Free Vacation!

A picture from our Free vacation- you can read about it in a paragraph further down.

First lets get some other things out of the way....Halloween was a lot of fun this year. Ulises and I held a Scary Dinner party just like we usually do at my home in the USA. Here is a link to a facebook album where the last few years of Scary Dinner are documented. I also included pictures from this year

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100649857452429.2566857.17815629&type=1&l=062277732d

Its' a costume and potluck extravaganza. This year the friends that I invited were so happy to learn some strange American traditions. So it was great! everyone was too scared to wear a costume though. Oh well.... Maybe next year!

Claudia and her pumpkins

The pumpkin Ulises bought

Ulises and I haven't carved a pumpkin yet. We were so busy with our free vacation ( I'll get to it in a moment) that we had even pushed the Scary dinner to Nov 3. So we bought our pumpkin last night. Ulises got an eating pumpkin which is really thick and dense ( because its for eating!) and when I told him it would crack if we tried to carve it he got so sad. But he was so thoughtful to try to get a pumpkin knowing it was a tradition from home I really wanted to do! So we will probably try and carve it this weekend. isn't he so sweet?  But I did get to carve some real pumpkins with the kids I work with. So I wasn't totally lacking. But I wanted to introduce the activity to Ulises!



But what about the title of this post? Free vacation? The vacation that made us change halloween to November 3rd?

Yes! We got a free vacation at a 4 star hotel in Tarragona, Spain! It was a gift from a member of our Stake. You see... There was a "Marriage Conference" being sponsored by the Stake (church). It was a chance for couples to get away and meet other couples in the Stake. The price was too much for Ulises and I to even consider. But then one afternoon Ulises got a phone call from this man saying he paid our ticket and would love for us to go! So we went! We spent 3 nights and 4 days at a wonderful conference. We had plenty of time for ourselves and enjoyed time at the indoor pool ( Outdoors was too cold to dip in the ocean or the outdoor pools) and enjoyed unlimited food ( I gained a couple kilo's those days!) The weather was lovely. We strolled through the beach town, went to the harbor, relaxed in our hotel room, and also got to enjoy meeting new people! There were mostly really ( really) old couples there. But there were a few others. Ulises and I were the youngest couple there ( aside from another couple on the committee) but we had a great time. Ulises is really great at making friends. He has a gift that I lack. He is never intimmidated by age or station. He just loves and makes friends so easily!

Now we have come back to real life, work for me and School for him. I have already started listening to Christmas music (cheers me up from the election results, too!) and looking forward to a Thanksgiving dinner that Ulises and I will try and have. Time seems to go quickly and slowly at the same time. I hope I can make the Christmas spirit last a long time.....It will make being far from home more bearable.

My dad and niece at our wedding

Me and my dad dancing!

Oh yeah... at home... My dad has been called as bishop of our congregation. Its a position that any priesthood bearing member of our congregation can be called upon to fill. Its temporary and unpaid. Its a huge time commitment and usually lasts 5 years. We are happy for him and feel so blessed that he can serve our neighbors and friends there in Utah. I think he will be a great Bishop.






well, thats it for now!