The Chronicles of the Top of the A 5k Fun Run T-shirt

 It started with the 5k run at USU which honestly I remember very little about...Just the stretch to the finish line. The real adventure began in Zions National Park and a hike in the narrows with my Dad, my sister Mary, and my brother David where I wore my fun run t-shirt. We waded through water that reached as high as my waist. So with trenching around in the ankle to waist deep water my t-shirt became lightly stained with the brown-red iron of the beautiful formations. This hike is definitely a great example of a traditional outdoor activity I go on with my family. After the shirt went through the wash and I realized the dirt didn't come out completely I decided it would be a camping/ outdoor shirt...That is just what it became and much more. 

This is the story of the Top of the 5k Fun Run t-shirt. 

 A little while later I returned to Zions Canyon for another adventure. I went with my Dad, my sister Heather and Blake Taylor...a youth leader from my home ward. He had the canyoneering gear...rad looking helmets and form fitting harnesses. We would rappel into pools of standing water. Yes, the pools were filthy but the feeling of overcoming a natural obstacle course was so worth once again staining my t-shirt. 

By now it was a tradition to get the fun run t-shirt into messes. I also played mud soccer at the scout camp in Bear Lake. The friend I went with knew some peeps who had worked as youth leaders at Bear Lake. The evening started with stomping and sliding in the dirty wet mud opponent against opponent. Barefeet...feeling the mud squish between my toes...running around causing mud to splash everywhere...spotting my shirt brown. After the game we straight up slid into the mud covering ourselves from head to toe in mud...like the savages getting ready for the next hunt. Before going inside we had to get clean...but how...the Lake of course. It felt so nice to rinse off...just in the nick of time before the downpour. During the rain storm we hovered inside the camp cafeteria playing games. After the weather cleared we roasted hot-dogs over a flickering fire, also warming our bodies; a perfect end to a exciting night.

 Springtime means life, color and new beginnings. What better way to ring in the springtime than to splash color everywhere. The Holi Festival of Colors held in Spanish Fork was just the event to do so. My friend Alejandra, my “twin” Cassidy and I attended a Baby Shower for our amazing college roomie Katie before heading to the Color Fest. It's a good thing too because it was in Orem and traffic was slower than tar-bumper to bumper. Each of us met friends and family there (shoutouts to: Heather, Cody, Nate and his family, Ann). The explosion of chalk coloring our faces and clothes from top to bottom was a great way to spend the afternoon. Oh and no big deal I kissed a perfect stranger. I was jamming out to the tunes that were blasting and for a brief second I made eye contact with this guy. A few moments later he walks over and claims that he can't leave until he kisses someone (which some friends of his put him up to). I hesitated but thought to myself YOLO (you only live once). A chalky peck later we parted ways never to see each other again. Funny thing is the girls he was with totally gave me dirty looks...but hey, Festival of Colors guy is the one that approached me. In the end I got a fun story and a chance to spend time with people that mean the world to me!

Of course I had to bring the 5k t-shirt with me to Belize. However, I first want to tell the story of the trip to Guatemala. We live a hop, skip, and a jump away from the border...we also had to renew our Visas. Tikal, jungle immersed ruins, was calling our names. Walking to the tops of the temples and getting a panoramic view of the the lush greenery everywhere was breathtaking. Being able to walk where the ancient Mayans walked was reverencing. I like to picture the city bustling...similar to the scenes in The Testaments movie. It helps to imagine how it would have been like to make it more than a ruin site but a place where a civilization lived. 

Even though there were no messy shenanigans in Tikal, adding adventure and color to the Top of the A t-shirt came with construction and painting. Everything from working in the Sacred Heart College Garden to painting walk-ways, chairs and window shutters at a few other local schools here in San Ignacio. I've added iron red-brown, Caribbean blue, plus a little bit of faded blue from paint thinner. It's been a wonderful time giving service to the people of Belize. I'm looking forward to the remainder of my Belizian summer. 

Adventure On!

Belizian Birthday

June 5th 2012 was spent serving school kids, blogging with all the (Richard) Sundblom girls, birthday party with dinner, cake and presents, and the adventure of being in another country.
We are working at the Faith Nazarene School in Belize. We help the teachers with their classes by guiding the students with their assignments. [It has brought to our attention the fact that many of the students have problems with concepts of reading and writing...essentially literacy. We are in the process of getting a literacy camp going once the student's are out of school for the summer. We have some great project leaders getting the summer camp set up]. So i went to the infant 1 class (like kindergarten in the states) that I go to at least half the time when I help at the school. I know pretty much all of their names and they are a joy to be around. Carly, another one of the HELP international participants, was in class with me and told the students it was my birthday. One of the kiddos meowed the whole birthday song to me...that's right meowed.

The boy is the kiddo that meowed to me Happy Birthday

I was able to talk to my sister Heather "in person" through Skype for the last time before she left for the MTC. She is headed to the Toronto, Canada, Spanish Speaking mission. I am so excited for her. My mom was there with my sister as well. It was great to catch up. What made it even better was that we were able to do a conference call with Mary included in the conversation. It was a cool realization that technology allowed us to be talking from three different places in the world. Utah, Colorado, and Belize!

Lava Cake

For dinner we ate Mama Kay's stuff fried jacks per my request. She made them a couple of weeks ago and they were so delicious. I'm glad we were able to have the meal again. I would describe them like scones with goodness in them. The goodness being Belizian flavored shredded chicken. Mama Kay also made the most amazing birthday cake...Lava cake...a chocolaty taste of heaven. The candles were q-tips, you gotta be creative. The gifts were nicely wrapped in notebook paper and a pintrest inspired bow (thanks Sarah). I got a pair of earrings and a leather hair-pin. I had a an amazing Belizian Birthday! 

Thanks for all the Birthday wishes. I appreciate everyone's thoughtfulness!

Two Weeks in Belize Already

I'm a slacker and I haven't blogged yet, but it's because I've never done it before. I'm in Belize loving my experience.

We are working in a garden...the group that came to Belize last year built a garden to a high school but the rain that came later on destroyed it...so we're making it more permanent/sustainable. It was nice that we had something to jump into and get started with right away. We got to Belize on Thursday May 10 and were working in the garden the next day. We removed the dirt and wooden walls that were there from before , dug trenches for the cement and cinder block garden walls (instead of wood like it used to be). It's hard work but it's rewarding to see the progress we've made.

I've also had the opportunity to teach about health awareness in schools and in a village. We did demonstrations- a couple minute's each on topics such as dental health, nutrition and exercise (emphasis on avoiding obesity and diabetes and getting  volunteers in each classroom to do a push-up contest), eye health, the dangers of smoking, CPR and what to do when someone is choking -the hyemlich manuver. In the village we mainly talked about dental health especially for the children. Any adult who was willing we took their blood pressure. It was really cool to use my background from nurse assisting to take blood pressure, especially since I never used it after getting my CNA.


We have weekends off and Monday was a holiday here called common wealth day...so a group of us are on the island of caye caulker...it is so amazing. I got to go snorkeling- It was a day trip from 10:30-4:00...i am FRIED....like a freakin lobster...no joke. I saw a manatee, touched a nursing shark and sting ray. One of the guys on the sail boat we took out to the snorkel spots knew how to handle the animals and brought them up close to the surface so we could touch them. The shark was rough and felt like sand paper. The sting ray felt slimy. We saw sea turtles, one of the turtles had a missing front foot. There a lot of different fishies and it was cool to see the coral reefs. Oh and we saw an eel.

It was my first time staying in a hostel. It was pretty decent. I slept on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed. No one was above me. For two nights it was only people from our help international group. The last night we had a guy and girl from Israel in the room. There is a cool hammock that I've enjoyed chilling in...listening to music, reading or resting.


The latest thing I have going is working on making a connection with an organization helping victims of sexual exploitation. First I called the founder of the Child Development Foundation but she wanted more information so I just sent her an email about my background, information about HELP International (the nonprofit group I'm volunteering through), and the how we could fit in with the projects they offer. I hope that we will be able to work with this organization.