Mexican beaches and fruity beverages

You guys. Maybe I need to have another baby just so I have something to blog about again? What do you think? 

Life is just rolling right along. Not much to update, and yet funny things happen everyday. Mckenzie is goofy all day, every day. 

Bart and I spent 6 days in Playa del Carmen last week. It was amazing! I have never been on a beach vacation like that. You should have seen my suitcase. Chuck full of stuff I never needed to bring. I spent all day in a swimsuit and only changed for dinner. I never did my hair and never wore makeup. It was pretty fabulous. 

The all inclusive resort was definitely a new way to vacation. Go to the beach. Eat lots of food. Drink lots of fruity beverages. Eat some more. Nap by that beach. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. Honestly we didn't know if we should be bored or relaxed. Our second day there we went snorkeling, rode on ATVs and speed boats and spent the day enjoying the sun. It was my first time snorkeling and I loved it. It's very peaceful looking down into the ocean. At one point we were being swarmed by jelly fish so we had to employ some evasive maneuvers. The water is so crystal clear blue and WARM. Every time we got into the water I couldn't believe how amazing it was. 

On our last day before coming home we took a ferry to Cozumel island. We rented a scooter and scoot-scooted our way around the island. We stopped at another amazing beach and sipped on pina coladas. Later we stopped at this authentic Mexican restaurant right by the beach and had the best food of the whole trip! Fresh fajitas straight from Mexico. Mmmmmm. 

It was so fun to spend 6 full days alone with Bart. But on day 4 I really missed Mckenzie. Of course I missed her everyday, but on Saturday I hysterically cried several times just thinking about her. It wasn't the kind of vacation that she (or us) would have enjoyed if she had been there, but we still wanted her there. Something just doesn't feel right when someone is missing! The 14+ hrs of travel days confirmed to me that it's good she didn't come with us. But next family vaca- she's coming! 

Mexico Beach Bodies

I did it!! I finally convinced Bart to take us on a beach vacation. We're talking 6 days  at an all inclusive resort with unlimited room service, a beach outside our door and did I mention no baby?

It's going to totally rock.

Almost immediately after booking our getaway Bart said, "We need to start working out, I don't want to be the fat guy on the beach". Which- amen and amen for both of us. I have been exercising pretty regularly but I always love exercising with Bart so I was all for finding something we could do together and help motivate each other.

Enter: INSANITY. I got the videos back in March and did the Fit Test, had a big L-O-L that's not happening and never looked back. Bart dug them up and now...we're doing it. We are on day 9 and OMG it's freaking hard. INSANELY HARD (see what I did there??). Like: dripping sweat, smelly body, sore muscles, can't breathe hard. Those first several days we could barely make it up the stairs and crawl into our beds to hopefully die. Muscles we didn't even know we had came out with a vengeance. I learned my hips are SOOOO weak and Bart's calves hate him pretty much every day. And I am totally loving it.

I think being a runner has made us a little more patient in the "how long do I have to feel like this" category. Sure, we can't breathe and our muscles are about to give out- but it's only for a few more seconds. You can do anything for a few more seconds. I know I learned that from running. Training for those 9, 10, 13 mile runs- it gives you the mental toughness to keep going. And now we are taking those lessons and putting them toward this crazy hard home workout.

At the end of the workout when we are going through the last 5 minutes of stretches we are panting and dripping sweat and I say "it was really hard- but now it's over". That's the thing about hard stuff- it always ends eventually! This lesson when it comes to fitness is so important to me. It's like when my mom taught me how to clean she always said "Megan, you can always wash your hands". Meaning it's OK if your hands get nasty when you're cleaning something, use your nails to get that crusty thing off the floor- you can always wash them when you're done!

I'm rambling- but you get it. Right?

Basically all I'm saying is that Bart and I are going to have BEACH BODIES by the time we hit the beach in December and you better believe I'm celebrating with unlimited room service and tiny bikinis.

Bowen-Miller Family Reunion

Call me crazy, but I love family reunions. Even when we pulled onto a dirt road with a ghetto sign that signified we had made it to Downata Idaho. Bart and I laughed, wondering how it was going to go. It was our first camping trip with Mckenzie and I really didn't know what to expect.

We got to the campsite on Thursday evening. The shade was in the perfect place and all the little babies were able to crawl and explore and Mckenzie was in heaven! You get that girl in a new setting, without restrictions, and she is the happiest she could be. We hung out, ate dinner and set up camp. 

Bart has 8 other siblings. 6 step/siblings and 2 brothers. Everyone but 1 bother and wife was able to make it. We played sand volleyball Thursday night and even though I've never played a real game before- I totally rocked it! Bart was impressed and bitter when my team beat his. I think we both under estimate my skills sometimes. It was really fun though- I love being in a new setting and getting to know family better! It was the perfect night to do it. 

Bedtime was pretty easy, and Mckenzie went right to sleep. I really had no idea how she was going to handle it. Let's just say it was the worst night I've had in a long time. Not to be dramatic- but it was horrible. Bart and I probably didn't get to sleep until close to 11 and she woke up around 1am because she was really cold. Normally I don't go get her during the night, but everyone was in tents around us and I didn't want to wake everyone up. So she joined me in my sleeping bag and it was straight up hell for the rest of the night. She went right back to sleep, but I was half in half out of my sleeping bag, freezing and trying to make sure she wasn't suffocating. I went in and out of sleep for the next several hours until she woke up screaming mad at 5am. She cries loudly for a while because she was awake, but wanted to be sleeping. Once we calmed her down she was wide awake and I was going to cry if we were going to have to start our day already. I said a little prayer that she would go back to sleep so I could get a nap in before the day started. Around 5:45 she went back to sleep until 8am. Never under estimate a tired mom's prayer! 

Mckenzie is the 3rd of 6 new babies to join the family in the space of a year, so needless to say Mckenzie wasn't the only baby crying and we all woke up really tired Friday morning. 

We spent the day hanging out, playing at the pool that's attached to the camp ground and keeping the babies happy. Napping is almost impossible. It's too hot in the tent to keep the baby in there, but taking the pack and play outside in the shade is too distracting for them to relax. Eventually Mckenzie figured it out and got a couple good naps in. 

She was so much fun!! She loved playing with her cousins and all her aunts and uncles. I like just letting her be free and crawl and explore on her own as I watch in the distance. She is such a curious and mischievous baby- it's one of my favorite personality traits she has.

To end the reunion we all met back up at Bart's dad's house for family pictures. Almost 40 people- I was impressed it happened! At some point or another most babies were crying. I'm sure it was quite a scene to the outsider. I love being part of such a great family. Family is the greatest blessing of my life, and my in-laws are no exception to that blessing.

8 Miles

I was M.I.A last week from the blogging world but there was plenty of stuff going on! I started the week off sick and spent Wednesday on the couch watching Million Dollar Listings L.A. it's my new guilty pleasure. 

On Thursday we took off to Jackson Hole Wyoming for a little Bowen family reunion! 4 days of camping. I think that's the longest time I've spent in a tent and smelling like a fire. It was a blast. We biked, hiked, swam and floated our way through the weekend. I will post pics of our adventures later. 

The best part of the trip? The 8 MILE run Bart and I went on early Saturday morning. We took off and headed south down a long road with the Grand Tetons on our right and giant trees on our left. It was a beautiful morning and an amazing run. It was full of hills and we totally rocked it! I felt super hard core with my CamelBak and headlamp strapped on. It was my longest run to date and I was so happy. Bart and I were having a great time. I can't tell you how amazing it feels to be able to run long distances. I could have kept going that morning. It was the perfect equation for a successful run!

80 Days of Summer

Okay kids, it's time to try something new. I'm going to call it 80 Days of Summer and it's going to be pretty B.A. (hopefully). As you know I'm married to a teacher. And that said teacher has the whole summer off. Since my teacher-husband has the summer off I'm assuming we'll be doing lots-o-fun things.

So what's the plan? 

All summer (From June 1 to around Aug 20) I am going to be documenting our summer days, nights and adventures.

I'm going to attempt to post every day (But let's be honest, that's not going to happen) so at least 5 times a week is going to seem like a success to me. I'm not promising anything spectacular but I think it will be a fun change in my blogging life. Don't worry, when people are stupid or something funny happens that will be documented as well.

So to kick things off right, here are a few pictures from our weekend. Bart and I went down to St. George to visit my best friend Sarah. We had an awesome time and on Monday we visited Red Cliffs Recreation Area. We went on this bad ass hike that included scaling the walls and jumping off cliffs.

The day was hot and the water was freezing. It was such a fun day!

Spring Break with the Bowens

ahh. home sweet home. Our vacation was great, but I don't think anyone would argue the beauty of one's own bed.

 Our vacation consisted of windy roads, rolling hills and lots of green. it was beautiful in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada's and I think I would be okay living in some of the places we passed. (But only if the population is more than 32)The whole first day driving around I was obsessed with the scenery, but I did eventually get sick of the windy roads. We went for a run the first morning we were there (that's right, we exercised on this vacation) and I could have gone for miles just enjoying the view. I did get lost though and freaked Bart out a little bit so we didn't go running again for his peace of mind. 

We first stopped at a cute little gold mining town going through all the old shops and buildings. It was a beautiful day and some awesome color everywhere.

We also stopped at Mercer's Cavern and Moaning Cavern, getting to see some pretty great stuff underground. Since there was no natural lighting down there our depth perception was WAY off so this place was much bigger than what we were seeing. Our pictures didn't do these places justice, but we still had to attempt to document them.

After Angel's Camp, we headed to San Fransisco for the next 1.5 days. The city was awesome, but I was happy to leave. I don't love cities. I can only handle so much traffic and people and confusing street signs with no numbers :)

We decided to rent bikes and ride to the Golden Gate Bridge and it was the perfect way to see the bridge and the piers. The last few miles heading back were pretty miserable. We were going off of a bowl of cereal from 6 hours before and had already gone 11 miles on bikes (and we don't ride bikes usually) so I was kind of grumpy until we got some food, then we were okay.

The next morning before we headed out, we went up to the Muir Woods to see some Redwoods. We have been to the Redwood Forest on the Oregon/California border, so we weren't totally fascinated with the park, but it was still a lot of fun. Bart went crazy with the camera and we walked out of there with 200 new photos.

After the park we drove to Oakland and went to the temple. It was a beautiful temple overlooking the city.