MTC

Here are just a couple of pictures of my parents at the MTC I thought I'd post just to keep the family member blog leeches and blog commenters up to date since it might be a few days or weeks until my mom gets a blog or letter out to you all. Enjoy!

I think this picture is of some or maybe all of the couples going to Brazil. My dad said that the couples going to Brazil were the most fun couples at the MTC but he may be a little biased.

Apparently my mom is a little confused and thinks that they will be serving in some island chain off the coast of Brazil...at least that is what it looks like in the picture. I showed her this picture and she said, "Oh, are you supposed to point to exactly where you are going?" "Well, it doesn't have to be exact I guess" I told her, "but you should at least point to dry land." She said that they were in a hurry or something when they took the picture.

See you later MOM and Dad!

This past weekend my family went down to SLC to take my parents to the MTC...role reversal, big time. Now it was our turn to give advice, help pack, and drop off at the MTC. Luckily they didn't make us watch some outdated movie, get us all crying and then make us say goodbye. They are a little easier on the senior couples I guess.

But before we get to that...on Friday we went to The Church Office Building where Elder David A. Bednar set apart my dad to preside over the Brazil Fortaleza mission and then Elder Earl C. Tingey set my mom apart. They were great blessings and it was nice to be there as a family.

Afterward we went out to eat at Ruby River thanks to a gift certificate given to us by Audrey, one of my most loyal blog readers. Later that evening we had family pictures taken on Temple Square (I know so cliche...but we didn't have a lot of time to go somewhere else because Russell had to get back to Idaho to work) by Jen Fauset, the girl who did Lee and Kim's wedding. Luckily there were some that turned out pretty good considering I felt super ugly that day, my mom is famous for closing her eyes and my dad and Russell don't smile much. But hey, at least we got a family picture taken while we are all still together.

On Saturday we headed down to Provo where we stopped off at J Dawgs, a little hot dog stand that anyone who's gone to BYU will know about, so my parents could have their last meal as free people before entering the MTC. It was my mom's request. She loves J Dawgs.

Then we took them to the MTC. We pull in, my mom is driving of course since my dad doesn't drive in Utah...we should have at least thought to switch out drivers so my dad could save face, but oh well. All the MTC workers were greeting my parents by name (which was kind of weird) and jumped to help them unload their stuff. It was roasting hot in Provo so we headed into the main lobby to visit for a few minutes. My mom and dad got their name tags and then we took a few pictures and my dad and brothers punched each other in the stomach a few last times. Luckily it was the toned down version of their little wrestling and fighting matches since we were at the MTC.

We wished them luck and said goodbye. There was no sobbing as we will see them for one more day before they fly out. So we'll save the sobbing for later. Lee, Kim, Ty and I then went to Macey's so we could get random stuff (which included Hostess Snowballs...it is a long story) to send my parents in a package...just in case they already missed us. It was a fun weekend as a family.

Eating at Ruby River

My MOM with her mom

Finally a normal picture of Lee and Kim so I thought I'd post it...no offense guys, you are normal looking...it is just that you are usually making weird faces.

I like this picture of my mom and dad, but somehow like a retard I got 01/01/2004 imprinted on all of the pictures from that night so if anyone knows how to get rid of the date on those pictures please let me know!

The boys...bugging each other as usual


My dad will talk to anyone, anywhere and about anything...our whole lives we have thought this to be annoying or weird (as Russell's face shows in this picture) but I think his lack of fear to talk to strangers will make him an excellent missionary.

Mil, Kim and Gma waiting while the guys get their pictures taken


Ty looking good in his blue tie

Due to some really cute, but painful shoes, Kim needed a lift back to the hotel


Mil is excited to have one last J Dawg

Normal people usually go to lunch at a nice restaurant before going to the MTC...not us, we went to a hot dog stand!

The kids minus Russell

Making the drop

My dad got such an excited look on his face when they gave him his name tag...I really do think he is excited to be a missionary again...scared to death but excited

This one is just scared to death...just kidding mom, I'm sure you are excited too. You'll do great!

What a great Senior Couple!


The end.

Happy Father's Day to a Super Dad!

Okay, first of all my dad is going to KILL me for posting this picture. He doesn't normally allow anyone (or the sun) to see his lower arms...I have never before this seen my dad wear a short-sleeved shirt.

I don't really care though because my dad is leaving in 4 days and will be gone for 3 years...how much damage can he do with so little time and so many other things to focus on?

So Happy Father's Day to my SUPER DAD!

I love you!

I'm Going to TRY to Stop Whining Soon...I promise!

Yeah, I know, you are like "blah, blah, blah all Becca does anymore is whine and complain about her life lately." That's what I thought at least when I read back through my blog posts from the last month or so. And I'm sorry for whining and complaining...especially since some of the changes and things going on in my life are self-induced. I really do not like change and don't do too well with it. I guess I'm not any worse than most people...I think change is hard for all of us to adjust to, but I am maybe just more vocal in my complaints. And I've been all serious too, which is something I try to not allow myself to do too much on this here blog. I guess that is just what state of life I am in right now...a serious, get serious and figure out where you belong and what to do with your life state of life.

A week from today my parents will enter the MTC and will be off on a 3 year mission to Brazil. So okay, I know that I'm 28 years old, you don't need to remind me, and that my parents leaving shouldn't be such a big deal or such a hard thing for me, but it is. I'm going to blame it on being single, sorry but I am. I guess by being single I don't have anyone else but my parents, brothers, sister-in-law, and extended family. The family that I grew up in is my family...that's it. They are the most important people to me. And although I have pretty decent brothers that will be around and a great extended family it just won't be the same with my parents gone. I decided today that maybe what is so unsettling to me is that I'm losing my home base. I'm playing capture the flag but that safety zone of home base is gone for awhile and so I'm just running around in circles trying not to get slaughtered by the other team.

I realized too that I haven't been very good at keeping blog fans updated of what page I turned to in my Choose Your Own Adventure book. I guess I just got so busy lately that I forgot to mention that I did get some things figured out. Here's how things are scheduled to play out for the next few months. I took a leave of absence from work for most of the summer and am home spending a couple of weeks with my family before my parents leave. Then I'm off to Paraguay where I'll be doing some humanitarian work, some of which will hopefully count towards my practicum for my graduate program. Then on the way home from Paraguay I'll hop up to Brazil and visit the parents just to make sure they got settled in all right. I'll be in South America for 7 weeks and then will come back to SLC, hopefully find a place to live and will start school and work again in the Fall. So there you have it. I am excited for the summer and hope it will be AWESOME.

Welcome Home Tyler!

Yay! My little brother got home last night from serving an LDS mission in the Uganda Kampala mission. He served about one year in Uganda and one year in Ethiopia. We are so glad to have him home safe!...especially now that he is home and the real stories of how things really were are coming out.

I love watching when missionaries get home...especially when I actually know the person coming home. I have to admit...when I fly into the SLC airport and there is a family or two waiting for a missionary to come home, I always have to stop and watch while I'm waiting for my luggage to get on the luggage carousel. I know that I don't even know them and so maybe it is sort of weird to be excited when someone you don't even know comes home, but there is just a special feeling of a missionary returning from a mission well served.

So here are ton of pictures from last night for those of you who care and weren't there...

The crowd begins to gather...of course my family couldn't be normal and have normal sized balloons...we had to have the 3 footers...that's just how we are I guess

Lee entertains Grant while we wait... actually I think Grant entertained Lee



The crowd continues to gather...

Lee gets bored while waiting and begins to choke Kim...luckily security was close by

James is getting pumped to see Ty

Really pumped!

(even though he is too little to probably even remember Ty)

Kim and I are excited too!

The moment is getting closer...

WELCOME HOME!

Me and my little bro

3 brothers



3 more brothers...

and already staring to wrestle each other



Me, my Gma and my Madre

And it was my Grandma's 82nd Birthday...how fun!


Enjoy your 15 days of togetherness Ty, mom, and Dad!



Catching up


The Birthday Girl

Lee used his domestic skills to make Ty a cake

Lee is so excited to have his little buddy home (and to eat some cake!)

On Being Homeless...

I have to admit...I am kind of enjoying being homeless in a weird sort of way. I mean, don't expect me to be shooting up at Pioneer Park anytime soon, but there is something to this homeless thing. It is sort of liberating.

I don't worry anymore when I hear about how the housing market is going to pot or freak out when there is an article about how SLC is on a huge fault line and we are due for a big earthquake (because in my mind if that happened of course my house would be totally destroyed and I wouldn't have earthquake insurance so I'd lose every bit of equity in my house.) I just don't worry as much anymore...I'm like, "Bring it on." But then I guess as a homeless person you have other worries, like where you are going to sleep at night, who's garbage you are going to eat, etc.

I was looking back at my posts from the past few weeks which may make it seem that I'm sort of unstable and crazy lately (and I guess in some ways I am.) But although there have been big changes for me in the past few weeks and there are more big changes to come I'm not scared or sad about those changes even though they have been and will be hard. I'm looking forward to it like an adventure...and sort of laughing like a crazy person to keep myself from thinking too hard. So there you have it...I'm homeless and a little bit crazy, but hey, I'm really happy so don't judge me.

The Defect Disclaimer

I love Diesel Brand shoes.

Why?, you ask.

1)they are comfortable

2)they look cool and stylish (most of them anyway)

3)I can always seem to find them on sale...my cheapest pair was 13$...I know, WOW I am a shopper (would have been 3$ if I wouldn't have forgotten that 10$ off coupon I had, dang it!)

But the biggest reason I love Diesel shoes was one I was not aware of until I was throwing out one of the shoe boxes my Diesels came in and came across this little card in the box that said...

"ATTENTION! AS A PIONEER, DIESEL CONSTANTLY INNOVATES AND DELIVERS UNIQUE LEATHERS AND TEXTILES GOING THROUGH NON-TRADITIONAL TREATMENTS TO CREATE INVENTIVE CHARACTERISTICS ENSURING THAT NO TWO SHOES LOOK A LIKE AND NEVER-EVER LOOK LIKE ANY ONE ELSE'S. IT IS OUR NATURE TO CREATE INTENTIONAL COSMETIC IMPERFECTIONS AND ANY IRREGULARITIES ON OUR FINISHED PRODUCTS ARE INHERENT TO OUR BRAND AND ARE NOT A DEFECT."

Now I don't know why that little card made me love Diesels even more than I already did...I mean really, that is just the company's way of getting out of having shoes returned for small defects. They tell us, "defects are cool, they make you different...you should feel like a million bucks walking around in those shoes because thanks to those little defects we give you, your shoes are unlike any one else's shoes," even though the reason you bought them in the first place was to try to be just like everybody else...I know, ironic.

Also, I find it interesting that sometimes different is cool and other times different is just weird, like the guy I saw in SLC yesterday wearing bright MC Hammer pants and Crocks with socks...that wasn't cool, that was weird. But that is a whole other story and way off the subject.

So I know that this whole Diesel Disclaimer is just some big marketing ploy but I really like the idea. Reading that card made me think, 'What if every person came with a disclaimer? What if each of us were born with a little Disclaimer for Defects card attached to our umbilical cord or something?' I think it would be great if we did. It might say,

"ATTENTION! THIS LITTLE PERSON IS NOT GOING TO BE LIKE ANY OTHER PERSON IN THE WORLD. THIS PERSON COMES WITH INTENTIONAL COSMETIC IMPERFECTIONS AND IRREGULARITIES...THESE ARE NOT DEFECTS BUT ARE WHAT MAKES THIS PERSON UNIQUE. THIS PERSON MAY TURN OUT TO BE: FAT, SHORT, BALDING, BUCK-TOOTHED, AND/OR HAIRY...THAT'S OKAY, THESE ARE UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BRAND."

Now wouldn't that be nice. You could say to yourself, "Cool, I'm fat
(short, balding, buck-toothed, and/or hairy) but that is A-Okay because I'm unique and was created that way so that everyone wouldn't be Barbies and Kens..how boring would that be?!?"

Just something to think about since I have nothing else to write about just yet.