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My parents' washer and dryer just broke. Both. At the same time. Bummer.

But now we get to try these fancy new ones! They're being delivered tomorrow and I am SO excited! Of course, these aren't the fanciest of the fanciest (at all) but they're way nicer than what I'm used to, so I'm thrilled. I need to do laundry pretty bad...on Saturday we washed our whites, then had to lay them everywhere in the basement to dry. Not so nice.

Puerto Aventuras, Mexico

The beach we went to everyday (this was a more rugged portion than we normally went to). This is where my iPod was stolen (broke my heart).

Iguanas everywhere! And Geckos. We also saw a little black monkey from our condo balcony!

(don't judge me--I didn't put on makeup or do my hair for the entire week)

K, guys, Monte and I have been back from our crazy Mexico vacation for a few weeks now. I guess I should post about it.

Bad things about the trip:
- Everyone but me got Montezuma's revenge! Seriously, everyone got sick for at least a couple of days. Sad.
- Our condo was brand new, but not quite ready for us. Leaky showers, leaky air conditioners, etc.
- The worst part about our condo: the water wasn't turned on when we got there! After traveling ALL day, we couldn't use the toilet or even wash our hands! The owner of the condo gave the Menas more than half the money back because of all of the issues we had, but Monte and I didn't pay for the condo...so it was just crappy for us.
- The golf cart batteries had to be charged after every single tiny trip to the marina during the last half of our trip! That golf cart needs some new batteries, for sure.
- Mosquitoes. Everywhere.

Good things about the trip:
- Going to the beach everyday! It was super warm water, but breezy weather, so you felt all cooled off when you'd get out of the water and just lounge in your wet swimsuit.
- Seeing dolphins, manatees, and sea lions at the marina everyday. They were super awesome.
- Getting slightly tanner (Monte got MUCH tanner after his severe sunburn--never thought he'd get burned like THAT).
- Getting my first stamp in my passport.
- Learning to appreciate free water that you can actually drink. I love living in the United States!
- Getting really good at converting from USD to Pesos.
- The golf cart that came with the condo was super fun to drive! I want one.

- I finally got to see some Mayan ruins, something I've always wanted to do (see pictures below).The Caribbean, seen from the Tulum (that's where these ruins are).

That's not sweat, it's water- we poured it on ourselves to keep cool.

a post by monte (trying to sound like me)

So as most of you already know I am super stoked about my impending trip to Cancun Mexico in a week from Tuesday. However, for those that are not in the constant know, my wonderful husband Monte and I are heading to Cancun Mexico where we are going to stay in a condo by the small suburb/neighboring resort town of Puerto Aventuras for a whole week! Basically, we are just going to take a long needed break from all things school and work. I am a little nervous because I don't speak Spanish super well but everyone else that is going are all completely bilingual and one is multilingual so it will be like traveling with 4 interpreters! Some activities we have planned are snorkeling, cave diving, eating at sketchy taco stands, shopping, exploring old Mayan ruins, and avoiding getting Montezuma's revenge! More about this awesome event and pictures coming soon so stay tuned!

Easters

My first ponytail in a year! Most exciting thing since...my graduation.

We painted eggs instead of dipping them in dyes. It would have been awesome, but the paint washed off completely with water. LAME. We'll never get that kind again.

My mom and I are sprouting vegetables for our garden! She does most of the work, but sprouting seeds was totally my idea and I helped her buy a bunch of stuff. I think watching seeds grow is so fun and fascinating.

Since I'm always the one that "does" holidays, Monte and I decided that this year he would do Easter. He got me this amazing Easter basket! I thought it was the cutest thing ever. EVER. I think he'll be in charge of holidays for a while now because he is clearly quite good at it.

I guess I should start acting like an adult now...

(the new dress that Monte bought me for graduation)

(Monte gave me this flower lei--I loved it!)

(yep, that's right--my dad has keys to the football stadium)

(at the Geography graduate luncheon a couple hours before the ceremony)


As you can tell from the pictures above, I decided to walk after all. I'm glad I did. It felt momentous. And I got a flower lei out of it--totally worth it.

Thanks to all of you who helped me get to this point: mom and dad for letting me live at their house when I ran out of rent money (and for raising me, of course); friends/roommates for listening to me complain about classes; everyone for helping me brainstorm the "perfect" major for me; and everyone else who made a difference to me during my college career.

I'm kind of sad to not be in college anymore. I hope I don't just turn in to a lazy bum. I could see myself doing that. Perhaps I'll volunteer at the temple, or something. Or hang out with all of you more! Or both.

Now I don't have an excuse about not exercising--before it was always "I'm too busy to exercise," but now I really DO have time, so everyone ask me how that's going for me and hopefully you'll all guilt me into doing it.

more thoughts

While we're on the subject of Harry Potter, here are a few more tidbits:

- my 6 year old niece is reading #7 right now.

- sometimes I want to get this-- it's as close as I can get to being a witch for reals

- I love this movie

Nymphadora Tonks

Remember a few months ago when I looked exactly like Harry Potter? If not, here's a reminder:
WELL, my hair has grown out quite a bit (it's almost shoulder length) so I can't dress up as Harry for the next movie. I wanted to be Madam Hooch and get cat contacts and everything, but then I wouldn't be able to see unless I wore my glasses (and then I wouldn't look like her). SOOOO, I have decided to dress up as Tonks (seen here with Mad Eye):
Does anyone have a black womanly/goth trench coat I can borrow?

My Graduation Plans

I have decided not to walk. Here's why:
- caps and gowns are expensive, worthless, and hideous
- I am in one of the largest colleges on campus so my convocation will last 2.5-3 hours
- said convocation will be in the Marriott Center, which means anyone in the audience would be too far away from me to even see me as I tromp across the stage
- I don't like walking across a stage and getting my picture taken in from of thousands of people
- it was stressing me out way too much when I was planning on walking, so now I just decided not to

I WILL, however:
- gladly accept graduation gifts (mostly kidding)
- be taking pictures of myself in a cap/gown for posterity
- be happy when my parents take me to Tucanos for my graduation dinner
- be going on a graduation trip this summer! Shaylee and Tye, get super excited to see me and Monte!

Our New(ish) Car!

(I pruned that tree on the right...my mom said that's really what it's supposed to look like, but it just looks weird to me. Maecy, please come prune the rest of her trees as I am a weakling and cannot do it myself)

Monte and I finally bought a car of our own back in November. When we got married, I thought the Mena's just gave us their old Camry, but apparently we are just borrowing it (we still have it). They'd like us to give it back this summer so their other sons can use it.

SO, Monte and I decided to get this beauty. It's a 2008 Hyundai Sonata. And I love it. Plus, it's super nice to have 2 cars right now since Monte and I have opposite crazy schedules.It is a very spoiled car--we baby it and keep it in the garage a lot.

this is disgusting

Litter boxes are gross enough, but this? It's just wrong.

Cleaning up poop wouldn't be that bad because you'd just scoop it up and throw it away (like you have to when dogs poop on the lawn).

HOWEVER, cleaning up the pee sounds very messy. It can hold 2 GALLONS of pee! Can you imagine if you accidentally dumped it out on your carpet, or on yourself, or on your laptop? Imagine the possibilities.

How often do you think that replacement mats (the "grass" part) should be replaced?

To learn more about this disgusting contraption, go HERE.

baby shoes

I promise I am not pregnant and am not even thinking about getting pregnant. BUT, if I were thinking about having babies I would want to buy these shoes:

All of these are available to purchase online, currently. They're also all ridiculously expensive for such tiny things.

I have always been very fond of itty bitty shoes. AND adult women's shoes, but that's for another post.

why this weekend will be a doozy AND some things that are funny about monte

Monte and I are dreading this Sunday- we have to give talks in sacrament meeting. Our topic is "Treasures in Heaven." My first reaction was "what the crap does that even mean?" I'm glad that some other people have had the same reaction when I told them what my topic was. I believe it's referring to the fact that you can't take worldly "treasures" or possession with you when you die- you need to have eternal perspective and focus on the things that really matter: your testimony of the gospel, your temple covenants, your family, etc. Nothing we do in this life really matters if we don't lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven. Does anyone have any awesome ideas for my talk?

I don't get all lovey-dovey on here very often, but Monte has been hilarious lately and I want to show you some ridiculous pictures of him. He takes naps a LOT. One time he decided to just doze off on the floor with his head popping out of a room:He sleeps on the couch a lot. His mouth is pretty much always open this wide when he lays on his back. 'Tis funny:
This was on Christmas day at Maecy's house in Ogden. He's pretty good at making mischievous faces because he's always into mischief.
Creepy, eh? Yeah, but he's still my most favorite person in the world. Perhaps I'll show some decent-looking pictures of him some other time. Maybe.

Here are some pictures to tide you over:

I guess some people really DO read my blog. I had no idea.

In case you didn't hear already, I finally got to go on my Mexican cruise that I paid for two years ago (that the Swine Flu foiled). This time the Mena's paid and I went...without Monte. That was the sad part, but it was still really fun and I got to fully relax for a full week. And go to some awesome beaches. And get hit on by a lot of Mexican men.

This is proof that I tried to eat fish and like it (that's tilapia). It was gross. I just can't like fish, no matter how hard I try.

Jlene and I got to know each other very well. We were roommates for a whole week! She's really nice and patient.
This is the only time I ever went swimming in the pool on the ship. This was after a long day of walking around Puerto Vallarta and riding the crazy city bus.
This is just a couple of minutes after the above picture was taken. See Walmart in the background? It's taking over the world.
This is Monte's youngest brother, Danny, with some random military men that are everywhere in Mexico (at least the coastal places I went to). That's our ship in the background.
The beach on Stone Island (in Mazatlan). I look insane.
My favorite port BY FAR was Cabo San Lucas. We went on a glass-bottom boat tour to a couple of beaches, saw some pretty, colorful fish, and went past this famous arch. Later that day Danny and Sam (Monte's brothers) went parasailing, which I think I want to do someday.
This is a wound that I got in Cabo whilst climbing upon some rock on the beach. It reminded me of Debbie's Hawaii beach wound, but way less severe.

klutz

I start the last semester I'll ever attend at BYU on Wednesday!

In other news, last night I was in bed, all the lights were off, Monte was drifting off to sleep, etc. I went to grab a tissue on my dresser (because of a slight cold I'm suffering from) and, bumbling around in the dark, knocked the massive Maglight off. It landed on my foot. I started crying because it hurt so bad. I don't remember the last time I cried over physical pain.
I think it was the size just slightly bigger than the one shown in the picture above (retrieved from Google images, of course). My two outside toes on my left foot are still very bruised.

Perhaps I should put a lamp on my side of the bed...

das auto

Monte and I (and Hayley, that wonderful woman) went car shopping from about 10:45 til 4:45 yesterday (we took about an hour break for lunch). MY HEAVENS, it was stressful, but very fun and informative. We were mostly at the Auto Mall in Sandy (off 10600).

After much test driving and looking at prices/miles/options/colors/everything else, we decided that we want a Hyundai Sonata (2006-2009 version). Hyundais are getting great reviews lately and I've always been particularly attracted to the Sonata (although it can look a bit old-personish compared to other vehicles). We would want it in Steel Grey, Dark Red, Blue, or BLACK (my favorite). Here are some pictures (I just got them off of Google Images):
The other car that we were seriously considering (which took us by surprise) was the 2007 Saturn Aura. I had never heard or read anything about it, but here's what it looks like. It got pretty good reviews (I couldn't find anything online that was really bad about it at all).We were looking at a black one, in particular (it's the only one we saw all day).
This vehicle was made after the GM takeover of Saturn, so it has GM backing it up (however reliable THAT is). We just worry that since Saturn is basically gone to the world that it would be hard to find parts to repair it later (the salesman assured us that GM would have all of the parts we would ever need, but I don't trust salesmen).

ANYway, that's what we came up with. We'll probably end up getting a Sonata within the next few weeks, we just want to find the best deal (obviously). And we really need a second car. Any comments or suggestions?