turbo tourists: our new home

We headed to the airport last weekend on a mission.


The goal:
Find an apartment.


For those of you who don't know,
we're headed back east!

Steve got a great job, which we feel so good about, so we're on our way.

We spent the weekend getting to know the surrounding area.
It's going to be a big change from the only state both of us have ever lived in.
But we're so excited!
Change is good, and we're always up for adventure.

Steve's new boss and his wife showed us around everywhere
and pretty much spoiled us the entire time.
We love them already and we're glad we'll already have friends when we get out there.

We went to church and we're so excited to be a part of the ward!
It's going to be a big change as well,
like going from 40 young women to 4 kind of a change.
We can't wait!

Here's some other highlights from our discoveries in the area:


Berlin, Maryland.
The main street most famously known from Runaway Bride.
Needless to say this town was my favorite part of the entire trip.

We went out to dinner with Steve's boss, another member of the department and their wives.
They took us to a popular crab house
where I, ahem,
"dismembered, dissected and ate the entrails of a crab."
At least that's Steve's description.
And it was delicious.

We got to see the beach.
See first picture.

We also got to head out to the vacation spot for the entire east coast:
Ocean City, Maryland.
Luckily we ate Thrasher's french fries and walked the boardwalk,
so according to the locals our trip was complete.

We had a great, albeit emotionally exhausting, weekend.
After looking at about 9-10 apartments,
we finally found the right one just before we had to head back to the airport.

So I guess it's official!

We're becoming easterners...

Ahhhh!!!

reunited.

SHE'S HOME!!!


my dear sweet friend jamie lynn left on october 15, 2008 to serve a mission in rome italy.

(us at her "pre-mission missionary meeting")

and on may 8, 2010, she came home!!

i have seriously missed this girl SO stinking much.

in fact, i have missed ALL my girls SO MUCH.

in the weeks since i said goodbye to college,
i've been thinking about all the experiences i've had in the past five years.

these girls pretty much MADE my college experience.
they changed my life.

i think it's safe to say we have one of those
"no matter where we go we'll always be friends"
kind of friendships.

thank goodness.

because otherwise universities in different states,
a year and a half separation across the world
and a little state back east
might be really hard.


but luckily we always have these memories to fall back on:

plus about 3,000 others that would be impossible to put on one post.

and although our oprah in 2014 dream probably won't pan out now
(thanks a lot oprah)
we'll still do something awesome and continue to make memories.

Like, maybe Italy 2014?



i love you girls!

welcome home jam!!!

¿dónde está el baño?

We couldn't come up with a better way to celebrate our double graduation than to leave the country...

so the day after convocation we hopped on a plane (actually two)
and headed down to a week in paradise
in
Cancun, Mexico!

It was the ultimate vacation and I'm so glad we took advantage of the time we had to do this before entering mainstream society.
It was SO relaxing, although my brain was going through withdrawals for the first bit.
For some reason I guess I'm used to being stressed about something.

So here's a brief documentation of our trip.
(It may not seem brief, but believe me, I spared you on the photos, whether you you believe me or not)
(However, be prepared for a Cancun overload)

First night.
We ventured out to find dinner.
REAL mexican food is amazing.
And the sauces are spicy.

Second day.
Spent reading at the beach and inside our condo.
No documentation.
Just relaxation.
But here's a view from our room.

Third day.
We went to Xel Ha, an awesome snorkel park.
It was here we learned our two new favorite words.
All inclusive.
The park had three buffets-mexican, international, and fast food-that were all part of our entrance fee.
Translation: we could eat whatever we wanted for "free."
Steve was in heaven.
We saw lots of cool fish, held toucans and parrots, and chased lots of iguanas.
Unfortunately, we didn't get many pictures.
But it was gorgeous.

As part of our tour, we left Xel Ha and headed off to the ruins of Tulum.

The Mayan people picked the most gorgeous location for their sacred buildings.
It was built on a cliff to the seashore with a magnificent beach below.

Fourth day.
We took a boat out to Isla Mujeres.
It's a small island that's about a 20-minute boat ride away from Cancun.
I'm in LOVE with the Caribbean water, by the way.

On the dock.

We fell in love with the charming narrow streets.
The buildings are small and each are painted different colors.
It's so vibrant and charming and we LOVED it.
We spent the day roaming around the flea market part of the island and soaking in some Latin American culture.

And we quickly realized that horchata had to become a necessity on our trip.
We've always loved Cafe Rio's, but seriously?
This was incredible.
(We tried to make tres leches a necessity as well, but no one knew what we were talking about.
Really? Is that not a legit Mexican dessert? I feel gyped.)

Fifth day.
This was the day we headed out to Chichen Itza.
LOTS of driving (about three hours there and back).
But so worth it.
First we stopped at a cenote.
Basically it's a hole in the ground with an underground pool.
Awesome.

Outside the entrance to the cenote was a peacock.
Also awesome.

After the cenote we went to a small Mayan town and had a buffet lunch in a restaurant.
We were entertained with some traditional dances while we ate.


Then we finally made it to one of the new wonders of the world.
No words.
Except amazing. Beautiful. Unbelievable.
Okay, so there are a few words.



Days six and seven were spent mostly on the beach, per my request.
(It was so humid that my camera lens fogged up, so these pictures don't look that great.
Just imagine bright blue water and white sands, cuz that's how it was.)


We got non-alcoholic pina coladas from the hotel bar on the beach.
So good!


And we attempted to duplicate the magnificent structure we had seen the day before.
Not too shabby.
But thanks to Chichen Itza we have lovely red backs that hurt really bad.


On the last day we headed to Market 28 (kind of like the swap meet in Hawaii) for some dinner and exploration.
We still hadn't been serenaded by a mariachi band,
so luckily these guys were willing to step up to the plate.


I learned a LOT on our trip to Mexico. It was my first time traveling internationally.
(I don't count driving to Canada, sorry.)
Flying was a whole new experience.
Especially going through customs, haha.
Even though Cancun is very americanized (like their WalMart), I was still caught off guard by the language, bus system, hospitality, and overall quality of life.
We saw SO many stick huts in towns that people call their homes.
There were several times where I just thanked Heavenly Father for all my endless blessings.

Mexico is awesome.
I highly recommend it.
I felt like we could get around just fine without knowing Spanish, but the phrase that's the title of this post is one I definitely recommend knowing if you go.
Thanks for putting up with my forever long post.
Automatic ten points to whoever is still reading this.


hasta luego

pomp and circumstance.

it's official folks.

we do everything together.

:)

(p.s. graduating college does not necessarily make you more mature. fortunately.)