Belize Day 2

One of the benefits of going to bed quite early is that it you get to enjoy the morning. One morning while we were in San Ignacio, the birds (which were extremely loud there) woke me up quite early. I decided to take a little walk while everyone else was sleeping and snapped this picture. It was a lovely morning.


After everyone else got up and moving we headed out on our first adventure. Our tour guide drove us up into the hills on a very rough road. Where the kids were delighted to discover a grove of fruit trees. Citrus is a major industry in Belize so our tour guide thought it was funny that we were so thrilled by seeing them. He pulled over and the kids picked an orange each.
Then he asked us all about snow, and told us that was something he would like to see.

Not long afterward we arrived at this cave with a river running through it. This was really an adventure the guide rowed Max and I in one canoe and Shane and Mason took another. We wound through this cave with stalactites hanging from the ceiling and a few remains of ancient Mayan rituals. Our guide explained that this cave had been used to perform human sacrifices by the Mayans because they believed it was a gateway to the underworld.





It was equal parts awe inspiring and creepy to drift through the cave and listen to our Mayan guide tell the stories of his ancestors. It was an interesting conversation and I got the notion that Adrienne our guide had a sense of respect for a culture that believed in their gods so fully that they would offer up their own children as tribute.

After the cave we took another short drive and then a quick hike to a beautiful waterfall.
By then Max's little legs were getting a bit tired.

The kids were happy to be able to get in the water and cool off.



Shane swam nearer to the waterfall.
There was this big rock near the edge of the water that Shane started jumping off.

Pretty soon Mason decided he wanted to give it a try. He started with one of the lower ledges. And then decided he was brave enough to try jumping from the top of the rock. It doesn't look that high in the picture, but it was. Shane and I were both surprised by his bravery.
Eventually Max wanted to give it a try too, but he needed a little help from Shane.

Finally we headed back to the lodge, but on the way home we stopped at the this lookout point in the hopes of seeing some exotic birds. It was too late in the day to see much wildlife, but the view was pretty amazing.


Finally we got back to the lodge and kids were dying to go swimming, so Shane being the great dad that he is took them down to the pool, I couldn't believe how much they wanted to swim on this trip. They couldn't get enough of it.

After swimming we had a great dinner and then dragged ourselves to bed. Again I think we were all in bed before eight.

Belize Day 1

We just got back from the most lovely vacation, and although I am not always a faithful blogger I wanted to be sure and get this trip documented before I forget some of its finer details.

First off I need to explain how this trip came about, because that in and of its self was miraculous. Way back in December Mason had THREE WEEKS off of school for Christmas break. Now I tried to be resourceful and fun and keep everyone busy, but since the Idaho weather prevented us from going outside by the end of the break we were all climbing the walls. So I looked ahead to spring break and decided we'd better plan something. The other reason I really wanted to plan something in the sun away from home was for Shane. To put it simply this last year has been hard for Shane, and his new job which we are grateful for, is extremely high stress. This guy needed a vacation. So I started shopping locations. On a random website I found a post about visiting Belize, and I was intrigued it seemed like just the right mix of adventure and relaxation, and its most attractive feature... our cell phones wouldn't work there, for one blissful week Shane could be free from other people's demands.

There was just one problem Shane's job said there was no way he could be gone for a week. There was just too much to be done. I couldn't quite give up the idea of a fabulous vacation though and kept on researching, I decided where we would stay and what we do just in case. Then one night about six weeks before spring break I couldn't sleep. I was thinking about passports... The kids needed passports, but then I would tell myself there was still no way we could get away so I shouldn't waste the money on passports. Finally after a week of this relentless urging to get passports I turned in the kids applications, telling myself that we still couldn't go, but at least I'll feel at peace.

Finally a week and a half before spring break things at Shane's job took a turn for the better. The software he had been working on for nine months was up and running and running well. The office in general was very happy, and Shane got the go ahead to be gone for awhile. I was so happy Shane would get a break from work and I right away started to look into options. With it only a week away, flights to anywhere were crazy expensive, but then a feeling told me, to check flights leaving on Monday... so I did everywhere was still quite expensive, except for... you guessed it... Belize. The flights were actually less expensive than when I had looked several weeks ago. I called the resorts that I had tentatively decided I wanted to stay at, and sure enough they had room. It was a frantic two days or so of calling around and scheduling different things, but for the most part it worked out perfectly. I know it sounds simple, but I really felt like this vacation was an answer to a prayer, that the Lord knew how badly Shane needed to get away and spend time with his family, what a blessing.

And just for those who may be interested this is what packing for four people for eight days looks like. It was quite the undertaking, but I got it done just in time.

To book our affordable flights we had to fly out of Salt Lake City, so on Saturday we headed to my parent's house. It was fun to get a little time to visit with them before we left. Another stipulation of our flight was that it left at 6 a.m. which at the time of booking didn't seem so early, but when you add in the recommended two hour buffer and the 30 minute drive to the airport, had us getting up at 3:00 a.m.

My dad was kind enough to take us to the airport and then my mom was kind enough to follow him 20 minutes later with the suitcase that we forgot. Seriously my parents are the BEST.

The bulk of Monday was spent flying and waiting for flights and flying some more. The kids did a really great job of being patient and surprisingly well behaved for having gotten up at three in the morning.

This is picture of the kids riding the tram around the Dallas airport we had a three hour lay over there so we had to be creative.


When we finally arrived in Belize the first thing I noticed was the humidity. It was HOT, but it felt so good. We picked up our car at the airport and headed towards San Ignacio. I was a little nervous about driving around in a country I'd never been to before, but it was no big deal. Shane did most of the driving, and had no problems at all. We didn't even get lost, and it was really fun to see the country as we drove across it. When we arrived at the Maya Mountain Lodge our first destination we were so glad to finally get there. It was definitely a more rustic location, but the kids loved it. Our little cabin consisted of one room and this hammock on the porch that the kids were in love with.

By Monday night the kids were exhausted, and dinner was a little bit challenging. The owners of the lodge were right there on sight and Suzy one of the owners also did much of the cooking. The food was wonderful, but unusual to my grown up palette but for the kids who had been up for way too long, it was just weird and they would have none of it. This is when we learned something about Belize...meals are long and slow and meant to be enjoyed... Our poor kids, they really had been great all day long, but it was a miracle that they made it through dinner without melting down into a weeping, whining puddle or two. We had a little reprieve when a table over from us a lizard fell from the ceiling and scurried across the floor. Bart the other lodge owner looked at it casually and said something like, "oh a lizard." We definitely weren't in Idaho anymore.

After dinner we dragged our tired selves back to our little cabin and went to bed I think we all were fast asleep by seven thirty. We were exhausted, but excited to be on an adventure together.

First Snow

Around the first week of October it snowed for the first time. The kids were thrilled.

Funny Max

Max hate socks, even in the middle of winter I have a hard time getting him to wear them. So when warm weather shows up he is thrilled that he can wear his flip flops. This summer he decided that not only should he wear flip flops everyday, but they should always be different colors.


A week or into preschool Max brought home a bag or gummy bears, telling me excitedly "Mom you take them home and they sword fight!" I didn't quite understand and Max said again, "You sword 'em mom, they sword fight." I still didn't understand until I also saw this paper that went with the gummy bears.


Max was a little sad when he learned that his gummy bears were not to be "sworded," but rather sorted, but then I told him that he still got to eat them and all was forgiven.

A few day after that I found all of the kids playing around the large electrical box in my yard. They seemed to be having a great time so I went to check out their game. They seemed to alternately afraid of and trying to conquer the box, and I asked for further explanation from Max, who pointed at the this sign and said in all seriousness, "Scary monster in the box."

Who knew we were housing scary monsters right in our own front yard.

First Day of School

This year Mason is in first grade. He was excited for school this year, especially the chance to ride the bus home and have lunch at school.

His first few weeks of school were a little more stressful than I had anticipated. I was surprised when Mason came home each day very discouraged and unhappy. Mason loved school last year and I was sad that he wasn't loving things this year. Thursday on the first full week of school he got on the wrong bus to come home. Mason was quickly located, but there were a nervous few minutes where I wondered anxiously why no one had been looking out for my child. Friday I visited the school at the end of the day and felt further discouraged about Mason's classroom. On Monday after spending some time observing his classroom and praying for some direction on the matter I felt strongly that I needed to ask the principal for a class change. It was a fairly drawn out and stressful process, but eventually the change was made and Mason has enjoyed his new class so much. All of this drama happened while Shane was in Poland. I had to be the primary parent dealing with this problem. It was challenging and it made me really appreciate and miss having Shane for support.

Max's first day was about two weeks later. He is going to this wonderful little preschool in the neighborhood, and Miss Karla is his teacher. He was excited and a little bit nervous on the first day, but so far is absolutely loving preschool.


This last picture has nothing to do with school but I took it while Shane was still out of town. I told the kids that we could go out to dinner twice while Shane was gone. One time Mason could choose the destination, and one time it would be Max's choice. Mason had first choice, but this night it was Max's choice. I snapped this picture because I thought the boys were being so sweet to each other, but upon further inspection I discovered that Mason was trying to talk Max into choosing the restaurant that he wanted that night.

Labor Day

Labor day weekend we celebrated by taking a quick trip out of town. Shane had flown in from two and a half weeks in Poland on Friday night, and Saturday we celebrated Max's birthday, so Sunday we headed to Logan. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time taking our kids to some of our old haunts.



Shane wanted to show the kids the place where he and I got engaged. It was fun to visit although the kids were not as interested. The temple grounds were very beautiful.

On Monday we drove through the beautiful Logan canyon to Bear Lake. Shane had promised the kids that he would take them to a cave, so we visited Minnetonka cave. The kids thought the fact that they could go deep inside a real live cave was amazing. They were truly in awe, it was so fun to be on such an adventure with them.



On the way home we had the most unusual thing happen. Driving down the road we heard a loud crack and Max started screaming, I looked back to see Max's window completely shattered and falling in on him. Max's was incredibly upset and there were a few confused seconds where we tried to figure out what had happened. We found that something (we never discovered what) had hit the window and the safety glass instantly shattered. Max was seriously upset and kept crying, "My window came apart!" but thankfully only had a few minor scrapes. He was so upset after we finally got him cleaned up and calmed down a bit, Mason the sweet boy that he is, suggested that we say a prayer. Shane said the sweetest prayed thanking the Lord that Max wasn't injured. We drove home from the Bear Lake area a way we had never been before, so not only did we have a broken window most of the way, we also got fairly lost once, when Shane chose not to trust his navigator (me). I teased him quite a bit when the empty road that we were on turned to dirt without any civilization in sight and we had to turn back. The entire trip was quite an adventure.

Max Turns Four

Please forgive me I'm going to be playing some catch up with my blog. I wanted to write about Max's birthday in September. I just can't believe that he is getting so big. Max was sick during the week and Shane was out of town, so we just planned a simple family party. We were lucky to have my mom and dad come up for a quick visit, on his birthday, but we waited until the day after to have a little party since Shane was not flying back in (from Poland) until late that night. So Saturday with Shane finally home we had Shane's family over for cupcakes. It was a fairly simple affair but everyone had a good time.