Utah!

I love August, it is my favorite month of the year. It means that I pretty much don't work for the month (please hold the cracks about how I don't work any of the months of the year...I really do work. Most of the time.) This year, I decided that it had been far too long since I had seen my family and I was going to Utah. And if I was going to make the trip, all of my siblings should come too! So for a few days, all of my family except for Mom and Dad and Ryan were together. We caused all sorts of havoc and I loved every second of it. I even got to meet the newest addition to the crazy family, little Charlotte...oh and is she is a doll.

My one regret was not having a camera for the best moments. Like when I challenged Mark to kick a branch of a tree and he kicked it but then fell flat on his butt. Jamie and I about peed our pants and Troy just did a slow clap. Or the time when Kimball tried to teach me how to do his iguana dive and I failed miserably and slapped the water really hard. Or when Scott and I chowed down on donuts from Dick's Bakery and remembered why sugar makes you sick when you get older. Okay so I wish I had a camera glued to my head. Since I don't, here are the pictures we did get.

Abby, Molly, Lauren in the back, Lucy in the far back and Elena

Lydia, Allie and Lucy

Andrew, Kimball and Eddie

We got to celebrate Troy's 36th birthday.
And we got to give him a hard time for getting old. So awesome.

The adorable Charlotte

Playing "Mother May I", which we played A LOT. I had forgotten how fun this game is.
And we came up with some awesome "steps". This was my froggy hop. I still wish we
had a picture of Mark doing his booty shake side step. He won cause his booty doesn't
stop shaking and so he kept moving to the finish line.

At the splash pad. The water was super cold. The kids (and Justin) loved it

Lydia

Elena

Andrew

Henry and Lucy

Abby, Lydia and Allie

I just cannot get over how cute Henry looks in this picture

Troy and Jamie. These two are amazing hosts. They had 18 people
staying in their house for a week. I continued to crash for several more
nights and they didn't even kick me out.

Eddie

Molly at the Alpine Days parade

Lucy, Lydia, Abby, Lauren, Molly and Andrew in the sandbox.

Justin was the only adult that went in the splash pad, what a champ

While I was in Utah, Megan and I made a quick trip to Vernal to see Grandpa and Grandma Knutti. It had been far too long since I have seen them and I wanted to give them both a big hug. My Grandpa was put into an assisted living center a few months ago. He has dementia and it has been really hard on all of us, especially my Grandma, who has been the best caretaker anyone could ever ask for. Before we went over to the care center to see my Grandpa, we stopped at my grandparent's house and we were super lucky and all of the girl cousins that live in Vernal came to see us, along with my Aunt Jill and Uncle Richard. It was so fun! I think we are only missing 3 of the girl cousins in the picture below. It was fantastic to see everyone, I adore my family!

Fun cousins!

We went to see Grandpa and it was a blessing but also very difficult for me. I had tried so hard to prepare myself for him to not recognize me, but I still cried. He didn't know who we were but I know that he knows that Megan and I are two ladies that love him dearly. He held my hand and when I told him I loved him, he got tears in his eyes and told me he loved me too. I lost it multiple times. He is such an amazing man who I have always thought the world of. My Grandma is amazing and shows so much love for Grandpa and for all of us. I could not ask for better grandparents and I LOVED seeing them.


We also got to stop by and see my Aunt Ann before we left Vernal. I just love her and will be forever grateful for her and Jill for everything they do for Grandma and Grandpa. I wish I had gotten pictures with them! It was so fun to spend the day with Megs in the car, we always have things to talk about. It is so wonderful to be with someone that knows you that well (and that will sing duets with you at top volume...)

We really missed Ryan, Mom and Dad and can't wait until next July when Mom and Dad return and we can all come together and cause more trouble. Sorry Mom and Dad, I know you love Argentina and all but I personally cannot wait until next July. Please come faster July, please.

It should also be noted that I got the chance to see the Bessey family a few times as well. I just don't have pictures to prove it. How am I so blessed to have two amazing families in my life? It was so fun to see all of the Bessey family, they are a seriously awesome bunch! Thanks everyone for changing your plans so we could all do a Sunday dinner when it wasn't a Bessey week, I loved it!

That was Utah folks and I loved it. Every single second of it. I wish we lived closer to our families because we sure do love them! Special thanks to Troy & Jamie and Scott & Andrea who let me sleep on beds and couches for 2 weeks, can we move in?

And what did Ryan do while I was in Utah? He worked. AND he competed in a triathlon. He finished in 2 hours and 51 minutes. I married an awesome guy didn't I!?!? He is super hot and strong, so dreamy :).













Congratulations Husband, you are awesome!! Even though you wear a speedo ;)

Dolphins

The last adventure on the fabulous vacation to Cancun was a day of swimming with the dolphins! It was so awesome and we had a blast. It was Tesli's birthday and what a celebration for a cute 1 year old! Now I know that some of you are thinking of how cruel it is to force these dolphins to swim with you and such. I don't completely disagree, but it was a fun experience! Just don't throw eggs at me for animal cruelty, deal?

There isn't really any explanation so how about a slew of pictures? While I realize that people would rather see cute nieces and nephews more than me or Ryan, we own this blog so there will only be an appearance of a few of the kids. For posterity's sake, here are pics of Ryan and I with the dolphins. And a couple of cute kids too :)

Tes was unimpressed by her birthday kiss :)

Me and Ana hugging the dolphin, she was a sweetie!

That is the end of the posts on the Cancun trip. The pictures don't really do justice to how amazing the vacation was. Thank you SO much Mom & Dad Bessey for an awesome trip. We had so much fun! Thank you, thank you!

Mayans are super cool people

The second great adventure came after a night of shopping in Playa del Carmen. I tried some super gross Mexican candy that is really just straight chili powder. Ew gross, I can still taste it.

Our second adventure was a trip to two of the Mayan ruins in the area of Cancun, Coba and Tulum. They were so amazing and I was so fascinated when we were looking around. I just kept thinking of the Book of Mormon and wondering if any events took place at the ruins. It was so amazing!

COBA

The pyramid at Coba is still open to the public and we climbed up the 120 steps to the top and the view was spectacular.

It was really hot and humid that day and we were very grateful for a beautiful and shady pathway to the pyramid.

All of the families have Jeep strollers and I swear the Bessey
Family could do a commercial for the places those things can go

Cami and Ryan past the "No Trespassing" Sign. Oops.

TULUM

Wow. Tulum is spectacular. They say that the high priests lived at Tulum and there is definitely a reason why they picked that location. It is completely gorgeous with views of the Caribbean Sea and lots of palm trees. We had a guide at Tulum, who was a member of the LDS church, and he did a fantastic job with his tour. He told us a lot of really cool facts about the place and told a lot of stories of what they think happened at Tulum. I know that a lot of people have their different stories, but the spirit was definitely different at Tulum and I loved the place.

The Ziplines

The first adventure that we went on in Cancun was my favorite part of the trip. We went to a zipline adventure park and it was so awesome. We went on different ziplines and just played all day.

We all had to get geared up, even the babies. It was pretty cute!

Look at that mustache!

Oh wait, did I mention in my first post that there were 12 kids and 12 adults on the trip? And that of the 12 kids, 10 were 4 or younger? In other words, nothing holds the Bessey family back and the kids made the trip even more fun! We were missing Jake and Cory, which was so sad, we missed them! We were also missing baby Lucas who stayed back in Utah. So 24 of the 27 Bessey fam enjoyed the adventures!

The first zipline was a zipline through the trees. I got to take Dyson with me on the zipline and he was so brave! Watching his face made it even better! Ryan took Jordan down with him, they are so cute together, they are good buddies!

Next we went on a zipline that went into a cave with water. It was so hot outside that the really cold water was so refreshing. This zipline was my favorite! You fly into the water pretty fast and the second time you go down the zipline, you go backwards, which makes it super exciting (and a little scary).


We rappelled, which was pretty eh for the adults but we did get this awesome picture from it!

Then it was time for the Avatar, which is the "roller coaster" zipline. It whipped you around and took you on all sorts of ups and downs...all for the finale of flying into the water in the cave. It freaked me out a little bit but it was fun!

We went snorkeling in the cave that was full of stalagmites and stalactites. The cave was awesome! Here is the family before the swim through the cave.

The last adventure was a zipline bike through the jungle. It was a really pretty ride! Mama Bessey accidentally ran into Mike, who was in front of her and her poor head hit the handlebar and she got a nasty bump that turned into some really black bruises over the rest of the week. We all felt so horrible for her, it looked really painful! I went by myself on the first leg but then picked up some really cute cargo (Analise) so that Lyn could just be alone for her second leg since she was pretty dizzy after the run in. Ana and I had fun looking in the trees on the way back for birds and iguanas. I refused to acknowledge that there may be snakes in the jungle so I didn't freak out.

Ryan and Zachary!

The babies were so great even though they had to sit there
most of the time. I especially love that Charles looks so angry!

There is the post for my favorite day and adventure!