Update

I know, I know, I need to update more often, it's just that I don't know what to write about and then I find something and forget about it before I pick up my computer.

I just got a new calling in our ward at church, I am now the CTR9 teacher. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one had I am excited to see my mom more than just for a few minutes because she is the Primary President, and no she didn't choose me for the calling, she just approved it. On the other hand, I am kind of bummed because Brian and I have been put into callings that take us away from getting to know people. I have loved going to Relief Society every week and especially with my Grandma Neilson, it is so fun seeing her every week and being able to chat. I feel like we just get closer every week and I love that! So we will see how this all goes.

For those of you that don't know yet, Brian lost his job a couple weeks ago and now we are living on just my income, which isn't much. Luckily he can collect Unemployment so that little bit helps. This has been a challenge for us to adjust to to say the least, I know this is just a trial we have been given and it's all in God's plan, but that doesn't mean we have to enjoy it. Brian has actually been looking for a job since April because he knew he was going to graduate and wanted to get a jump start on finding a new career. Unfortunately he is finding it harder and harder everyday to find something... ANYTHING... He got his degree in Criminal Justice because he wants to be a Fraud Investigator but there are no positions open because the budgets for state jobs has been slashed. He has applied to FBI, CIA, ICE, Secret Service and Newport Beach Police Department... all with no avail. I know that we will be ok, and everything happens for a reason, I just hope he finds something sooner, rather than later so we can keep up with our mortgage and everything else...

I am still working at Genpact Mortgage Services as an office manager. I have been training to move into Accounting for the past couple of months and if everything goes right then I should be able to transition in about 6 months.

Last weekend we took a little break and drove up to Yosemite with my Dad, and brothers Cameron and Isaac. It was beautiful! I am not a fan of camping whatsoever but for some reason this time I had so much fun. We went biking and hiking and made an amazing Apple Cobbler.

Brian had fun freaking me out by climbing to unsafe places, I kept thinking he was going fall.

The is us on our way to our campsite. The views were exquisite.

Brian is king of the world!

Our hike to Vernal Falls.

The yummiest, easiest Apple Cobbler ever made!

Well that's it for us... I completely understand if you just skipped all the writing and went straight for the pictures.. :-)

I did it!

For years now I have been wanting to run a 5K run but never found one to do. A couple weeks ago I found out that our stake was having one for Pioneer Day. I was so excited! I filled out the registration form and sent it right away. I originally wanted to run the whole marathon, but thought that was a stretch since I had not been training. So we signed up to walk/run but mainly walk... Well today was race day, I got up, got ready and hit the trail... and guess what?! I ran the whole way! Well, I walked like 5 minutes toward the end but that doesn't count. :-) I was so excited and couldn't believe I did it! I can't wait until another one comes around, I think I will train beforehand though so I can be a little more energetic towards the end... :-)

Our Caribbean Vacation

We just got back from a much needed vacation to the land of the Caribbean. It was awesome! I am going to attempt to blog about everything but bare with me... I don't do this often...

Oh and let me apologize ahead of time for all those that read our blog and Ryan and Missy's blog because I have a feeling they will be pretty similar considering we were together on this vacation. :-)

Beginning -Wednesday night we drove to my Aunt Arlene and Uncle Rick's house in LA, they were kind enough to let us bunk there for the evening. It made it so much easier and less stressful because we had to be at LAX early Thursday morning.

Day 1- Thursday

7:30 AM- We arrived at LAX airport and were all smiles as we knew our next stop would be Mexico!

We arrived in the evening and got settled in our amazing rooms, made reservations at three restaurants and got straight into our swimsuits for a nighttime swim. We were in heaven!
Day 2- Friday-
We woke up early and bought our activities for the week. We spent the day swimming in the gorgeous clear blue ocean and chased sea turtles, it was amazing.

The only bummer to this day was that I cut the bottom of my left foot on some coral while we were exploring the tide pools and so for our whole vacation I was limping and hurting.
For dinner we ate at a restaurant called the Carib, they served Caribbean food which Missy and I both thought was ok, but Ryan and Brian took advantage of the sea food dishes and enjoyed it more.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this but after dinner we went to a Variety Show that the hotel put on and it was the most interesting, surprising and unique show I have ever seen. All of our faces were blank as we watched the cast perform Disney songs with thick accents and wild costumes. At the end of the show they brought up members of the audience and Ryan and I were some of the lucky ones who got to go on stage and dance. We had so much...um... entertainment that night that we skipped all other shows.

Day 3- Saturday-
Brian and I booked what's called the Tulum Extreme Adventure which includes Repelling, Zip-lining, snorkeling and touring of the Tulum ruins. Here are some great pictures from that:

1st- Repelling-

2nd Zip-lines:

3rd Snorkeling: 4th Tulum-
That night we ate at the Rodizio which is a Brazilian restaurant. I think it was my favorite, not only did we have lots of yummy meats, but we had the best rich chocolate dessert! I am all about desserts and this one took the cake!
Day 4- Sunday-
We spent the day at the hotel just lounging around and sun bathing... they have these great hammocks everywhere and so we all got one and took naps...

In the afternoon we went to Playa Del Carmin and walked around all the shops. Brian and I found a guy with two monkeys so we had to get pictures!
For dinner we went to a French restaurant that was absolutely beautiful inside!


Day 5- Monday-
Our last excursion was a Snorkeling Adventure! We drove almost 2 hours to get to a beach in between construction of two hotels and then took boats out to the reef close off shore. We stopped at two different areas, one shallow (4-8 ft) and one deep (18-30 ft). My favorite was the deep because of all the coral,it was gorgeous, the only downer was that it wasn't calm, it was a little choppy so I got a little sick... here are some pictures:

Unfortunately, this day was the only day I got sunburned... bad! The back of my legs and ankles got fried!

Day 6- Tuesday
This was our last day in paradise... I was really bummed...
Then we ate breakfast and jumped in the pool.
We had such a great time on this vacation that we were all a little bummed to go home... Missy and I especially...

We spent 4 hours at the Cancun airport waiting for a plane to come in and didn't get home until 2 AM this morning... it was a great vacation and now I am exhausted as I am sure you must be if you read this entire post!