Wednesday, September 4, 2013

So...New Car, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and the Denver Zoo

So, I have decided that I should write one more post before school gets really busy and I have no more time. First, Colby and I moved back to Utah on Sunday and we had a very long Labor Day moving back in to our apartment. Leaving Colorado was bittersweet since we loved living with my family for a time and love living in Colorado period! However, it was time to move on and we are happy to have our own place again. I loved living my family and it really helped us save a lot of money, which we are very grateful for.

Since it has been awhile we have a few of stories we want to share, but you are in no way obligated to read anything...if you wanted, you could just scroll down to the pictures. :) Also, sorry about the typos I will have to fix them later because we still don't have Internet in our apartment and I am quickly typing this post in between classes.

P.S. Don't miss the very last video of the monkey dancing at the Zoo :)

Our New Car

So, this story really begins with our first old car, but I will make it short and sweet as possible. A few days before Colby and I were married we bought our first Honda Civic car. It was in good condition and we were very happy. However, after some marital bliss we went on our way to our honeymoon! We were having a great (who wouldn't) but we took a drive one day and unfortunately our Honda civic had a very unexpected counter with a huge rock which completely ruined multiple parts of the car, but the biggest being the transmission.

So after some good luck after the incident we spent the night on the Skalla ranch and then Colby's parents picked us up and we drove to Idaho without a car. We left the car in hopes of fixing it in Colorado in the middle of nowhere. And eventually we did fix the car. We had help from Tyson and Cambria, but then the car needed even more fixing so once it was in Idaho the automotive department fixed it, but by the time everything was fixed and finished we had not had a car for a year. Luckily, we have some awesome family that helped us that first year without a car. So, everything was great and working pretty well; however there was a couple things here and there, but it was awesome having a car! But this is now where things go a little south. Anyways, on the way home from our third trip to Utah this summer from Troy and Aubree's wedding our little Honda had had enough and decided to die completely...again! Again we were lucky because the car stopped working about an hour from our house and my dad was able to help us this time around.

After not much thought we decided it was time for a new car. We thought for only a second about fixing it, but the first time we fixed it we doubled what we paid for the car, and I was in no way going to triple its value. So we said goodbye and sold it or not a bad price. When we said goodbye it was bittersweet, but more sweet than bitter because this meant we were finally getting a good car that is going to last a long, long time. However, since Colby and I had planned a vacation back in April we had to find, buy, and register the car all before we left and we only had 5 days to do it! But we managed and I am glad my dad was around to help to find a great car because Colby was still going to work for the whole last week.

So our new car is...(drumroll) a 2005 silver Toyota Corolla! Yay! . We are so very blessed to have been able to buy this car because if my parents had not let us live with them we would not have saved money to buy this car. So, we are very appreciative and very blessed that things worked out the way they did. We love our new car and love that it has only had one owner before us. However, it is a 6-speed manual. We both like the car very much and I think Colby loves it even more than me because it is a manual. But for me...I love the car, but I am not confident with it being a manual. The funny thing about this is that when I first started as a freshman at BYU-Idaho we had some friends and they had a manual. Our friend, Denton, was very nice and gladly (I think) gave up his car for driving lessons for me and my friend Taylor (who is now Denton's wife). I did pretty well, but the whole time in my mid I was thinking, "I will never own a manual" hahaha and now I do. So, you see I am a bit nervous. But a have driven in a few times all by myself, but that does not mean I like to. Eventually, I will be more confident and it will be easy, but not yet and I am happy for Colby to do most of the driving.

This is where the car died and we were stranded for a few hours. So we played monopoly deal :) 



Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

So this is the vacation we planned way back in April and, of course, the car breaks down before the splendid event. But I would much rather it this way than it happening afterwards. So we spent 5 nights and 6 days in Mexico and it was wonderful! We are calling our second honeymoon because our first one did not go as planned, but I wish it was longer! It was a great way to end the summer and start our last year of school together. We went on a zip line tour, which was our favorite thing we did. Then, we swam with the dolphins the next day. Then, the next day we went to a private beach and did some kayaking, paddle boarding, and snorkeling. The fish was great and we loved every bit of our vacation except the one morning I got sick, but luckily it only lasted a few hours. Colby got to use his spanish skills a lot it was so much fun to listen to him. The people were very friendly and the service at the hotel was amazing! The food was included and everything was awesome! We got lots of pictures and took lots of video with our go-pro which came really handy for snorkeling. We also got to hold a monkey and some parrots. All in all we were sad to leave and I can't wait for our next vacation wherever it may be! Oh, Puerto Vallarta is in more of a swampy area with crocodiles and the crazy thing was that we saw one in the ocean!! A huge crocodile in the ocean! Not a shark...a crocodile. Weird, but it was there and we talked with the locals, and they said during the rainy season that it was common to see them in ocean because everything gets washed out of the rivers. Everything was beautiful and it was so much fun to spend time with Colby. I am so grateful for a wonderful husband and all the wonderful memories we still have ahead of us!


This is where we saw the crocodile

View from our balcony

We went on a couple of bike tours offered by the hotel and they showed us where Enrique Iglesias's house was! It was big and beautiful! 

This is where we ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner and any other time we got hungry

Downtown Puerto Vallarta


We took a taxi a few times, but the buses were usually the way we got around



Zip Line upside down! 



This is the only close encounter I had with a crocodile



Zoo with the John Fam

Our last adventure before we left Colorado was goto the Denver Zoo with my family. I got a pretty awesome video of this monkey who loves to dance! Again, I am so grateful for my parents and that we had this summer to spend some time together!





Giant snappy turtle


This is the closest I will ever be to a grizzly bear...hopefully


Just saw a a huge Gorilla



Hopefully this video works because it is the funniest monkey you will see!