Cancun...

Sam and I took an excursion to Cancun, and it was awesome! My goal was to go out of the country at least one more time before we had a kid. We were cutting it close. I was 28 going on 29 weeks pregnant when we trekked down there.

We stayed at an all-inclusive resort. And it was exactly what we needed. For the last 2 1/2 years the only vacations we have been on are to go see family or head to a wedding. It was so nice to be us. We were there from March 28 and came back on April 1. In a way we were able to celebrate four years of knowing each other and three years since our engagement. We met on March 21, 2009 and he proposed on April 2, 2010. Years later, we find ourselves in Mexico... time flies.

Anyway, back to the trip. We went to Chitzen itza. Loved it. Waddled around the whole place with my pregnant belly, but it was worth it in every way! I left there even more grateful for my religion. It's crazy how connected I can feel to so many civilizations.

Only picture we could get in front of the "calendar." We had camera issues. :(


Following our Chitzen Itza fun we went to a cenote. (Chantal I was so excited when we found out we were going. I thought of you.) We were able to swim in it!


Cenotes were the fresh water sources for the ancient Mayans. On the peninsula there are no rivers or lakes because it emerged from the ocean and consists of lime stone, which apparently isn't very conducive to rivers and lakes. So the water source was cenotes, which are deep sink holes that have fresh water. They can be as deep as 200-300 feet. The one that we swam in was 200 ft and there were lots of fish swimming around. It freaked me out a little when the fish decided to swim near me and touch my leg.


Sam jumping into the cenote!



After our fun adventure, we went back to the hotel and ate at one of their fancy restaurants,

which was one of my favorite things about this all-inclusive. Each restaurant had its own theme, cowboy, French, Italian, Mexican, and seafood. We ended up dressing up and going to the French restaurant. Yum!


Next day, we made our way to Tulum and Xel Ha. I've been wanting to go to Tulum since I was in high school. I remember Allison Searing telling me about the tour she took and how it lined up with a  ton of stuff from the Book of Mormon and ever since, I was intrigued and wanted to see for myself. I was told there was a stone that shows the vision Lehi had, but sadly I found out that it was in the Smithsonian and we weren't even at the right ruins. Apparently they found that stone at Izapa (different part of Mexico.) I was a little bummed about that, I'm over it now.

I like this picture better....

But this one shows my baby bump...

Once we finished our fun excursion at Tulum, we went to Xel Ha. It's a lagoon. We went snorkeling. We got this double tube so that I didn't have to swim the whole time. I felt like a fat lady floating. It was hilarious. We saw some cool fish and hermit crabs. Sam saw way more because he went back out later. I was way to tired, so I went and found a place to take a nice nap.

They did this cool lantern water release thing. We weren't sure why...

After Xel ha, we went back to the hotel and then chilled at the resort the rest of our stay.

Our family picture. We tried to emphasize that I was prego... didn't really work.

I'm glad we went. Next trip, I want to go to a place untainted by tourists and I don't want to be pregnant because this happened.....

Yup, that's a swollen and very fried ankle.... this happened an hour before we went to the airport and the only time I wasn't wearing sunscreen! This isn't even as bad as it was. This was taken after some of the swelling went down. So the trip was great although I ended up having food poising that lasted for a week. Note to self: be careful what you eat in Mexico.

Oh, and here's a random picture of me pregnant. I think we took this last week, so that means I'm 30-31 weeks pregnant....