Deer Valley

In the last year Mark has started doing the Health and Fitness portion of the "Leadership Training Week" for Franklin Covey. It takes place about every month or so at different resorts here in Utah (i.e. Homestead, Sundance). But just recently they changed the location to The Lodges up at Deer Valley Resort. With the new changes Mark needed to be there 2 days so rather than drive up and back they graciously put us up in an AMAZING room-- all expenses paid! Wow!!!!
The room was not just a room, but consisted of a master bedroom and bath, another bathroom off the hallway a full blown kitchen with all the amenities a bar and dinner table, a nice living room with a fireplace and a large deck extending from the bedroom and living room. When we walked in we were stunned, to say the very least. It was beautiful and far beyond anything we would have stayed in on our own.

Also, one day my parents and brother Pierson came up and dad, Pierson and I skied (I love Deer Valley, it's the only place I like to ski anymore because local passes are such a great deal and the lifts are NEVER busy), while my mom graciously watch baby Meg. I haven't had the opportunity to ski in a few years and it was so fun, even though the snow wasn't that great being so early in the season. When you ski at Deer Valley it's the whole experience that's great, now just the slopes.

We had a wonderful time! Thank you Mark and Mom for making this all possible-- oh yeah and thanks Covey!

So Many Important things

Time flies by all too quickly and I don't get (or should I say make), the opportunity to write things down. Megan has hit some major milestones this last month and I think it's time I jot those down:

Monday, November 26, 2007-- Sat alone for the first time (about 20-30 seconds)
Said first word "dada", although I'm not so sure she knows what it means

Tuesday, November 27, 2007-- Got her first tooth on her lower right side

Thursday, November 28, 2007-- Learned to "army crawl"

Since that very busy week in Megan's life she's been busily practicing up on her mobility skills and is a much more content baby. Before she always wanted to be held up to where she could see everything that was going on and now she prefers to be able to move out on her own (although she still likes me close by). Then yesterday, Sunday, December 16, 2007, she popped up on her knees all by herself. She doesn't get that she can move better in that position, but it's only a matter of time until she does. Also, today she started to imitate my noises. I was making a popping sound with my lips that she thought was so funny and interesting and suddenly she started to click her tongue on her lips. Every time I would then click my tongue, she would do it back. It was so cute. It's so fascinating how fast they grow and learn. We are truly blessed to have such a fun little girl in our family!

More from Mexico

Here are a few more pictures from our trip to Mexico. Most of them are from the zipline tour we went on (monkey in the cage, hanging out by the river, and if you look really close up in the sky you can see little dots of people flying through the air over the canyon).
Also, Meg "Muffin" (as my dad calls her) and her grandpa in the pool.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Four days after Pierson returned home we all left for a week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It was fun to be back as a family, with all my siblings together again. We had a marvelous time, playing at the beach, hanging out at the pool, and seeing some sights. Megan was not so sure she cared for the beach (I think the waves kind of freaked her out). So Mark, Meg and I spent our time mostly at the pool.
We stayed at a resort right on the beach so we could head up and put Megan down for her much needed naps, which was nice because she isn't so great at sleeping on the go (except she does sleep really good on the plane).
Travel days down and back were long because we had some lengthy layovers in Guadalajara, but we still had fun eating and talking. The plane ride down from Guadalajara to Puerto Vallarta was pretty intense. We were in a little "puddle jumper" type plane and we hit a little turbulence. It felt like we were on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride at Disneyland.
One day we all headed up in the mountains and did a Jungle Zip-Line tour. First the rest of my family went up and we stayed at the bottom looking at the monkey's and snakes and sitting by the river. Then, when the boys and my parents were done, they took Megan and Mark and I went up. It was very fun. The zip lines were long and some were VERY high, but we really had fun. Although, I'm not so sure my mom had fun since Megan was pretty upset that I left her. She decided that week that she wanted mom,and only mom. She didn't like anyone else to hold her. Part of that attitude was quite endearing, but I felt bad for everyone else, and it would have been nice to eat a meal in peace, but I love her dearly anyway.
We also spent one evening wandering around down town. It was neat to see where and how the people live down there. The taxi ride down there was pretty crazy since driving laws don't really exist. We just had to hold on for the ride. Mark also had a good time bringing back his old Spanish skills from the mission. It was nice to have a translator on hand. And I even got to do a little para sailing!

It was a great trip and a great big thank you to Mom and Dad Willhite for that one. Mostly it was just nice to be away from "it all" for a while. No cell phones, clients, no work. Just lots of time to spend together. We miss Mark with his crazy schedule so it was a great opportunity for us to be together as a family and for Megan to have a little more one on one with her daddy. It was a great way to spend Thanksgiving week!

Welcome Home Elder Pierson Willhite

On November 14 my brother Pierson returned from the Birmingham, England Mission. He spent most his days in middle England and Wales (hence the very cool hat). Unfortunately, in the chaos of the moment I was unable to get any real good photos. Megan has warmed up quickly to her easy going and very caring uncle. We are so grateful for his service and are happy to have him home.

Blogging

Okay, I know, to everyone who reads this (because I know there are sooo many of you who have been anxiously awaiting my return to the bloggin world, haha), I apologize! I officially get an "F" in blogging. I have never been good at record keeping of ANY kind. My journal is full of "I'm sorry I haven't written for so long"'s and many other sayings like that. I don't like to scrapbook, so that's out of the question, so I thought this blog would help keep my on track. In all honesty, writing something down just once a month before would have been really GOOD. So, without further adieu, here are a few things that we have been up to this last month.