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.

Cozumel - So Far

Cozumel, Mexico has made a terrific first impression on me. I adore this place. Its been quite the culture-shock, too, and made me realize how lucky I am to have a stable home, air conditioning and to live in an area that isn't soooo humid. I'm realizing I could really get used to staying here and I'm sad Craig and I only have a week left. Time, slow down! 

Thursday night my mom drove Craig and I up to the airport (after i had a teary-eyed farewell with Adi..still breaks my heart! that girl doesn't do well when i leave. sweet thing). for our flight that left to Atlanta, Georgia at 12:50am. Things went very smoothly and we sleepily boarded the plane. I have only flown on one other red-eye flight in my life..and I can see why they call them red-eyes. We, along with the rest of the passengers, were very sleepy and did our best to snooze on the plane, but you can only get so comfortable doing so on those little chairs with the arm rests stabbing your back. However, we did the best with what we could.

Around 5 or 6am (i think) we landed in Atlanta. Here, we had a four hour layover. We drowsily made our way to our gate and set up camp on a couple of chairs where we took a couple little naps. The one thing I will always remember about our Atlanta layover is how dang FREEZING the airport was! Especially where our boarding gate was located. We are talking so cold your insides are shivering, cold. Luckily for us, we brought a blanket and some jackets, but even those didn't get our body temperatures back to normal. Finally, we decided to go find some hot chocolate and while we were at it, we grabbed some McDonalds breakfast, too. After that, we were back to our gate for a nap or two more and got on the plane around 10. (some of these times could be wrong - i was really tired and didn't keep great track of time).

Finally, in the afternoon sometime, we landed in beautiful Cozumel where Ryan (Craig's brother) and Brandon (Ryan's friend) picked us up and drove us to our condo we'd call home for the next nine days. 

Once home, Craig and I said our "hello's" then crashed on the couches for a while. We eventually woke up then put on our swimming suits and geared up for our first beach adventure of the vacation! (i wish i could remember the names of all the beaches we have/will visit(ed) but i guarantee i won't, so 'the beach' will have to do). 

We picked up some pizza to eat on the beach since it was friday night pizza night. While Jeff (craig's brother-in-law) picked up the pizza, we wandered around a little shop/store - it was amazing! Shops are so different here, but I love it! It's a new experience for sure.

Here some of us are waiting for our pizza, outside the little shop..

  

Then, it was beach time! We weren't at this beach too long, because we got there semi-late and you can't stay after dark because there are sea turtle nests (is that what they're called?) around and night time is when the cute little babies make their way to the ocean. However, the time we did spend there was great!

This is the cutest little girl EVER! I adore Craig's nieces and nephews..especially this cutie!..She helped me eat my food.

 Craig and I have a few cute pictures on the beach..I had a hard time choosing one to show off, so here are two..

Aren't we adorable?

he's gorgeous

Ryan is on a soccer team, here, and later that night we were able to go watch and support him as he played! Another unique, new experience. This is where I learned that Cozumel has billions of mosquitos and my blood is very satisfying to their taste.

i get poofy hair in the humidity

Yesterday, saturday..we didn't waste much time in going to another beach. This one was a very nice, touristy beach. So far its my favorite (though we've only been to two..)! It was beautiful and the water is blue and so clean and clear. Oh, I loved it. We snorkeled three times and saw some cute little fish, eels, sting rays, etc. I also got a killer sunburn. We ate some delicious nachos, swam in a pool (yep, a pool at the beach), enjoyed the ocean, jumped off a pier several times and had an overall good time. I'll tell you what, though.. Salt water doesn't taste good or feel good on your lips. It also burns your eyes. Other than that, holy cow, I love it!! Love. It.

Look at that water!

Nachos:)

Another adorable niece! They're the cutest. Also, see that burn forming on my left leg? Its like 100x worse, now. I told you it was killer.

The wonderful beach day had to come to an end, unfortunately. We came home and showered (felt good to be clean, again) and then Craig, Ryan, Brandon and I went to the Plaza for a while to look around and experience the city a little more. Another wonderful, fun experience.

Today was Sunday. Going to church here was..an experience. (yep, i've said that a thousand times). Its weird when you go to church and don't understand a single word. Its neat though, even in a different language, the spirit is the same. It was a very hot building. Oh, the people in this ward, here are the nicest people I've met! Everyone gives kisses here and I love it. Everyone I came in contact with put a smile on my face. A highlight of my day was that several people in the ward told me (actually told Jen and Jen translated for me..) that I look like Barbie! Thats a compliment I'll take:) In our Sunday School, Singles meeting, I even read the scriptures in Spanish. I'm sure I butchered every word, but hey, at least I gave it a shot. Its pretty neat, Craig and Ryan both spoke Spanish on their missions and its really impressive to hear them communicate with people, here. Its crazy to me that they can actually understand what people are saying here! Maybe on day I'll be that cool, too.

After church there were more naps. Then we went to a big dinner down by our pool at our condo. Yummy food and lovely people. After dinner, we swam in the pool a while and then came back up to our room, showered, and have been relaxing in our condo since.

I can't wait to see what the rest of this Cozumel adventure will bring! I'm so blessed to have this opportunity and to be able to spend it with my wonderful boyfriend and his family.

Until next time, my friends..
xoxo