Letter From God

I just received this letter in the "mail"...

Dear Natalie-

It's time to let go...COMPLETELY. I know it hurts. I know it's hard. But I need you to be strong. There are good things to come. TRUST ME! There are people who need you, and who have the ability to change your life...if you will let them. Stop looking back...start looking forward. You are not alone in this...I am here! Look to me and find STRENGTH...and most importantly LOVE YOURSELF and believe that you are mine:)

Love,
God

Dear Spider,

I don't know exactly what you look like, and I don't even know if you are still in my car...but I do know that you've been there. That was one pretty cool web you spun up the other night! I'm not mad, I just want to know where you are so that my anxious little heart can take a break. You see, several years ago one of your cousins decided to hop in the car with me and go for a ride. He crawled right up on the steering wheel while I was driving and almost gave me a heart attack! His life was definitely in danger and so was mine! I don't want to re-live that experience.
I am happy to give you a ride somewhere if that is what you want, but PLEASE show your face and preferably not while I'm in motion!

Sincerely,
Natalie:)

Another AZ Adventure!

This past week I headed back to Arizona for another adventure...and lets be honest it was a good one:)  It was SO great to see my sister and spend time with her cute little family! She is such a great mom, and despite the AZ heat, I had such a fun time!! Here are some pictures to prove it! Thanks again Steph and Cliff for having me:)

P.S. Tucson, AZ is also home to an AMAZING dinosaur "museum" that is sure to be an educational experience, and leave you laughing harder than you ever have for weeks to come:) So if you are headed that way let me know and i'll get you the address!

Havasupai Adventure!

I just returned from a CRAZY adventure...and as my good friend Lynde would say...all adventures have some good and some bad...but thankfully this one was mostly good:) On Wednesday morning I hopped in a yellow mustang with 2 complete strangers, and drove 10 hours to Arizona. We reached a parking lot, parked, pulled out a tarp, and slept (or should I say tried to sleep:) for a few hours on the ground. Just as the sun rose we put on our packs and mentally prepared for our hike to the Supai Village located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon!

We knew that the village was about 8-10 miles from the top, but being first timers it was hard to know how far we'd gone and how much farther we needed to go! So seeing this sign was incredible news!

The first thing I noticed when I reached the village was this LDS church! It made me SO happy!

                                                   

They even have a nice school...which I thought was pretty cool!

Most of all I enjoyed a DELICIOUS snowcone, taking off my shoes, and laying in the grass for a few hours!

We met up with the rest of our group and then hiked another few miles to our campsite! We found a perfectly shady spot with lots of good trees for hanging hammocks!

We set up camp and then headed to Havasupai Falls to cool off! The cold water felt AMAZING on our  tired legs and the site of it all was beautiful! I am still amazed at the color of that water!

On Friday we visited Mooney Falls! It was an adventurous rock climb to the bottom, but we were feeling risky!

After playing in the water for a little while we decided to hike down the river for about 4 more miles until we reached Beaver falls. 

We made friends with a frog, but weren't able to kiss it before it hopped away:)

We also took a shower under a mini waterfall...

and I took LOTS of pictures of the amazing waterfalls along the way. Hiking in the water was much cooler than our hike the previous day, but at times it was difficult to know exactly where to step! It took some major teamwork and trust:)

We enjoyed seeing some animals...

and I must have seen over 100 lizards! Thankfully I didn't run into any scorpions:)

Beaver Falls was one of the highlights of the trip for me, because it was there that I did something I didn't know I could do! Jumping off waterfalls! It definitely took courage, peer pressure, and inspiration from a good friend (you know who you are:)...and I had to start small! But I grew more confident and actually REALLY enjoyed it...and only suffered one battle wound!

On Saturday we started hiking out! We stopped at these beautiful waterfalls to cool off and do a little more jumping.

Hiking back was probably the hardest part of the entire trip! It was hot, mostly uphill, and very exhausting! 

BUT I DID IT!

This is my survivor picture! Do I look Stronger? Tougher? Braver? Dirtier? Happier? 

Because I am!

I can't say I did it ALL on my own...I was definitely surrounded by angels that last mile and a half...one of which was my hiking buddy Nathan! He kept me laughing and smiling the whole way!

Now that I am home in my bed...it seems a little weird that I spent the last few days camping with a group of people I hardly knew at all, and in a place I had never been...but I know that it was no coincidence that my adventure turned out the way that it did! The conversations that I had, the things that I felt, the people that I met, and even the hurt that I felt...was EXACTLY what I needed:) Thank you Havasupai! I'll be back someday:)

Mexico Trip!

I recently returned from visiting a couple orphanages in Mexico. Hands Down, it was an AMAZING experience:) I'll definitely be going back in the near future:) While we were there we helped with a few construction projects...










We also spent a lot of time playing with the cute orphans! Miss them all so much already:(

I LOVED spending time with some of my favorite girls...

And meeting some new friends too!!


But one of my most favorite parts of all was waking up at 4:45 one morning and serving breakfast to nearly 300 people in the slums of Tijuana. It broke my heart to see the conditions they lived in and knowing that for many it would be the only meal they ate. Yet, many of them still seemed so happy! I got to be the banana girl! The bananas, despite being over ripe, were oh so popular!!! As one man left he said, "Thanks for breakfast, it was delicious, but your smile was even better". Makes me NEVER want to stop smiling again:)

 I also REALLY enjoyed our evening campfires! What an incredible group of people:)

 Someday i'll make it back:)