Long overdue update...

So...time for an update. Since it's been forever since I've written, i'm gonna have to combine a lot of things! First things first--I have a beautiful new niece! She's so sweet and so small.

I love her! Her name is Alexis Nicolette Pena. They call her Ali. So cute! I wish i got to see her more often, along with all my other nephews. It's hard not to be able to see them grow and change!

Another exciting thing that has happened since my last update forever ago was that we went on a trip to Belize (yes Nikky, you finally get your pictures...). :) It was such a fun trip. We went with our dear friends Cody and Tennille and their friends Courtney and Brandon. It was so HOT. Seriously--we were sweating to death.

This is a picture of the Mayan ruins called Altun Ha. It was SO hot and humid on this day. We had the place to ourselves, which was awesome. It was really interesting to be walking around a place that you know has so much history. I really enjoyed it here. It was extra nice without having a million tourists around like we were expecting. That was the nice thing about Belize--it's not a tourist trap yet. I'm sure it is well on its way to becoming one, but at least I got to see it before it does. Since i have so many pictures, i'll just tell you about our trip and let you guess which pictures go to which part! We started out the trip by going cave tubing. It was a blast. You go on a half an hour hike up through the jungle to get to the spot where you put in. It is such a beautiful hike! After a while you finally come to a place where you can jump in the river. It is really slow moving, which makes for a very casual and calm ride. You jump in, hook up in a long line, and let the tour guide lead you on. The river flows through limestone caves that have been hollowed out by the water. In some places the cave is a nearly perfect circle! It was a little crazy when about halfway through the trip we heard rushing water. Keep in mind, you're in a cave so it's pitch black unless you have your headlamps on (which don't really help all that much!). Turns out there is a mini-waterfall (that doesn't sound so mini) that pours into the cave. It was super cool.

The next day we went to Altun Ha, but i already told you all about that. But as a reminder, it was cool, yet very hot. :p

After Altun Ha, we departed the mainland and traveled by water taxi to Ambergris Caye. It is an island about an hour off shore on the barrier reef. It's beautiful! While there we went snorkeling, scuba diving, and kayaking on the ocean. While snorkeling/scuba diving we saw a ton of sting rays (to be expected--we were swimming in Sting Ray Alley!) along with some nurse sharks. We actually got to touch real sharks. It was really cool. The water was extra salty because the reef traps the salt more than it would be on a regular shore. The water was beautiful though--crystal clear! On the beach you could look down and see all the fish swimming. I really enjoyed it. Oh yeah, and by the way--kayaking on the ocean is very hard just so you know...

Anyway, the trip was awesome. It was far too short. I hope we can go on another vacation sometime soon. However, it seems unlikely as we will hopefully be buying a house shortly! We've been house hunting for the last month or so and have found some good options. It will be nice to finally move out of our cramped apartment!

One other thing that has happened since we last updated was a camping trip with my family. It was a lot of fun. PS--this post is well on its way to becoming the longest post i've done. That's what i get for procrastinating the update... Anyway, we went up to Palisades and spent Labor day weekend together. It was really nice to be together as a family; we've been planning it for years but have never actually been able to go. It was nice to get to know Reid better and actually spend some quality time with everyone. Too bad there were a billion wasps! Jason got stung, and he happens to swell up a lot when that happens, hence the sad face in the picture below. Good thing it was only one sting!

And that ends my super long update! I'll try to update more frequently, especially regarding the house.