days we were there. Because I have my new camera, I took many pictures so I'll tell our stories through them.

Day 1: Thursday, December 20th
We arrived at the airport and took a taxi to our hotel. First impressions: so, so many cars. Crazy driving and traffic. And it was supposedly a "calm" time of day.
We stayed in a Hilton. It was a fancy, new, and beautiful hotel. We were on the 23rd floor, so had a great view of the city.

In the taxi on the way to our hotel

Spinach soup (actually was kind of gross)

My fist meal in Mexico City 

After eating, we wandered around the city a bit. We saw this beautiful, old hotel. It had an amazing ceiling and elevator.

Choco and Papa. I love this picture.

The elevator.

We went to the city square area. Saw an amazing cathedral and some Aztec ruins that were discovered underneath the city. 

Catedral 

Temple Mayor

Museum at the Temple Mayor

That night, we went to see Mary Poppins! I love musicals and was so excited to see this one. Although it was all in Spanish, I loved it. The actors were fabulous, music so fun, costumes and set colorful. It was "supercalifragilisticexpialidocioso!"

After the play, I was a very tired, but we headed to get tacos. Although tired, it ended up being really fun. There were Mariachi bands all over the place where we were. We had tacos de trompo (basically this huge cone of meat). It was yummy and loud, very loud, but fun. All and all, a fabulous first day in Mexico city.

Coming soon: Day 2.  

Thankful

Thanksgiving break was just wonderful. We went to Pocatello Monday evening with Park and spent the whole rest of the week there. It was hard to come back Sunday night. But the good news is that I only have 1 week of classes, 1 week of finals, and then a 3 week Christmas break. Lovely.

What did we do during the week in Idaho? Pretty much relaxed, ate, and partied.

• We slept in. 
• We did Taco Tuesday at Cafe Rio. delicioso!
• Rach and I went to see the final installment of Twilight, Breaking Dawn Part 2. I love Rach and am grateful for her wonderful friendship.
• The boys went to Red Dawn and loved it.
• Chris and I put together two puzzles. We were a little obsessed.
• My mom made amazing homemade calzones and Grandma made yummy minestrone. 
• Went and saw The Odd Life of Timothy Green. I must confess this was the second time I watched it. It is so sweet. I love it. 
• And ate and ate and ate. :)
• We also had some early Christmas: Choco got an actual coat, which was needed. I got a new camera! I love it and am excited to be better at documenting our lives. Plus, it was a swinging deal. Fun stuff!

Thanksgiving was pretty perfect.

My dad decided we were going to start a new Thanksgiving tradition: the Thomas Turkey Trot. We ran a 5K just in our neighborhood. You could just walk too. I am certainly not a runner but survived the challenge. We'll have to train for the 2nd annual one. What a healthy and fun tradition. Go Dad! I'm excited to bring our little ninos in future years to bundle up and get some exercise. It is especially good considering the amount of food we always eat later in the day. The participants even got to sign a special platter to show they had participated in the first one. It is rumored there will even be T-shirts next year. You best believe. 

After the morning exercise, we just relaxed and got ready for the feast. The boys went shooting for a bit. Then we ate a scrumptious meal at Grandma and Grandpa Boyce's house. It was extraordinary, of course. Mashed potatoes, gravy, turkey, and stuffing? Just doesn't get better than that. Yum-o. 

This time of year is a good reminder of the many many blessings we have been given. We should of course be grateful the whole year long, but it is special this time of year being with family to reflect on the blessings of the year. So here's a little gratitude list for what I am especially grateful for right now:

• My dear husband being home.
• My body and the health I am blessed to have. 
• An incredible and delightfully fun family: Mom, Dad, Brit, Addie, Parker, and of course Chris. My amazing in-laws. Plus wonderful examples in my grandparents. I love them so much. And also cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. I am blessed to be surrounded by and to interact with and learn from such amazing people. 
• The opportunity to get an education. Especially to be loving my major and the things I am learning as I work towards becoming a teacher.
• A calling in Young Women.
• This wonderful time of marriage when it is just Choco and me: the fun that we have and love that we share. 
• The gospel of Jesus Christ and all of the happiness and joy that comes from knowing and living it.
• The temple and that families can be together forever. I can't imagine a better forever than with my sweetheart.
• etc. etc.

All and all Thanksgiving break was wonderful and fun. Here are some pics of the events:

After the Thomas Turkey Trot

they matched. oh Jacob. we sure love him

siblings

the lovely couple.

our beautiful Christmas tree!

decorating

helping with the classy Christmas lights

the fam

random picture of Choco.
so handsome in his bright new shirt

oh yeah. my new camera! cute, right? 

Mrs. Frizzle for a day

Happy November!

It is crazy Halloween has come and gone. Before we know it Thanksgiving will be here and then of course the splendid Christmas. What a wonderful time of year!

For the past couple of weeks I have been in Practicum. So everyday, I get to go to Riverton Elementary and spend most of the day with some adorable 1st Graders. It is a joy to be around such sweet kids and work on my teaching skills. Halloween, as we all know, is just the best in elementary school and this year was no exception. All of the kids dressed up, so of course I had to as well.  

I decided on Mrs. Frizzle. So when I was home in Pocatello last weekend my momma helped me put some planets on one of my dresses. Aunt Teresa was the sweetest and consented to helping me put sponge curlers in my hair on Tuesday night. I think it turned out pretty great. The kids called me Mrs. Frizzle all day long. We had a parade, party, a little writing lesson on Halloween, and pumpkin estimating and counting/measuring. So school was great. 

my wonderful momma

I look like an old lady :)

right after curlers were out

combed out a bit

there we go

Last week was exhausting with lack of sleep trying to finish up some big projects for my evening classes, but I made it through. This week will be better and with more sleep (hopefully). 

So Park and I went home last weekend because he went through the temple! What a sweet man he is. It was a special experience to be in the temple with him and my family, minus Choco :(. What a wonderful missionary Uganda is getting in February. I'm impressed with the strong and faithful young man Park is becoming. He's so grown up. He is a great student, a hard worker, and just a solid guy. I sure do love him and am so proud of him. What a blessing it is to have him in Provo to keep me company. He is simply great.

siblings

Elder Thomas

In other news, my husband will return on Saturday at 9:05 am. I am terribly excited! What a blessing it will be to have him home. Just counting down the days and hours and minutes. 

5 days with the hubby

Time for an update. So my sweet husband has been working in Arizona, a lot. He spent two weeks there, one week home, and four more weeks there. Then this last Saturday he got to come home to me. Although it was not nearly long enough (only 5 days), it was delightful and needed. Now he is gone for 3 more weeks. I know, bummer. But while we're not looking forward to these next three weeks, we can do it.

I wish I was already done with school, so I could go with him. But I am grateful to be in school and am enjoying the program and things I am learning. We start practicum next Tuesday, so I'll be in Riverton Elementary School everyday for a month or so. I'm excited! Only one more semester after this and student teaching and then done! It is good I'm busy here at home with school, but I obviously get lonely and miss my husband. But we're being positive.

My parents came on Friday to go to the game on Saturday. It is always so good to see them. Saturday, mom and I went shopping at Target. I found some good finds: a new red Crockpot and a candle warmer (which I have been wanting for a while). It is cute and makes the house smell delicious. I love it. I also discovered why all of the gloves have weird things going on on the thumb and pointer finger. My mom and I were thinking that it was such a weird fashion statement. Then, lightbulb! it is so you can still navigate on smartphones. Cool. And it really works. I didn't buy any, but mom did. We are funny. I love my momma.

Fabulous candle warmer that fills the
house with the scent of pumpkin spice. 

Chris flew in on Saturday. After we made it back to Provo, we ate some soup and cornbread with my fam. Then Chris and I went to Pitch Perfect after they had gone home. We have been pretty much partying the whole time he was home. Sunday was wonderful to sleep in together. I suggested Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with the classy Donny Osmond. So we watched and sang the fun musical before church. It's Bible related, right? So I thought it was appropriate :). After church, we had Parker and Kevin over for some crock pot pork chops (made from my fabulous red crock pot). Yummy and the company was great.

After my one class on Monday, we went to lunch at the Olive Garden. I love the endless soup, salad, and bread sticks. Yum yum. After a long nap, I went to work for a bit. For dinner Chris has been craving nachos, so we bought a huge can of the cheese sauce and some jarred jalapenos and of course chips. It was fun and delicious.

at the olive garden

Tuesday, we carved pumpkins. We had to do this while  he was here since he will be gone for Halloween :(. We even had a fun idea for our costumes, but that's ok. There's always next year. Because I don't feel very skilled at the pumpkin carving art, I stuck with the basic: a smiling face. Chris, on the other hand, of course did something fabulous. He mimicked the typical Dia de los Muertos face. It is awesome. And the pumpkins make our front little step look so festive. Papa John's amazing pizza was on the menu for dinner.  Followed by Here Comes the Boom. We had both thought it looked great and were not disappointed. We laughed and it was refreshing it was clean. It was a fun outing and movie. We just partied, I know.

before...

a little help from the hubs

my happy face

Choco's fancy finished product

Yay for fall. The baby pumpkins were
just too cute at Macey's.
I couldn't help myself.

Wednesday, Chris worked unfortunately. But we went to Chili's for dinner. We love the 2 for $20 deal. It is always fun to have an date night out together. It was exciting to talk about ideas and dreams for the future. In conclusion, (I feel like I'm writing an essay=too much school) it was a wonderful few days with the man I love. Such a treat to be with him. I can't wait until that is the normal again. But for now, we have Skype dates, which I'm grateful for. What a blessing technology can be. Hopefully, he will be home for good soon.

His hair is getting long and is sometimes out of control.
But mostly I love his marvelous curls.
Still crossing my fingers our kids will get the
curly hair from him because it is the best. 

This is kind of silly, but I love the evidence
my husband is home: our 2 toothbrushes,
 his razor, and contacts. 

 P.S. It has been beautiful here in Provo. I think that I am ready to get out of here and have some adventures, but honestly it is so beautiful in the fall here. I am grateful for seasons and the mountains. And for Provo, this lovely place where we live.

I love when the clouds hang on the mountains.
and the overcast weather makes the mountains
even more gorgeous with their fall colors.

just my incredible view while
walking on campus.
no big deal.

Happy Autumn!

As I opened the door to go outside this morning, there certainly was a nip in the air. I discovered frost on the grass and even a thin layer on my car. My hands were cold on my way to school in my sweater and jeans. It is fall! I love love love fall and am excited to be enjoying this wonderful season again. Here's to hot chocolate, crunching through leaves, sweaters, and all the other wonderful things that come with autumn.

On the agenda:
Buy some pumpkins and maybe mums to be by our front door. Apple pie (or maybe just apple crisp) baking this weekend. Choco home again on Saturday (hopefully for good). And of course school, lots of school. But practicum is coming up, which is exciting. Halloween costume planning-We have a good idea, and it's going to be too fun.
P.S. I love the leaves changing. On our way up to Midway on Friday to visit Midway Elementary, I had a hard time keeping my eyes on the road because it was BEAUTIFUL! What a blessing to have such beauty surround us.