t h a n k f u l (times 7)

Seven things to be thankful for in no particular order... 1. We all got to Fortaleza safely and on time. We we're especially lucky to get Russell here on time (he came two days later then the rest of us) because he got delayed in Idaho Falls due to big time snow and fog. He was only supposed to have a 45 minute layover in Atlanta too, but luckily the flight out of Atlanta was delayed so he didn't miss it which was good since they only fly to Fortaleza every other day. And then on Russell's flight from Atlanta to Brazil some guy punched one of the flight attendants in the face so they almost had to emergency land in Miami but they decided to take him to Brazil to be arrested there instead. Haaaaa good luck getting a fair and fast trial in Brazil over the Christmas holiday!

2. And not only did we all make it safely and on time but so did ALL of our luggage (all 10 suitcases plus carry-ons)...even though we used my unlucky red luggage. I guess my luggage is only unlucky and gets lost when I really need what's in it and not when it contains things like tomato soup, Kleenex, and orange sticks.

3. And in all that luggage not one thing got broken or spilled of the 500 pounds of stuff we brought my parents. Not even the jars of dill pickles we brought...or the cocktail sauce, Christmas decorations, and other breakable things we packed. 4. And...I didn't even get busted by customs for bringing my mom and dad some milk, chocolate milk, sour cream, cheddar cheese, buttermilk, and cottage cheese. And everything stayed nice and cold in the cooler we packed. The only bad thing is that now they'll have to go through dairy withdrawals again. 5. Lee, Kim, Ty and I were on the first ever (as far as we know) direct flight from anywhere in the U.S. to Fortaleza, Brazil. We consider ourselves VERY lucky that they just added this direct flight. It saves us from having to fly all the way down to Southern Brazil from the U.S. and then all the way back up to Northern Brazil on a Brazilian airline as you used to have to do. That's about a 10 hour travel time savings (now it only takes about 18 hours) as well as about a 700 dollar savings. So yay for Delta! Before we left Atlanta they even had this big ribbon cutting ceremony for the inaugural flight. And then when we got to Fortaleza after landing they didn't pull to the gate immediately and then they got on the plane's intercom to tell us that it would be a few more minutes before we could go to the gate because they had to "baptize" our plane in honor of the inaugural flight. So we're sitting out on the tarmac and then a few firetrucks came out and doused the plane. It was pretty cool/funny. And then when we got into the airport they had this reception breakfast (see below) waiting for us. They had big dogs from Delta there all dressed up in formal wear as well as news reporters and people from the Fortaleza tourism board there to hand us each free beach bags, hats, and maps of Fortaleza. We would have felt like superstars except we were really tired and dirty from traveling.

6. I'm glad that I was able to get 195 little packages of candy from the U.S. (one for each of the missionaries in the Brazil, Fortaleza mission) made up from the candy I brought before my dad and brothers ate it all. It was quite a feat. We probably had close to 100 pounds of candy for the missionaries.

7. Thanks to my awesome new big fat carry-on that came with my luggage set I was even able to bring my mom a 220 volt, 6 quart crock pot. I've never before had a crock pot in my carry-on. I guess there's a first for everything!

t h a n k f u l

December 17, 2008... Today I am thankful that even though all of my clothes are ugly and I haven't been clothes shopping in FOREVER that I will just be with family in Brazil and won't have to worry about impressing anyone. It gives me less stress in packing...and I'm all about less stress lately.

Love...True Love...

You know love is true love when... You see someone (or something's faults) and still love them (or it). This weekend when I was in Idaho I was reminded that: 1) The roads are horrible there in the Winter. Especially the side roads. They don't plow or don't do it often enough because the roads stay covered in snow/slush longer than in Utah (or it may be because it is usually slightly warmer in Utah). Luckily usually people actually slow down, are courteous, and don't drive like idiots so we get by even with the bad roads. 2) The radio stations in SE Idaho are crappy and every time I'm home (in Idaho) I long for my Utah radio stations. Good thing I have my iPod. 3) Idaho Falls really is lacking on restaurants, big time. I notice this more ever since I sold my house and completely stopped cooking anything more complicated than Mac n' Cheese and ever since my mom moved to Brazil and I don't get her home cooking (although I do get Lee and Kim's home cooking quite often). BUT despite these three things that Idaho is lacking in I still LOVE Idaho. It is quiet there. It is peaceful. The only traffic is 17th Street at Christmastime and the Greenbelt on the 4th of July. My family is there. My extended family is there. People are nice. Life is a little slower. Life is a little less competitive (compare numbers of luxury cars in SE Idaho to SLC and you'll see what I mean...although Idaho guys do get pretty competitive with their trucks). Housing is cheaper in Idaho. I may even one day be able to buy another house. So it must be true love. I can see that Idaho is not perfect and yet I still love being there. Maybe part of it is just going where everybody (or at least somebody) knows my name...dum, dum, dum...and they're always glad I came (usually). I'm not intending this blog to turn into an Idaho Rocks Blog or anything. But I guess the worse things get for me here in Utah, the better Idaho seems. That's all.

t h a n k f u l (times 6)

I'm not doing a very good job in keeping up with my gratitude. But I can just keep trying. To catch up here are six things I'm grateful for (in no particular order).

1) I'm glad that my work is too cheap to have a work Christmas party. That way I won't do something foolish like Harvey (see below cartoon for details)...without the alcohol of course. I don't even need alcohol to do and say stupid stuff.

2) I am SO glad that I only have 30 hours of work left before going to BRAZIL for Christmas. I have never ever been so excited to have a break from work or to go to a foreign country. And other than my two mission Christmases I haven't ever spent Christmas outside of the USA so I'm excited for something different and am ready for some warm weather! And most of all I'm excited to see Al and Mil and to hang out as a whole family for the first time in six months.

3) I am grateful that I now have 7 of the 10 suitcases we are taking to Brazil packed. They'd better not lose our luggage this time or I'll be SUPER MAD since packing this stuff for Brazil has been the focus of my life for the past 2 months. And special thanks to Blog Leeches Myrlann and Aunt Ramona for your help in getting stuff together to go to Brazil...and to Russell, Lee, Kim and Ty too and anyone else I've forgotten to mention. Thank you, thank you.

4) I'm so glad that gas is cheaper than ever because I went to Idaho again this weekend...partially to get a couple more of the suitcases packed and partially for moral support (due to job stress) from my good brothers and sister-in-law and grandma.

5) And I also got a fabulous haircut from Audrey. I always feel better about myself after a haircut from Audrey. Partially because of the actual cutting of my greasy mullet and partially because of the talk that goes on during the haircuts. Many haircuts end in watching some little clip from Oprah, So You Think You Can Dance, or Dr. Phil...you know...whatever came up in conversation that day. Always therapeutic.

6) I'm glad for blogging. Because it too can be therapeutic (even if everyone who reads your blog thinks you are a bipolar weirdo because you write every little detail about everything and always give TMI...too much information). And I'm grateful for the friends that I otherwise wouldn't have or wouldn't know too well if it weren't for blogging (even if some of them are leeches). Love you all!

t h a n k f u l

December 10, 2008... Today I am thankful for WATER. I love water. It is my drink of choice. Pretty much everywhere I go my SIGG bottle full of water goes too. When I'm at a restaurant 99.9% of the time I order water. Not to be a cheapskate or health nut but because water really is my favorite beverage. Water is calorie free and usually costs nothing. Water is great. If Al Gore is right about this Global warming thing then we should have plenty of water in the near future with all the ice melting. California will probably be covered in it. But we'll have plenty to drink (yum, yum) as long as the temperature doesn't get too hot and it all evaporates. But if that happens then it will rain and we can gather the rain to drink (they do that in Australia even now). So either way I think we're all okay. Unless of course the world's population grows too fast...you know the human body is about 60% water. Good thing China has pretty strict population control. And...most of us are extremely blessed enough to have clean, running water in our houses, places of work, stores, churches, etc. We even have both hot and cold water. We don't have to walk long distances for water and then carry it back to where we live on our heads. We can take a hot shower. We can wash our clothes and dishes. We are so lucky. In places on the earth where people aren't so lucky they spend a big part of their days in the pursuit of water. Walking to get water, purifying water, and heating water. And if they don't have clean water they spend a lot of their time sick from waterborne illnesses. I'm glad that I have easy access to clean running water but I am also glad I've met people who don't...that way maybe I won't forget what a blessing it is. But if I do...there's always the occasional power outage to remind me. Yay for water!

t h a n k f u l (times 5)

I'm not ungrateful, just really busy, but I'm five days behind on gratitude so here's a list of five things I'm grateful for. Sorry for the gratitude overload. In no particular order... 1) GAS PRICES...Holy crappoly I paid $1.41 for 88 octane gas (that is usually considered mid-grade) this weekend when I was in Idaho. For some reason I think gas is cheaper in Idaho (probably because everything is better in ID) so I haven't seen prices that low in Utah, but hey, anything under 2 bucks is good as far as I'm concerned. So yay for China and India (and everybody else) cutting back on fuel usage big time. We need to get those guys to always cut back. 2) THE AWESOME NEW TREADMILLS WITH INDIVIDUAL TVs THEY JUST GOT AT MY GYM!...So now I can channel surf while working out. And since I don't have cable at home I now no longer will miss out on watching shows such as: Pregnant and Paralyzed, Mermaid Girl, shows about dwarfs, shows about fat people, shows where trashy people yell at each other, shows where people yell at each other while cooking, some wedding show with a host who looks like Sloth from the Goonies, cheesy Telenovelas (Soaps) in Spanish, ETC! I flipped through the channels a couple of times before I realized that watching Seinfield, Simpsons and Everybody Loves Raymond was my best bet for not feeling more stupid and sad for Americans everywhere then I did before starting my workout. SERIOUSLY, what is wrong with TV these days? But hey, I'm super grateful for the individual TVs on the treadmills. 3) I'M GRATEFUL THAT THIS WEEKEND I WAS ABLE TO GET 3 OF THE 10 SUITCASES WE ARE TAKING TO MY PARENTS IN BRAZIL PACKED. Yay for me! This weekend I was thinking about how much fun it is to bring my parents stuff from the US and how much easier it is to shop for my parents for Christmas now that literally to them a can of Campbell's Tomato Soup could be a legitimate and appreciated stocking stuffer...and I started to wonder why it seems so much fun to pack all this stuff for them (even though I'm super busy and stressed with school, work, finding a new place to live, finding a new job, etc.) And then I realized...in some way taking stuff to my parents in Brazil feels almost like sneaking contraband to someone in prison and sneaking equals exciting. No offense to Brazil or anything but life there is different and they are missing a lot of staple foods, like chocolate chips for example. And although I can't change the reality my parents being in Brazil for 2 and a half more years it sort of feels like sneaking them contraband in the form of peanut butter, root beer extract, taco seasoning, marshmallows, cheddar cheese, and American candy, is the best thing I can do to help make their stay more comfortable and fun. 4) IDAHO. Need I say more? Okay, I will. I LOVE Idaho. I went there this weekend to visit Lee, Kim, Russ, my Grandma and others, and let me just tell you...the second I crossed over the border the headache I'd had for the past week went away, I suddenly stopped grinding my teeth, I felt excited about life, etc! In Idaho I have: no job, no school, no stress, no hate (just love and peace), lots of family...it is wonderful! I'm just a different person when I'm in ID. Oh how I miss it. And now thanks to number 1 on today's gratitude list I'll be able to afford to go to ID a whole lot more! Yay for recessions! 5) THOSE NEW PEPPERCORN RANCH SUNCHIPS. They are delicious. Basically it is like Cool Ranch Doritos breeds with Original (plain) Sunchips and now we have one more yummy snack.

t h a n k f u l

December 4, 2008... Today I am grateful that: a) Tomorrow is FRIDAY (because work is dragging me down into the pit of misery and endless woe) and... b) Due to the awesome skills I developed as a youngster, by messing around with the Microsoft Paint program for hours on end, I was able to fuzz out the full male frontal nudity on the above cartoon so my blog can stay at a PG-13 rating...just bad enough to stay interesting but good enough you can watch it (or read it) with your mom.