Crown Paradise Club - - Cancun, Mexico!!

Its a little late, but finally I have most of the pictures loaded on my computer. So I thought I'd share a little of our vacation with you all! We went to the Crown Paradise Club Resort in Cancun for 7 days. It was awesome!! Here are some pics of our room and the awesome view we had from our balcony.

Amanda's entire family was able to come on this trip so it was a lot of fun. It was an all-inclusive resort so we ate, and ate, and ate!! It was soooo good! We took a trip into downtown Cancun to shop at all of the flea markets. It was a lot of fun, but I forgot my camera. :( We went way into town to a place called Market 28. I'm not going to lie, it was scary for me. Everyone is in your face and little kids are making you feel bad and trying to get you to buy their handmade bracelets and belts. Definitely not my kind of shopping. Here are a few random photos by Chase of all of us eating.

We thought we would take advantage of a free Lunch Lagoon Cruise the resort offered. So we all loaded up and headed out for the Cancun Queen. The cruise was around the Nichupte Lagoon. Little did we know it was going to turn into a booze cruise. Pretty embarassing and awkward to be on a booze cruise with you parents and grandparents! We had a good time though. They played some games a forced some Tequila on some (I won't name names!). Then we had a nice lunch and played some more games. Below are a few pics of our afternoon.

Most of the days there we lazed on the beach and played in the waves. The weather was beautiful. High 80's for the day with a nice breeze. And the night cooled to the low 70's. Me and my sis inlaws (Emilie & Laree) got our hair braided on the beach. That was kinda cool. I only left mine in a few days, then they got too dirty and itchy! But it was nice to not have to worry about keeping my hair out of my face! Chase rented some boogie boards one day cause the waves were perfect. Everyone had a good time trying those out. My mom and I had a hard time finding our ocean legs and would often be tumbled to the beach by some of the waves! We would just sit and laugh!

We also took a trip to Tulum and snorkeled in Akumal. I haven't developed the underwater camera we used at the ocean in Tulum and for the snorkeling. But here are a few pics of the ruins in Tulum. It was probably the hottest day that we decided to go see the ruins, so we were all pretty impatient and sweaty!! Next post I'll get the other pics in!

Kick start our Vacation!!

As many of you know, my (Amanda's) family just returned from Cancun!! Here is a little taste of what we did to kick start our vacay! My mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, brother & sis in law came down Sunday afternoon and we headed down to Salt Lake. My grandparents have never seen temple square, let alone at Christmas time when all the lights are on. So we all got rooms downtown, and enjoyed dinner at the Olive Garden (which my grandpa had never eaten at), and walked temple square and enjoyed each others company!

2nd Annual "Ugly Sweater" Christmas Party

Last year we started a traditional Christmas party with all of our friends. Its the "Ugly Sweater" Christmas party. Everyone is supposed to wear the ugliest sweater they can find. Last year wasn't such a success in the sweater department, but I'm happy to say this year we had a few more ugly sweaters show up. This year we played Catch Phrase (which I am NOT good at), we voted for the UGLIEST sweater, did a White Elephant Gift Exchange, and enjoyed lots of yummy treats!

Some of the white elephant gifts were hilarious... a few chose to take the naughty route. I'll have you all know, Chase and I kept ours clean! The boys pretty much cleaned house on Catch Phrase, and Dustin won the UGLIEST sweater!!

Can't wait to do it again next year!! We will keep getting better and better! Thanks to those who came and enjoyed the night with us!!

A Little Holiday Cheer!

So I'm a little late on getting all this posted. But I wanted to share with you our Christmas tree and decor!! I put up some of the big ornaments above my cabinets and put lights up there with them. I have to say its my new favorite Christmas decoration!! We haven't been home much to enjoy all of it, and sadly enough our tree is crispy dead!!! Oh well at least it has the nice pine smell still!!

Thanksgiving w/the Phillips'

This year Thanksgiving was spent with Chase's family in Morgan. It was a lot of fun to be able to have the entire family together! For those who don't know the family there are quite a few of us! We had a great time with everyone. Friday morning while all of you crazies were out shopping, we were sleeping! We shopped later in the afternoon and met up with everyone at the Gateway for dinner and a visit to the Temple grounds to see the lights turn on. Needless to say, we were late and the lights were already on by the time we all made it down to the Temple! It was still a lot of fun to be with everyone!

We walked Heather all over town that night hoping it would induce labor and we would have our niece sometime during the weekend. But baby girl Phillips' (that's what we called the baby) stayed put until a week ago!! (That's a whole other blog in itself) We got lots of fun pictures too!!

Enjoy!!!

Love the Temple in this one Me & Chase :)

The Clan: Chase & Amanda, Chad & Fe, Sandie,
Adam Jamie Dylan & Mason, Skyler & Heather, Whit, Sarah & Jen

The Girls


This sign was in the Rocky Mtn. Chocolate Factory.
It reads: We don't touch your banana so !!!PLEASE!!!
Don't touch ours!! - - I just thought it was hilarious!

Stinkin Cute Nephews!!

Over Thanksgiving all the Phillips family was together! It has been quite some time since we all were gathered at the same house for a holiday, or event. We had such a good time. Thanksgiving was good, really any food any time is good! We stuffed ourselves and had a great time watching all the cousins play together. This year was the first time the boys all played TOGETHER... the other years they entertained themselves. It was so cute watching them follow Dylan around the house like a little gang! Here are a few pics (thanks Whit) of them enjoying the tub together!!

Dylan, Mason & Parker

Jen & Ryan's Visit!

My friend Jen, from California, came up to visit last weekend with her boyfriend Ryan. We had a good time together! Friday night we met up with a bunch of friends and ate at Noodles and Co., then rode tracks down to Temple Square to see the lights. Here are a few pics!! Can't wait to return the favor and visit them in Cali!!

We had to get a pic with the bag pipe guy. He was playing Christmas Carols, so we threw some money in and figured we needed a picture too!