1st Vacation of the Year

We have been working hard outside getting the yard cleaned up, aerated, and fertilized- as well as tilling a place for our vegtable garden. We also have managed to clean out the spare bedroom and sell some stuff on KSL to make room for the little one on the way.

We were all anxious to get out of Utah and do something fun. So off to Ft. Collins, CO and Cheyenne WY for a weekend of fun with all my brothers and sisters. Jory, the girls and I, stayed with my brother Ryan and his wife Tiff at the clubhouse they manage. It was just like being in a resort!!! Thanks again you guys!!!

Saturday night all 7 kids went over to my other brothers house, Steve and his wife Becca, to be tended by a sixteen year old neighbor girl. We gave my 14 year old nephew a hard time about having a cute babysitter over- but obviously he didn't mind and didn't make other arrangements. The adults went to see Jerry Seinfeld Live, which was a lot of fun! Although most of us had seen him perform in Vegas, we were still laughing the whole show. My youngest brother spent 20 minutes of the show in the bathroom, a little bit of Deja-Vu.

Sunday we spent the day at the park and swimming again. We were all a little sunburned from the beautiful weather that day. Myah lost her second tooth, and discovered that the tooth fairy always comes no matter where you loose your tooth.

Monday was our trip home, which took a lot longer than we wanted due to the snow storm that closed I-80 from Cheyenne to Laramie. We left at 10am and got home at 8pm. A long day!

We didn't stay long, but long enough to feel like we got away! Thanks to all my siblings for making it a fun weekend.

Sledding Fun!!!!

We finally made it out sledding this year, after purchasing sleds on New Years Day, and then virtually having all the snow melt out from under us. We went to Glassman Park in South Ogden on President Day. The nice thing about the park was the easy access, with the hill being directly off the road and the hill faced East, so it hadn't melted completely away.

Ally and Myah were so excited to sled down the hill they both dove head first down the hill without a sled as soon as we pulled up. After strategically picking a line down the hill, avoiding the jump previously made by some other kids, the girls took there first runs down the hill. Ally loved the round sled the most, until she wiped out a couple times and knocked the wind out of her. Myah liked sledding with Chris or myself for the most part. Both girls were getting pretty tired from walking back up the hill, although both seemed to gain energy when they would help other kids with there sleds.

After sledding down the steep hill for an hour or so the girls were anxious to head over to the other side of the park to sled the less steep but longer hill. We had a contest to see who could make it the farthest, with Myah winning hands down. Eventually Ally and Myah together beat her record. As the girls were sledding and adjusting the run for maximum distance, Chris and I made a snow man that was about 6 1/2 feet tall. Chris gathered sticks and leaves to make the snowman whole.

All in all it was a beautiful day and we all had our coats off by the end of the 2nd hour.

Jory and the Wall

Just to clear my own record of having anything to do with Jory's recent trips to the ER, I thought I would tell the real story of Jory's forehead. Believe me, I would claim it if I did it, it's a good one!!!

The scar, about a quarter inch to the left of the seven stitches, happened at the first of November. Jory had got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Since men can not aim in the dark, he turned the light on, took care of his business and then walked out of the bathroom turning the light off on his way out. Now because his eyes were adjusting to the dark, he couldn't see a thing. I suddenly wake up to a huge WHACK!! sound. Jory flipped on the light and said he had just walked directly into the door frame of our bedroom. I took one look and saw a huge gash on his left eyebrow. He was not too happy about getting up and going to the ER. There they merely glued it together and sent him on his way.

The Wall 1, Jory 0.

So about a week ago, the girls were getting ready for bed . I was downstairs cleaning up a little and trying to make the bedtime routine from dragging out too long. Jory was upstairs cleaning up a bit too. He took Ally's shoes that were left upstairs, and while standing at the top stair, he bent around the corner and threw them all the way to the basement. I was mad because the shoes almost hit me. Then I hear WHACK!!! and Jory cuss. I didn't know what was going on. I run upstairs to see Jory with a bigger gash on his eyebrow, this one longer and deeper. Apparently he turned after he threw the shoes and whacked his head on the sharp corner there.

The Wall 2, Jory 0.

We were hoping he could just go to a clinic to have it taken care of, but after a wild goose chase to find one open, he ended up back in the ER with 7 stiches this time.

Now I am in the market for a helmet for him, or a house with rounded corners. I love you Babe!!

Ice Skating

As soon as the first snow fall hit, Ally and Myah have been begging us to go ice skating. We went last year and had a blast, so naturally, the girls insisted on going again. We were finally able to go at the end of January. This time both girls were able to go out on their own. Myah fell more than anyone there I think, but that didn't stop her from getting back up and trying again. Both Aly and Myah's legs were bruised up from falling, and Myah's little bum check was scarlet red from falling on it so many times. They had a blast.

Jory and I had fun skating together, blending in with all the little lovers that were skating around the rink together. It really was a chessy sight, but hey why not be cliche too? :-)

Ally's 9th Birthday

It's crazy how time flies, and how suddenly your cute chubby baby is now a young lady. Ally, from the moment she was born, was such a little smartie. She was, and still is, SO determined to do things her way. I am so proud of her and honored to be her mother.

Ally turned 9 on the 19th of December, (I know this is outdated). She had chosen to have her party at I Rock. I must say that having a party somewhere other than your home, is the best way to go!!! Despite the bad weather, friends and family still made it to the party.

Finally!!!

Ok, so here is a link to our honeymoon video. We had way to many technical difficulties, so you can see the pics on the side or watch full screen via Youtube. Thanks!!!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib6kiSt5nF8

Our Honeymoon

Here is just 172 pictures you can enjoy from the original 750 that we took on our honeymoon. It's near impossible to fit 2 weeks in under 10 minutes.

Our adventure began trying to get to Guatemala City. Our origianl intinerary was to fly from Salt Lake to Dallas, Dallas to Miami and then we were supposed to arrive in Guatemala at around 7:30pm. Well our flight to Guatemala was delayed by 2 hours and then once we were on the plane, someone opted not to fly, so we waited another 45 min while they tried to find the persons luggage. We finally arrived in Guatemala City at 11:30pm, only to find they had lost one of our luggage. At least our driver was there!!!

We arrived in Antigua about an hour later. We weren't able to see much scenery since it was so dark outside, just really steep and very bumpy roads. The next morning we got up and decided to go walk around the city. Antigua is a wealthier city, it was the first City built by the Spanish when they came and conquered the Mayan people. So most of the city, such as the cobble stone roads are just restored as needed. There are Catholic churches everywhere, some being restored and some that are almost rubble due to 2 major earthquakes, one in the 1700's and one in 1978. Antigua is also surrounded by volcanoes. There are 33 of them in Guatemala and 4 of them are acitve.

We had to walk down the guantlet everyday, which was more like the walk of death. It wasn't so much the horrible exhaust that you really couldn't hold your breath long enough for, but that the side walk which was about 2ft in width, was your only safe zone from the crazy chicken buses that speed, without slowing for people or anything else for that matter, through the narrow streets. The rule is "The bigger vehicle wins"!! Honking is how they make there way through.

Ok, I can see that this might take me forever to type, so I will have to shorten it up again! While in Antigua we took a coffee tour. Guatemala's economy is coffee and other agriculture. Once you've been on a coffee tour you don't feel bad paying $4 for a cup. They have the schools out during the harvest season so the children can help in the fields. A large family, with mother, father, and 5 children can earn about $700 a month combined. 60% of Guatemala's population are very poor. You can see in the pictures that the native people, the ones who wear the colorful wardrobe, really depend on selling. They sell food, meat, blankets and all kinds of souvenirs. They come down from their village to sell to the wealthier people and tourists.

We also took a tour of Antigua and the surroundings areas. We were able to go inside the catherdrals and churches, went inside the hospital but we weren't allowed to take pictures. Louis took us up to one of the villages and showed us the monument of the Spanish conquering the Mayan people. It is interesting that the people worship the Spanish, almost like they celebrate their own conquering.

Our tour to Lake Atitlan was the most scenic and beautiful drive. It was very, very bumpy, but by this time we were used to it. We passed small villages, homes and fields with the children working and the women carrying bundles on their head, men carrying things on their back with the strap across their forehead. Women washing their hair in the stream, children walking the farm animals and we even passed a wedding procession. That was cool!!

Lake Atitlan, or the volcanoe that comes out of the lake, was beautiful. We took the boat ride across to a small village. Here we were able to walk the streets, see women selling their goods from their homes. I had the privelage to use the bathroom in one home. I sat with the shower dripping on my head. At least they had a bathroom! Our guide took us to see Maximon, a statue of a Spanish saint that they worship. According to legend Maximon stayed in the village while the Mayan men and the Spanish went to recruit more Mayan's. Maximon started sleeping with the wife's of the villagers. When the men returned, the caught him with 2 women. Maximon begged for his life, so they spared him by cutting off his arms so he couldn't touch the women and cut off his legs so he couldn't leave the village. They worship this man!?!?

Our next adventure....hiking Pacaya volcanoe!! The children renting sticks in the video was our welcoming party once we arrived at the trail head. We were followed by several very thin stray dogs, hoping for a scrap of food. Once we were closer our guide said, here is lava from 20 years ago, here is some from 5 years ago, here is some from yesterday..... Yeh, we were walking on the lava from yesterday. We reached the lava flow, it was only 2000 degrees!!!! Thank Jory for the pics, I didn't last long!

Our last day in Antigua we hiked up to the cross and over looked the city. We had meet a lot of really neat people from all over the world, but were looking forward to the next part of our trip, TIKAL.

Tikal is in Northern Guatemala, you can drive there on a bus for 10 hours, but we opted to fly. Our tour of Tikal was SO incredible!!! Tikal is lower elevation so it is a jungle!! We immediately saw wild turkeys and spider monkeys. You really can't describe something as magnificant as Tikal. When you climb the temples and look over the kingdom, it is amazing to think what it would have looked like in its prime. They say there are over 4,000 sites yet to be excavated, but they are just too covered in the jungle floor. There are mounds everywhere and we kept thinking, what is under that??? We also heard the howler monkey's predicting the rain. They sound more like roaring jaguars, it was so cool!!

We ended our day in Tikal by ziplineing through the jungle. There were spider monkeys who were not too happy with us climbing their tree. They were breaking off small branches from the trees and throwing them at us. It was a gorgeous evening and this was a great way to end it.

The next morning began our journey to Belize. We took a shuttle to the border, where we had to walk through customs on both sides. Then reload and drive 15 miles to the next city, San Ignacio. Here we grabbed a cab, which happened to be this run down little car.

In Belize they speak English, Garafuna and Creol, when they would talk to eachother you couldn't understand a word they said, but when they spoke to us they spoke clear english. Anyway so our drive to our next stay was about 40min to go 8 miles!!! The road was unpaved and SO bumpy and wet in some parts. I thought we were being taken to the center of the earth!! Finally we arrived at Black Rock lodge, the most remote, nice and quite place in the middle of the jungle that you can imagine. Completely self sufficient, they get water from the spring, solar power energy, most of the food in grown right there and it was all delicious!!!!
We had our own cabin, which had light but no phone and no TV. Once it was dark you relied on playing games or other honeymoon events. ;-)

Here at Black Rock we took the ATM Cave Tour. This was incredible!!!! We had to swim and walk through water through most of the cave. Then when we reached the dry chamber we had to remove our shoes and put our shirts back on to show respect. This was where the Mayan performed religious ceremonies and performed human sacrifices. The skeletons in the pictures are just of few that were found in the cave.

We also took a night hike where we saw plenty of tarantula's, a scorpion and lots of other huge spiders including the huge tiger spider which we found in our room the following night. We also spotted a crocodile in the river. This same river we canoed down, but didn't see any crocs only bright orange iguanas in the tree tops. The bird watching tour was also a lot of fun and we saw a lot of exotic beautiful birds.

Our transportation from Black Rock to our final destination, Hopkins Belize, consisted of hitching a ride to the Belize Zoo from our friends we met at Black Rock. Then riding a shuttle, then riding the chicken bus for an hour and a half to Dangringa and then a cab to Hopkins. We began at 9am and didn't arrive till almost 4pm. We were so tired!!!!

Our bungalow in Hopkins was clean, quite and just 60ft from the ocean. We were the only tenants so the owners Angela and Tony were very good to us. Since it was Garafuna Independance day, Angela and Tony took us to a couple of bars to watch the locals drumming and singing. We had missed most of the festivities earlier in the day, but this was really neat to see.

We spent the last couple of days riding our bikes into town and kayaking in the ocean. The people of Belize are very friendly and the children are beautiful. Again people with nothing living so happy.

The morning of our departure we woke up early to watch the sunrise. We took the kayak out one more time hoping to see dolphins, but didn't. We packed up and Angela and Tony took us to Dangringa where we hopped on a commuter flight to Belize City and flew home from there to 48 degree weather. What an awesome trip!!! But good to be home none the less!!!