A Few Things

Suds in the Bucket

Last Thursday, my friend Alecia and I decided we needed to wash our cars. Turns out, we washed not just ours, but my parents cars and Mark's car! It was quite the car wash. We had a water fight and it was overall just a blast! Here are some lovely pics.

Grateful

My mom was, I guess you could say, going blind. She had really bad cateracts in her right eye, and beginning signs of it in her left eye. Well, she really didnt like the whole idea of going "blind"... she went to the doctor and he told her she needed surgery. I took her to the hospital and here are some pics of her hospital stay:

In this pic, my mom was out if it! For this eye surgery, you can interact with the doctor and stay awake, but apparently my mom couldnt resist "helping" the doctors. Meaning, she was a little out of it and she kept trying to use her hands to open her eyes. She kept reaching for her eyes and so the doctor finally couldnt handle it anymore so they sedated her. Note: my mom is sensitive to drugs. My mom was asking me what time it was every 1-2 minutes for about 30 mins. Then she kept saying how she was hungry and wanted to drive home. She was lifting her hand and wiggling her fingers.... It was pretty funny.

It is amazing what they can do! She had the pirate eye on for a day and then it was off and she is good as new. She has to put drops in like crazy, but it is tons better than the alternative. She has told me many a time that she is extremely grateful to be able to see clearly.

Cascade Springs

Cascade Springs is such a pretty place. Me, Mark, and Alecia planned a hike, but then we decided to go on a "hike-walk". Okay, Okay, it was a walk... who am I kidding. It was a very pretty walk that was definately worth it. While we were there, Alecia heard a buzzing sound... and we got closer and it was a RATTLE... Me and Alecia both darted out of there like a bullet from a gun (okay not that fast), and MARK, was like, "Cool! Its a rattlesnake!" Then he got closer because he wanted to see it. Then it started rattling more and more so he thought it might be a bad idea to get too close...... Mark=Danger.

The scenery was beautiful!

Leash with her "quick, smile for the camera" smile.

Me and Sparky (awe)

Me and Leash

I'm Singin' in the....... Shower?

So lately, Mark has had this new thing that he does in the morning; HE SINGS IN THE SHOWER! For the past few mornings, Mark has come up with the MOST random songs to sing. They are as follows:

1. A random song that I forgot about.... (sorry)

2. "Barbie Girl" by: Aqua

3. "At the Car Wash" by: I forgot

4. "I Feel like a Woman" by: Shania Twain

5. "Lonely" by: Akon

It is hilarious... But not only does he sing, he does the whole act! He dances with his towel too! Wow Mark might kill be for blogging this. Oh well.

6 Months

After 6 months, we finally met our bishop for the very first time! He was as shocked as we were. Yesterday at church, we went to sacrament meeting and after, the bishop decided to go out into the lobby area and shake the hands of all the members as they go to class. He looked at me and Mark and asked, "Are you two new in the ward?" and I said, "No, we have been here for about 6 months now." He looked at me so blankly. And we were on our way. He didn't get our names.....

Ya know, we have had our home teachers come once, (well, one home teacher and his wife) during our 6 months of marriage. I have listed myself as a visiting teacher more than once, because I would like to know the people in the ward, and I still have no calling. I feel like I am living amongst dead people. I wonder how it will be in a year.

Bonaire

A Lesson In Murphy's Law
Mark and I enjoyed our trip for the most part, but it was a little bumpy all-in-all. Mark had been anxiously waiting for this scuba trip for over a year now, and he got it for such a good price! The package included food discounts, scuba diving, resort, airfare, car rental, and pretty much anything. I was pretty excited myself. I mean, I was a little nervous (NOT going to lie) but ya know, it's Bonaire! When in the world am I ever going to go to Bonaire? So, we get all ready and we think we are all set to go on June 28th just like the ticket/itinerary said..... there was a catch..... the itinerary said June 27th.... at 11:57 p.m. and the ticket said June 28th at 12:04 a.m. or something along those lines. You get the idea. Anyways, so we got the times and dates a little mixed up.... and we thought we would go at 12:00 p.m. on June 28th. OOPS! We missed our flight! Well... we were pretty darn lucky to find another flight into Bonaire the same week. There are only one or two flights a week.

So instead of paying around $3,800 total for our trip we had to pay additional expenses for a one way tickets for the two of us. Great! So that took us to $5,900. Now, this takes us to the wonderful topic of our flight.....

Dallas, Texas

The layover in Texas.... Let me tell you a little something about layovers over 12 hours.... The airlines don't let you stay in the airport. So they force you to stay in a hotel or on the street outside of the airport, or on a very uncomfortable cot. Luckily, we got to stay in a hotel... (because I was not about to stay awake and keep watch of my luggage for 13-14 hours~!) Seriously.... give me a break. So for a discounted price we went to a hotel. It was $50. Not bad...... There were huge ants on the floor though...... not my favorite... they freaked me out.... at least I had a bed to sleep on....

This airport had really cool stuff inside though... Probably my favorite aiport so far. They had tons of food... too much BBQ, but they had THE MOST COMFORTABLE SEATS IN THE WAITING TERMINALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a maze thing in the middle of the airport. I dont really know why it was there.... maybe to keep people like me and Mark occupied.

Puerto Rico

Three words: THEIR FOOD SUCKS!

The bread on that thing really did feel like I was biting into foam.

Finally Bonaire

Bonaire- When we got there, we wanted to go on a night dive, so we got ready and we realized we didn't have any weights! Kerstin told us we had to go to the dive shop in the morning to get our weights. So we didnt dive that night. Ha ha instead.... that night we got to know the mosqitos of Bonaire. This photo was taken at around 3:00 a.m.

Over the entire trip I was bitten 46 times. Cool eh? I didnt really think so... but if you think so... good for you. I officially cut you off FOR LIFE.

In the morning, we got up extra early so we could get as many dives in to not waste any more time than we had already wasted.... So we went and they decided that they didnt have enough people for the video so they postponed the orientation for 2:00 p.m. So no diving until after that.... Wow... No comment. 2:00 came around and there was ONE more person. WOW ONE MORE! Okay, so after they left the room, we figured out it was a promo gimmic to buy stuff in the shop, we fast forwarded the video some so we could get our stupid weights. For crying out loud! We didn't fly all the way to Bonaire to buy ugly hand painted rocks! My lands people!

After an hour of that nonsense we finally get ready and go diving. We didnt see very much other than some eels and some fish. Mark went night diving with Scott and didn't see very much at all.

Wednesday we went on a Boat dive and I threw up in my regulator. Mark was about ten feet away from me and we were going down and all of a sudden I started to cough like crazy. I felt dizzy and nauseated and I just threw up. I had to keep breathing because I didnt want my lungs to explode so I blew the throw up that was in my sinuses out of my nose while I was flushing it out of my regulator. Then I would breathe and keep doing the same thing until it was cleaned out. I was so dizzy down there. We probably should have surfaced, but we didnt. I lost so much air doing that. I washed my regulator out like crazy when we got to our condo. So much for breakfast.

My eye was still pretty swollen too. Wow, vomit and impaired vision.



Oh all your meals there you have birds all around you, there are gulls and pigeons.



This gull was eyeing my food. If you leave your table for one second, the gulls will come and eat all your food.

Oh- Ha ha I cant forget to mention this waiter! When we see you all next, Mark will have to reenact how this poor guy talked! I really think he had the hardest puberty ever. Seriously though, when Mark does it you will pee your britches! I cant do it as well as he does. The first time he came up to us I about died. I was trying not to smile. But it took me so off guard. I had never heard anything like it in my life! His voice cracks like there is not tomorrow. It was like a 20 year old was stuck in a 13 year olds body. But the voice cracking was to an extreme. Sad story. I feel for him I tell ya......

And anytime you ask not to get capers, you get no onions, you ask for apple pie, you get a giant blob of something that is not apple pie, you ask for creme brulee, you get a piping hot blob of creme with hot jam on top. At least the steak, tuna and grouper was good.

Mark's Steak....



MY STEAK..... Now THAT is what I am talking about!

Sorry I look A little lumpy- it's literally all the mosqito bites. They went for my face.

Thursday, we wasted most of our day trying to figure out if we were going to come home or not. We tried to see if we could use the front desk's phone to call Delta, but they said, "NO WAY JOSE" and said we had to use our room's phone which would have cost us $2.50 to dial out and then $2 for each minute. RETARDED. Then we tried to use our phones, but they wouldnt work. Then Josh had "Skype" which is pretty much a phone on the internet that is 70 cents a minute. Hallelujah! So we emailed out travel agent and they said they tried absolutely everything and we had to buy another ticket home. We thought it was the end of the world. Mark said (and I quote) "This is the trip from HELL!" Ha ha I agreed. Then we called Delta to see if there was ANYTHING else we could do, and there was..... STUPID travel piece of junk. Didnt know what they were talking about. We only had to pay $15 per person to re-ticket. We were so relieved. Things were starting to turn around!

So half of our day was eaten up. From then on we decided we were going to go on some shore dives and just try to enjoy what time we had left. So we went to the other side of the island. OH MY LANTA! I have never seen such beauty! Kerstin said something about how she didnt know how Atheists could scuba dive and not believe in God. Well, I totally agree. There is a God I tell you. I am not going to bear my testimony right now because I have too many other things to say right now.... maybe later.... but THERE IS A GOD.... BELIEVE ME.

Okay, I will hurry now, because this blog is GINORMA! BAGANGA!

When we were touring the island on the last 24 hours, we stopped at this VooDoo lady's house. We thought it was this art shop. Guess again people! We go in and she is sitting on her porch painting something. Her door was open so we could see in her home. At the time we didnt know it was her home and so Kerstin asks, "Is it inside too?" and she says, "No, that is my home." I looked inside, and I noticed her living room and dining room. In her dining room she had life sized dummies (all different and unique in their own way) all around the table except one chair, which I am assuming was her spot. Then in her living room, she had a tea set, and there was a spot, for her, (I am assuming) and they all are positioned to be social. Maybe she is lonely.... so I thought. But the placed smelled funny, like she was burning something really weird. No comment. She said, "Welcome to Yanny's Garden." Okay? Thanks?.... The cool part was that she had live flammingo's and turtles and tortoises, and hermit crabs in a cage (who cages their crabs?) Also, she had nativity scenes everywhere and this one had baby Jesus with a halloween mask on like he was satanic. I didnt take a picture because I was partially offended and I didnt know if it was sacreligious. Oh well. But anyways, she had bones hanging everywhere, and it was just creepy, and after we all had this really bad feeling and wanted to leave, so we left pronto.

We know one thing is for dang sure- she can't spell.



Here are some flammingo's in her yard.

And here is an idea of what the inside and outside people look like. CREEPY.

We went to the salt mines, slave huts (tiny, they look like little dog houses). Makes you think how fortunate you really are.

This is the doorway to get into the slave hut. That is how small these things are!

Here is some scenery...

The sea urchin we saved.



Here is some VooDoo from one side of the island. It is literally all over this one side of the island. Maybe that one lady owns it......

And anyways, the trip was very unique. We had a "different kind of fun. At least we were together and we didnt rip each other's heads off. Right?

This is Mark now. I just have to add that on our way home just before takeoff the power on the plane went down twice. The pilot told us that it was the AC unit overloading the power, that it had been repaired, and the plane was in perfect working order. Still not very comforting just before starting a 5 hour flight over the ocean. Then, in Atlanta, Delta put the wrong plane up to the terminal! They didn't notice till they had started boarding. They had to unboard the plane and got all the passenger seating mixed up on reboarding.

Mark, Annie, and The Park

Discovery Park

For FHE, Mark and I have to get pretty darn creative these days, so we went to this park that I L-O-V-E! It is one of the coolest parks. There are a lot of parks out there that are really generic that have plastic slides, monkey bars, swings, blah, blah, blah, boring akjs dlfiaj;owe ifhakjfhlak sjfhla ksjdf hlak....you get my point right? Anyways, THIS park is like a learning jungle. You pretend you are the king of this HUGE fort and you run around to these different sections such as: the earthquake platform (what it supposedly feels like to be in an earthquake), walk the line section (more for teens, but it is a balance beam but more challenging), bull riding (made out of plastic tires- pretty cool I guess if you are two years old), spinning things you sit on (really cool!!! trust me on this one), spaceship, and overall, it is just a very interesting park! It is made to use the imaginations of the children that come and play.... Sorry I didn't take a picture of the entire park, but to give you a mental image, it looks like a HUGE wooden fort! Here are some pictures~!

Mark looks so Happy!!!!

A beehive. They have an entire area of beehives.... I have never really understood why....

Don't look at my face. I was trying to show the balance beam thing. Making a point. Point made.

Like I said-Tricky

I don't really know what Mark is doing.....

Here we are looking from the bull swing thing.... and Mark is falling.

If those were MY boys...

Yesterday was SUCH a nice, warm day! I absolutely loved it! There was not a moment to lose! Mark and I got our swimsuits out, camera, towels, and off we went to the clubhouse to swim. While we were there, we were enjoying the amenities of the clubhouse just like a couple of ladies and children that had arrived before us. LET me give you a little forum on these 'children'. These 'children' or should I say 'boys' were throwing rocks into the pool; snorkels into the pool; fighting amongst each; playing favorites; MUST I GO ON.... I tried to ignore them, so while Mark and I were taking these really cool pictures I am about to show you, one of the mothers came over and asked me to get the snorkels from the deep end. Sure, I thought (not knowing what I was getting myself into). I go down there, and when I come up, she says I have mascara on my face and she gets her thumb and gets her SPIT (YES! HER FRESH GROWN SPIT) and wipes the side of my nose..... alright... so that made it better......

Later in the pool, I start stepping on the rocks.. great! Mark gets one rock and tosses it out. The kids intentionally get the snorkels and throw them and in and yell at us to get them... I ignore them because they are not my children..... (My question: Where are the mothers?- They are talking and sunbathing) Then, I go get the snorkels a few more times and ignore them a few more times and while Mark was coming towards me from the one side of the pool, I heard THE MOST APPALLING THING FROM TWO LITTLE 5 Year-olds! (I will keep this as rated-G as possible) and I quote: "I want to kiss her A**!," "Yeah, I want to kiss her A**!" and then I turned and the one little boy turned to the other and said, "What did you say? What did you say?" HELLO? I am NOT STUPID LITTLE TWIRP! I saw and heard you the entire time! You might as well say it to my face ya little slime ball!

I told Mark and he started laughing! I wanted to laugh too! I was getting the gitty-up by two little 5-year-olds! That is nasty! Hell-a NO! Anyways, I asked Mark to come with me to talk to the moms. That was awkward... "Uhm, ma'am, your two little boys just said they want to kiss my A**"..... tell me thats not awkward.....

Man if those were my boys........

Yeah, not going private.... too much of a hassle and its just me and Mark. So we will keep everyone posted when we do go private, IF we do. Okay?

Thanks Mom!

Everyone one has those"special" moments; moments that you sometimes wish NEVER happened. Yes, those EMBARRASSING ONES. Well, one of these "moments" occured yesterday. Mark and I were at my parents house and we were having a jolly good time; sitting, laughing, talking, and then we came upon the topic of my birthday. We kinda talked about cake and ice cream, music, possibly other party ideas, but it was not long until my mom digressed onto other topics. I left the room temporarily and when I came back into the room, there it was; Birthday: The day I was born. The embarrassing life I led as a child. Great. Mark was laughing, my mom was laughing, I was was as red as a tomato gets. My mom was telling the tale of the day my dad was urinating in the most masculine way possible with the doors wide open. And I, being the adventurous little 2/3 year old, I decided the next time I would pee, I would pee just like my dad. The only problem was, when I did it, it didnt quite make into the toilet.
Thanks Mom!