The Amazing Camp Fires

My friends and I found a fun little past time to get our minds off of school work and just relax out in nature. I spent most of my time this semester with Nicole Rencher and Amy Worthington.

Roommates Fall 2008

These are my roommates from last Fall. 3 of them are the same this semester. We had so much fun together and we all got along so well. Their names are Joelle, Kim, Sadie, Kristine, and Jenna. We took these pictures at the Rexburg Idaho Temple.

My friend David Hurst

Last August my friend David Hurst, who I met in Nauvoo in July of 2006, came to Utah to go to the Provo MTC so I got to spend a day with him and his family and see him leave on his mission. He went to the Peru Lima East Mission. It was so much fun and it was so cool to see him finally get to go on his mission. He is doing really well right now and loves serving in Peru.

Tuxtla Gutierrez

This is the host family that my friend and I stayed with. It was so cool to see how even though they had so little, they were completely satisfied with what they had.

Oaxaca

We visited Oaxaca, one of the poorest places in Mexico. This is me with a couple kids who were living on the street with thier family. It is so sad to see that there are so many people in other parts of the world who don't even have their basic needs provided for. It was a good experience though because it helped me see how much I have and that I need to be more grateful and give ot others.
This is Lalo. Rachel and I met hm at the Zocalo (central park). He was studying English in school and heard us speaking so he came up and talked to us. He was really nice and helpful. He spent 2 hours just showing us around and practicing Spanish with us. The people in South America don't pay a lot of attention to time. People are a lot more important to them so even if they have an appointment, they will stay with the person they are with and miss the appointment because that is more important to them. This was an example of that.
Hey, It's my middle name!
This was so cool. We went to a black pottery shop. This guy is the son of Dona Rosa (any of you who have taken ceramics). He made this vase in about 15 minutes with just to plates made out of clay for spinning, clay, and water! It was incredible. He has taught all of his kids how to make hand made pottery and is now teaching his children. It is so cool how everything down there is hand made and unique. The people are very talented when it comes to crafts.

This was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. We went a baboon sanctuary right after the zoo where we had already seen howler monkeys. I thought we were just going to see them again, but our guide was one of the guys that founded the sanctuary so he brought bananas and let us feed the monkeys out of our hands. It was so awesome! I wish I could have brought one home.

We went to a really cool zoo in Belize where Jen and I got to hold a snake. I guess I was feeling brave that day because I have never held a snake and I wasn't planning on ever holding one.

This is the Chichen Itza Temple. I think this is where they got all the models for the Book of Mormon Temple.

My friend Lindsey got a huge sunblister after we went snorkeling in Belize. It was her birthday that day so Pete drew a face on it with a party hat. It looked really painful, but she didn't complain at all!

This was a really pretty Cenote we got to swim in. It is this natural water hole thing.