Cookin' Vallarta in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

This year my hubby earned the Presidents Club trip at work.  We got to go to Puerto Vallarta. It was so beautiful and a wonderful escape from the freezing Utah winter.  I'll tell you about where we stayed another time.  Right now I want to share our favorite part of the whole trip.

Cookin' Vallarta

Cookin' Vallarta is a cooking class that takes you through every step of the food process: travel, shopping, prepping, and cooking.   Our group was picked up by Enrique, and taken to a little market to shop for our supplies.

The fishmonger. 

Lots of fresh produce.

Enrique spent a lot of time explaining to us history of food, how to choose different foods, and just making us laugh.  After we had acquired all our ingredients, we hopped back into our van and headed back to Enrique's house. 

Where we prepped,

squished,

snacked,

and boiled our food.

Enrique and his wife, "Honey," were so much fun to spend the day with.  Laughing, cooking, drinking, and, of course, eating.  They also sent us home with their recipe book so we could reproduce what we created together.

The food was fantastic.  We could have spent our whole trip with these two.  When we head back to Puerto Vallarta, Cookin' Vallarta will definitely be on our list of things to do.

Happy Art Birthday!

This year my Sweet Pea wanted to celebrate her birthday with an Art Party.  So, this is what I came up with:

Painting Station

Painting with all the colors

Sparkle Bug Station

Making Sparkle Bugs was the one and only requirement I had to fulfill to make her happy.

Sculpting Station

Balloon Break

Who doesn't like to chase around balloons?  I mean, really?!

Of course, there has to be:

Cake

Making a wish!

Rainbow Cake

Cleaning Up

Cleaning can be just as much fun as the party.

The Festival of Trees

I just love the Festival of Trees.  It's a show at the South Town Expo Center where people have donated trees, wreaths, quilts, and other fabulous Christmas decorations to be put up for auction.  This auction is to raise money for Primary Children's Hospital.

We do our best to go every year.  There is so much creativity out there is amazes me.  I thought I would share some of what we experienced.

First there are the Sports Teams:

This was just an athletic tree.

The Broncos Tree

The Real Salt Lake Tree

 

Utah Trees are always some of my favorite!

The Disney Trees:

Frozen

Mickey Mouse 

Princess Tree

Baymax

Princess Sofia

Tinkerbell

Monsters Inc.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Brave

The Multicultural Trees:

Maori Tree

A World Tree

Mexico Tree

Native American Tree

Hawaiian Tree

A Travel Around the World Tree

Cartoon Trees:

Sponge Bob

Curious George

Minions

Some of the most creative and elaborate sets:

A Night at the Movies

Presents "Under" the Tree

A Hanger Tree

Two Autism designs

All Pink for Baby

This was two trees.  One was all about education and reading.  The other was all about dolls.

 A play place for the kids

The Super Hero Trees:

A few of Avenger Trees

Star Wars

Batman

Random Stuff:

"I Spy" Tree

Utah & BYU tents

Yamaha Bike and Tool Box

Play House

Normal Christmas Stuff:

Elves Night Out

Nutcracker Tree

Misfits Tree

Snowmen

Magical Trees:

Hogwarts

Wicked Witch Trees

Wreathes:

For our Home Town Heros:

Police Tree

 Fireman Tree

The Gingerbread Houses:

Santa's House

How The Grinch Stole Christmas.  "Dump it at Mount Crumpit"

Up

A tribute to Utah

A mixture of fun shows.  Box Trolls, How to Train Your Dragon, Home, and Inside Out.

The Haunted Mansion

A beautiful Carousel 

A couple of really well done houses.

It's a really fun event.  There is a Kids Corner with activities for the little ones.  There are two stages on either end of the event center where people perform for everyone there.  If you get the chance to go, I highly recommend it.