Trip Highlights Part 1

Ok so here's the thing. Levi and I are celebrating 5 years of marriage this summer. We have always talked about doing something BIG for that anniversary. But then on year 5 of marriage I decided to start grad school. Womp wooooomp. But also, yay! This means our original plan of 8 days in Costa Rica and riding a hot air balloon through the rain forest at sunrise will have to wait. And that made me kind of sad. And then I got complainy about it.

And then I realized HOW.FLIPPING.SPOILED.I.AM. 

Just because we couldn't go on that big of a trip this year, I started to get all sad and dissatisfied. It was a not so subtle reminder of where I can tend to let my treasures be (i.e. traveling the world). My ultimate satisfaction is found in Christ and through what he has done for me and in return the life that we live together. But all that to say, I needed a reality check.

Levi and I will STILL be taking a trip this year (did I tell you I'm spoiled?), and as we started to research where to go, we realized how many places we have been already. I mean, at 25 (& 27 *cough*Levi*cough) years old, we've got a pretty good start on the world. There is power in remembering your past experiences and opportunities and to remember that you probably have many more ahead of you. We are in a season of a tight budget but there will be other seasons to come. For now, I wanted to reminisce on all the places we have been the past 6 years! We have been so lucky to be able to travel, but it is also something we have placed a high priority on!

First stop together: Peru! We went all over this dang country, the coast of Lima, the city and slums of Iquitos, and the jungles of the Amazon.

We were BABIES!

L: Look! We fit into a tree.                    R: Crossing leach infested waters.

We fished for and ate Piranha (about as good as you would expect...).

Second stop, one year later was Waikiki, Hawaii for our honeymoon!

We celebrated our one year anniversary in New Orleans! We went there with only a MuteMath concert on our agenda and the rest of the time was spent exploring! Definitely want to go back here.

Cafe Du Monde cannot be beat.

A few months later we celebrated Levi's dad and stepmom's new marriage in Colorado!

Bethany's first snow:

I believe it was 2012 when we traveled to St. Maarten with Levi's mom and sister. This place was INCREDIBLE! We were staying a mile away from the famous beach that planes land over. 

For our 2nd anniversary we traveled to San Francisco! We flew into San Jose, rented a car, and drove up HWY 1 to SF. It is still one of my favorite trips we've ever done.

We've eaten breakfast in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. Croissants from Tartine to be exact!

We drove north of San Fran for the day into wine country:

Next up is my family's trip to Gulf Shores, AL that we do every other year with family friends. Yes people, this is the Gulf of Mexico and it's BEAUTIFUL!

That time we swam with a 7ft hammerhead on accident:

I couldn't narrow down all of my favorite pictures enough for one post so there is a part 2 coming that catalogs the past 2-3 years of travels :) Stay tuned!

- B

Family Life Cruise

Another trip in the books! Levi and I traveled with the band last week as they played worship every night for a marriage cruise! The wives were invited along and we had all been looking forward to traveling together again! Most of us had never been on a cruise before, so it was nice to try it out this way. We left out of Miami and made stops in Key West and Cozumel. Levi and the guys were the worship band and played two services every evening. The other bands on the ship were 10th Avenue North, Steven Curtis Chapman, Andrew Peterson, Guy Penrod and Jaci Velasquez and Nick Gonzalez. It was crazy to be among so many other amazing artists! The speakers for the trip included Dennis Rainey, Kirk Cameron, Voddie Baucham and Dave and Ann Wilson. They were all so good and really spoke a lot of truth about marriage! I especially enjoyed Ann Wilson, she did a women's breakout that had everyone crying and laughing. Anyways, we were all so thankful to be asked along and had a lot of fun!

This is the room where all of the sessions were held, as well as the concerts.

So proud of this group! They are incredible musicians AND leaders of worship. I cannot tell you the number of people that stopped us during the week to thank them for the way they led.

First stop: Key West! We walked to this little beach first thing in the morning and it was awesome! We decided not to take along our pro camera this week, so these images are all taken with iphone or our little Sony RX100.

Highlight #1 of the trip: Micah found a coconut floating in the ocean and spent the next hour trying to get it open. Once he finally did, we all shared it together and it was my favorite memory :) Drinking fresh coconut water and then eating the inside!

I love this group! 3 years and going strong :)

I'm OBSESSED with this bathing suit of mine! It came in the day before we left for the cruise from Target and I'm so glad it worked out!

Our day in Cozumel! Relaxation was the key word to this trip, for the wives at least ;)

I'm very proud of the fact that neither Levi or I and our alabaster skin got burned.

One last memory that I don't have any pictures of but want to write about anyways is the night that we all played mini golf on the top deck of the ship :) Emily beat us all and I'm pretty sure Lauren and I scored in the hundreds! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time, and I wouldn't want to do it with any other band :) #bandfamilyforever

The last night of the cruise, they had their concert and then later that night in the atrium of the ship there was a huge send off concert that extended 5 stories above! The guy at the bottom of the picture is Steven Curtis Chapman leading us all in worship! He was INCREDIBLE!

Until next time (hopefully)!

- Bethany