Celebrating 2 years in Paraíso!

So I am playing a little catch up here and thought I would give a little re-cap of our trip to Cozumel, Mexico back in July! This all started when my co-worker was talking about going down there with his girlfriend and how they found some really good deals on this one website...and I was like- Hey! I want to do that! So we made it happen! And it was amazing. We didn't do a very big trip for our honeymoon (we took a road trip to San Diego-which was perfect) so we decided that now would be a good time for an island adventure.What a glorious way to celebrate our love and marriage! We went over the last week of July so that we could celebrate our Anniversary (on July 30th) in Mexico.

I will tell the story through pictures (because that's a lot more exciting).

So when we arrived in beautiful Cozumel we took a taxi to our hotel, El Cozumeleno, and when we arrived we immediately dropped off all our stuff in our room....which was a pretty dinky and dated corner room. I have to admit I was pretty disappointed. I wish I took a picture of the room, it was pretty depressing. We stayed in there for one night...but we asked the front desk if they by chance would be willing to move us to the new side of the building...and they did! And we got this amazing suite instead! I hate to be the person to complain...but when we're spending so much to stay there I wanted it to be special-and the people at El Cozumeleno were wonderful! Here are some pictures of our new room:

 Check out that view from our balcony!

One night we felt like staying in so we just ordered a bunch of desserts off the room service menu (for free!) and had a feast on the balcony! But I have to say the ice cream was definitely not up to par with Blue Bell. Still super fun though :)

You wouldn't be able to tell from our untanned skin...but we spent every day out in that crystal blue water! Gosh, it just felt like such a dreeeeeeam to be out there just floating in that peaceful ocean!

My favorite spot! I loved hanging in the hammocks watching the sun set hand in hand with Timmy as we swayed to the rhythm of the sea. Mmmm....

All-inclusive resort means all you can drink frozen strawberry lemonades delivered beach side! That was our favorite treat. What a life, huh? 

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner with THAT view! Is there anything better? The food was probably my least favorite thing about our trip though. There was always something we'd eat but it was a little disappointing. Although for dinner you could make reservations at the in-door restaurant and it was really fancy so we liked that. Plus a sweet old Mexican man serenaded you on the piano while you ate. And that's the bombdotcom. 

Here's another picture of the food area. Those lanterns lite up at night and it was so beautiful! 

Chichen Iza at our resort! Can you believe it!?

"You don't suppose this will be like real wizard's chess do you?"

I sure do love this handsome fella!

Fun story about those bracelets...I call them my "Friendship bracelets" because one day when Tim and I were at the front desk making dinner reservations I told the woman next to me that I really liked her bracelets...and she just smiled so I thought she didn't understand English...but then a second later she taps my shoulder and hands me 5 of the bracelets off her wrist and told me to have some! How sweet and kind was that!? She insisted I took them and they are my favorite souvenir :)

Oh my goodness. Snorkeling was THE coolest!! We went at least once a day mostly off the coast right of the resort's beach. There were SO many fish! Of SO many different colors! Some of my favorites we saw were needle-nose fish, a flounder, and a sand colored manta ray. The flounder tops them all though! It's so funky looking! I'm a little embarrassed to say this but when we saw the manta ray I was so excited that I took out my mouthpiece so I could go down to touch it!...ya know...I didn't think it would be a problem because you do it at aquariums and you can even swim with them!...but Tim quickly grabbed my leg and pulled me back up and asked me if I was crazy. Nope...just an airhead is all.

Swapping out bathing suits for real clothes for dinner! 

Ok maybe I'm a nature nerd and maybe I really like exploring....because going out to the tidal pools at sunset was the COOLEST THING EVER! I loved seeing all the neat little creatures! We saw hermit crabs, tiny fish, sea urchins, crabs, snails, mollusks, and a bunch of other things that I don't know what they were. I also loved watching the ocean gush in and out of the caverns made by the rocks. 

King of the Rock!

Kamate! Kamate! Ka ora! Ka ora!.....I feel the Haka is very fitting for this picture.

So we took a little trip (we took a taxi to the pier then a ferry over to Playa del Carmen then a bus) to a place called Tulum...you might have heard of it...it's a Mayan fortress on the coast of the Caribbean from over 1000 years ago, no big. It was so beautiful! We tried to imagine the people that actually lived/worked there, it seemed so unreal! And so incredibly hot. We melted.

That. View. 

That. Guy.  

 

Also, the places was infested with these guys...it was the coolest infestation ever!

After Tulum we took another excursion to this place called Xel-ha (pronounced Shell-ha) where you could snorkel in both fresh and salt water. You could also tube down the river, cliff jump, zip line into the water, ride bikes, go in a cenote, eat a ton of food from their restaurants (included in admission) and have some special animal encounters (for a fee)....except I don't know if I was just super dehydrated or whether I just had motion sickness or heat sickness but I was incredibly nauseous when we got there so we didn't do as much as we wanted. I hate being sick! Especially nauseous on vacation- that's the worst. But we did snorkel and see a TON of cool fish! I have to admit...snorkeling in the fresh water areas was kinda scary sometimes...it was a little more dark and all the tree roots were in the water and yeah, kinda creepy. Luckily I got to hold hands with my favorite guy the whole time!

One day we took a taxi into town (can I just make a side note to say that listening to Tim have conversations with people in Spanish was the most attractive thing ever...because it was. It really really was.) In town we went to the pier, and visited some of the shops. I hate all the people that haggle you to go into their store! They're all like "Oh hey honeymooners come in here..." and I'm all like uhh no I would but I don't want to feel pressured. But we bought a cute fish magnet and Mexican bowl to remember our trip!We also stopped to get Churros-because we were in MEXICO-and they were Churros! Pretty authentic. It probably would've been more refreshing to get ice cream though....

We got all dolled up on our anniversary night and made reservations for dinner. But before dinner we watched the sunset and listened/swayed together to the live music they had playing on the beach, kinda perfect for that night, am I right? Then at dinner we had delicious food and I brought my journal so we could reminisce about all the fun adventures we've shared over that past 2 years of marriage and 3 years together. And we dreamed (that sounds wrong...but I just learned dreamt isn't a word...haha) about all the adventures ahead of us! I can only imagine. Sharing life with my best friend is wonderful. Just as we were finishing dessert Tim walked over to the sweet piano man and told him something, then he came over to me, arms stretched out, and then I heard our song "I can't help falling in love with you" playing and he asked me to dance. My heart melted. That is why I love him. Even though he hates dancing, especially in public, he did it for me. What a catch.

This picture reminds us of this picture from our honeymoon:

On our last morning in paradise we took a dip in the water for one last time and brought some bread to feed the fish and oh my goodness-they just swarm you! It's SO cool!!

Take me back!!

This trip was just such a dream! That's the only word I can think that fits perfectly. I enjoyed spending every minute with Timmy, especially before he started his crazy 2nd year of Optometry school. He is my favorite. I've truly noticed our love change over the last 2 years to a much more mature love. President Hinckley said it right when he announced, " I have long felt that happiness in marriage is not so much a matter of romance as it is a n anxious concern for the comfort and well-being of one's companion." Although, romance is pretty important too. I am so grateful for our Temple marriage and that we can spend forever together. 

Happy 2 years babe!

And in case you are curious....here's a link to my post about our wedding day here!