Shantel Friends and Girls Nights

December is always a busy month filled with Christmas Activities, but this month I was able to sneak away to spend some time with friends/sisters. I have been feeling the need to make extra effort to nurture my friendships in this season. (season meaning season in life, not holiday season) I feel the need to connect with other women, to strengthen my relationships, and increase the bonds I feel within my community. I have had some really great women come into my life in the past few years and I have a great appreciation for my sisters/family and the role they play in my life. 

Here are a few things that I was able to make time for this month, and a few things that I don't have pictures of, but that I am feeling grateful for anyway. 

- An early morning temple appointment with Bethany Zarbock at the Draper Temple. We met up at 6 am to do an endowment session and it was just such a cold but lovely morning. I have always wanted friends to regularly attend the temple with, and Bethany is a gift because she has started initiating an early morning temple appointment and even though we live far from each other - we can meet in the middle and help each other accomplish our desire to be in the temple more. (It is infinitely easier to get up at 5 am to drive to the temple at 6 if you know you have someone expecting you!) 

-I went to the theatrical release of the Taylor Swift concert with my sisters. As an update: Taylor Swift is a 
cultural phenomenon. She is easily the most successful musical artist of my time. I think she's comparable to Elvis Presley and is doing some really incredible things. I don't listen to a lot of music in general, and although I know some of her songs, I'm not even close to an avid fan. But I have incredible respect for her and what she's accomplished. Even though we weren't going to pay hundreds (thousands) of dollars to see her perform live, I didn't want to miss the chance to be part of this historical experience. Melissa is a "Swiftie" (Taylor Swift fan) and it was fun to be able to connect with her on this, too. We got together and made matching friendship bracelets (a ritual for the Tswift fans) that say "SWIFT SISTER" on them, plus we made a few extra to hand out to others in the theater. I may not listen to a lot of music in my regular day-to-day, but I can definitely appreciate a good performance, and the performance value for this concert/movie was incredible. I had a great time being there with my sisters. 

-I've been making a concerted effort to connect with the women in a MOI group that I was invited to last year. The group is centered fairly far away (Springville) but it's made up of some really incredible women who are well-established in the homeschool world and who have a vision of their homeschools filled with art, poetry, nature, music, and literature. I really love learning from them, and if I'm being honest, part of the draw is that I am not in charge of a single thing in that sphere. I can take off my "in charge of all the things" hat and sit back and listen and learn. It's been a good growing experience for me. MOI stands for "Mothers of Influence" and I love the belief that as mothers, we have great power to influence for good.

-When I drop the kids off/pick them up from Coop, there are several friends who are also dropping off/picking up their kids and we get to stop and visit for a few minutes. It's just been so great, especially lately. I've had some really good discussions with them, albeit brief. We've talked about helping our kids find uplifting literature, troubleshooting problem areas with each other, making plans to go to the temple, and just generally cheering each other on. It is a small, casual, thing. But I'm grateful for it. 

-There is an app I have on my phone called Marco Polo. It's a video messaging app, where you can send video messages back and forth. It is my #1 way to keep in touch with Jenna and I really love it so much. I also use it to talk to my friends Amy and Karli, along with others. But I'm grateful that I can send a message when I'm available and then watch their replies while I am doing laundry. 

I'm thankful for David's support in helping these moments be possible and grateful for the strong, smart, kind, women that I am surrounded by on this Journey. 

Sisters Trip - Cancun, Mexico

I had the incredible opportunity to go on a Sister's Trip for my littlest sister's 30th birthday. We have each been saving for years (since Melissa and I flew to Jenna's house in Iowa for her 30th birthday). We talked about a lot of places - everywhere from Italy to Costa Rica. In the end, we decided to go to Cancun and it was fab.u.lous. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect but I loved it SO much. I loved the people, the culture, and the Spanish language. Everything about it was just so incredible.

As soon as we got to the airport we realized that our flight was going to be delayed. We were already worried about missing our connecting flight and the delay would make us miss it for sure. We were incredibly blessed to speak with a man who was willing to help us before his working hours officially started, which led his manager to help us get on a different flight. If he hadn't been willing to help us at that point, we never would have made it and their best flight option was to go home and come back in 2 days for a different flight. Miraculously, the manager was able to book us onto a direct flight leaving that morning. (At one point, she was going to be able to get Jenna and Melissa on that flight but I was going to go on a different flight with a transfer to Mexico City. It's really just incredible that they were willing and able to help us. (We bought chocolates for the entire Delta service team at the airport to say thank you, ha.) One short flight, with a viewing of the new "Cinderella" which had us delightedly laughing in our seats.. and we were in Cancun! 

The first night and the last night we stayed in a hotel right by the airport and took an Uber/Taxi to the local beaches (Dolphin Beach and Puerto Moreles). The rest of the time we stayed in the best all-inclusive resort. When I say the best, I mean, we looked at lots of different resorts and even though this one was more expensive it was truly incredible. Unfortunately, it may have ruined us for resorts because nothing will ever be able to compare to it's amazingness - but we knew that going into it and it did not disappoint in ANY regard. 

It's hard to really explain how incredible the Xcaret Arte resort was - but here are a few highlights of why we loved it so much. 

-The food was incredible. I think every meal I finished by saying "This was the best ___ I've ever eaten." (Except for the fish tacos served on a fried fish skeleton - that was too much for me, ha.) 

-They were so accommodating when we said we didn't drink alcohol and made us incredible, non-al custom house drinks which I loved. (So much pineapple and fresh yummy flavors!) Even when we stayed up to find the hidden speakeasy (bar) because it was fun - the bartender was super willing to mix us up some non-al fun drinks and we really enjoyed it. I felt safe and comfortable the whole time. 

-There were so many things to do at the resort, pools and rivers where there were people willing to bring you a pina colada while you relaxed, classes in each of the casas (we went to a pottery painting one), kayaking along the river, photo opportunities, the most incredible spa I will probably every go to. 

-Did I mention that I felt safe and comfortable the whole time? One of the reasons we went to a resort was because three girls traveling alone made us a little nervous -but I was comfortable enoguh to leave the room in the morning while the sisters were still sleeping and walk by myself to the top of the spiral to the church at the peak and watch the sunset. It was an incredible experience and I felt so safe. 

-Did I also mention that the food was amazing? I don't think I did it justice. I'm still dreaming of the french toast, tacos, hot chocolate, house drinks, and more...  

The other reason that we chose this resort is that it has several parks associated with it and you can go for free (and free food) as a guest at the hotel. They are  "natural amusement parks" that are full of culture, history, adventure, and the natural beauty of Mexico. There were so many options of places to go, but we chose two parks close Xcaret and Xplor. Xcaret was beautiful. We snorkeled, got rained on, swam down a beautiful river, and attended a cultural presentation performance that was outstanding. Xplor had ziplines, underwater cave river systems, and ATV driving. 

The parks were amazing, but one cool thing about them is that they had "photo ops" everywhere. We would scan our hotel bracelet and 3 seconds later a camera would flash. We didn't have to worry about taking our phones with us to take pictures because the photos were automatically loaded onto our guest account at the hotel and would play on our screen when we got back. We got some great pictures that we wouldn't have been able to get otherwise and that was really fun.

The food, the ocean, the luxury - it was all amazing, but I just loved this trip so much because it was an opportunity to connect with my sisters. I love them both so much and I am so grateful for them in my life. We had such a beautiful time and I am so grateful that I was able to go. (Both the financial ability and the effort David put in to taking off working and making it possible for me to go.) 

(The pictures below may be my very favorite from the whole trip because it makes me laugh so hard. Jenna said "Do you want me to take a picture of you?" and I said yes, and proceeded to tell her that I wanted a picture of "all of this" meaning the pool and chair and restaurant - just something that could capture how incredible it was to be sitting in lounge chair IN a pool, next to a restaurant with the ocean in front of us reading my book without a care in the world. She understood the assignment and started backing up to get a better shot. Neither of us realized that the pool, which was only about 12-18" deep by the pool chairs but dropped to about 3-4 feet. Jenna backed right off the dropoff, so she was there taking a picture of me and then suddenly she was completely submerged in the water except her hand holding my cell phone that was still sticking out above the surface of the water.  (What dedication to keeping my phone safe! She's such a good sister.) We both were laughing so hard that we couldn't breathe and I love that memory so much. 

A beautiful trip with my beautiful sisters. I love them and love love loved Mexico.