belize, gautemala and more

DAY ONE: flew into belize city. took a boat to ambergris caye. found a hotel for $40/night. this was a big score because online the hotels were like $160. went to the beach and relaxed. explored the little town.

DAY TWO: took a boat to ambergris caye early in the morning. found another cheap hotel room for $20 (even better!). hung out and explored the island. this island was so cool. i loved it. everyone used golf carts to drive around. we also went to the most amazing restaurant ever: red mangos. so delicious and nutritious.

DAY THREE: woke up. found the least expensive snorkeling trip available and went on a snorkeling trip to "shark ray alley". coolest snorkeling of my life. there were nurse sharks and sting rays EVERYWHERE. i mean everywhere. i was on rich's back most of the time because it freaked my out when the sharks and rays brushed up on me. we also saw eels, a barracuda and a bazillion other amazing fish. again, that was the best snorkeling ever. belize has an awesome barrier reef. definitely want to go back again super bad.

DAY FOUR: woke up early. packed and took a boat back to belize city. then we went to their bus station and paid like $4 for a bus ticket to go to placencia. placencia is pretty much all the way across belize, so this was an amazing deal. however, we had no clue why it was cheap. after the bus ride, i now know why. it was an old school bus (from pleasant grove, ut! funny!), and in these school buses they pack like 3 people per seat, and then people stand in the rows for hours, so it sucks if you don't get a seat. luckily, thanks to rich's fast moves, we got a seat. the other reason why this bus is so cheap is because they pretty much almost kill you. we now call the bus ride to placencia the jungle coaster because it was like a roller coaster--but scarier! imagine this: you are in the middle of the jungle in a bus driving on a single one lane old road with pot holes, and are going up and down hills, passing cars/trucks/semis/other school buses while going up hills, going over broken bridges, and then imagine that this bus is going about 80 mph. i seriously thought we were going to die for the first hour. i just hid my head under the window because i could not watch. i remember reading that the biggest cause of death in belize is traffic accidents, and i now know why. this was a jungle coaster going out of control. after the first hour of the hell ride, i decided that if i was going to die, i wanted to at least have fun, so i finally stopped hiding and just enjoyed the ride with rich. when we go to placencia, we got a hotel room for $15. the prices were seriously amazing.

DAY FIVE: we wanted to go explore the jungle, so we did! it was such a cool trip. we went with this local guy who did tours. i'm glad we went with him because he had a machete. we saw howler monkeys (scariest noise to hear in the jungle), manatees, crocodiles, other monkeys, tons of cool birds and jaguar tracks!

DAY SIX: took a bus to gautemala. the border crossing was super shady, but we eventually got over the border. we then took a bus to this little island called flores and got a hotel for $20. we explored the little island and had lunch, and then went swimming.

DAY SEVEN: we went to tikal. tikal was amazing. it is like the largest mayan archeological site, and the place was amazing. we climbed up so many temples and there were monkeys everywhere too! loved it. got a hotel room for $12. again, the prices were amazingly inexpensive.

DAY EIGHT: took a bus back to belize city and flew home. got home around midnight.

DAY NINE: woke up early, finished packing up our apartment and then drove to omaha, NE. we got into omaha at like 2am.

DAY TEN: woke up at 6am and went to my orientation. rich dropped me off, then drove to hastings to look for an apartment. (we hadn't gotten one yet). he hadn't found one yet, so we got a hotel room. unfortunately, the prices were not as inexpensive as they were in gautemala.

DAY ELEVEN: i went to school and rich found an apartment. i love our apartment. then we moved in! home sweet home! ...we are a little crazy...

let the journey begin!

they have these little water hut things everywhere. so cool!

hey hottie ;)

rich found a coconut, so he made coconut juice. it was tasty!

coconut!

a whole lobster for $6? yes please.

the belize city bus station

placencia

this is the daughter of the guy who took us on the jungle tour. she was so cute too.

one of our sweet hotel rooms and rich's sweet muscles.

i would never want to be alone in the jungle at night.

the jungle boat. there were crocs everywhere!

GO JAZZ! ahah!

the beginning of the jungle coaster (this is before it started getting crazy).

gautemala is sooo pretty!

JUNGLE COASTER!!! (seriously, i got the roller coaster butterfly feeling everytime we went down a hill because the driver was on roids).

cutest little girl ever. she was my jungle coaster buddy.

so happy to find this atm..we never carried too much cash, but one time we cut it a little too close, and they don't take visa...

tikal!

pink shirt!

us being so happy. it was really cool because at the top of the temple, you could see tons of other temples. the pics don't really show it that well, but trust me.

i love jungles!

this monkey was pretty much begging to be held

my warrior man

princess janelle ;)

mayan temple

i'm not scared of heights, but those steps were intense! they were also probably not in the best condition of their life.

us in flores. coolest little island ever! it felt like we were in italy.

us packed in a minivan with 36 people. yup. 36 people. we counted. we know. ahah! wow. good times. just so my mother knows, when we got in the minivan...there were only four of us.

You Better Belize It!

So so excited. Rich and I are going to Belize for our anniversary. I cannot wait. Especially after this summer it will be such a nice break. This summer has been hard. I've taken 14 credits (Biochemistry, Microbiology, Psychology and Nutrition) this summer, so I have spent a lot of it indoors. Rich has also been working like 60+ hours per week, so we are both ready for a break, and we will get one soon! August 12-13 we are going with Rich and his parents and extended family to their cabin and going boating. I'm super excited about that, and Rich is too, and then we are going to Belize the next day for a week. We only have to survive finals, working 2 jobs, packing, apartment searching and other stuff, etc. 16 days left. YEA YA!!!!

Rich and Jellystone!

NOTICE the grizzly bear. He wants Rich. I know it.


Rich and I went to Yellowstone with Britt and Marc over the 4th of July weekend. It was rad. Yellowstone was awesome. I haven't been there since I was like thirteen, so it was fun to see it. There were so many animals! Buffalo, "moosen," deer, foxes and we even saw a grizzly bear!

We froze the first night because we were "smart" and only packed one sleeping bag and some blankets. It was 90 degrees in Provo, and we were lazy (we didn't want to drive out to Mapleton and get his bag), so we thought we would be fine. Wrong! It dropped down to 31 degrees the first night....we ended up going to our car and blasting the heat...ahahah. Good times! We now have more experience and two sleeping bags, so we are ready!

Dreams

I remembered this quote a little bit ago, and I wanted to post it because I love it so much.

~A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep. In dreams you will lose your heartaches. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams, and someday, your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dreams that you wish will come true~
~Cinderella

Scooter Time

Motorcycles, scooters and bikes rock my world... :)

4-H and Fishing

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Rich and I went fishing with the kids that we mentor in 4-H. It was super fun. Dylan for sure had fun. I hope Alicia did too. She is not a huge out-door fan, but she did try casting a couple times. Rich took us to the Trout Farm or as Dylan called it, "Instafish". It was a cool place because you catch a fish the moment you put your pole in. I love the 4-H program. It is really fun to plan activities with these kids, and it is awesome to get to know them. They are moving in May, but hopefully we can keep up with the program. I will have to find out if Hastings has the same program. Oh, and Dylan told me that John Adams wanted the turkey be the national bird, but they chose the eagle. Rich said it is a good thing we chose the eagle. If we hadn't, most American' would be eating the national bird every Thanksgiving. Dylan and Rich are both pretty smart and funny. :)

Camping + Hiking = Vital Necessity

Rich came and picked me up from work yesterday and told me we were going camping. I had stuff I needed to do at home, so I could have said no, but I didn't, so we went to Zion's! I am soooo glad we went. It was so much fun. We camped overnight at this place called Mosquito something, and then we hiked up to Angel's Landing. That was a crazy scary hike. I liked it, but I feel safer when I have a harness on. It was gorgeous, and so much fun. Things are getting crazy busy this summer, and I know they will only get crazier when I start the accelerated BSN program, but I want to remember to always go camping and hiking. I'm lucky to have Rich. Camping and hiking should be a monthly duty. If not a monthly duty, at least a yearly requirement for humanity. Anyway YAY for Utah and camping and hiking and Angel's Landing and tents and fires and Germans who travel the world.