Highlights from our Utah Trip

Favorite Activities while hang'in in Delta:

Burning down the house:

45 seconds into the fire

Our Utah portion of the trip started off with some bad news. Ryan's mom and dad have been having trouble with their mortgage with all of the interest rate increases. Coincidentally we came home to find their house on fire the same day they received a forclosure notice. Weird huh?
Just kidding. This is an old house on one of the farms that was too old and run down to live in anymore. So...

They dug a big hole in the back yard and the boys got to go trash the inside like Extreme Makeover. Once all kids and adults were accounted for they soaked it in gas, left a trail, then lit a match. After there was nothing left they push it all into the big hole.

....after 10 minutes....

....Joni and Jack enjoying the show....

.....20 minutes.....

...30 minutes...

This was so fun. I could not believe how hot it got even at a distance and how FAST it happened.

We are so glad we were in town for this family event:)

Other fun things we did in Delta:

Playing in the dirt with Grandma Jackson...and Danny.

Aubry giving Aunt Joni kisses.

Joni and Aubry love Aunt JoniJack teaching Uncle Ryan about new technology.

This was also Jack's Birthday.

Happy Birthday Jack:)

Out west of Delta on and Desert:

Joni and Ryan out west of Delta on the dessert.

They went with Grandpa & Grandma Jackson, Uncle Ken, Brooks (Ryan's brother), and his son Josh who is Joni's age. (I had to stay home and let Aubry get one good nap since it had been weeks since she had one...and she slept for five hours! I guess she was really tired.)

Ryan and Brooks getting the Razer stuck!
Grandpa Jackson laughing at them while they got suck!
One sleepy, dirty Joni. She LOVE the Razer!

Favorite activities in Panguitch:

While we were in Panguitch my sister Sherrie and family came to Panguitch to see us a long with my sister Tiffany. We had a great time.

Aubry disovered her love for popcicles! I think Grandma let her have like 10!

Aubry and Kalee playing in the durt. They are six months apart and had so much fun together exploring their world.Joni and Ashlee

Joni and Ashlee spend two days playing princesses, dress-ups, the piano, and outside they found one of Grandpa's old boats and enjoyed a great two hour game of Pirate with Jason and Logan They had so much fun I wanted to play too!

Lake Powell with Grandma and Grandpa Bulkley and Tiffany

My Dad doing his favorite things: Spending time with the grandkids, fishing, and laughing at me:)

I love Lake Powell! It is so beautiful.

Me, Aubry and My Mom!

We had lunch on this cute little sandy beach with a great view.

This was a perfect day because we were like the only people around.

Joni loves her Aunt Tiffy!

We had such a great time but it is good to be home!

My $1600 Mistake!

We went to Playa Del Carmen with Ryan’s sister and brother in Law…Joni and Layne. We were planning on leaving Saturday morning at 5:30. I was Utah dropping off Joni and Aubry and Ryan was in Detroit and was just going to meet us in Mexico. I was typing Joni and Aubry’s instruction Booklet when Ryan called and the problems began. He was at the post office stopping our mail when he saw the big sign….PASS PORT! He as pretty sure I hadn't thought to take mine. He called me right away and of course I hadn't! When Ryan was driving me to the airport I kept saying, " I know I am forgetting something." Even when I was visiting my sister in Salt Lake I told her I knew I had forgot something. We could not overnight it because it was about 2:30 PM and our flight left at 8:30 AM. Ryan got online and read that you could use a birth certificate still. We were surprised but I called SLC and tired to figure out how I could get my birth certificate. The lady at the Vital Records office said if my littler sister could come to there office with 15.00 and her driver’s license she could pick up my birth certificate for me. I called and Tiffany, my little sister, and she was in Logan not SLC. So we tired to think of anyone we could call who could go get my birth certificate. Ryan’s Mom has a brother that is like 75 that lives in SLC…Uncle Ken. We had to give it a try. She called him and he said he would go over right now. So I called the Vitals Records Office back and told them my Uncle who was in his 70’s would be coming to get my birth certificate. They said, “We’ll he has to have a copy of your drivers license and a letter of consent.” I was like “WHAT!” I told them I had just called an hour ago and they said all I needed was 15.00 and a driver’s license. She explained that because he is not immediate family he has to have the other two things. I was about to pass out! She then told me I could fax them to her and they would have him wait until they got the fax. It was 4:00 and the office was closing at 4:15 so I had to speed into the Service Drug in Delta and get the stuff faxed. I called to make sure they got it and they said yes! They also told me that he has my birth certificate in hand. I was so excited and relieve that I was going to be able to go. That night around 8:00 Joni (Ryan's sister) decided we should go up that night, get the birth certificate, and then stay in a hotel just to make sure we got everything. Well, I decided to call Frontier Airlines and double check on our departure time because they had changed it twice. So, while I was on the phone I decided to also ask if it was okay to use a birth certificate...Well, big surprise IT WASN'T! They said they didn’t know where my husband had read online it was okay to use a birth certificate but that was not the case. They said I could not get on the airplane without my pass port! I was so devastated. I called Ryan and told him and he was so mad at the Internet sight! Just then Joni and Layne walked in the door and were ready to head for SLC. I told them what happened and they were like... SERIOUSLY! I decided I would fly to Fort Lauderdale and meet Ryan on his lay over then book a second ticket from FLL to CUN once I got my passport. His layover was 1:30 - 2:30 but I could not find one flight out of SLC that got me to FLL before 2:30…after his plane would have already left. So I tried just Delta’s regular web site and they HAD ONE that left at 6:30 and got to FLL at 12:00. I was so excited! We said good bye which was hard to leave the girls but all the pass port stress made it easier. Anyway, we were about five minutes from the hotel in SLC and I wanted to double check the time of my flight. I looked at the paper and I had book the ticket from FREAK’IN DETROIT. I think I am so use to booking from DTW I just typed in DTW instead of SLC. Once I found out I didn’t even say anything I just thought I can’t believe all these bad things are happening to me. Maybe I am not supposed to go. Once we got to the hotel Joni and I went to checked into the hotel but I went straight to the computers and started to look for other options. Then Joni came over and said "What’s wrong?" I told her and she was like, "SERIOUSLY." (For the second time in 2 hours.) I think I was about laughing at this point because I could not believe the last 10 hours. Well, I looked for a fight from SLC to get me to DTW by 8:00 when Ryan was leaving and I could just travel with him but nothing…well their was one but it was taking off right as we found it. Layne carried all the bags in and Joni and I just kept looking for some way out of this mess. I called Ryan and he was so nice. I think almost any husband would have been so mad and said…WHAT WHERE YOU THINKING! He didn't say anything rude he just said…so what are you going to do. I told him I would call him back when I got a plan. I called FLL security and asked if my husband could leave my pass port with them for one hour until I could come pick it up and they said NO! I was totally out of options when Joni found a flight for Ryan to fly to SLC and then we could fly to CUN together on a 12:00 flight. We would not get there until 8:3o and the tickets were going to cost us 1600.00! Ryan would have to be to the airport in 1 hour. I called him and told him the new and only option…. and what it was going to cost us...in addition to all the other mistakes I had made and our trip. I asked him if it was worth it…he thought for about 10 seconds and then said yes. He hustled to the airport and Joni and I booked the new tickets. At this point we were so tired and so relieved it was solved we got the giggles. I called frontier to book our new flights and was laughing so hard I could not talk. The man said, “I am sorry are you crying?” I told him I was laughing and then he thought I was drunk…or on something. After I got them booked he gave the confirmation number and I was trying to read it back to him and every time I would say a letter I would crack up! I thought he was going to get mad but luckily he was nice. I was like, “H and is Harry HAAAAA BLAAAAAAAA.” Joni was standing up trying to walk to the bathroom without peeing her pants laugh her head off too. After we got everything booked and went back to the room but I could not sleep. I think I got about 2 hours. After Joni and Layne left for the airport I had about three hours before I had to meet Ryan at the airport. So I got on the phone and called all the other airlines and luckily they all gave me a credit which was so nice. We have over 2000.00 in airline tickets to use…four in my name and one in Ryan's! Yep, forgetting my pass port was a very very very expensive mistake. When I got to the airport and saw Ryan... and my pass port I almost cried. It was the most stressful and expensive 16 hours of my life.

Check out my blood shoot eyes! I am going to get a pocket sewn in to my left butt cheek for my pass port so I will never forget it again.

Our Vacation to Mexico

Playa Del Carmen

Well our Vacation was AWESOME! Not only in Mexico but also in Utah. We were gone for almost three weeks and nothing has been harder than getting back into real life. I am finally back into my old GRIND. It is raining today and my project today was my Yard...as it has been all week I decided today is the day I am going to finally post pictures from our trip.

I'll start with our trip to Mexico.

Playa Del Carmen is about 30 minutes south of Cancun. This town is the best vacation spot ever. It is not big like Cancun but everything is almost within walking distance. Fifth Ave...(and 3rd, 4th, and 6th) are fun shops, restaurant and Mexican Clubs, kind of like New Orleans. Crazy people to watch, music on every corner. I love Playa Del Carmen...as you can tell.

We went with Ryan's sister Joni and her husband Layne. They have four cute boys that are 20, 16, 13, and 10. The three younger boys stayed and helped Grandma Jackson with Joni and Aubry when they were in Delta while we were gone. Let me just say on a quick side note that our kids did AWESOME! Along with both sets of Grandparents. Right before we left, Aubry decided that Nursery and any babysitter was not for her. We were pretty worried about the Grandparents because she has a strong set of lungs that can last a long time. Well, to explain how well they did all I have to say is that Aubry calls me Grandma... (at least five times a day!) When we got home we were so excited to see them. W missed them so much but they were not even excited to see us. I got in bed with them and I was kissing them and cuddling them and then Grandma walked by and Joni sits up and yells "There's Grandma...Grandma, Grandma!" Then Aubry followed with Gra-ma, Gra-ma. It was so cute and I am so glad they did so great, along with our parents!

I have to thank my cute nephews Jack and Danny for helping Grandma and Grandpa so much, and missing school a couple days to help entertain the girls. My nephews are the best cousins in the WORLD! We love them so much.

Anyway, back to the Vacation. We stayed at a private owned condo in Playacar and it was great. It had two master suits and then a nice living area where we could hangout without having to go sit on someone's bed:) It was nice and perfect for our vacation.

Joni, Layne, Ryan and Jenni on our last day in the lobby of the condo.

Our first day we went to Tulum, a Mayan ruin city. This was one of the coolest spiritual experiences I have had. We were able to get an LDs tour guide and there is no doubt in my mind that this is where the Book Of Mormon was written...at least one of the cities. There were so many amazing correlations I had the cold chills most of the time.

In the back ground is their temple showing that they believed in the Father, Son and Holy Ghost as three separate persons. (Above the three windows were carvings to represent each one.)Day two was great! We went to Cozumel where we went snorkeling, scuba diving (Ryan and Layne), and rented scooters and went all around the Island.

Catching the waves on the Southern Point of Cozumel! It was a good break for our bums.
More sights on Cozumel
This bar was the biggest crack up! We stopped for a bathroom break and a drink. Ryan was sad to see the "No Farting Sign." Joni was going to take it for her house as she lives with five boys!
Don't mess with Layne... Cruisin' on his hog with his lady!

Day Three we didn't have any plans but met this salesman on the street that sold time shares for the Spa Palace. We got the golden package...because we really were not interested... so he kept adding more free things if we would do the presentation. We ended up having a great day. After a 3 hour presentation and lunch we got to sit in mineral hot tub, get massages, spent the day at the all inclusive resort with Kayaks, snorkeling, all the food and drink we wanted, a nice dinner and 10 excursions!!! That's right, we hit gold. We only got to use two of the excursions because we only had three days left but it was an awesome deal and the Spa Palace was so beautiful!
Every night we would go down town and eat at these cute restaurants on 5th ave. We loved watching the people and shopping at the shops. One night while Joni and I were shopping Ryan and Layne watched a dog poop then several people step in it and spread it all over the walk way. It was so funny! After dinner and shopping we would come home every night and decide what we were going to do the next day while drinking a couple glasses of Mexican Coke. It was so good!



Day four we went on one of our free excursions to this activity park. We first went on a 4-wheeler ride in the "jungle." Then we went on these little speed boats in the ocean. We really liked that. The above picture is for my parents because they are always laughing at Ryan because he waves at everyone when we are at Lake Powell...and he did that here also.




We ate fajitas and guacamole with chips and hot salsa for every meal! Here we are chilling at "Alberto's." It seems like at every meal all we did was laugh!



Ryan eating a Habanero...you can't tell but his eye's are watering.

Thanks Joni and Layne for coming with us!
We had such a great time:)