This is how we do it....

Winter was rough this year. So So cold. I was miserable. And then my Uncle Tom posted a picture of his vacation to Playa Del Carmen, and I knew I had to go. My friend Mindi and I were already planning to go a on trip together some time this year, so when I mentioned Playa she was totally down to go.  We planned the whole trip in a month, and I couldn't wait. With the help of my awesome cousins, and sister, I got Q's care covered for the week, and she was even more excited for me to go than I was. I'm so blessed to have such great people in my life who are willing to help when I ask.

And then it was finally time to go....and let me tell you...IT WAS THE PERFECT TRIP!!

We stayed at a little hotel right off the main avenue, and it was the perfect location.  Playa del Carmen's 5th avenue is about 25 blocks of a pedestrian only street filled with restaurants, shops, clubs, etc. It's so convenient. Plus the beach was only a block and 1/2 away. The weather was hot but lovely, and we spent our time in the sun, eating, relaxing, chatting, and sightseeing. Mindi and I travel well together. We know the importance of good food while vacationing, would rather relax than head out on too many adventures, and can spend hours people watching.

the center garden of the hotel. 

apparently he's the hotel cat that watches the desk at night. haha

the little hotel pool...mindi and I were the only ones that utilized it for a couple days...we would put music on my iphone and hang out...heavenly!

every day the housekeepers would leave our new towels in a cool way

Along with relaxing and enjoying the sun, we did want to do a couple "touristy" things to see the area. Our first day was spent on a catamaran tour. It was a great way to see the water and the beautiful scenery of Mexico. I also tried my hand at snorkeling for the first time, and I actually quite liked it. We met some cool people on the boat, including a guy from Canada traveling on his own, and twin sisters from Sweden. We had a great time hanging out with them! The staff of the boat were all super friendly, and the captain took quite the liking to me haha. It was so funny. (he would be joined by a restaurant manager, store owner, and waiter as my admirers for the week).

I don't think we are gonna be beer models any time soon. They wanted us to buy it, but we were just ghetto and took a picture of it. 

On our last day, we took the bus out to the Tulum ruins, and walked around a bit. It was a pretty hot day, so we hit the ruins as fast as we could to get out of the heat. If we had been even more prepared we could have brought our swimming stuff and hit the beautiful beaches there. They were gorgeous. 

The ruins were super cool, and fascinating to see. 

channelling my inner Tyra and doing my model poses

Of course we ate some great food. Tom had given us some amazing suggestions for some authentic Italian places that we hit up without question. We also had some delicious gelato, some tacos, an amazing stuffed avocado, tortilla soup, and a delicious breakfast.  

some of the best nachos ever. 

gorgonzola ravioli

our version of Cristal

Salmon and Brie Bruschetta

multiple items from a delicous french bakery

spinach omelette with cheese sauce. 

1 liter fruit smoothie for 2.50$. 

tortilla soup and chorizo taquitos

and of course we relaxed as much as we could during the day, so we could have some fun at night. 

our personal pool

the weather did wonders on my naturally wavy hair

Add caption

Some cool things in Playa del Carmen

These people just pulled over to order a smoothie, and waited (blocking traffic). it was awesome. 

a church right in the middle of the city walk

and just in case you felt bad for Q while I was having fun in Mexico...

making banana bread with Kelsey

dancing with Joey

Q loves Cali

q and her baby willie

twin cousins!

It was such an amazing trip, one of my favorites. Mindi and I are already planning a time to go back! 

We are Young....

I was in Mexico, when Jared sent us a message saying that he and LIndsay were surprising their kids with a trip to Disneyland for Spring Break, and that they were coming through Utah for a couple days to hang out. I was ecstatic! Kim told Q and Elsie, and everyone was super stoked. We've been planning a little Bates reunion in WA for June, so this little visit was just what we needed to last that long. Q loves being around all her cousins, and we all just have the best time hanging out.
Jared and crew got here on Thursday late afternoon, in time to see Q at her hula recital. We first hung out at the mall and let the kids run around a little bit, then headed to the recital. Q was beyond happy that she had such a big crowd there to see her perform. After her recital we all headed over to Slab Pizza in Provo for some yummy dinner. Man, that place is so delicious!!!

Friday we had met up after school for some Cafe Rio lunch and a little park time. The kids had a good time running around and playing. 

At Kim's house we let the kids just play as we sat and talked, ate, played games, and laughed. It was such a good time! We all even headed out to see Elsie play in her soccer game. The littler kids were so wore out by the end of the night that we found Q and Elsie fast asleep upstairs. That's always a sign of a very fun day!

The girl is mine.

I was starting to wonder if I had become a once a month blogger. Recapping the happenings of Q & A, most of which was a repeat for anybody who followed me on instagram or facebook. But, maybe it was just the slow winter months that left me empty of exciting blog posts. Cause, this month, with the great change in weather came some excitement and blog worthy posts. I have enough stuff to make individual blogs for Easter and a cousin visit and of course my trip to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. I know that a lot of the pictures are repeats for anybody to follows me on instagram or facebook, but I love having a tangible record of my life to print out and look at months, years later. Including the comments. I feel like those add to the narrative of my life just as much as my own words. 

So I will work on getting on my longer posts and for now leave you with a post on the crazy girl that is Qiana!

Man, I am loving this age. She is my best friend, and we have so much fun together. She is able to have some great conversations, is a great errand partner, and loves to snuggle whenever I want. She does a great job of entertaining herself, but loves it when I am able to play with her. She loves going to school and hanging out with other kids. It fascinates me some of the things that come out of her mouth, and the imaginative things that she comes up with. She loves to sing and dance, and is not shy about performing. She loves watching tv and movies, and (no joke) will repeat funny lines she hears over and over until she can quote them to me. I couldn't be more proud of her. 

Q recently finished her Polynesian Dance class and participated in the recital

She loved her teacher Auntie Lani

In an epic mom fail I realized my battery for my camera was dead when I went up to tape her, so I had to do it on my phone. But in an epic Q win, she knew the whole dance by herself and wasn't watching her teacher at all for help. I was very proud. 

One day when it was still windy and yucky, Q and I spent some time playing around in Toys r' us. I remember doing this all the time as a kid, and it was a great way to get out of the house. 

Q's been really into doing "fashion shoots" and is getting quite good at her poses. Tyra would be so proud. 

Kim has a great back yard, and Q loves to do anything involving outdoors. Elsie has some cute friends, that Q loves to hang out with too. 

One day after hitting up the gym, Q and I did a little park time near by. She's getting lots better climbing up stuff, and I have less of a panic attack watching her do so. 

another "photo shoot" This was her dress for St. Patty's day party at school She thought she was pretty hot stuff. 

Q loved the little scavenger hunt the "leprachaun" set up for her and really loved the gold coins she got at the end.

Q loves to "play music" and freestyles in her microphone.

Saving all my love for you...

February in pictures: 

At the beginning of the month, we had a couple visitors from WA come stay with us. I was super pumped, and Q just couldn't get enough of them. Brad had other friends that he went and hung out with on occasion, but Nick was all ours for a couple days and it was awesome. Q was super sad when they left, and asks about them pretty much every day.  She loves visitors. 

Thus is what my Valentine's shelves ended up looking like. They were pretty festive. At first I thought it looked like cupid had vomited Valentine's day all over, but then I got into it and liked it. 

For school, Q had to decorate a shoe box for their Valentine's exchange. She didn't have shoeboxes, so we decorated a FRuit snacks box instead. I modge podged the paper on, and Q did all the rest. She was pretty proud of her box. Here she is ready for her party at school. 

On actual Valentine's day we got to spend the day with family which was super fun. Q and I met Aunt Peggy for lunch at Happy Sumo, and had some delicious sushi...yummmm. plus, for dessert we tried a one of the caramel apples at the Rocky Mountain CHocolate place...and it was delicious. Later we met up with Peggy, Courtney, and Kendall and did some Wedding dress shopping for Courtney. It was so fun. Q was in heaven surrounded by all these princess dresses, and enjoyed helping Courtney walk from the dressing room to the mirrors. Unfortunately, Courtney didn't find "the dress" while we were with her, but we had fun anyway. 

Q is a ball of energy, and likes to be doing stuff all the time. Every night she asks me what we are doing the next day, and it can be exhausting.  I'm dreading this summer and trying to entertain her every day for three months, so I am trying to figure out camps, classes, activities that she can do to help fill her day (and mine). I had read online that this gymnastics place in Orem let you come to one one hour class for free to see if you like it, and I jumped at the chance. Q loved it! Gymnastics stuff always makes me super nervous, cause I hate the thought of kids falling and hurting themselves, so it was a little nerve wracking watching her try stuff, but she really liked it, and wants to go back. So I'm probably gonna sign her up for a class or a camp this summer. 

she has minimal upper body strength, which she needs to work on.

For Presidents Day, both the girls had no school, so Kim and I wanted to get them out and about and let them play. So we went to the Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove. Their was a little bit of snow and ice on the ground, but the weather was perfect for playing outside, and the girls had a blast. Kim and I just stood or sat nearby talking, while the girls explored the play area. 

The girls kept asking Kim to spin them around on this thing, and were loving it. Until Q started getting a little quiet, and we knew she was not okay. She softly fell back off the tire, and was super dizzy. So we sat and rested for a couple minutes, and then she was back to running around on the play area. 

Q had her 6 month check-up at the dentist, and again no cavities. She did so good sitting there getting her teeth cleaned and checked. 

I used to to gag so much with the flouride that my dentist would apply the flouride gel to my teeth with a q-tip instead, Q was a champ. 

Ever since we had gone to the circus and the girls saw a face painting booth (that we were unwilling to pay for), they have wanted their face painted. So one day Kim obliged and painted everything they requested. They thought they were so cool. 

Q loves watching the LeapFRog movies (which is great), and lately she likes to take "notes" on what she learns. haha. Her notes are mostly drawings, or random letters or scribbles, but I like the thought of it. 

While Peggy was still in town we went over to Cali's one night to hang out and chat. Q got some baby Willie time in, and she was happy. 

This girl is a ball of energy, and really keeps me on my toes, but she makes me laugh. 

February is over, and the weather is starting to warm up (it's sad when I consider 40-50 degrees warm), and I just know Spring will be here before I know it. Life is good.