Sunday, December 21, 2014

Update from the crew in Guam.

My dad always tells me, life is change. And I'm coming to understand that. Everything is entirely different here. But it has been a great adventure so far and gets better with each day. When we first got here I had a hard time. By the third day I was sitting next to my dad crying. But of course, he reminded me that things will change. And he was right. I have started making new friends and meeting new people. Even meeting new horses. 
We haven't exactly found a long term place to stay yet, but we are in a condo for now. 
I've started going to seminary, and those of us that are old enough go to mutual. 

We have also been enjoying the beaches here. 


And today, my family went to some cool pond/water hole type things. They had a lot of fun. 

You can barely see Harrison in this picture. 



They said there were shrimp in these. Crazy right? 

Mom and I also went to a horse stable.
And the name of the horse stable is Rock  n' Rail. This woman has five horses that she teaches English riding lessons on. 
This here is Sienna. She is a buckskin mare. Very sweet. She's tall and has nice large feet. ;) 

Learning how to saddle English style!

My first time riding English. Very different way of riding than what I'm use to! It was neat though. 

Everything so far so good on this side of the world! Miss and love you all. :)




Friday, December 5, 2014

December 7, 1941

There's a first time for everything right? Well I'm coming to understand that better now! I can now say I have ridden in a taxi, been on a boat, and visited somewhere famous. We stopped in Hawaii for two days! The first day I was just lazy. I slept a lot, and went to the beach. Our rental house was really nice! It had three bedrooms, one bathroom indoor and one outdoor. Have you ever heard of an outdoor bathroom? I never would have even guessed they exist! 
Right outside the back door was a concrete patio. At the edge of the patio was a rock path that led to a private beach! It was so cool! We had a beach in our back yard. Come on how cool is that?! 
Seriously, this was our back yard. 
I wrote this and sent it to everyone back home. It took me a couple times to write it because the waves would wash it away! 
The water scared me, so I didn't go in it much. But I love being on the beach in the sand. The waves were pretty big. Not too far from shore they were getting up to around 15 feet! 

For most the time we were in Hawaii it was cloudy. So the ocean was a gray color. But Porter and I wanted to take a selfie with the beach and the sun decided to show up just for that! I was honored. :)




I absolutely loved all the colors on this island! Mom and I "modeled" for each other. I just love how beautiful it is here. 

This is the front door of our house. Not too interesting. Just showng you.

This is our front yard. See all the colors?! 

I'm not entirely sure where this is.... Mom took this picture of Nicole somewhere around the house. 

Before we went to the airport, we stopped by Pearl Harbor. What an experience! If you haven't been, I would strongly suggest you go. I love history. Hearing stories of our American history, history of my ancestors, any kind of story from 100 years ago or more. So this was a really neat experience for me. Thinking of all the men still in that boat. I wonder, how do those men feel about what we are doing with their remains? Their spirits are somewhere, waiting. How do they feel about millions of people remembering them and what they did. Coming to their grave everyday to be reminded of that tragic event. 









"May God make his face to shine down upon them and grant them peace"

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Goodbye for now.

My life is crazy. The craziness grows with each day that flies by. Three months ago, my life was very routine. Now everything I know, is gone from my eyes for a year! Although I'm leaving a lot behind, I'm looking forward to what I'm going to! 

So the journey begins...

And it begins with goodbyes. For the past 3 weeks I haven't been able to be around my friends without crying! 
But I was tired of crying so I threw a party! A pool party more specifically. 
Yes you are probably thinking I'm insane, considering it's the middle of the winter!
But, it was an indoor pool. 
I only invited a few friends to that but it was way fun! 
Since I only invited a few people, I decided to have another party. I called it my "going away party." I wanted to say goodbye to every one I could. So I asked my friend Becka, if we could have it at her house. Because well, we kinda didn't have a place to live. She provided games and beverages. I asked a couple of my other friends to bring snacks. Cookies, chips, crackers, etc. I brought scarfs and sunglasses and hats to dress up and take pictures! It was a fun time and no one cried. :) 
Two of the girls that were there.

We started with a game of truth or dare. I ate a spoonful of mustard! It wasn't that bad.... 
Then we got all dressed up and danced and sang! 


We all had a lot of fun. It was good to have my last time with them (for a year) be so fun! 

That was my first goodbye. The next day at church, I had all the youth from our ward take pictures with me. 
This is my Sunday school class.

And these are my favoritest people! I got a lot of hugs that day. 

This was our last meal in Star valley. It was delicious!