Before, During, After

I've been in Ukraine

The first time I was really impressed with Bobby was when I called him and asked what he was doing. He told me he was at the nursing home- just for fun- playing Bingo with the residents. Sigh.

Well the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. My mother-in-law is a wonderful, serving person. Years ago she began a program called TOUCH (Take One Ukrainian Child's Hand) in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. The organization supports an orphanage, a program for girls to learn skills to take them into the workplace, a program for children without parents in the home, a Roma school, and even more stuff I can't remember right now. AND Bobby's dad helps in the medical field in Ukraine, and they send shipments of needed supplies from the US.

I had the opportunity to go with my in-laws to Ukraine! And what a incredible time I had. So many thank-yous to the Ramptons. I would love to go again next year with my mom. Here are some pictures of Ukraine, and our day in Budapest, Hungary the day before our flight home...

This is me with some darling kids from the Roma school. They were so so sweet.

This is our church in our hotel room on Sunday! Three members in Uzhhorod. So great meeting them.

This is of the wonderful TOUCH delegation. I met some really inspirational people there.

Below is me with the girl Bobby and I sponsor, Anna. She is a real sweetheart.

Here is a doctor his family we ate with one night. Ukrainians are SO hospitable.

The younger kids loved to have pictures taken of them, then to look at their reflection. So I have a lot of pictures of kids! I made collages of some of them to show you how cute they were.

This is the orphanage kids getting homemade quilts.

This is a picture of my father-in-law giving a speech at a rally against breast cancer.

We painted at the orphanage. Except the kids were so excited that they actually did the majority of the painting.









A bunch of kids that are part of an after school program supported by TOUCH. They put on a show for us, that I will have to download a video of later.

We went to a "hot tub" that had fire heating it underneath!

One of quite a few castles we got to see! The Ramptons took me to one up-close.

We got-by without knowing Ukrainian because of wonderful student volunteers who would translate for us. Ira was my favorite. I miss her!

One of Bobby's good friends, Nandan was there. And it was so fun to get to know him better. This is us in front of some orthodox church.






Although I knew we would be in Budapest for a few days, I didn't think about it until we were there! Budapest is a beautiful, incredible city! I have a lot of pictures from here but here are some favorites...

Getting gelatos :)

St. Mark's Cathedral

Looking over Budapest

Alice :)

Budapest at night

Going to Ukraine was such a special, life-changing experience. A big, huge, enormous, gigantic colossal thanks to the Ramptons for the opportunity. I feel so blessed to have gone. Thank you!

Should We Respond??

Mom

My mom left this morning back for Colorado. It was SO good to have her, and sad to see her go. What did her relaxing vacation entail, you might ask? Decorating my house! Not relaxing, but boy did I appreciate her help. She is a wonderful interior designer. We also ate at this great Mexican restaurant, went to Stake Conference, watched the BYU game, and played at the pool.

My mom is the best! I love being around her and so does everyone else that she meets. I want to be like her in so many ways. Thanks for coming out, mom!!!!

Next stop, seeing mom #2 in Ukraine!

"The Y"

As everyone (it seems) on my news feed updates their statuses about back to school, BYU, football, and pulling out their uggs, I begin to feel...not homesick, just sentimental- an emotion which Bobby thinks he sees much too much of.

This blog post is in memory of our Alma Mater (not Dura Mater, Bobby & friends), Brigham Young University. Here is to the game on Saturday (well done!) and to all the BYU football and basketball games we watched. Oh and frisbee, of course. Here is to those ward directories and dating classes during Sunday school, mona lake and Y mount. Here is to class prayers before starting algebra and cramming for religion tests. Here's to Jimmer.

We are grateful alumni. We loved our time spent at BYU. I seriously can't believe it's over. To all you freshman, get the kids meal at the creamery and sit by a window in the music room while in the testing center. Register for classes at 2:00 am instead of 12:00 am. And true story- if you get denied adding a class, it must be so that two young lovers such as Bobby and I could meet. Date those who follow the honor code. Rent movies from the library, and remember that you can always talk your way out of library fines. Take your History of Creativity project seriously. If you ask to shoot the canon during the football games, they will let you. And it's possible to live without a car for three years, but not four (dad). And common, cougars don't cut corners.

And enjoy beautiful BYU in the fall...while it lasts.

I've a Feeling We're Not In Utah Anymore

My suspicion why...

1. It is CAUTION:HOT here! This week the high was 118 degrees (or so I hear)! And instead of being cold when I go outside, it is cold inside of buildings. Especially in church, darn suit wearers.

2. (Related to #1) People want to come visit us! But not until the winter. Come winter time, our house will be hoppin'. (Our first ever guests- The Fowlers)

3. I have been corrected twice now to use significant other instead of assuming husband/wife.

4. After having trouble remembering names, I realized it is because there is no ward directory

for my neighbors. This...

makes remembering my neighbors names so much easier! Don't take it for granted, Provo kids!

5. The sky is huge in Arizona! Bobby and I think it's because there are no mountains in the way? Regardless, we love the blue blue blue in the day and the red paintings from Heavenly Father each night.

6. Craigslist.com is a new bookmark of mine. And found in purple instead of blue are "Furniture" and "Medical/ Health." If you know of any jobs in Public Health in Glendale, let me know. Never before have I bought furniture! Boy, has it been an adventure. We bought our couch from someone that looked like this:

(Pic had to be removed so I could put ads on my blog lol. Just imagine a gangster.)

(Here is the story- We found a sectional couch we really liked on Craigslist. We drive down down town to this sketchy neighborhood where we meet this gangster who is going to sell it to us. He leads us to his garage where I thought he was going to lock us up to the couch. He points, "There it is." Only problem was that was wrapped up and covered in boxes and mattresses and stuff. Bobby said, "Can we pull it out and look at it?" And the gangster replied, "Ah man, if we pull it out everything is going to fall." Well eventually he did let us take it out, but the couch that was supposed to be 4 parts was only 3. Looking shocked, he said that we could buy the middle section at any store....So we left. The gangster called us back a few minutes later and said that he really needed to sell it, and that we had been looking at the wrong picture- the sectional was really only a 3 piece sectional. We went back and again convinced him to take it out of the dark garage. He said that if we were to unwrap it, we would have to buy it because it would lose it's value. I know, sketchy right? Against our better judgement, we told him we'd take it if he would deliver right then. He agreed and stacked 3 parts of the couch on top of his truck- about 25 feet high. Bobby told me to unwrap that couch as soon as I could to look for tears or drugs or who knows what as he paid the gangster. He couldn't help us bring it upstairs because he was late for the casino. Turns out- it really is a brand new, spotless couch! And we love it. )

7. Meet our new friends, the Jacksons.

8. My baby is going to medical school! Wish us luck!! (He was too embarrassed to take this picture during the daytime)

Welcome to Grandview Village #21