another roadtrip well done...

man, this weekend was such a delight.

an exclusive get-away to Alton, UT, snowshoeing, sledding, Wii playing, movie watching, eating, cuddling, sleeping - the list goes on.

thanks, brookie cookie, for yet another "epic" adventure!

4' walls of snow... can it get better?

these girls are my heart's desire!

sinking in the treacherous powder...

... and then being saved.

okay, and for the record... this (or one of it's kind) will be the next member of my family!

this was our nasty spill when our 6 person, mexican sledding-train spun out of control, tangling us in a cold, snowy heap.

we lit an old cabin on fire. and it was awesome!

Thanks again for a fabulous weekend, my peeps.

CHEERS to another stellar adventure!

mehico

hola! mi nombre es Lindsey y te quiero Mexico!

translation: I HAD THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!

well, the Cracroft Christmas was yet again a perfect success. we ended up building 3 homes in 4 days and delivered 16 blankets to various families in the town. my cute 2nd graders tied 32 fleece blankets as part of our service project this year, delivering half of them to Primary Children's and half to the people of Puerto Penasco. the people LOVED the blankets and i fell in LOVE with the people!! if you can't find me around these parts after graduation, you can find me in my new pad down south.

shanners came along.

and jon. and dustin.

and we sure love this place!

on the way down, we got caught in a bit of Christmas traffic at the damn Dam. but a pretty epic view of the dam at night. courtesy of Juan.

we played soccer with the local yokels...

greatest construction manager EVER!

and there it is... one of the finest houses you'll ever see.

and now onto the people with whom i fell in love:

Luis

...and his dog, Fifi!

The Barragon Family!!

This cute family...

Javier's family:

The OTHER Javier's Family.

Those boys are the cutest kids.

and then this is how we spent New Years...

incognito.

Jose was the best "rapper" we found...

and who doesn't LOVE mango pops?

he sure does!

oh, but wait. there's more.

on our way across the border back to the "other side" i happened upon this awesome tortuga. appropriately named Tommy the Tattle Turtle.

Tommy is our new 2nd grade class moto from the story "The Tortoise and the Hare."

"Slow and steady goes to college!"

Feliz Anos Nuevo, yo!!!

the big city...

it was a cold dark November night when I got the phone call.

"Lindsey," he said, "hear me out on this one. You. Me. New York City. Two weeks. What do you say?" well, after going over the financial details (which rule my existence these days), i decided New York at Christmas time? I could NEVER say no.

so, it was official. we packed our bags and we were off on what would be the grandest adventure of our lives!!

Amid the dozen of unexpected misfortunes (which I'll list at the bottom for your entertainment), this was by far the most fun and adventurous trip of my twenty-something years. a forecast for what should be an amazing 2010!!

Manhattan Bridge overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge and the City

This is how we felt after dealing with a very frustrating Delta Airlines

(if only we had known what else was to come...)

a piece of art

"those are some freakin' big ornaments!"

"oh hey Lindsey, look! it's Radio City!"

the famous tree

pre-ice skating at Rockefeller

NBC studio tour. Dustin HAD to see the SNL studio...

all the night lights

we had to loosen up a bit before Matisyahu

and there he is in all his Rasta glory

we came out of the concert to this...

these hot dogs... i do not recommend

we waited 2 hours to eat at Serendipity

I fell in love

and here's the list:

1) my luggage was checked too late

2) had to re-book flight - $50 each

3) got to JFK but my luggage didn't

4) luggage scheduled to arrive at hotel that night - it didn't

5) we showed up at the wrong hotel

6) had to walk 4 freezing blocks to the right hotel

7) woke up the next morning to no luggage - had to wear the same stinky clothes

8) button broke on my coat as we were walking out the door

9) got sick - had to telephone doctor for some medicine

10) took the train into Times Square to pick-up meds - meds weren't ready

11) dropped unlimited Metro card on the train tracks 1 day before going home

12) planned to get to JFK wayyyyy early so we weren't late on the luggage drop BUT...

13) JFK was packed and took Delta 3 hours to get organized - so we missed our flight

14) got put on the next flight stand-by - no guarentee we'd be home for Christmas Eve

but then...

15) Dustin all of sudden became SuperMan, got me a First Class ticket on a flight directly to Salt Lake aaaand was the same flight that David Archuleta was taking home.

... I think I am safe to say that THIS was the best trip ever!!!