Sacrifice in Service

My visiting teaching message this week was all about Elder Robert D. Hale's talk about sacrifice in service. Then turns out today that the talk was also the message shared in Relief Society! It was a wonderful lesson, where we talked about a few of the amazing examples of sacrifice we've seen (Christ, Abinadi, etc.) and also the small but important daily sacrifices we make and we see others make around us. It was great especially because of the experience Ray and I had this weekend:

It was our turn again to help clean the church on Saturday morning. I had neglected a lot of schoolwork this week and was far behind, and was also anxious to find some garage sales early Saturday morning to look for dining chairs. Because of these, I was not looking forward to serving the Lord and my fellow members of my ward by cleaning away my Saturday morning. I knew I was needed though, so I reluctantly drag myself out of bed at 7:15AM to go help clean. The work was light, and it went by quickly, I need not have grumbled about it.

After cleaning, we left and began searching for yard sale signs. While many people were out selling, no one had what we wanted. Ultimately we came to a garage full of furniture, but lacked any people around it. We saw four chairs, that we knew would perfectly match our table and had an 'X' style back like we had wanted. Ray got out of the car and went to look at them. They had '$20' stickers on them, so we approached the door of the home and timidly asked if they were going to be selling the items on the driveway. To our surprise, the man told us he was giving it away and anything we wanted was ours. We were so excited! We took the chairs gratefully, and also ended up renting a UHaul to bring home a gorgeous solid wood entertainment center. It was amazing.

As I thought about the events of yesterday during Relief Society today, I realized the Lord had provided for us what we needed, even though it was just a small, silly thing like the kitchen chairs we like. I'm so grateful my Heavenly Father always comes through for me and blesses me with the things I stand in need of, and occasionally with the things He knows I only desire and not require. It was a testament to me that when I put the Lord first, and agree to serve and sacrifice of my time, the Lord will not hesitate to pour out blessings upon my head. 

Newly-Awesome-Stenciled-DIY Kitchen Table

So, Utah was great! Other than the allergies I had to battle the whole time (stupid Cottonwood trees) it was fantastic :D I didn't get to hit up all the foodie places I wanted to... lucky for me we're going back to Utah in only two short weeks for a wedding! Woot woot! Par-tay!

I had fun with friends and a super great time hanging out with my mom and unpacking her house and all our family memories. We had our big garage sale and sold everything she or I couldn't take. It was hard to let go of some of it, but I'm so excited for her and the adventures she will have in Germany!

Speaking of all the cool things I got to take. I got my old yearbooks, a rocking chair my mom got when she had me, and an old kitchen table that has been in our family for who knows how long. My earliest memory of this table, is sitting on it and carving pumpkins when I'm about five I think. I was so excited to get the table because I had just seen this blog: click here!

I knew what I had to do.

I looked and deliberated over stencils for a whole week and finally found one on Etsy that Ray and I both loved, and it was only $20 compared to most other stencils at around $50! So I scooped it up. Then I asked my father in law to come over and help me sand the table down with his cool power sanding tools. Plus he has endless knowledge on woodwork, I was so glad he was here to help! Here are some pictures of the transformation.

I almost missed the "before" picture, but I quickly stopped my sanding and hunted down my camera successfully!

Once it was finally sanded and smoothed to perfection, we were able to start stenciling! I'm lucky my FIL was there, I was a little overzealous on painting the stencil- he had to keep telling me to stop so I didn't push the paint through and make the pattern bleed around the edges.

Here it is post-stencil and pre-stain...

And here is the finished product! I love it :) I'm super pleased with how it turned out. Now all we need to do is find some chairs to go with the table so we can stop sitting in our newly acquired campfire chairs. They're so low when I sit at the table my chin nearly hits the table top each time I chew. Let the garage sale hunting commence!

P.S. In case you noticed, or didn't for that matter: Yes, I did sand this table in my apartment. Probably not my brightest idea as I will be vacuuming and wiping dust off of everything in my apartment for who knows how long. But- there was no outlet outside our apartment, I don't own an extension cord, and we were too excited to get started to go buy one. At the end of the day based on the results, I regret nothing :)

Ballerina Birthday

Yes, it is true. I just celebrated my tutu (22) birthday! And what a fabulous day it was. It started out with me heading to the pool at 6:45 in the AM to coach. One of my lane-mates saw me and started razzin' me for not being in the water that morning. I just told him it was my birthday, I was allowed to sleep in. He proceeded to tell the entire team as I was relating the workout. Everyone broke into the Happy Birthday song for me! It was so fun, just like my team growing up.

After that I headed to work where my fabulous coworker got me an equally fabulous chocolate-chocolate cake. It was divine! Even better, the people coming in after me read the schedule wrong and came in an hour early, allowing me to head home early. When I got home, I began working on my spectacular birthday dinner...

Usually for my birthday I head to Winger's with friends or family, but as I've stated previously, such a place (sadly) does not exist out here! So I found myself some copycat recipes and set to work making myself cheddar/bacon potato skins, sticky fingers, and some asphalt pie. Everything turned out fabulous and Ray and I thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

We headed over to some family to share some asphalt pie with them, and I'm so glad we did! I had so much fun and laughed so hard! As soon as we stuck the candles into the cake and brought the lighter out, my nephew was right there again. He kept putting the lighter up to the candles and couldn't figure out why they weren't lighting (pushing the button while holding it to the candle is a skill he has yet to acquire, probably to the gratefulness of his parents). When I went to light the first candle, my nephew blew out the lighter before the flame even touched the wick! After two or three times of that and us all laughing, Ray tried to cover our nephew's mouth and prevent his breath from hitting the flame. Poor little guy was not happy about that, but we finally got the candles lit, the song sung, and then he got to help me blow out the candles. Again, my favorite birthday picture includes him:

I look like a crazy person laughing at a poor child crying, but I swear, you wouldn't have been able to keep a straight face if you had been there too.

After that, my other nephew gave me the gift of WiiDance. What. A. Party. We danced and danced until I thought I would die! Here we see my brother-in-law and Ray showing off their fancy pants moves:


I also got a beautiful hang-quilt from my sister-in-law that she made for me. I have yet to find the perfect place for it in my home, so pictures of that when I've found its rightful spot. To end the evening, Ray took me to Target where I got to pick out my birthday presents: a new wallet (which I absolutely adore! lots of card spaces, checkbook holder, lots of pockets for receipts and change, and even a calculator), and a few new Disney dishes that Target happened to be selling. Pictures of those soon too :)

In other news, I finally sent out my covert robin gift! I hope she gets it soon!

Hola

So remember how my vacuum cleaners' belt exploded? Turns out, the belt for my vacuum is impossible to find! The ones they sell at Target don't fit my model, and even the one I purchased at the Vac & Sew shop didn't fit. In all fairness, the man working there only understood that I had a Eureka vacuum and didn't listen to me tell him all the other fancy things about it. I should have known the generic belt wouldn't fit! Anyway, nearly $20 later... I have two belts coming my way from Eureka.com that should arrive within 7-10 business days. Meanwhile, my floor continues to gross me out since it has now been 1 1/2 weeks without vacuuming it. Barf. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that, but not enough to take it down. :)

In other news: We purchased our tickets to UT for my graduation! Woot woot! It's going to be such a fun trip- graduation, cousin's bridal shower, Russia Friends Get-Together, and... UTAH FOOD! The list keeps piling up: DP Cheesesteaks, Cafe Rio, JCW's, Wingers' (oh my beloved Wingers), The Pie Pizzaria and Hires Big H. I can not wait. I just may gain 20 pound in the 2 weeks I'm there. But I'll probably work it off lifting boxes as I help my mom pack for her big international move. Right?

Recent Happenings...

I have just small little stories that I want to write about, so here we go. First off, let's start with exciting food adventures-

A while ago I was craving peanut butter cookies, but I wanted them to have the chewy, gooey consistency of chocolate chip cookies, plus they had to have the chocolate chips as well. For some odd reason I didn't think to just search a recipe like that, instead- I headed to my kitchen and just went for it. May not sound huge, but these cookies turned out to be the freakin' bomb, and I didn't follow a single recipe :) Small steps my friends, today cookies... tomorrow: pancakes. Yes you heard me, I'm now on the hunt for the perfect pancake recipe, it's harder than you think.


Our next food adventure happened today, when I decided our long Sunday afternoon would be perfect to make pizza! So delicious- I found a great recipe for the dough, and it actually turned out well to my surprise. (I bought some yeast at the European market and it's just a little different than what I'm used to {packets} so my first few attempts with it didn't work). Our toppings included: pesto, mozzarella cheese, fresh tomato, pineapple slices, and ham slices. I didn't get a picture of it coming out of the oven because I was too excited to eat it, but here it is beforehand. Along with the stuff I used to make it and my laptop playing some lovely Sabbath day music.


Now on to my home/style adventures!

I've slowly been working on making our bedroom a lovely place. Ray doesn't understand the idea of decorating your room, so I've free reign in there to just do whatever I want... Bwahahahaha! I decided upon some beautiful dark purple sheets from IKEA, and then later, over President's Day weekend, I braved the crowds and bolted through IKEA to find the duvet set they were selling for $9.99 ANY size. SA-WING! What a deal :) It took some covert eavesdropping to discover where they were hiding those duvet covers too... Anyhoot, now I'm just working on some pillow cases to go with the bedspread. I decided to attempt to crochet one case, it turned out alright for now, we'll see how I feel about it in a month or so after I figure out what I want to do for the other pillows. I think a nice bright yellow for one would be pretty. On to JoAnn's!


Every Saturday morning is our "clean the whole freaking apartment" time. I love it :) I get the rest of my weekend in a clean house, and it can get slightly messy through the week without me spazzing out because I know we'll just clean it again on Saturday. Huzzah for routines, am I right? Right. Well this past Saturday, everything was hunky dory, I had cleaned our living room and bedroom, Ray was doing dishes, I was just about done vacuuming the living room, when... my vacuum started making the most terrifying sound in the world! I quickly turned it off and tried to see if something had gotten stuck in the brushroll. Ray was able to unearth a piece of a paperclip, which is bizarre, because we don't even own paperclips and neither of us use them at work or anything. I tried turning on the vacuum after that was out, but still the noise. So now we took off the whole bottom of the vacuum, only to discover: The belt on my vacuum had been completely and entirely OBLITERATED. Not even joking. This was all the remains we spent 20 minutes digging out of the belt holster (if in fact you should call it a holster, what would be the proper wordage here?)


Finally, to wrap up this post, we just celebrated Ray's birthday! It was a great day, and fun night with family and friends. Ray requested pasta with shrimp (oh yeah! I learned the art of shelling and deveining shrimp, truth be told- Ray rocks and shelling, and I rock at deveining, what a team we make :P ), and banana cream pies instead of birthday cake. I had never made the pies before, but it turns out homemade pudding is super easy, and those graham cracker pie crusts are life savers. Here is my favorite picture from the day. Our two year old nephew absolutely loves blowing out candles on birthday cakes, and there's been a birthday every month since December so he's getting really good at getting to the candles before the birthday person does :)


Good grief I love this picture and both the boys in it! Happy birthday to my wonderful husband, I love him so much!

Covert Robin!

So my sister-in-law has convinced me to join the larger blogging community via a "Covert Robin" exchange. So today- we set about beginning our crafts for our assigned partners. The whole event is like secret sister from girls camp eons ago. Anyway! Here are my awesome hands, forging the project that some lucky person will be receiving later this month! 10 Brownie Points if you can guess what this amazing finished product will be.

Le Cold

It's all I can think about right now... I'm cold. I'm frozen. I think my nose has frost bite! Okay, it's not that bad, but for crying out loud! I thought I had tough skin from growing up in Utah winters. Turns out, one California summer is all it takes to turn you into a pansy that wants to drink hot cocoa and wear wool socks in 65 degree weather. I feel pathetic. In my defense though: we don't turn on our heater because our apartment doesn't hold the heat in, so in one month with the heater on, our utilities bill doubled. No thanks! So now we're living off a little heat dish that follows us around the apartment.

Any suggestions on how else to keep your home warm in the winter without driving your utility bill through the roof?! I've got my homemade bean bag that you can microwave (my absolute life saver for cold toes in bed), and I've heard of plastic wrap over windows to keep the cold out... anyone else heard of this? I may also try to make those door blockers that go across the bottom of your front door, I don't think our weather stripping really exists anymore.

Stay warm, wherever you may be!

Year In Review: 2011

A great blogger and friend posted the idea to do a Year in Review and Link Up blogs to share your year; triumphs, challenges and growing experiences. I just had to join in on the fun! Plus, I've been meaning to update, and now is as a good a time as ever!

JANUARY-
My first word of 2011 was "Yes!" all in response to my best friend asking me to be his wife. I couldn't think of a better way to begin a new year. And with that one word, a crazy year began, one that was difficult but oh so rewarding and one that I would never, ever change. (If you haven't, check out my post of how Ray proposed) here: http://trippfallrepeat.blogspot.com/2011/05/better-late-than-never.html

FEBRUARY-
The first weekend in February was the first time I got to see Ray since we had gotten engaged. Needless to say, that was the highlight of my month! In other news, I started getting the hang of my social work classes, and began making friends that made the dull classes more bearable. Slowly, oh so slowly, I began planning a wedding. (I imagine planning a wedding is a lot more fun when your fiance is actually in the same state as you, I'll never know now though!) :)

MARCH-
I got to go visit Ray in California for a second time! I was able to be there for his birthday, which was exponential fun. I got him silly gifts we spent another long weekend laughing, sightseeing, and wedding planning. This time we through in some engagement pictures too! Gotta love them photobooths...


APRIL-
This month, school got a lot more stressful, work was killing me, but Ray got to come to Utah for Easter! This meant that my extended family was finally able to meet him, (what a relief! I don't think they believed me he was real for a moment there! "No I swear! We met in Russia!" "Riiiight.....") Also in April I watched a very dear friend be sealed in the temple to her sweetheart, and got to spend an evening enjoying time with other old friends at such a beautiful occasion.

MAY-
I proved that you can make it through school even while being engaged!!! Finals came and went, I ended up getting straight A's! Had Ray been in Utah, this probably wouldn't have been the case. Always look on the bright side of life, right? With school finally over, I felt like it could be crunch time for wedding planning. I flew to San Diego to meet up with Ray for a wedding of one of his old friends. (2011 could aptly be called the year of "I Do"). We got to meet with the caterer, floral designer, and the wonderful couple who loved Ray enough to give us their backyard for our reception. We also got our marriage license on this trip and reveled in the fact our marriage was only a month away.

JUNE-
At long last, a Wedding! On a beautiful day, in the beautiful San Diego Temple, we were sealed for time and all eternity. After the best day ever, we peaced out to Mexico to spend a blissful week together on a cruise ship. What a blast! Here we see me crackin' up at something Ray said, who knows what, next to an awesome towel monkey we came back to one evening!

JULY-
After flying back to Utah for another reception, and a rockin' 4th of July with family, we packed up our rental with all (okay, maybe only most) of my stuff and headed for California! My first out of state move! A long drive and some old radio classic tales later, we arrived safely at our new home. July is also the month I decided I wasn't going to get 39 credits from a Bachelors degree only to stop and take a year off to gain residency and risk credits not transferring over. Hence, I switched my degree to Sociology and signed myself up to take online classes through the U of U. At this rate, I will be a college grad come next August!

Here is my younger brother trying to cram himself into our already packed car so he could sneak away to CA with us :) I miss him!

AUGUST-
I began to establish a routine and network myself with friends and the area. Coach the masters team at 5AM, swim, online classes all day, cook dinner, spend my evenings with my new hubby. Life was (and still is, actually) great! I discovered in August that I absolutely love to cook and bake. Having my own kitchen was a dream come true! I believe I went the first three months of our married life without repeating a recipe, and I was having the time of my life! Once school started demanding more though, it was back to standards like meatloaf at least every other week, or crock pot mac n' cheese! Here we are building a new addition to our kitchen so I could have a little more counter space. :)

SEPTEMBER-
School got more stressful, and I started to feel the wear of being in an unfamiliar area with few friends, and family around to spend time with while Ray was at work all day. Fortunately, the Lord always answers our prayers, and mine were answered through receiving a calling in our ward that introduced me to so many people, and also in the form of my sister-in-law who lives down the street. With new friends, a supportive and understanding husband, and a loving Heavenly Father I made it through a trial of self-doubt. The other thing about September, was that I realized just how much I missed the mountains in Utah! Fortunately, we were invited to a camping trip with my father-in-law to his hometown which is in gorgeous Greenville, far, far northern California. My craving for mountains was satiated.

OCTOBER-
I attended my first trunk-or-treat, and Ray fulfilled a life dream of making a plaster, skeleton mask. We had oodles of fun rubbing vaseline all over his face so we could layer the plaster on and then peel it off easily once it dried. Ray then painted the mask himself... such talent!
Not surprisingly, Ray won our wards' Scariest Costume Award. He was thrilled :)

NOVEMBER-
November was a bitter sweet month (like bitter-sweet chocolate! in the end, you're still getting chocolate). We didn't go to Utah for Thanksgiving, so it was my second away from my family. However, we also avoided snow, huge bonus! I made my first Thanksgiving turkey, which actually turned out really well, I was most pleased with the dinner I put together :) On the 11th of November, my dad remarried. Although I wasn't able to attend, I know he's happy, which makes me happy in turn. Another highlight of November was getting to spend time with Ray's dad and stepmom. They invited us to their home for a day of... hard labor? :) The couple is amazing and working towards complete self-reliance, so while Ray helped his dad put up the walls of second greenhouse, I helped his stepmom uproot her harvested garden and prepare the dirt to be repotted next spring. The long day of work was so rewarding and the company was the best you could ask for!
That's right, I hauled every one of those buckets full of dirt across the yard, then emptied the dirt and tore the roots out of it to prepare it for next year!

DECEMBER-
This month has been so much fun. Ray and I had a blast trying to hide gifts to each other around the house, and continually hunting for the perfect one. We spent time with family and worked on remembering Christ each day through the many blessings we continue to receive. Our Christmas Eve was spent celebrating our 6 month anniversary, and Christmas Day was spent enjoying each others' company plus some family and new friends for a delicious dinner. It couldn't have been better! To end our fantastic 2011 Year, tomorrow we leave for Disneyland, so we can spend New Years Eve there and go full circle from one year ago when we began our crazy, most excellent adventure together. Can't wait!!!



Time to post your own Year In Review!
I linked up with:

For My Grandmother...

It's been 5 months since I've lived here in the Sunshine State and I haven't posted pictures of my luxurious accommodations yet! What was I thinking?! Following are some lovely pictures of where Ray and I reside. Our life is easy, and we like it that way :)

So if you were to walk into our apartment on any given day, this is what you would see. NOT! Haha, usually it's much messier than this, I cleaned specifically for these pictures so I could show my Grandma I'm taking care of my house :)

After seeing that, if you walk straight, you'll bump right into our kitchen, which looks like this:



Again, usually a lot more dishes in the sink, but I really am trying!

Finally, there's our room, which is really hard to take a picture of and get everything (it's that grandiose, you know) so I debated between showing you our bed, or our dresser. I went with the dresser, because it's cool and we got it for only $20. I'm proud of us.

I didn't take a picture of the bathroom because... I didn't clean it. Juuuuust kidding. I just thought it would be weird posting a picture of my bathroom on here. Also, just to convince you it really is clean. I recently discovered Ray has this amazing talent for cleaning. I asked him to clean the bathroom the other day- 30 minutes later our bathroom shone like no bathroom has ever shone before. I was thoroughly impressed. I told him he did such a good job he could clean the bathroom all the time now! I would let that be his job! Because I'm that nice. He didn't really like the offer... That man drives a hard bargain.

A Saint and My Hero...

This is how I would have to describe my husband in light of recent events. Let me illuminate you as to why he is firstly, A Saint:
About two weeks ago, we finally decided to get a car. We spent 7 ridiculously long hours at the dealership, and finally decided on a lease option for a Toyota Corolla. We've lovingly named it: Monstro, after the whale in Disney's Pinnochio. It's our baby, we love it, it takes us everywhere with awesome gas mileage and allows us some freedom we'd both been craving. Too good to be true? Karma thought so. One week after getting our new car, a neighbor child rode his bike past our car a little too close and left a nice scratch along the front side. Too deep to just be buffed out with products we bought at Wal-Mart.

The morning after discovering the scratch, we were driving to work and discussing the damage and what could be done. While I sat there fuming and fighting every urge to go kung-fu ninja on anyone and everything around me, do you know what my husband said to me? "Let's count our blessings." And he began listing our many blessings one by one. I quickly deflated and contemplated the repenting I needed to start.

Story #2. This is why my husband is My Hero... I've gotten myself a job as a swim coach for the Master's program out here, which is great. I absolutely love it, it's nice being a part of a team again, even if it's not quite the same intensity and passion as high school or college swimming is. However this job requires me to be up at the very wee hours of the morning. Something I thought I missed from high school, but the more this goes on, the more I realize I'm getting old and I just want to sleep that extra hour. Anyway, this morning I had to be up at 5:30, which is better than the usual 4:30, but still far too early for me, and definitely too early for my hubby. I stumbled out of bed and sloppily made my way to the bathroom to pull on my funky, tie-dye, sparkly swim suit. I got to the doorway though and happened to look up. Low and Behold: THE LARGEST SPIDER I HAVE SEEN IN MY LIFE. Just chillin' on the wall, like it owned the joint. I about faced back into my bedroom and pathetically whimpered to Husband dearest that there was a ridiculously huge spider in the bathroom. Again he amazed me, within five seconds he was out of the bed and in the bathroom with a shoe. No questions asked. I stood in our room and watched from afar as he disposed of the intruder so I could continue my morning routine without being threatened.

Amazing, this man is amazing.

Why My Wedding Day Was the Best Day of My Life...

Are you KIDDING ME?! Duh! Because I got to marry this guy!
How could it not be the best day of my life? I married my best friend :) Here are some extra details though, that whole wedding thing that happened...
So I woke up bright and early, ate some breakfast with me mum and bridesmaids, and then began the process of getting ready. The wedding wasn't until 1, but I was up at 7 and in the shower by 7:45. My cousin, who is absolutely amazing, hooked me up with some fabulous friends of hers who did my hair and make up for me. The were spectacular and I felt top-notch that day, definitely a bridal feeling. Here we can see the gobs of fake hair that was clipped into my own hair to make me look super-modelish-awesome. Oh how I wish I could grow hair like this!
Then I packed all my stuff and my mom and I were off to the San Diego LDS Temple! Easily one of the, *ahem* more beautiful, temples in the world :) I'm so grateful that we got married there. As I was walking up to the doors, Fiance (for the last time!) came walking out to meet me. Overwhelming peace snagged me when I saw him, I need this man in my life. We sat in the records room for a little bit while they checked our marriage license (I was terrified it was the wrong one, but all was well). And then we were taken upstairs where I went to the bride's room to put on my ceremony clothes. There was only one other bride in the room and she left shortly leaving just me and my mom to enjoy this peaceful, beautiful moment together in an absolutely gorgeous room. I was a basket of nerves, but the temple workers commented to my mom that she looked so calm and helped me with my clothes like she had done this a million times. I hope someday I have the wisdom and sereneness of my mother, even a teaspoon of it would make a world of difference in my life. Once finally ready, I sat and waited for a few moments until another worker came to tell me it was time to meet up with Fiance. I walked out and when I saw him we both burst in to huge smiles. Hand in hand we climbed the stairs to another room where only peace and happiness exists. We spent, who knows how long, in the Celestial Room. Sitting on a couch, reveling in the fact that we were only moments away from being husband and wife. A small prayer was offered, and then a sealer came to lead us to the sealing room. We walked in and were met with smiling faces of friends and family. Just the right amount, in planning a wedding I realized I the opposite of what I'd thought I would want! Small and simple was the order of the day, nothing busy or frilly, and when it came to those in attendance, I wanted to be with the ones I loved. The Sealer spoke to us for a while about the promises and covenants we'd be making that day, and we sat there quietly taking it all in. Finally the actual ceremony commenced. It was all perfect, aside from the fact that I said "Yes" in the wrong place, which brought a smile to the sealers face and laughter from my family. We continued on though and shortly we were pronounced married, according to the laws of the land and the ordinances of God. What a blessing! Rings were exchanged, kisses and hugs shared, and we were off again to change clothes and prepare ourselves for hours of pictures.

Thanks to my amazing family and absolutely spectacular friends, everything (appeared to me) to go flawlessly that day. Even if there were things blatantly wrong, I really don't think I would have noticed. After far too long of waiting I was finally with the man I wanted to be with and there would be no more short weekends once a month, no more long nights on Skype, and no more goodbyes. Inexpressible Joy. As we walked out of the temple, cheers and shouts met us and we stood there just smiling with people all around us. Then there was 3 hours of picture taking, which Husband (woohoo!) and I thoroughly enjoyed. Our photographer kept commenting almost in a surprised tone how we were such an open couple and how much true emotion we were expressing in our photos. Are you nuts? It was hard to hold back! Wedding pictures are the best for the following reason: If you truly love the one you just married, wow, you get to just hold them and smile and cuddle and hold hands and kiss for hours on end and people are actually encouraging you to do this and "Hold that pose!" for just a little longer. Yes, please! Sign me up. Anytime. So those photo's soon to come, Husband and I cannot wait to see them!

After all that business, we were starving, so in our formal wear, we drove through a Carl's Jr. Because, we're cool like that, and we needed food, STAT. Husband and I don't do well without food, he gets tired and lethargic, and I get cranky and mean. Not a good combination. Anyway, so we checked into our hotel (which was beautiful by the way) and finally got to just sit down and relax and eat some food! It ended too quickly though and soon we were off again to our reception.

May I just say: growing up in Utah I have been to a LOT of wedding receptions, but may I also just say, mine is the best I have ever been too, hands down, I don't care what you say. There was delicious, and I mean DELICOUS food, the best music (chosen by yours truly and Husband), impressive dancing (thank you dear bridesmaids), and the best of company. It almost ended too soon, but then I remembered I would get to leave with my Husband and we were going on a cruise, so then I didn't feel so bad. We ate some food (because I think it's silly when the bride and groom don't get to eat their own food, come on people!), we cut our cake (which was soooo good, Husband wanted yellow cake with fresh strawberries in it. Good choice dear, good choice.), and then we had our first dance to La Vie en Rose sung by Louis Armstrong. Husband is quite the dancer, I usually just try to stay on my toes and let him throw me around like a rag doll. Sometimes it works, sometimes I just look like a zombie from Michael Jackson's "Thriller," but I like to think that that night I looked like a princess with her prince charming. Yup! After two hours of that, we finally hit the road (in our toilet paper decked out rental vehicle, yes!). A week of awesome cruise and Mexico fun followed and all I can say is that it all ended too soon. I look back on my wedding day with only good memories, thoughts and feelings.

Although, I am glad wedding planning is over. Here's hoping I never have a daughter I have to plan a wedding for! ;)

Better Late Than Never?

Okay, I'm awful at this whole blogging thing. I can't even count how many times in the past 6 months or so I've thought: "Wow, Kailin you should really update your blog! Lots has happened in your life you know!" And yet, here I am, the end of May, just now getting around to documenting my most recent excursions. So here we go, a wise person once said to start at the beginning, so I shall...

I got home from Russia on Dec. 22nd around 12:45 in the morning. Our flight out of Chicago had been delayed for hours and we sat in the plane on the tarmac forever just exhausted and wanting nothing more than to finally be home. My homecoming was awesome, I practically sprinted from the gate to baggage claim. Lots of people had just arrived so my family didn't even see me racing towards them until I was hugging my mom. My wonderful co-workers showed up too! With a sweet banner, balloons, and some gorgeous flowers for me. Thank you so much guys, I'll never forget that. :) Being home was wonderful, but as expected, about 2 days here I began bawling because I missed Russia so much. Heck, I STILL miss it so much! I take every opportunity I can to reminisce on the great times I had there and to look through all my pictures. I don't regret one second of that trip, the absolute best thing I ever did in my life and I can't wait for the day I can go back to visit.

So surprise: Remember the man I taught with in Russia? The one laughing hysterically at me with the "North Pole" incident? From now on, he will be referred to as: Fiance! Yes, your eyes did just read that. Fiance and I became the best of friends while in Russia. We've got the same sense of humor and would sit and laugh with each other for hours on end. Other people in the groups couldn't even keep up with us and ended up slowly backing away from us as we giggled insanely next to each other. After 3 months of that, Fiance got up the courage and kissed me as we rode the elevator up from our daily metro ride. I was completely caught off guard, but in the best way possible. The only way I can describe that first kiss is this: an overwhelming feeling deep in my heart of: Finally. As in finally, this is what I've been waiting for. As in, something clicked and I knew I'd never kiss another man in my life besides this one. As in, I had found my best friend that I wanted to share my life with.
At this point in the trip, Fiance was getting set up with a fantastic job in Silicon Valley. I was supportive and excited for him, all the while wondering how I was going to handle this when he left to CA and I was stuck in UT still! As the time came closer for our departure back to the states, we began talking more seriously about what we saw in our futures and what we wanted in our lives. I knew then, again, that I was going to marry him. No doubt in my mind. So, 10 days after returning to the states, Fiance proposed, I said yes, and a date was set for June 24th! Allow me to immortalize our story here, it's worth it:

Fiance flew back to Utah after spending Christmas with family in Texas. I was so excited to see him the day he flew in and it was killing me to not know where he was (he still didn't have his cell phone back at this time). Finally he met me at work after a long day and we went to dinner with some of my extended family. This is where my family told me he was a wonderful man and they were happy for me that he was in my life, as if I didn't know this? But it was still nice to hear :) That night after dinner we talked more about the marriage and finally came to the conclusion that yes, that is what we wanted, not only that, but we wanted a Temple Marriage, so we could be sealed to each other for time and all eternity.
The next night was New Year's Eve and Fiance came to my family's home to celebrate with us by eating delicious homemade egg rolls, (are you catching the theme here of my life? I really like food, all of it). I had also met some of his extended family that night. We passed some time together watching the marvelous movie: Fivel Goes West, and then decided to try and find any fun activities happening at midnight. Nothing was going on, so we decided to just go looking for a clock tower to watch midnight strike instead. No such luck, no clock tower and it was freezing cold anyway- Strike 1. Then we decided to go back to Fiance's family's house and watch the ball drop in NYC on the television. Unfortunately his relatives don't believe in cable, sooo.... Strike 2. Finally we just set our phone alarms for midnight. Fiance was being adorable and making me fall in love with him even more. When the alarms went off, we wished each other a Happy New Year and shared a midnight kiss. Fiance then told me to go turn off the phone alarms, which I thought was silly, why didn't he turn off his own? But I walked over to do so anyway. As I was doing that, me thoughts I heard the sound of a ring box, my heart skipped a couple beats. When I turned around, Fiance was standing there smiling at me. He walked over to me, got down on one knee and lovingly asked me to be his wife. To which I of course responded a resounding YES! Needless to say, the most wonderful night of my life, I can't wait to marry this man, he's the best thing that has ever happened to me, my best friend, and the love of my life. I couldn't ask for more!

So that's that! I began planning this wedding while trying to balance a full coarse load at school, and work close to full time as manager of the swim store. It's been crazy stressful, especially because Fiance got his job in Silicon Valley and I had to continue school in Utah for a semester. So we've been separated our entire engagement, planning our wedding from afar, and seeing each other once or twice a month, plus nightly Skype sessions. Needless to say, I'm so over this whole engagement and wedding planning thing. Let's get this show on the road!!! 25 Days!!!!!!

"Kailin, you want eat?"

So I am now officially eating like a Russian all of the time. Okay, so I don't eat their nasty meat jello still, but I have picked up on a lot of other habits! For example, I don't eat cold cereal anymore. Somehow the logic of eating warm food in the morning will keep me warm all day has soaked into my brain and I've put it to use. I also never use regular size spoons, that's just weird. You eat cereal and soup with a freakin' ladle here. I mean, brownie batter stirring size spoons. If I try to use a tea-spoon I just get weird looks. Speaking of tea, I'm definitely hooked on my herbal, fruit tea goodness! It's a great way to end the day... and again, put some warmth back in me. Finally, since sauces don't exist here, I've learned that mayonnaise, ketchup, and cmetana (sour cream) can be put on anything and EVERYTHING and it will taste fine. Just shut up and eat it.
So it's been ridiculously long since I've last posted, but things are fabulous here in Russia! I can't believe that one month from today I'll be back in America! Time has flown and I'm not sure I'm ready to go back. Is this how missionaries feel as they near the end of their missions? Classes are going great, our primary kids are making leaps and bounds in their English. I'm always blown away with how much they understand me, especially one student: Masha. She truly picks up on everything I ask her, and although she's our biggest behavior problem, it's hard to be angry when she's also your most intelligent student. My elementary class continues to be a challenge, and one that is definitely beginning to wear on me. But I still love it and I know I'll miss those boys like crazy the second I'm in airport leaving St. Pete's. This really has become my home and it's going to be so hard to leave this city and the people I've met behind!
My most exciting stories right now are all from our weeklong vacation which we took the first week of this month. It was seriously the time of my life! Our first stop, after a 6 hour bus ride from St. Pete's, was Tallinn, Estonia! Which was pretty much a dream come true for me, I've wanted to go to Estonia since I was about 12. I never thought I would actually make it there though. It lived up to everything I wanted it to be though. We stayed in a hostel called Vana Tom which was conveniently located in the center of Old Town. Old Town is Tallinn's medieval village that dates back to the 1200's. Absolutely amazing. I've always loved medieval times, so walking around these beautiful cobblestone streets was candy to my soul. It was especially fun because we were actually in Tallinn on Halloween! We dressed up as best we could with what we'd brought in our backpacks and used what little make up we had to go wild. We then walked around to a haunted hotel and a haunted well. I didn't see any ghosts, but the ambiance made it the best Halloween I've ever had. From Estonia we took a 3 hour ferry ride to Finland! We had a few short hours to explore before taking a bus ride out to the LDS temple where we stayed in the patron housing. Since we stayed there, we had the opportunity to do baptisms for the dead each morning we were there. What a wonderful experience to have! Our confirmations were done in English, Finnish and Russian, then all baptisms were done in Russian. I know it's small, but I felt great being able to thank the brother baptizing us in Russian. It was funny too, all the names I did were from Pennsylvania! Go figure, eh? Another fun thing we did in Finlandia was go out to an island that was used as a fortress through many wars. It was absolutely gorgeous! All the hills and recesses made it look like The Shire. From Finland we took an overnight ferry to Stockholm! Unfortunately, there was a huge storm on the Baltic that night and since our rooms were on the 2nd floor of the boat... ugh. Seasickness to the max! A lot of our party went dancing which they said really helped because then you couldn't tell the boat was moving, but I was honestly so sick I couldn't even fathom getting out of bed. We arrived to a beautiful blue sky though when we landed in Stockholm. What an absolutely GORGEOUS city! I highly recommend that everyone make it a top priority in their life to get to Stockholm at some point in their lives. The first day we were there, we walked around for a bit, then after checking into our hostel (Hostel Acco) we took the free shuttle to the largest IKEA store in the world!!! Party on. I freaking love IKEA. We walked around the whole thing and then enjoyed some Swedish meatballs in the cafe. And at the end, get this, we topped it off by buying some Swedish Fish. Life complete. Haha :D The next day we went to Skansen, an outdoor museum of what Sweden was like way back when. It was really pretty, but most important to me... I got to eat Swedish meatballs AND Swedish pancakes there. Can this country get any better? What's that you say? ABBA?! It just got better. Don't worry, I definitely listened to ABBA a ton while I was there too. :) The last day we got to go to the Stockholm LDS Temple and do baptisms. This time, (since everyone in Sweden speaks English anyway) all ordinances were done in English. It was wonderful and I'm glad I got the opportunity to be there. After that we went to Gamla Stan and walked around. Gamla Stan is kind of Stockholm's Old Town. The buildings were beautiful, but more than anything I loved that practically everything just had a Christmas feeling to it. I think Sweden just celebrates Christmas all year long, because, it's awesome like that. The next day we flew back home to St. Pete's, our flight was delayed an hour, but other than that everything went 100% smoothly.
Needless to say, best vacation of my life. And I definitely needed the break from teaching too. I'm glad to be back though and I'm excited to make this last month great! (Last one, best one!!!)

The North Pole

So after some deliberation, I've decided to share my story. Which, quite possibly, is my most embarrassing moment. I'm taking it in full stride though, and moving on with life. Here we go. Prepare yourselves...
As I have mentioned, I teach an elementary class of about 8 boys, ages 11-12. They are great kids and I love teaching them, even when they do have their crazy moments. Our last language arts unit was on a story about the first man to reach the North Pole. We had spent two days already reading and discussing the dangers this man and his crew might face, and we were nearing the point of the story where they finally would reach their destination. Now in my teacher's manual, one of the teaching aids suggests that you make clear to your students that the North Pole is only a place, not an actual candy-striped pole that Henson was going to bring back as a souvenier. In the middle of my class reading then, I stopped them to point this out and make sure that they understood this fact. As I started explaining to them, it dawned on me that I should draw a picture of "the classic North Pole" on the board to really drive home the point. So I set down my book and continued talking as I walked over to the board and picked up some chalk and began to draw. Now please, imagine to yourself the North Pole. It's tall, it's white, it's got lovely candy-colored stripes all over it, and a shiny, golden ball on top. Correct? I did my best to display this through my art, but as soon as I had finished, before I had even turned around, I heard my class erupt in fits of laughter. I didn't even have to turn around before I realized what I had just done. While trying to be such an excellent teacher to my students, it did not even cross my mind, that this pole, standing tall on the board, would only register as one thing to these pre-pubescent boys: Penis.

WHAT HAD I DONE?

I was so embarrassed! I walked over to my book, picked it up and tried to continue teaching as best I could, but the damage had been done and the boys were losing control of themselves. Even my co-teacher, a 24 year old man, was in the corner dying of the giggles. Fortunately he was able to compose himself enough to rush to the board and erase my drawing, and within a minute I had my class back on track. I am fairly certain though that my face has never been that red in my entire life. I will, for the rest of these boys' lives, be the American English teacher who drew a phallic symbol on the chalk board. What a title to have achieved.

Moving on now, and following up on the ballet! It was absolutely amazing! Our seats were up close to the stage, on the third balcony, providing an excellent view of the performers, and the orchestra below. (Side Note: I will forever stand by my opinion that the sound of an orchestra tuning their instruments is one of the most beautiful sounds in this world). The performance was phenomenal though, the last time I saw a ballet was the 8th grade, and I don't think I quite appreciated the art then. This time, with all the ambiance and excitement, the experience was a million times more enjoyable. I kept thinking of my awesome cousin who does ballet and how I hope she'll be in a performance like this someday that i can come see!

This weekend, it finally hit me that Fall is coming... with the reminder that Winter is never far behind. On Friday, when we were done with teaching, we went to a beautiful park out in Staraya Derevnaya, which is a more posh area of St. Petersburg, also where the kindergarten is located that I teach in. The park was lovely though; so full of vibrant colors that I could not put my camera down for more than a few seconds it seemed. St. Pete's doesn't have any mountains, but they do Autumn just fine here.
This conclusion was further enforced when we went Petergoff the following day. Petergoff is the palace and surrounding park of Peter the Great, who founded St. Petersburg. Peter loved the water, so he placed his palace on the Gulf of Finland and filled the park with 115 water fountains, which in my opinion, were more beautiful and inspiring than any fountain I saw in Rome. (sorry Italy!) It took us a good 3 hours or so to walk around the park, and I'm certain I could have stayed for hours more. Again I was blown away by the bombardment of Fall colors and the leaves everywhere you looked. With the background of the sea, and the foreground of stellar palaces, I was catching my breath the whole time. Maybe this seems juvenile, but one of the most exciting things about yesterday, was something I learned from our cultural coordinator: Sveta. Everyone in the park was gathering leaves so we began to do the same. Sveta then grabbed some of the leaves and began weaving them into a crown. It was the coolest thing I'd ever seen and I can't wait to try and make one! I'll post a picture when I do. I asked her how she learned this and she motioned she'd learned when she was young and just always knew. Somehow I feel I've been gipped of a real Autumn by not having this skill all my life. Good thing I've learned now!

This Sunday was great. I'm blown away that every week when I walk into the church building I feel a physical difference in my heart and I know that's where I need to be. It's absolutely amazing.

We've also started planning our vacation for the first week of November. We will be going to Estonia, Finland, and Sweden and I can't wait! Everything is going swimmingly :)

R.B.B.O.

Russians have R.B.B.O. REALLY BAD BODY ODOR. Oh my heavenly days, riding the metro is great and all, but these people have got to learn how to shower. And will the deodorant market please show up here?! They could make a killing with the right selling strategy. For real though, this madness must end. My nose is begging the Dove, Secret, Axe, etc.

There was my rant from the Motherland. Everything else is going great! This week I was able to attend Family Home Evening at the Institute Center about 30 minutes from my apartment. It was mostly missionaries there, and a few members, but what mattered was that I got to go and I had such a great time! On Tuesday, Audra and I trekked back to attempt to make it to the English institute class, which started at 7:30... which is also when we finished teaching. So when we showed up at 8:30, the closing hymn was being sung. Oh well, we stuck around after to talk to people and find out what kind of fun things there are to do on the weekends here. We also practiced piano a little bit so that we can trade off playing on Sunday with another volunteer in our group. I'm not the best pianist by any means, but I'm grateful I know at least a few hymns to contribute.

Teaching in the private kindergarten is getting better I think. The kids are getting more excited to come and are getting much better at refocusing after a rambunctious activity. Things at the elementary school... will be an adventure I will never forget. These boys are wild and I know they will test my patience to the edge of my capabilities, but in the end, it will be for the best. They are all so smart and really are excited about learning English, I think if I challenge them more in class it might bring in their focus slightly. Hopefully that works, if not, it's on to the next teaching tactic! Wish me luck!

This weekend we will be sight-seeing at St. Isaac's Cathedral, followed by attending the Russian Ballet performance of Swan Lake. I am so excited for this opportunity! Here is some info. on Swan Lake that I looked up to educate myself: Swan Lake was composed by none other than Pyotr Tchaikovsky in the years 1875-76. The story line itself is made up of Russian folk tales, with influence by a German legend. It was first performed in 1877 in Moscow, however most of the time when it is performed today, ballet companies base their staging and such off the performance in 1895 in the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Mariinsky just happens to also be the theatre I will be watching this masterpiece at in only 2 short days. Needless to say, I am overwhelmingly stoked about this. If no one could tell...

That's all for now I think. I'm so glad I'm here. I know without a doubt this is what I'm supposed to be doing with my life right now and I'm so grateful to be here. Thanks to my friends and family who gave me the encouragement and support I needed to make this dream a reality!

In Russia, There is Only One Garbage Can

It's true. I swear the Russians DO NOT believe in garbage cans, and it's really starting to drive me bonkers. There is ONE garbage can in my entire house! In public places you have to look for one for nearly 10 minutes before seeing one 100 yards away. It's ridiculous.

Other than that though...

Russia is still awesome :D This week was my first full week of teaching my primary and elementary kids. It started out really rough, but I think I'm getting the hang of things and my lessons are starting to go much smoother. It's just a matter of changing your mindset into that of a teacher and buckling under and just doing it! At this point, I'd like to tribute my mother: Mom- I find that especially in my Level 5 class, I just have to pretend to be you and things go much smoother. As weird as that sounds, I'll forever be grateful for the opportunity of having you as my teacher and for all the times I got to watch you teach. It is truly amazing to me that you do this everyday for 3/4ths of the year and are still sane! I'm loving this, but it has definitely made clear to me that teaching is not a career option for me. But thinking of how you handle situations in the classroom definitely helps me handle the kids in my classes. Thanks. :)

Anyway, my Level 5 kids are great. Today our class had 7, 10 year old boys. They are wild and crazy, but they love to speak English and as long as the activity is engaging, they are fairly well behaved. Mostly we struggle getting them to speak English the entire 2 and 1/2 hours, but things will get better. They are all great kids and I look forward to getting to know their personalities better throughout the semester.
My primary kids are adorable! I have a harder time getting them to speak as much English though, lots of times they just look at me confused, haha. But again, things are getting better and hopefully I can get them to understand me and a little more fun!

My host family is still amazing, my mom always interrogates me at the end of the day, making sure I'm eating enough. And she always packs me a snack to take to school each day. She is just adorable! As Yurislav learns more English, he also warms up to having me in the house more. Yesterday when I got home he came running up to me to show me a little card with his name written in Latin letters. This is a huge improvement from him just shyly smiling at me and then running out of the room :) Again, hopefully things get better there. My dad is so funny, he doesn't speak much English, but he's always nice to me and has a smile. He loves to say hello and goodbye, and to pull out his computer and show me pictures of the family's dacha (essentially their weekend getaway house) He showed me a picture of him there, mowing the lawn, and proudly announced to me: "Look! I do like American!" I nearly died laughing!

Last Saturday we went further into St. Petersburg to explore. We saw the Church on Spilled Blood and also the Hermitage. This Saturday we plan on going into the Hermitage and I am so excited! It's going to be amazing, and I can't wait. On Sunday we got to go to church. We searched for the building for nearly two hours, and just as we were about to give up, three of the volunteers called saying they had found it! How grateful I was that they did. Church has never been such an amazing experience for me. Three missionaries sat on the row behind our group and translated all of Sacrament meeting for us. On top of hearing all the wonderful testimonies, I especially loved how everyone there actually smiled at us. It was amazing to see these people, who are usually so quiet, stern, and private, open up to us and share smiles and handshakes with us all. It was such an incredible feeling that touched all our hearts and has kept me going all this week. I sincerely can't wait to go back this coming Sunday again.

We also started our Russian classes on Tuesday. Our teacher, Stass, is very... interesting. Perhaps more details later. Thankfully though, he speaks excellent English and is a fantastic Russian teacher. I've learned the Russian (Cyrillic) alphabet and can now read and pronounce most of the signs I see on the street. Too bad I still don't know what any of it means! A lot of the words sound almost exactly like the English words, which is great. Hopefully I continue to learn more at a fairly quick pace. My host family loves it when I try to use my limited Russian, they laugh and smile and tell me "Haroshow" (sp?) which means good. Which is a great confidence boost to me, I'm lovin' it! I've also got my numbers 1-10 down (go me!) and each time I'm in the elevator by myself I practice the numbers as I pass each floor. Don't make fun, it works :)

So that's life from the motherland! Still on cloud nine :D

I can see Alaska from my house!!!

Okay, so maybe I can't see Alaska from my apartment, but I can DEFINITELY see Russia!!! crazy-ness!!! Here's an summary of my first four days in St. Petersburg: The airplane rides were fairly uneventful, thank goodness. I sat next to a Russian lady from Frankfurt to St. Pete's and at first she started talking to me in Russian, but when I looked at her with a bleary eyed, confused look, she quickly understood I did not speaka her language. :) We landed in St. Pete's and it only took about 5 minutes for me to understand that really, NO ONE smiles here. It's been the hardest thing to adjust to, I'm used to at least half smiling at anyone I meet eyes with, but you don't even do that here! It's super weird. Anyway, I then met my host dad: Roman. He doesn't speak much English, and he wants me to correct him when he tries and makes mistakes. Mostly he just mutters in Russian to me, calls to his wife and then he ends up typing into a translator on his computer. I am so grateful for technology, I would be lost here without it. My host mom is Julia, but the longest time I thought it was "U-la" because that's how they pronounce it. It wasn't until they gave me a cell phone so I could be in touch with them that I realized her real name. They also have a song, Yurislav, but he goes by Yurik. He is 5 and super adorable, too bad he is way too shy to talk around me still. The first time we met his mom told him to say hello and he popped up and did say it in English to me, which melted my heart, but now whenever I talk to him he just looks at me. Haha :D I hope he warms up to me soon though, he's got one of those rugs that have roads all over it for your toy cars and pretty sure I wanna play on it with him. My host mom is also pregnant and just starting to show her baby bump!

Our first day, we had to ride the metro about 15 minutes into the city in order to get more pictures taken for our new multiple entry visas. Meaning, we can travel outside of Russia, and not be stuck outside of Russia, which would be a big bummer. It's rude to smile with your teeth for official documents here, so all of our pictures are mug shots... not attractive. We also stopped at the institute (not religious, academic) where we will be taking Russia lessons for 4 hours every Tuesday morning. Should be really fun! This language is beautiful, but so hard. I hope I can at least master some basics so I can have a simple conversation in Russian. We also ate blini, which is basically just Russian crepes, they're really good though :) The rest of the day was spent planning because....

The next day I had to teach!!! Me, and two of the other volunteers were asked to teach at a private kindergarten about an hour away from us. So every Mon, Wed, and Fri morning the 3 of us hop on the metro, transfer about 6 stops down to the purple line, 5 more stops from there we get onto bus K-232 (which is more like a van) and then walk down the road to the school. Quite the adventure, to be sure. The first day there were only 2 girls in our class, but they were adorable! Their names were: Maria and Leeda. We taught them how to say our names and Maria loved mine. She kept coming up to me and holding my hand and giving me hugs, then she would look up at me and just say my name. Completely stole my heart!!! It was hard to keep the lesson going because I just wanted to play with them so badly! By then end of the time though they were modeling full sentences and telling us "I want blue (or whatever color)" when they wanted a marker. It was so cute. We also sang Popcorn Popping and 5 Little Ducks with them, while they couldn't get all the words, Leeda at least tried by mumbling. Both loved all the hand actions though and followed us to a T.

Not all of my lessons will be like this though, when I go to the school next week, I'll be teaching young kids like that 3 days a week, and then an Elementary Level 5 on Tuesday and Thursday nights with another volunteer. Level 5 kids are age 11 and are doing more advanced language skills including spelling tests and homework assignments. It's not as much playing, but I think it will be a lot of fun since the kids will be able to communicate with us much more.

Last night, our cultural coordinator, Sveta, came over to our head teacher's apartment to teach us how to make blini. It was so much fun! We were all crammed into the small kitchen trying to cover the blini in as much peanut butter and nutella as possible. Delicioso! Hahaha :D I love all the people I volunteer with, they are all so nice and absolutely hilarious. A few of us went to the Okay store yesterday (like a Russian Wal-Mart) and we were all laughing so hard about the silliest things! It makes us stand out a little more, but so far we haven't had any problems with that. I actually feel pretty safe here. Nothing too crazy yet, but it hasn't even been a week :)

Okay, FOOD. Something I was so nervous about! So far the worst thing I've had was buckwheat, it tasted burnt and dirty all at once. I ate it so as not to be rude, but man was it nasty! Mostly I get a lot of pasta from my host family, with make-shift meatballs. There is never sauce on the pasta though, they eat it plain.. which is weird. At my home, my mom serves it with ketchup and mayonnaise so I usually put some ketchup on there for flavoring. That's the biggest thing: NOTHING HAS ANY FLAVOR. We finally had some soup yesterday that did, and we tried to douse all of our food in it so that it would all taste good. Too bad that she only brought a small pot of the soup :( Other than that, everything has been pretty decent. Haven't had to revert to McDonalds yet!

I forgot to talk about my living situation a little more. I live on the 9th floor of a pretty nice apartment building. I was nervous at first because the buildings around it, not gonna lie, look soooo super sketchy. There is a door you have to have a computer key to open, and then you get on the elevators (in a pink and green room like the 50's) up to floor 9. Then there is a huge door you have to have another key for, then you lock it behind you. That puts you in the hallway to a whole bunch of apartments, mine is the first on the right. Two more keys to unlock 2 more locks and I'm finally in my apartment. I think all the doors serve as extra protection, both from crazy people and the cold :) My apartment is really nice though! I was surprised. haha. It is small though too. Two bedrooms a TV room, kitchen and 1 and 1/2 baths. I share a room with Yarik, but at least I have my own comfortable bed, with big blanket and honkin' pillow. The first few nights I COULD NOT for the life of me sleep through the night. The 2nd night I woke up at 4:00 am and was up until 7:30. The next night I woke up at 3:30 and fell asleep again at 8. Last night though! I finally went to bed at 11:45 pm and woke up to my alarm at 8AM. Oh happy day :) It felt so good! I also got a hairdryer yesterday so I finally got to actually do my hair today :)

That's all for now! I'll update again soon :)

Here's to you!

Ethan Gregory and Brett Lee!
Daniel, Adam, and Steven "G Unit" :D
(Steve, Peter, John, and Blair)

Here's a post for my dear friends who are out there serving LDS missions! I am so proud of all of them that made this decision to serve our Heavenly Father for two years. I'm super excited right now because my best friends just hit their half-way marks!!!! Woot woot! :D Congratulations guys :) I miss you and love you all tons!

Winds of Change

Today I'm thinking of how quickly life can change... The other day in church some guy quoted Mike Tyson saying something to the effect of "Everyone has a plan in life... until they get punched in the face." It got everyone laughing, but it also hit home to me on so many levels. How many times have I had a plan for my life? And how many times has that plan been destroyed? Pretty sure it's 99% of the time I've planned. For so long I planned on swimming in college on a full-ride scholarship, and much to everyone's surprise, for a long time I did plan on doing that at BYU. I planned on going to college in Sport Medicine or Sports Psychology. I planned on doing as much school as possible and still getting a 4.0 (on top of swimming mind you). I planned on graduating in the spring and then getting my dream job right away.
Obviously this isn't where I am or where I'm heading.
But! I don't think I've ever been happier with life. There are still ridiculous things happening every day, and I still ask myself sometimes if this is what life is going to be like forever. Sometimes the truth of that question scares me, but somehow I'll be prepared for it! That is one comforting thing about the past. Does anyone else feel like an absolute champion when they look back on their life and fully acknowledge exactly what they went through to be where they are? I think we all should feel that way. Nobody has it easy and we should be proud of ourselves for making it, but also humbled knowing that it was only with help from our Heavenly Father.
Anyway, enough deep, philosophical crap. I've come to terms with where I'm going with life and I'm excited for my adventures! Here's what's going on: This summer I've been working like a mad woman for a swim store out here in Salt Lake. It has been the time of my life. I absolutely love the people I work with, it's like we're all part of a family. At my old job I constantly felt like I could work better, but I never had the motivation to because my boss never treated me with respect. I was working under constant threats to be fired or punished if I did anything wrong (which I often did since they never trained me). But here, I feel respected and valued which makes me want to work even harder to prove myself. I love being in the store surrounded by swimming gear, and more than that I love the smell of the store when I walk in each morning. It's a familiar scent of polyester, lycra, spandex, and chlorine. Can anything else smell better? I submit that nothing can! Because of my wonderful job, I was able to pay for my trip to Russia!!! Which is a huge accomplishment for me. I feel like even more now I'll appreciate the experiences I am going to have there. I've also met (via facebook) all the kids in my group that are going with me to St. Pete's. They all seem great and I'm excited to meet them all in person. Some of us already have a plan to do a temple trip in Eastern Europe while we have some vacation time over there. The Kiev, Ukraine temple is being dedicated August 29, and I fly out of SLC Aug. 30th. So the plan is to hit up the Kiev temple, Helsinki, Finland Temple, and Stockholm, Sweden Temple. There are my 3 new temples for the year-which knocks off one of my new years resolutions! Go me! :D I officially leave to Russia now in 39 days!!! I really can't believe I'm doing this. It started out as an idea and something I'd love to do, and now I have my flight schedule. The time to travel and explore really is now I think, and if you want to do it, go for it. I've been blessed to keep my scholarship so I am still debt free in school. I couldn't be more excited about that! And that fact really is a huge deal when planning a trip like this, but I still believe that if you want something in your life-go for it. No one is going to hand it to you on a silver platter, trust me.
In other news of life, I met with my academic advisor and got everything I need to apply to the BSW again. (2nd times a charm right?) Here's hoping! I got my letters of recommendation passed out, and I think these one's will speak better to my ability as a Social Worker. I also discovered that I am now officially more than halfway done with my Bachelor's degree!!! Super excited :D Even so, I still have 2 years ahead of me of intense diversity, culture, writing and statistics classes. My last semester is a 12 credit practicum that I know nothing about.. but it sounds intesne. Here goes nothing! I can't wait to be a legit social worker, out there "doing something for others of what Christ has done for me." -Charles Loring Brace. Lately I've been thinking that I would want to work with International Adoptions instead of just local. I realize this would be a lot more challenging and often more risky and heart-breaking, but it's something I feel like I need to consider. I'm hoping I would be able to do some volunteer work in St. Pete's at a local orphanage, I think that would be an awesome experience to have.
Well, those are the biggest bits of news in my life! In other areas, I've had two family reunions this summer and it is quickly becoming apparent that I am going to be the shortest cousin on BOTH sides of the family. What happened?! I used to be the tallest! Oh well, I like my height, and it is safe to say that is not going to be changing anytime soon. ;) Also, I'm going through a wardrobe revamping stage. I have to dress nice in Russia and it's stressing me out! I like my sweatpants and t-shirts, but maybe it is time to start learning how to actually dress smart and classy. Here goes nothing!!! :D

Goodbye Teenage Years!

Wow. What a week!!! I am completely exhausted right now, from Sunday the 21st to Sunday the 28th I was going non-stop and now I seriously have to crash! Let me chronicle my adventures during my last week of being a teenager.
Sunday, March 21st- I left my house at 6:55 at picked up Talisha at 7 AM at her apartment. We then hit the road on our way to California. We stopped briefly in AF to get one final hug from my mom, who was a trooper for letting me go on this trip in the first place! We stopped again in St. George, and one last time in Baker, CA before finally landing in Huntington Beach, CA to stay with my mom's best friend. I am pleased to report, that we did not get lost ONCE on this entire journey! :D Yes, most of it was just I-15 South, BUT, the freeways (and drivers) in California are nuts. So I was proud :)
Monday- We headed out around 9AM to spend an absolutely fantastic day at the happiest place on earth: DISNEYLAND!!! It was an absolutely great day. While eating lunch in Carnation Plaza we watched an epic duel between Peter Pan and Captain Hook. Peter was climbing through bushes and taunting the Captain while he stood lamely on the side with sword drawn. Thoroughly entertaining. Next we decided to hit up Toon-Town. Which is a good thing we did! We went to the place with the rubber jail bars to get some pics and as we stood waiting for our turn, I noticed a man in a blue blazer slowly walking by us. I thought this odd... but seconds later Talish grabbed my elbow with a death grab and muttered something to me. I missed it the first time, but she then leaned in and whispered to me, "That's Christian Bale!!!" Sure enough, the man in the blue blazer was a security guard, and right behind him was Christian Bale, his and his daughter. We nearly died!!! He was fairly well disguised in all black, sun glasses, and goatee/mustache get-up. We followed him for a good 10 minutes though until they all boarded the monorail. We were amazed that we appeared to be the only ones who recognized him!!! Thank you Talisha for being so super good with face :D The rest of the day was just another fun day at Disney.
Tuesday- We decided to go to Knott's Berry Farm, which for the longest time I actually thought was Knotsbury Farm... silly me! Anyway, there were practically no people there so every ride we went on had about a 0-5 min wait. The rides were pretty great! Two of the bigger ones were shut down, kind of a bummer, but we contented ourselves. We rode the tallest free-fall drop in the world (it was kind of like the Rocket at Lagoon, but SOOOO much higher!) We also went on the steepest, fastest, water ride in the world. We were absolutely soaked after that and the rafting ride, so after eating the famous Knott's fried chicken we headed home. That night we went to Downtown Huntington to see the street festival, but ended up walking the 1/2 mile to the end of the pier and then down onto the beach. I love the beach so much, but I won't lie, at night, it scares the living daylights outta me!!! Standing on the very edge of the pier with nothing but black behind me was almost too unnerving to handle. It was all great fun though :)
Wednesday- We slept in a bit, had some breakfast, packed some lunch, and then hit up the beach!!!! The people we stayed with (Doug and Debbie) let us borrow some boogie-boards to play with. They also had a good laugh at me for not knowing exactly what a boogie board was.. is it my fault I had to grow up in a landlocked state? I think not. Anyway, boogie boarding proved to be the most fun I've had in a long time! Especially since the waves were gigantic that day!! After about 20 minutes of consistently catching and riding waves to the shore Talish and I may have gotten just a little too confident... A huge wave was coming up on us and we looked at each other excitedly posing ourselves to catch it just right. Well it came, and I don't know what happened to Talish, but here's what happened to me! I felt myself get pulled up on the board inside the wave. I could tell that only the back of my board was in the water and the rest was sticking out into the air. Obviously that didn't last long! My board took a nose dive into the ocean with me on it and the force of the wave behind us. I got slammed into the bottom of the ocean and the board came back and gave me a nice bruise on my leg. After years of being under water though, I just blew bubbles out my nose until I stopped spinning and then pushed back up to the surface searching for Talisha. When we finally saw each other again we were both laughing and smiling, yelling "Too big! Too big!" between gasps for air. We headed to the shore and laid out for a little bit after that. We went out boarding once more after that and then just went out to swim. When we got back home that night we were thoroughly sun-burned, but based on the fun we had, the smell and feel of aloe all night was totally worth it!!! :D
Thursday-Back to Disneyland!!! This time we went around 11 and hit up Downtown Disney first where I bought a few more dishes to add to my Disney kitchen collection. I am so excited for the day when I have my very own house/apartment so I can really work on my kitchen!! This day we also found the Mickey and Friends parking structure too! (Previously, on Monday, we had gotten way turned around on our way there and our way back. One thing I don't like about CA is that nobody seems to care which way is North, south, East or West! It was driving me insane!!!) We spent all day on rides and also saw the Aladdin show in California Adventure. There is also a place there were you can superimpose your voice into Disney movies, so much fun! I highly recommend you all try that the next time you're there. We stayed til the park closed that night knowing it was our last day in CA. Because we stayed so late, we got to see Disney's Electrical Parade, which was flippin' sweet! I'm so happy that they brought it all back :D We also finally got on the Nemo ride in Fantasyland since the line died down after all the fireworks and parades were over. When we got in the submarine on the ride though, I heard a guy about 2 seats down begin to freak out and mutter "claustrophobia" under his breath. Next thing we know, he's pounding on the side of the submarine and yelling: "Captain! Captain!... Can I get off?" A little sad, but somewhat humorous too, just the way he asked if he could leave.. *sigh*... Oh! We also rode the Matterhorn about 3 times in a row, I totally love that ride! We also rediscovered that the left track of that ride is infinitely more fun than the right side!! Just for future reference :)
Friday- We drove back to Utah :( When we got to St. George there was a storm warning for Cedar City to Filmore, so we almost spent the night with some family down there. But we wanted to get home so we toughed it out and made it home just fine. We really only hit some hail on the way home! Although the wind was pretty strong.
Saturday- 3 words for ya'll: FESTIVAL OF COLORS. If you haven't been before, make all the effort you can to go next year. It was so much fun!!!! :D I definitely felt like a hippie there with all the moshing, chanting, loud music, and psychadelic colors. We were way glad that we made it in time for the actual throwing of colors. There was so much chalk that it blocked out the sky!!! After partying it up there and being sufficiently doused in chalk powder, we walked back to our cars and headed to SLC. Once home, we went to the Gateway to walk around (still in chalk) and then to eat dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen. mmm... :) We got lots of strange looks and tons of people asking us what on earth we had done. It was great to see everyone's reactions. Dinner was great, and I got a free ice cream (with candle! haha) for my birthday. After dinner, Talisha, Charlene and I all ran through the fountains (oh so cold) to get some of the chalk off, but mostly just to be crazy and have fun. It was super hilarious!
Sunday- I woke up and took a picture of myself, my first one as a 20 year old. Wow, it's a beautie!!! Let me tell ya ;) I got ready and waited for my mom to come pick me up to take me to my aunt's house where most of my extended family was so we could all have dinner together, celebrate mine and my uncle's birthday's, and also a little bit of Easter since it's coming up and all. It was much fun to see everybody, I have some of the greatest family in the world, ain't no doubt about it! :D When I got home from that, I uploaded my pictures from the week and hung out with my roomies who had baked me cake :) They are so great :D Then we all watched 27 Dresses together and chatted for a bit before heading off to bed. A most excellent 20th birthday :)
Well there you have it folks! The best week of my life in a nut-shell! It seriously could not have been better, I loved every second of it :) Thank you to my family and friends who made it the great week it was!!!