LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANYON

This summer hiking was our thing. It was free, it was beautiful, it was easy. Some friends from church also loved hiking so we would go up the canyon with our kids sometimes. This was one of my favorite hikes. The view at the top was breathtaking. My friend Mildred is one of the most talented photographers I have ever met. She snapped these shots in like 2 minutes and really captured Isabella's personality at this age. I love seeing that group of Latinas! So tan so dark. Except my Bella hahaha. 

ROATAN 2014

 

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Funny story. When we were at this hotel I ordered a virgin pina colada. After a sip I was pretty sure it wasn't virgin...but Im not sure so I ask my mom and she tries it "hmm i'm not sure let me try again" long sip "hmm im not sure", then another loooong sip "yeah it's not virgin" hahaha reallyyy had to try that one to make sure....

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This is the Honduran dress I bought her in Ojojona

This was definitely a girl's trip! No husbands, brothers or boyfriends just the girls.My grandma brought her best friend and we all had a blast. 11 girls in one house. It was insane. amazing. but insane. There was never a time that yelling was not going on. We had tears, laughter, more tears and tons of girl bonding time. The women in my family fiercely love each other. We have crazy fights but care about each other with that same intensity. My grandma handed out heirlooms that mean a ton to her and I ended up with my great grandma's engagement ring! We discovered this little ice cream place that is now my favorite place to go to in West End. It has a little porch in the back with hammocks and a bench swing with it's own little private beach. We would go there in the evenings and just relax and walk along the shoreline. 

My cousin has the sweetest job were she can get us free passes to stuff. My cousins babysat while I went with my sisters. It is one of the coolest things I have ever done. The whole time I could only think "Stephen would love this!" I do remember having to go down in "superman pose" and promising I would never do that again.  

The pictures speak for themselves. The soft sand, the clear water, the beautiful fish and the care free island life make Roatan our favorite destination. 

VALLE DE ANGELES // HONDURAS 2014

Valle de Angeles is the most famous tourist friendly pueblo in Tegucigalpa. Whenever we go home we love going here and buying artwork, Honduran sandals + jewelry  and walking around all the shops and finding a restaurant with cheap delicious enchiladas. This year we went to a different part. We went to this kid place my mom's friend told her about and it was just what Isabella needed. The playground was surprisingly awesome and even had a tree house. I do remember Isabella being very grumpy when we went home hence the last picture haha. I think she wanted to stay and live in the tree house...

El ZAMORANO // Honduras 2014

El Zamorano is a town that has an agricultural college with a cute little square and a store that sells organic all natural products the students make at the school. Since we were kids we have gone there on Saturdays to eat lunch and their famous ice cream and take some of their products for the road. We also like to stop by the fruit stands on the side of the road on the way home. This year they had some parrots Bella got to play with with her grandma.  These little trips are always so fun. But I think part of the amazingness is the childhood memories we have of the place.  

Our uncle is the director of the college and lives on campus grounds so we also had a family reunion there. All of my cousins in that picture (except one) go to school in the U.S and were there by coincidence visiting their parents so it was so awesome we could get together.  The blonde one goes to Duke and took a class with Jabari Parker. Isn't that cool?! She said he seemed nice and always went to class. Way to represent Jabari! I still remember the basketball  game at BYU when we were trying to recruit him and everyone wore shirts saying "Chicago to Provo" to the game. Back to Honduras, it was awesome to see everyone and have them meet Isabella. They are all her number one fans on Facebook so they loved meeting the star in real life:)