St. George Visit

Nate and I just got back from visiting Melis, Sam, and Jenna at 1:30 am Sunday morning. We had such a fun visit, it was sad to leave! We went hiking every day and had lots of good food!

The first day we got there we went to the duck park with Melis and Jenna. Before we went Jenna told Nate, "It's ok, don't be scared of the big duck, I won't let it hurt you." Haha! She was so cute and saying the cutest stuff the whole time. We played rook at night and watched The Office.




The next day, Wednesday, we went on a hike near Melissa's house. It was really pretty and the weather was so nice! We met Sam at Cafe Rio for lunch. I felt sick because I ate a whole salad instead of sharing one like I usually do! It was soooo good though! Then we went to Sugar Cookie with Jenna. It was so cute, she kept singing "Sugar cookie, sugar cookie, we're going to sugar cookie" over and over again until we got there.




On Thursday we went hiking again and then went to see the temple. I love that temple. Visiting the St. George Temple always reminds me of when my sister, Brittany, got stuck in a bathroom there. Long story, but it was really funny! We were laughing about that! (: Then we shared a huge milkshake and onion rings from this place, The Iceburg.



At night we all went to the pumpkin patch. It was so fun! Jenna loved the witch there, Wicka Dee. We went on a hay ride, picked out pumpkins, and I made Nate go down this children's slide into some corn, his face is so funny in the picture, pure happiness.. (:


Don't take my pumpkin..or else!


Pure happiness.. haha!

Jenna thought this goat was stuck so she pulled him out of the bars. (:



Friday we went to Zions and did a really pretty hike! We had a picnic and like one minute after we started hiking again Jenna was asking where we were going to stop for another picnic, haha! When we got back from Zions, Sam and Melis made us pizza and pizzookies for dinner. The pizza was soooo good, Sam cooked it on bricks in their grill, it was really one of the best pizzas I've ever had! Now we want to get all of the stuff to make it the same! We watched Transformers 3 which was very actiony and me and melis both fell asleep almost the whole movie!


Jenna had this flower that she kept hitting Nate on the head with and accidentally hitting other people with the whole time. It was funny to watch from behind!



Saturday we went hiking at Snow Canyon. That was actually probably my favorite hike, it was so pretty and there were so many wildflowers everywhere! We hiked down into some caves. It was funny because at one part, you had to kind of rock climb down a little ledge. All of us didd it fast, but then Melis was trying to come down. She had her bum so high in the air and wouldn't bring it down, so she couldn't lower down enough. Finally, after like 10 minutes, she lowered enough to get down, haha! After hiking we had a late lunch at Wingers. They had all you can eat wings and Nate and Sam both ate at least 15! We asked the waitress how much she had seen anyone eat and she said, "You guys are pretty close, about 20 is the most." Nate was in heaven!!




Jenna came in to wake us up every morning. One time she brought us balloons and another time she woke us up by throwing a snowball(handful of cotton balls) at our heads..haha!



It seems like our trip went by so fast. We loved every minute of it! On the way home, we stopped to visit Nate's uncle and cousins and then headed home.

Part V: Caye Caulker, Belize

Our last destination was Caye Caulker, the cutest and most laid back little island. The island is so small, you could easily walk from end to end. No one has cars there, everyone gets around by walking, biking, or driving a golf cart. We took a water taxi from Belize City to the island. We had rented a little studio there for the last 5 days of our trip but needed to find a place for the first 2 nights. (We had kept those 2 days open and hadn't planned anything so we could decide where we wanted to spend the extra days when we were in Belize.) After tons of traveling, we decided a few extra days on Caye Caulker would be the most relaxing! We walked around, asking prices from places and then I saw the cutest little houses right on the beach! We decided to stay there and had our own little house on stilts right on the beach! They gave us bikes and had a dock with hammocks that we would hang out on each evening.



The last 5 days we stayed at a cute studio that we found on VRBO. They gave us bikes to use and it had a nice deck and pool!


Our first couple of days we just relaxed. It felt sooo nice after so much traveling and moving around! Every morning we would wake up and ride our bikes to this little bakery to get coconut bread and sugar donuts. We bought lots of fruit and the best orange juice from a little market. We had that for breakfast pretty much every morning, it was so good! Then we would head down to "the split". That was a part of the island that got split in a hurricane. There were docks there that we would lay out on and then jump off of to swim around or snorkel. We were almost always the only ones there for a few hours and then a few people would come by noon. July is the off season in Belize, I'm not sure why because the weather was hot, but perfect for being in the water! After a few hours in the water, we would get lunch somewhere and then head back to our place to relax or take a nap. Then we would head out again in the evening for dinner. Nate loooved this one place, The Enjoy Bar, that had a full lobster for $10. We went there at least 3 times, I usually got coconut curry or jerk chicken and it was amazing!!



We were on Caye Caulker on our 1 year anniversary! We rented a canoe and paddled around half of the island. The water is so clear and the most beautiful turquoise color! We saw a spotted eagle ray and I jumped out to swim with it. We also saw a ton of gigantic fish jumping in the water. After we got back, we swam some more at the split. We got lunch at a place with swings by each table instead of chairs. I got a burrito that was bigger than my arm!!! It was sooo huge and somehow we ate it all! Then we relaxed and swam in the pool. For dinner, we went to this place that was my favorite out of every place! I got chicken skewers with a homeade peanut sauce that I am still dreaming about! I got this fancy, chocolate peanut butter drink and by the end I was too full for dessert. So sad, I am NEVER too full for dessert!!! It was the most amazing anniversary and one I will never forget!!!




On our last full day, we scheduled a full day sailboat tour to go snorkeling. The first stop was at a place that they said we might see manatees. I wanted to see one soooo bad!!! Nate and a few people spotted one for a second when we first got there, but I didn't see it. It was a stormy day and the water was extremely choppy. We snorkeled around for about an hour but didn't see any manatees. When we got back in the boat I was feeling so seasick! I have felt a little seasick whenever I surfed and it was really choppy, but never so bad before! There was a pregnant lady about my age that was also feeling sick, so we sat next to each other, staying close to the edge. It was nice to have someone else feeling the same way! At the next stop, the Coral Gardens, Nate snorkeled and I stayed on the boat. As we headed to the next stop, suddenly there was a little pod of dolphins swimming right next to the boat. It was so awesome, they were right next to us, we could almost touch them! They stayed next to the boat for a few minutes. It made the whole seasick thing worth it!! It started pouring on the way to one of the stops. It was raining so hard, it was painful!! Nate stayed up top and took some pictures while the rest of us huddled down below!

Waiting to load the boat. I loved this dog!!


The 3rd stop was Shark Ray Alley which I really wanted to do again. I was feeling a little better, so I went in. Somehow it actually made me feel better to be in the water! It was a little miracle! We swam with the sharks and manta rays for about an hour. It was so cool to be able to swim right next to them and see what they look like up close. Their skin feels just like sandpaper (Nate said the first sandpaper was actually shark skin). The manta rays were so fun to swim with too. There was one that was about 3 1/2 feet wide, it was huge!!! After Shark Ray Alley we went to Hol Chan. We saw lots of fish and a cute baby turtle. I love all of the coral in Belize! It is all living so the colors and different kinds are so cool to see! Then we headed back to shore. It felt so good to be on solid ground again!




On our last day, we got breakfast and then relaxed at the split as long as we had time for. It was so sad to leave. It really was the most amazing trip and we feel so blessed that we were able to go to Belize and Guatemala. It is something that we will always remember!!!

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