The Long Ride Home...

We spent 14 hours in the van getting across the border and all the way to Flagstaff on Friday. Saturday morning we awoke with renewed energy and excitement to see the Grand Canyon. I have never seen it and I found myself getting more excited the closer we got. We arrived at the South Rim about 2 hours after leaving Flagstaff...That was an easy ride. The canyon did not disappoint. WOW!
After about 2 hours there we forced ourselves back into the van and hunkered down for the long, long ride home.
We made it. Daylight Saving Time didn't do us any favors since we were in Mexico last weekend when it changed and they don't recognize it. So we got home even an hour later than we thought we did.
All that matters is we are home. We are safe. And we are tighter as a family and better as individuals for having spent the past week having fun and giving of ourselves to those who are less fortunate.

Our Last Night in Guaymas

A week on the Ocean wouldn't be complete without a lot of great seafood...served with tacitos, guacamole, salsa, chips and fresh veggies.
On our final night there we didn't have dinner plans with any of the group so I decided to buy fresh lobster and shrimp from a vendor who parked his truck in the parking lot of the condos every evening.
Upon arriving at his truck I realized he sold a whole lot more than fresh fish! It was heaven..fresh asparagus, fresh guacamole, pico and refried beans (made that day by his wife)He had garlic, onions, limes and everything else I may have wanted to season the meal to perfection. It was so much fun cooking up a delicious meal of fresh food while Brad and the kids played on the beach with the sun setting.
After dinner we caught up to the group (who Cairo had been with for the past 2 days) for a final farewell bonfire on the beach. They had ingredients for s'mores and we all talked and reflected on the great week we had in Mexico.

It Wasn't All Work and NO Play...

Our accommodations in San Carlos were so beautiful. We stayed in a condo on the beach. This beach was just amazing. Everyday we could wake up and go out to find new treasures delivered by the tide overnight. Large, beautiful shells, sand dollars, hermit crabs, etc. Never in my life have I been on a beach where I could actually find shells the size of my hand! Cairo loved to take a bag out every morning and hunt for new interesting shells to add to her collection.
The condo also boasted a great swimming pool (but the water was very cold). So we spent afternoon at the pool. The rest of our free time was beach time.

A Morning at a Local School

We took school supplies that had been donated to a primary school. After delivering the supplies we helped clean up the playground, which was made up of uneven hard dirt and lose rocks and a lot of trash, played soccer with the school kids, painted desks and doors. It was a hot morning and the work was challenging but we all left with a great feeling of having made a difference in the lives of a few school children and their teachers.

Sam quickly found a way to communicate with school kids his age...chess! He was able to spend a few hours sitting and playing chess with many different children his age.


Charlie is NOT afraid of a little hard labor! Give this guy a pick and set him to work taking out weeds on the playground. He was a trooper. He also helped carry school supplies into the school and played soccer with the kids his age.

Jack and Brad taking school supplies into the school.

Cairo and her new friends and Charlie getting ready to clean up the playground!


The kids played soccer with the school children..

Mr. Boyd

This is Mr. Boyd. He heads up the service done by the SUU Construction Mgt. team in Mexico. What an awesome guy. He took our kids under his wing and made sure they were part of everything they wanted to be. In these pics he has Sam helping him finish off some plumbing before they pour the concrete porch of a home.

Meet Rosarita, Single Mother of 5, Now with Shelter

(Rosarita receiving a blanket from Cairo. The Bear Scouts in my troop here in Cedar City made 2 blankets to send with us to give away.)

This woman has 5 children, is a single parent and has been living in make-shift shelter for a long, long time. After the visit from SUU's Const. Management majors and their generous time and energy and donations, she now has a home to protect her and her children from the elements. All of her material belongings are what you see behind her in the photo.

We were fortunate enough to meet her and a few of her children and to spend an afternoon helping with the progress of her home. What an amazing experience.

This is the beginning of the home. It was started and brought to this point when the SUU group was in Guaymas in December. This past week it was completed. Now there is a roof, door, windows, bathroom for Rosarita and her family.

The four Cook Kids, reporting to work! The construction management majors were kind enough and patient enough to take time to teach the kids how to use a trowel. Uncle Skip would be sooo proud. The kids helped smooth out Rosarita's new front porch.





I thought it amazing and touching that Rosarita had protected her flower garden from the construction of her home. Imagine, she didn't have a home but she had flowers and had the desire to enjoy nature's beauty as her family of 6 survived between 4 cinder block walls since December, waiting until now to get a roof over their heads, concrete floor instead of dirt, and actual doors and windows.