Mourni-brating

(I know just how he feels)

Today I am both in mourning and celebrating!

At 3:18pm it will officially be the end of summer and the beginning of fall. Fall is by far my favorite season but it comes a little bittersweet. It is also an indication that dreary winter is on its way. Back to wearing socks and shoes, sliding on ice, scraping windshields, bulky coats, dark skys, short days, frozen toes, frozen fingers, frozen everything... It actually fills me with dread which causes an interesting emotional mix since I am also super excited for fall.

I already bought some candy corn and apple cider in celebration. My great husband came with me to the craft store and to collect sticks from a park to create my fall decor (which I can officially put up when I get home today!). I can't wait for those long canyon drives to see the changing leaves which are the most beautiful sight in the world. I can never get enough of them.
I love it! I hate it! Please....Someone throw me in a leaf pile and leave me there until spring!

What is your poverty?

Before Steve and I traveled around Guatemala I spent a week in a remote area of Guatemala in the cloud forest. Sounds enchanting, right? It pretty much is.

I took a group of 80 LDS single, young professionals (oh dear!) on an expedition to the villages we work in. We have never taken a group this size before and it was....a little crazy but also very amazing. We hiked through the jungle or rode in the back of pickups to get to the different villages where the projects were. We helped to build a water system, the very first middle school in the whole area, a health clinic and a school kitchen. We also did some educational pieces and had a health and dental clinic. Phew, I'm exhausted just talking about it!

Each time I go I am always surprised at how happy the villagers are. They have very little as far as material things go...

...in fact they have very little of the things we consider basic necessities (food, clean water, clothing, comfortable shelter, access to health care and education) and yet they are always smiling.

I've never seen the children fight or bicker. When we bring toys to share with them they always politely take their turns. There is no sense of entitlement or selfishness. They are happy. I admire them for this.

I always come back from the villages a little anxious, a little nervous about how I can possibly raise my future children to not feel entitled to the latest video game or newest cell phone gadget. How can I raise children to not be overwhelmed by the plethora of choices at their fingertips...always wanting the better product, never being satisfied with what they have? How can I raise happy children who don't need "things" to make them happy? What is the secret that these villagers know so well? Are they really poor? Or are they really wealthier than us in many ways?

I offer up this thought. Wherever we live, whoever we are, we each have our own poverty and we each have our own wealth. "Stuff" does not necessarily make us wealthy and the lack of it does not necessarily make us poor. So, I encourage you to decide for yourself. What is your poverty and what is your wealth? Does it make you happy? If not, perhaps it is time to adjust our lives and find out what really makes us smile.

Loss of an Icon.

I'm sure you are all mourning the loss of our beloved Patrick Swayze who died today. Actor, singer, dancer, childhood heart throb....The world will never be the same. Follow this link I Had the Time of My Life. to watch his famous dance with Jennifer Grey. Enjoy!

Adventures in Guatemala!

Steve and I got to spend a week together in Guatemala in between my expedition and a work conference. We loved riding around in these "tuk tuks" (small taxis) adopted from Thailand...Megs, you would appreciate these! One of our first adventures was a series of 8 zip lines through the forest with an amazing view of a near by lake. It was so beautiful!

One of my favorite nights was spent in Antigua in this old convent turned into a hotel. This hotel sits right in the old ruins of a church so you walk out your door and you are in the middle of some beautiful ruins. It was amazing. We took a boat ride up the Rio Dulce on the east side of Guatemala. All along the shores were small huts with people doing laundry, cooking food, working and waving to us as we passed by. The men floated in wooden boats and cast nets into the river to fish. It was like going back in time.
Ah, the falls! It took us an hour and a half of walking in the blistering heat to get here but it was heavenly to swim in after you got over the fear that some creature was going to attack you. Wait...is that some creature attacking Steve? Our favorite treat were the "Liquados." Basically they are fresh fruit drinks blended with either milk or ice. They are soooo gooood. Mmmm. On Steve's last night in Guatemala he ordered a tripple Liquado. The glass was seriously bigger than his head. These are the ruins of Tikal. The most spectacular ruins in Guatemala. It is amazing that these buildings are still standing considering how old they are. The Tikal empire lasted from 900 BC to about 900 AD. When people lived here all the buildings were painted in bright colors which is hard to imagine since all the paint has since worn away. This little plant has a mind of its own.

We hiked this active volcano hoping to see some lava. No such luck. It was very hot, but on that particular day, there was no lava. I'm sure that makes my Grandma very happy. It was a whirl wind trip full of crazy bus rides, crazy animals, crazy new foods and beautiful sights, beautiful people and beautiful Liquados. Mmmmm, Liquados!

PFosts summit the PFeifferhorn!

Salt Lake County is home to 68 mountain summits and peaks but there is only one that starts with a "Pf." The Pfeifferhorn, aka the little Matterhorn. So naturally we had to climb it.

Lunch break at Red Pine Lake.
And up we go....
We had to cross this skinny ridge in the middle of this photo and then scale the side of the mountain all the way to the top. You can see our path (the kind of brown stripe just to the left of the shadow that runs right up the center of the mountain).
Ah, finally the summit! It was about a 9-10 mile round trip hike that took us about 7 hours to complete but what a view!

Labor Day Wekend.

We have always wondered what was out at Antelope Island so we drove out there over the weekend...turns out there are antelope there.

...and buffalo.

The Great Salt Lake is so salty only two things live in/near it. Brine shrimp and brine flies. Because there is no competition they flourish. We decided to get in anyway.

I asked Steve to taste the water to see if it really was super salty...but he refused.