Cancun Christmas (Part 2)

So, this post is basically a photo overload of our vacation! We did a ton of fun stuff:

Snorkeling. Funny story: I am afraid of fish (yeah, yeah, I know I am crazy--Mike has been sure to tell me many times regarding this subject). So, I don't really do the snorkeling thing! I stayed back and helped babysit this morning while a lot of the family went snorkeling. They had a great time together:

We spent one day at Xel-ha (it's a super cool...I don't know what to call it...natural water park?). There is proof in the pictures that I did get in the water (which had fish) for a bit:

(Almost) The whole gang

Left Side: (Top:) Mike and Kallie (Middle:) In a huge Tree House (Bottom:) Playing with the kids in a tiny river. Middle: Melanie and I. Right: (Top:) Playing with Kallie in the kid river (Bottom:) Out in the water/snorkeling

One evening we got everyone ready and took some family pictures:

The Mike Merkley Family

We attempted to get a picture of Grammie and Grandfather with all of their grandkids. We didn't get a really great one of ALL of them, but they are all pretty darn cute! Kallie was a champ. She mostly just sucked on her thumb and looked around.

Grammie and Grandfather with their 4 youngest grandkids

I somehow don't have any pictures of the whole group together :( sad day. So, once I get some of those, I will have to post them later.

Brothers

We spent a lot of time on the beach. There were 2 days where the family decided to build huge sand castles. The first one is (mostly) based off of a book that Mike and his siblings have read (The Wheel of Time series). Here are a few pics:

 Sand Castle # 2 was based more on the Lord of the Rings series:

We had a Formal Night one night. We all got dressed up, played some games, and then we were able to all eat dinner at the same place and at the same time! (Since our group was so big, the only other time this really happened was as the breakfast buffet, and even then we usually weren't all there at the same time):

Just some pictures of Kallie and her cousins:

Evie had a fun time putting necklaces on Mike and flowers in his hair at dinner one night:

We took a lot of cute Kallie pictures. Here are a few:

And to top it off, here are some pictures of Kallie and I:

I am sure that there is so much more that I could post about this vacation, but I won't! We (obviously) had a wonderful time and are so grateful to Mike's parents for making this trip possible! We enjoyed every minute of it!

Cancun Christmas (Part 1)

There is a lot to post about for our Cancun trip, so I am going to break it up into 2 posts.

We were lucky enough to be able to go to Cancun over Christmas with Mike's family. It has been a long time (like 8 years or more) since Mike's family has been (mostly) together for Christmas. We had 21 of the 22 Keith Merkley's able to attend our Christmas getaway this year (Mike's brother, Ben, was the only one missing. He is serving a 2 year mission for the church in Georgia). We had a wonderful time!

We stayed at an all inclusive resort just outside of Cancun. We were picked up from the airport and drove to the resort. We were a little nervous on the way there, since we were driving through marshes and it looked like nothing was around (Mike and I both said afterward that we were thinking that our driver could kill us, rob us, and feed us to the crocodiles. That's how much of "nothingness" there was on our drive there). We were the first ones to make it to our hotel. So we got checked in and wandered the resort. It was gorgeous! Here are a few pictures of the resort that Mike's family (mostly his sister, Jessica) took:

We spent a lot of the time by the pool and at the beach. It was so fun; they had servers that came around all the time and took drink orders. So we drank a lot of (all virgin) mojitos, strawberry daiquiris, pina coladas, etc. One day, they had a guy get in a kayak in the pool and hand out fruit to everyone:

The first night we were there, they had a really cool "show" in the lobby. (I did not personally witness much of it, so I can only say what I believe I was told about it). They had these performers/dancers come (I want to say they were from the Mayan Temple?) and do a dance. The main guy had a really cool head piece on. The pictures are a little dark, but they are worth sharing: 

There was another night where they did a fire dance and drum show:

It was almost like a cruise. They had a lot of fun things going on and some cool entertainment on some of the nights.  They had 5 or 6 different restaurants to eat dinner at. One of our favorites was the Japanese restaurant where they had some Teppanyaki tables. We were able to get those tables twice. The cook(s) were amazing and they put on a good show for us:

Kallie got to touch sand and get in the ocean for the first time. I love the pictures we got of her getting her toes/legs wet for the first time:

She wasn't really a fan at first, but she got used to it!

 We got some cute pictures out in the sun:

 We had a fun Christmas celebration. We had the kids do the nativity play:

There were 3 babies born in 2012, so we had all 3 of them sit in as baby Jesus. (Kallie is on the left laying down, Shae is in the front middle, and Chris is holding Brooklyn)

Here's the family at breakfast on Christmas morning

I got a cute necklace and some matching earrings from Jessica for Christmas

Matt gave Mike a boomerang

The 2012 photo book I made for Mom and Dad (from all of the kids)

It was fun to be able to spend Christmas on the beach and be nice and warm all day; but it was even better that we got to be with the family! Thanks Mom and Dad for such a wonderful vacation!

(More to come soon!)

(Playing Catch Up) Merry Christmas!

Well, I am going to have to break the last month up into a few posts. We had a great (early) Christmas at home, spent 10 days and Christmas Day in Cancun with Mike's family, went to Utah for my brother's wedding, and then had my parents in town for a week and a half! So, there's a lot to tell! I will start with our own little Christmas season/celebration!

My Mom wanted a picture of Kallie for a Christmas frame that she had, so I dressed her up in red and took some cute pictures! I love how happy she is

We were asked to play Mary, Jospeh, and Jesus at our church Christmas celebration. Kallie did so great! She just looked around and didn't make a peep.

Loving little Ms. Kallie

She was playing with Dad, and kept jerking her head around (that's why he's blocking his face)

 

 

 

 

We had to celebrate Christmas on the 20th (since we were leaving for Cancun the next day). We had a fun time opening the great gifts we received (and then spent the afternoon/evening watching the BYU bowl game, of course)! Here are the pics we took:

Kallie surrounded by our Christmas gifts

A beautiful bow that Mike so kindly tied on Kallie's head

New jammies for Kallie

This is the AMAZING blanket that Grandma Grace made for Mike. It's all about his mission (he served in the Philippines) The blanket it huge! Mike says it's a perfect depiction of his mission.

The calendar Kallie "made" and gave to Dad for Christmas

Sporting our new BYU jewelry

Playing with/on her new pillow pet

He is the Best Dad!

We wanted to get a cute Christmas-y picture of Kallie, but she was all pictured out by this point. Ha ha, poor thing!

We had a wonderful Christmas! We are truly blessed and are so grateful for our family and friends! We hope that you each had a wonderful holiday season!