The Adventures of Jess and Luke

Huh?

2011-01-15T02:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, I promise that we are still alive here in Colorado...Just busy doing things besides blogging. Maybe I will get this thing updated in January...we will see

Where Have I Been?

2010-09-02T18:33:00.000-06:00

So, I will start off with a funny story. Luke and I were driving towards the mountains the other day and I decided to tell him about the funny dream that I had. I proceed to tell him how in my dream he was leaving for school and before he walked down the stairs, he told me that I should update my blog. He then told me that that wasn't a dream. I guess he told me that when I was in my sleep drunk phase and I just assumed it was a dream because I just didn't see my husband encouraging me to blog. Okay, maybe it isn't that funny of a story, but it got me here didn't it? I realized I haven't done anything on here in almost a year! Wow, a lot has happened in this past year. Everything ranging from going to Europe to visit Turkey, Greece, and Italy to quitting my job and moving to Colorado so that Luke can start medical school. It has been lots of fun, and hopefully I will get more posts up here soon.

A Good Fall Drive

2009-09-19T12:53:00.004-06:00

September 23, 2007

Wow, it has been a long time since I have written anything...too busy with having fun I guess. Well, I was looking through pictures and found this little adventure. Luke had never been to the Provo Falls up on the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway so we decided we would take a little drive. We didn't see any leaves changing colors but we did finally find the falls. It wasn't flowing as much as I had remembered it, but that just comes with the season I guess.

The Honeymoon...

2009-04-24T18:49:00.024-06:00

September 1 - 6, 2007

So Luke surprised me on the location and hotel that we stayed at. He actually did a really good job keeping it from me. We flew out to Cancun and stayed in the nicest hotel I have ever been in. If you ever have the chance to go stay in a J.W. Marriott, do it! You can guess what we did the whole time...yep, played at the beach, the pool, at water parks, ordered room service and visited old ruins at Tulum, and yeah, basically had a blast. Here are the highlights of the pics from this amazing trip.

This is Luke and I at the airport getting ready to board the plane from Salt Lake City to CancunHow could we not go to Senior Frogs?One of the entrances to TulumLook at the size of that iguana...there were all over the place and they were just chillingThis was one of my favorite buildings in this place. The area was actually pretty big. It took us most of the day to walk around.Another cool view of the watchtower. You can see the storm rolling in, it was so hot and humidMy good lookin' husband hanging out in the infinity pool. The pool was so perfect!Unfortunately, the red flag was out for the duration of our trip meaning we couldn't go play in the water...we were watching the weather channel every night waiting for the update of the hurricane that was headed our direction...we got lucky and it didn't hit Cancun while we were there
Here is my standard picture that I need to take whenever I am on a beach
My cute new husband being way cheesy!
Here is the view from our 13th floor ocean view room...jealous yet?
Our favorite place to eat
What more can I say...I just want to go back. This was a small beach that we stopped at on our way home from one of our other adventures that didn't go so well. We learned that if we want to get anywhere in Mexico, we should just take a tour bus there or something besides driving ourselves around. It was the biggest nightmare. One day we tried to drive to Isla Mujeres and got all the way up there and couldn't find a dang place to park except in some back alley. We didn't feel safe leaving the car there so we went back to the hotel and hung out at the pool. The day this picture was taken we were on our way back from attempting to go to Cozumel. The drivers out there are absolutely crazy!! We would just be driving down the highway when all of a sudden, the cars in front of us would just slam on the breaks and slow down to about 10 mph! For some strange and stupid reason, they put a series of speed bumps in random spots on the freeway. So people would have to slam on the breaks and almost cause accidents left and right. It was very stressful and I am happy that I was wasn't driving!
Look at the talent of our housekeepers! The first day we got there, we walked into a room with a bottle of champagne and passion fruit! We decided to open up the wine, make a toast, and dump it down the toilet

I really like this picture, but as you can tell, it is a little blurry. Partly because of the humidity, partly it was user error. This was probably the best tasting steak I have had in a long time. I think we should make Ruth's Chris an anniversary tradition...

It was so much fun to get away with my husband and just have fun and enjoy life. I hope that we get to have many more trips like this all over the place!

It was (is) Awesome!

2009-03-21T23:14:00.017-06:00

August 31, 2007

Okay, I am just getting lazy and am going to post some pictures from our wedding day and a couple of my bridal pictures. Don't judge me too hard, I worked until 0330 the night before, I was a little tired. It was a perfect day and the pictures do a good job portraying that. Enjoy the pictures. I did the pictures up Provo Canyon by Sundance and then at the State Mental Hospital...they should have admitted me.

These last couple of pictures were done at the Temple. It was a good day.

This was dinner up at the Silver Fork Lodge.

Don't worry, I have plenty more pictures if anybody wants to see...hahaha. Can anybody explain to me how to do a slide show...it would save a lot of space on here...

The Week Before the Big Day!

2009-01-18T16:03:00.018-07:00

Wedding Party - August 24, 2007

While trying to plan for this big event, it took a lot of time and effort. I was sure glad when it was all done and over with. At the same time, I was sad. It was so much fun just relaxing and having a good time with Luke, family, and friends. Luke and I were both against having a huge reception with a line and everything so we decided to go in the opposite direction. The week before we got married, we decided to have a party in the park in place of a reception. Where Luke grew up there is an amphitheater and it was the perfect place.

The morning started out with us setting up the park. The Shelton's all pitched in to get it all set up so it would be perfect. My favorite part of the set up was the lights that we hung over the stage. It took so much work but in the end it looked so good. Luke spent a lot of time making these massive photo boards. We decided that instead of doing a video, we would just put up a bunch of pictures from our lives. It was a fun idea, but after the hours of scanning in old photos, it wasn't so much fun anymore. In the end, it turned out like we thought it would though. Candace was our fabulous photographer. Thanks so much for taking such good pictures.

Everything was perfect. We had lots of good food, good fun, and hung out with a lot of fun people. I had to make sure that I kept Luke away from the sign in book because we put on display some of the pictures that Candace did of me in my dress in Jackson. Luke was good though and he didn't peak. One of my favorite parts of the night was talking to some of Luke's neighbors. Luke had kept the location of our honeymoon a huge secret. It was a week before our wedding and I still had no idea where we were going. Luke was going to have my sisters help me pack so I would know what to wear. Meanwhile, we are chatting with these neighbors and I hear "You guys are going to love Cancun!" And just like that, the secret is out! I felt so bad for Luke. He worked so hard to keep it a secret. I guess to keep it interesting, I still didn't know where we were staying in Salt Lake or in Cancun. The rest of the evening consisted of eating, talking, bacci ball out in the grass, music, dancing, did I mention the food? The night was a huge success. Again since I can't figure out how to do a sideshow, I am just going to put up some of the pictures.

This is Gordon, and and my good lookin' fiance!

This is me finding out where I am going on our honeymoon...

The view from the bocci ball court

Yes, my Dad actually helped out.

Us up on the dance floor. Notice the cool lights up overhead.

It was a great night. Next, the actual Big Day!

A New Tradition

2009-01-12T22:58:00.034-07:00

Jackson Hole - August 3 - 10, 2007

Back in the day, my mom tried to start a yearly trip to Jackson Hole Wyoming. We went a couple of years in a row and always had a blast. Even after she passed, we kept it alive for a bit with Vic but eventually, we stopped going. So one thing that I am loving being a Shelton is their yearly trip to JH, WY. Technically, for this trip I wasn't a Shelton just yet, but 21 days after we got home I was. This was the second time I went to JH with Luke (only the first time with the rest of the fam) with luke and every time we go, it just keeps getting better. I absolutely love this place.

The Shelton's had rented out a fabulous condo that had just enough rooms for us all. What made this trip special for me is I brought my wedding dress up there with me. Candace wanted to do some pictures to put in her portfolio and of course I jumped at the chance to get more pictures of me in my dress, not to mention get some gorgeous pics of me in one of my favorite places on earth.

The girls were so great and they did my hair and makeup (I know, me in makeup...)

You can see from one of these pictures it is pretty stormy. I was so scared that we wouldn't be able to do any pictures because since it was so close to our actual wedding day, we didn't want to get it dirty. But it actually turned out to be a great day. The lighting was fantastic after the storm. We drove all around the park and would just pull over where ever we wanted. I felt kind of like a park attraction while I was on the fence. People kept honking at us. It was interesting. After driving all over the place, we ended up at one of the many lake that they have up there and took some more pictures at a bridge. It was a good place to end. After we were all done, I needed to find a place to change out of my dress because we were meeting the rest of the family at the Ox Bow and we couldn't let Luke see me in my dress (you know, the whole bad luck thing seeing the bride in the dress before the wedding). The options were the bathrooms that they had there at the lake and....oh yeah, there weren't any other options. I decided against the bathroom for the obvious reasons and chose the parking lot. It was quite the feat the change without exposing myself to the rest of the park-goers. I really enjoyed playing in the park with the girls. It was even more fun playing in the park in my wedding dress.

Here is me and my sister in law Candace, aka the photographer.

After we got done playing dress up in the park, we were going to meet up with the boys at the Ox Bow. This is something that the Shelton's introduced me to. After all the years that I have been to Grand Teton National Park I have never really noticed the Ox Bow. It is absolutely beautiful there.Here is one of the pictures that I took while we were waiting for the boys to come around the bend. They started kayaking at the dam and would go and play with the beavers and otters in the Ox Bow. We got done before they did so we had another little photo shoot. Here is my self portrait. I mean, does it get any better than this? Look at that good lookin' guy out there. While we were there, it started raining on us. This is a choice spot to see moose and other large animals. So after the boys got done loading the kayaks. We ate garbage salad out of the cars. To the Ford/Pace family, we all know this as taco salad. The Shelton's have put a new twist on things though. We had to feed around 11 people and that is no small task when we are at the Ox Bow. So we did garbage salad in an actual garbage bag (don't worry, it was clean!) It was so tasty. Remember this picture, it is important later on.

The next day, we drove all the way through the park to see all the sights. It was so much fun to drive through the park and just remember when I came here with my mom. This is us at the top of one of the many look outs. This is me getting ready for bed and Luke thinking he is pretty funny taking pictures of me.

One of my other favorite parts of this trip was playing at String and Leigh Lakes. We took out the kayaks and packed a good lunch of sandwiches and chips. It was fabulous. The water was perfect and I almost got standing up and paddling on the kayak done, but of course I just ended up in the water. I love vacations like this where you can just relax and do really whatever you want. We also went into town and did the whole shopping thing. Of course, Luke and I did not last long so we ended up hanging out in the middle of town square which was fine by me.

During the days up there, Luke kept having some weird pains in his chest. Doesn't sound good right. We thought that it would just go away but he kept having pains. The day that we were all supposed to go down the river, we figured that we needed to go to the hospital to get him check out. Luke, Dean, and I headed down to the local ER and checked Luke in. At the registration desk we were answering all the questions and Luke said that he was having chest pain. Bam, next thing we know we are being ushered back to get a full work up. The time passed and our reservation for the river came and went and we were still waiting on results. I was sad to miss the river but Luke is my top priority. In the end we were discharged from the ER and had a diagnosis of pleurisy. Basically a fancy word to say that the lining on his lung is irritated. Remember that picture of the boys lifting the kayaks into the trailer. We think that he might have pulled something with all that repetitive lifting of the kayaks. So I got to see what the inside of the ER in Jackson Hole. Very exciting. Luke was given specific instructions to take it easy for the next couple of days. Don't worry, Luke recovered from his bought of pleurisy and is doing fine.

The next thing we did, besides take it easy, was go to Jackson Lake Lodge. It is a beautiful building that has this fantastic view of Jackson Lake.

Again, it is a good place to look for wildlife.

After a good couple of days of relaxing, it is now time to go home to finish up all of this wedding stuff. I am so excited to continue this tradition.

New Findings in the Giant Deer/Elk/Monsters from Havasu...

2009-01-09T21:18:00.003-07:00

If you remember from my post from Havasu...I said that I didn't have any pictures of these crazy creatures. Well, I think I found it. We just got back from Chicago and I found the closest thing to it. Enjoy.
Okay, this is an Irish Deer that apparently died out 8000 years ago, but it is close enough I think they could be related!

There Aren't Bears Here Right?

2008-11-23T21:03:00.020-07:00

June 10 - 11, 2007

Luke and I had been trying to find someplace fun to go camping that was relatively close to home. I have always gone up Big Cottonwood Canyon to the Spruces, but Luke wanted to take me to this place called Julie Andrews Meadow (doesn't that just make you think "The Hills are Alive...") that is up American Fork Canyon. Next thing I know, me, Luke, Scott, and Dan are packing up the truck and are heading up the canyon. It is so pretty up there!! We get there and drag all of our stuff up the hill. We get all settled and we decided to go play frisbee in the meadow.

We had a grand ol' time playing frisbee and goofing off. The boys then decided to have a little bit of a photo shoot. These guys have so much fun together. I love hanging out with them. Here are a couple of pics from the shoot

This picture is my favorite, for the obvious reason.

See no Evil, Speak no Evil, Hear no Evil.

Don't ask me about this one...

Or this one, but I like it

I think they are trying to be the Von Trapp children...

So they boys got the photos out of their systems and we made the campfire. It is one of my favorite parts of camping. I love watching the fire burn down to just the embers. After our fabulous dinner of hot dogs and smores, we decided to get some sleep.

All I remember was in the middle of the night, Luke jumped up and started looking outside the tent. It scared me just a little, but I was so tired I really didn't think about it. Dan and Scott woke up as well, but they went right back to sleep. Luke told me that he thought he heard something outside. Now I was getting a little bit worried because we were camping in a undeveloped campground way up the canyon. Who knows what could have been out there. Well, we made it through the night with no problems. We figured it was just this cute little fella outside our tent that night:The next morning, we decided to drive around the front side of Timp. The drive was gorgeous!

Look at that stud in his good lookin' truck

He thinks he is in a country music video
I love this guy!

Dan, Scott, and Luke

The Ultimate Tribute to Julie Andrews

After the day long drive through the canyon, we almost made it all the way through, but the road ended. We had to turn around and go all the way back. It was lots of fun though. Remember when I said that Luke thought he heard something outside our tent...we are now thinking that it was a bear. Scary, I know. The next weekend there was a family camping in the same spot and had a run in with a bear! Next time I am bringing bear spray!!

We're Engaged!

2008-11-09T20:38:00.003-07:00

So, this post is only about a year and a half old, but yeah, Luke and I got engaged on May 31, 2007. He was so cute! He took me up to American Fork Canyon and had me thinking that we were meeting a bunch of friends up there. Nope. Just me and him under the full moon. It was so perfect.

Almost Heaven

2008-11-03T21:02:00.054-07:00

May 7 - 9, 2007

The next trip up was absolutely amazing! No trips to the hospital, but still way fun anyways. I had been to Havasupai before and I wanted to go again, but this time I went with a bunch of my friends. There were about 15 of us there: Luke and I, Lu, Kris, and Crystal, Kate and Eric and 2 of their friends, Dan, Nate and Emily, and then 2 of Lukes friends. It was definitely a party.

The trip started out with us meeting up in Vegas at an In N Out Burger (mmmm) and then caravaning to the trail head which was about 6 hours away. We decided that we wanted to get to the trail head around midnight so that way, we could sleep in the parking lot and then get an early start. The trail head is probably 2-3 hours away from anything so this really was the best way.

Havasupai is this little Indian village near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon that is about a 10 mile hike in. This picture shows the group. Unfortunately, it is really washed out. I still think it is a fun picture though. It reminds me of the old time pictures. Anyways, back to the hike...It starts out with probably a miles worth of switchbacks all the way down to the bottom of a dried up riverbed. The scenery down there is just amazing. This hike is in my top 5 for sure. We planned on camping down there for 2 nights so we had to pack everything in with us. As you can tell from the picture, we had a lot of stuff on our backs.

My favorite memories from this trip were:

Eating In N Out Burger in Vegas

Getting carded at the last casino in Vegas and seeing Tina Turner in drag singing "What's Love Got to Do With It." Walking out of the casino and finding out that the Jeep is dead
Having the Jeep start up after lots and lots of prayers and actually making it to the trailhead without any other car problems
Driving down a dirt road in the middle of the night on the look-out for giant elk/deer/monsters. No kidding, these animals are huge with huge antlers!! We all had walkie-talkies and were warning others of their locations. Then as we make a turn, I almost hit 3 very sickly looking horses just wandering the plains...very creepy (Sorry, no pictures of these animals...I don't think they would show up on film anyways...)
Spending the night in the middle of a dirt parking lot, only to wake up to the smell of mule droppings and wild dogs trying to climb in your sleeping bag

Starting the 10 mile long hike down to camp

Almost getting killed by the pack mules running up and down the trail. They will not stop for anything so you better be sure you can jump out of way real quick

The very cool scenery that was everywhere down there. Look at the green on that tree! We are in the middle of the desert for crying out loud

Seeing the Indian Village of Havasu and realizing that there was only 2 more miles to go. This is also where we saw the heli-pad...

Walking around the corner, dying from the blisters on our feet and being so dang hot and seeing this: Havasu Falls

Finding the rope swing at Havasu Falls (yeah, thats my Luke jumping. Doesn't he look good?)

Playing all day long in the most blue/green clear water you can imagine

Jumping into the water at Navajo Falls. The water is a little on the chilly side, but the sun and the hike in made it perfect

Hanging with all my friends
Dehydrated measl...yummy! I know you are all very jealous

Guarding our packs from the genius squirrels. They are smart and they don't give up for anything. The would literally walk right up into the middle of all of us and start chewing through the packs for the food. They even got some food from one of our friends packs, chewed clean through the zipper. We got revenge though when one of the squirrels climbed into another friends pack. That squirrel got pretty dizzy after he was done with it...

Climbing through the mountain to get to Mooney Falls...This one was my favorite
Instant Pudding and Scum tournaments

Not having to hike out with our packs becuase a handful of the group decided to ride the mules up and out. Since they paid for a mule, we all got to pack out our packs on the mules...even though I have packed out all my stuff on my own before, this was definitely worth it.
Luke's massive blisters...poor guy

My not-so-bad blisters this time. But look at that chaco line...or is that just dirt...?

Making it to the top of the switchbacks and living to tell the story. Finding an ice cold coke...there is nothing better than this...it was worth the 2 bucks!

Getting shakes at some podunk little town called Peach Springs...it was the weirdest place where all they do is mess with you. It was fun though
Getting to spend some time in Arizona with Luke and Dan. Scott driving down with one of his friends to meet us down there
Going to a movie and not finding anything worth watching. Getting back to the Grand and it not starting at all
Calling my cousin to come and bail us out. Bringing us tools and in the end, she locks her keys in the car. We had to leave the Jeep in the parking lot because it would not start. We tried to go to stores around the area and get a new battery but everything was closed
Getting a new battery and having the car still not start. Luckily, my cousins friend is a mechanic and he came and helped us out. We eventually go the car started and from that point on, we didn't have any problems with the car
Actually stopping at the Hoover Dam to take pictures. You would think that out of all the times I have driven through there, I have only stopped like twice

So that is the end of this trip...It was way fun and I definitely want to go back. If only I knew how to put up a dang slide show I would have more pictures up. Until next time.

Graduation Trip with a Bunch of Nurses...What Could Possibly Go Wrong??

2008-09-22T22:09:00.022-06:00

August 22 - 27, 2006
Warning, this is an extremely long post!!
You think you would be safe right? Well, this one was an adventure. Lu, Kate, and I had just graduated from nursing school and we decided that before we all started working, we should go on a big vacation. We decided on Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and invited another friend to come along. The trip started out all fun and dandy. We had an amazing hotel right on the beach. The weather was fabulous (most of the time). Basically, we spent every morning/afternoon on the beach lounging in the sun trying to fend off the vendors trying to sell us jewelery and tattoos. It was so warm and comfortable down there. The water was a little on the rough side, but we still went in and played. At night, we would walk down the coast and look at all the little shops that they have right there. There was a little Mexican Restaurant right outside of our hotel on the beach. It was probably my favorite place to eat. They had amazing salsa. We were all kind of nervous to eat and drink the local foods and drinks because we didn't want to get sick. We mainly stuck to the well known establishments and didn't venture too far into "real" Mexico. We heard about a club called the Nowhere Bar and decided to give it a try one night. The funniest thing is that we went in there and everybody kept asking us if we wanted alcohol. We kept saying no. They were pretty persistent. Eventually, the owner of the club came over and started talking to us. He gave us free bottled water and snacks. After we hung out at that club for a bit, the owner told us that he could get us into one of the other clubs just down the street. So we left with the owner and walked to the Zoo. I am not really the clubbing type but I figured why not. The coolest thing about it was that when we got there, there was this long line of people waiting to get inside. Since we were with the owner of the other club, we walked right in, no waiting in line for us. Ha, we felt so cool. We sat in a corner booth and then the owner of the Zoo came over and started to chat with us. I mean come on, 4 Mormon girls from Utah who don't drink sitting with the 2 owners of different clubs. We definitely had the hookup.

The next morning, we all got up early so that we could make it to the marina to go on what we thought was going to be this really fun snorkeling trip...we really had another thing coming our way. We got there way too early so we had the great opportunity to walk around and around this flea market. There were some fun things to look at, but none of us brought any extra money. We had already paid for our boat ride and so we left everything else home. We finally got on the boat with a bunch of other people and that is when it hit us. We were on a booze cruise!! The person who set it up for us told us that we would have spectacular opportunities to snorkel and see lots of fish and then go out to the Arch and snorkel there. First off, the water was so choppy, it made all of us non-drinkers sick, except me of course (no, I wasn't drinking either!). Kate and Lu and Rach all decided to eat some of the cantaloupe for breakfast that they had on the boat, and I think that was part of the problem. Anyways, before we even got out to Pelican Rock (I think that is what it was called), all the girls were sick while the rest of the people in the boat were completely drunk. I will say, it was kind of funny to watch all the drunk people. I mean, I don't think being drunk and snorkeling is the greatest combination. This picture pretty much sums up how much fun we had on the boat. When we finally got to the place to snorkel, we all jumped in the water and a bunch of people were vomiting. Which in a sense was nice because that was the only way we were able to see the fish. I was expecting this coral reef, or something along those lines. Nope, we would put our heads in the water and they would throw chum from the boat. The fish would come and eat and then swim away. Not my idea of snorkeling. After our first attempt at snorkeling, we started back towards the marina. I was angry because since everybody was so sick and the water was pretty choppy, we didn't even get to stop at the arch and play. That is what I really wanted to do. I got this picture while we were passing it. Doesn't it look like fun over there on that beach? I would have definitely given up the whole rest of the booze cruise for the day there on that beach. Oh well, there was nothing we could do and we passed the arch and headed home. Kate was feeling the worst and then Rach and Lu. I felt pretty good, so while the other girls were inside our hotel sleeping, I went out to the beach to read and relax. I took this picture for Luke because before I left, he was telling me how good Coke Light (Mexico's version of Diet Coke) was and that I had to try it. Originally, that can was for Luke but I thought, how perfect is this. I am on the beach reading and relaxing with a Coke in my hand, so I drank his Coke Light. Don't worry, I bought him a couple more to make up for it. When I got back to the hotel room, Lu and Rach were getting ready to go out and go clubbing. I had had my fill of the club scene the night before so I decided not to go, and besides Kate was still feeling really lousy with you can probably guess what. So those two girls leave to go to the club and me and Kate are left at the hotel. I am on the back porch and the next thing I know I hear a big crash inside the room. I run in to find that Kate had collapsed to the floor!! I finally get her to come around after a couple of seconds (it felt like minutes!) and got her over to the bed. I run to the front desk to see if they have a thermometer or a blood pressure cuff or anything that would help her. Of course they didn't. They did tell me that they could call in the doctor on call and he would come to our room. I went back to check on Kate and ask her what she thought we should do. We eventually decided that we should probably have the doctor come in to look at her. The doctor finally showed up and he had this other guy with him who smelled like alcohol...doesn't instill a lot of trust in the doctor does it. Anyways, they found out that she had a really high temp and was really really dehydrated (I could have told them that). He said that she needed to go to the hospital to get fluids and stuff. Great, I thought, when Lu and Rach get back from the club, we wouldn't be there and I would have no idea how to tell them where to go or what hospital we were at. Thank goodness, when the ambulance arrived, they got home. They were extremely surprised to see the commotion in our hotel room. The paramedics got out and came in and attempted to get IV access on Kate. Since three of us were nurses, we were all cringing at their attempts. First of all, no gloves were used and they hardly cleaned the area!! Yuck. and second of all, they were attempting to place 18 g. IVs in her hand. I could have told you that wasn't going to work! After 2 or 3 tries, I was about to step up and do it, but then the doctors friend (the one who smelled like alcohol) stepped up and got the IV on the first try! Maybe the alcohol helped to calm his nerves....We then got loaded up into the ambulance (it was my first ride ever, how exciting huh?) and Lu and Rach had to ride in the doctors car. Next thing I know, we are driving into the ghetto. There are stray dogs running all around and just a lot of old, condemned buildings. We get to the hospital and I am trying to talk to the nurses or anybody for that matter, and nobody speaks English. I now have a new appreciation for the people in my ED who cannot speak any English. I feel their frustration. There was no way we were going to leave Kate alone at the hospital, so we all set up shop on the floor. Eventually, I think one of the nurses realized this and brought us in some blankets. Throughout the night, Kate got IV fluids and some meds.

In the morning, Me, Lu, and Rach took turns staying at the hospital until the afternoon when Kate was going to be discharged. The thing that really sucked is that during this time, Rach started to feel really sick and started to get a fever. We knew exactly where this was going. I was at the hotel when Kate got released and I didn't realize that they made her pay the entire hospital bill and ambulance ride before they left. It makes sense though. Anyways, they had to almost max out all of their credit cards to pay the bill. When this all began, I had talked to Kate's parents and they had bought her a plane ticket home for the next day (Sunday). On Saturday, we were trying to figure out what we should do because if Rach had the same thing as Kate, she would have to go to the hospital and we didn't have enough money left to do that. I decided to see if we could change our tickets from Tuesday to Sunday. Delta told me that there was exactly 3 seats left on the flight that we needed and lucky enough, it was the same flight that Kate was on. I told them I would call them right back. I ran to the room and talked to the girls. Either we would be hanging out in the hotel room the whole time waiting for Tuesday to come or we could go home and get her taken care of in the States. We decided to go home. I tried to get a hold of somebody from Delta to book the flight, but nobody would answer the dang phone. I had to get up very early Sunday morning (we are talking like 4 am here) to get a hold of another person at Delta. They told me that since it was so close to the departure time, the ticket price was going to be $600 each. I told them there was no way we would be able to pay for that since we had spent all of our money at the hospital. I explained what had happened to us to at least 3 people before I talked to the person in customer service. He put me on hold and then about 15 minutes later, he told me he got us on the flight for $100 each!! He basically saved the day! I went back to the hotel room and said we are packing up right now and going to the airport, there was no way we were missing this flight! When Kate was discharged from the hospital, they gave her some prescriptions that we filled. The stupid thing was that they were pills and she was still vomiting up everything so she couldn't get the anti-nausea pill to stay in. We made it to the airport and both Kate and Rach were feeling like crap. We got on the plane and made it home. We dropped Kate off at her house and her parents took her to their doctor. We dropped Rach's stuff off at her house and then went straight up to LDS Hospital to the ER. They put an IV in her and gave her anti-nausea meds through the IV which helped a ton. Basically, they did in 3 hours what it took the Mexico hospital 18 hours to do!! We were sure glad to be home!!

Probably my favorite part about coming home early was that I was going to get to surprise Luke. The tricky part was finding out where he was without letting him know I was home. My phone wouldn't let me text message in Mexico but I decided to write a text and tell him I found a place where I was able to. I attempted to figure out what he was doing, and luckily found out he was at home doing homework. After I left Lu and Rach at the hospital, I went straight to his apartment, stinky and all from traveling all day! He was so surprised that I was home, it was fun to see his expression. I was able to email and talk on messenger to him while I was in Mexico, but this was so much better!!!

So now that I have been a nurse for 2 years, I think if I were to go back to Mexico, I am bringing my own IV fluids and starts!!!

How about another one?

2008-09-15T20:54:00.005-06:00

August 11 - 12, 2006
Well, I guess it is time to post another trip. I am bored out of my mind right now so I guess I could make myself be productive. This will be a shorter post, at least I hope it is. Basically, I just want to post some fun pics of Luke and I with the Filoso family camping. It was fun, we just went up to the Spruces in Big Cottonwood Canyon for the night and the next day we went and hiked Doughnut Falls and had a blast.

(I can't figure out how to put up slide shows...)

Some explanation about this blog

2008-09-11T22:40:00.001-06:00

I guess I should start at the beginning of our trips right...its very logical if you know what I mean. Anyways, I decided that what I would do is start from the first trip we took together and then from there on out, I would post the trips that we have taken as I feel like it. Just to warn you all, I kind of ramble on and on so these posts are probably going to be a bit lengthy. Feel free to just skim or look at the pictures.

Lava Hot Puddle??

2008-09-11T22:03:00.008-06:00

August 8 - 10, 2006
I met Luke in May of 2006 in my rock climbing class and we hung out all summer long. My friend Toni was hanging out in Jackson Hole for the summer as a river guide (how lucky is she?). It had been a while since I had run the Snake River so I decided that it would be fun to get a group together and go have fun up there for a couple of days. Me, Luke, Lu, Kate and some other friends took off for Jackson in August 2006. We had a blast camping next to the interesting neighbors, getting our cooler taken away from us by the rangers for leaving it out, playing in Grand Teton National Park, and just relaxing. When we went down the river, it was so much fun because we were in the smaller boats and this made the white water even more crazy. It was a blast. I consider it a success since only one of the people from our boat got dumped into the river. After we got done with our fun on the river, we all went into town to have probably one of the best burgers I have ever eaten. If you are ever in Jackson Hole, you definitely need to go to Billy's. It is this little hole in the wall burger joint with probably only 15 seats at the most. You almost always have to wait to get a seat but the burger is well worth the wait.

One of my favorite things about this trip was after we were all full on burgers and fries, we drove to the outskirts of town in search of a "hot spring". It ended up being more of a "hot puddle" when we found it though. After driving all the way up this winding dirt road, we parked the cars and found our way down to the river. I was envisioning something like Lava Hot Springs where it is pretty easy to find the hot water. Yeah, definitely not the case here. First of all, we had to cross this freezing cold, fast moving river. It was right at the bottom of a pretty good size waterfall where we were crossing. We had to cross with our shoes off and in the middle of the night with no lights, we were dang lucky that it was a full moon that night. All of us made it across in one piece but we were all very surprised when we got to the other side! There was this little puddle of warm and occasionally hot water! Really, there was only room for 2, maybe 3 people at the most to sit in the warm water! Definitely no Lava Hot Springs!!

What I did today...

2008-09-04T23:10:00.000-06:00

I went to a play

The Beginning?

2008-09-03T21:11:00.002-06:00

So...I swore I would never be a blogger, but I got to thinking. I need a place to write about all of the adventures and trips Luke and I go on, so why not put it in a blog...exactly what I thought. I hope you enjoy.