MEXICO!!!

Check out the awesome place we stayed in Mexico... this is the building where our room was. can I just say- AWESOME! The whole place was beautiful and very big. We had a great time with our friends Jeremy & Charlotte and James & Tracy (no kids!!!). All-inclusive is the way to go- free drinks, free food, free everything!!!
Here's a little glimpse of the beach. There was a long stretch of beach- we had to choose our spot wisely, though, to stay away from all the high schoolers on their Senior Trip (boo).
Awww. Todd and I at dinner the first night.
Brazilian restaurant. Meat. Lots of meat. Big fat swords of meat. 8 different kinds. I ate crocodile! This dinner was a lot of fun- our server was awesome and at the end they made these coffee drinks on FIRE for us. Unbelievable! Lots of laughter at this place.
This is the ocean the last day we were there. It was so windy and choppy that we weren't able to go parasailing. It was a red flag day, which means "no swimming." We weren't good at obeying as we all swam out to the buoyes (with the exception of Tracy). We weren't the only people in the water, but we were the only ones that brave. I was so tired at the end I was afraid I might not make it back! Todd and I were the only ones swimming without fins, so it was considerably more work for us. Also- this is a picure of a rocky section of beach- we were in a better spot and it wasn't quite as choppy there. Oh, but the rocks, let's just say that one day while swimming in the ocean, I ended up in a patch of rocks, getting slammed by the waves. My ankle and hands got scratched up, but then Charlotte got sucked into the same place where she scratched up her leg, hands, and broke her toe! Ouch! She was a real trooper, though, and hardly complained the whole rest of the trip!

Lots of good stories I may share later, but here's the crazy part... while we were off enjoying a well-deserved vacation our world at home fell apart! When our plane landed in Dallas, I turned my phone on and checked voice mail. This is when I learned that my good friend, Jenny L. was rushed to the hospital and eventually had emergency surgery (read about it here). I also learned that my niece, Katelyn, was in the hospital. She is just one year old. She had a seizure and they did a spinal tap and thought she might have meningitis- turns out they don't think that she does have it, but they're not really sure what's going on. At any rate, she got to go home yesterday. And alas, my youngest, Payt, had to go to the doctor on Wednesday because he hurt his toe in the McDonald's playland on Sunday when he was with my in-laws. A few days later, his toe was still bleeding and infected. He is now on heavy-duty antibiotics and ointment. His poor big toe is all wrapped in gauze and he can't even wear his shoes! What a week!