December

Jim and I took a couples trip to Belize! I love how so many other countries let you board/deplane out the front and back. So much faster.

We got a 4WD Jeep and drove from Belize City to Orange Walk- north about one hour

Our hotel- Lamanai Landings. We only saw one other couple the whole time we were there. So peaceful!

We also saw a big yellow lizard and heard him at night also. It took care of the bugs I guess!

Back porch view was amazing

But not for swimming 

Cool plant growing in a tree

The lighting makes it hard to see, but they had fun decorations at a local restaurant where we went to eat with Doug and Marcie, who are serving a mission in Belize and the reason we came.

We attended their branch on Sunday

We delivered this pink walked for this little 3 year old girl, hoping it can help her learn to walk despite the challenges of her physical condition.

Her sisters and friends were so loving trying to get her comfortable with trying something new and then seeing how she could make it work.

We drove their family home after

Such humble circumstances, but no lack of joy or love.

It was sweet to be able to do this small thing for this little girl and her family. Seeing our friends on their mission really strengthened our desire to do the same some day.

The church building is fenced, it's one of the nicest buildings we saw.

Back to our hotel.

Our jeep the only car there.

The next morning we drove in the rain over a super bumpy, pothole filled road to Lamanai ruins. It's the only site still occupied when the Spaniards came so they actually know the real name of the place. It means City of Laman or Submerged Crocodile.

Bird stretching its wings looked just like a totem pole!

The climb up was quick- you can hear perfectly what anyone is saying at the top or bottom the acoustics are so good.

Steep steps

There are animals on each side of the temple

This is the Jaguar temple

Quite the tropical tree selection here- we saw lots of howler monkeys too!

Ruins were everywhere- they were excavating in one area we walked past so it's still in progress. We came on a Monday morning as soon as it opened so we had the place to ourselves. Cruise ships that send in large groups of people don't arrive until later. It was amazing to imagine this in Nephite times, which has a very high likelihood.

It got really hot and humid really fast!

The views were amazing!

These intricate masks were so cool!

Coatimundi 

Old clock or calendar

Ruins of a town

Driving to the airport through Mennonite country

Off to the puddle jumper

Our pilot was 20. yes we asked.

Dropped off a couple at one island and then it was a private flight to our island (or caye)

Got our golf cart in San Pedro and some groceries and then went north, waaaay north to our private, remote airbnb. It was epic.

We had a private dock and boat captain to take us out each day.

Jim fishing at night.

The first day we fished first and I got to feed a frigate bird

Jim went spear fishing and got lobster for our dinner

One of our guides got a barracuda spear fishing too!

Another lobster

Diana's friend took her to their basketball game, it was fun to see a pic of them while we were away!

Back at our pier, I guess the laws of the country say that anyone can fish off any dock until 6pm. Some guys were fishing off ours and Jim made friends. He swam out some bait to see if it would help them catch something better. Didn't work, but we had some great laughs. The people- ALL of the people here, have an openhearted kindness and niceness about them that is unlike anywhere I've been. 

Just relaxing at the end of the pier on the hammock. It was epic.

Giant pelican

Incredibly peaceful

We snorkeled a ton and saw some amazing things. At the Hol Chan reef we saw a manatee! I swam right next to it as it came up for air, it felt unreal. It was giant!!! We also saw a pod of dolphins and swam with them. Tons of other beautiful tropical fish- and all without any crowds and a private boat to take us to all their favorite spots. We had no idea it would be this amazing of a trip and were blown away when one thing after another was just so incredible.

We fed giant tarpon- they have these giant mouths and it was so freaky and hilarious.

Finally drove halfway to town to get some food. It was all lit up for Christmas.

Local band and some amazing food.

Can you see the shadow of the plane as we just took off? Farewell Ambergris Caye!

The whole stretch of ocean from these islands to the mainland is shallow like this- that's why our private boat could take us to so many spots and see such amazing things. There's endless places to go!

Nicole on the high school game day pic

Back home for some leaf collecting fun!

We had our traditional English dinner with yorkshire puddings while watching Muppet Christmas Carol

Katy went with Jim to his company party axe throwing. She was surprisingly good and had lots of fun.

I didn't have as much time (because of the Belize trip) to make fudge but still managed to make 54 pounds for Jim to deliver.

Diana and Nicole after basketball games. Hungry girls!

Nicole went hunting really early before a basketball tournament

And got a good sized deer with a very good shot!

On the way to her tourney

Traditional gingerbread house fun

Christmas Eve breakfast with green waffle trees and fluffy egg snow

Gingerbread houses getting slowly eaten...

We acted out the nativity on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning with the laundry baskets on the stairs!

The kids went shopping for me and got me something I've always wanted! A yard of Twix!

John was sitting in the midst of wrapping paper, eating chocolate gold coins and told me he was so excited that they were chocolate instead of gold. Me too buddy.

Making deer jerky was not that hard in the smoker and it tasted amazing.

I had a partial hysterectomy a few days after Christmas. This was the culmination of a lot of health challenges that have really tried and tested my patience and hope. I was blessed to have the surgery go well even though it took over twice as long (4+ hours) as they had anticipated. 

Finally sending the kids a picture when I felt awake...and my surgery was at 7:15 so that was a long day! We'd hoped I could be home by noon, but the surgery had really inflamed my insides and I had to be able to pee on my own before they'd let me go. Anyways, it took staying overnight and not getting home until noon the next day. But I am so grateful all was well in the end and now I'm home recovering. And finding time to blog lol.

I asked the kids to send me pics in the hospital. They were really worried about me and I felt like it was medicine to see their faces.

Especially when I got pics like this.

First food in a day. 

Nicole went to a new years dance and had the best time, getting to dance a ton. So happy for her friends and the fun they had!

While I'm recovering, Jim is totally in charge. Just to give you an idea- this is Katy summoning who knows what in front of a roaring fire all by herself outside at night. Yes, that about sums it up :)