Back in Miami

We arrived in Miami early morning on the 3rd. So we had 5 more days left to vacation. It was so nice to be back in the warm, gorgeous weather. 

One day, we went to the beach with Claudia, Bruce and Damaris. Before heading out, we went to lunch at Los Perros - a Colombian restaurant that we love. I always have an arepa de choclo.

Look at that SUN! Ignore our white-ness

With Claudia

The water was a little cold for my taste, but Blaine and I got in nonetheless. It was comparable to the water at Rehobeth Beach in August. Yeah. The breeze was perfect and I loved digging my toes in the sand. It was great. And catching up with Claudia made it even better. Bruce also demonstrated his mad yoga skills ;) 

That night, we stayed in the area and headed to Lincoln Road Mall. Again, this is one of Blaine and I's favorite places. Damaris and I shopped at the new H&M there. Blaine and Bruce were seriously interested and excited about the Tesla car store. If only we could afford it...

We headed back to the beach on Saturday, while all the BCS Championship game hype was going on. Blaine and Bruce were in football heaven. 

Nike set up a store right on the beach just for the event. 

Nike had all sorts of uniforms on life-size models. These are only 1/10th of the pictures that these guys took.

 

Damaris and I were good, patient wives while they spent hours in the store.

Darrelle Revis, the cornerback on the Jets, released his shoe while we were there.

We also saw Tim Brown, Hall of Fame wide receiver that used to play for Notre Dame, the Raiders and Buccaneers. 

There were a bunch of cool free activities going on. We had a ton of fun. We finally made it to the beach. 

And were so sad when we had to go...

They're both wearing camo shorts :)

That night, we went to BJ's Brewhouse for dinner with Bruce, Damaris and my mom. The food was pretty good, but the best part was dessert. We had a pizookie platter. Yum-o. We tried 3 of their pizookies. I could've shared another 3. Don't judge me. 

Love them

The boys

Sunday was our last day there. We had a little party at Tia's house for Uli. His birthday was the next day on Monday. This boy turned 11! Isn't that crazy?! He's getting so big that it's slightly scary. Where has time gone? He starts middle school this year. Middle school.

With all of his cousins

There was a ton of food. For parties, Ulises always makes his yummy churrasco. But my mom didn't want me to leave without having my favorite dish, so she made me that too :)

Once the party was over, my family surprised me with a gift. They already spoiled me for Christmas with a new iPhone 5, Tory Burch sunglasses, boots, tons of clothes and the list goes on. They also spoiled Blaine too with tons of gift cards to Macy's for a new suit and some golf gear. But apparently, that wasn't enough. 

Of course, I've always wanted a Louis Vuitton bag (which girl doesn't) but come on, I didn't need it. But they love me and said they wanted me to have it. I was super happy! And Blaine was really happy for me, too. I think he was glad that he would never have to buy one for me :) 

Our winter break couldn't have been any better. It was so long and relaxing, and we got to see both sides of the family (even though we really missed Grandma and Poppy). I was so dreading getting on the plane to return to Utah. We almost missed our flight because we slept in (oops) but I was almost wishing we did! We were so blessed for this vacation. We really needed it. And who knows when will be the next time that we can have a vacation that long?