A Birthday Party and Thanksgiving

So this year for my birthday I actually got to have a party!! We had it at my friend Olivia's house and it was tons of fun.

My Birthday landed on a bad day during the week, right before a holiday, so tons of people weren't able to come but that’s ok. We had cake, talked, played games and just enjoyed the evening. My party was actually the day after my birthday.

For my actual birthday my boyfriend Alan took me out right after I got home from work. He took me out to Aristo's, which is a Greek restaurant here in Salt Lake City. I love Greek food and was so excited. It was perfect. After that he took me over to temple square and we had a carriage ride over to City Creek.

I'd never been on a Carriage ride so even though it was freezing cold I was more than happy to jump in the buggy.

We got to cuddle up in blankets anyway. After that we went back to his place, had hot coco to warm up and watched a movie. Yes it was the perfect birthday. I was sad I forgot my camera, but I took a few pic's on my phone.

Thanksgiving this year was exciting! Alan and I went over to his grandmother’s house and chatted with Aunts, Uncles and Cousins, while having some of his grandmother’s wonderful pie and yams. We couldn't stay there to long before we had to jump in the car and hurry on up to Tremonton for the main dinner. My sister and her family were going to be there so I had to see them. We loaded up the table with food and all settled in to a wonderful dinner. The food was amazing. I sadly couldn't eat to much because I was so stuffed from the pie and yams at Al's grandma's house.

After dinner we played some card games and then had another little birthday party for Lisa and I.

We had pie for our cakes and then opened presents. Or the nephews opened our presents. You can't help, but let them do it. They were so cute. It ended up being a wonderful weekend!

Tepoztlán and Teotihuacan

I loved my trip to Mexico City, but after awhile I was glad to be able to get outside the boarders of that concrete jungle out to something a little more country and to what Roberto called True Mexico.
The first place I was able to go was a city called Tepoztlán it is southeast of Mexico City.

It was so beautiful to see the countryside as it passed and the fields full of stacks of Hey.

As we entered the city it looked like a little village you would expect to see in Mexico. Colorful buildings, little markets in the streets, lots of little places to buy wonderful food.

We first went for a hike up to the top of the mountain above the city. The hike was 2 miles. At first it was really easy with stairs cut into the rocks, but it gradually got more difficult. We had to start crawling over rocks and hiking up switch backs in a deep clef in the rock.

The day we choose to go up happened to be a holiday. There were many people so it was good that we started early. Access was restricted for people traveling through the narrow passage and the line soon would take hours to get to the top.

It was hot and humid and a hard hike, but once we got to the top it was worth it. The view of the valley was beautiful and the temple, though small was very pretty. We enjoyed our sit at the top for awhile before heading down.

At the bottom we went through the markets, ate the best quesadilla's I've ever had with cactus, mushrooms and pumpkin flowers.

We also had Elote or Corn Ice cream which was amazing. We also went into a cathedral and relaxed on the grounds before ending our day.

The next day we went Northeast of the city to the Temple site of Teotihuacan. The Area was huge! The first part of the site that we visited was the Quetzalcoatl Temple. It was ringed by 12 other smaller temples and one large on in front.

We soon took our walk through the avenue of the dead through the smaller buildings of the city over to the gigantic Pyramid of the Sun.

It was huge and we hiked all the steps to the top. The steps were steep and we had to hike sideways across them to keep our strength. The top had a wonderful view of the ruins and the surrounding countryside.

All the buildings in the ruins had been painted but I thought they were beautiful the way they were. The colors of the rocks they used to build it were so colorful and there were smaller decorative rock in the mortar.


I loved that you could hike all over the buildings and explore the city and imagine what it used to be like when many people lived there. We then made our way through all of the junk sellers and headed the rest of the way down the avenue of the dead to the Pyramid of the moon.

The steps on this Pyramid were very steep and Roberto decided not to hike this one, but I'm glad I did. The view of the Sun Pyramid and the Avenue of the dead was my favorite. I'm so glad I was able to come and have this wonderful experience.
The only thing I regret from this last day was buying a straw hat to shad the sun. The Sun Pyramid really lived up to its name and I got really Sun Burned.

Make sure to bring cash for all the little junk shops here. If you are looking for a Souvenir this is the place to find it. I'm glad I was able to enjoy this my last day. It was beautiful and all the walking and Hiking was worth it!!