Update Continued... August-September 2009

August- The First Part of August the Fam and I headed to Bear Lake for our Annual trip. I attemped wake boarding again but still not able to get up..LAME!! i got up for about 2 seconds and dropped. Monica and Des came, along with the prestridge clan, grandpa and roxie, Andrea, and Domoina. we boated and went 4 wheeling.

A couple days after I went on a Humanitarian Aide trip out the Country to Guatemala which was Absolutely AMAZING!!! I could go on for Pages and Pages about this but i won't...

some of the top 10 highlights of the trip: (not in any particular order just as i remembered them)
1.Serving the happy people of the Polochic and getting to use my nursing skills! always has been a dream of mine. i'm so beyond words as to how grateful I am to have the opportunity to participate in this work.

2. getting to sleep with a bugnet around me for 8 days, i felt like i was sleeping in a bubble. Putting it up was quite the adventure too..we hoisted Heidi up to tie all three of our bug nets around the rafters..I think they would have to both agree this was the #1 best Purchase of the trip and a close second would be the rain boots to keep the mud out. the last day in the polochic i found a spider that was at least the size of my palm underneath my luggage...YIKES!! thank goodness for bugnets that's all i have to say!! and it kept the skeeters out too!! that was nice to not have to wake up smelling like bug spray every morning.

3. Showering with a live SCORPIAN.. YIKES thanks for the warning ANDREA silly girl... but it makes for good memories

4. Andrea Falling off a 4 foot ledge and almost breaking her leg in the middle of a very rural mountainous region.., but instead only getting a very nice large hematoma(big black and blue brusing) the size of her thigh.

5. Meeting Awesome new friends from all over the US who like to travel and serve double bonus! and we still keep in touch it's awesome!! they all want to hang out when ever they come to utah and it's so much fun!

6. Getting to stay over at Heidi Buchanan's house in Texas and getting to spend time with her nephews and family.

7. Practicing my spanish/learning Q'eqchi...in which I was suprised how much i was able to understand when being forced into knowing it. along with this one is learning some Q'eqchi...one word i learned from the kids was kiss and i could never say it right but the kids would laugh and laugh as i tried to say it and then i teased them. Kim Mah's favorite word of the trip that I kind of started with the kids in one village was Quasharu..meaning crazy.. sorry kim but it was just the best word to descibe the situation ;) from then on there out all the kids of this village call not only kim but anyone from our group quasharu.

8. Getting together with the LDS church members in this area for a combined talent show...it was so awesome to see the church's presence there!! and the members were amazing.. one inparticular i really enjoyed was Pedro. He was probably in his 50's fit as a horse...he was the young men's president he has such an amazing spirit with him...he was one of the few members in the area who was able to go to the temple in guatemala city and become endowed. He invited Andrea, Heidi and I to come into his house and meet his family, such a cool experience.

9. The Jungle Lodge...enough said...man that place was full of BUGS yet another night we slept with bug nets around us.

10. Becoming Cattle...we rode everyday to our different village destinations on a cattle truck. It kind of felt like we were cattle at times. and coming home on the dark, narrow, steep cliff like roads was interesting with a full open truck and with all the extra natives that rode on the top and outside of the truck to hitch a ride.. crazy i tell you!

Daxton turned 1 Year old just a day or so after i got back from Guatemala! crazy!! i can't believe he's getting so big. He got spoiled...but who wouldn't with 7 Aunts, right? (4 from our side, 3 from Andy's side). He's so cute.. I so glad to have him in my life.. he is definitely a highlight :)

September- The week before labor day...I just kept going...this was the summer of living out of a bag/suitcase..I had just enough to unpack, wash the clothes and put them back into my bag. it was so much fun! I ended up going on a 4 wheeling trip with my dad and his geezer 4 wheeling buddies...I was very impressed with this bunch even though I was the only was who was under the age of 50. I think my dad was the youngest besides me on the trip. it was so much fun to spend quality time with my dad and get more into 4 wheeling. the first day we went up and down some really crazy stuff...I got thrown into the fire on learning control real quick! i think i did pretty good though :) I really liked one couple in particular. Betty and Darrell Ricks. They are so Youthful. I really want to strive to be active like them when i hit their age of 70's. I want to still be the one going skiing and 4 wheeling and have spunk left in me. They really inspire me. They are one of good friend from high school's Aunt and Uncle. Darrell would always call me "gorgeous"..."where did goregous go", "what's gorgeous up to?" he even told me he was going to make me a shirt when he got home that said Gorgeous and he was going to give it to me. lol silly old man but i'm going to hold him up to that...he better do what he's says he's going to, right? ;)

I'll always remember the little town of Escalante from the trip... I have bad luck every time I go to that town. In May of this is it rained us out...this trip the town's waterline had broken and there was no outside water allowed to run... interesting...I must be bad luck there.. I still want to hit Spooky and Peek-a-Boo Gulch some day. it's was ok though.. Dad and I went to the petrified Forest which was a nice hike. easy going and get to see cool stuff.

I'll always remember the folks from England we met while there too.. If anyone knows my dad, you know he will go up to anyone and start a conversation. He happen to start a conversation with this gentleman about socialistic Health care. The man couldn't understand why we didn't think it was a good Idea. then we tried to tell him it was better to not do social medicine because it was a more competitive market. He told us he was diagnosed with colon cancer and it took him a month to get a CT scan...YIKES!! that's all i have to say...if it was malignant you could be dead in a month. Needless to say i'm not such a big fan of what our government is currently doing with Health care it's a BAD IDEA!!

Choir started up again..so many new people it was hard to keep everybody's name straight but i think it will be a good semester.