Christmas 2010

Does anyone else feel like they blog about Christmas every few weeks? I can't believe how fast it comes around but we had another wonderful Christmas. Matt was the Activities Chairperson for our ward so he was in charge of the ward Christmas party.

Here's our cute primary kids acting out the Nativity and singing a song.

Matt asked the Payson High Chamber singers to sing for the Christmas party.

I only got a good picture of the guys, the rest were all blurry but the girls were there too.

Santa even made a visit.

We headed down to Blanding again this year. On the 23rd we had a Christmas party with my dad's side of the family. Of course we had good food, singing, and lots of laughter.

Kolton and I sang again this year.

And we played the present game.

This ended up being our last Christmas with Grandma Clessa. Of course none of us knew it would be but now I'm so grateful we decided to spend Christmas in Blanding.

Christmas Eve morning we went to the Stake Center and had a Zumba class with family and friends.

A blurry picture of me teaching.

After Zumba Matt, Jensen, Oakley, Addi, Jeremy, Kristi, Camryn, Carter, Logan, and my dad went hiking at Natural Bridges.

Kristi, Carter, Logan, Oakley, Addi, Jensen, Camryn, and Jeremy.

Addi, Jensen, and Oakley

Dad, Camryn, Logan, Jeremy, Carter, Jensen, Addi, and Oakley

Addi

Oakley

Addi

That night we had a party with my mom's family. More good food, singing, and laughter.

Kolton opened a pair of Batman underwear during the present game and figured the best way to keep them from getting stolen was to put them on immediately. Luckily he put them on over his pants. Logan thought it was pretty cool and wanted to be an Underwear Superhero too.

Christmas morning started off with everyone meeting in Grandma and Grandpa's room to read the Christmas story out of the scriptures. We say we do this to remember the true meaning of Christmas but really we just do it to torture the kids. ;) J/K It's one of my favorite traditions of Christmas and helps us get in the right spirit for the day.

Jensen, Addi, Mom, Oakley, Lexi, and Kolton waiting "patiently" for everyone to get to G & G's room.

Getting their first look at the loot.

After we were done opening presents Grandma and Grandpa had another present for the kids to open. It had Mickey and Minnie ears for all the kids. G & G are taking us all to Disneyland in April!

We had another fantastic Christmas.

I wanted to add a couple of stories of Grandma Clessa so that I don't forget them. One of Matt's favorite Grandma treats is Honey Candy. She always makes sure she sets some aside for him. This year at Christmas she asked if he and the kids could come and help her make it because she wasn't strong enough to pull it anymore. Matt took the kids down on Christmas Eve afternoon and helped her make it. He is really grateful that he had the opportunity to spend that time with her and learn how to make it.
Grandma had been in the hospital in Nov. with pneumonia and had been having a hard time recovering fully. She always makes Christmas dinner for everyone but my mom told us that she wasn't up to it this year so we would just have dinner at my mom's house. Apparently someone forgot to tell Grandma though and she still made dinner for everyone.

Cruise to Paradise (or at least Mexico)

The Sunday after Thanksgiving Matt and I and our friends Jason and Monica left on a Royal Caribbean cruise to the Mexican Riviera.

Matt, Jason, and Monica enjoying our first meal on the ship.

Matt and I dressed up for one of the formal nights.

Our first stop was Cabo San Lucas.

The excursion we went on was to a resort in Cabo. It was a beautiful hot day and a beautiful resort. We got a buffet lunch and chocolate covered bananas, YUMMY! We spent the day playing in the warm ocean and in the swimming pool and hot tub at the resort. It was Heaven!

The ship was beautiful too. It was decorated for Christmas.
The next stop was Mazatlan. We went to a show with Mexican singers and dances and the Papantla Flyers.
The Papantla Flyers started at the top of this super high pole (I think it was 75 feet).

They unwound upside down to the ground. It was pretty cool.

Then we went to a resort in Mazatlan. It wasn't as nice as the one in Cabo and the water was freezing but we still had a good time soaking up some rays and relaxing on the beach.


Our final stop was Puerto Vallarta. We did an amazing excursion here. We went on a zip line and canopy tour. We rode a speed boat through the ocean to where we met our guides.

We rode yellow trucks up the mountain to begin our adventure.

Getting ready for the excursion.


We each got our own mule to ride to the trail head.


Our first zip line


Rappelling down a waterfall

A free fall rappel



COLD WATER!!!






A race on the final zip line, the Roberts are victorious!

We rode back to the beach to get on the speed boat back to our cruise ship.


Marilyn, Monica, and Jason waiting on the beach for our speed boat.

A beautiful sunset over the ocean.

I ended up teaching Zumba a couple of times on the ship. It was so much fun!

The spa ladies doing Zumba. They gave me a free hot oil treatment, head massage, and wash and blow-dry for teaching the class. It was awesome!

The ship was so much fun! There was so much to do.
There was an ice skating rink on the ship. I know, right?! Who ice skates in the middle of the ocean. They also had an ice show that was amazing! I didn't get any pictures of it but it was our favorite show of the week.


There was a dodge ball game, guests against the crew. Matt and Jason played.
Matt

Jason

Matt

There was also a rock climbing wall on the ship. I didn't get any pictures of Matt and I doing it but we did.
Monica

Jason

And of course there were shows and games that we went to most nights.

We also found our favorite waiters and requested them every night.
Our asst. waiter, Rufino, Monica, Marilyn, and our head waiter Rudolfo.

A few times during the week we came back to our room to find towel animals. So cute!
Here I am with our favorite one, a monkey.

And here's our cute bunny (maybe a dog?) wearing my sunglasses.
We had an amazing time!