Philippines 2015.

Austin was so fortunate to have the opportunity to travel with Justin Denison and his friend to the Phillipeans for 2 weeks in April. When the opportunity came up, we knew we had to do everything possible to make this trip happen. Traveling to another country with someone who speaks the language, has been before and has a unique connection the culture and people is something you just wont find everyday and cannot be passed up!  

I want Austin to write some more thoughts soon, but for now these are all the text/emails I got from him for the couple weeks he was gone. Such a neat trip! They saw some amazing scenery, were able to give school supplies to an elementary school and enjoy the culture, food and people. SO HAPPY he had this trip for our memory books!

28th- I love it here. Haven't stopped sweating. Played basketball with these kids all morning. Back at airport. No Manila is dirty! Nasty ha 

Night 1- ---townhouse in Manila right near airport. $4

29th- That last picture is Manila. You can't even see it through all the smog. So gross. It's much nicer here. Perfect blue sky.Made it to puerto princessa. Heading out to try to book the tours for tomorrow and hopefully stop at the beach. Got a pretty nice place. Own room with bathroom and A/C for like 18 dollars. About a block from the beach. Night 2= Audissie PensionI accidentally fell asleep in my room for 5 hours. Oops. Jet lag I guess. And I have the temp down to like 50 degrees haha. It's 8pm here now I'm going down to the boardwalk. At night I guess it has all this cool stuff going on. For dinner I had tuna and squid. You basically just point what you want and they grill it for you.

30th-Heading to find some dinner then were taking a bus to el nido. Gonna be fun. We did zip line and went to beach. Awesome. So fun. Water is like 95 degrees and crystal clear.Found the ube purple ice cream (my one request for him to find while he was there ;) ). Tastes awful!!!! Then I got there energy drink too. AWFUL!!

1- Gordos. El Nido.  Worst bus ride ever. Not joking haha. Road was a nightmare. Yeah justin had reservation. Bus ride was 5 hours plus 3 hour wait. So about 8 total. No. It was a nightmare. I don't want to talk about it. 

2-We rented a private bangka to take us island hopping today. Your 7585 miles away haha wow. 

3-We're going to come back someday.Last night at dinner this guy tried to sell me onyx bracelet. It's a sign.  I will buy it tonight. Justin is going to buy Megan pearls. This is like the cheapest place in the world to buy them. They have like pink, black and white. But I didn't know if you would even like pearls. Ha Ok. Well a plane ticket is 800 and pearl necklace and matching bracelet is like 30. Ha. OkYeah. Going to head over there soon. Then go rent motorcycles and go ride to some beaches.Yeah it's good. Glad I have the backpack too. Were out on the edge of town. So I haven't seen anyone today. But all people talk about is the fight. They love manny. And I didn't realize how obsessed they are with basketball here. I haven't seen a single soccer ball. Just homemade basketball hoops everywhere.Watching the fight-Cock fight. 3 inch blade on our rooster.Today after the fight we rented a paddle board and kayak. Saw two turtles, sea snake, sting ray, tons of fish. It's amazing. Water is so clear.Oh and we watched a cock fight this morning. Awesome. I bet on a rooster and it finished as a draw so I  didn't have to pay haha.

4-2 hours no sunscreen. We got fried!!!! Took an 8 hour ferry today and had no access to our stuff. Including our sun screen. Bad idea. Ears are better. Still both a little sore.Cock fight-We should have won! Ours killed the other one but they called it a draw.Glad you had fun at the temple. I miss you. We're now in coron.

5-Sun Burn is very painful. Yes we went to kayangan this morning. And barracuda lake and snorkeled at the reef. So awesome,Look familiar?And in that el nido pic I was wearing bates shirt. My clothes were all soaked because I took them to get washed and she was hang drying them when a big storm came through and drenched everything.Goodnight. Sleep well. We're going to go walk around coron for a bit.Just woke up. It's 530 heading to coron airport. Flying to Bacolod.Every flight has been delayed so I'm sure this will ha. Yeah.Today is service project if we can get there on time.Yeah it's awesome. I totally lost track of time and days and stuff. Weird to think were coming home soon.I'm so excited about your job.Yeah it's getting better. It blistered and I had chills and a fever so I think I must of had sun poisoning ha.Yeah I just hurt everywhere I snorkeled with a shirt on yesterday.The school is the plan for this afternoon if all goes well. Not sure how long the drive is. Bate is supposed to pick is up in an SUV he rented.

6-Yeah kit left yesterday for Bacolod to get it all set up.They both did but mines the worst by far. I don't think my body produces melanin anymore. Or just too much after no sun from winter. They tanned before.I've done everything I've wanted. It's been awesome. Hopefully only the one ATM trip I made. Maybe one small one more but hopefully not. I will owe justin and bate some money when I get home for some of the rooms though.I bought a shirt for 3 dollars. Ha almost bought some sick nikes that were like 8 bucks ha- all I see here are Flip flops or bare feet and shorts. Everyone.Boarding plane. 

Best food ever! My new flip flops are Horrible. I'm going to throw away. Wearing cheap ones only.I have tons of pics and videos. So much fun today. There were around 300 kids!!I probably will. There are like small holes in the mesh and.  Sand gets packed in it so it's basically sandpaper rubbing your feet every step.

Today was incredible. School project was the bomb. Hundreds of kids and parents. Then dinner at the nicest families house. So much food. Best Filipino food we've had yet and we just kept eating and eating. Then tonight got massages at our hotel. The place was like a super nice legit spa. It was like $7 ha.It's the schools Facebook page. Yeah they all speak a little bit of English. The little kids not really though.  Hotel-The avenue suites I think in Bacolod. It's a sweet city. Where their mission was.Yeah they're really nice. Speaking ilonggo. Next stop- Dumaguete and then apo island

7- didn't hear from him, in dumagate/Apo island. I think they fly out Saturday morning for Boise !! 

8-  last night before they fly home! 

It's 10pm here. Gotta wake up early to head to airport to begin the 24 hour journey home.I'm not going to miss the humidity and heat with no air conditioning ha. Yeah true. And sunburn. My whole body blistered. Legs chest and arms. 

Staying last night in Dumaguete at -hotel Nicanor or something like that.But I love it here. I can't send videos. We got some insane videos today snorkeling with the turtles. 55 sounds perfect. I'm tired of sweating haha. I miss you guys. She looks excited. I honestly dont
have tons of pics. They're all on the go pro and Justin's phone. Cuz mine isn't waterproof I never wanted to take it out. Apo island is nice it's just tiny. Stayed at Apo island resort. Electricity like 6 hours a day.Yeah banana and mango "pancakes" for breakfast. Just right off the beach we swam with tons of huge turtles.Yeah there were all these rocks under it so we didn't think you could jump. Then these three little local kids were jumping so I went up there and back flipped off.I sliced my finger open bad today. Got the bleeding stopped but it's probably going to need stitches or super glue. Maybe ask ally to bring some glue to BBQ. It happened this morning. I put like 8 bandaids on it so I could keep snorkeling. I took them off tonight after my shower and it started bleeding again. I put neosporin on it and wrapped it back up. I love you!

College Graduate!!!

So. So. So So. happy to be a college graduate. Bringing up the rear as the final sister to graduate college and it really did feel so good! A lot of hard work and time, never ending support from loved ones and I finished a goal I had set many years ago. I am forever grateful for the time and knowledge I will take away from my years at BSU. 

Now on to the next chapter in life..

(Missed my sweet Austin, who was exploring the beautiful country of the Philipeans for us both during this ceremony!!) 

The baby is married.

Mr. and Mrs. Richmond!!!!!!!!!!

The week was perfect.

We had so much fun celebrating the new couple and enjoying time together with family and friends!! 

Michaela was stunning!

We were all able to meet in Salt Lake for the long weekend. We were all at the little america hotel and had so much fun just spending time together, getting last minute wedding details figured out. We layed out by the pool, walked to temple square, shopped at city creek and rode the bikes around SLC. 

Saturday was wedding day! Michaela had relaxed morning and then we all started to get ready. We met at the beautiful Red Butte Gardens around 5pm. The ceremony was gorgeous and the live music added the perfect touch. Michaela was stunning and the pictures are gorgeous. I was so happy for my sweet baby sister. There is nothing like finding your best friend and committing to spend forever with them. Casey and Michaela are a perfect match, they have so much fun together and add the perfect energy to our family!

After the ceremony we all went inside for an amazing chicken dinner. Some toast were made, they danced, cut the cake and we sent them off to park city with a fun bubble send off!

Thank you Michaela for planning such a perfect day and letting us all celebrate with you. You were beautiful and the whole day was such a good celebration celebrating the new journey you and Casey are starting!! Cant wait to see what the future holds for you :)
Side note: Austin was in the middle of his trip to the Phillipeans, we sure missed him! 

End of Nursing School.

Wow, I cannot believe the day has come and gone, I finally finished Nursing school. What a long, rewarding journey it was. This is after my last day of clinical work at St. Lukes. I was able to spend my 100 preceptor hours in the NICU and fell in love. 

 I was even able to interview, and was offered a job... my dream job! I cannot wait to work and learn in the NICU starting this fall. 

 My first day of Nursing school January 2013. Last day of Nursing School may 2015. 

Would not have survived school without the support of these girls. These friends are so special and each one so amazing with so many opportunities in their futures. Love my back row crew :)  

(missing Jen in the picture).