It’s midnight on Christmas Eve and the presents are all wrapped. Kristen has been a real stinker this year and is teetering on the verge of Santa’s naughty list. I have been on the top of my game all year and have catapulted to the top of the good list. Partly to blame, Kristen has been dealing with a growing bowling ball in her stomach the past six months. I have enjoyed watching it grow. Sort of like a chia pet but without the green hair and on a much larger scale.

This year has been most righteous for us. We have enjoyed a few good trips together. In January we went to South Beach and the Keys, in July we made it to Virginia Beach, the Outer Banks in North Carolina (OBX if you are in the know), and Washington D.C., and a couple weeks ago we went to Cancun. So life hasn’t been all work and no play we must admit.

Our biggest news of the year is that Kristen and I are expecting our little Maddy come April 7th give or take a few days. Times are definitely a changin. More on this later.

Kristen had to patiently wait around the better part of the year for me to figure out my next career move. She occupied her time with her young women’s calling including going to Girl’s Camp. A week with a bunch of teenage girls camping sounds like sheer torture to me, but she actually made herself believe it was fun. Gotta give her credit for that. She enjoys her calling and puts in a good chunk of her time going to activities, preparing lessons, and what not. Recently she picked up tutoring a few hours at a local tutoring center. I think there are good days and bad days with that, but overall it is a positive experience for her. Kristen has been a good sport about the pregnancy. And she likes being able to eat for two now. I question the validity of that statement since most of the year the baby was about the size of a golf ball but anyway. Kristen endured the common morning sickness element and other common pregnancy growing pains. Feeling the baby move around has been fun for me. Kristen says the baby is trying to give me an uppercut, but I think we all know the real story.

As for me, I gave up the crazy business traveler’s life of living 3 weeks of the month in nice hotels, seeing foreign countries, and eating at the best steakhouses. Wait, why did I give that up??!!!?? Excuse me as I now try to run away from Kristen trying to smack me for that last comment……Seriously it has been a good thing being home more. I haven’t quite gotten used to this whole commute and rush hour deal, but that should come with time. My last trip with HON was to Caracas, Venezuela which was a pretty good way to go out. I've spent the little free time I've had this year taking care of the house, learning about the options markets, watching the Dbacks and ASU football enjoy better than expected seasons, and running marathons (kidding about the last one).

We realize how blessed we are to have the things we do in life. Time doesn’t permit the creation of that list, but needless to say we are grateful. We hope that the world can enjoy more peace, joy, and love during this time of year. So in closing I’d like to say, to all a Merry Christmas and to all a good night!!

 

Cancun was AWESOME!  So beautiful and warm and fun!  We have no complaints!  Well Dan was really bummed he couldn't get into the ocean to swim, but other than that, it was great!  See the week we were visiting, Cancun was experiencing the effects of Hurricane Olga and the waves were crashing down and had worn away the soft sandy beach leaving large jagged rocks behind.  It was a little too much to risk trying to get past the break so we just enjoyed the water at ankle depths. 
So anyway, our trip went as follows:
Dec. 8 - Saturday-  Arrived in Cancun in the late afternoon.  We mostly just wandered the hotel grounds this day, walking along the beach, etc.


Dec. 11- Tuesday- Before we headed out for our trip to Isla Mujeres, we asked to change rooms due to nightly disturbances of a men's soccer team taking up residence in the hotel for the week and having nightly practices in the echo-y halls at 1:30am.  Grrrr....  To our delight they also upgraded us to be in a suite!  It was twice the size of our other room, complete with living room and GIANT balcony equipped with a jacuzzi.  Now THAT was living!  We took a bus to a dock and boarded a ferry that took us to Isla Mujeres about 30 min away.  We rented a golf cart and drove around the island, and boy was it gorgeous!  We stopped in at a sea turtle farm which was fun before grabbing some lunch and beach time and catching the ferry back to the mainland.


The last couple of days we spent being lazy on the beach and enjoying the ocean.  We went ventured into downtown a few more times to walk around this open air mall, hang out in a town plaza area, and eat in some local restaurants.  It was kinda crazy how no one hesitated asking about my pregnancy.  I didn't even think it was that obvious.  Couldn't I just have a gut?  From hotel personnel to random people we passed by, I would be asked "how many months?" or "is it a woman?" (instead of girl, haha!)  The latin culture is typically very friendly and my guess would be, very curious about pregnant women. 

Overall it was a great trip and we'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for a reasonably close beach vacation!  Amamos a Cancun!  If you'd like to see more pictures, visit our web album via the Photos link at the top.

 

Check out our moves!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1217019890

So we're headed to Cancun and I have a million things to do, but here I sit, playing with the elf yourself website and doing what I do best, procrastinating.  I'm looking outside our loft/office window and the houses across the street are lit up bright from the sun, but the sky behind them is soooo black.  Now I'm not crazy, and I see white flurry things floating around, I know it can't be snow, but then what is it?  Cotton particles from some field nearby?  Though I don't know where...or some pigeons are duking it out on the roof and feathers are all a flurry.  Anyway, kinda random.

I'll write more when we return, hopefully well rested and tan!