Travel Tuesday: Mexico

So sorry Laura and I have been so MIA lately! It's like the artic tundra here in Michigan and I developed a pinched nerve/muscle spasms in my back so I've been pretty useless these past few days (shout out to Alex for letting me wake him up in the middle of the night sobbing in pain...love you!).

Anyways, about a week ago, I had an absolutely amazing opportunity to go on sort of a mission trip with my mom and my mother-in-law. I originally didn't think I would be able to get the time off to go, but my amazing employers and myself worked it out so I could go for a few days!

 

Ever since Alex was just a little guy, his parents would lead groups to Mexico to build houses for the poor. My first mission trip was to Tijuana...so this place holds quite a special place in both of our hearts. I literally found out I could go four days before we left and my mom decided only three days before we left she could go!

 We arrived to San Diego on Thursday, assembled the team and drove across the Tecate border. There was no one at the border so we just drove on through to Mexico. The difficult part would come soon enough on our way back to the States. If you can't tell by these photos...eating good Mexican food was of the utmost importance.
So the cake below was a tres leches cake and my mother-in-law helped fund her cake business through her nonprofit Sowhope.

That night we stayed at Tim's house whom is a missionary in Tecate. His dogs were pretty adorable! And the two dogs in front are the parents to the one in back, so precious.

The next day was full of visits to families, food and amazing friends.

I even ate my carne asada with onions! I don't even know who I am anymore :)

The last day started off just right with Eva cooking us a delicious breakfast! Thanks David and Eva for letting us stay with you!!

And we were off to visit more families!

Mary was named Godmother of Alexander! Pretty great name he has too! 

On to our last stop of the night before crossing the border later. Such an amazing view and we had a perfect ending to our Mexico trip with this amazing family.

 It was such a great experience and it was SO great having my mom come with us this time. So thankful I had to chance to go back and see everyone again. Thank you to all the families and everyone we had the pleasure of spending time with.

And because it's one of my favorite quotes:

"Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go."
-Mother Teresa

xoxo, Katelyn

How to Embarrass Your Cousin

Step 1: Post a really old photo of you guys together.

Step 2: Don't tell her that you're going to dedicate a whole blog post to embarrassing her.

Step 3: Wait for her response. 

Happy #tbt ya'll! This is us in Mexico a LONG time ago. Like, so long ago that it was super cool to get your whole head braided.

xoxo, K

Katelyn returns to the Mitten

I'm back! After 8 days, two different countries, meeting so many new people, and a TON of food...I'm officially back in my house and in the mitten. Alex and I flew from Lansing (my brother works for an airline so he helped us out with cheaper tickets...thanks again Brandon!) to Los Angeles. From there we rented the van we were going to use for the next five days and headed to San Diego to meet Alex's mom. So the purpose of this trip was to visit the families that Alex and his mom (and a ton of other hard workers)  built houses for. After over 20 years, they STILL come back every winter during Christmas and bring gifts and spend time with them. Here's our first group shot in San Diego:

Here are a few more photos from visits we did with the families. 

I adore this last photo of Mary with the family here, so much joy!

This little man could use lots of prayers from everyone. He'll be having surgery on the frontal region of his brain and then be in an induced coma for 3-6 months. He is SO precious and so full of life.

Our last stop was to Carmen's house before we crossed the border into California. Here's Alex modeling one of his favorite food groups: Mexican sope's. 

Alex smooching on Carmen (who also made the sope's).

After a few goodbyes Alex and I hit the road from San Diego to San Francisco. Here's a view from our drive up:

After a shameful stop where we ate way too much In-N-Out, we picked up Mary from the airport and made our way to Napa Valley. Alex got really into wine this past year so this trip was really special to him, and I got to try a lot of good, and other not so good wines...but I wasn't too picky :)

Perfect View ;)

A few more photos of the vineyards. Unfortunately, it wasn't the harvest season so we did not get to see grapes and lush greenery on the vines. Regardless, it was breathtaking.

This last photo is of Chateau Montelena which was the first winery in Napa Valley to really put California wines on the map. There also happens to be a movie about it: Bottleshock. Check it out!

We even managed to make it to San Francisco for a half day and saw the golden gate bridge and even took a small walk on it. The scenery in California and Mexico is so different than Michigan that it felt like a little treat every time we saw mountains. I'm also still trying to figure out what makes this bridge so special...I personally think our Mackinaw Bridge is way more impressive :D

Overall it was an amazing trip with amazing people. I was so happy to go to Mexico with Alex and see something that was so important to him and made him who he is today. I guess our next big step is to finish planning this wedding! 

Until next time! Xoxo, K

Katelyn's Hiatus

For those of you wondering why Katelyn has been MIA lately, it's because she's too busy traveling through Mexico and California.

;] She's actually doing some amazing things with her fiance' and soon to be mother-in-law for their non-profit company.

Everyone send good vibes and thoughts while she's on the west coast.
She's probably currently enjoying a nice glass of wine in Napa Valley.

Here's one of her photos:

Stay tuned! She will have all kinds of excited news, updates, and photos from her trip.

Hope you all have a great week!

xoxo