Jacob’s Diez Birthday

How easy for me was it to have Jacob’s birthday in Mexico????  So easy!  I tried to make the day a big deal for him and really limited my time of reading.  He woke up and opened his presents.

A catchers’ mitt and golf putter.  Very exciting for him.

He played a lot of catch on the beach that day, well as long as the heat would allow.  A few years ago while in Mexico my brothers arranged a treasure hunt for the kids, this is all Jacob wanted for his birthday.  So while I placed all the clues and the treasure the kids and the Dad’s went to visit some sights in town (breaking rules #1 and #2 of mine).

All the kid, minus Alyssa who was napping.

Then the treasure hunt began.  Chris had cast a secret message out on a fishing pole which Jacob happened to reel in.

They traipsed all over the compound looking for clues.

He even had to row out to sea and find a floating clue.

The fun continued until they found the X in the sand and unburied the treasure!

Cupcakes in the shape of a 10 finished off the night.

Not a typical birthday, but still lots of fun.  Jonah asked if next year he can have his birthday in Mexico……not a bad idea!

My little Shakesy is 10!  I can’t believe it.  We all reminisced about how small he was when he was born, we thought he was the smallest baby we would ever see!  He is loved by everyone.  He is the most easy going and so easy to get along with child.  He loves everyone and can adapt to whatever circumstance he is in.  Whether playing with one of his 3 girl cousins that he truly loves being with, walking goats with his friend Luke, playing ball with one of his teams or having a water fight with Eli…he is happy wherever he is.

My Mexico 2012

You know that song that says, your love is my drug?  Mexico is my drug.  The second we cross the border I feel like the weight of the world is off me.  The second I step outside and feel the hot humidity and look at the beautiful ocean I feel the happiest I ever do.  Words cannot express how much I love it, especially with my family there.

People often ask me what we do for a week on the beach.  I usually reply, nothing.  Actually the answer is, nothing and everything!  I decided to recap a typical day so that I never forget the nothing and everything that we do.

My 3 rules about the trip

1. Never leave the compound, what a waste to leave the water!

2. Never go on the side of the house not facing the water, 15 degrees hotter there.

3. Only go inside when absolutely necessary.

The meeting point in AZ…loaded up cars with no room to spare.

That blessed moment of crossing the border.

Arriving on Sunday and trying really hard to not “get in” the water.

Home for the next week!

Our days begin anywhere from 6:30 a.m. (the young, young kids) to 9 or 10 a.m. (Jen and Nikelle).  I fit in around the 7:00 time frame.  Wake up and immediately go outside.  3 of the mornings I went for 3 mile runs on the beach.  The other mornings were spent searching the coral and tide pools for sea life.  We find very interesting things: lots of crabs, sea slugs, sea urchins, sea horse, millions of shells of course, octopus, sea snails, sponge and so many more things that I have no idea what they are.

The tide change here is the second largest in the world.  It changes 25 vertical feet.  So twice a day the tide goes out about a mile or two (this dramatic during the full moon, which is when we like to go).

After an hour or so of perusing the coral we would go in to eat breakfast, and I of course ate it outside.  Back out to the ocean we would go and spend the next 3-4 hours either in the water, playing baseball, building sand castles, flying kites, snorkeling, talking while sitting in the tide pool, or really any number of things.

Usually around 1:00 we would go inside and eat lunch, outside.  The babies would take a nap and some of the older kids and adults as well.  The next few hours were spent reading in the shade or inside, playing in the huge waves, talking, playing games.  The crazy people, like the Dad’s, would leave and go to town.

Around 3 or 4 everyone would head back out to the water.   We would spend the next several hours kayaking, floating in tubes, body surfing, building more sand castles, more time talking in the water, collecting crabs and seashells and sand dollars.

We would stay out until sunset and then drag ourselves in for dinner, showers and putting kids to bed.  Some nights we had the energy to sit outside as adults and talk, but mostly we had the energy for going to bed at 9:30.

I can’t find a picture of low tide from the house, someone will have one.  This is from the bottom steps.

And here is high tide from the house.  That railing is the same one in the top picture.  It is amazing the difference.

We had 2 1/2 days without water in the pipes.  Water levels in the city are low and you have to conserve it very carefully.  Our house didn’t start with a full cistern so we ran out and then since we were in a third world country it takes some time to get it back.  It really didn’t bother me, we had the ocean.  We would haul buckets of ocean water up to the house to flush the toilets.  It really bothered some of the other people, it was a pain to wash hands but it could have been a lot worse…..like no electricity.

The only bad part of the trip is……..

leaving.

*my camera must have gotten sea water on the lens, the first pictures are so clear and the last…not so much.

A few things

Just some random items before I head out of town for a few weeks.

I didn’t want to run the wasatch back, because it isn’t my favorite ragnar so I might as well save my money!  Bryan and I volunteered for it instead.  It was fun, except for the fact that we were at a very dangerous interchange!

Brandon and Jacob both were begged to play all-stars.  Since we are going to be out of town for the main tournaments they were only able to fill in for the pre tournaments.  Brandon pitched for his first time ever and won the game for his team!  Awesome night of ball.  Jacob played very good as well.

There is nothing like riding on the back of your 3 year old friends four wheeler and hanging on tight!

And I can’t find the picture, but the blessed day arrived that the snack shack closed!  I really enjoyed running it this year, but was so tired.  We sold out of almost everything on the last night, perfect!  The year was very good and we did make a profit.  I am thoroughly enjoying my evenings at home!

Jonah Baby is 5!

I realize I am a week and a half behind on this, but really who cares?

How has he gotten so big?????

Jonah was so excited for his birthday.  He woke up and opened his presents.

Played and played with moon dough and his car characters while I was crazy making his cake and getting ready for his party.

He of course had picked a baseball themed party, seeing as that is all we talk about in June!

He just wanted to play baseball for the whole party.  The other kids got bored pretty quick so we played some other fun games.

Pinata time was great.

And presents from friends.

So cute!

I had told him he wouldn’t have to go to the ballpark at all for his birthday.  Bryan took Jacob to his all star game and I had Brandon working at the shack.  Brandon was needed to fill in for a babe ruth team, so of course he did that and I headed to the shack.  Jonah actually loved riding his scooter around the park all night and getting birthday wishes from his friends.  Turned out to be a great 5th birthday for him!

The End

It is crazy how quickly a baseball season can come to an end.  Last night was the first night of the tournament for both the boys. Not to sound too prideful, but we all thought we would be playing again this week.  Didn’t happen, both teams played at the same time, which I strongly dislike, I can’t be involved in either game just watching both from middle ground.  Anyways, they both lost.  Kind of were bad games.  So in a matter of minutes our whole season was over, at least with rec ball. 

I was standing talking to a friend and a coach from the Babe Ruth league came up to Brandon and asked if he could play for their team.  He jumped right on that chance and we had another game to watch!  It was so fun to watch him.  Even though we were playing against the team that has about everyone we love playing and coaching!  He was scared at first playing against much older players than him, but he got into his groove quickly and played 1st base the whole game.  He had two great hits and now will not be nervous again.  I went home to grab our dinner and camera and forgot the camera.  I didn’t even take a picture with my phone.  I am so sad.  It made the night much better than it would have been had we all gone home losers!

Baseball is so life consuming and yet I laid in bed last night and could NOT believe it was over.  Makes me sad, good thing I have another week of my snack shack life!

Jacob pitching for the minor league Cardinals.

Brandon and his major league Diamondbacks. 

Jonah and his favorite past time.

13!!!

I still can’t believe he is really 13.  Thursday was Brandon’s big day.  The morning was not like any other birthday morning because the boys get to bed so late, they all end up sleeping in, even on birthdays.  Brandon was the first one awake, he was too excited to sleep, I finally gave in and woke up Jonah around 9:00.

Bryan had to miss out on the gift giving.

3 happy boys.

A golf bag, which he got to use out later in the day when Bryan took him golfing. 















He and I went to lunch and to City Creek, it was my first time there.  He thinks I was probably the only person in Utah who hadn’t been before.  His shoes must have been really tall, because he is not THAT much taller than me.

The birthday dinner was a bit low key because we were on a baseball time frame, Bryan and Jacob weren’t back yet.  (It wouldn’t be a correct picture of Brandon without the food on his face)

I had the most relaxing and enjoyable day because I hired Megan to make his cake.  I just sat outside with Tiffany and chatted away while Megan slaved away.  She did a great job. 

So cute!  I am sure I feel the same way that every mother feels when her oldest, or youngest, or in the middle children grow up.  I love it and I hate it.
He is the best oldest child.  I love him to pieces and he loves me back the same.

He did It!

When Brandon was in 6th grade he was taller than his teacher. About this time he realized that one day he would be taller than me. He got very excited about that thought. For the past several months he has been about a half an inch shorter than me. Often we would line up back to back to make sure he hadn’t made the jump. Well on Sunday we were standing by each other without shoes on, normally he has on tall basketball shoes and me no shoes, we went back to back and Bryan casually says, Brandon is taller. We both screamed no way and ran to the mirror to see for ourselves. Sure enough he was taller than me. I swear it happened over night! I am glad he is growing taller, but can’t believe we have reached that point. All this combined with the fact that tomorrow he will be a teenager…it is too much!

We had Jacob as the photographer, therefore there are not any clear, centered, good pictures.

He has this idea about being able to look “down” at me instead of up. Not in the unrespective way, just the physical height way.