Prom Numero Uno

Because Boyd and I were galavanting in Cancun, Kalie was our chief photo taker while Alyssa was getting ready for Prom.

As you can see, she is a much better photographer than I am.

So here is a quick recap of the evening:

Just getting back from getting her hair and makeup done. Please don't mind the camisole.

The dress...waiting to be worn.

The shoes.

Adding finishing touches.

Here she comes, Miss America! (Singing to the melody, of course!)

Finally made it to the bottom, safe and sound.

Enter: Tony!

Just a quick shot!

Getting the wrist corsage ready...

Sliding it on...

A closeup. Tony always picks such lovely corsages.

Now for the boutonniere...

I love this picture!

The cute couple.

Going to the car.

Getting in the car.

Alyssa and her friends hired a professional photographer to take pictures of them in Salt Lake City.

This is their prom group.

Alyssa and Tony.

I love the candidness of this shot.

Alyssa's group ate at the Macaroni Grill. Alyssa said the food was great!

Then they were off to the State Capital Building for the dance.

And they danced the evening away!

Alyssa said she had an absolute blast!

The Dilemma of the Prom Dress

Alyssa was invited to her high school prom.

Just so you know, the REAL work begins after the invitation.

What am I going to wear?

How about the perfect shoes?

Who is going to do my hair...my makeup?

And is it possible to find a modest dress for a decent price?

We agonized for weeks over Alyssa's dress.

She wanted a hi-low. That is a dress that is short in the front and long in the back.

The trick is to find a hi-low that is long enough in the front, and modest enough on top.

We found the best website for prom dresses. They are based out of New York but get their dresses from China.

They will make jackets to match the dress out of the exact same fabric and alter the dress to your measurements and desires.

So we ordered a dress for Alyssa with a jacket to match and asked them to make it longer in the front.

Here is what is looked like.

The jacket was a little grandma looking.

It went to Alyssa's waist in the back, the sleeves were almost to her elbows AND it was very restrictive. She couldn't move much.

I realized that if I didn't do something about the jacket she wouldn't wear it.

That was NOT acceptable to me.

So I did some serious surgery. I took the entire jacket apart except for the shoulder and neck seams.

I made it 5 inches shorter in the front and back.

I made the sleeves much shorter as well.

It looked better but still needed something.

BEADS!!

I went to JoAnn and looked for sequins and seed beads, then I called my sister, Rose.

She has done beading before and knew just how and what to do.

I went up to her home one sunny morning and spent 3 hours beading on one side of the jacket while Rose spent 3 hours on the other side of the jacket.

Here is the result!

I still can't believe it turned out the way that it did.

It was beautiful!

I put some wide straps on the dress so that it would stay up.

Then I put a little cleavage guard on the sweetheart neckline.

It was a little too sweet.

The jacket was still restrictive but not as much as before.

The dress was ready for prom and I wasn't going to be there. Boyd and I flew to Cancun the same day as prom.

Fortunately for me, Kalie and Kevin came out and helped Alyssa get ready for prom.

Thank goodness!!

I will post some prom pictures next.

Cancun Mexico

Boyd and left for Cancun, Mexico on Saturday, April 14th at 5:15 a.m.

 We went to bed about 1:30 a.m. and got up at 4:00.

Needless to say, we started out our trip tired.

We flew to Phoenix and then on to Cancun, arriving at Cancun at 4:00 in the afternoon.

We flew on US Airways.

Just so you know, they only serve a drink on the flight. No peanuts. No pretzels. No cookies. Nothing.

By the time we got to our hotel, we were ready to eat the paint off the walls.

Our hunger was quickly assuaged when we got to our room and looked out of our balcony.

This was the view from our room.

We were staying in an all-inclusive resort.

This means that everything is included in your visit: your food (you could choose from one of thirteen restaurants), your drinks, swimming, walking on the beach, room service, jacuzzi's in every room, etc.

Our first item of business after settling into our room was eating.

We were invited to eat with a few agents at an Italian restaurant called La Trattoria.

I looked at the menu and started ordering.

I ordered a salad, cannelloni and salmon.

Basically, I ate an entire day's worth of food in one sitting. And it felt so good.

The next day we were up before daybreak to visit Chichen Itza...see previous post.

On Monday, Beacon Financial had organized a visit to a blind and deaf school in downtown Cancun. This school taught children from the age of 2 to 17 years old.

A bus took all 40 or so of us to the school.

This bus driver was an expert. He navigated that enormous bus through tiny, skinny streets dodging cars and buildings all at the same time.

He deserved a $1000 tip...just not from me.

All of the agents were asked to purchase sunglasses and walking sticks for the blind kids so that we could hand them out.

The kids held out their arms and we filled them with walking sticks and sunglasses.

I don't think they knew what to think. They didn't know we were coming and they were marched out in front of us and ordered to hold out their arms for us to fill with gifts and then hold up the sign from their school. They handled themselves quite well, considering they couldn't see us.

Here, Jorge, Stephanie, Pablo and Karen are holding the sign while trying to manage all the sticks and glasses.

They were good sports and our entire group was so happy to be able to give some help to them.

The next day we visited Tulum and the Grand Cenote, which is an underground river.

I have to admit that I was really nervous to jump into the river and start swimming around. I had my life jacket ready and still didn't want to venture into the water.

One of the ladies with us was interested in borrowing my life jacket and checking out the water. When she got out, she told me to get in...that it was so refreshing and worth the time.

She gave me courage. So I did!

I have now been swimming in a cave, full of stalactites and small fish.

And I am proud of myself.

The next two pictures show what it looked like.

 

We were unable to go snorkeling on this same Tulum tour because a member of our group got lost. 

We waited 1 1/2 hours for him on the bus while a couple of designated people went and searched for him. 

We never found him.

But, rest assured, he is not still in Mexico. He caught a bus ride back to the hotel.

But I have to admit, many members of group were extremely annoyed with him.

Because we weren't able to go snorkeling on Tuesday, Boyd arranged to go on Thursday. 

We booked a tour to a city called Porto Morales and went on a very small boat out into a very large reef.

It was a rather blustery day, so the swells in the reef were quite noticeable. 

Basically, you just had to not think about the fact that you were going up and down and up and down.

We saw some of the best snorkeling ever...schools and schools of fish, squid, a puffer fish, a small sea turtle, coral everywhere and the brightest colors of fish you have ever seen.

It is a whole different world down there under the water.

I did something on this snorkeling trip I have never done before.

Usually on the boats they have a ladder to let you down gently into the water.

Not on this boat.

You had to jump off the side to get in. 

I jumped! And my head went under the water! And I lived! Yay!!

After we returned we did a bit of shopping.

I found some Mexican pottery that was gorgeous. I wanted to buy all of it.

But it was too expensive. We just bought a few pieces.

This is a view from the restaurant we had to walk through to get to the boat.

Can you see our tiny boat?

Fortunately it did its job well and got us out and back safely.

The cool thing about staying at the Palace resorts is that all Palace resorts and lobbies are included in the price.

This is the lobby at the Nizuc.

The picture just doesn't do it justice. There were vines hanging everywhere! 

It was awe-inspiring!

The Nizuc lobby had a Mexican restaurant inside that was to die for delicious. We ate there twice.

I can't remember eating better Mexican food.

Their fresh salsa and guacamole was out of this world!

Plus, you could order as many Pina Coladas that you could manage to drink.

Non-alcoholic, of course.

In addition to that, they had a three piece band that walked around and serenaded you while you ate.

What a festive atmosphere!

I want to remember this restaurant always.

This was such a fun, yet busy trip.

We walked on the beach for only about 1/2 hour.

We ate fresh tuna that had been alive about 4 hours before, in sashimi and grilled form.

We didn't even go into the pools once.

We watched the movie "Up" on an outdoor screen with the breeze blowing through our hair.

We went shopping for jewelry and found some great pieces at a flea Market in downtown Cancun.

We ate so much food, we were sick.

 And now we are home.

 All day Saturday as I walked around my beautiful home, I couldn't help but smile.

Yes, the trip was fun and exciting, but there is nothing better than to be home in dear old K-town.

Tulum

In order to get inside the city of Tulum, you have to walk through an arched tunnel through an 18 foot wide wall.

The minute Boyd and I walked through the tunnel we drew in a quick breath.

It was BEAUTIFUL!!

 In fact, it was SO beautiful that Boyd and I decided that had we been alive during this time period this is where we would have lived.

No questions asked.

 The setting of Tulum is right on the coast of the Caribbean Sea.

There are palm trees waving gently, beautiful green grass everywhere, a brilliant blue sky and the lovely waters of the Caribbean right next to the city.

 Breathtaking!

There are ruins that are similar to others that we had seen, but interestingly enough, in addition, there were foundations everywhere.

 A lot of people lived in this city.

 And I can see why.

This picture shows some of the foundations that were dotted all over the landscape.

This is the temple at Tulum.

It is amazing to think that as old as this building is... up to 1600 years old...it has survived numerous episodes of severe weather.

Our tour guide, Lemuel, told us he is 41 years old. He has seen 12 hurricanes in those 41 years, including Hurricane Wilma.

He told us to do the math and imagine how many hurricanes have hit this city.

That is how well the buildings were constructed and how strong their cement was.

The Book of Mormon talks about the Nephites being exceedingly expert in cement making and they obviously were.

Sigh.

Bigger sigh.

Boyd and I with the Tulum temple in the background.

(Note: we were wearing our swimming suits because we were going swimming in an underground river called the Grand Cenote right after we toured Tulum.)

There were iguanas everywhere.

In fact, on one of the altars, there were dozens of them.

It reminded me of the scene in the movie "Holes" where those creepy lizards were everywhere in one of the holes the boys dug.

AND, they were big.

A peek of the Caribbean right there at the edge of the city.

This is a grave site. There are steps that face the east, so when the person is resurrected, he will face the east when he walks out of the grave.

Also, in this grave site, there was found numerous pieces of pottery which they assumed was filled with food in case the deceased person got hungry on his way back to heaven.

This building was so fascinating. There were so many cool things about it.

The coolest? If you look really close you can see two red hand prints in the upper left corner.

The archaeologists called this the seven fingered hand.

Lemuel told us a different story.

He told us that if you put one hand over the other with the index fingers on top of each other you have seven fingers. And that is quite possibly a painting of Christ's hands healing the people.

So touching.

This is the Tulum temple.

About twenty feet behind the temple is a cliff that leads right to the sea.

Unfortunately, my camera died right before we got to the cliffs so there is no picture evidence...

See the three openings at the top of the temple?

 

Above the three openings there are carvings. It is kind of hard to see but the carving on the far left represents God the Father.

The carving in the middle looks like an upside down baby which represents Jesus Christ coming down to earth.

The carving on the right?

Nothing.

Lemuel told us it represents the Holy Ghost, who doesn't yet have his body.

Tulum had all kinds of buildings with holes in them that would line up with the sun during certain seasons like the spring solstice. The sun would shine through these holes and create a beautiful sight.

There was also a building that lined up with the moon at a certain time. When the moon hit the hole on the correct date, the entire building would light up.

We didn't see it, we just saw a picture of it.

Another fascinating thing they discovered was a building that would whistle when the weather turned very windy.

If the wind was blowing hard enough, the building would whistle and warn that people that they needed to move to safe ground.

Basically, it was a hurricane warning!

One of the things that I enjoyed learning was about the places that Jesus Christ visited and the name that the people called Him. My favorite name was Kukulcan. When Lemuel would say that name it would give me chills. There is a picture online that shows recorded visits of the Savior in the Americas. I couldn't copy it because of copyright restrictions but you can see it  here on page 30.

I hope you have enjoyed these few little tours and I will give a quick post of the rest of the trip tomorrow.

Ek Balam

After visiting Chichen Itza we drove to Ek Balam.

 Ek Balam is similar to Chichen Itza in the fact that there are Mayan ruins but different because they let you climb the steps of the buildings.

 It is a complete hands-on experience that brings a whole new element to your tour of the ruins.

 The first building we saw was the observatory. We got to climb to the top and look out over the city.

You can see the temple in the background behind me. This temple had a thatched roof. I'm not sure if that was to make it more authentic or if it was to protect the amazing sights beneath the thatching.

I had to grab a picture of Boyd as he climbed down the steps of the observatory.

The steps were steep and a little scary. Basically you prayed the entire time you walked down.

This building had the most intricate carvings. The carvings all represent something but since most of the records of the Mayan people were burned in 1562 we can only try our best to figure out what the carvings represent.

Boyd hates this picture but I love it.

This is a picture of the beds that the people slept on.

It brings a whole new perspective to firm mattresses.

We walked over to the temple. If you climb about 60 steps there is a walkway that you can go and see what is under the thatched roof.

It is quite a sight to see. It is known as the Jaguar's Mouth because there is an enormous mouth of a Jaguar with carvings above, beneath and in-between the teeth.

This is one of the paintings that was to the side of the Jaguar's Mouth. It is a white man teaching people who have dark skin.

There are about 110 steps to the top of the temple. They are steep and irregular. You don't look up or down as you are climbing...you just look at where you are placing your foot to prevent yourself from falling.

Our neighbors son said that the steps are irregular because you can't climb straight up or straight down. You have to turn sideways and zigzag your way up or down.

He said that this way you never look directly at God, nor turn your back completely to Him.

This is Boyd and I at the top of the temple.

As we looked over the landscape, we could see mounds out there in the jungle. They were actually buildings that had been completely overgrown by plants.

Just wanted to give you a bird's eye view from the top of the temple looking down the stairs.

Me, halfway down the stairs.

I was turned completely sideways as I climbed down and held on to the steps above me the entire way. I was literally shaking in my shoes.

This was a narrow pathway in between buildings. The house with the stone bed is on the left.

We were able to spend a lot of time looking around these ruins.

You can see how well the stones were fit together and squared off so well.

It was amazing to see the original cement that held the rocks together.

Our guide told us that archaeologists believe that these stones were carved with obsidian because they didn't believe that the Mayans had metal tools.

He said that he had tried to cut a rock with some obsidian. He got a hammer and hit the obsidian as he tried to cut the limestone.

The obsidian shattered.

Yep. These people had metal tools.

Another interesting fact is that through the more recent years, as people were building homes, they discovered these buildings with wonderfully square stones.

They realized that it would be so much easier to build a home with stones that were already squared off. Because of that many of the buildings have been pilfered and stones taken from them to build other homes.

One more thing: As we were looking at these ruins you could see small plants growing in among the stones.

If they are not pulled out and the buildings maintained, the plants will grow and break up the cement that holds the stones together and also break the stones.

If no one takes care of the building, it can be completely grown over and covered by jungle plants in only 50 years.

We saw several mounds that were completely covered with jungle.

Hope you are enjoying your tour!

Tomorrow: our favorite: Tulum!!!