Ring Happy Bells

We made it to the beach on Jan 1, 2026! But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The last few days of 2025 felt like the strange liminal place they are. We mostly hung out.

We visited Joan Hollack. She is a delight. Her home is open to select visitors to see her astounding collection of Christmas decorations, and we are some of the lucky few to be on the list.

I tried out the watercolor set Mariah gave me. It’s so much fun! I have so many ways to improve!

Wyatt and Eve and I went roller skating on New Year’s Eve before our finger food feast. Griffin declined. We went to bed early, as is our tradition, but this time it was also because we had an early flight on New Year’s Day.  We flew to Detroit, then Cancun, where we met Willa! A driver took us to our hotel in Playa del Carmen. We ate amazing tacos and walked to the beach.

The next day we had a full day of adventures: Tulum, snorkeling with sea turtles, and swimming in an awesome cenote, followed again by really great tacos.

Looking south towards the main temple site of Tulum.

There were jaguar footprints on the beach I was trying to capture, but the resolution isn’t there to see them because the focus was on the foreground of Griffin, which I also wanted there.

We decided to have a couple of relaxing days after all of that. We walked to the beach, read by the pool, and did another couple of nearby fun things. Some of us are better at lying low than others are.

The chocolate museum is right by our hotel and we loved it! The owner has a face much like a Mexican version of my dad’s from 20 years ago. That was fun to see, and he was fun to talk to as well. He loves languages and speaks Spanish, English and French fluently.

We loved the Frida Kahlo museum! She left a huge footprint on the face of the world for someone who lived less than 50 years and was bedridden for much of that.

Willa took this one.

We also followed this up with awesome tacos. You may be noticing a theme here. I think it might be “Alan Wimmer loves me.” Seriously, if you’re ever in Playa, go to Tío Noy’s Tacos.

And chocolate.

Today we are trying to have a day of rest again. Willa really needs the recharge and so do our souls. Our next plan is to walk to church while she tries to sleep some more.

You know how you don’t really understand a place until you have stood in it? Playa del Carmen is that way too. It and Tulum were very, very crowded party spots for the holiday weekend—like a crazy number of people who were there for drinking and hanging out on the beach. We didn’t realize this is their busiest week of the whole year. It was fun to see all the sparkle lights on the tourist walkways though, and to feel like we were seeing things at their peak. We also feel lucky to be a bit removed from the main hotel zone and have this tranquil oasis nearby the action, but a little more quiet. 

As 2025 ended and we are starting a new year with a bunch of political uncertainty and unrest, I wanted to record the most important things to me from the year:

-Travel: Puerto Rico, Utah, Idaho, Denmark, Sweden, Norway. So many places that I got to stand and see in context and gain a better appreciation for!

-Family: Having all my children and grandchildren in KC for Thanksgiving! The birth of Barry John Crespo, who is another one of my favorite people now. Being in their home as he was born was a gift! And staying with the Kellers in Idaho and the Crespos in Utah let us have such sweet time with our children and grandchildren and appreciate their lives and their light individually so much more this year. Having Wyatt home between school terms is another great gift, and I got it several times this year. Getting to help Willa as her assistant while she photographed Ben and Kacee’s wedding was another amazing gift. I got a whole day with her to myself! And we were there to celebrate the wedding of and with some of our dearest friends!

-Friends: We met Jayla this year! And Kattalin! They are wonderful and seem like permanent parts of our lives now. My two book clubs (KC- they gave me a surprise birthday party! and Michigan- the dear matriarchs I check in with infrequently) and my San Antonio Walkers (Jenny and Shawna are some of my favorite people ever!) and my dear, dear friends who serve with me in church communication are all complete delights for me.  Our ward changes frequently and is another deep well of friendship even through all the changes. I have three adorable missionaries I have kept in touch with this year and I’ve loved them so much as we have communicated with each other. I even got to hug one of them in person, even though now I think of it, I probably wasn’t supposed to! Hahahahahaha!

-Faith: I have the blessing of helping President Ward work through his thoughts about our stake theme, which is a rare privilege, and it helps me really think about and keep seriously returning to the ideas of being a child of the covenant (2025) and publishing peace (2026). President Russell M. Nelson, who I loved and knew to be a prophet of God, died this year at age 101. I have felt gratitude, stability and peace as Dallin H. Oaks has taken the prophetic mantle and continued to serve even though he is in his nineties. I have tried to maintain my commitment to worshipping in the temple this year even though I stepped down from being an ordinance worker and feel like that commitment helps me come closer to Jesus Christ every time I am there. We started reading The Book of Mormon more regularly with Griffin and Eve this year instead of focusing only on the church curriculum for the year, and we feel the peace that witness of Jesus Christ brings too. It’s not something to take lightly.

The world is in turmoil right now. It’s hard not to be horrified at some of the things that are happening. But our attention is our most important resource, and I’m trying to keep mine mostly honed on the good things and gifts that I’ve been given because that is what brings me the most peace. It brings the comfort of the Holy Spirit and helps me survive.