CENTRAL AMERICA OR BUST

In just over 2 weeks I'll be in Guatemala climbing to the top of this:
It's called Pacaya Volcano and it's currently active!! You can hike right up to the lava flow and take pictures! Considering how much activity these legs have had in the last 3 months, I'm also stocking up on a lot of this:
We're heading up north and taking some time for climbing around the ruins here. You get to see monkeys, which I'm really excited about, and possibly snakes, which I'm really NOT excited about:
And before we come home we're stopping off at Semuc Chempney to float through caves and play in these natural lagoons in the middle of the jungle:
I'm pretty excited at the though of going to Belize to see this:
And I can't wait to spend a day at Lake Atitlan and kayaking on this:
It's going to be 10 days of memorable adventures, sore muscles, incredible views, and oodles of pictures. Hoping to make it back in one piece....that's the goal :)

UN-ENCHANTED

This movie was on last night and despite the fact that I never liked it in the first place, I found myself watching bits and pieces of the second half. While it was on I was talking to a friend and mentioned that I found it annoying and unrealistic. Because what kind of man would fall in love with someone as spacey and seemingly mentally unstable as her?! After those words came out, I found it ironic that it wasn't the fact that there were cartoon characters coming to life that made it unrealistic to me, rather the thought of people falling in love under those circumstances that put it over the edge. Um....I'm thinking I'm still feeling a little jaded, perhaps.....ha, ha, ha!! :)

DOPPELGANGER

Yesterday I ran into the doppelganger for Biff Tannen, the bully from Back to the Future. Except he was older, had kind of a gross tan, gold chains, sweatpants, and a shirt unbuttoned almost all the way down to his bellybutton. It took everything in me not to ask him how many times he's been told he looks like the actor from Back to the Future. But considering his strutt, I figured that would add to his ego, and middle-aged men that wear gold chains and unbuttoned shirts like that really don't need anything else to add to it.....

CONFESSION

I don't take vitamins because they're good for me. I only eat these because they're sort of a justifiable, sour candy. Sometimes I'll eat 4 or 5 of them in a day. I'm hoping that counteracts the fact that Tuesday when I was in a rush I ate stale chips and string cheese for dinner......

HACHI

I've never cried at a movie as much as I did at this one. Seriously. There were sobs.

TOP 10 OF 10

It's time for the annual update of my year. I love my updates! Really, I just love going back and remembering my experiences! Fortunately the years are going up because I feel blessed with a life full of fun adventures and experiences, and it was hard to choose only 10 of them. Drum roll.....and here they are.....

In March I went to San Diego with Charla for our annual California trip. It had been years since I'd been to Sea World or Old Town, so it was good, good times! Except for the time when the seagull swooped down and stole the churro out of Charla's hand. That was sort of freaky!

In April mom and I went up to Portland to visit Kimberly and it just so happened that we were there during the tulip festival. I LOVE tulips. They're my favorite flower. So imagine how thrilled I was to be able to see thousands of them in every color available. I love it!

May brought a lot of new things. A new job...a new car...and a new appreciation for light colored interior!! After 3 weeks of driving around all day in my black car, with black leather interior, in the heat of the Vegas sun, I was done. My car was payed off so I traded it in for a new one. Sweet relief! I'm very happy with my new one and haven't had a single regret :)

In June the Wilkerson girls (minus Chloe) met up and went to Disneyland as a surprise for Maci for her 7th birthday. It was AWESOME!!! I'd never been to Disneyland and discovered that it really is the happiest place on earth!!! I'm excited to go back again one day!

Another first....in July Wayne and I went to Hawaii for 10 days and experienced pretty much anything Hawaii has to offer. We stayed with my friend, Gayle, so the days were full of fun and adventures and at night we went to movies, sang karaoke, went out to dinners with her, and just relaxed. It was quite possibly in my list of top 5 vacations. I might even put it in the top 3. It was a lot of fun!

In August we met up at our cabin outside of Yellowstone and enjoyed some free time. We went into Yellowstone, played games, hiked around the mountains, and enjoyed being together with the entire family. It doesn't happen very often, so when we're all together it's very much appreciated!!

For over a year Calvin and Karissa have been living in California and I'd never been to visit. In September I went and discovered it's not that far after all! So a few weeks later me and Wayne went up there for a food festival in LA, only to discover that it had been cancelled. What followed was a day FULL of unexpected adventures and discoveries (like how incredible Rosa Mexicana is during lunch). Seriously. Such a fun day!

I've always enjoyed Veteran's Day, and have especially grown a special appreciation after working with the elderly. This year at our nursing home we decided to design, build, and sponsor a float for the Veteran's Day parade. It was a TON of work and lots of manpower, but it was incredible. There's nothing like seeing the joy on a Veteran's face when they are congratulated and given thanks for their service. Such a special experience!

Since 1998 Andrea Bocelli's concert has been on my bucket list, so when I found out he was coming for a CHRISTMAS concert this year, I was ecstatic!!! My friend, Joy, and I went together and I'm not embarrassed to admit that I cried...actually cried....at the end as he was singing Nessum Dorma. There's nothing better than Christmas, but Christmas with Andrea Bocelli - fantastic!!

Holiday: I have to put these two together because both trips were worth mentioning!! For Thanksgiving the Bagley bunch invited me along with their group in California. It was memorable. Seriously memorable! Then for Christmas I went back to Wyoming and hung out with Benjamin and my parents. It was a great combination of relaxing, playing, and soaking in Christmas!! I won't go into detail about both of them, but just will mention that my experiences during the holidays made me enjoy the holidays that much more :)

And that was my 2010! It was a year full of some pretty great things, mixed in with some experiences that my Heavenly Father knew I needed. As I look back I realize how BLESSED I really am. With friends, and protection, and family, and understanding. I love my life....I'm not going to lie. But I think the key is to love your life, no matter what situation you find your life in. So I'm going to just keep loving it! Happy New Year to any of you reading this...and thank you for being a part of me :)

CHRISTMAS TIDBITS

This Christmas I went home for a few days and soaked in the Christmas spirit!! Here are some highlights from the trip:

There are decorations as far as the eye can see!!! You literally can't walk into a single room (bathrooms included) without seeing something Christmasey. It's awesome!There was LOTS of food to be eaten!!! Traditional foods like our sausage and egg with waffles for dinner, Ham for lunch, and Christmas Eve Tamales. Yum! We also had cheeseballs, meat and cheese platers, homemade ice-cream, carmel corn, cookies, pies, candies...you name it!! I'm officially on sugar lock-down and am hoping for some respite for my digestive system in the near future!!

We participated in some of the local events and drove around the town, looking at Christmas lights. There was one house that set up a radio station to listen to music that went with their dancing lights on their house. It was fabulous!!

For the last few years we've had tamales on Christmas Eve, compliments of my friend Sylvia. She is from Mexico, and has all of her relatives over on Christmas so she makes hundreds of these. I wasn't able to help this year, but I've helped in the past and they take forever to make!
You can't have Christmas without reading the story of the birth of Christ! And you certainly can't have Wilkerson family gatherings without pulling out the card table and playing a game, or two, or three........

There was lots of down time and Benjamin could either be found reading, sleeping, or watching television.

The day I flew out we went down to Casper and spent a few hours with Daniel's family before I left. The kids opened their gifts from us and then we played for a bit. I love them!! They are at that age where you can totally justify acting like a kid because you're with them!!

So that was my Christmas weekend. Lots of relaxing, lots of laughing, and LOTS of Christmas!!! It was the perfect break for the end of the year!