Hola Mexico!

Our first official vacation as a married couple was a success! We loaded up and headed to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for a week full of fun! We had to leave our poor little Gracie behind and she was super sad but we left her in good hands and I think she had fun!

We have never done the all inclusive thing before and have to say we really didn't know what to expect! The airport in Mexico was different and I think that if we were not traveling with experienced Mexico travelers we would have never made it to the resort! When you get off the plane, it is swarming with all kinds of people wanting to sell you all kinds of packages and excursions during your stay! We made it to the taxi and we were off!

Our Ride In!

The city was crazy, glad we didn't have to drive!

We were definitely taken by surprise as we were greeted at the taxi and the people took our bags and we were handed glasses of champagne and cold wet towels to break up the humidity and then escorted to the concierge!

We have arrived! 

Ready to get the party started!

Just being in the lobby checking in was breathtaking and the room was not shabby either!

Concierge Lobby!

Our Concierge, Salvador!

Our cool door! Bob's favorite part, you just had to hold the door key up to the door and it just unlocked!

The view from our balcony!

The adult only pool and hot tub!

Beautiful views!

We started off the week with a bang and probably had a little too much excitement with the tequila shots...most of us were passed out by 6pm and the rest of them got cut off at the bar before sundown! We got cut off...at a bar... at an all inclusive resort.... really? lol

Tequila!

Margarita time!

Bob was so sweet that he planned a romantic dinner for two on the beach for my birthday! Quite possibly the best meal I had ever had... the food was not overly exciting but the atmosphere was out of this world! We had interesting food that I had never had before and Bob picked the meal because he said I would love it! As our appetizer, we had foie gras, Bob said I had to try it and he could not believe I had never had it! When we got to dinner, it was served, and it was so pretty! Again, Bob was in disbelief that I had never had it so I asked what it was.... overstuffed goose liver... what?! It is like a pate type thing that was sliced and you put it on little toast slices and then put this apple chutney stuff on top...best stuff ever!

Steak and lobster for me! 

Lamb chops for Bob!

Cheesecake for dessert!

And it was at sunset!

So romantic!

We made the trip with some of our friends, we were lucky that they invited us on their special trip! It was Aaron and Lindsey's third time to the resort so they obviously are big fans! And they were celebrating their 2nd anniversary, and that just happen to fall on my 31st birthday and Aaron's parents, Ronnie and Vanessa's 24th wedding anniversary! Needless to say, we partied non stop!

Aaron and Lindsey's anniversary!

Ronnie and Vanessa's anniversary! 

My special dessert at dinner! Josh wrote my name on a piece of paper and they apparently couldn't read it so I was  Kim Blooks!

Birthday dinner!

They left all these goodies in our room for my birthday!

There were so many things to do there that we never had to leave the resort!

Catching rays!

Caribbean night!

Rock and Roll Concert!

Fireworks!

Lots of beach vendors for shopping!

Pina colada sippin'!

Sea turtle release!

Fire show!

Parasailing!

Baggo!

Yes, we did go parasailing! We were a little bummed that we could not go together because I think we were both a little nervous but after watching them do it all week, we decided to go! It is much different the way they do it, you actually take off from the beach and land on the beach! It was so much fun and we were so high in the air! Lindsey said she saw a huge sea turtle and another guy said he saw a sting ray... we saw nothing but a bunch of gorgeous houses and views! I was looking for sharks though but saw none!

Lindsey!

Me!

Bob! 

Vanessa!

The beach we were on was completely private in that it had mountains on both sides and the only people that were allowed on it were the people staying there! It was awesome! Got some great scene pics!

This house next to the resort was awesome!

Tiki huts!

There were these exciting mountain rock things that you could see out in the middle of the ocean...they were so cool! 

Not sure if you can see the crabs but they were all over these rocks!

There were really great restaurants at the resort but I have to say our favorite one was the last night we were there... it was an Italian restaurant and it was so nice! We had to wait a really long time to get seated and Ronnie went to check on when we were going to sit and apparently made a scene so we got to sit in the private wine cellar...it was awesome!

Saying goodbye!

Our fancy dining room the last night! 

Tequila shots of course! 

This place had mirrored ceilings!

Group shot!

In the end, it was a great vacation! I could go on for pages and pages of pictures but you get the idea! Cannot wait to go back...planning on 2015?! You should come too!

What's New?!

So...I haven't blogged in a minute so I thought I would do a brief update of everything going on in our world! Nothing too exciting... The Hogs have started baseball and are doing great so far! We have been to a few games! Our friends Brandon and Michelle have an awesome box and they are so nice to invite us to come hang sometimes! It is loads of fun!

Our view from the "cheap seats"

Posing with Ribby

Despite all of the controversy going on with the Hogs football at the moment, we are hoping for a successful season for them as well!

The golf pros...Bob....

We have been doing lots of fun things on the weekend as well...like golf! So fun of Bobby to invite me along, I had a great time driving him around and taking pics!

...and Rob!

Cute golf pics!

The cheering squad!

 Then there was Easter... we had lots of great food with Bob's family and mine. We got in our Easter best to go to church with grandma Sunday morning!

In two weeks I will be 31...not sure how excited I am about it...I will then be 30-something.... But for my birthday we are planning a fun trip with some friends to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico...it's not really for my birthday but it is fun to tell people that! It was nice of the Mears' to invite us along on their trip! We are so excited, as this will be our first official trip together as a couple...we are calling it the honeymoon we never had! We have both been preparing and have done a great job losing weight and trying to get beach ready!

This is where we will be staying for 7 nights, all-inclusive!
Don't be jealous! :)

Cannot wait to share all the pics I will take when we get back home! I even bought myself a birthday present... a snazzy camera bag that holds ALL of my cameras, even the video cam, so be prepared!

"Huh?!"

If you have been around me for longer than 5 minutes, you will probably think "Huh?!" is one of my favorite words...for the record, it is not! I found out today that I am not a complete moron, I am truly deaf! After years of making people repeat everything they say sometimes 3 times or more, I finally broke down and went to the doctor... I went to visit the audiologist today where they put me in this super small room and hooked me up to these ear buds and made sounds and talked into my ears at different times, on different sides which took about 15 minutes. Come to find out, I have hearing loss in both ears! In my left ear, I can hear but cannot understand what you say no matter how loud it is said, only muffled noise. The doctor expressed concern that my hearing loss is not symmetrical in the fact that I cannot hear 100% out of either ear but the left is much worse than the right. So, he decided to do a test called an ABR (no clue what that stands for) where they hook these electrode things up to my head and behind my ears and make these super crazy noises in my ears to see what my brain waves were doing.

I couldn't help taking a crazy picture!

So this ABR test was inconclusive and did not show exactly what was causing the problem. I am not sure if this meant I did not have brain waves... lol! So now I have to go for an MRI next week to see what may be causing the problem. The doc is afraid that I may have a tumor blocking the nerves which may be disrupting the sound waves. If this is the case, the tumor would have to be removed even though it would most definitely be benign, it could cause problems with other things further down the road.

The Anatomy of the Ear

Just for an anatomy lesson, the little snail shaped thing in the middle is the cochlea (which makes you hear) the blue part in the middle are the nerves which make the sounds, where the sound goes in is where the high pitched sounds are processed and as it gets closer to the middle of the snail part that is the low pitched sounds. So this could be damaged from just nerve damage, born that way, genetic stuff, etc.  And then the little yellow nerves on the top-right of the picture are what he is worried may be blocked which would not allow sounds to process correctly. 

So, in conclusion, if it is not a tumor, it is not fixable so I will be saying "Huh?!" a lot! Probably followed by a "do what?!", "hmm?!", and a "one more time..." and if I still don't get it, just text it to me! Ha! I will also have to do everything possible to preserve my "good" ear so no scuba diving, gun shooting, or lawn mowing for me in the future! I will keep you posted on the results!

And we now now why I haven't been to the doctor until now...