Thanksgiving Firsts

It was my first Thanksgiving where we went barefoot and our little tootsies didn't freeze. Although I have been able to participate in a few "Warm" Thanksgivings (Temps in the 50's and in Texas often the 60's. This was the first Thanksgiving where we were comfortable in swimwear. . .
...and actually spent time swimming...

And working on our tans. (Yes, I was in my swimsuit too, but someone had to take the pictures.)

It was also the first time I have not eaten Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving Day. Since it is not a holiday in Mexico, we worked on Thursday and celebrated Thanksgiving Dinner on Friday at Bec and Brad Davis' house with their children, McKenzie and Fox, who call us Grandma and Grandpa. Bec and Brad made the turkey, stuffing, Mashed potatoes and Gravy and Hillary & I made Cranberry Salad, Bacon Pecan Carrots, Greenbean Casserole and pumpkin pie. It was a delicious meal.

On Saturday we drove over to Hermosillo and went to the temple with Hillary and Jake.

We came home and enjoyed watching the sunset on the beach....

...and visited with neighbors..

While Jake played with the Camera and got some great pictures of the sunset and Hillary soaking up the very last rays of the day.

We are very thankful for the lives we have been blessed with, for family and friends, and especially for each of you!

I truly hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

May God's Blessings be upon you!

Hillary's New Antagonist

No, it's not any of her sisters or even her sweet hubby. It is this little round guy, commonly called a "Skate" around the beaches here but more formally known as

The Cortez Round Stingray.

Hillary and Jake arrived for a vist on Saturday around 2:00 p.m. They immediately went for a swim in the water and the we kayaked out to the entrance of the estuary. I started to bring my camera, but didn't. I wish I had. As we crossed the sandbar to the Estuary, we found 5 dolphins just playing in the water there. They frolicked around our little boats, swimming very close and going under them at times. How I wished then that I had had my camera.

When we arrived back at the beach Hillary stepped out of her kayak and tried to dodge the sand that her husband threw at her. As she stumbled backwards, she stepped on a little stingray and it stung her. The treatment for such a sting is to soak your foot in Hot Water for 90 minutes, and, according to the neighbors, it helps if you put vodka in the water. Steve, our neighbor supplied the vodka, Hillary soaked her foot, and although sore, she was up and going the rest of the evening. She did say that her foot felt a little hung over on Sunday Morning though. :-)

Day on the Beach

.... So on Saturday while we were waiting for Hillary and Jake to arrive Darryl and I went out to the beach to soak up some sun and read. Our conversation went like this.....Cindy: Hey honey, lets take our chairs and sit on the beach and get some sun while we read.

Darryl: Okay... Where do you usually sit.

Cindy: Down near the water.

I walked out to the nice warm sand, stopped and plopped my chair down, arranged my towel and blanket then looked around to see where Darryl had gone. This is what he interpreted as "near the water."

Maybe I should use this for my Christmas Card!

Last Weekend

On Saturday we went to Romiro's Sanchez's 15th Birthday party at a Friends house on the Beach. It was a little cool and windy but we had a lot of fun. Here are his twin sisters (They are 6) Itzell on the left and Janelli on the right. And yes, they ALWAYS dress alike! It is so Cute! These pictures were taken during primary on the 15th. We had our primary program in Sacrament and all of the boys wore white shirts and Ties (the leaders brought ties for the boys who didn't have them), all of the girls wore white dresses, and all of the leaders black skirts and white blouses. Except someone forgot to tell Mckenzie and I. She wore pink and I wore my Brown, Tan and Black striped dress. The boy in the back in the blue shirt was not there for the program, he came just for Primary.
Our primary president addressing the Primary.

All of the Girls had Pretty things in their hair during the program. Some took them out afterwards. Jenelli and Itzell were separated by a friend. It doesn't happen often, believe me.

Little Michele is 3. Her mom is the primary President and the Stake Presidents wife.

Dad and I went out to the beach to try and get some Christmas Card pictures. Yuck... I look like a cow! Oh well, at least I am a warm, tan cow! :-)

Funky wind blown hair on the cow.

Let's put the picture of dad on the card, He looks good!

Okay, since I am on the beach we'll just say Whale.... Oh wait...

aren't whales called cows too? Ugh!!! we will try again on Thanksgiving.

Nacho Libre Daddy

Darryl found a new sticker for his hard hat. It's his "Nacho Libre" sticker. We did find out that the wrestlers who wear the masks are the good guys. For 2 days I have been trying to upload pictures from this past weekend onto my blog and it won't do it. This morning I tried again and this is the only picture it uploaded after 2 hours and multiple tries. I will try again tomorrow. Have a great day!

Nice Boot!

Okay, here is a funny story for you........On Wednesday I had to drive to Nogales (255+ miles) to pick up a package. On the way there, is a mandatory stop at the Mexican Military Inspection Station where nice young soldiers ask you to step out of your car so they can inspect it. Usually very thoroughly. Well, I was not driving my truck, but my co-workers and his children's car seats were in the back. My young (around 30)soldier asked me if those were for my children. I said no.. Grandchildren. He said "No, No! Su Abuela?" You're a grandma? I told him yes and told him I had 7 children and 8 grandchildren. He looked at my documentaion and started telling my I was very pretty in broken English. He asked about my work and my husband. Told me I looked very pretty (In Spanish) and sort of inspected the truck while smiling at me.

Okay.... I am neither conceited enough nor narcissistic enough to think he was really sincere, but it was nice to hear and so I smiled and told him he was very sweet thinking he was just trying to be nice to the old American Lady. When he finished the inspection I turned to climb up into the pickup and he paid me one last complement in English telling me I had "Nice boot". I smiled and said thank you, I appreciate it very much. Then as I drove away I thought.... I am not wearing boots, I am wearing sandals. OH MY GOSH!!! He meant "Nice Butt!". (In the Spanish Lauguage the U always has the sound of the double O in boot.) I started laughing so hard I cried. What a punk. I guess I should have been offended, but after eating a 1000 calorie a day diet for 6 weeks and exercising 5 days a week at 4:30 in the morning, I will take any compliment I can get.

Have a good day!

Saturday Wild Life -

Okay... all you men who may be reading this... don't go away!! There is a reward. I promise!

First off, Darryl and I have realized that without our children around we are very, very boring. You know, kind of like Jesse and Kelly. :-) Just kidding J&K. You couldn't possibly be as boring as us. You have a Wii!

On Saturday we decided to take the Kayak out on the ocean again and this time look for some of the birds for Skye's wildlife project. There are no birds in this picture, just the condos.But there are these cool ducks here that dive under the water and stay under for a long time. They fly very fast too. That's why you can't see the duck in this picture very well, he was flying too fast.

Ah, well,..... maybe we will see more wildlife as we paddle along the shore.
If you look very carefully over the beach you will see the wild eyes of "Motorhomussaurus Rex" staring at us.
And in this picture you can see the lone seagul as it stared at the strange white 'object' moving the kayak along.
Of course, this is the wildlife most often seen on the beaches of San Carlos. This creature was accompanied by two dogs. The one in the picture and the one......
who came to take a closer look.

Oh, and to the guys... that last picture was the reward for reading the post. But don't stop now, you never know what might be coming up.

This specimen of wildlife is rare on this beach. It only comes out on Saturdays and can be seen scouring the sand for shells.

It used to be extremely pale and pasty looking, but after 3 or 4 Saturdays it is starting to look a little more wild and colorful!

And these little guys with their bright red, very long beaks, are very fun to watch.

As opposed to watching paint dry or corn grow that is.

Just to prove that we were in the kayak on the 'Sea of Cortez'.

This Brown pelican was too tired to be concerned with us. I do love to watch them when a whole flock of them will dive bomb for fish. Splash! Splash! it's great!

Oh look! Two more of the speeding diving ducks flying away so we can't see their markings!

I did have a couple of pictures of the two of us in the kayak. Darryl took one look and said.... "Uh, let's not ever let those be seen in public. I agreed (although I thought I was looking pretty good, then the bikini gal came by).

So.... you are spared having your brain killed with the sight of white pasty fat people kayaking and the world is safe once again!

Hasta la Vista Baby!!!!!

Our Halloween Treat!

On Halloween Darryl and I dressed up like respectable folk and went to the Hermosillo Temple.
Okay, I really want a tree like this.

Darryl taking a break in the little plaza by the temple.

On Sunday we saw dozens of dolphins in the bay in the early morning. We fed the missionaries after church and then went out to take a new picture for our profile. He decided he needed to take some pictures of me.

That's our apartment building and the wall where I exercise every weekday. Being Sunday, I was just watching the sunset, not doing crunches.

This is not a very flattering picture of me, but I wanted my girls to see the cute new shoes their daddy bought me.

He's looking good!

Our new profile picture.

It was 5:35 and the moon was out. We turned around 180 degrees and....

saw the sky on fire with the sunset.

Ah, Paradise! :-)