Mexico

Many of you know that right before we found out that we were going to adopt Braden, Rand and I had booked our yearly get-a-way with Matt and Shannon. This is actually a conference for mandatory continuing education for Rand's Anesthesia License. It just happens that every year it is in a cool place, last year Hawaii this year it was in Mexico.

After Braden was placed with us I simply thought "no-way, no-how"! There was no way I was going to leave my new baby after I had waited five years to get him. Well, circumstances changed! Because we had had been living with Rand's mom and dad for almost three weeks Braden was so comfortable with Rand's mom and her house as much as he was happy with us. So after much convincing from Rand, Matt & Shannon I decided I could still go. Rand was so happy because everything he had booked was non refundable. There was also the fact that we had basically been living apart (me in Utah and him in Mesquite) we decided it would be good fun while we waited for permission to cross the boarder into NV. (You know the 40 miles from St. George to Mesquite).

Well to say the least we had a blast. I spent extra money on Internet and phone calls to make sure my two boys were ok but they seemed to not even notice that Rand and I were gone for a few days!

While in Mexico Rand decided to take advantage of the fact that I was off crutches and filled our days with activity. Everything from whale watching, snorkeling, bull fights, swimming, surfing and a gorgeous horseback ride on the beach. Great way to get my knee back in shape.



We met Matt and Shannon in the airport in Mexico and I think Shannon and I started laughing at that point and ended when we flew home! Except for every night when we missed our kids! I can't wait until Jake and Braden are old enough to enjoy traveling with us. I think Jake will be ready this year, he is a trooper when it comes to traveling. We will test Braden out this summer when we go to California!
Saulita! We took a scary bus ride down the coast for $2.00 and ended up in a beautiful town. Very authentic and friendly people. Lots of dogs! Some parts of this town were so sad because people lived in homes that were not equipped with the comforts that we have in the United States. Many of them did not look like they even had running water. I feel so blessed and fortunate to have the things I have.



Las Caletas! This was a gorgeous private island that we took a boat to. We saw many humpback whales along the way. Right now all of the whales come down into the warm waters to have their babies and then head back to the Alaskan waters. It was amazing as we would watch the whales and hear the blow holes going off right next to the boat. While on the island we were treated to a huge buffet of yummy food. (We ate plenty on this trip). We then snorkled and saw many stingray, those spikey poofy fish, Nemo's and Dories! I think it is sad when everything I know about fish comes from Finding Nemo! My favorite part of snorkeling was watching Shannon in her mask with her ears folded over. She would swim up to me and start laughing and then we would both almost drown! Good fun!





Dreamy surf dudes! Rand and Matt took surfing lessons. They were actually pretty good!


Valentines Day! The Beach, my honey and a horse! Very romantic.


If you want to see all of our fun Mexico pictures just follow the link!
http://groups.msn.com/TheBrackenFamily/shoebox.msnw