Snow Fun!

 

After a hefty snowfall, I wanted to see if the little slope in our front yard could provide enough momentum for some sledding fun.  And it did!

Hylie, Lillian, and Kyron made multiple trips up and down the hill and towards the end of our fun, we were finally able to convince Eliana to come out and give it a try!

Kyron's 3rd Birthday

This kiddo was so excited to celebrate turning 3!

For dinner he asked for chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, and applesauce, I snuck in some peas and fruit as well.

Kyron was pretty thrilled with his Thomas the Train cake.

I love that this is how he shows that he is 3 years old with his fingers!

Hylie Lately

The week after Geoff and I got back from our cruise, the school called asking me to pick Hylie.  She was sledding down a hill and managed to run into a pole!  She had quite the bruise on her chin.

We were thankful that she hit her chin and not her mouth!

Towards the end of February, Hylie had the opportunity to do a presentation on Princess Diana.  She got to dress the part and record her report on Lady Di.

 

Costa Maya

 

Costa Maya was an absolutely beautiful place!

And definitely catered to tourists the most.  I'm not going to lie, my heart skipped a beat when I saw this skeleton face walking our way...thankfully he didn't get too close!

The Chaccoben Ruins were extremely impressive.  There were 48 structures in this area!

The big steps found all around the Mayan ruins were used for congregations to gather.

Temples were built over centuries of rulers.  Instead of building new structures, new kings would build on top of an existing temple.  Here you can see two different layers.

Stela Stones were found throughout the ruins.

So much is buried under all the jungle growth

Homes were built around courtyard areas

The markings on this gum tree were made by natives climbing the tree to collect tree sap for gum.

On this adventure, we were privileged to meet Barb and John Clements (seen photo-bombing this selfie).  We hit it off at our first meal.  We found out they had just moved out of our stake in Chicago and moved to my old stake in Florida!  We loved laughing with them all throughout the week, name swapping, and became great friends.

The Yaaxche tree is a hollow tree that connects to the earth and sky.  The Mayan people believed when they completed all their necessary tasks (during life and the afterlife) to the gods, they would go up through the hollow part of the tree to heaven.

We were treated to a lunch with some Mayans of Chaccoben.  This is their backyard where they grow so much vegetation and spices--and they provided a meal from much of their own produce.

These lovely ladies prepared the food and also made all the clothing they wore.

They gave us an opportunity to make our own corn tortillas in their kitchen.

Geoff got to experience freshly picked and sliced mangos!

This tree along our path was marked by Jaguars that roam the area.

Our wonderful Book of Mormon group!

Belize

 Our second day of excursions were in Belize.  Ruins were everywhere--but even more buildings and structures were buried under all the jungle growth.

The Mask Temple

One of the offerings found left for the gods was liquid mercury.  Such a finding shows they had technology to get temperatures hot enough to make steel which is a material mentioned in the Book of Mormon.

The High Temple

We were able to climb this temple!

Jaguar Temple

A Mayan Calendar on site (that sometimes accidentally gets used as a place to sit!)

The roots on the jungle trees were incredible!

We heard howler monkeys all throughout the jungle and we were lucky enough to spot one jumping through the trees.