I Believe in Miracles

You remember the 2003 version of Peter Pan when Tinkerbell is dying and people around the world begin to chant "I do believe in fairies, I do. I do."? Yeah. That's me. I love that part. Let your childhood self free and believe. After all, the Bible teaches us that unless we "be converted, and become as little children, [we] shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3). Now, many people who read of my miracles will say, "No. That's a coincidence, not a miracle" To you I say, "Curly hair don't care." I ignore your attempts to destroy my love of miracles and belief that they still exist today.

On Wednesday night (3/27) I was finishing up my golf class and went to return the empty bucket. The owner of the driving range asked me how I was doing. I told him I didn't think I was improving. He asked if I owned some golf clubs to practice my swing on. I told him how I didn't want to buy anything expensive, and I was having a hard time finding cheap girls clubs. He suggested only buying one club to practice on, and I said something about feeling like a loser only buying one club. Then he said "one moment" and went to find a girl's golf club. He gave it to me; I said I would bring it back next week, and he said "no. keep it." It was so nice. My heart melted. I thanked him and went on my merry way. I love kind people. Time to pay it forward. #miracleofkindnessandgenerosity

Thursday I had a long day in a very important meeting in our downtown office with Addy. I had to get there early, so I was expecting lots of traffic, except there wasn't. However, there *was* time for me to hit up a starbucks to get a hot chocolate (it was a little chilly). There was a cute guy in behind me who asked "isn't that a christmas drink" to which I responded "you should have the spirit of christmas with you year-round." #wittyme After my long day in meetings, I went home to finish last minute packing and have some dinner before heading to the airport.

I was going through security, putting my stuff on the conveyor belt, when the guy behind me says something along the lines of "are you following/stalking me?" As someone with residual stalker-like tendencies, this is always a valid question ;) I turned around to say something super sassy, but turned to see the smiling face of someone I actually know! I was kinda stunned. What are the odds? It turns out we were both heading to PHX for the weekend, and we were on the same flight. Well, you know how when you meet someone you kinda form this idea about who they are and what they're like? I've realized a few weeks ago that my ideas about him have about a 40% accuracy rating, which I thoroughly enjoy. He once again surprised me by suggesting we change our seats to the emergency row together. As explained in my previous post, say yes, unless you want the fun to end. I did not. It turns out you have to pay money to change assigned seats to the emergency row, so instead we got assigned regular seats together. Now you may say, that's just what friends do when they see each other, but you see, until this point, I thought he only talked to me in group social events to be nice. It had never crossed my mind he might actually *want* to get to know me. Once again, I was surprised, because for *some* reason he wanted to sit next to me on an airplane for a 3 hour flight. We talked over food, and we talked during the plane ride. He continuously surprised me as our conversation flowed, and I loved it. Was the 4 hour conversation the beginning of a beautiful friendship, or was he just being a nice/polite person? Well...only time will tell. More than likely, whatever the outcome, it will probably surprise me. #miracleoffriendshipwhenleastexpected

Note the confetti in my hair and on the floor :)

Speaking of beautiful friendships, I was picked up at the airport by the lovely miss erica, who suddenly had a lot of errands to run and wanted to endanger my life by texting and driving after picking me up. Of course, I stayed in a state of ignorant bliss. We finally got to her place, and she encouraged me to go put my stuff in her room. As I was putting my jacket on the chair at her desk, I screamed as someone smashed cascarones on my head and confetti fell everywhere. I turned to see the guilty culprilt who gave me a mini heart attack only to shout with joy and laugh as I saw Ben. Surprise! I wasn't expecting to see him till later in the weekend. Great surprise, because I was expecting anything and seeing Ben always makes me happy. I was covered in confetti, but I could only laugh and try to ignore the OCD feeling of having to clean the up the confetti off the floor immediately. Quidditch practice ran late, so Erica had to stall by running her funny errands, and was texting Ben to make the surprise work. So really she risked my life for the good cause of bringing me joy. Ben, Erica and I ended up chatting for a while. Eventually Erica brought in a lot of pillows and we made a mini lounge on the floor. We were all sitting into a comfy zone which led to all of us falling asleep as we were talking. Finally, around 3pm, we somehow woke up and Ben staggered out the door, and magically made it back to his place unharmed. #miracleofsurprisesandjoy

Friday morning started a wee bit sluggish as we were functioning on a few hours of sleep. Erica had to get to work, and I had to get to Stine's to hang out with her a lil' Lia. We bid Erica farewell to work and Jordan (Stine's husband) farewell to school for his Calculus quiz (even though it's Good Friday). Stine, Lia, and I went on a walk. I felt so domestic pushing Lia in her stroller, with Stine walking the dog. We went to the park, where all the kids loved the dog and we loved swinging with Lia. The rest of the morning was us talking about everything  possible and me soaking in Lia-time. She's unbelievably adorable. Erica got off work early, and Jordan finished his test so we were able to get together for a little bit longer, till Jordan and Stine had a sealing to go to. Erica and I met up with Matt to have papusas at the papusaria we love. We accidentally told Matt the papusas were smaller than they were, so he wasn't hungry for Bahama Bucks after lunch. Oops. But really, I feel horrible because no one should ever miss an opportunity to eat at Bahama Bucks. The shame. But we had a great time! Matt is one of the handful of friends I still have from freshman year! (because they turned out to be terrible people or got married so single people no longer exist to them). He's awesome, and he served his mission in Germany, so he loves it as much as i do :) We hung out at Bahama Bucks, as Erica had to go back to work and eventually Stine and Jordan joined us. Then I said my goodbyes to Matt, and went over to Jordan's family's house to dye Easter eggs!

Now, I've known Jordan and Stine for a while. I also am friends with one of Jordan's older brother's, Marshall. Last time I saw Marshall was when Stine and I had a girls night and went to see him in Much Ado About Nothing. It was great, and he was so happy to see me. Call me vain, but I was expecting the same reaction. I saw him playing on the floor with one of his neices, and when he just looked up at me and casaully said "hey", I was a little disappointed. As I was looking around the room, *REAL* Marshall popped into my sight and gave me a hug and an enthusiastic welcome. I had seen Marshall's twin on the ground, and I only met him briefly once before. Sneaky twins. It was a lot of fun. I got to dye eggs with the kids and help pass out gifts after the Easter egg hunt. That's right. i'm not sure if it's just this family or all white people, but they their easter eggs have the name of presents inside them, and they get to collect their presents after the hunt. say what?!?! Gifts for doing an easter egg hunt? #whitepeople When i grew up, you hunted those eggs for ammunition so you can smash them on each other's heads! #mexicanpride We got root beer floats, yum. And while I was outside watching people play on the trampoline, like a ninja, Doug appeared out of no where on the trampoline. I was super impressed. Didn't see him coming. Doug is so funny, and he's their backyard neighbor. #hadnoidea

Then it was girl time. But first we needed our fake booze for the BYOB art class we were going to. I've been wanting to go to one of these for MONTHS! So I booked it up for us this weekend. The hardest part was finding a store near by. Of course there are tons of liquor stores...but we needed a Wal-Mart to get some Martinelli's. That was a little more difficult to get to.When we got there, I was surprised by the lack on instruction at the art class, but also surprised that my painting didn't turn out terrible.

We went in, chose from about 50 pictures which one we wanted to paint. We were given the colors and set free! After the base coat, you have to go blow dry the painting dry and then use chalk to draw what you are going to paint next. They said if you didn't finish in time you can come back some other time. Problem is, I'm not coming back anytime soon. Luckily, I finished. Our inner artist shown through our painting. We are awesome! Then we went for the next best part about girls night...cake. Erica promised me a cake when I came, and she did not disappoint. We went back for her to make the homemade icing, only to discover she was out of powdered sugar! What did I do? called ben to bring us some. duh. However, erica hates accepting help from others, so we ended up going over to Stine's where she has powdered sugar and ben had to wait an extra day to get cake. The cake was wonderfully delicious. And we had more Lia time, because Lia would not fall asleep! Poor little Lia.

Saturday morning was beautiful. I went to the temple with Stine & Erica for the first time. We've never made it all together before. It was great. Much needed peace and revelation happened.

After the temple, Erica and I went and hopped into our swimsuits and laid out by the pool for the rest of the afternoon. #sogood It was cloudy, but nice and warm. No sunburns for us. Sadly, Erica forgot some headphones, so she had to listen to the frat boys at the pool. #realtragedy Then we went to go get groceries because Erica was cooking us dinner! Except Stine cancelled on us. Sad. I really wanted her to finally meet Ben. We got back and Erica started cooking, and she sent me to bed because i was crazypants. I slept until right before Ben showed up. I was only incoherent for a bit after waking up luckily. We had a GREAT dinner with cake for dessert and a wonderful time talking and feeling judged by the imaginary hypothetical guest at our table as we tried to mesh different groups of friends. #dontmixfriendgroups Ben and Erica taught me the Wobble in an impromptu dance party. And we finally left to go to meet up with Stine & Jordan at the Mesa Temple Easter Pageant. Parking was terrible, so Ben dropped us off on a corner as he went to find parking. We managed to find Stine in the crowd and sit down in time for the BEST PART OF EASTER! His resurrection. Spoiler Alert: Jesus lives! It was great, and I love the Easter Pageant. We wandered off and Ben found us in front on the temple, waiting. Then two of my friend groups finally intermingled! It was quite entertaining. I'm such a good friend-matchmaker! We all went to Dairy Queen and had a marvelous time. After Stine & Jordan left, Ben said "I like that you have mean friends". lol. me and my friends tease each other quite often. Ben, Erica, & I stayed out a bit later and we shared our inner most thoughts and feelings and Ben dropped us off at Erica's. Erica and I stayed up until we started falling asleep, which wasn't much longer after being dropped off.

Sunday morning was quite pleasant  We went to 9am church at the Institute (my fav place on ASU campus) and it was a great service. I love how everyone is so musically gifted. The Spirit was there, and the message about the Atonement and of our living Savior was a powerful one. I really enjoyed it. Then it was time to hop on the plane back home to Texas. I read Clockwork Prince the whole plane ride back. I feel like book 2 is where Cassandra Clare really differentiates this trilogy her previous trilogy and the story becomes better (I acknowledge that there are now more than 3 in that series, but it irks me that she made it a trilogy and changed her mind a year later and wrote more). The plane ride was longer than anticipated, due to bad weather. I was tired and hungry as the shuttle driver taking me back to my car thought I was a teacher and then a secretary. Really? Would you like to stereotype me based on my sex some more? Men. When I got home, I had a nice surprise! Grandpa was there!!!!!!!!!!! Dear world, my grandpa is dabomb.com. We had a lot of fun and it was awesome. Especially when my mom, dad, and grandpa started trying to one-up each other on childhood stories. #grandpawon It was a great Easter weekend.

ps. As a book update. I stayed up super late Monday night to finish book 3, Clockwork Princess. LOVED IT! I cried the entire epilogue, although I am not sure why. It was perfect. I think I was crying from happiness of the perfection of the ending. I dont think I could have thought of something that wrapped everything up so nicely. And I wasn't expecting it. (I love surprises, but only when I don't know there is going to be a surprise, because my imagination always thinks of something cooler than the surprise) If only Mockingjay had that perfect of an ending, but that's beside the point.

pps. I really wanted to post the picture of ben and erica when we all fell asleep on Friday night, but decided not to because I dont want anyone to see it and for erica to feel more of the wrath of ben's fan club #understandable #prettypeopleproblems

Boys, Work, & Life

source: iwastesomuchtime.com

Let's talk about feelings right now. I remember a few years ago, I was talking to my friend Greg, and he made the comment that all girls are crazy. Being in my state of denial and haughtiness, I thought, "yeah, right, i am so sane and normal". Now, age and clarity have settled into my life and I realize, he's so right. lol. por ejemplo, i have met this guy who makes me super nervous, and this causes me to act really weird because my nervousness overrules my ability to seem any kind of cool. I say weird things and my face turns red. Lindsay thinks it's adorable I have a crush on someone. Me? No. I dont like him. Why? because he doesn't like me. #girllogic

Let's start with an amusing anecdote. Anecdote, not antidote. Because one will help you if you are dying of a crazy disease, and the other would not. I was talking my friend Petra and she was asking me if there were any boys I liked. I said something along the lines of "no, boys suck" and she asked, "are you sure you even like boys?" lol. I said "oh, i like boys." that's the problem. I just know what I do and don't want. Mix that with the phrase "he's just not that into you" and you get my life.
Boy Rant: Complete

So one time someone asked me, why dont you write about what you do at work more? and I thought, 'why do you want to hear about what I do at work? #boring' But I will tell you. I normally enjoy what I do at work. Our company is divided into two sections. In one of the sections you have the president of that section and his VPs. I work with the VP of Manufacturing. He tells me what he wants, and I make it happen. I like what I do. I like making things happen. However, I hate when he asks me to do impossible things, because he doesn't realize they are impossible, so I end up trying super hard to make it happen only for it to never work. I almost made myself cry the other week because I thought he would be upset that I could make something happen he wanted to happen, be he was like "okay" and moved on. Now he wants me to do something in SAP that everyone is telling me I cannot do, and he's like."....mmmmm, i think you can". So I shall continue on my quest to make the impossible happen so I can create a graph about it and send it to him. He loves graphs, data, and powerpoint presentations. He's awesome, and challenges me, which I like. If I didn't respect him as much as I do, I would probably not try as hard as I do. But he's legit, and knows what he's talking about. It's cool. 

Another work story: last week, I was put on a the a materials management team for our Petroleum facilities. Oh man. This team is awesome. I met up with them a little late because we were all stuck in traffic, but it was at a different one of our Houston locations, so I go to be out of the office for the day. It's a team of four men. One of the guys described the group quite well, "We laugh a lot, because if we didn't, we would die of boredom". Let me just say, I laughed a lot that day. We had a good productive meeting, and one of the guys at that facility was our host, and he was intense. He asked if we wanted anything and I said a water. He said they didn't have cold bottled water, and I was like, "ok, nevermind" but he went and got some water bottles, and stuck them in the freezer and brought one out when it was cold for me. It make me feel super awkward, and all the guys laughed about it. 

source: iwastesomuchtime.com

I may or may not have caused a minor Cold War with me and this lady who is a total arch nemesis. Luckily I defused the bomb with the best defense mechanism...playing dumb. It worked. She's still a total arch nemesis, but now I don't get scared when i see here because I know it's not just directed at me, but to everyone. Also, I had to keep my own anger at bay when my xenophobic co-worker said a racist comment and thought I was joking when I told her it was racist and that I took personal offense to the comment. The cold shoulder lasted the rest of the week, but had to end because I gave a lesson at FHE about how everyone can get angry but disciples of Christ forgive and are loving. I made the promise, I would try to let it go, so I am.
Work Rant: Complete

So work bestie Charles, grew up as an expat. he was told me that he received kidnapping training when he was little. He got a phone number he could call from anywhere in the world and was told they would have someone there within 24 hours of the phone call. I said that wasn't very impressive, because they could have you moved within 24 hours. However, the guy told him that the first rule to being kidnapped, is to not get kidnapped. (i know, right?). The guy said to kill as many of them as possible, because the worst that can happen is them killing you which is probably better than then holding your for ransom, torturing you, and cutting off body parts to send to your family for proof that you're alive. This convo happened because I told Charles about when I was out with David, I asked him if he was going to sell me me into the sex-slave trade and he looked at me and said, "depends how much they offer". #germanhumor

Now what to say about the past few weeks since I've posted. Well, being older has is perks. As in one perk I can think of: I can now rent a car without paying extra for being underage. Please note: pretty much only america has this dumb tax. #embarrassing. Since my birthday I have:

• decided I'm want to hang out with little Ron Weasley forever, because, let's face it, he's adorable. 
• hung out with Alison, who I haven't seen in forever. She's moved back to H-town, and in celebration, we made dirt pudding, texted Chad a picture, and watched a movie. Just like old times. Love it. 
• had a Spanish Saturday, where Laura was dying the whole day and slept in the car while we were in downtown. Christina, Teri Jo, and I ate tapas, and even though they had papas bravas on the menu, it was a sham. So sad. Papas bravas are my fav tapas. Then we went to the Museum of Fine Arts to see the Spain art they brought from El Prado. Oh El Prado. Oh Spain! Te echo de menos. 
• had a dentist appointment. My dentist is cool.
• been a super lazy bum and have done a lot of nothing. 
• seen Cirque du Soleil with Saryah. It was magical. I loved it, and I'm pretty sure that I looked like a dork just staring in awe of the cool stuff. It really made me appreciate the wonderful gift we were given from God to come to earth and get a body. So cool. Another fun part was that we ran into Sam and his brother Oliver, who were also out and about as siblings. #siblingpower
• become lucky enough to get an invite to David's house for dinner with the sisters. Laura got one too and we got to experience David's great cooking. I'm impressed. Way to go. We had such a fun time together. Then Laura and I headed to the Chili Cook-Off together.
• seen a chili eating contest and a pie eating contest at the chili cook-off. Never have seen one of those before. The chili contest was painful to watch, especially since I had spicy thai food earlier that week and was dying from the mild curry. 

The best part of my post-birthday life, is that I pulled Walk-To-Remember wish. I witnessed a miracle. It was one of those miracles that have nothing to do with you, but have everything to do with someone else. But I was blessed enough to be a part of it. I am so grateful. When I wrote it in my journal, I remembered one of the reasons I write a blog; when I hand-write things, it takes forever because i write with so much detail that my hand cramps and it's insane. I won't write much more about it on my blog because I don't want to trivialize the experience, but it strengthened my testimony that God knows His children and loves every single one of them, whether they are aware of it or not. Plus, I was able to give a talk in church, which always makes me happy. Pretty much, it had been a great Sunday, that ended with Stevie & Sonja coming over with their kids and us having lots of fun. I guess that's why I was having such a rough past two weeks. it's always right before the really good that Satan tries to derail us with really bad.

"Fear not; only believe. This is a time to make resolutions that will be binding upon you. This is a season to set standards that will hold you to the right course and make you happy now and in the years that follow." -Gordon B. Hinckley,  “Fear Not; Only Believe,” New Era, Jan 2000, 4

P.S. There is a really real possibility that they are going to start production on a Veronica Mars movie this summer. #dreamsdocometrue

PPS. I read this great article on International Women's Day about women in the workplace and them balancing work and family. It was written by a successful business woman and mother, and I loved it. It really spoke to me.

PPPS. Lindsay sent this one to me. It made me realize how much I have appreciated the de-cluttered life of living out of two suitcases. I did it on a mission and I'm doing it again my first year of employment. It's funny because whenever I go home, I realize how much stuff I have and how I haven't missed most of it or even thought of it. It makes getting rid of stuff much easier. But be warned, I may be transitioning into a more minimalist mentality, but that doesn't mean that I'm not planning on going shopping this weekend to buy some new clothes.  ;)

December & Costa Rica (pt. 1)

Oh how life changes when you get back to the United States. My monthly pictures used to be in the hundreds. Now I'm lucky if I get over 50 in a month. In December...I took only 11 pictures. Sad day.

So I have a few highlights for the month of December (pre-Costa Rica).

1. I got a hair cut so my hair finally has proper layers. I'm sick of hairdressers telling me I'm not allowed to have layers because my hair is too short and curly. #liars

2. I took a basic pistol 101 class and learned how to properly hold and shoot a pistol. I shot a Glock 19. Lesson learner: I will not be owning any guns in the foreseeable future.

3. I saw The Hobbit with my old friend Tim. It was soooo much fun. My inner geek was unleashed and had a wonderful reign in my life.

4. I went to the Museum of Natural Science with the sister missionaries on their P-day (I took a half day) and it was awesome. I loved hanging out with the sisters.

5. I got to hang out with Hollister who got some days off during the week, and we had a sleepover in my hotel, went shopping, and had too much fun!

6. Family Christmas dinner on the Saturday before Christmas so we could have a family get together. It was quite pleasant.  I had an interesting consternation with an uncle, who said I could plan a vacation for him and my cousin. IM SO EXCITED! I love planning vacations! WOOHOO!

Then it was off to Costa Rica for me y mi madre :) As Bilbo Baggins says "I think I'm... quite ready for another adventure!"

Sunday night we flew in, and I was lucky enough to sit next to a nice Costa Rican guy. Yay. Mom was recovering from sickness, so she was passed out against the window in her seat. Poor little mommy. lucky me. He was super funny. He works for Amazon and we got our nerd on, talking about movies and superheros. It was a really good flight over, especially because we were able to switch back and forth from English to Spanish during our conversation. He seems like a really great guy. Anyway, we arrived at our hostel and went to bed because we had an early morning ahead of us.

Monday morning (12/24 aka Christmas Eve) we woke up to get ready for the shuttle bus to come pick us up. In all the hustle and bustle of the morning, my mom was in the bathroom and I was changing the bedroom. When I tried to get out of the bedroom...I discovered I was locked in. Not because the door locks from the outside or the door knob was stuck, but the door knob had somehow detached itself from the latch in the door that you have to turn to get the door to open. So I was turning the door knob and nothing was happening, all the while, time was counting down to when our shuttle would be arriving to take us away. Now, I've watched enough tv to know what to do in this situation. I channeled my inner Sydney Bristow (reference: Alias) and started looking for an escape. The windows had bars on them that would not move. and the window part was separated in parts where I would have to individually remove slides of glass to get to the bars. Realizing there was no window escape, I turned towards the door. I tried to push and pull at the door knob, but did not feel it was time to try and break down the door. Instead, I channeled my inner Neal Caffery (reference: White Collar) and started to work on opening the door with my student id card (as I didnt want to hurt my credit card or ruin my driver's licence picture in this amazing feat) I worked on the latch with my card, and praying up a storm, the latch seemed to open and I was freed from my temporary holding cell. Now who says tv is detrimental to our brains?

We got in the shuttle (luckily it was a few minutes late, because so was I) and we drove to Manuel Antonio. We made a little stop and mom and I were able to have some empanadas for brunch. Yum yum yum. We got to our new hostel and there was a porch area overlooking forest and the ocean with hammocks lining the area. It was so relaxing. We got into our little hostel apartment area and enjoyed the hammocks, and walked to the market to get some sunscreen before our first Costa Rican adventure. Kayaking and Snorkeling. When we got to the location, I SAW A SLOTH!!!!!!!!! AND A BABY SLOTH! they were just hanging out in a tree. My first sloth sighting. It was beautiful. I want one. Now, about this adventure, first thing you must remember, I get motion sickness. I often forget this, because I'm so used to taking preventative measures, that it often doesn't become a problem. I haven't gotten super sick since December 2008 (that's a fact/tmi) Anyway, my mom and I were put in a two-person kayak together and started kayaking across a part of the ocean to a where we would kayak. After a little bit, I started feeling terrible. Sadly my mom didn't realize it, and so I was not a happy camper. So I was having to kayak, and focus on not getting sick on our little adventure. Luckily we made it to the other side and I was able to get into the water, and my body normalized because I'm part fish. The visibility wasn't that great, but it was fine. The worst part was kayaking back, as my arms were tired and my nausea was exponentially worse. Miracle 2 of the day: we made it to the other side. Kayaking in the ocean causes motion sickness...who knew? Aka...I'm never doing that again. It seriously made me reconsider if I wanted to go on a yacht cruise later in the week. But we were able to go to dinner and eat a classic Tico dish, casado. It was good, and we met the other people on our little tour. They were really nice and funny. One of the girls loved my swim suit. (I fell like a 60's movie star in it). We went back to the hostel and I spend the rest of the evening reading on the hammock until I joined my mom (who was trying not to fall asleep until 9pm) in watching a little of The Big Bang Theory in our living room. 

I'm channeling my inner 60's girl

Christmas day was wonderful. We ate breakfast and were picked up to go on a surfing lesson. The surfing lesson was fun. We had our lesson in Spanish, which was awesome. We could have done it in English, but once the guy found our we spoke his language, he was happy, and i was happy. We started off on the sand, like they do in the movies, before moving into the water. The waves beat me up a lot, but I'm pretty tenacious when I want to do something. I was able to get up more than I thought I would, but only stayed up the entire time without the wave knocking me over once. I felt super accomplished. One of the surf instructors was american, named Aspen, and he's my new life hero. He had a successful career and decided one day that he wasn't living the life he wanted. He decided to travel the world. He says that surfing saved his life and it taught him to enjoy nature and life more. He's living in Costa Rica now. But he said something that I liked: that people save money to spend it later and never really enjoy life because they're so worried about their money, so he's spending his savings and living/loving life before he's too old. I was inspired. A side note: what they dont tell you about is the surfboard can sometimes rub your skin, so my elbows and tops of my knees were scrapped up after the 2 hours. Another note: one of my favorite things is when everyone asked me how I learned my Spanish, they think it's from school. Yeah right. I never understood Spanish  not even after 3.5 years of studying it. I learned it from with the Latinos of Northern California when I served my mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. #toolegit 

Christmas afternoon was spent reading on the hammock, listening to the Spanish Christmas songs I put on my phone before the trip, and reading the story of Christ's birth from the scriptures. I should have read it all in Spanish, but I wanted my mom to understand everything. (I also discovered on this trip, that my Spanish skills have surpassed hers...oh how the tables have turned...must remember to not become prideful) It was a very special Christmas for me, as it was my first time to Central America. I had a very precious moment as I read the story of our Saviour's birth as the Spirit, once again, testified to my soul that it happened, and that the people in ancient America knew it too. (reference: The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, 3 Nephi 1:4-25) They also had signs of his birth and knew of his divine mission to come to this earth for us.

Later, We were picked up for horseback riding on the beach. It was a little nerve wracking (as i have been thrown/fallen off a horse 4 times already). But we went. I tried to go slow on the horse. Eventually I felt comfortable enough with the horse, I let it trot a little. The guide was super funny. He had a machete, and said it was part of his uniform, along with his jeans, spurs, and cowboy hat. There was a old lady in our group who wanted to canter and was freaking out trying to get her horse to canter. It was interesting. We had a nice dinner before going back to the hostel and me relaxing with a book. (I used my NOOK app on my phone. I love my NOOK) It was a very happy Christmas.

Mom on one of the shorter ziplines

Mom repelling down the waterfall. Can you see her?

Boxing day (12/26) started early as well. We got up and ready for our outdoors adventure. We were going to repel a waterfall and we weren't sure what to expect. We went with Quepos Canyoneering, and it was AMAZING! loved it. It wasn't only repelling. We had to climb up rope ladders, zipline from different platforms, walk on a tight rope between trees, and did a drop into a waterfall  in addition to repelling down a waterfall. It was LEGENDARY! We made some cool friends along the way, Deepa (a Harvard grad student) and another guy whose name I forgot. They were our buddies. On the drive out of the forest, on of the guides was telling me how he built his house with his own two hands out of wood, and it took him 2 years. He's cool. We had a really good lunch before catching our shuttle to Monteverde. Fact: it had been a miracle that I hadn't been car sick yet, but this drive was borderline. I had to drug myself up and it was funny how mom was getting nervous with all the windy mountain roads. I could never drive in central america. One of our drivers told us at one point, that Costa Ricans are bad at two things: driving and giving directions. I would like to say, that they are pretty good at driving, as I could never drive on such narrow roads up a mountain in a big van when other big vans are coming the other way. #truth But we managed to get to Monteverde without incident. One of the hostel guys showed me a sloth in a nearby tree in the darkness (while i fought my crazy side that said "dont follow him in the darkness or you will be taken!). Mom and I went to the market and made spaghetti for dinner. And I made some reservations for tours tomorrow, something I had been waiting to do in order to get a native person's opinion, because there are so many organizations that do the same things there.

Waterfall we were dropped into from a scary height backwards :)