Punta Cana, Dominican Republic 2010

We had such a great President's Club trip this year to Punta Cana. Now to be honest, I had never even heard of Punta Cana when the trip was announced last year and I was not thrilled about going to the Dominican Republic after everything that is going on in Haiti right now but I am SO glad we decided to go. We both needed a few days to do ab-so-lu-tley nothing.

Here we are in our awesome room. I didn't take a lot of pictures on this trip but I love this one.

Nothing beats a giant hot tub in the middle of your room.

The pool

One happy guy

The beach. This was the softest beach I have ever been to and it wasn't crowded at all. I spent my entire birthday hanging out here under one of these crazy shade huts watching people. Aaaahhh just thinking about that day brings me peace.

Then we went to Mark's award dinner. Here he is getting his 10th President's club achievement award. He has never missed a trip and I am VERY VERY proud of my man. He works really hard and is a gifted NFIB field rep.

The entertainment.

Moon lit view of Moon Palace

Mark's Texas friends Lyle (out of Tyler) and his boss Allen (out of Lampasas). We ate most of our meals with these guys and their beautiful wives. It is really a treat to get to visit with our NFIB friends at President's Club each year. These three have some major talent!

We watched the US/Canada gold medal game with about 45 Canadians which was interesting...

It was a great game until overtime.

Here we are standing in front of some really pretty flowers-if only you could see them!

We had such a fun trip until the very last day. We got the news that Ryan was home from school with the stomach bug, Mark's dad was having emergency eye surgery, and my sweet friend Erica's mom passed away. We got all this news within 10 minutes and then the news that our flight home was SEVERELY delayed. I know that the Lord was reinforcing the whole 'Angie...remember you're not in control thing' again, but knowing there was nothing I could do didn't really seem to help my emotional state. It was a really long 24-hours. Spanish speaking airport employees and 7 hours of Calypso music at the outdoor Punta Cana airport is not fun to listen to when all you want to do is get home. Just FYI.

We were welcomed right back into reality with Ryan still sick, Ally acting out and planning a memorial service. Oh yeah and Mark was very sick by the time we got home. Turned out to be strep, which now I have. Lovely. And apparently there are sand fleas in the DR...never even knew they existed but they attacked my left hand. Thank goodness I didn't know about them or this germaphobic momma might not ever go back to the beach. It was really not a big deal just GROSS!!!

My precious mother did all the kids laundry which was about the only bright spot last week. This week Ryan is mucho gusto and Ally is back to her sweet lovin' self and the memorial service was beautiful. Erica spoke and it was beautiful to watch the Holy Spirit come in and cover her with strength, grace and love. I am continually amazed by Erica and so thankful to be her friend. I am also thankful that Mark and I had this 6 day respite. Even now as I type with strep I am glad we had this opportunity and feel very blessed. As hard as it is to leave my kids, I knew they were having a blast with Honey, GP, Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Kacey. Thank you guys for loving our children so much!!! You continually bless us.