merry christmas...

this is our christmas tree this year... we have no room inside...

since jones was born our extra room became his...

thus... christmas ficus tree... in our front yard...

jones had fun helping put up lights and ornaments...

we hope you all have a very merry christmas...

love... the martindales

oxymoron

this morning after i had arrived to the gym and was dancing my heart out i began to laugh at myself... because...

i was remembering what i had just eaten for breakfast on the way to the gym...

cookies...

yes... cookies for breakfast again...

happy friday!!!

i bet you have never seen your local police department do this...

OR THIS...

OR THIS...

OR THIS...

OR THIS...

OR THIS...

OR THIS...

only in mexico???

catching up... again...

a few saturdays ago... before thanksgiving... my parents were here...

...and we were lucky enough to get some vip crucero passes...

what does that mean?... we all got to enter the cruise terminal and watch the cruise ship come in to port... and all the festivities that go along with the return of the ship... it was so exciting!!!

jones... although waking up a 5am... was a very happy little boy...

this is a picture of the band that plays for the ship everytime it comes (this is its second time coming)... banda de la escuela bellas artes... and see the last girl in the row of clarinte players... she is one of my young women from church... (very center of the picture)... they did such a good job!!!

... then... we found out that there was a shrimp festival that day too...

so... while we were waiting for the festival to start... we checked out all the vendors that had set up booths on the main plaza downtown... they had some fun and interesting tourist souviers... one of my favorites was a belt made out of a snake... literally... the head was even still there... i should have taken a picture... because i dont even know how to explain it... creepy... i hate snakes...

...then we started taking random pictures...

in the municiple building downtown they still had a bunch of skeletons out from dia de los muertos... and one huge one painted on the street...

my mom...

brent and i with the mariachi band...

me... dancing with juan paco guillermo...

... and then later

... jones had his first ride on a merry-go-round... and loved it...





p.s.... this is the pirate ship that we want to go on some time soon... you go out for two hours and they sail around the bay... play games... sing songs... and do pirate stuff... mexican style... and then... fireworks for a perfect ending...

oh yeah... the shrimp was awesome... there were so many different things to try... all the best restuarants in town come to one location and offer their best shrimp dish... my mom and brent both had shrimp quesadillas with pico de gallo... my dad ate boston shrimp... bacon and cheese wrapped shrimp... and i had shrimp alfredo... with i forget what kind of sauce... but it was so good... can you tell i am hungry right now...

thanks for a crazy fun day...

love thursday... taking after my dad... who takes after my grandpa.. who...

my breakfast... the title tells it all...

only in mexico... way to sell a bed...

wouldnt you think everyone would want to buy a bed from this store after seeing this ad???

i have always laughed and wanted to take a picture of this store when i drive by... finally!!!

so much fun!!!!!!!

we had such a good time over the thanksgiving holiday!!!
we flew to monterey california where brents sister lives... it is so beautiful there... and we had so much fun... from the moment we landed.... until we took off a few days later...

jones's first flight... he was such a good baby... i was so worried and had prepared ourselves with anything and everything i could think that we might need while taking off, in the air and landing... snacks... dvd player... toys... books... more snacks.... and we didnt need even half of it... jones loved looking out the window and then the next thing we knew he was fast asleep...

our first stop when we arrived... we all went to the chocolate shop lulas... my laurel advisor, from when i was in young womens, moved to monterey with her family to open up a chocolate shop... and i had always wanted to visit... with the small world that we live in she happen to be in the same ward as shauna and justin... so long story short... we were able to tour their factory and taste their amazing chocolates... i want more... brent and i have already devoured our lucious truffles and the in-house-made marmallows covered in chocolate... my favorites are a lavender truffle and the cinnamon truffle... and a very interesting mexican chili truffle...

sweet hair nets... huh??? we had to wear them to go through the factory....

me and a picture of my advisor and her husband...

and then later we got to meet up and catch up with one another... i love you becky!

our next destination was the monterey bay aquarium... one of the worlds best aquariums... it was so awesome...

jones loved looking at the fish and all the marine life... he loves his baby neptune dvd... so it was perfect... it was the real life version of the dvd...

he kept trying to grab the fish through the glass and laughing...

so pretty...

we finished off the day at bubba gumps... were i had the best fish and chips ever!

...thanks to alan & marla!!!

thanksgiving day...

alan was in charge of cooking the turkey... he made this (see above very left and very right pictures) to roast the turkey in... it was so good...

while the turkey was cooking we all went to lovers point... which is another beautiful place...

dinner was awesome... and jones enjoyed shaunas yummy yams!

the whole day was relaxing and fun! eating and playing games...

black friday... we did participate in black friday a little... we went shopping at some outlets and found some awesome deals... gilroy outlets are awesome! we all found something good!

then the boys were off to a golf range to shoot clay piegons... while us girls rented a surrey and rode around downtown... and took some fun pictures...


the boys were coming to meet up with us for dinner, so we wandered around the old fishermans warf... it was so fun... each restuarant there claims to have the best clam chowder... and each will give you a sample so that you come back to eat their chowder... i think we sampled every one and decided on crabby jims...

honestly... i never knew that there could be so many different tasting clam chowders...

jones enjoyed the lemons that came in our waters...

the next morning we went to first awakenings... which had been highly recommended by shauna... and she was 100% correct... these were some of the yummiest pancakes i have ever eaten... coconut granola peach pancakes that were the size of a LARGE plate... seriously... each pancake had at least a 10" diameter... they were so good... and we all ate way too much...

shauna did an awesome job helping us to have the best thanksgiving vacation ever! THANK YOU SHAUNA, JUSTIN, OWEN, DREW & SALLY!!!