Giving Thanks Mexican style

Our Thanksgiving week this year was a family affair in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Getting the whole Fallahi/ Fox family to the beach was just what we needed!

We really love this place...

Some of the high lights were: kayaking out to Land's End and having a picnic on Lover's Beach,

Nights out at some yummy Mexican restaurants,

Driving up to Todos Santos where we visited the Hotel California,

Of course spending every day at the beach,

Celebrating Jan's 60th b-day and Thanksgiving dinner at the Pithayas (world-class 5 star restaurant on the property of our resort)

Taking a catamaran out at sunset around the bay,

Deep sea-fishing for the guys,

good old family time,

and some of this too!

Wedding- Maine style

Aug. 21, 2010. Here we are in Saco, Maine for the wedding of our great friends Ben and Katy Johnson. It was so much fun to be a part of! The wedding rehearsal dinner was at this cute little restaurant on the beach with the BEST food- fresh seafood of course!

After dinner we all took a walk on the beach. Here are Stacy and Paul, some of the beautiful people, we called the glitz crowd from Park City.

First time to Maine- dangled my toes in the ocean. Later that night around 2:00am Brandon may or may not have jumped in for a swim! Crazy guy.

These 3 guys go way back- grew up together in SLC. Brandon, Ben and Eric. They have followed each other all around the world- Alaska, Costa Rica, Maine, where next?

Groomsmen- wedding day. Sunday Aug. 22, 2010

We reminisced about our own wedding day 2 years ago- I love weddings for that reason. Still in love with you babe.

These 2 are meant to be together, and we couldn't be more happy for them. After Ben's tragic ski accident in Alaska, he was very lucky to be alive let alone walking! Katy was his physical therapist and his match in every way. They are the most adventurous, fun-loving beautiful couple I know and we can't wait to share more adventures in life with them!

Cabo

Just the thing to look at to forget all our worries. The water was bath-tub warm and waves were really fun to play in. The Sea of Cortez in Cabo is absolutely beautiful!
Brandon and I spent a lot of time just relaxing on the beach or by the pool. We had great warm weather and loved having a week with no set plans, alarm clocks or responsibility!
We always saw a couple of these guys lurking around in the rocks near the pool
Awesome snorkel trip at Cabo Pulmo. It was worth the 1 1/2 hr drive to get there!
At the sushi bar at our resort- Hacienda del Mar. I never grow tired of sushi, but I think I may have had my fill of seafood for a while. It was great to have fresh, yummy fish though.
Can you tell where the pool ends and the ocean begins?
We met some people at our resort that invited us along for dinner with them. We had an incredible view of the sunset from the Mona Lisa. Land's End in the distance.
Another day of snorkeling at Playa de Santa Maria. The clarity on this day was not so great, and our Spanish was not so great so we kind of got ripped off when renting snorkel gear. Oh well, beats a day at work, right?
Aboard the Tropicat catamaran sunset cruise around the bay. It was one of the high-lights of the trip. Very small group on a small boat, great relaxing music playing, and all you can eat and drink. Montezuma's Revenge was soon to follow however...
The resort we stayed at had some terrific restaurants, and some of our meals were paid for by going to the timeshare sales presentation. It was absolutely fantastic!
It was hard to leave this place and know we were coming back to Utah where it was summer weather no more.
Brandon got to try SCUBA for the first time and is now hooked. I haven't been on a dive for a few years because my partner wasn't certified, but now that he's got a taste for it, we'll be back!
Our trip to Cabo was a nice, relaxing way to recharge our batteries a little bit. We had a great time and hope that next time we'll get some friends and family to join us!

This Desert Life

After a long month of working on remodeling the duplex to get it ready for renters (Brandon did most of the work), we were SOOO ready to get away for a weekend. The weather is finally warm and it was the perfect time to go camping in the desert. We drove a couple hours south to the San Rafael Swell and had the best time! The dogs had so much fun and did really well for their first camping trip!

On Friday night when we got there it was dark so they didn't quite see what they were getting in to. We pulled way too many cactus quills out of their poor little paws. Cole and Zoey were also quite excited to sleep in the tent with us. That was fun until the sun came up early in the morning- then they wanted to be on the go. We hiked in the canyon around the San Rafael river, and got in and swam around a bit too. Cole LOVES to swim, but Zoey- not so much. And she's the one with the webbed feet!

On one of the huge red rock canyon walls is a large pictograph panel dating back at least 2000 years. It was drawn by native indians and very interesting to see. Several years ago it was vandalized, but fortunately has since been restored. If I had lived back then, I'd want to live in those beautiful canyons too. I love Utah and all the different areas to enjoy the outdoors. Especially when I have my best friend to enjoy it with!

Washington D.C.- just a girls getaway

Traveling in the spring time is so great (except when spring storms cause flight delays and cancellations)! The crowds are thinner, the rates are lower, and if you're lucky like us, you get to see the earth blossoming and blooming- and what better place to see that than Washington D.C.? It was cherry blossom time and we saw some beautiful parts of the country driving through Virgina and into D.C.

We stayed in Charlottesville a few nights on both ends of the trip and saw our special family friends The Rasmussens. Rylie was baptized and it was neat to be there with her. While there we went to visit Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's estate on a beautiful hilltop overlooking the valley. I learned a lot about him and some history that I had forgotten from my school days.

In D.C. we tried to see all the things on my list, and accomplished it except that we didn't have time to see Mt. Vernon. My mom was so easy-going and great to travel with. She's been there before, but since it was my first time she let me decide all the things I wanted to do. At the end of the days we were worn out from all the walking, but ate some great food and had a lot of fun!

On the first day we toured the Library of Congress, Supreme Court, went to the White House (looked at it from outside the gates), Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War Memorials, and that was a lot of walking!
The next day we toured the Capitol, went to the American History Museum, and the gorgeous Arlington Cemetery. I loved watching the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. We were there as the sun was setting and it was a humbling beautiful place to reflect on all the people that have given their lives in the service of our country. That night we ate at a wonderful Indian restaurant- I love international cuisine in big cities!
On Sunday we got in line first thing to get tickets for the Holocaust museum, and while we were waiting for our time there we went to the Natural History Museum. That was fantastic! I could have spent days there. We spent 4 hours taking in all the horrors of the Nazi genocide on the Jews, and I still can not comprehend how such an atrocity could have occurred.
We wanted to have some authentic Chinese food, so we set off for Chinatown, then finished it off with a treat from the Red Velvet cupcakery. So delicious! Earth day celebrations were going on all up and down the mall, including a concert which was pretty cool.

As luck would have it, a storm blew in on Monday morning and it was pouring when we started driving back to the airport. Half way there we found out our flight was cancelled. We ended up staying in Charlottesville another night then buying a ticket on Delta to get home the next day. I had a fantastic time, but was ready to come home. I missed my husband and of course my puppies!