Hold Your Horses....

Ok so it has been SO incredibily long since my last update! I am sorry to those of you who follow quite consistently, but guess what? It is almost a brand new year and I am determined to write at least once a week. :) I have a lot to say and a lot of pictures to post so stay tuned and there will be more to come!! Merry Christmas to all of you! :)

Car Wreck! :(

Nothing scares me more than getting in a car accident, and I was rear-ended last Thursday! My back and neck are still pretty sore, but I am just glad that no one was seriously injured. It scared the heck out of me!! My poor car's bumper has to be replaced. Luckily, it isn't totaled. I feel blessed that it wasn't really serious, and also that the man that hit me was actually... very nice. He has been super easy to work with and willing to do anything in order to fix what happened. He was so sweet, and came to talk with me while the police filed a report. Life is full of all sorts of surprises!! I hope all of you stay safe.

A World of Culture

Last weekend (August 9), my Aunt Sal invited my sister, Dad, and me to her home in Bountiful to meet and perform a few pieces for six ambassadors from around the world. These six were traveling and performing in part for the IOV Festival ("Internationale Organisation Fur Volkskunst"- International Organization for Folk Art). My Aunt, as well as her neighbors, volunteered to host them. Including Mary Bee Jensen, a highly acclaimed dance instructor from BYU, we got the opportunity to meet Carmen Padilla (concert pianist from the Phillipines), Ligaya F. Amilbangsa (folk dancer from the Phillipines), Malal Ndiaye and Khady Ndiaye (African folk dancers/founders of the Bakalama Dance Company), and another man from Nepal, who is a tour guide on Mt. Everest, and a dancer as well (I don't remember his name, but as soon as I found out, I will let you know). We spent all evening performing for each other. It was such a neat experience, and we thank my Aunt and Uncle for asking us to be a part of it.

All Day "P"-Day: "Partayyy!"

The Mission President for the Salt Lake area told the missionaries serving here that they would be allowed to have an all day P-day on Wednesday, August 6th. This doesn't happen very often, but apparently, they earned it. Because the missionaries have been over before for various events, they came over to ask if they could hold their "zone day" at our house! They had planned to have a BBQ, play some sports, and watch Disney (G-rated) movies. My parents, of course, were quite honored and accepted their request.

The entire zone consists of 18 missionaries- sixteen elders and two sisters. They all started arriving around 5:00 PM to help set up, and to pick movies out haha. They ended up watching Mulan and Aladdin, played some badminton and basketball in my backyard, and ate TONS of food. It was a lot of fun to meet and see so many 19-24 year old missionaries (especially ones that were so excited to watch a Disney movie haha). I hope they enjoyed themselves because we sure enjoyed having them. We love you guys and wish you success in your service!

Called To Serve

If anyone in my life has taught me to serve the Lord, it would be my grandparents. After a few phone calls and with only a couple months notice, my grandma and grandpa agreed to pack up their things and serve another mission for the LDS church. They successfully completed an 18 month mission in Anaheim, California, and tomorrow they leave to serve a 12 month mission in Macomb, Illinois. I am so excited for them to serve again! I have never been to Nauvoo, Illinois so I am going to take the opportunity to visit them while they are down there. In California they served as CES missionaries, and in Illinois they will be doing the same, however, this time they will be running the CES program themselves. Having an extensive knowledge of the gospel and close relationship with our Heavenly Father, I have no doubt that they will do an amazing job out there. We will miss you both. Thank you for being such great examples for all of us! We love you!

"Before I met you I never knew what it was like; to look at you and smile for no reason."

I just have to brag here a little bit about my sweet boyfriend. For those of you don't know, my boyfriend is currently serving a mission for the LDS church in the South Dakota Rapid City area. Some days are extremely hard because my best friend is away, but I know that what he is doing is far more important. Friday was one of those "hard" days. I am quite the perfectionist. I stress out over practically EVERYTHING, and this time, I was stressing out because I was running late for a banquet that I had to play for that night. To my surprise, the doorbell rang right before I headed out the door. My Mom answered it and I heard a woman say, "Hi! Is Lindsey here?" Walking out to the hallway, I see this big, beautiful bouquet of my most absolute favorite flowers- lilies. I couldn't stop smiling. Although on his mission, my boyfriend still finds a way somehow to spoil the heck out of me haha. I feel so blessed to have someone that (even though away) can immediately put a smile on my face, always reassuring me that everything will be ok. He makes me so happy! Thank you for everything Josh. I love you! :)

Mazatlan (Sinaloa) Mexico 2008

This past week from July 23-30, my sister Ann and I had the opportunity to vacation with my boyfriend's family at their villa in Mexico! The Wright's go to Mexico annually, and we felt extremely honored that they had asked us to join them! We had never been before so it was quite the experience. Wednesday morning we had to be to the airport bright and early (6:30 AM) in order to leave by 8:30 AM. I wish I had taken more pictures that day at the airport, but I think I was too excited to even think about it haha. I did, however, get one of Ann when we were playing cards on the plane. After a layover in LA, we finally arrived in beautiful Mazatlan around 2:30 PM that afternoon. From the airport, we all took a shuttle to the Nuevo Pueblo Estates at Emerald Bay. The Villa that we stayed in was absolutely gorgeous. It was so nice because it was almost like we were staying in a house with our own private pool and hot tub, kitchen, internet services, TV's... the works! That day we were all pretty tired and worn out from the flights, so before jumping into the pool and hot tub at the villa for the rest of the night, we headed over to the pool at the pueblo hotel and had chicken fajitas! Yum! By the way... the pool at the Pueblo was absolutely AMAZING! I was trying to fit the entire pool in one picture, however, it was way too big! It is a three-level pool, including a swim-up bar (pina colada daquiris and limonadas.. Mmm...), and stairway down to the beach... can't get any better than that. These pictures were actually taken the day we were leaving Mexico. The weather was a bit overcast that day, but it was still a beautiful morning.

As you can see... that night was spent in the backyard pool at the villa. Thursday morning, Julie, Ann, Sav, and I went on a city tour of Mazatlan while the boys went golfing. Julie and Sav had been on this tour before, but took Ann and I since we had never been. Our tour guide made the tour even better by picking on Sav and Ann half the time haha. He kept referring to Ann as his "fiancee". Ann helped him demonstrate this antique phone in the bakery... AND this jewelry, where he said he would one day buy her engagement ring haha... I don't remember how much this jewelry cost, but I know it had to have been much more than my car... Overall, the tour was fun! Oh hey... do you know what the name "Mazatlan" means? Land of the Deer- yes... I learned that on this here tour. :) Enjoy the pictures... This is a picture of the "taxi" monument. We took a taxi around Mazatlan almost everyday. They look like little golf carts! After the tour, we all went to eat at the Shrimp Bucket. Sav tried out the "Shirley Temple", which is pretty much "open your mouth and see how much you can take before you gag" haha. Savvy was so brave! I totally faked one for the pictures haha. Friday morning, all of us took the shuttle to the other side of Mazatlan in order to catch a ferry that would take us to Stone Island. It was SO much fun! When we got to Stone Island, we had to choose two of like five different activities that we would be doing that day. Julie and I took a tour of the island while the rest of the group waited at the beach, and when we finished, all of us went horseback riding down the coastline. Afterwards, we hurried to eat dinner so that Jordy, Harry, Ann, Shaun, Jar, and Savvy could go ride on the water weenie... excuse me... "banana boat". :) Saturday we all spent a day out at the pool below the villa and the beach. It was very relaxing! All of us got nice tans.. and burns haha. Later that night we got dressed and ran out the door for the fiesta! It kind of reminded me of Mexico's version of Hawaii's PCC (Polynesian Cultural Center- for those of you who were wondering) where they featured the culture of Mexico. It was a lot of fun! Good food, dancing, and company!! Dancing was the best part! This is Julie and Jordy slow dancing. This is mi novio's cute family. You guys are the absolute best! Thank you for such a great time! :) Sunday was our "stay out of the sun and give our skin a break" day. We were all drained from the day before so we went to dinner at the old Pueblo, watched some movies, TV, and relaxed all day! Monday afternoon, Julie and Shaun had to attend a timeshare presentation, so the "children" of the group went to play at the beach!! Later that afternoon around four, we got back to the villa and Julie asked us if we wanted to go see Batman, which of course... YEAH! So we all left for the theater. However, when we got there, it wasn't playing until 6:50 so the girl at the ticket booth told us to try the other theater "down the street". Not thinking we would need a taxi, we walked for at least 10-15 minutes (in the hot humidity remember) trying to find the place haha. When we got there, we found out that it was not only playing at 6:00, it was all in Spanish haha- NO English subtitles, whereas the other theater was showing it in ENGLISH with Spanish subtitles. I couldn't help, but laugh. It was pretty funny I have to admit. Regardless, Batman was good! I loved it! On Tuesday, Shaun, Ann, Jordy, Harry, Jar, and I had an opportunity to take a canopy tour! I have always wanted to try ziplining and it was definitely a blast! There were 12 platforms with about 9 horizontal ziplines in between. Seriously, if you have never done it (and aren't afraid of heights), I would recommend it.











Afterwards, we toured the tequila factory. Yes, there were samples haha. No, we didn't sample it. :)

Here is a tequila plant. Their leaves are spiny and sharp! Jar even got poisoned by one.. huh Jar? Haha. :)

On Wednesday, it was Adios to Mexico and Hola to Salt Lake! Long day ahead of us. Ann and I were pretty sad to leave Mexico, but we had so much fun! Gracias to the Wright family for making our summer complete. We had a blast and hope you did too. :) Love you!