Mexico 2017

We were visiting in late December and temperatures ranged from 60-80 degrees.

Sayulita 

• Our stay at Anjali Casa Divina was perfect. Itchel, the owner, really makes you feel at home and the place is beautifully crafted and nested away
• The Real Fish Taco: mahi mahi and shrimp tacos near the beach
• Barracuda for Peruvian ceviche and the best margaritas 

Puerto Vallarta 

• We stayed in the Romantic Zone, at this VRBO
• Cafe Olla for dinner
• Nacho Daddy for live music
• This website has some good maps of the different zones of PV

Yelapa

• Renting a boat to go snorkeling and fishing was the highlight of my trip! Every seems to charge about $60 per hour. We went with Luis of Garcia Charters (whom I would recommend) for four hours. 
• Defintely go to La Playa Escondida Islas Marietas, also called The Secret Beach. Boat rides cost about $85. One option is to go with someone who has a permit to take you inside. With the other option, they will take you around the island (maybe do some snorkeling or kayaking) and provide food and an and open bar.

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Packing List

Carry On

• Passport
• Sunglasses
• Hand sanitizer 
• Kindle
• Small travel wallet
• Travel pillow 
• Writing pens

Suitcase

• Bathing suits x3
• Tops
• Blue tank top
• Long sleeve
• FFF cover up
• Sheer sarong
• Bottoms
• Exercise shorts (black old navy)
• Green linen shorts
• Jean booty shorts
• Jean shorts
• Yoga pants
• Palazzo pants
• Jeans 
• Maxi skirt 
• Blue sarong
• Dresses
• Tight dress for going out (Green dress)
• Black bathing suit cover up
• Maxi dress
• Jackets
• Jean jacket 
• Roxy jacket
• Shoes
• Chacos
• Flip flops
• Birkenstocks 
• Accessories
• Sun hat
• Purse for going out (green NY purse)

Toiletries 

• Sunscreen SPF 15, tanning lotion, after sun lotion
• Bug spray & anti itch cream 
• Antacids (margaritas, guacamole, and etc. Very acidic food equals constant heartburn)
• Probiotics
• Imodium and Cipro (just in case)
• Dramamine and sea bands 
• Baby wipes
• Bronners
• Q-tips

Electronics

• GoPro & charger 
• Bluetooth speaker & charger

Misc 

• Headlamp (of going to a remote place, like Yelapa)
• Hydroflask for beach drinks
• Nalgene for water (all places we stayed at provided drinking water to fill your bottle with, so save the plastic) 
• Wine key/bottle opener 
• Bathing suit bag
• Packing cubes 
• Snorkels

What Not to Bring:

• Beach towels- every place we stayed at provided beach towels. Anjali Casa Divina even provided chairs for us to take down to the beach.
• Curling iron and makeup- I brought these items and did not use them once. 

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Money Spent

• Flight: $450
• Food: $153
• Transportation: $16
• Beverages: $80
• Excursions: $144
• Misc: $73

TOTAL: $916

CIS 120

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/education/18college.html?em

1.  Is professor Grossman off the mark when he says “I tell my classes that if they just do what they are supposed to do and meet the standard requirements, that they will earn a C,” he said. “That is the default grade. They see the default grade as an A.” why?

Yes, I believe he is off the mark with this statement. Students who do everything that is required of them should receive an A. If that standard grade is a C, how are students supposed to know what to do to receive an A. For many students, such as myself, they are planning to apply to programs that don't accept a C GPA. If all of my teachers functioned on Grossman's philosophy I wouldn't be able to achieve my goals.

2.  What do you think is causing students to feel entitled to receive a good grade? Is it because a grade of A is now the expected default for "average" work where in reality a grade of A denotes "above average"?  Are the students prior experiences in high school or earlier the cause?  Are parents to cause "my child is perfect so it must be the instructors fault"?  

I think there is some entitlement that comes into play. Some students don't try very hard and are used to getting by in K-12. I believe some of it is play to expecting an A as an average grade. For most students, we understand that we must go above and beyond to receive an A. Students prior experiences definitely think high school or early has an impact on this expectation. There are students who worked really hard in grade school to receive A's and there are students who expected to be able to copy those that worked really hard's work and test and receive the same grade. Some parents can potentially be a factor in this. Many parents enable their children by blaming it on the teacher or not impressing the importance of schooling.

3.  Give your honest opinion of the article.  Do you feel you deserve grades based on your effort or is it that you earned the grade you receive because of your effort?  Anything else you would like to add?

This article was very interesting. Grossman really frustrated me with his stance. I strongly agree with Greenwood's opinion that effort should be the measure because if you put in all you effort and receive a C, what else can you do?  

Photo Shoot with Kat

Padmasana

Lotus Pose- first time :)

A New Decade

On Tuesday I celebrated my Twentieth birthday. It was a very odd birthday being 8000 miles away from the only country I've known. I got to celebrate my first Indian birthday which entails a very odd happy birthday song, putting out the candles with your fingers- no blowing allowed, and of course cutting your cake, then being hand fed pieces of cake by multiple people- can you say awkward? It represents the feeder wishing the feedie a happy birthday. Mary (left), her birthday was the day before and Katarina (right) shares my birthday..which is awesome!! And loved celebrating with them! This is the first year I didn't share my birthday festivities with the superbowl. I actually don't even know who played in the superbowl this year. It's almost as if I live under a rock. Stoked to take on a new year of my life and make this one the best yet! 

adventures at petco

Happy Holidays Everybody

-Kevin G

what if money was no object?

A message I plan to live my life by.

Montana

I've officially been converted to a mountain woman! With only a short weekend visit to Montana I fell in love with the place (Bozeman area in particular). If you've never been to Montana here are some things you might find interesting; every single car is covered in dirt, there is no sales tax, no one dresses up- unless you count patagonia and north face coats as dressing up, sporting goods stores are everywhere, lots of Montana pride, 75% of cars there are Subaru's. Time went by so fast and we did so much it was hard to snap photos but here's a few to share :-) 

This may look like your average pool but Chico is a hot spring that has been turned into a full resort. It's like a giant hot tub- only so much cooler.

These beautiful horses were so friendly. This one's name is Ginger. We obviously have a lot in common.  

While we were playing with the horses we were surprised to see these dogs training for dog sledding run up. They were pulling a quad that we got to hop on. It was aweeeesome! 

 I was quite intrigued with this truck.

20 Reasons Why I Love My Best Friend

1. She was my walking buddy in middle school
2. I can get her hooked on a new show so easy
3. She never learned about a notebook in her American Foundations class
4. We have an unspoken competition to be the one who gets Mr. A.G. first
5. She has the same taste in blogs as me
6. She is not afraid to say "ARE YOU JOKING!?" when I show her a certain somebody who likes his running shoes
7. Because her family has adopted me & added me into the family portrait
8. We can't go a day without talking
9. She loves her fiber & pre-natals as much as I do
10. She has helped me to appreciate the dark chocolate
11. If I cry, she cries
12. She knows her NBA better than any male I have ever met
13. We are going to live on the same property when we have houses
14. Our husbands are going to be best friends. And they have no choice in the matter
15. She liked me better when I didn't have a smart phone
16. We get caught playing knock-knock-ditch in Havasu
17. She cheats at hand & foot with me
18. She can spend all night watching Supernat with me (as long as Casey is there to keep us awake)
19. She tells me what to "suggest" to her family for a birthday present
20. She leaves the lovely land of Rexburg to visit me:)

Coronado Beach

Yesterday we decided it was time to takes the doggies to the beach. So we loaded up and headed to San Diego. Of couse we chose Coronado Beach (and by we I mean me) - I have fallen in love with that whole Island. The dogs had the time of their life. We did too - Juanita and I even jumped in the water. It was a great day even with the mishaps of dogs throwing up in the car (post salt-water) and locking the keys in the car. PS I didn't get any pictures of this...but there is an outdoor mall in San Diego that is dog friendly. So you can take you pooch in the stores with you..even in the dressing room! New favorite mall by far. Plus they have a Francesca's (icing on the cake).

Giving Thanks

 Spent Thanksgiving at the brother's house with sister-in-law's family. We had a fun day of cooking, games, hair styling, and lots of comidaaaa! Hooray for egg nog. 

 Derek (Juanita's best friend) and Sonia (Juanita's sister)

 Juanita doin' her avocado thing

 Josh's friend Juan

And we got the Christmas tree up to. It's nice to be able to share Josh & Juanita's first Christmas in their house with them. 

Hope you all had a happy turkey day spent with loved ones. XO

I left my heart in California

Well guys, I made it! I'm back in Menifee. After a long drive with a completely full vehicle- we're here! Moved into me hermano Josh's house and got my bed yesterday (it's lovely- pictures to follow soon). Chloe's adjusting to dogs bigger than her. She's not to fond of Josh's rotweiler- Zoey. I'm sure they'll grow to love each other..they better. Now to register my car and find job..

fall in utah

here's some of the adventures I had this Fall