Just Do It.

So this summer has turned into the summer for bucket list items:

1. Visit 50 countries by age 50  (still a work in progress)

2. Zip line in the jungle

3. Design a temple 

4. Run a half marathon

I touched on the first two in my last post but I'll tell you a little bit about the others :)

...I was lucky enough to land an internship at the Church Office building downtown. I was on the design team in the Temples and Special Projects division. Can you believe it?! I still can't. I can't give many specifics on what I did because it's all kept confidential but it was an experience I will never forget. Everything moves so fast and there is so much work to be done. I was impressed by the designers and how not a single person treated me like I was just "the intern". They listened to me and valued my opinion and made me feel like I was just another designer. I loved it!  I would get so nervous everyday before I went in hoping I wouldn't mess anything up...this is the Lord's work after all! So I was feeling the heat but it was (not surprisingly) such a spiritual experience. I was enthralled to be surrounded by people who's minds work the same way mine does. Sometimes I feel like a fluke and people don't understand me; This sounds so cheese ball but I really felt like I "belonged." haha It also solidified by testimony of this work. God will use whomever he has prepared to keep everything moving forward. I hope to be able to help more in the future!

All of those dots are temple locations around the world. Each are individually unique in design but share the same purpose.

Rome, Italy

This is a rendering of the temple that is being built in Rome. I figure I can show this since they have it up on the website now :)

Here's a link with more information about LDS Temples and what I believe:

http://www.lds.org/?lang=eng

In other news...I ran a half marathon! Hallelujah. This has been a goal of mine for a few years now but everytime I got close to actually registering, something would come up and I'd chicken out. The Bear Lake half has been the race lingering in my head for about a year now so I thought it would be fun to look into. It's usually not till September so I figured I'd have plenty of time to train...NOT! I looked it up and the race was scheduled for June 9th. Yikes. I told my sister Sam(who's also been wanting to do it) and the next thing I knew, we were both registered.

Care Bear STARE!

This is about as serious as our game faces get before a race.

Getting started. I was so mad, right as we stepped up to the start line, I went to press play on my iPod and my headphones fizzled out. Totally broken. Of all the timing!!! 

 

Eric ran miles 11-12 with me. It was so great!

Sam Killing it

That day later turned out to be pretty cold so we had to scratch out the beach and spent the rest of day at the cabin. It was so fun and relaxing!

Here are the rest of the troops:

CoCo or Grandma?

Loving the glamour shot Elias...

Pretty sure it was my Eric's genius idea to take the paddle boards out into the freezing cold water. Let's just say it ended terribly.

There's June for you folks!

Pura Vida!

I think Eric and I are the luckiest people in the world. Eric has embraced my love for traveling and we've done a pretty descent job in our marriage trying to see the world...one country at a time. Last month we were welcomed by

COSTA RICA!

Costa Rica is a stunning place, filled with all sorts of things to see and I feel like we got to experience a little bit of everything!

WE:

surfed

Eric was in heaven, he surfed every single day. He'll be sad I didn't get any pictures from his "big" waves... these are the baby waves he taught me on :)




WE:

golfed

Happy Golfer



Happy Driver

Funny story, Eric is deathly afraid of snakes. He hates them. As we pulled around to the 18th hole, we saw this sign and had a little laugh. It's definitely a good thing we didn't see it till the 18th hole because he may have been a little wigged out. As he was putting on the last green, no joke, we heard an alligator literally eating his lunch! There was a swampy area right by us I can still hear the sound vividly in my head of the splashing swamp and a low, roaring attack...yuck! Needless to say, we got out of there as fast as our little golf cart would take us!

Well, more like Eric golfed. This guy can't go anywhere without taking his golf clubs so I was the driver. The weather was perfect and the course was amazing! It was right on the beach, we were like the only people there and to add a little icing to the cake, Eric ended up shooting his best round to date...a 69. I was so happy for him!

WE:

zip-lined

Can you see Eric out there?

I Spy trees full of monkeys!

WE:

Ran

I apologize for this disgusting picture but I just had to demonstrate how humid it is in Costa Rica. This was after a short run on the beach...for someone who doesn't sweat much, I was sweating everywhere! I had no idea it was even possible to sweat from your shins but I assure you; it's possible. 

WE:
Rented a terrible looking car called a BeGo

 There is only one paved road where we were in Costa Rica so driving in anything smaller than this was impossible. There was mud and pot holes everywhere!
Doesn't it sound like someone with an accent was trying to say "we go" but then just name the car how it sounded? haha
We be-goin!

WE:

Had many romantic dinners on the beach

(This dinner was actually in the jungle, not on the beach)

WE:

Sipped coconuts on the beach

WE:

Peeled a layer of skin...hence my face.

 Even after I kept coating spf 75!

WE:

Saw loads of crab(s?)





Baby Crab

WE:
Hung out at our hotel





This was our trade...a round of golf for a message :) It was heavenly

WE:

Beach Hopped



Hubba Hubba
But also check out the view through the window :)



WE:

Went jet skiing on in the Pacific



WE:

Loved EVERYTHING about Costa Rica

Including all of the crazy roads.

AND
WE
Almost got to stay!

Due to a plane malfunction and the rain, we nearly got to spend one extra day. Instead, we waited on the boarded plane for 3 hours for someone to find a mechanic in Costa Rica who could fix the problem :(

PURA VIDA!!