The beginning of our month long adventure

Okay, so I'm not going to lie I've been kind of avoiding this task because I feel like I don't know how to make it interesting yet share all the fun experiences we had! So, I decided I am just going to start from Day 1 and we'll see how it goes.....

DR here we come....

June 30, 2009 we awoke a 4am to head off to the airport. On our way I started to smell a burning smell and everyone swore it wasn't our car.. next thing we know we are about 20mins from the airport and the van overheats and stops... so we get off the freeway, add water to the radiator since the presence of water was non-existent, and head off toward the airport.  We make it there in time and as we check-in our suitcases they tell us that all of our suitcases are each 2 pounds overweight and we have to move stuff around.. so we do and pay the overweight fee on one of the suitcases and go to drop them off... and yet another little surprise... the handle on our suitcase won't go in and one of the wheels broke.. oh well.. we'll survive! We head off to get on the first or our 3 flights of the day.. Here are some pictures of us during our layovers in Chicago and Miami..

    

    

When we arrived in the Dominican Republic we headed towards customs and they let Eli go through but I apparently had to go get a "tourist card". So, I went to another line and from there we could see the people outside and I saw these two guys waving and pointing at me, so I waved back... it was my brother-in-law and his friend... little did they know how long they would have to wait for us.. so we finally go to get our bags and only 2 out of the 5 arrived.. what a great adventure!!! (they brought them to the house the next day)

Ethan and Victor (our adorable nephews)

So these pictures don't really fit on any specific day so I'll just put them all together and you can enjoy the cuteness of our nephews.  Ethan is 10 months old and Victor is about 16 months.

   

Ethan and Tia Elisha Victor and Tia (This motorcyle was our main mode of transportation, great fun!!!)

   

Tio Eli with the boys   Victor (he likes to pose for the camera)
 

   

The boys playing in their Ethan rockin' some cute glasses! 

"swimming pool"

Day One (July 1, 2009)

Our first day we went and visited the 'barrio' where Eli grew up and saw some of his friends who were home during the day, we stopped by some places he used to hang out and then headed up to the 'campo' (countryside) to his grandma Tina's house.  While we were at Tina's we visited grandma, cousins, Eli's aunt Carmen etc.  We saw the cows (Eli's favorite part I think) and drank from coconuts to try to refresh us from the heat.  OH! And we can't forget that we both took a little ride on Eli's mule!!!!

   

         Aunt Carmen Julisa and Ashley

     

     Grandma's Patio            Eli and Mama Tina

  

Eli cutting open the coconut yummmmm....

   

Riding the mule... Eli was a little out of practice, so he didn't

feel to good after his ride.. he says he was ' walking like a

cowboy'... 

Carmen and Chalo (Eli's uncle)

Day Two (July 2, 2009)

Eli and I decided to go and hike to one of the local waterfalls... then after we did we were wishing we could have swam in the river because it was so hot, so we went home and luckily our suitcases had arrived so we went to the "Guazara". This is a river where lots of people go to swim and even shower... yeap sometimes you'll see people in the river with their shampoo and soap and all!

   
   

   

So, Eli made me cross this river through the current

it was a little scary but I proved that even the 'gringa'

could do it!

So there are many more adventures and experiences to come... I hope you enjoyed the first installment and check back soon for more updates....

Warning! LARGE update soon to come!

Okay, so I know there are several people checking daily to see when the DR update is coming.. I promise it will come soon.. I am trying to decide how to blog about 28 days and 314 pictures without boring everyone to death!! I'm thinking we may just do categories rather than daily synopsis' but we shall see... I am planning on working on it this weekend before I have to go back to work and get ready for school to start... just hold on for a few more days and I promise the result with be worth it!!! 

Memorial Day Weekend

Okay, So I know that it's been awhile, but I finally have a few minutes to breathe and put up some picks for everyone. Eli and I had a great memorial day weekend! The week before Elisha's sister had her baby girl, Avery a few weeks early so we got to go on a roadtrip to Arizona. We decided that since we were driving down there, we would stop by the Motnicello temple since we had no idea when we would be making it to that part of Utah again. On the way back up we also drove through Arches National Park and Moab, it was beautiful!!! Here are some pics of the events...

And now presenting....Avery Elizabeth Cox!!!

      

   

Ok we still Love Mr. Porter too...

   

Mommy and the Kids


   



On Sunday night we decided to go over to the Mesa Temple Visitor's Center

      

                        

Sites we saw on the way home.... Arches... Utah and Arizona Signs ( We have a goal to go to all 50 states)... Then the camera died, but we had a little miracle and it turned on to take 1 picture of the Monticello Temple!

                              

                                              

      

                                               

Well, There's the latest adventure in our house... in just 20 days we are going to the Dominican Republic, but we shall see if there are any other adventures before that one...

2 down... lots more to go

So, like I mentioned in our last post, we made the goal to visit all the temples in Utah this year. This last weekend we had the opportunity to go to the Manti Temple with a few other couples in our ward. It was a very neat experience, and such a beautiful, antique building! It's amazing to think of all the hard work and sacrifice that went into building that beautiful building. Like I said we went with some couples in our ward. It's been fun because there are about 10 young couples in our ward, some have kids and some don't, but we all get together on Mondays for FHE and go on temple trips together. This weekend we're going to stop by the Monticello temple on our way to Arizona to see my new niece Avery.. I am very excited!!!






On our way home Eli wanted to stop by and take pictures with this statue because he said that if this Indian Chief was important enough to be part of a painting in the Manti Temple, then he wanted to have a picture with him.

Some of our recent adventures

So, It's 6:20 on a Tuesday night and I am still in my classroom, but not wanting to do anything for school, so I decided ya'll might enjoy a little update on life....Eli and I are dong fantastic! We are counting down until summer is here, 12 more days of school for me, then it's 5 weeks till San Diego and 6 weeks until the DR! Yep you all heard it, we're going to the Dominican Republic! I am so excited...I get to meet the other half of the family and enjoy a vacation in the Carribean, couldn't really ask for more....Then we'll be back in the end of July and see what other adventures we create...and we'll both be back to school in the fall, me in second grade and Eli starting off college again. That's the low down on us...oh and I guess for those inquiring minds... yes we are working on becoming a 'family' we'll see when there's a little spirit that decides they are brave enough to come to our family! Whoever they may be, they will be in for an adventure....but that's what life is all about, right?! So onto some photos...

FIESTA 2009

In March we were in a dance performance called "Fiesta" at BYU. It was lots of fun, and was my very first time ever performing in a dance performance....







SPRING BREAK

So, I found this thing online where couples can spend a free night at a resort in Park City, if you go on a tour and listen to their whole time share spill... so I decided to schedule it for the beginning of Spring Break. It was so much fun! We arrived there on Friday night and we went to the pool, then we tried to go get pizza at the resort but it was closed, so we drove into Park City and got pizza and then went back to our room and relaxed. It was a really nice night. Of course, it would have been nice to spend even more time there, but we enjoyed it, and hey who can pass up a free night in Park City?






6 MONTHS!!!

So, the next weekend, April 18, was our 6 month anniversary. Eli decided that we should set a goal to visit all the temples in Utah before the end of this year, so he planned our first temple trip, VERNAL! So, we drove out to Vernal and went to the temple. It was beautiful and we were amazed because it was a lot bigger inside than it looked on the outside. Then afterwards we went to the dinosaur museum there, then passed by some houses Eli had worked on and hit the local wendy's for a fancy anniversary dinner on the way back ;)






And now the dinosaurs.....






That's all for now folks... hope you enjoyed and I'm sure there will be more pictures soon, this weekend we're off to Manti...Sorry this post is forever long, I can't figure out how to format the pictures...but oh well!

Hmm.. should be interesting to see if it's true...

What do you think about my little new baby Eliana?
MakeMeBabies.com - What will your baby look like?


So, this is a website where you upload your pictures and it supposedly shows you what your babies are going to look like...my friend did it and the picture actually showed up on her blog but I am not very tech savvy and I can't figure it out... NO we're not pregnant I just thought this was funny... I did a boy one too, but he looked REALLY weird...someday we'll really know what are kids will look like but not for a little while...at least a year or so....