I Love Fall!!

I love the fall! October especially is my favorite month. Here are the reasons why:

1. Oh the color changes on the trees!
2. I get to wear sweatshirts and sweaters whenever I want
3. Hot Chocolate comes out in all the good flavors--mint and orange creme
4. Its the beginning to the holiday season
5. My fuzzy socks come out of the closet

So I went up Provo Canyon with Amber and Weston--man he is an entertaining child!

What I've Done to Pass the Time

So being stuck in my house for over a week I have found a few simple ways to keep myself entertained.

Reading--I love to read and can prove this by the amount of books that cover my pseudo bookshelf
So I'm posting a booklist on my blog to let everyone know of my favorite books. I am always looking for a goo book to read so if you have any suggestions please let me know.

Movies--I have rediscovered my joy for my Disney Princess Movies I loved as a kid. Yes, I have caught up on all those movies I haven't seen in ages. My favorites being Flushed Away, Harry Potters 3 & 5, Sleeping Beauty, Lion King, and The Little Mermaid.

TV-- I have also caught up on all the TV I've missed lately. Smallville--this show actually shows promise especially with the hot Oliver Queen back on a regular basis. The Big Bang Theory--oh how I love these nerds!! Privileged--no idea why I like this show but I do--its cute and quirky and has cute guys on it.

Sleep--It has been years since I have slept this much and this well. I think my record is 14 hours without waking up. Thank you Lortab and Phenergan!! Though I still think I am 15 years behind.

Blogging--I love blogging. Its my way of creatively recording my life and sharing it with my friends and family. I have found friends that I haven't talked to in years and seen what directions life has taken them.

This break from life has been fun but I am almost a 100% and so ready to get back to real life!!

Why I will never get my tonsils out again!

So as posted earlier, I got my tonsils out 5 days ago and have regretted it ever since. People tried to tell me what it would be like and what to expect--it wasn't even close. I have a pretty high pain tolerance and have been in tears multiple times these last few day. Last night was probably the worst. For the most part I have been able to deal with the pain with just one pain pill and fluid. Well the vomiting started last night. With every movement a wave of nausea hit me causing me to bolt to the bathroom until I was dry heaving for hours. Because of this I couldn't keep my pain meds or even fluids down. Oh the party that was.

The good news is I'm half-way through my recovery!!! I called and got some phenergan to help with the nausea so at least I can control the pain and hunger. I'm doubling my pain meds was the best thing I have done. Though I can't walk or see straight at times but hey I can swallow!! So in trying to stay positive about this whole thing here are 10 good things about getting my tonsils out:

1. Lortab--it is my new and best friend, without whom I would not be where I am today.
2. Eating an endless supply of creamies and Popsicles until I get sick of them.
3. Being taken care of by my parents and siblings who are more than patient with me.
4. Having a lot of free time to read and update my blog.
5. Talking with my friends and see how many people care about me.
6. Not having to do my make-up everyday and staying in my PJs until I feel like changing
   
7. Sleeping any time i want to and not feeling guilty about it
8. Having highly entertaining dreams about Africa--more like hallucination
9. Hearing Mark speak at his homecoming, which was an amazing experience!
10. I now have to holes in the back of my throat that hold food for later!! :D
    

Africa Part Three

Cape Town--Not the Typical Side of Africa

Our hotel in Cape Town was a prison. Bars on the windows, cold drafty rooms, and cement walls. Another part of the adventure. We basically had one day to play sightseers so we had a guide drive us all over the place.

Our first stop was the boating dock, it was so green compared to every other side of Africa i had seen. Seals were everywhere; one in particular liked to be fed by this guy. The Chinese tourists--that were everywhere--got such a kick out of sitting on this big guy.





Here is some more pretty scenery as we drove around.



I loved the penguins. There were hundreds near the point. My favorite was the fat one that was molting. I love the penguin waddle, one of them kept getting plastered by the waves.


There were baboons everywhere!! I whole bunch of them were walking down the road. Two
of the younger ones got in a fight and ran up and down the car behind us. Funny to watch--they are loud little boogers to!




I went to the farthest point in Africa one can go. We hiked up to the lighthouse and could see everything. The water was so blue it reminded me of Hawaii a bit. By the lighthouse they had a marker that told the distances to a number of big cities. Salt Lake wasn't on it.



Our final stop that night was Table Mountain. This mountain is completely flat on top that has 12 surrounding mountains named after the 12 twelve apostles. The tram took us to the top where you could see everywhere!! I felt really big--which rarely happens. Mark and I froze up there, the wind chill was bad. Everyone had their cameras out the whole time.

Final Thoughts about my trip

Here is a picture of my braided hair. When I took it out I looked like a crazy ER patient in room 7--scary I know especially without my make-up on.


Here are some highlights:

1. Seeing Mark and all the lives he has touched.
2. Watching a 2 year-old say Suca, which means get away from me you dirty dog, to my dad during primary.
3. Seeing how happy these people were despite the circumstances they were in.
4. Going to church and having every guy there shake my hand--I didn't notice until my dad pointed it out.
5. I discovered passionfruit yogurt and will miss it!
6. Trying squid for the first time and not throwing it up like the chicken foot.
7. Eating KFC in Maputo.
8. Riding everywhere in a TINY little red car that would even hold all of our luggage.
9. Watching my dad hit the windshield wiper instead of the blinker every time.
10. Having a family call Mark Harry Potter.
11. The best part--being in a completely different country and culture with my brother and parents experiencing new things.
    

Africa Part Two

Mark is a master at bargaining. The market place was entertaining. Mark was constantly followed by a herd of people trying to sell him things. I picked up everything from some awesome paintings to jewelry to ebony statues. There was a ton of things to choose from. Our biggest issue was luggage space and weight.

After the Market we headed to Margaritas house. She is an inactive member Mark has been working with for the past few weeks. At her house I pillared, they use this technique to make all sorts of food. They put the ingredients into the wooden bowl and then use BIG sticks to smash it. They served us what was basically peanut butter. It tasted really good.



Well my family abandoned my at Margarita's house and while she proceeded to braid my hair for hours and hours and hours. Oh my head hurt like crazy after that. Anyway it got so late--an hour and half after my parents they said they would pick me up. I'm not gonna lie i was getting a little freaked out. Margarita and her daughter Victoria felt so bad they fed me dinner which turned out to be a chicken foot and rice. Yes, i ate it, but then i through it right backup. I felt so bad. They were nice about it though and didn't laugh too hard.



Here are some general pictures of the city. The women there carry everything on their heads--seriously bundles that look twice as big as they are. I tried to do it and failed miserably. They also carry their children on their backs. They use a piece of material to hold the kids in place. Houses were either nice buildings in the rich areas to pure cement huts with tin roofs. The city itself was so dirty, streets littered with everything possible. The people mostly get around by walking or Shapas. We saw a shapa that had at 25 people in it--these cars are smaller than 15 seater vans. They basically have no driving laws and its the complete opposite of America.

Africa Part One

My trip to Africa was once in a lifetime experience. Here the pictures and what went on half way around the world:

It took us two days to get there and two days to get back. My first flight left at 0600 on Sunday and we arrived in Johannesburg at 1500. 15 hours to cross the Atlantic ocean. I watched so many movies--among my favorites were Prince Caspian and Ironman. Sleeping on a plane close to impossible. By the time I got on the last plane to come home I was done being on planes. We traveled over 30,000 miles and spend approx 50 hours in airports. I got really good at showing off my passport and hauling LOTS of luggage around.

Seeing Mark for the first time in two years was the highlight of my trip. Brother and Sister Davis--the couple missionary in the area met us at the Maputo airport and took us to the Mission Home. When I saw Mark walk out the door I bolted up the pathway and gave him a hug. They had three missionaries going home total. Mark's current companion was a resident Mozambican who is actually one of the first missionaries headed into Angola in a few weeks. Excuse my appearance I had been traveling for a while. The last picture on the bottom is the apartment where the missionaries stayed, right next to church. EVERY building had a guard and barbed wire around the fence.

One of the best parts of the trip was the three day safari trip at Kruger National Park. In our little put-put of a red car we drove through the park and started on the first drive. Coming up over the hill was a pride of lions. I'm so proud of my pictures that turned out. The lions were so lazy they would get up walk a few feet and the plop right back down. I loved being so close to these animals.

Here are some other critters I saw during those three days



I love cheetahs, they are so beautiful and graceful. Apparently, there are only 150 cheetahs in the entire park, which is HUGE! I liked how the cubs kept playing hide and go seek with us.

One of coolest things I saw was a pride of lions eat a fresh kill of giraffe. Hyenas and vultures were even circling the kill. The lions kept chasing them off and growling. It was like a scene right out of The Lion King

Coming around a corner we saw an entire herd of elephants come up over the hill. You could always hear whenever the elephants were coming because of the constant crunching of trees. This herd got co close we had to move the car so they could cross the street. They were fun to photograph.

On our last morning drive we went to the river and found a TON of hippos in the water. Crocodiles kept crawling out of the water to lay on the rocks to get warm. A herd of water buffalo passed us as they headed to the water. The animals weren't helpful in posing for pictures.

Gotta love the Zebras, they really are yippy little things.

This is the place we stayed out in the middle of no where. They served us gorme meals every time and provided hot towels after each drive. They were obsessed with coffee and tea though. Another first for me was showering out in the open. The shower above opened up to the wilderness, I watched a rhino and impala walk past as the breeze hit me. Yeah it was a different experience.