Engaged!! &something else new..

Guys...
I am ENGAGED!! And I have never, ever been happier than I am, now. I am absolutely thrilled about this sparkly, beautiful ring on my finger and the knowledge that I am going to marry my best friend on November 1st!!

Now friends, with big news comes big change.

Craig and I have decided to start a blog together. That means I am retiring B.O.J. Bundle of Joy.

I hope you will visit our new blog: Adventure's Out There 

There, you can also find the story of how my sweet fiancé popped the question and read more about the many adventures we'll have!

Love you guys
chelseakate
xoxo

Wordless Wednesday (a new thing i'm going to try out)

Kisses

I woke up to puppy-kisses this morning. These are the mornings that let me know the day will be good.

And it was.

It was a day full of being with my family. Just the five of us. I couldn't tell you the last time we've had that pleasure. (although i was still craig homesick - but lucky me, i see him tomorrow!)

We ate lunch. We shopped. We saw Brave. We shopped some more. We ate dinner. We talked and covered billions of topics.

It was lovely.

I'm sure its been too long since I've last gushed about my family. 

So let me just say.. I sure l.o.v.e. my beautiful family.

Also, I'm hungry.

Hum.

I don't know what I'm going to post about, tonight. All I know is I want to blog. Yes, these are the posts that tend to sound like a mediocre journal entry, but tonight I kind of don't care.

Craig left with a bunch of the guys in his family today on another hiking trip. You guys, its so cute to see how excited he gets for hiking trips. There is just a different look in his eyes and you can tell he is anxious to get out there. Its sweet. But boy do I miss him while he's gone! Even though he's never gone too long, I still get a little "homesick" being away from him. (i'm sappy, i know).

Tonight I hung out with several members of the lovely Lifferth family. We went swimming at a Country Club and then back to the Lifferth's to...hot tub. It would seem that we couldn't get enough of chlorinated water, today. As usual, I enjoyed myself. ...but can I tell you what I don't like? Bees that are obsessed with trying their very best to eat your dinner..right, Katie? Geez Louise.

Now switching gears..
Today I think it really, like really hit me that I am technically a grown up. I'm still definitely in awe that I am actually 21-years old and have all this independence, responsibility and freedom. Sometimes I swear I'm still in middle school.. But, no. I'm old.

Finally, I'll end this scattered, boring post with these two pieces of information. I have a Twitter and Instagram account. Here is my brilliant idea. If you have either of those..you should follow me?! :)

Twitter: misscheka
Instagram: chekawa 

And that, my dears, is all. Bedtime for Chelsea.
Love you.
Goodnight & sweet dreams.

I Scored Big Time

I am just really lucky.

Its as simple as that.

I sure love my boyfriend..

And am even luckier that he's my best friend.

My life is so good.

Because Bigfoot Exists

This morning I, along with my family and quite a few other people, ran in the first ever Bigfoot Awareness 1k Run. I felt obligated to since Craig is a founder, plus I was just excited to run a 1k - since that is not something many other people can claim they have participated in, before. Anyway, I'd call it a huge success. More people showed up than they'd planned, everyone was happy and the race went very well. As far as I know, everyone finished it and there were zero injuries. Good stuff. Oh, also..look at the cute shirts we got!! Always a plus.

**Fun Fact: You know my daddy? He finished 11th, overall! He's awesome like that.

My family at the finish line of the big race!

 My love and I just enjoying the pretty summer morning, supporting a good cause.

After the morning festivities, my sisters and I accompanied many of the Lifferth's to 7 Peaks water park where we spent several very fun hours going down slides, swimming, enjoying each others company and all that jazz. It was such a good day, guys.

Yep. Such a good day.

Running/Walking for a Cause

I realize this is a little short notice, but if you're not doing anything tomorrow morning, I have an idea for you.

You could come walk or run a 1k to support Bigfoot awareness!

(come on, you know you want to - its not like you get to do this kind of thing every day!)

Craig is one of the founders of this run and I know he, along with the other founders, would be happy to see you there. The more the merrier, you know? Plus, they've put a lot of work into this.

And guys, its a 1k. Easy-peasy!

I am serious, though.

Come.

Here are some additional details I stole from the Bigfoot Awareness Facebook page..

The day of the race is almost upon us! We are so appreciative to you for your support throughout this race so far. We thank you for your patience and are excited to see you on Saturday August 4th!

Here are the details:

About 1K up Provo Canyon, there is a park called Mt. Timpanogos Park on the northwest side of the canyon, (left side of the road as you are going up the canyon).

This will be t

he start of the race. There is a parking lot there where you can park, or you can choose to park at the parking lot at the mouth of Provo Canyon, also on the northwest side, where the finish line will be.

We will begin registration at 8:30 AM and the race will begin at 10:00 AM.

Registration is $5 for runners and $10 if you would like to register and get a shirt. Please bring the money to the registration table.

If you ordered a shirt on or before July 25th, we will have it ready for you. If your order came in after the 25th, or you haven't given us your size, we will be doing a second printing of the shirts and will make sure you get one. You can pay $5 at the race (for registration), and then an additional $5 when the shirts are delivered.

We are very excited to have you come support us in helping to raise awareness of Bigfoot. Please feel free to invite your friends and get ready for a great time for a great cause!

HOPE TO SEE YOU GUYS THERE!!

Coming to an End.

Our last full day was saturday spent at Punta Sur, which is a beach and then some. There was snorkeling, hammocks, a boat ride, crocodiles, a look-out, light house, ruins, etc. This was a great place to end the vacation. It was a fun day with a lot to see and do.

It was kind of a bittersweet day as well. I was sad knowing our trip was almost over, but excited to go home and see my family, again.

hammock heaven:)

You can see a crocodile down there in the water

on top of the lookout 

we got a kick out of the 10 person limit on top of this lookout. its survived hurricanes but apparently cannot hold more than 10 people.

the little boat ride. 

jen and i on top of the light house

the beautiful view

from the top of the light house we spotted three dolphins! this was a goal of mine - to see a dolphin while in mexico and my goal was finally achieved the last day of the trip!

descending down the many stairs of the cute light house

To make our last day even sweeter and more amazing, we were able to witness the turtles coming out of their nests and going to the ocean a second time!! It was just as sweet and wonderful as the first time. Gah. Love it.

And with that, our vacation was over. Sunday morning we woke up, packed and hung around the condo until noon then Ryan drove us to the airport. The flights were good (i learned i prefer flying during the day rather than at night) and we were excited to get back to Utah's mountains and our own beds.

I am so happy that I was fortunate enough to go on this adventure with Craig and some of his family members. I truly enjoyed all of it, even the days I didn't feel well were amazing days. I'm so grateful for my loving, handsome boyfriend and his tremendous family and their kindness and friendship. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend nine days!

Third Cozumel Post

Thursday morning, Craig and I woke up still feeling a little sick, but again, we weren't willing to sacrifice the beach so away we went. We went to Cozumel Caribe, the same beach we'd visited on saturday - a very pretty, nice beach. Before we began the traditional beach-goer activities, we ate breakfast at the clubs restaurant. I had these very yummy, very rich chocolate chip pancakes, maybe they weren't the best choice for someone who already had an upset stomach, but I don't regret it. They were yummy. Craig had coconut french toast that was also very yummy.

Then it was time to snorkel, swim and relax on our beach chairs by the ocean. Before we'd left to Mexico, when I thought about doing basically the same thing every day, snorkeling, laying out, etc. I thought it'd probably get boring, but I'm pleased to tell you that I was wrong. I loved that life:)

Before it was time to go back to the condo, Craig and I had a bit of a photo shoot. There are so many beautiful places to take pictures at the beach and we had to take advantage of them. Go ahead and enjoy them.

I don't have many pictures from friday..
This beach was called, Palancar. It was another very pretty beach and this one had peacocks! I'll admit, that freaked me out a little bit. They got way too close for comfort.

i'm one lucky girl - love my boyfriend so much

And there you have it. One more post is on its way to wrap the trip up! Until next time, my friends!

More Mexican Photographs and Stories

I'll be honest. Looking back on my Mexican getaway, I realize I didn't keep track of my days there very well. What I mean is, I can't remember what happened what day, really.. So you'll find my next couple Mexico blog posts will be scattered..and probably very out of order. Actually, the majority of my readers weren't there..so I guess you wouldn't have known if I didn't mention it. But I did. Oh well.. Lets get started, now.

**********

I believe we left off after only covering three days, friday through sunday. So lets start at Monday, shall we?

Monday, we went to another beach. (shocker, eh?) It was called, Mr. Sahnchos I'm pretty sure. Or as Craig liked to call it, Dirty Sanchos - I don't know why. It was very fun and provided some more exciting snorkeling opportunities. 

In the car, headed to the beach.

We all had a great time here, playing in the water and the sand and laying out under the sun - Mexico's sun is hotter than Utah's. One thing I started to learn about beaches was that the employees there like to try their best to get all the money they can from you! At this particular beach, they took all of our food we'd brought, of course so we could BUY their food and we had to pay for shade. At other beaches on other days, they'd try to charge us for sitting at a certain table.. 

Two of the cute nieces and me

I don't yet have all of our Mexico pictures, so on this particular day, I don't have many.. 

On tuesday we went to the other side of the beach. This was my favorite day in Cozumel. I'll tell you why in a minute, just keep reading.

Driving to the other side. We always drove with our windows down and as you can see, it gave me silly hair.

On this beach, there was no snorkeling, I'm guessing because there were so many waves. So instead, we boogie boarded and played in the water. Two of Craig's nieces and I spent hours laughing our heads off trying to stay upright as the waves crashed into us. Usually the powerful water would knock us over leaving us covered in sand.

At our spot on the beach..

Okay. THIS is why this day was my favorite. We were invited to participate in the most amazing, beautiful and sweet experience. Yes, we got to watch little baby sea turtles crawl our of their nests in the sand and make their way to the ocean. Oh. My. Gosh. There aren't words to describe how adorable this was! They were so dang cute booking it, moving their little fins as fast as they could, for all they were worth to get to their destination. I loved watching this. A volunteer group helps these turtles, daily and make sure that every last turtle makes it to the ocean. We learned that normally, one in one thousand turtles will survive, but with the help of these volunteers, one in one hundred survive! Although, I like to believe that they all survive. Thats happier.

Their tracks were so cute!

Look at him!! They were absolutely adorable!!

Seriously, though. Neatest experience, ever. ::sigh::

I don't have many pictures for Wednesday, either. But I do have a story or two!

But first..Look what we saw! One of Disney's cruise ships, The Fantasy! Very neat. And exciting. Probably more for me than anyone else:) Gosh, I love Disney.

My little girlfriends and I in the car..

Funny story time. On tuesday, Craig and I had spent so much time in the water in the hot, hot sun that we apparently forgot to drink much water. That night/wednesday morning, we were not feeling well. We both had headaches, felt dizzy or lightheaded and our stomachs hurt. Although this was awful, we weren't going to let it hold us back from having fun so we put on our tough faces and went to the beach. Of course, we decided to snorkel and this is where the story gets good.
As we were out in the water searching for fish (this day in particular, we weren't really seeing any), poor Craig inhaled some water and instantly felt like he was going to throw up. So he decided to go for it. Guess who was right next to him and therefore had the pleasure of snorkeling through his throw up? Me. To make it even better, Craig and I made eye contact while this was all happening.. It. Was. Disgusting. (i threw up later that day..but in the toilet) I can't swim very well, so in my haste of trying to control my body and get the heck out of my boyfriends little present, I kicked one of my flippers off and it started to sink down. I told Jen, Craig's sister and as she dove down to get it, our once boring, no-fish snorkeling trip because a lot more exciting when tons of fish came to dine on the snack Craig had provided:) Then, as Jen came up from grabbing my flipper, she saw a sea turtle behind me! We spent the next several minutes swimming after it, taking pictures, filming it and ooing and awing at its beauty.