chelsea

NEW BLOG

2010-06-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

Dane and I (well.. i guess just me...anyways)
we made a new blog

http://bartonloving.blogspot.com/

I am back to blogging :)

a series of unfortunate events

2010-04-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

this past week has been one of the worst sicknesses I have yet to experience...
It started when I went to the oral surgeon to get my wisdom teeth out on friday the 2nd. everything was fine, i was feeling fine until sunday when I got sick and I thought it was because of the painkillers I had from my wisdom teeth. I stopped taking the meds and I was still sick on Monday. I wasn't sure what was causing me to get sick, but I did know that these are the last few weeks of classes before finals and I couldn't afford to be sick.
I called my teacher Monday because I had a test that night for BIO and explained that I must have had a 24 hour flu and I would need extra time.
I wake up Tuesday still not feeling well or able to eat but I thought I was getting better until that night..
I have never been more miserable then I was that Tuesday night, I was losing everything in my stomach when all it came down to was stomach acid (pretty huh?)
I called my mom every hour not sure what I should do. I went in as soon as urgent care opened on Wednesday and they immediately hooked me up to an IV and started my drip because I was completely dehydrated.I went through 2 and 1/2 liters on Wednesday and Dane was wonderful and came down to sit with me in the small room and take care of me. I was probably there for 4 hours or so. They left the needles in my arm and told me to come back in the morning. That night, I got sick again. I was so frustrated because I thought I was getting better and I was so thirsty and I couldn't keep anything down.Dane had to go back to school on Thursday so I went into the Urgent Care again and they started another IV but this time for calorie intake because I basically had nothing keeping me going to help me get better. This day was bad, I was stuck in this little room alone for almost 7 hours. I was going insane. All I wanted to do was feel better and be able to drink and eat without being scared.
I finally got to eat some things without feeling sick recently and they said my diet should be back within a week and hopefully get my energy back as well.
This week was awful but I am lucky to have Dane and his family up here to take care of me. They were a lot of help this week for me.
Now I am just stressing out because of Finals coming up, the classes I missed and the assignments I have to turn in late.(and I probably shouldnt be blogging with everything I have to do..whoops_)
Only a week left! I can do it.. I hope.

countdown{s}

2010-03-23T22:44:00.000-07:00

I feel like my life consists of multiple countdowns
everyday something else comes up that I look ahead for.
some good. some bad.

{ 1 } more night until I fly home to do wedding plans, bridal shower
{ 5 } more nights until Dane returns from France [I'm getting anxious. hurry hurry]
{ 9 } more nights until I have to get my wisdom teeth out. ugh. [not happy for this]
{28} more nights until I can enjoy summer without school. yay!
{43} more nights until all of my family comes up to UT [pre-wedding events]
{48} more nights until Dane and I leave for CA
{52} more nights until we are married.

Sometimes I feel like these dates are getting further away
just like the galloping scene in
Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

thanks mom

2010-03-19T18:22:00.000-07:00

The doorbell rang at my apartment today
and I was greeted with an anthropologie package
with my name on it.
My mom sent me this sweater and these wedges to cheer me up
because Dane left for Europe a few days ago and wont be back for a while.. hmmph

They are super cute and I love how they fit.
Thank You Mom for looking out for me.

new SLC apartment

2010-03-19T17:32:00.000-07:00

I went and signed for a lease on an apartment today
and it is officially ours. yay!
I have been so anxious this week that it wouldn't work out.
It does need a lot of work, but it is in the perfect location right next to the University of Utah
Here is a little tour, suggestions please about what to do...
This is the house, its a tri-plex and we have the whole upstairs section

this is the entry way and stairs you walk up to our place

you walk up the stairs and to your left is the bath room.

to the right when you come up the stairs is the bedroom
(the colors in the house are hideous)

(bedroom entrance)

This is the bedroom with a green green wall.. yikes.
its a cozy size, and in the back is the walk in closet that dane and i will love.

this is the living room. I love how much light gets in this apartment during the day. It is so bright and i absolutely love that.

this is the view from the windows and you can see the book case to the left and the interesting bright pink paint on the walls in the hall. That same color is in the dining room too.

you can see the entrance to the dining room on the right and the kitchen...

this is the view of the dining room
again, interesting color on one wall..

the kitchen is pretty nice except for the missing cabinet on the left..

this is the hall way with extra storage that will be really nice to have

and finally the view leaving our apartment out our door down the stairs.

I really would love to paint the apartment. I just don't know what colors to do.
If I can only paint one room it would be the bedroom. That green will make me go crazy. I couldn't do it. I was thinking about a lighter slate blue in that bedroom. In the living room I might try a pale butter yellow color and the dining room I am just not sure. I don't even know if those colors will work. I need help!
PS when you first walk in, there is the strangest smell but it leaves when you travel up the stairs. Other than that I am so excited about this place. There is so much character in here than you can get in any normal apartment. We had the best feeling being in there and we are very excited we could get it all finalized. Plus it is right across from the pie. cheese pull aparts anyone?

for dane deux

2010-03-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

Elise did such a great job! I love our engagement pictures
I was posting these to show Dane who left for Europe yesterday
what am I going to do!?

for dane

2010-03-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

which one which one?

engagement pictures

2010-03-17T10:00:00.001-07:00

my dear friend elise took our engagement pictures this past week.
It was so much fun and she did an awesome job.
Check them out here on her blog
and then you can view more at the bottom of her post
Now we just have to pick one :)

polaroids and photobooths

2010-03-02T23:58:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to scanning some pictures that we took with my polaroid camera my mom got me for christmas

dane and i rode the train last week

this one was all the way from new years eve.

and finally when we went to california in january

I should take more pictures
I should post them
and
I should post more wedding plans
i'll try :)

Engaged!

2010-02-20T10:40:00.000-08:00

I'm Engaged :)
Dane and I are getting married May 15th
in California
We are so excited!

my engagement string
i love it :)

love one another

2010-02-10T19:20:00.000-08:00

free!

2010-02-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

I am so very happy and FREE!

I'll update soon with pictures of the past month

merry christmas

2009-12-26T22:35:00.001-08:00

no snow. no ice. weather above 65 degrees.
no one could ask for better weather around christmas time at home.

 dane came to visit my family and I for the weekend before christmas and it was a blast having him come home with me.

here are a few photos the week of christmas...

the "gingerbread" sand castle made up of everything from ritz, to m&ms, cereal, pastries you name it. the Ritz Carlton always makes an amazing display.

before the christmas concert noah participated in that my home stake put on

we had a lot of beach time jumping from dana point to laguna down to san clemente. trying to show him all my favorite spots in so little time.

christmas is always a fun event at my house with the little ones.
here is faye so organized and heading straight for her room right after.

Tess also talked me into a "photoshoot" for her and her friend ruby on christmas day.

Christmas Day.. pretty huh?

it beats being in 18 degree weather thats for sure..

cool rock sculptures down by the harbor.
it's incredible how they do them

snow snow ice snow

2009-12-14T00:55:00.000-08:00

This weekend turned out to be more intense and crazy then it should have been.
It started out on Friday when I threw together a big group date that could have turned horribly wrong. Around 8 couples came over Friday night for a snowman building contest(the snow was way too powdery for that so it fell through..) and christmas games with hot chocolate and tim-tam slams. {tim tam slams are when you take a Tim Tam aussie cookie and bite off the opposite corners and use the waferish cookie as a straw for your hot chocolate}
We played Christmas pictionary, and a Christmas name game.
It was a lot of fun getting everyone together for a game night, I was worried it wouldn't work out because it came together last minute. Dane played host with me by entertaining and making the hot chocolate which helped me out a lot.

Friday was awesome but it was Saturday night that i still can't believe i had to go through...

Our friend Matt invited a bunch of people to head up to his cabin Saturday night up near park city. Great! i thought that sounded like it would be a lot of fun and there is snowmobiling and being with friends what could go wrong?
While we were there is was fun and i rode a snowmobile for the first time.
Dane was driving and as we were driving down towards the house he sees on the side of the trail a hill of powder that would be fun to try and make it up the side and back down.
Apparently you have to lean into the turn on the snowmobile.. I wish i remembered this useful information because as we come back down after creating our own trail i didn't turn into the turn and we start tipping. I didn't actually think i could make this huge machine close to tipping over, that makes a girl feel good about herself.. but sure enough there we go. I just bail as he tries to keep the s.mobile from falling on me, it's a good thing he's strong, but i still won't let him forget that he threw me from the s.mobile and how i almost died :) {of course i exaggerated a tad}

on the snowmobile

snowmobile tracks

while we are at the cabin the snow just starts to come down heavy and people start to worry about getting snowed in and being able to get home to study for finals and other things they had to do. Half the group wanted to stay and drive during the day light, the other half wanted to leave. Thinking back we should have just stayed because driving at night in a storm is one of the scariest things i have had to do.
The roads were no where near plowed and when we did see plows they were always going the opposite way. My dream would have been to follow a plow all the way home.
We all head out from the cabin and 4 cars head to provo and 2 cars split to salt lake.
I am driving my truck (which i didn't want to drive in the first place) and I make our friend taylor get in my front seat so he can coach me while i drive through the snow.
I was tense the whole way trying to follow the tracks in front of me and trying not to break and slide and it was a disaster. The car that we were following was an all-wheel drive and they took off. They were so far ahead of us that we had no idea where to go and couldnt see his tracks anymore that we had to call him and remind him to stay close so that the california and arizona drivers can follow. We were only able to drive 10-30mph the whole time. The car behind me got stuck twice and once spinning out, the car in front of me drove off the rode into 3 feet of powder, danes car going to salt lake spun out into a 360 stopping just 2 feet away from the pole. I felt like i had pretty decent control over my truck the whole time with occasional sliding and hydroplane on snow. It took us 3 hours to get home when normally it takes about 2, and getting there took us 3 hours as well because we got lost quite a bit.
I do not like driving in the snow, and i definitely never want to drive in it for 6 hours in one day. I am so so glad we are all back safely, we should have just stayed the night because the visibility driving in the storm was terrible, and since we were doing it at night didn't help either.
I guess on the bright side, i have some experience for driving in terrible conditions...

from the date night friday making the hot chocolate

recently...

2009-12-06T18:05:00.001-08:00

it was my 21st birthday!

woo hoo vegas baby.. oh wait.. nevermind..
but it was still a great day because Mandy (my lovable roommate) made sure i had a blast.
she made me cinnamon rolls for breakfast and didn't complain about waiting in a longer then usual line at the in n out in Orem.

Mandy, Natalia and I went to in n out for my birthday lunch, and can i just say it was the greasiest most amazing burger i have had in a long time.

and i had to get a neapolitan shake. perfect.

then that night
(after mandy and i decorated our little christmas tree.. can you see it? cute huh?)
we went out to dinner at the new Pizza Pie Cafe (buffet style)and i stuffed myself with as much pizza and dessert pizza possible

mandy was the best and made me a cake, my aunt laura even stopped by as well and delivered a cake too with my cousin. It was such a great day.

we ate cake and opened presents from my mom and mandy
thanks you guys!
slipper socks from mandy

The next night I went to salt lake and received these
they are so beautiful, i love them!
He did a fabulous job picking them out and making sure they were "spunky" enough for me
i love the curly things and the orchids and tulips are wonderful
thank you everyone for all the birthday wishes

byu vs utah

2009-11-30T12:45:00.000-08:00

this past weekend was the big BYU vs UTAH rivalry game.
contrary to what my recent posts might make you think, i dont go to many football games.
before this year I believe i went to a total of 3 games in my life, serious. and now in the past 2 months i have doubled my number! to add to that i finally am understanding football for once and enjoying it :) thanks to the ute.
my lack of experience with college football and rivalry games i have never been to town during a byu/utah game and let me tell you.. it was intense.
I just don't understand how nuts fans can get and how rude people can be because of a game. Saturday was an experience, especially going to BYU and playing volleyball for the Y but dating a ute and having gone to more utah football games than byu games, i felt like i was cheering for both sides!

red vs blue..

The game went back and forth and the forth quarter got pretty intense especially after a yawn worthy 3rd quarter. it went into over time 20-20 and byu finished the game 26-23.
I have never seen so many zoobies in my life rush the field.

crazy zoobies. :)

he was a good sport and actually smiled for a picture after the game.. but you can see the sadness in his eyes. I'm sorry!! but i had to capture the moment :)

the rivalry will continue...

pink skies, crepes and football

2009-11-09T10:31:00.000-08:00

i finally feel like my energetic self again
yayy!
i didn't feel too sick just the occasional cough
so this weekend consisted with some football, battle of the bands and crepes

the sunset one night was beautiful and pink up in salt lake

i have been craving crepes with sugar and lemon juice for a while now and i decided that friday we would make them and cross our fingers that they would turn out.
the first one- looked terrible. but the first one in all batches of anything usually turn out bad anyways.. the rest of them were very good. i loved it.
i forgot to take pictures until the very last crepe was to be eaten and i quickly snapped one but i promise all the others looked a lot better and they tasted so good!
i want to make them right now.

(our sad last crepe)

after crepes we ran over ot the wilk on campus to watch our friends in Goodnight Annabelle perform.
they did a fantastic job. it was so much fun.

Saturday i went to another football game...

yes it was a utah game too.
i know i know. what am i doing? but it is a lot of fun.. i just sing hymns and the cougar fight song to myself the whole time :)
here are a few words that my dad and i had with each other about the game..

haha what a funny guy. he's joking... i think :)
it made me laugh.

here we are in the front row of the muss. i tried to blend in so i wouldn't get beaten up and i had a disguise on with straight hair so i couldn't be recognized

what a beast.

2009-11-06T11:32:00.000-08:00

this is what everyone in the BYU Student Athlete Building is talking about...
this girl is a beast. and she didn't get thrown out of the game.
just one yellow card she tries to argue her way out of...
BYU soccer girls are the best.

mormon messages

2009-11-04T12:04:00.000-08:00

i was just on lds.org and watched the Mormon Message from Henry B. Eyring "Choose this Day"
{its very good please watch..}
and as i am watching i realize... thats my friend!
hahaha
Erik.
I laughed out loud. i had no idea!

(this is erik.. now look for him in the video)

i hate being sick.

2009-11-03T12:15:00.000-08:00

i have been feeling sick since Thursday.
luckily i have awesome friends to take care of me when i am not at home..
i need to get better asap. like now.

halloween

2009-11-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

I wasn't sure how this halloween would work out.
I had been sick since thursday {just in time for the weekend} so friday i just stayed home and coughed alll night.
{side story: i took a muscle relaxer to help me sleep through the night on friday and i did this went to bed early, then i open my eyes about a half hour later and i thought i saw 2 people in red shirts. one crouching next to mandys bed, the other by the dresser. i sit up and start yelling "who is that, whos there? what is this?" Mandy, who was just falling asleep shoots up and runs to flip the light on, no one was there. But i remember seeing them...here's the thing. i wasn't scared, i just didnt know who was in the room. i fell right back asleep. i think it was just the muscle relaxers and all this flu medicines i had been taking that day. I still freaked mandy out and we slept with the light on and she left the room and watched cast away with our other roommates.}

so on saturday, i was at home all day cleaning and just laying low and luckily Ki had talked me into going out that night instead of staying at home sick on halloween.

Ki, Carpe and I dressed up as flowers last year and this year we wanted to be something fun, we decided on skunks.
My awesome mother made us 3 our skunk costumes and they were a hit all night. Everyone laughed and thought they were such great costumes. Thanks mom!

ki and carpe
the skunks.

we went to pick up a scary movie and look who i found :)

kevin :) i havent seen him in what seems like years. we were babes together and grew up like a brother/sister

we also had a skunk walk...

hogle zoo

2009-10-26T12:24:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Mandy, Nat and Liz went to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake
and of course it had to be pouring rain the day we picked to be at the zoo but it was still so much fun because mandy and i wore our ponchos all day :)

mandy and i won the way to the zoo

i love penguins :)

mandy looking good in her pink childs poncho

mandy is obsessed with sloths...

at the pie after

i have a great mom

2009-10-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

i don't know what it was about this week
okay maybe i do know.
I just won't share...
but it was a bumming week!
anyways guess who found out about that?

yup. my mother
she's great thanks mom! she sent me cookies and cupcakes from the sweet tooth fairy. they were amazing... i don't know how i got so lucky with an awesome mother but i did.
i love you mom! thank you!

delicious

youtube is awesome

2009-10-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

I have never been into youtube before unless someone tells me of a video to watch. These are some that i have loved introduced by other people...

stanky leg baby

remember how i posted the song Colors by Amos Lee the other day? This is a cover of Amos Lee's song Sweet Pea (also in the AT&T commercials)
this guys is so good i love his voice

mandy showed me this one and it is one guy from Yale who recorded himself and harmonizing. He is amazing.

this one just makes me laugh :)

this is the top 100 youtubes

i need to remember

2009-10-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

the things that i love.
for lunch i grabbed a loaf of bread from the wilk on campus and can i just tell you how delicious these little guys are? It's a wheat loaf that is warm and soft on the inside accompanied with honey butter. while i was eating this it got me thinking that i absolutely love them. (i know my mom loves them too) and i was thinking about all these random little things that make me happy which i needed today...

tiny loaf of wheat bread and honey-butter

smores and bon fires at the beach

the PBR
I can't wait for it in January with my family and friends

these children and their smiles and laughter are without a doubt at the top of my list

i love big bulbed lights that string outside throughout a yard

cute old couples still in love

this view of the timp mountain. its my favorite peak here

marley my protective puppy

and i love this new song that lau introduced to me this weekend
called Colors by Amos Lee featuring Norah Jones
perfect song for the way i was feeling today

pictures that have made me smile lately..

2009-10-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

especially this one <3
and any from Africa

october.

2009-10-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

the temperature dropped and yesterday i would have said it felt like winter, but today is better because it actually feels like autumn now.
I love all the trees changing colors and how utah has real seasons compared to where i grew up in california it was pretty much the same all year long.

I really hope this fall i can go to a pumpkin patch and pick out pumpkins with friends and have a pumpkin carving night.

I also hope I can find time this year to take a drive into the canyon and take pictures of the fall season and capture all the leaves changing. I didn't get a chance to last year, so I am hoping this year I can get out there on a sunday and drive to park city.

2009-09-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.
-Brian Tracy

"if you are going through hell, keep going." 
{winston churchill}

Character cannot be developed in peace and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
- Helen Keller

i've needed to hear a few good quotes lately

"we must not let our passions destroy our dreams"
Presiden Thomas S. Monson

i am obsessed

2009-09-28T10:37:00.001-07:00

with oreos.

i love them so much.
but only regular oreos
i do not like double stuff
my favorite part is the cookie..
i could just use a tad bit of the filling and be just fine

I even found a magnet i need to get myself for our fridge.
Even my roommate mandy has jumped on the oreo-love-train

maybe i should be an oreo for halloween..
i'm still trying to find a good costume.

what should i be?

please. don't judge me..

2009-09-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

please.

just don't say anything...

{that ute and i}

i will admit it was a lot of fun and definitely an experience in that muss.

in the mood

2009-09-27T23:35:00.000-07:00

...for some awesome paintings.
I fell in love with this one, "when freckles collide" featured on Rockstar Diaries when she did a giveaway for the painting from the artist Casey O'Connell

"when freckles collide"

While i was on Casey's website I looked through her other work and i loved this one

"Pen Pal"

photo booths

2009-09-27T23:14:00.001-07:00

lately i have been in a mood to go find a photo booth and take a few strips of pictures.
I don't care who i go with, i could go on my own if i stumbled on one :)
I have been looking and i finally found a website that supposedly claims to find original photo booths in utah. Occasionally i will run into the new-age photo booths but they aren't like the originals.
So now all i have to so is see if they still exist...

i promise..

2009-09-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

..to take more pictures and blog about it...
So i realized that I never uploaded pictures of mandy's birthday way back in July

It is also sad because those were basically the only pictures on my camera from July-now.

the girls for mandys birthday dinner at pizza factory

we are so mature..

Mandy is my roommate and best friend. i love her--she's so awesome and beautiful!

Now lets fast forward 2months picture-less until this last weekend when we had to use the camera for a photo scavenger hunt.
It was Liz, myself and for security purposes i always make up little names and we will just call them Ute (yes. as in U of Utah. i know what am i thinking?) and Stanky-leg after that fabulous dance move.
They came down from Salt Lake went to dinner then had an hour to find all of the things on our list to beat the other team.
We were very competitive and might or might not have cheated depending on how you look at the situation and understand there were really no rules.
we are sorry that we are so creative.

(ute and i just hanging out.)

Then Liz and I both became brave and i allowed her to ride my scooter in the parking lot.
Scarier moment for me then her, but luckily stanky-leg helped her...

I will try my best to post more regularly. starting now.

i love..

2009-09-02T22:43:00.000-07:00

a good quote.
Since the beginning of high school I have kept a leather notebook and wrote down favorite quotes or lift-me-up sayings about any topic.
I love it and still trying to fill the pages.
I also love coming across photography quotes because it gives me a message that i can see...

im back!

2009-08-23T10:39:00.001-07:00

and finally getting into a regular life again. I jumped right into two-a-days for volleyball after north carolina for the last two weeks and moved into a new apartment and now i have time to breathe and blog about it all. but not quite yet.. coming soon.

i'm leaving this town

2009-07-24T09:12:00.000-07:00

and going to
outerbanks, north carolina
 in corolla light territory
to the beach house.
one of my favorite trips
looking forward to beach cruisers, movie nights, family chaos, traditional slide show, beach/ sand dunes, and family time with all the goodsells

i'd stay here..

2009-07-16T01:18:00.000-07:00

I was just on Yahoo when some crazy hotels caught my eye.. one of them:

Poseidon Undersea Resort

crazy hotel in fiji where you can stay 40 feet in water... crazy!

its just $15,000 for one person for one week.. no big.

i love where i am from

2009-07-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

born and raised.

i miss you

2009-07-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

i miss my puppy marley

paintings

2009-06-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

yesterday (even though i still have tons of things to do before i leave town for the rest of the year to head back up to P-town for summer school and the new school year) my sister decided she'd try and save some money and have me paint an idea she saw on etsy.
I am sure she could have found someone more qualified to paint these on the 24x24 canvas
but i am cheaper (more like free) so she had me do it..

they will be going in reese and charlee's room in my sisters house

video of africa

2009-06-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

I put this video together to show some of my pictures and some videos of the trip as well...
It's 10 minutes long, i know i know. No one really cares, but it means something to me and i love watching it and listening to the little kids voices.
Tell me how you like it..
ps. i now officially have one video up on youtube.

pps. don't watch from my blog, it cuts off half the screen. double click on the actual video to take you to YouTube. I don't know why it did that but oh well. hakuna-matata

Masai Tribe

2009-06-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

While we were on safari we went to a village of the Masai and it was an interesting experience.

They are such an awesome people. It was amazing to go to their village and see how they live, and the huts the women built and how many cows their future wives will be and the rich culture that they live in everyday.

they did a dance for us to welcome us to their village. i wasn't paying attention to what the dance was for but i think that it is the dance they do after they kill a lion. (they have to kill a lion before they can get married)
There is a video on youtube of the dance that i unwillingly got swept into, scared me. Scott from the WOD team recorded it.

video credits to Scott Thomas.

this tribe is amazing athletically as well. not only do they kill lions, scary, but they can jump so high and make it look so effortless. I should have recruited a few for the volleyball team. This is a standing vertical. no approach. no help from their spears. some of the best jumpers didn't even have shoes.

this picture makes me cringe, and i'm sure it makes a lot of people cringe as well. but he is also so cute, look past the flies. In the Masai village they build their huts out of dung and in a circle so during the night their cows sleep in the middle of the village, so being resourceful people they make their huts out of cow dung and there are flies all over. The flies never bother them because since they are little they crawl on them and they can't even tell.
I wish i had a tolerance for bugs, but unfortunately while i was there i looked as though i was having a seizure trying to swat the flies away from my face.
One of the guys in our group Tad, had the joyful experience of accidentally sniffing up a fly as he was trying to take a picture i believe. That gives me some gross chills, yuck. sorry tad!

the huts that the women have to make for the men

Masai warriors

More Masai Warriors, i think the one on my left liked me a bit.

Safari in the Masai Mara

2009-06-10T10:17:00.009-07:00

After a full week of hard work we went on safari in the Masai Mara and it was a lot of fun and amazing experience to see the animals in the wild.

You could do a 360 look and see nothing for miles and miles. No buildings, no power lines, nothing. The Mara was absolutely beautiful.
Luckily for us this year they have been working on the roads on the way to the Masai Mara and usually they are full of potholes and they said it used to take them 5-6 hours to get there, but this time we got there in 4!

We stopped at the Great Rift Valley lookout

the great rift valley

pollycup's van

We also stopped at a gas station to pick up snacks/sodas and samosa's that were delicious and ruth decided on the corn puffs. well, when you buy things in africa it doesn't taste nearly the same as the states and these were no exception. We think they were packaging peanuts that they tried to flavor (they had weird flavors too, this one was "tomato ketchup") We just couldn't eat them, they were horrible. Throughout the rest of the trip ruth and i had a mission of hiding them in eachothers bags, rooms, luggage when the other wasnt looking. this went on throughout the rest of the trip.
who won you might ask?
depends on if ruth unpacked her service bag yet... :)

Being at the Sarova Mara was luxerious. We had showers and toilets that actually worked! a nice comfortable bed and pillow that wasn't lumpy, and this tend even had wood floors.
Dad, when we go camping let's bring this tent ok?

i love these Acacia trees

i love the elephants

just chillin' in the mara like lion king

the whole group on safari

the point of safari is to see animals right?
we got extremely lucky on this safari to be able to see the big 5
(water buffalo, leopard, rhino, elephant, and lion) as well as an added bonus of cheetahs.

water buffalo

on our first mini safari outing on a saturday night we got extremely lucky. we saw a leopard!
and he climbed down the tree, posed and went back up the tree probably just for a good picture. thank you leopard you were beautiful.
They thought he had a kill up the tree, but i didn't see itisn't it lovely?

When it was time for our long day safari we had already seen 4 of the big 5! incredible.
half of the group was confident we would see a rhino, the other half not so sure. Rhinos are becoming very rare and endangered so they are hard to see, but like i said we were so lucky and saw one on our way to the hippos.
It was so awesome! too bad it didn't run at us...

we then saw a bunch of lions.
there was 2 males, one looked older than the other and about 5 cubs and a couple lioness's i love the coat on this lioness, it has some subtle spots going on

this guy was huge!they are such pretty animals

we saw cheetahs the second day as well and they were stalking some impala across the way.
there was a mom teaching three younger cheetahs probably how to hunt.
they just sit and watch their prey for hours and hours before the attack waiting to the perfect moment and studying which ones to get.
i love how the three are watching the older cheetah.

we made it to where the hippos sleep and layout during the day.
we also met Renaldo who took us on a tour to see the hippos and had his gun for safety just in case one decided to attack. Apparently hippos are the only animals that will kill humans just for fun.at the hippo pool with ritch

impala

zebra

this is the border of Kenya and Tanzania.
My right foot in Kenya, my left in Tanzania
i was in two places at once

one thing on my safari wish list was to see a good sunset while i was there.
luckily pollycup needed to go pick up some letters from a lady that lived on a Masai village so he let a few of us tag along and we would see a sunset.
it was beautiful and we got the acacia trees in the background :) i was a happy girl pollycup and i after he gave me my sunset!

The next morning anyone that wanted to went on a morning safari for the sunrise and to try and find some lions feeding.the beautiful sunrise on the Masai Mara

it was an amazing adventure on safari! i was so grateful for all the animals i got to see in the wild. it was so surreal.one of my favorite pictures of the acacia trees and the Mara sky

Forgiveness and a Pee Story.

2009-06-09T14:04:00.005-07:00

while we were in Kenya, we did extra side visits to past projects or future projects.
One of them was Grace's school that the World of Difference team built in the past.
It was interesting because each morning our World of Difference team has a devotional and this one morning we happened to be talking about forgiveness and how last year in Kenya during the election there was a lot of fighting. We were talking to Kisii (george) about how scary Kenya was last year and that neighbors would fight and possibly kill or hurt neighbor's family members and now that the politics are getting better they had to learn how to forgive each other even after they did the things that we might think are unforgivable.
We talked about this in our morning devotional and when we went to Grace's school what else would the lesson be but about forgiveness.

this little girl i think was scared when she saw me but could not stop staring at me. so we started playing peek-a-boo

this little guy cracked me up!
he is crying because when he saw me he thought i was going to take him away! I am a little scary, but did he really have to cry!? That makes a girl feel good

We went to Pastor Jared's school and he is such an amazing man. I wish to get to know him more in the future, He is in the dark blue. I believe he got in an accident and his arm got amputated or maybe i have the story wrong but he turned his life fully around and now dedicates his time and money to this school he opened up and i believe there are over 200 kids that go to him for schooling and in that around 80 kids are ophaned and sleep at the school in 2 bedrooms. one bedroom for the girls and one for the boys and they sleep three people per bed. It is incredible what the kids have to go through and will do anything to get an education. It is also amazing to see people like Pastor Jared to dedicate their time for these children.
Unfortunately there was a new rule that passed that buildings within 30 feet of a river has to be torn down for sanitation purposes. Hopefully something can work out so these kids can have a place to live and go to school.

While we were here one of our members was donating t-shirts from the Trudi Thomas Memorial 5K that takes place for his sister because she got hit by a car when she was young and died and her dream was to come to Africa and help the children gain a good education and have a better life. Each year they do a 5K to raise money to send to Africa and help the children and that was why he was there, for her.
It was very emotional, I never heard this story until then and i looked around and tears are coming from nearly everyone's eyes including my own.
Then i feel something warm, but not the warmth from the story
this warmth started to trickle down my leg.

True to form the child i was holding felt the emotion as well and let it out on my left leg!
what do you do? i couldn't freak out, i couldn't start laughing either.
but i couldn't help it, i started crying harder, and laughing and i felt so rude but who gets peed on... in Africa?

here is the little guy right after the catastrophe

he looks so sad or scared. i can't figure it out

She is beautiful and couldn't stay away from Aissa (an awesome girl in the WOD group and my roommate)

This girl's name is Selma and she loved talking to me and was so sweet and kind.
I gave her a few of my outfits on my last day because she was just so adorable and nice and i loved seeing her everyday when i was at Eunice's school. She did not go to that school but lived right around the corner with her grandmother.

kevin peter and i at the work site.

half the WOD team moved hardcore in and broke it up into smaller pieces and leveled the ground some more, this is the middle of the school at Eunice's and eventually it levels out and we filled it all in. (ignore the buff man he wanted his picture taken)

I loved this girl's dress and the color.
I love how they wear colors its beautiful

you must love the children

2009-06-09T05:15:00.006-07:00

as i said before i took tons of pictures, i'll try and just post my favorites
in our world of difference group there was 23 people of different ages and from different parts of the country. Meeting and working closely with these people was a great treat, everyone was so awesome and there for the same reasons.
We were going to be working on three separate projects
2 schools and 1 orphanage

it is so fun going to each site because there are children everywhere and they seriously can't wait to see you and touch you and look at you because some of these kids rarely see muzungo (another word for white people) and every time these children see you in the car or walking around almost instinctively they say "how are you" repeatedly until you answer or even if you answer. the way they say it is the cutest thing. i loved it.
we call it the "How are You" parade.
Another thing i love is while you are driving in the vans through the slum areas, everyone waves at you and smiles at you. People are so happy there. I have learned a lot of lessons from this trip and that is one of them. The way these Kenyans are so hopeful and optimistic it really changes your own outlook on life.

this is probably one of my favorite pictures from the trip. The kids all want to touch you and sometimes you will have your own little posse going on and the same children will run up to you. They just love having you near them, and the way they look up at you with hope in their eyes, it's the most amazing feeling in the world. You don't even have to say anything to them and they are happy just holding your hand.

this little girl was one in my very own posse

she would not let go. and just wrap her arms around my stomach and look up at me. It's pretty funny getting attacked by 40 kids at once.
Kenyans speak very softly and the children especially young ones don't speak english very well so i finally found out her name was Nigeli (Ne-jelly)

The children in Red are from Isaac's School and children in Blue are from Eunice's school the two schools we worked on.

some of the older boys at Eunice's school.
they liked my name because of the chelsea futbol team so that made me popular.
this little girl was beautiful

can you blame me now for falling in love with these children?

This is at Isaac's school
(Isaac is one of our awesome drivers for the week and he puts a lot of his time and any money he can to this school in the slums of Nairobi. He is an incredible man.)

you'll see a lot of pictures of this little girl. She was so adorable and had the cutest laugh!

At Isaac's school we were busy working on putting a roof on one of the rooms and creating a library for the children.
Because of the 3 projects we were working on our group would split up and half would go to one and the second have to the other.
On one of the days half of us went to Isaac's school to work on the roofing and we tied rebar after the wood was nailed down. We finally finished that around 5 PM and usually they try and get us out of the slums and back at the Amani (peace) Center (where we stayed and it was a monastery which at times was an adventure on its own but still awesome) by the time the sun goes down.

But everyone just wanted to get it done and the larger numbers in people means the less time it will take. We were really pushing it though. It was starting to sprinkle and rain was coming, the sun was going to be down in the next few hours and there is no electricity here.
Yet, on we go.
Isaac was so happy that we were there to help him and wanted his school to expand so that these children will have a school and a place to go to. So Isaac ordered a cement mixer which to us was a blessing beause we were thinking we were going to have to mix the cement by hand.

we jumped right into. Everyone there was working and we needed any extra hand we could get. We had people running water, ballast, cement powder into the mixer and we had our toughest boys down by the mixer filling buckets and buckets as fast as they could with the gas and exhaust in their lungs. I don't know how they did it, it was horrible but it's amazing what you can do for a cause greater than yourself.
We then had people assembly lined passing these buckets of cement to dump off on the roof, that's where i was. It was a lot of hard work. I don't think there was an easy job for anyone and yet no one complained, and everyone was happy while they worked. It was an amazing thing.
We finished the roofing in 2 hours; the sun went down and it was nearly impossible to see but we finished! Sure, covered in cement, but finished the roof for these kids.
I still have scrapes and scars from passing the zito (meaning heavy in swahili) ndoo (bucket) on my forearms.
That night was one of the most memorable nights for all of us

peter and i after the hard work and cement hardened on us (my shirt was never fully clean after that night)

Matt and Ritch the two guys that worked so hard the whole time especially on this night at Isaac's school shoveling cement into the buckets and completely covered in cement if you didn't notice.

the first few days

2009-06-08T17:13:00.003-07:00

I took a ton of pictures on this trip. and trying to narrow them down is extremely hard becuase they all have a story, they all remind me of my experience. Hopefully you can all bear with me with A. all the pictures and B. the stories i will try to tell even though my friends will tell you how bad of a story-teller i am...

A few of us on Sunday went to church and it was awesome.
We were definitely distracting all the little children. We should have sat in the front row instead of the middle so they could all face forward.

This is a view from a rooftop in the slums near Nairobi

We went to a few extra orphanages and schools throughout the weeks and this was one of them and they performed for us and it was awesome.

what the safari vans are like on the inside with some awesome people!

i loved the little children they are so cute and will just hold on to you and think you are just fascinating.

this little guy on my left was named Alfred and seriously so cute! i have more pictures of him when he smiles. I wanted to keep him.

This girl had beautiful eyes.
she was so cute and so shy

there is Ritch trying their hula hoop which was a tire for a bicycle.
They were so good at it.. we were not..

getting to work at Isaac's school

these they call mutatu's (spelling?)
They are everywhere. Kenya's "taxis" and driving in Kenya is a scary scary thing. Rules don't really apply and cars will drive right toward you or pull in front of you but our drivers are awesome! Isaac, Pollycup (apparently we found out the last day his name isn't really pollycup but i think pollycah? but we called him pollycup all week) and George.

I'm so tired from the jetlag. Hopefully my blogs to come with make more sense then this one with more sleep.

The start of my journey..

2009-06-08T13:14:00.006-07:00

i had the most amazing time in Kenya the past few weeks.
I hope that i can explain and describe everything i experienced while i was there, it was definitely life changing meeting the people i met, and being exposed to different cultures

on my way over to Kenya our flight had a 10 hour layover in London.
Much to my sister's jealousy I got the opportunity to walk around London for a bit, and boy did we walk! We made our way from Buckingham Palace all the way down to the Tower of London.It felt good though after sitting in a plane for 9 hours.

London Eye

Tower Bridge

random lounge chairs where mostly homeless slept.

We left London 7 or something like that to make our final stretch to Nairobi, Kenya for another long 8 hour flight. We landed in the morning early and our goal was to stay up until that night so we can get on the Kenyan time schedule (its a 10 hour difference from California for me)

We went to an elephant orphanage where they find baby elephants that have been trapped or orphaned and they were so cute! When they are ready and old enough they are released to the wild.

They also had one baby rhino that was born premature and he said it could fit in their hands.
It is now 6 months old but at the size it should have been when it was born. It was a social little fella just run right up to people to be pet. I kind of want one now...

Later in the day as we got more delirious and tired we went to see and feed the giraffes..

and kissed them too.

can't you tell i enjoyed it?
Probably a lot better then other guys i have met... :)

We then went to where they filmed Out of Africa and Karen's home and it was beautiful

i also held a baby crocodile.
by this time at least i was completely out of it and couldn't wait to sleep and see the children in Kenya the next days to come.
Those kids stole my heart.

More to come...

sneak peak!

2009-06-07T00:58:00.003-07:00

just waiting for my connection flight to LAX in London. It's been long! sneak peak! running out of internet time! more to come!!!
ps almost died on the flights.. got hit by lightning!

less then a week

2009-05-16T12:12:00.001-07:00

and i'll be in Kenya..

getting anxious!

the worth of a soul

2009-03-07T16:35:00.002-08:00

there is a framed picture in my friends apartment that i am absolutely obsessed with and finally last night i asked her the name of the artist.

I've been searching for a large picture of this that isn't framed (mostly because i dont like the frames they are selling it with) but i can't find one except for this one you can get unframed but only at 22.5x16 i was hoping to find one a little bigger.. :-/ hmmm..

i really love it.. don't you?

it is by Liz Lemon Swindle and the art work is called The Worth of a Soul

here is her story of the painting...
When Mothers Without Borders approached me about going to Africa, I told them I was not interested. For me Africa was a world away, “and besides,” I thought, “I am too busy.” Imagine my surprise when I found myself on a plane to Zambia in June 2007.

One of the first children I met was Kennedy, the little boy you see in the painting. At three years old he has lost both of his parents to AIDS and was found living alone with his six year old brother and ten year old sister. When I thought of those three children struggling to survive and the millions of others across Africa in similar circumstances, I felt an overwhelming hopelessness and said to myself, “No amount of money can fix this.”

Later that day while we were filming, Kennedy jumped into the arms of the man portraying the Savior. As I stood watching them, Kennedy turned towards me and our eyes met. At that moment I knew it wasn’t hopeless. I realized that the Savior can fix not only the problems of Africa, but of the whole world…and we can be His hands to do it.

Looking back I realize that my reasons for not wanting to go to Africa are likely the same as yours. We are busy and feel like we cannot make a difference, but I know now that neither is true. We are never too busy to lift another and every good work is known to Him who said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of…these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” - Liz Lemon Swindle

compliments.. from the mouth of Carl McGown

2009-03-04T07:36:00.006-08:00

as abraham lincoln said "everybody likes a compliment"

or from the mouth of mark twain "I can live two months on a good compliment"

quotes like these make receiving a compliment so true.. especially when they're from great people.. one for example carl mcgown. (famous in the volleyball world)he's been helping coach our volleyball team this spring and when
he speaks--you listen--then do what he says.
he rarely gives out compliments and when he does you can seriously live off of that for 4 months instead of the said 2.
he knows volleyball. he travels the world and helps pro teams and olympic teams. His favorite place to travel to is Switzerland (he loves the mountains.) but he has been to or has lived in Tahiti, Samoa, New Zealand, and Japan just to name a few...

anyways to move along with my story Carl and I have a fun relationship..
he pretends to dislike me and pick on me..
but deep down I know he likes me
a few encounters we've had recently:

carl: (talking to the team about overpasses) "next time someone overpasses you have to do 5 digs, the second time you'll do 10 digs, the 3rd time 20.. and you (pointing and looking at me) I hope you overpass 4 balls..." (i just laugh---like thats going to happen)

at the end of practice -- me: "hey carl.. you didn't have to hit at me. I never overpassed..."

carl: "Hey little rugrat come here! (trying to be all tough and give off the scary vibe) .... you played well today (and smiles)"

wait. time out!
was that a compliment!?
what a monumentous day.
he is either getting soft being with all these beautiful girls everyday at practice...
or i did play well..
no matter what is true
i'm putting it in the books.
thanks carl!

Christian the Lion

2008-12-09T20:52:00.003-08:00

I thought this was so cute.. i want to raise a cub that turns into a lion..
its cute.. reminds me when i come home to see marley and he doesn't forget me either :)

sprinting to the altar

2008-10-13T10:50:00.006-07:00

i wrote my first paper for my english class this semester and i got it back...
He sent me an email and told me it was one of the best ones in the class..
i am just as shocked as you are.
It was because I got so much help on this paper from guys in my ward (Mike, Dallin, Lance), other friends (Philip, John, Jared) my roomies (Kaits, Aly) and professors (like Patchell)..
i got an A woo! 94 out of 100

here's my paper if you'd like to read it and comment on it..
it is an Opinion Editorial

Sprinting to the Altar

Time is the most valuable commodity that is easily confused in a Latter-day Saint based society. When one feels time is scarce, a skewed mindset often creeps in as a person tries to resolve pertinent obstacles. Haste pushes the average person to act in a way that they either miraculously succeed, or simply collapse. Even though sooner than later is a brilliant concept it does not apply to every detail of our lives. Marriage falls into this category. Matrimony should not be taken breezily and has more repercussions than when first innocently promoted at Brigham Young University. As a new student to BYU I have seen the push for marriage and I have only been in attendance for one semester; I already feel the pressure to marry. The BYU community persuades marriage on its students, and although I do believe marriage to be a source of real happiness, rushing to the altar generally causes more problems than it can solve.

There are many social pressures as a student attending BYU. One is falling into the idea of being the perfect individual by creating an image distorted from their true self to become one with the social norm in Provo. Another social pressure is to be married by a certain age in order to be accepted and honored in the Latter-day Saint community. It is believed by an unwritten law: women over the age of 23 and men over the age of 25 that are not married are disreputable and not considered spiritual or worthy.

Combining the social and spiritual pressures of marriage while juggling academic demands as a student is not the easiest walk in the park. There are high expectations for students to gain a good education in order to be successful in life. Flunking out of class is not the only thing on the minds of students but they also have to be concerned about finding true love before their senior year. Influence towards marrying young arises everyday at the private university without fail. Authority figures such as church leaders, professors, and guest speakers bring up the idea of dating and working towards marriage. Church meetings in BYU single adult wards, more than any other church congregation in the entire world, bring up marriage continually. After a while, it is inscribed in our brains that we must be married as soon as possible. Just because there are over 30,000 students attending Brigham Young, creating pretty good odds to find someone you could marry, doesn’t mean you should rush into a marriage. The first thing a guy does when meeting a girl should not be checking to see if she has a ring. Instead he should want to get to know her for who she is and not if she is a potential date for the weekend.

Marriage and having a family one day is a wonderful thing, but ‘one day’ are the key words here. In a talk printed in the 1994 Ensign, John D. Claybaugh states, “courtship is a time to discover who you and your partner really are—and how to nourish your relationship.” Claybaugh recalls a time he saw President and Sister Benson and how in love they still were at their age and how that is missing from the world today. One reason is that President and Sister Benson had a courtship stretching over seven years instead of seven months...or even seven days! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not contribute to the idea of rushing into marriage. Yet, BYU has gotten comfortable with the notion of graduating as husband and wife not only being the norm but as an underwritten mandate included in the motto “enter to learn, go forth to serve.”

Social pressures that heavily persuade people to act out of character in certain communities are not healthy for the individuals of that community. Research into human development further shows that early marriage is perhaps impulsive and should be the exception. “The evidence now is strong that the brain does not cease to mature until the early 20s in those relevant parts that govern impulsivity, judgment, planning for the future, foresight of consequences, and other characteristics that make people morally culpable…” (Ruben Gur). Studies like these show that the human brain doesn’t fully develop until the age of 25. With the lack of experience, young adults display a difficult time using logic reasoning and controlling impulses. Emotions get in the way of thinking clearly since our brains are still developing. Cupid’s marriage arrow is evident whenever strolling around campus. Yet, the question arises: is it real love or is it succumbing to the strain the university puts on it’s students declaring marriage needs to be the first thing checked off the list? There is no harm in talking about marriage, nor keeping the radar searching for a compatible mate. This does not justify hastily jumping into the real thing with a rapid proposal and a wedding date. It is difficult for young adults in the heat of the moment to see the big picture; instead, we see just a portion of the panoramic view around us.

At Brigham Young there seems to be a lot of emphasis on marriage but rarely told are the stories of young couples rushing into marriages that result in divorce or separation. Situations like joking around during a Freshmen Orientation about marriage for the freshmen living away from home for the first time, is a subject that should be taken with more concern. There are circumstances that do have a successful conclusion. If that could work for most people, that would be great; then, BYU would be justified in pushing the idea of marriage on its young adults. Unfortunately, “happily ever after” is not always the case.

The United State’s divorce rate keeps rising partly due to the sprint into marriage and coupled with the convenience of divorce. On the website for American Divorce Statistics it states that 36.6% of women married between 20 and 24 years old go through a divorce compared that to the 8.5% of women between the ages of 30 to 34 years. It is the same pattern with men having a 38.8% divorce rate between the ages of 20 to 24 compared to the 11.6% divorce rate for the ages 30 to 34 years. The American Divorce Statistics also states “50% of all marriages in the United States end in divorce,” which is not a very uplifting statement for a single adult to hear. This fact shouldn’t be taken lightly and perhaps ignored as seen on BYU campus. Since there is this particular stress on campus to tie the knot as soon as possible before graduation day the strain can result in a shaky marriage. Conforming to the this society is evident even outside of campus boundaries, as Utah has the lowest numbers in the marriage age, as well as the highest divorce rate percentages. It is a difficult situation to deal with at BYU because those who don’t adhere to a premature marriage are somewhat ostracized by others who more strictly follow the cultural norms.

Some wisdom can be recognized through other’s experiences before us. Even though Edith Wharton was born into New York’s wealthiest families she became bored with the stuffy social life. She didn’t want to follow the normal pattern of socialites before her. Instead she moved to France during World War I where her relief work won her a Cross of the Legion of Honor. Wharton said, “If only we’d stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time.” People in the BYU culture seem to put on more of a show on how happy they are because of the constant pressures of how happy they ought to be. Sadly, opportunities for bliss and joy pass right by us without realizing because of the concern of what other people will say if we don’t yield to the unwritten laws about marriage in the Latter-day Saint community. It polarizes the BYU culture by driving away those who refuse to submit to the pressures. If students and young adults in our culture can anticipate and not surrender to the constant pokes of the word marriage on our exterior, marriages then can be statistically more successful. This is facilitated by more experience and brain development allowing deeper commitment to occur between those bound in holy matrimony. Instead of rushing to the altar, as a BYU student I am advocating a nice enjoyable walk. I would much rather prefer to wear a pair of stunning three inch heals as I stroll to the altar than lace up an old pair of Nikes coupled with my wedding dress.