Mexico peeps

Last year, I came with family and ended up meeting friends.  This year, I came with friends and ended up meeting family! I knew Stuart, Carol, and Blake Smith were coming from Layton, UT with a small crew, but I was surprised when they showed up with people I recognized:

My super cute cousins, Stephanie and Lauren Adamson, and my tall handsome cousin Blake Smith.  The Adamsons are from my mom's side and the Smiths are from my dad's, so I'm the only relative they have in common. The two families are neighbors.  It was a rare treat to get to hang out with them a bit!
Also along for the work were my dad's cousin Ed and his wife Shana, who are almost 70!!  Shana's nearly blind, and Ed's not so speedy, but I'm impressed that they would bother to come out in the cold and work however they can.  My uncle Stuart, the leader of this crew, was so sick he flew down on Tuesday and barely made it through the week.  Still, his crew managed to finish two small houses in only 4 days.

Not that we are all work and no play.  The local church hosted a New Year's Eve dance on Dec 30.  The Americans and Mexicans swapped dance moves, the teenagers flirted it up, and we all managed to have a good time in spite of the bags under our eyes.
Of course, that leaves the Real New Year's Eve for a Roadhouse Fiesta!!  We had a pinata, played boisterous games of Ninja and Step Twister, ran outside at midnight and listened to the celebrations all over the city, and promptly fell asleep at 12:15 am.


And so my year comes full circle, ending exactly as it began.  Was I glad to be home?  Absolutely.  Would I have been anywhere else? Not for the world!