Like Mother, Like Son

Anyone who really knows me knows how much I've always liked lemons (see my previous post about getting veneers). Jared still makes fun of me for chugging lemon concentrate at 3 am when I was pregnant (I couldn't help it, I craved citrus like crazy). I guess the sour DNA passed to my son- he couldn't get enough of this lemon, once he got used to it, of course.

Chichen Itza

Our trip to Chichen Itza, one of the wonders of the world:


Here we are at the entrance, all stoked and ready to go. (L to R, my bro Carson, Dad, bro Kyle, sister in law Lynette, Kallie, me, Jared, Mom)

Jared and I in front of the Temple of Warriors. I think Jared wanted to pose like a warrior, but I wasn't on board for that one.

My parents have taken this tour twice- once w/ a LDS guide, once w/out. The non-LDS guy said this was a Mayan spa. The LDS guy said it was probably a baptisimal font.

Having fun!

A rendition of what the Mayan houses would've looked like. We were so thankful to get out of the sun:

And here, the heat exhaustion begins to set in. I'm counting bug bites on my leg- what a moment:

The gang in front of a Cenote (water hole).

It was an amazing trip. Getting back was the real adventure though. We rented an 8 passenger van and with the road construction, missed the turnoff for the toll road, which meant we were on the slow going ghetto road that connects small hutted villages. I call it ghetto because there was no shoulder on the road, it just dropped off into mini cliffs on both sides. We confronted huge semis and tractors coming from the opposite direction that threatened to knock us off the road. In between villages, there was nothing but jungle on either side of the road and sometimes, we would see an old Mexican with a machete (eek). We even passed through a huge jungle fire that had flames ON the road. This was all nothing though compared to the break down.

About 30 minutes outside of Cancun, the van decided that the transmission would go out. We started losing speed for about 10 minutes before the van quit working all together. Luckily, it died right in front of the only gas station for miles around in a tiny, tiny village. Unluckily, that gas station did not have a phone so that we could call our car rental company. The gas station attendant said the nearest phone would be a mile and a half away in the opposite direction. Jared and I got set to jog to it (thank you marathon training), but we first decided to say a prayer. The 8 of us huddled around and prayed that we might be able to arrive home in safety. The INSTANT that we opened our eyes, an 8 passenger taxi van pulled up right in front of us. The driver was off duty, but headed to Cancun and said he would give us a lift! We couldn't believe it. He took us to Cancun, then we got some other taxis there to take us back to our resort about 30 minutes away from there.

It amazes me to know that God was mindful of us in the middle of nowhere. No matter where we go, He is always with us. What a great trip!!!

Mexico Picture Fest

I finally found a minute to sit down and look at my Mexico pictures. Combined between the 8 of us, we took over 1,000 pictures. I chose a few that highlighted our trip and gave a feel for the area we stayed in. It was pure heaven!
Next post: Chichen Itza

Noah reunion!!!

It was one long week away from Noah as we played in Mexico. It was great to be gone, but also great being back. How can I live without this little face?!?!

We made it back from Mexico safe and sound on Saturday. We had a FANTASTIC time and loved being with my family. I had the great luck of getting all my pictures deleted half way through the trip! Fortunately, everyone else had taken pictures and they are working on getting a CD of pictures to me. I'll post pictures soon and describe some of our most memorable moments. As a quick summary, the week looked like this:

Chips, salsa, pool, beach, read, eat, nap, repeat.

Mix in there a couple trips to Playa del Carmen and one to Chichen-Itza. Throw in a rental car breakdown in the middle of nowhere and that pretty much describes the trip!

Details coming...

Woo Pig Sooie!

I've been accepted and I'm going to start the Masters of Public Administration (MPA) program at the University of Arkansas this fall. I'm planning to go part-time so I will still get to be with Noah pretty much full-time. I have always wanted to get my Masters and I'm excited to finally start!

Old Main. This building is where the majority of my classes will be.