eric and lissa

"Sin Oro Se Vive, Sin Agua Se Muere!"

2012-02-11T16:29:00.000-08:00

This weekend I attended a very large march/rally in Lima against the planned Conga mine project in Cajamarca. If you are a close follower of our Blog (and why wouldn't you be?), you will recall that I showed some political graffiti I have seen around town, including a "Conga no va" piece. Well, this rally was all about the same Conga project. While the recently-elected president campaigned on the promise not to support the project, now that he is in office he has changed his position, angering much of his rural base. The governor of the Cajamarca region is against it.

The $4.8billion project, proposed by Denver-based Newmont Mining, would be the largest gold mining projects in the world, and according to their website, it is expected to bring in up to 680,000 oz of gold and up to 235 million pounds of copper per year the first five years. With gold above $1,500/oz, and copper about $4/pound, potential anual income from the mine would be well over $2billion/year (and precious metal prices are only going up).

Newmont also runs the world's most profitable gold mine, Yanacocha, which is located near the proposed Conga site. There is a long history of problems with the Yanacocha mine operation, including spilling mercury over 25km of road, contaminated water, and the Newmont company lying about their environmental controls. Here is a link to a short NY Times piece (it is 2 parts, about 30 min. total), that deals with the Yanacocha mine, and gives some idea as to why the locals are so skeptical that "this time it will be different": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OdJ9eRv_LY&feature=related

Newmont, and the government officials who support the Conga project, say that it will bring many jobs and infrastructure development to the region. Newmont currently has, and presumably would increase, a number of community education and health projects paid for by mining revenues. I have heard a number of advertisements on the radio detailing all the benefit that the Conga project would bring. Despite the billions reaped by Newmont from the Yanacocha project, and the community projects paid for by a portion of these revenues, Cajamarca has one of the lowest rates of families with access to potable water in Peru, a country that comes in 14th out of 18 Latin American countries for access to clean water, with well under 50% of families having access. Many locals say that not only have they seen many problems that come with mining, but they also have not seen the promised benefits.

It is also important to remember, of course, that these metals are so valuable because we buy them. Gold is used in the circuitry of our fancy electronic devices, and copper wire is in all of our homes.

But back to the march. It actually started a week ago when groups from Cajamarca, and other areas in both the north and south of the country, began heading to Lima. The rally in the capitol marked the culmination of these mobilizations. I don't know exactly how many attended, but one of the local papers I read today said that the march stretched more than 10 blocks. I would guess perhaps 5,000+ people.

So I don't know if you read all that, but here are some pictures:

Peru's Communist Party, along with a number of other leftist parties, were out in force.

I thought these baby protest signs were great. I don't know what "calajo" means. (any of you Spanish-speakers out there know?). The bottom of the posters basically says "respect my future!"

While I was there a load of folks pulled up in this truck (it was also filled with people inside). I don't know where they were coming from, but there were people arriving from all over the country.

These were some of my other favorite signs. On top it says " Christ: The First Revolutionary", and on the bottom, "Where There Is Injustice, There Is Revolution!". He looks serious in that picture. Maybe that is a rendering from when he was tossing over the money-changer's tables?

The march was made up of groups that had organized together to have their own signs, matching clothes, music, chants, themes, etc. There were groups representing political parties, student organizations, regional contingents, women's groups, unions, etc. It was very colorful, with lots of music and high energy.

Just a look down the street.

The police where also out in force, although everything went off without incident, as far as I know.

A women's group, with a super-cute girl out in front. How could I not add a picture of that?!

Some groups certainly added a dramatic element to the march. The supreme court building is in the background.

The march ended at Plaza San Martin, which is a center for political activity here. As the march arrived groups slowly trickled in, some of them had music and street theater acts planned out that they performed for the crowds. This guy is wearing springy mini-stilts, and was jumping around like crazy. The monkey-guys were flipping and rolling all around, too.

At the plaza a large stage had been set up for a post-march rally.

And just so you don't think I'm all business, I did enjoy some of the copious street food options that were available at the event. This is higado, which Dictionary.com defines as: "liver, glandular organ of vertebrate animals which secretes bile and purifies the venous blood." Well, served with yuca, lettuce and super-spicy salsa, it tasted better than it sounds. That plate I have in front of me cost about $.35. Over the course of the afternoon I actually ate two...and some chifa (Peruvian version of Chinese food)...and ice cream...and a cup of jello...and a flaky baked apple treat...and a glass of chicha (a sweet purple drink made from corn). I love street food.

Legwarmers or BUST!

2012-02-08T19:11:00.000-08:00

Me and the ladies have been talking about seeing this local band called the Legwarmers for quite some time. They are an 80's cver band and their shows sell out pretty promptly. We found out they were playing in Richmond (which is just 1.5 hours away) so we started making plans. The day before the big show we call to buy tickets and realize they are sold out. Oh well, that didnt stop us, we just figured we would continue as planned and see what happened. Besides we had a super nice place to stay with a hot tub (thanks to rachel's friend ana), so if all else filed we could just soak in some hot water.

Well one problem after another delayed our departure (late meetings, traffic, hunger, costume changes) we finally showed up at the show two hours after the doors opened and after the legwarmers had already started, still no tickets in hand. We mentioned the great effort we went through to get there to the security man at the front of the show and he whispers to us to meet him next door in the basement of a bar in 5 minutes, with $80. $20 for each of us. No questions asked, we did it and he lead us through some back hallways and a few stairways and then we pop into "the National" in a back door. we were $20 short so he followed us to the ATM and we withdrew and then crumpled the bill in hand and stealthily handed it over. Finally, we made it! and boy was it worth it!

We were dancing and singing and moving to the groove, for 2 hours straight!

fully decked out in our home-made legwarmers

and here they are! they rocked our world it was as if we went to a live show and all the great's were there. Prince, Micheal Jackson, The Cure, Madonna, The Boss... and many many more.

and the crowd was also just as exciting to see. there was not a person there that didnt at least have a a headband or big brightly colored plastic jewelry, or a mustache and EVERYONE knew all the words to the songs. the energy was electric! I even lost my voice a bit from screamin and singing all night.

The next day we decided, rather spontaneously, to go to the beach! we were so close to the ocean and we figured it would be nice to get some salty air in our lungs.

look closely, there is a massive flock of starlet birds that were moving and turning and flowing all across the sky. it was surreal.

and finally, for your listening and viewing pleasure... the legwarmers.

Some Daily Lima Sites, and Tastes

2012-02-06T12:36:00.000-08:00

As the rabble have been clamoring for more updates from the Southern Hemisphere, I have added a few pictures of some sites from Lima. In all honesty, I really don't do too much here that is noteworthy, so I have not included a great variety of pictures. But you will take what I give you!

Good, fresh seafood is one of the benefits of living near the ocean. This is a plate of ceviche mixta, which included quite a few unidentifiable (at least to me) seafood items, not least of which was the tentacled creature skewered on my fork in the photo. Ceviche is a national dish (at least in this part of the country), and typically made with fresh fish soaked, sometimes very briefly, in lemon juice with onions and other spicy things. Here it usually comes with sides of corn cooked in odd ways and sweet potatoes. Very tasty.

On one of my first weekends here I visited a museum of the Inquisition. As the Catholic church dominated the region politically and financially for some time, there were officials tasked with ferreting out undesirables and heretics, and speeding up the process of them meeting their maker, presumably to burn for the rest of eternity in torment. This mannequin above is adorned in the outfit worn by those condemned to be publicly burned at the stake. You can see part of this scene being played out in the picture on the wall in the background. I think the frowny devil on the hat is a particularly nice touch.

Here is one of the many torture devices employed to make sinners confess their sins, such as being Protestant, or brown. Although it must be difficult to speak while being choked by a rope.

With this creative method, the heretic would be pulled several meters in the air, and then dropped to the stone floor bellow, repeated ad nauseam. Say what you want about the Catholics, but they took their religion seriously, and they were creative in how they did it, too!

Walking around the center of town one afternoon I cam across puppy alley. Here dozens of people come to hawk their wares, which consist of adorable puppies, kittens and bunnies in cardboard boxes, plastic crates and shopping bags. Won't Lissa be surprised when she finds that we are now owners of no less than 4 adorable puppies, 5 1/2 precious little kittens (don't ask), and between 4 and 6 rabbits (it changes day to day). I have yet to tell the family I am living with that I have them, and I think they are beginning to get suspicious of the noises (and smells) that emanate from my room at all hours. But how could I say 'no'?!

I have also seen quite a bit of political graffiti around town, which I always find interesting. This one has to do with a current proposed gold mining project, the Conga mine, in Cajamarca, and basically says 'no to Conga'. The Peruvian economy is built on mining, and the last 20 years have seen impressive economic growth. That said, the benefits have not trickled down to the communities who are most impacted by the projects. The current government of Ollanta Humala was recently elected as a leftist alternative to recent administrations, so his constituents were not happy when he decided to move forward with the project. There have been mass demonstrations and public outcry coming from the president's support base. He had called in federal troops to quel some of the unrest, and talks about moving forward on what could be the world's largest gold mine in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. But many of the locals are not buying it. I am not sure what is up with the hat on the skeleton, though. Sort of looks Jewish, doesn't it?

As in much of Latin America, there has been a deification of Che in popular culture among the left here. I thought this one was pretty good. Not sure what the rat running up the light post on the right is about.

"No to the Mafia dynasty!" These are the Fujimories. The father, Alberto (center), was president from 1990 to 2000, despite the single-term limit placed on presidents here. He came to power during a tumultuous time when the economy was going crazy (not in a good way, either, as inflation had reached over 7,500% during the previous administration!), and the Sendero Luminoso, a maoist insurgency group, was wreaking havoc in the countryside. Fujimori's policies straightened out the economy and brought a sense of security to the country, but with a high price. He was actually the first Latin American former head of state to be extradited for trial and found guilty of human rights violations committed while in office: illegal search and seizure (6 year sentence); human rights abuses including murder and kidnappings (25 year sentence); embezzlement (7 1/2 year sentence); and bribery (6 year sentence). It should be noted that even as he was being tried for these crimes many Peruvians still supported him, as they gave him credit for bringing stability and security to their country. His daughter, Keiko (on the bottom left), lost a tight race for president to Humala last year. It was widely thought that if she won she would pardon her father. In real life they are much thinner than these caricatures suggest. And I am not sure who is on the bottom right.

This quote. "and my word is the law", is from the last president, Alan García. He actually served a first term from 1985-90, and was in charge when that out-of-control inflation and guerilla movement were really taking off. The first time he was a huge leftist, but his most recent administration saw a major shift to the center-right. The economy boomed during his second term, and Peru weathered the global economic downturn pretty well. Inequality and a lack of improvement in the living situation for Peru's rural poor (of which there are many) is a black mark on their economic gains, though, and threatens future prospects for certain projects, like the Conga mine mentioned above. While the projects may be forced through, it will be at the expense of major civil disturbance and the ignoring of local demands. Not good.

And finally, a more positive bit of graffiti, loosely translated to something like 'butterflies putting up a fight!'

My first week here there was a ward trip ti the Lima temple, which I attended with the mother and father of the family I am staying with. This is a rare building that actually feels much smaller inside than it looks from the outside. It was a nice visit.

Eric Arrives in Lima

2012-01-26T21:41:00.000-08:00

I got into Lima about two weeks ago, and after a few transition days (that is what I will call the time I spent in a hostel with a crunchy French guy who wore clown pants on a regular basis, for real), I got settled into things. Turns out Lima is HUGE, like 9 million people huge, which is about as many people as live in all of Bolivia! Consequently, I have only seen a very small part of Lima, and from what I understand I live and work in the nicest part, which means it is easy to stay here and not see much Lima outside of the Miraflores district or neighboring Barranco. But so far it has been enough to keep my interest, and besides, there is time.

I have done some walking around, though, including to the historic center of town, a bus ride away. This is some government building, I'm not sure which. Looks like it could be in any European city.

There is also a very new, very wealth side of Lima, with some real money in my part of the city. These apartments overlook the ocean, and are located across the street from Larco Mar, a stylish mall with its own TGI Fridays and Dunkin' Doughnuts among other things. Lima is not a cheap city to live in, and you can see it in this part of town. It really does feel like you could be in any big city anywhere in the western-world sometimes.

It is also a place with its own long and unique history, which is even still visible in a few places. In my first few days here I visited the pre-Incan ruins of Huaca Pucllana, located right in the center of Miraflores. A number of artifacts and graves have been found at the site, along with clues about how the ocupants lived and traded. This 6-hectare site (2.47 acres=1 hectare) used to be some 18 hectares, but was built over by Peruvian governments who saw more value in the site as a piece of real estate tan as a cultural heritage site. Even today, as evidenced by the construction crane nearby in the background, real estate in this area is at a premium.

Lima sits on the shores of the Pacific, which brings such benefits as as a comfortable ocean breeze throughout the summer, plentiful seafood, great sunsets every night, and apparently good surfing. It is hard o see in this picture, but there are a number of specks in the water to the right of the pier, which are just a few of the surfers who can be found every day along the shores of Lima. Much of the city sits on a bench above the water, so this picture is taken from a long park that runs along the edge of the rim for several miles.

The beaches close to Miraflores are more rocky and not great for swimming, like this one here. Not a problem for surfers, however. You can see the city in the background up to the left. The beaches stretch up and down the Peruvian coast as far as you can imagine. All the kids are out of school right now for summer vacation, so the water is a popular place to be found on warm afternoons. (Although I was plesantly surprised at how mild the weather is here. Local complain about how warm it is when it hits the mid-80s. Most days it is in the high-70s to low-80s, with lows in the mid-60s. It can be a little humid, but the mild temperatures and the regular breeze make it all very reasonable. And you all know how I like to keep it......reasonable.)

Not everything in town is well put together, however. his apartment appears to be missing a roof. I included it just because I thought it was kind of pretty, with the blue sky coming through windows where usually you would only have black or grey.

Check out this picture! What a mind-freak! (or maybe just a little interesting?)

After work I walk a few blocks to the Malecón, the long park that runs along the rim above the ocean, and watch the sun set. Of course watching the sun set by yourself is sad, but I can't help it, because it is a pretty kind of sad.

This is along the Malecón as well, where there are always families walking together, kids skateboarding and long-boarding, people biking and running, and sometimes hippies drumming or doing yoga.

Twin Peaks: The End Of An Era

2012-01-25T19:11:00.000-08:00

for a number of months we had been getting together with our friends Rachel and Katie as part of a Twin Peaks viewing group. For those of you not familiar with the show it is produced by David Lynch (of Eraserhead and Mullholand Drive fame. He even has his own adjective: Lynchian, which basically means crazy-ass weird, as far as I understand it (that is an adjective, right?)), and takes place in the very early 90s in the small mountain town of Twin Peaks, and is actually filmed in Snoqualmie, WA, up in our beautiful Cascade mountains. Neither Rachel or Katie had seen it when we first started, and although Lissa and I had, it was a long time ago, so much of it felt new to us. Generally one household would offer to host, and they would be in charge of dinner for the evening. It got a little tough to fit in viewing times around finals, and we actually had to take a month-long break around Christmas time, with just a few episodes remaining, letting the anticipation build!

These pictures are from our final viewing, when we watched the final four episodes at a single go. As part of the evening festivities we all dressed up as a character from the show. For this evening Julia and Carl (our house-mates) joined us for a great dinner prior to the viewing. It was sad to see it end, but what a memorable ending it is! Even my mother, who must have seen a few episodes 20 years ago can still quote you the final line of the whole series. It was a show for older sisters (Lissa's and mine), and was really quite scary for younger, sensitive siblings. I remember hiding my sister's sound track cassette because it creeped me out so much. (Sorry Alena).

Proper couch positioning is key for a viewing. Generally it is better to all be on the same couch if at all possible, so when Killer Bob comes out each person has someone to grab on to, and doesn't feel so exposed. Of course the lights are all off for the real viewing, but for photos..

Here is Katie doing her best Audrey Horn, which is no easy task. For those of you not familiar with the show, Audrey has this crazy dance she is know for to viewers. It really is hard to replicate, as you have to look like you are thinking really hard about something else really far away, most probably about an imaginary lover, and you have to sort of sway-dance to heroine rock, which always seems to be on the top of the stack of the jukebox at the local R&R Diner. Not bad, Katie, not bad at all!

This was one of Katie's earlier potential costumes, the truck-driving Leo Johnson (she and Rachel dug through Lissa's and my clothing looking for suitable outfits. So yes, that is my shirt, my boots, my hat, and even my pony tail! I think she felt way too weird to pull it off for the entire evening).

Rachel, as you might have guessed, is the Log Lady. As she was dressing upstairs she Julia called up, who then ran back down and out the front door. She came back a few minutes later with some unidentified woody debris in her hands. It was lucky there was any sort of log laying around at all, I suppose, as these DC streets are woefully empty of usable odds and ends. You can't just find a hunk of wood lying around out here like you can Bellingham!

You may have asked yourself why/how Katie was wearing my ponytail, and rightfully so. Turns out I am the most dedicated Twin Peaker of the whole group, so dedicated in fact that I was willing to cut off all my hear and cut off the full beard in order to get into costume. (The hair was shortly mailed off to Locks for Love. I like to imagine some little spazzy kid running around with red popsicle smudged all over their face, causing problems with my hair on their head!). But back to the evening..You can imagine how disappointed I was, then, after going to such great lengths to get into character, to have my viewing mates act as if they had no idea who I was dressed as! You look at the picture bellow, and you tell me it isn't spot-on. I defy you to do it!

Okay, I don't have a gun, but what you can't see in this picture is that the Canadian Mounty turned drug-smuggler is wearing a colorful, patterned wool sweater as well. A truly under appreciated Twin Peaks character!

And finally for the coup de gras, Lissa as the ever-present Owl. Playing a prominent, if mysterious role throughout the series, the Owl is a recurring theme, which Lissa, if she doesn't mind me saying so publicly, embodied exquisitely. The most attractive owl I have ever seen, don't you think?

I know Lissa always puts pictures of food up, so this is for her. It was super-good though, for reals. Thanks to Julia and Carl for playing a big role with the dinner part! There were two different kinds of curry, potstickers and rice. Super yummy.

And here is the cherry pie Lissa made in honor of the show's most favorite dessert (as we can not call the doughnuts they eat constantly dessert, since they eat them all-day, every-day). Please note the special symbols carved into the crust, once again, surely more meaningful to viewers of the show.

Christmas Time in Spokane

2012-01-22T11:15:00.000-08:00

Lissa has entrusted me with updating the blog, as I have the computer (and photos) for the time being. I can't promise these are the photos she would have picked, or it is what she would have written (in fact, I can say with near certainty that it is not what she would have done), but all the same, it was what you are getting.

For Christmas break we were went back to the beautiful Inland Northwest, Spokane. All my siblings were there, which made for a small house, and a fe arguments (pretty standard). But it also meant that we could all be together for the first time in quite a while, and the last time for quite a while as well, which is important. After I finished writing my final papers for school (which included several all-night sessions, including one where mom stayed up until about 7am with me to edit a paper (your the best, mom!)) there was a lot of frisbee golfing among the boys, taking walks, and Spokane's First Night for new years downtown, and probably too much football watching. I don't know why, but I don't have any pictures from most of the things we actually did.

Here is Adam decorrating the tree, which is always left to Christmas eve evening. This year a friend of mom's brought an extra tree they had, which robed us of the tradition of driving around town. or walking around in the forest near the house looking for anything that will due, which more than once has been a tree rescued from a closed tree lot. And of course, there were the candles and candies on the tree. Wouldn't be Christmas without it.

The most normal looking of all the family photos we took. For some reason as he gets older my father becomes increasingly less able to allow a normal picture of him be taken. This one must have been taken before he had a chance to pretend to stick his finger in his nose, or give somebody rabbit ears, or pretend to be eating my mother's face (all real-life examples of the other pictures taken that night). Every time I look at this and see Adam's expression it makes me chuckle.

Lissa took a snowshoe hike to the top of Mount Spokane with our friend Rachel and her father, Jeff. I was in a mood so I didn't go, but it looked like it was fun.

Lissa showing a frosty tree, I suppose.

At the top of the mountain taking a hot dring break. Ladies, was it hot chocolate or tea?

And a nice panorama from somewhere near the top I am guessing, with Rachel cut in half on the side. Sorry Rachel.

We also went out with Rachel to The Viking for a little shuffleboard and free stale popcorn. It really is quite a place. There was some fierce competition, especially as we began to hone our skills over the course of the evening. It is all about the PSC - Puck Speed Control.

Lissa giving it the ol' college try, and me trying to get in her head.

Rachel showing off the fruits of what would appear to be superior PSC. She did actually clean up the first game.

I love being an aunt part 2

2011-12-20T20:27:00.000-08:00

This last summer while i was in cololrado, eric, ches and I took the boys and Ann camping. We drove about an hour into wyoming to Veadavoo, one of our favorite close by places to camp.

The kids enjoyed being away from their parents and were a bit more wacky than usual.

we found some caves and puttsded around in them. using our headlamps for the extra dark and scary ones

Chesley and Anne found a strawberry plant up high and picked them.

it wouldnt be camping without marshmellows and smores. I have to admit, i let these kids eat more sugar than i wouldve if they were my kids. But thats whats so great about being an aunt, i dont have to enforce rules. We made some crazy lasagna mush a mix of dehydrated camp food and macaroni mix, and the boys loved it.

eric loves marshmellows too

we stayed up pretty late around the campfire and then playing uno in the tent.

i think we stayed up 4 hours passed Anne's bedtime and she was definately starting to get giddy around midnight.

the next morning we climbed around on the rocks before we came home. it was lots of fun. here we are trying to push over this rock, but to no avail. We had a lot of fun and i hope we can have more opportunities to share the things that i love with my neices and nephews.

Come all ye faithful

2011-12-20T12:35:00.000-08:00

There are many lighted festivities all around DC. We only made it to a couple of the events, but it helped get me into the spirit of christmas. I have also been listening to Christmas music since the day after Thanksgiving, much to eric's dismay. The music just makes me so warm and happy, i cant help it.... it makes me want to sing and dance and reminds me of the very strong presence of Christmas that was in my home growing up... all 25 days of December and even into january and february, as our tree tended to stay up until valentines day often. So while eric was slaving away over his final papers and group projects/presentations, debates and conferences, i was off soaking up as much of the joy of Christmas as i could.

This is the nativity at the DC temple. Eric and went there one Sunday evening to see all the lights and to hear an emmy award winning violinist, Jenny oaks baker, play christmas carols. There are live music performances at the temple visitor center every day of December. It was really neat, but there were just tons of people there. Tour buses were riding up to the temple and there were lines around the visitor center to see the music, the tree, the nativity and the Creche (nativities from around the world)

There is a Christmas tree at the White house with 50 small trees that are decorated by each state. This is Colorado's tree.

here is the white house tree, it is kinda short and stubby because the usual christmas tree got knocked over in the hurricane this last summer. Obama mentioned its short stubbiness at the lighting of the tree, saying "just like America, it needs to grow and reach its fullest potential"

These are my lovely freinds Katy and Rachel that went with me to see the tree and later we went to the Willard Hotel to hear a choir sing christmas carols.

This is the tree inside the Willard Hotel, which is a very famous and historic hotel. apparently the term lobbyist came from this hotel when passed presidents were living here and folks would hang out in this very lobby to talk with him.

I also went to The National Botanical Gardens where they have an amazing Christmas exhibit of model trains that run through a miniature DC, all buildings made of plant materials. rocks, shells, leaves, sticks and bark were all the details of this amazing replica of the capitol building. This was probably one of my favorite events. Also the Botanic Gardens are impressive every other day of the year, so they are even more spectacular with lights and poinsettas everywhere.

Big turkey in the Big Apple

2011-12-19T14:16:00.000-08:00

well, since we dont have any family up here on the east coast, we decided to take our extra couple days off and visit the big apple. We headed up on the bus after work on wednesday. We were fortunately able to stay at one of erics friends' house, even though they werent there. We had 4 days there and we made sure to see all the sites and be good tourists.

We started our thanksgiving morning with a stop at the Macy State Parade. It was exciting for all of 5 minutes, and then we got bored so we headed to Rockefeller Center.

30 Rock is one of our favorite shows so it was fun to see the place where it is filmed. The big christmas tree wasnt quite set up yet but the ice skating rink was there. Eric refused to skate with me because he didnt see the point of humiliating oneself in front of an hundred people. He's not a great skater apparently.

I was alarmed to see so many stores open and people shopping on thanksgiving day. It was like a pre black friday black thursday. It made me sad because all the people who have to work at those stores dont get to spend the day with their families. I just hope they are making time and a half.

Next we went to Central Park and walked around for an hour or so. It was nice to be in nature... sortof.. in the middle of the big city. The park was very colorful with fall colors and tons of people out walking around.

There were a couple ponds throughout the park with canoes and lots of swans geese and ducks.

we then walked around looking for a place to get our big turkey dinner. We found a nice deli that had thanksgiving dinner for a very reasonable price. So here we are eating our turkey and gravy and mashers and sweet potatoes and roasted veggies and cranberry sauce and rolls on styrofoam plates and with plastic cutlery. classy, and DElicious

We were walking down Broadway and just happened to stumble across the LDS temple, right there in the middle of Manhattan. It was kinda neat, and still it felt a little out of place. Right across the street was the Lincoln Center and the CNN office was just blocks away.

Times Square... woah, the voltage coming off these screens was impressive, and rather wasteful.

It wouldnt be a trip to New York with out a stop in Coney island and a hot dog from the world famous Nathan's.

This is where the hotdog eating contest takes place. the dogs werent half bad either.

Coney Island

sunset at the beach at coney island

We saw an off-broadway play, Freuds Last Session. It was a ficitonal meeting between Sigmond Freud and CS Lewis, an atheist and devout Christian respectively. It was thought provoking, there was crying, blood gas masks and bomb threats, it was funny and moving at times. It reminded me of the numerous midnight conversations i have been having with my atheist housemates.

One thing i love about New York is the Subway and public transportation system. We were staying in Brooklyn and we got everywhere we needed to in a snap.

We also stopped at the MOMA where i saw some of my favorite pieces of art, including an exhibit by Diego Rivera which was a special treat because i have never seen his work in real life, being that most of his pieces are murals that are attached to the walls which they were painted on. I wish we would've had another day to visit, there were three other floors we didn't see

We stayed in Williamsburg in Brooklyn which is traditionally a Hessidic Jewish Community. It kinda felt like we were in another country in that everything was written in Hebrew and folks were wearing the traditional orthodox clothing, and speaking yiddish. I had just read "My name is Asher Lev" (excellent book) which is set in this same community and it felt extra special to be in the setting of the book that i had just read.

a sampling of DC

2011-11-20T17:13:00.000-08:00

Well, we have been here now for at least two months and have so far enjoyed our time. we have already made many friends and seen many of the sights. We both are busy throughout the week with school for eric (which requires alot of time studying) and work as a nanny for me. at the end of the day we are both pretty beat and dont have too much time or energy to go out and have fun, but we have found time here and there. I have sat and sunday off so i usually go places on saturday, however eric is usually in class so he doesnt get to come with me. Sunday is our only day off together, so we try to go see the parks and natural places (there arent a ton but there are some nice ones) here on sundays.

here we are playing soccer with some of eric's colleagues at the national monument last weekend. It was actually a lot of fun, so much so that it lasted for more than 3 hours

i have seen quite a bit of art, and yet there are still so many more galleries and museums for em to see. this peice was particularly impressive and i saw it at the corcoran museum.

Rock Creek park is not too far from our house so we have been there a few times, especially to check out the fall colors changing. while on a off trail walk we found this old headstone, the date says 1888! its pretty impressive how much history is in this area.

The occupy DC movement has been happening right outside of where eric goes to school so we have had the opportunity to join in and check it out sometimes.

eric went to a rally the other night, which is pretty typical in DC, someone is always protesting something, so its fun to be a part of it

at the rally

10 year High School Reunion

2011-11-20T16:52:00.000-08:00

This summer marked the ten year anniversary of my graduation as a lambkin from fort collins high school. Ches was our senior class president which meant that she was in charge of arranging the reunions, and since i am her trustworthy side-kick, that meant i would be having a hand in the event planning. It was turning out pretty well as we were planning it, we set up a website complete with a survey and a paypal link where people could buy their tickets. all this was done while i was in bolivia and ches was in hawaii, so completely via the interweb, we did ALL of our contacting through facebook and surprisingly found almost 75% of our graduating class. we did not have quite the enthusiasm that we were hoping for, which was reflected in our ticket sales, and almost had to cancel the whole thing. long story short, the show went on but was a much scaled down show with lame music and not a very high attendance. I did get to see a couple of my favorite high school girl friends, mandy, courtney, ashley and alana. for some reason not one of my good guy friends came, which was rather disheartening, especially because i knew they were in town. all in all the evening was... well... it felt like high school. i didnt make or keep many friends from high school, and i partially blame it on my non high school boyfriend.
the low attendance might have something to do with facebook, most people know "where are they now" and dont need to come to see old friends to have somewhat meaningless chat about what someone is up to these days. Eric spent most of the night at the door hanging out with my mom, he is not a big fan of small talk with strangers. It was a great opportunity to dress up and where my fabulous bolivian custom made dress however. and chesley also looked great!

revisit of our spokane visit

2011-11-20T16:07:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a few months but i was looking through my pictures and noticed i hadn't posted a few significant events yet. One being our visit to spokane in August which included a pretty epic camping/fishing trip to Kelly Creek in Northern Idaho with all the Robison kids and dad.

my third cast i caught this little guy! I was pretty excited.

We went for a nice walk up the creek and found a swimming hole with a rock for jumping off. This is eric and adam jumping at the same time while david and I wait on the side.

The water was ice cold so here are varying degrees of submergance by the robisons three

Here is the whole crew with the gorgeous idaho valley behind us. This is the area where "a river runs through it" was filmed

there were many a swimming holes but this particular one was practically perfect in every way with its tall cliff and fallen tree as a diving board, and very deep pool below. nice slow water as well.

Tom showing us how to swan dive! a perfect 10!

and the master fisherman catching one last fish before we head out

we did have some minor setbacks with just two flat tires involving hitchiking and towtrucks and lost fathers, but nothing too extreme

it was a catch and release area but one of the fish we released didnt make it so we figured we should bring it home and eat it. It was my job to gut it and clean it, mostly because was the one so adamant about us bringing ti hoe to eat it. we had it with eggs for breakfast the next morning and it was delicious

while in spokane we enjoyed all the many things the lovely town has to offer. we went on many bike rides thorugh downtown spokane, walks along the river, disc golfing in manito park, and rock climbing at minnehaha park

niether one of us has been climbing in a long time but we both have enough gear and enough experience between the two of us to make it happen.

we didnt do so great but we really enjoyed ourselves, and the weather was just right!

eric's lovely mother milena came to pick us up when we were finsihed because erics bike tire popped on the way there. then i decided i would ride home on my bike while they drove, and my tire went flat... so they truned aorund to pick us up. not alot of luck with tires on this trip... but we definately enjoyed our time visiting the robison's.

the Capitol

2011-10-30T08:01:00.000-07:00

We have been here in Washington DC now for almost two months and boy has the time flown by. We have already moved once in that time but are hoping to to stay where we are now for atleast 9 more months. We were living in the suburbs in Alexandria but the commute was sometimes two hours to go 12 miles and it was really taxing our relationship (not getting to spend much of the little time we have together) Eric is really busy with school. So busy that i rarely get to spend time with him seeing all the amazing things there are to see here. I have a job as a nanny on capitol hill. The little one year old is adorable and we get to go to nearby parks, or we can even go visit the Smithsonian museums or the Capitol building. So far we have found a few little natural wonders to keep us sane in such a metropolitan area. We went to the National great Falls park which is real near by and went for a hike along the Potomac river. That was quite nice and the leaves were just starting to change. Last weekend i went to Rock Creek Park which is kinda like a Central Park right in the middle of the city. It is gorgeous with all the fall colors and the creek running through the middle. Unfortunately we dont have a camera right now so i dont have any pictures to show.

This is a picture i found online of great falls national park

and this is a picture i found of rock creek national park, just to give you an idea of the beauty.

These are the last pictures that we took with our camera before it but the dust. This is the inside of the capitol building looking up at the dome. It still amazes me to see this building way off in the distance when i amm riding my bike to work or as i come up over a hill and catch a glimpse of it. It is quite an impressive building and there is a city ordinance that no building can be taller than it so you can see it from almost anywhere in town.

In the capitol each state has a sculpture of some man that represents their state. Utah of course has Brigham Young.

Washington State has Marcus Whitman, one of the only ones not wearing a suit and tie.

in our nation's capitol

2011-10-02T19:57:00.000-07:00

well we made it to fort collins alright but then our car was having some problems. we took it in and it was gonna cost more than it is worth to fix it so we decided to sell it... but eric had to get to DC in time for his graduate school so he left in a plane and i stayed behind to try to sell the car.... and help my mom with remodel her bathroom. well turns out we have a great family friend that was able to fix it at a reasonable price (thank goodness for connections in the church) and we fixed it up and i drove... by myself.. across middle america to DC. I was so anxious to see eric that i just put on the audiobook, "the Help" and drove 24 hours straight through the night. slept for 3 hours in a mcdonalds parking lot and then kept driving. I stopped in erie pennsylvania to see a friend from bolivia and surprised eric when i drove up at 11pm that night.
eric has been in graduate school for a month now and i am super proud of him! his teachers have used his work more than once as an example to the class of "a perfect paper" he really is an excellent student as he just thrives on information. and he is for sure in the right program... at the School of International Training in the Sustainable Development Program through a non profit called World Learning. he goes to World Bank Conferences and meets the head of the USAID department and things of that nature every day in class. his class is three blocks form the white house!
i promptly started making money as a substitute teacher but realized that i kinda dont like being a sub and its definately not what i want to be doing. so i found a job as a nanny on capitol hill for an amazing LDS couple and their precious 1 year old. the pay is about the same believe it or not. so after work and on the weekends i spend my time walking the national mall, going to the smithsonian museums, and the National Art gallery, and entering vegan cupcake eating competitions at the DC vegfest.
you will have to forgive me i have no pictures because our camera finally bit the dust. i will figure out how i can take pictures again because... lets just say it... a picture is worth a thousand words.

i found this picture in a blog that covered the event. the first to eat 5 vegan cupcakes with out using your hands wins. i did not win, and i wasnt too happy about it... apparently i spent to much time chewing when i should have jsut bit drank water and swallowed... that is how you win and eating contest.

one last look at bellingham

2011-10-02T19:34:00.000-07:00

before we make the long haul across the country to the other washington... the District of Columbia that is... we decided we had to see our beloved bellingham one last time. So we hitchiked form spokane across the state to bellingham and stayed there for a few days. eric was even able to work for his old boss a couple days and we stayed with one of our friends. it was perfect cause they lived right downtown and we could borrow some bikes and still get around and see all the places we love.

ans woudnt ya know it just happened to be blackberry season! I love this place!

We met up with an old friend bonnie and a new friend micah at teddy bear cove... one of my all time favorite places. this is where the magic happens.

and it sure was magical as we jumped into the freezing cold northwest ocean and watched as the water glowed with phosflorescents. the tide was even high enough to jump off the cliff. and our friends came up from seattle to make the evening even more magical!

we spend the night on the beach and saw this fisherman in the water early in the morning.

Alisha and Drew and i were the only ones left when we finally walked up to the top that morning.

later on that day we went to Toad Lake and i got to try out the new rage... paddle boarding! its actually pretty fun and could be a pretty good workout.

the lake was filled with fallen trees and it was pretty fun to snorkel around and look at the logs and to climb on them

I also went to another one of my favorite spots... i call it the fairy corner because the first time i found this slightly hidden spot in whatcom creek park there were tons of little insects floating around and they looked like fairies. this spot was just a ten minute walk from our old place when we lived here.

we said goodbye after a couple of lovely days visiting all our favorite spots and then began our hitchhiking adventure back across the state. after only 5 different rides, we stopped in the North Cascades national park to visit our friends who were working there. We went for a little hike while we waited for them to get off work. i sure miss these huge trees.

and everything is just so green in this part of the country, everything covered in moss.

and here they are... the two beautiful people that ended up driving 10 hours out of their way to take us back to spokane. Kristi and Dylan... yall are the greatest warmest happiest people! thanks!

I love being an aunt

2011-09-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

I love being an aunt and playing iwth all my adorable nieces and nephews

Welcome to our Butterfly Indian Princess Tea Party

Even Cody got into it

Evelynn

Playing at the park

Dance party at the Ward's house

and more face painting... my cousin Jake creating one of his masterpieces on my face

Colorado Trail

2011-09-12T11:39:00.000-07:00

I decided to come back to the States a little early so i could hike the Colorado Trail with my twin sister. Its 485 miles from Durango to Denver and we were planning on doing it in 4 weeks, that averages to 20 miles a day. Both Ches and I were coming from sea level (me Bolivia and Ches Hawaii) so it may have been a bit ambitious of a goal be we took it on with full speed. brace your self cause there are a lot of pictures!!!

Shea dropped us off at the trailhead in Durango after we ate Serious tacos from Serious Texas Bar-B-Q

There were tons of wildflowers

Colorado State Flower... the columbine

Day two was absolutely gorgeous! beautiful vistas around every corner... we were on Cloud 9!

These are the confidence markers that mark the trail through the Rocky mountains and this is above tree level. The average altitude was 10 thousand feet.

We ran into a bit of weather. We literally RAN to treeline when a huge thunderstorm was coming and barely had enough time to pull out our tarp for protection from a hail storm.

One day we saw 12 waterfalls!

Almost in the smack center of this photo you can see the backside of the moose we ran into on the trail. We were a lot closer but i only felt comfortable getting out the camera once he had walked passed us. Those animals are BIG and they will charge if you get in their way.

Me celebrating at the top of a particularly hard climb after a particularly long day

Chesley lookin good with here 30 pound pack and home made buff on her head (thanks ma)

We took a rest day and only hiked 7 miles on Sunday. Then we sun bathed and swam at this Little Molass Lake.

These mountains are just never ending and absolutely beautiful! i didnt know there was this much beauty in Colorado

Decked out in our rain gear. We probably saw afternoon rainstorms just about every day.

Miner's cabin at the end of the longest climb of the trail.

Our feet were pretty soggy and soar so we rested them at the top. This is where the trail meets up with the Continental Divide trail... and this is where we began our two day treck across the tundra... no trees to be found for atleast 25 miles.

We found these flags along the trail where there was some trail work.

We woke up at 4 am one the day we were supposed to get to the highest point on the Colorado Trail (over 13,000 feet) so we could try to be there for the sunrise. we didnt quite make it to the top to see the sun rise, but we were there in the wee hours of the morning and it was real prrrty.

These rock cairns also lead us across the Rockies, we never once got lost!

My shoes werent the greatest and by the end of the 20 miles my feet were hurting pretty bad every day. I basically limped into camp at night and some how magically overnight my feet would heal enough for me to do it again the next day.

We had to wear lots of sunscreen cause the sun was super strong at that altitude.

Probably the biggest cairn we saw

The tundra is just covered with these tiny little alpine wildflowers. so we made a mini bouquet

There's the first 14er that we were gonna climb Mt San Luis, just 4 miles off the trail so an easy little climb.

We conquered it

and chesley's cell reception was great from there so she called to check on her daughter cody. Grandma and Grandpa were watching her back in fort collins. Cody did great with her grandparents but ches definately missed her, and her husband... i couldnt call eric cause he was in Bolivia.

After 2 weeks and 200 miles we were getting pretty beat. Everyone said it would get better as your body would get used to the hiking but it seemed to only be getting worse.

Plus we had already seen the prettiest part of the whole trail and everyone we saw coming the other direction said the next hundred miles were pretty ugly and boring.

so we decided to come home early and spend the last two weeks with our family. This was our last campfire on the Colorado Trail. We hitch-hiked home the next day.

just a little sampling of the amazing views

This was such a great experience and i am so glad that i got to spend the time with my twin sister enjoying all of God's beautiful creations. We were so far away from civilization and it was just breathtaking to be surrounded by so much beauty. Thanks to everyone who was praying for us... we were definately taken care of out there as numerous thunderstorms skirted around us and we were always safe. I know my Heavenly Father loves me and it is apparent through this earth that He created for me to live on.

America the Beautiful

2011-08-10T14:41:00.000-07:00

I am so happy to be back in the states and nearer to my family! After all my traveling i appreciate my home country more and more when i come back. There are so many things that we take for granted here. Things like indoor plumbing, or even just water that is drinkable. We have so many luxuries here that i don t think we think of as luxuries. Traffic laws, washing machines, dishwashers, clean grocery stores (particularly the meat department), farmer's markets, paved roads, sidewalks, parks with grass that you can walk on, nice roads and cars, protected natural space, and of course a democracy, a government that checks and balances itself so there cannot be radical changes and Dictators. (not that Evo Morales is a dictator but their is definately a lack of checks and balances)

Mi Despedido (farewell)/ art exhibit

2011-08-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

The last day I was in Bolivia I arranged a farewell/ art exhibit party for all my students. I turned the Etta Projects office into an art gallery by hanging all my students art on the walls. I invited all my friends, students and their families to come and see the work we had been doing for the past 4 months.

These are their sketchbooks on the table. We did the majority of our lessons in these books and they were open for guests to look through. It was cool to see their progress and all the fun things we had learned.

I also made 70 sugar cookies colored frosting and guests could create their own art at the exhibit.

After sufficient mingling and viewing the art, i gathered all the students and we had a raffle for the donated art supplies that were left over.

Then we broke the pinata that the boys had made previosly. It took a little while but it was lots of fun when it burst.

My older advanced students said there was a tradition of painting the teacher's face on the last day of class. So they all took turns creating a collaborative work.

Their masterpiece.

This is a class photo of us being "serious" artists.
I had such a great time teaching these kiddos and I was very sad to leave. Not only did I share my passion for art with them, but we had a lot of fun together and I got to see their creative works. This was also the first time i could really use my college education and all the lesson plans and progressive units I have previously prepared. I learned alot and had to adapt alot of my lessons and their were days that were difficult, but overall I loved my time with these kids.

Inside the classroom

2011-08-10T00:02:00.000-07:00

In the final few weeks of my classes in Bolivia i started a unit leading up to a final painting with acrylic paint on framed canvas. We just finished a unit about portrait drawings so i had them choose from photos of famous artists and draw their portraits. After they finished the drawings we researched these artists' work and then did watercolor copies of their work, practicing their unique style. And the final project was a self portrait in the artists' style with acrylic paint on canvas. I was very pleased with the final result.

This is my weekend advanced class, and they are drawing their watercolor paintings in this photo.

Here is Christian doing his self portrait in Vincent Vangogh's style. None of my students had seen these artists's work before this unit. It was fun to see their interest in impressionism and other styles.

I did the same project with the older boys at the Hogar. Pablo was pretty focused on his self portrait in Andy Warhol's style.

Pablo was pretty focused on his self portrait in Andy Warhol's style.

Oliver was also doing a self portrait in Van Gogh's style

Jose Luis finished his painting in Mary Cassatt's style.

We used the last week to make a pinata that we would break at the student's art exhibition party. this was a collaborative piece and they all had to work together.

WIth the younger kids we went outside and explored. We took notes and sketches of all the different plants and animals that we found. We pretended that we were explorers in a new world and this helped them stay interested and excited. Of course it always helps to go outside.

Here we are with our night time drawings with oil pastels of parrots with my younger group at the Hogar.

My other class at the HIV hospital, Communidad Encuentro, we painted masks that illustrated the inner mask and outer mask we all wear. I was surprised to see how positive these turned out. In the past when i have done this project either the innner mask is kinda dark or sad, or the outer mask is somewhat negative. But most of them were positive and colorful and happy. I really love working with this group becuase they they all were so excited to see me and they expressed how much they enjoyed my class. I love giving them the opportunity to be imaginative and creative.

Potosi

2011-07-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

After Lissa left for Montero Jeremy and I continued on to see Potosí. Potosí is a fascinating city not only for the important role it played historically, but for the current life and conditions of the area as well. Historically Potosí was one of the richest and largest cities in the world during the 16^th-18^th centuries, larger than Paris or London, and certainly wealthier. The source of this great wealth came from one mountain, Cero Rico, which has dominated the history of the city for centuries. Turns out the mountain was full of silver, and when the Spanish found out they set to work taking it. It is estimated that some 8 Million people died mining silver there for the Spanish, mostly local Indigenous peoples, and after they began to become scarce, African slaves. The resulting plunder made Spain the richest nation in the world and funded their overseas expansion. For this area it meant large-scale death and environmental destruction. The city today remains Bolivia´s mining center, with dozens of small mining operations still seeking after whatever is left in the mountain. Potosí is one of the poorer areas of Bolivia, but also a center for labor struggle. It also contains a number of amazing old colonial buildings, which used to serve some of the world´s richest people in their time. Potosí is also the highest city in the world, making it a cold, hard place to work and live.

Here I am atop a church with Cero Rico in the background. Its presence is always looming. Who would think that such a plain-looking mountain would hold such an important place in world history.

The main cathedral on the main plaza.

This is an odd mask in the Casa de Moneda, where the Spanish and later Bolivian governments minted silver coins for centuries. This mint is the oldest in this part of the world, and one of the oldest anywhere. Native and African slaves died here as well refining silver to be turned into coins.

An ornate entrance to one of Potosí´s many interesting churches. (Sorry about the sideways thing, I still don´t know how to solve it).

This is the entrance to one of the oldest convents in the city, of which Jeremy and I took a tour. Families paid what is the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars to have their second daughter cloistered here, where they would not be permitted to even see their families again. They never left the convent for anything, and were not allowed to talk, either. Today there are still nuns there, although the rules are significantly relaxed now.

This is one of many painting in the church. Many wealthy families donated expensive art to the convent for payment. Notice in this picture what may first appear to be a scratch but what is really the virgin Marry sustaining some saint (I don´t remember which) with a stream of breast milk! Not joking.

The main attraction of the trip was a tour in the mines. A number of groups offer trips into the still active mines for visitors. Our group when to the Candalaria mine. Our guides were two former miners who told us about history, politics and life of the mines. It was quite an experience.

Here is the entrance, which gives a somewhat deceiving impression of size given that inside the mine there are spaces so small you have to crawl on hands and knees.

Once inside we first went to see the Tio. Tio is a representation of the Devil, and EVERY mine has one. The miners give offerings of alcohol, tobacco and coca to the Tio in exchange for his protection and willingness to let the miners take his minerals out of the mine. At the entrance of each mine there is also a small cross, or chapel or some other Christian symbol, but God´s power stops at the door, at which point you are subject to the will of Tio. They take it seriously.

Here is one of our guides demonstrating how to put together and then light dynamite. While we did walk far enough away to be safe, you could feel the explosion in your chest even from afar. Dynamite is legal to buy for anyone in town, and we brought some, along with coca and water as gifts for miners we would visit in the mines.

Here is part of my group after crawling down a small passage to reach a lower level of the mine. As you get deeper in it begins to get hotter, to the point that the heat is oppressive, even when it was near freezing outside.

Here is a miner we talked to for a while. Each miner pays a cooperative for the right to have their own space in the mine, and then they just go at it. This man was chipping rocks full of some valuable mineral and loading up a sack. The 50k (120lds) bag would then be carried out on his shoulders, or drug behind him as he crawled on hands and knees in certain tight areas. And that is how they make their living, bag by bag of back-breaking labor. Our guide told us that the past year wasn´t bad, and they only had about 40 deaths in the minds. Of course this does not include the major killer, silicosis, which works slowly, but ends the lives of many miners after 10-20 years of labor.

One of the many oddly beautiful minerals clinging to the walls inside the mines.

Chocolate Capitol of Bolivia

2011-07-23T15:27:00.000-07:00

After Samaipata Lissa and I headed to Sucre for a few days. There was a Bolivian Studies conference taking place, and I had a friend, Jeremy, whom I had met in El Salvador while we were doing election monitoring there in 2008, who would be presenting. Additionally, Sucre is a beautiful old city with many colonial buildings well intact. It also didn´t hurt that Sucre is the center of Bolivia´s artisan chocolate industry. Lissa was only there for two days before she had to return to Montero for work, but I stayed on with Jeremy for a few more days after she left.

Here is Lissa in the main plaza, with a government building in the background.

I know Lissa likes including pictures of food, so I added this photo of charke, which is deep-fried shredded beef, with a side of cheese, eggs and boiled corn. Mmmmmmmmm

Here is a picture from an art museum we visited. The old religious art got a little boring, as all the paintings sort of look the same. But the modern art was interesting. There were quite a few pieces focused on the struggles, historic and present, of the Bolivian people. I believe that miners, who have a long and important, if not very sad, place in Bolivian history, are the subject of this painting.

This was a gay-pride parade happening at the main plaza that Jeremy and I stumbled onto one evening out on the town.

Local fruit market. Just thought the colors were nice.

One of the many colonial churches in the city.

The inside of another church. Up close the wood and metal work is very detailed. It is amazing to imagine how it was all done with the tools that were available back in the 1600s.

This is a view of the city form the top of that church. When I went in to see the church I noticed an open door at the back, and as there was nobody there to tell me ¨no¨, I decided to investigate. (I operated under the mantra that is better to not ask permission and say you are sorry later than to ask and be told ¨no¨. Not applicable to all life situations, but certainly to most sight-seeing ones). After several flights of stairs up narrow dark passageways I was rewarded with the roof-top view.

The following photos are masks from different parts of Bolivia that I saw in a small exhibit. For Carnival the parade participants get all dressed up, and those who are really into it make/buy very elaborate, and often scary, costumes – particularly masks. The city of Oruro is most known for their masks here, but all cities participate. (ps, I can´t figure out how to turn these things right-side-up, so you have to use your imagination).

Aymara New Year

2011-07-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

On our way to Samaipata Lissa and I stoped at El Fuerte, a pre-Incan archeolocical site perched on a hill-top not far from town. The occasion was the Aymara New Year, which takes place on the winter Solstice. As the festivities were to begin the day previous and continue throughout the night, culminating in a sunrise celebration, and would consist primarilly of drinking, we set up our tent early a good distance from the fire and music. Our plans were foiled, however, as a revolving group of drunken teenagers kept us company well into the morning, some vomiting near the tent, tripping on tent stakes, and even sleeping in the dirt literally within inches of our tent (to our suprise come morning). We were origionally enticed to attend by the promise that Evo would be attending the ceramony. He has a habbit of attending various community cultural events, like one of the regular folks. He ended up not coming in the end, which was just fine with many of the locals there, with whom el Señor Presidente is no longer too popular. But Lissa and I were dissapointed.

Here is one of the bands who played that night. One of their songs would turn out to be the anthem for the entire event, much to our dismay, as it consisted of no more than 6 notes, and was sung primarily by a progressively drunk-er white kid whith huge coca wad dripping green from lips into his scraggly beard. ¨Las ruinasssssssss.....¨ I can still hear it now.

Lissa enjoying the heat from the mega fire lit during the festivities.

The gathering shortly after sun rise (with scraggly-beard kid leading The Song). The multi-colored flag you see is now an official government flag which appears along side the traditional flag on all government buildings, at official events, and even on the sleeve patches of police and military. It is one of the visual manefestations of Morales´ attempt to officially include more of the indiginous community into the national political conversation and recognize thier history as importantly intertwined with Bolivia´s history generally. Elemnts that had been ignored, or denied, for centuries under predominately white/wealthy rule before the election of Morales, the country´s first indigenous president.

Lissa and I the next morning overlooking some of the ruins (where you used to be able to walk, back when Bolivia was cool, man). You can´t see it here very well, but there a bunch of carved animals, seats, stairs and channels, for what purpose nobody knows exactly. The entire site is a bit of a mystery, actually, as no one knows for what purpose it was built. Apparently it is now an important site for new-agers, though, some of whom suggest that it was a site for extra terrestrial landings.

Here is Lissa trying to get close to the sacrificial llama, which was pretty skidish. (Although that didn´t stop ol scraggly-beard from trying to approach the llama to sing it a lullaby and make kissing noises through his green-stained lips until he was forced to stop by some local men...until they were not looking, at which point he did it again! I figure he felt some sort of bond with the beast, as they both shared a passion for chewing cud, as well as a striking similarity in their facial hair). Turns out the whole ¨sacrifice¨ was a bust, as they tied the llama up, laied it on the ground and then pretended to kill it using a plastic axe! I think this may have been a result of the undue influence of Bolivia´s version of PETA, whose stinkey, Euro-hippie representatives were out in force.

This is the self-appointed grand Pubah, who, we discovered, actually had nothing to do with the official ceramony. But whenever there were cameras or reporters present he seemed to be there, blessing something, or calling to someone unseen, or with his hand gernerally raised invoking something or other. But we thought this was a nice picture none the less, with the ¨sacrificial¨ llama in the background.

These folks were part of the official celebration. (Note the plastic axe in the right hand of the main guy).( Also, again note the two national flags).

There was a great deal of burning of incense and offering of coca leaves.

All in all we felt a little deceived by the whole event. Not only was Evo a no-show, but the primary form of celebration seemed to consist of drinking heavily - not really our bag. By the end of it scraggly-beard was really getting on our nerves, too. (¨Las Ruinassssssss.............¨). Even the sunrise was anticlimactic, as the overcast skies caused a general lightening of the sky, rather than a glorious burst of sun beams that everyone had invisioned. Even so, the event was certainly memorable, even if for reasons different than those we had origionally anticipated.

Samaipata

2011-07-17T16:19:00.000-07:00

We recently took a short trip to Samaipata, a small town in the foothills of the Andes. It lies in a beautiful setting, and boasts a generally mild climate, making it a popular weekend retreat for wealthy Cruceños, as well as for a variety of South American hippies and Europeans. This means that 1)we were not the only while people around (a change from Montero), and 2) that there is really good bread available (also a big change from Montero, and Bolivia in general).

We camped out at the Finca Vispera for several days. In addition to being a pleasantly quiet (and cheap) option, there was also a large vegi and herb garden that is available to all visitors who do their own cooking. It was our base for several fun, if wet, outings into the surounding mountains.

Here is our camp site, with kitchen/hot shower/bathroom hut in the background. Best showers we have had in 5 months.

Our forst trip was with a nige German, Benjamin, where we off-trailed it to some peaks above El Fuerte, a pre-Incan ruins that lies just outside of town. Here is a vacant herder´s house we came across, with a large valley stretching back into the distance. A small manderine tree provided a mid-afternoon snack.

The wind and clowds limited our views, but it was nice none the less. Hard to tell here what is behind us, but I promise it is a very beautiful expanse. You will have to take my word for it.

The next day we went with Benjamin to Los Volcanes, which is a really ugly golf course/¨eco-resort¨ for wealty people built right in ther middle of an ancient crater on a mountain top. We were told that it used to be very nice, and that there had been lots of trees there, but that was before they were all burnt down to make room for the golf course. We did hire a guide who lived in a valley bellow to take us on a long day-hike to see the surounding mountain and river valley bellow.

Here is our guide, apparently showing us the clouds (I guess you run that risk when entering a cloud forest, though). In his left cheek you will notice a bulge, containing the coca leaves that came from the bag in his left hand. Most of the country folk and laborers around here chew coca, a mild stimulant and hunger suppresent. Also the base material for the manufacture of cocaine, which has been a big point of contention between the Bolivian government and the US.

Lissa doing her strong woman thing....on a small pointy rock above a cliff.

Here is the river in the bottom of the vally which we decended to. We then walked up the river for several kilometers to a small village before heading out down the same river back to the highway, and our ride home.

There was quite a bit of river walking, which may have been a little more pleasant if there had been sun as well. Even so, it was nice to be in the valley and see the rock cliffs, steep green mountains, local flora and fauna.

Of that local fauna was this little oinker (hoping that we were bringing him food, I think).

On our last day we went to near-by Las Cuevas to check out the well known waterfalls there. It was another cool day, making swiming out of the question. But we could imagine what an oasis this would be on a hot day. And even on a cool day it was beautiful.

Here the second of three falls

Here is Lissa. excited to be at the top of those second of three falls.

After the third falls we continued on a cattle trail a little ways farther up to get a view of the valley. (Now I am wondering why I choose this picture, but it takes way too long to load another one, so you are stuck with it.)

Back in town, in the main plaza, where there was usually at least several dirty kids trying to sell jewelery (and I am not talking about local children, I am talking about Argentinian, Spanish and other wandering hippie-types that flock to the area, for the ¨good energy¨, or something like that). One evening we ran into a mime entertaining local kids. I just thought it was nice.

rag curls!

2011-06-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

i am getting pretty sick of my long hair cause ido nt know what to do with it and i just pull it back into a ponytail. (boring) I decided i would try some things before i irrationally go out and chop it all off. atleast give it a chance cause when you have short hair you cant do fun things like curl it and put it in an updo.

my rags were a torn up boyscout shirt. i think i actually like this look better than the end result. i put them in my slightly wet hair the night before sunday and slept with them in. it brought me back to my girls camp days though.

my hair was flat again by the time church was over.

Copacabana and the Isla del Sol

2011-06-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

At the Copa... copacabana---the hotest spot south of Havanah---- at the copa -----copa cabaaaaana----

I sang this song the whole time we were in copacabana... its a little fishing village on the humungous lake titicaca just on the border of peru and bolivia. this was our final destination and it was definately the best, our favorite! we arrived in the morning after a two hour bus ride and ferry and hastle with the police who wanted our passports that we didnt have... but we fortuntately talked to them and they let us pass.

the first thing we did was buy some trout... the local fish. Oh man it was fresh and deliscious!

Next we climbed the highest point nearby to get a better view, thats most of the little town below and veiw of the huge lake! There were actually incan ruins on top of this mountain.

Then we climbed the other moutain on the other side of town for the sunset. i was just absoluutely amazed to see such a huge body of water that was so incredibly still, almost no waves.its was almost eerie but incredibly tranquil and peaceful

the next day we took a ferry over to the isla de sol. When we got there we took a tour of the island. the people there were very nice and friendly. they farm on every square inch of the island so there were beautiful terraced hillsides and crops and of course sheep. we also saw pigs and goats and donkeys.

and Quinoa! i love this miracle food but had no idea it was such a beautiful plant!

Washington DC here we come!

2011-06-07T08:41:00.000-07:00

In case you havent heard... eric applied to go to The School of International Training in Vermont for his masters in Sustainable Development and he was accepted! He also applied to their more intense and a little more politically charged DC program and was also accpeted! We chose our nations capitol over the beautiful vermont town of Brattleboro mostly because the DC program seems to fit perfectly with erics goals. although we were really looking forward to living in what has been explained to us as the most charming family friendly town in the U.S, we are stoked to spend a year in DC especially during the elections! Erics program is 4 months of classes, 6 days a week, 8 hours a day, then 4 months abroad practicum, and 4 months more of classes. i will prolly be substitute teaching or doing some other job to pay the bills and keep me busy since i basically wont be seeing my husband for a year. We are looking for some kind of connection for houseing due to eric funny schedule, it will be hard to find a lease that would fit. We figure when we stay in Latin America we just call the local bishop of our church and ask if there is a member family who has a spare room we can rent and it usually works, so why not in the states? although i do realize that American culture is very different and it may be difficult to find someone willing to ope up their home to us.... but if you know of any one please let us know!!
in the meantime, we are just realizing that our time here in bolivia is coming to an end and wow it happened so fast. at first i thought it would never end and now i dont know where the time went. it has been hard to be present here ever since we solidified our plans but i have always had a hard time just being present. I am just so excited to be in DC for a year! and not to mention the networking and connections eric will make which will hopefully solidify a job after schoool! (this one is a big one since for the first time in our lives we will have debt) all the free museums and parks and politics and diversity! i just cant wait! DC here we come!

DEATH road

2011-06-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

While in La Paz we decided to brave the infamous death road... which is the worlds deadliest road.. on a bike. We went with a tour that takes you and the bikes up to the very tops of the andes mountains and from there you ride downhill about 40 miles with a total of 12000 foot drop. its a sheer cliff on one side most of the way and its a pretty narrow road. there just isnt enough room for two cars so the cars need to back up to a pull off spot and let the other cars pass. there was an average of 26 cars that went over the edge before they built the new highway that everyone uses now. so fortunately there werent many cars on the road.

it was pretty dusty so we got pretty dirty. the dust gave eric a nice monobrow as it collected in his eyebrows.

La Paz, highest capitol in the world!

2011-05-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

After Cochabamba it was just another 8 hour bus drive to get to La Paz, Bolivias capitol. It was a beautiful windy mountain road that climbed up and up most of the time.(La Paz is 12,000 feet tall and it sits in a valley with even taller mountains all around it) When we got there we found our hostal for the night and perused the city.

This is the artisan market where a gringo can buy any number of bolivian recuerdos. we were actually trying to take a picture of this boivian woman in the background carrying her wares, or maybe a baby in this colorful aguaillo fabric such is the typical form of backpack here.

We also stopped into the witches market and bought some dried llama fetuses for fertility... lets see if it helps!

eric really wanted to go to a soccer game while we were there so we saw Bolivar play Universtario... and Bolivar won (bolivar is the la paz team although i feel like they have an unfair advantage with the altitude)

there was art and sculptures everwhere we turned. it was actually really nice. at ever roundabout there was a sculpture. this is some obviously commisssioned grafiti.

we went to the valle de la luna which is a neat park with these crazy rock formations. there were interesting rock formations and cliffs surrounding La Paz and this was just 15 minutes from the center of town.

There is a strong political climate in the capitol and we were in the plaza just minutes after the controversial president Evo Morales walked through. there was also a protest walking through the same time and so the police blockaded a few atreets and we just happened to be on the wrong side of it all and couldnt get out... but thats okay we just went to the art museum while we waited.

CochaBAMBA

2011-05-22T19:04:00.000-07:00

Life in Montero is enjoyable enough but we were wanting to escape the concrete town and the heat and get up into the high country of Bolivia. Our first stop was cochabamba, a very pleasant town located halfway up the huge andes mountains. Its a pretty big town but it felt very clean and safe.

The largest statue in the world of Christ stands on a hill overlooking the city. it is just a little bit taller than the one in rio de janiero in brazil.

we went to the temple with our bishop and his mom and stayed there for three days. it was actually really nice to be on the temple grounds for a few days. there is a dorm like hospedaje for guests to stay in so we spent the night on the temple grounds. the flowers were in bloom and they sure smelled wonderful! We were there for my birthday and we just spent the whole day there doing service. The temple president from the united states took us out to eat at an italian restaurant and the lasagna was reallly yummy. the perfect birthday meal.

there is a huge open air market in cochabamba and we decided to eat dinner at some of the food stalls. i found this chicken foot in my otherwise delicious peanut soup.

each store sells only one thing. but they cram alot of that one thing into a very small space and sell it they do. this was the stuffed animal stall...the owners kinda blended in.

this is a church and fountain right in the central plaza where we saw street perfomers doing comdey acts, painting, fire breathing, hip hop and dancing, we also saw a group of agitated Bolivian men standing in a circle respectfully talking politics. it was like going to a very heated city hall meeting but out in the open plaza and everyone was really respectful and listened to eachother. it was actually pretty cool to see, it was like i could feel a political movement in the air.

we saw some very pretty artwork by a bolivian artist in a museum too. really great prices too, if i had an extra $300 i wouldve bought one in a heartbeat.

this is an ancient mummy that we saw in the amthropolpgy museum. it was really interesting because not only did they put their dead in these crazy baskets but while they were living the people of prestige would flatten their heads with boards so that they looked kinda conehead like. and you could see the tranformed skulls.

Easter

2011-05-22T15:10:00.000-07:00

We had an eventful Semana Santa (holy week or the week before easter) i painted easter eggs with all of my classes and had an easter egg hunt. turns ourt the big day to celebrate is friday, and sunday isnt that big of deal.

Me showing the kids at the Hogar some painting techniques

eric helped me with the easter egg hunt and the boys really loved it. we only had enough for them to each find three eggs but it was still fun.

the eggs didnt come apart so we ahd to cut holes into the plastic eggs andcram candy in them it worked out just fine. they dont do the easter bunny egg hunt thing here so we had to improvise.

eric and me with all the boys at the hogar

on easter sunday i ended up giving a talk about Jesus´s message of love during his last two days at my church. then after wards we had a nice big lunch and relaxed until the sun went down. then we drove our new scooter to the cemmetary. i thought that was appropriate as we celebrated Christs ressurection and conquer over death.

The cemmetaries here are all above ground wo it looks kinda like an eerie apartment complex.

and this was the main mass given on friday in the main plaza in town. we listened a little bit but it was 4 hours long and a bit boring and hard to interpret.

the Scoot SCOOT

2011-05-02T14:26:00.001-07:00

Katie, the director of Etta Projects, and her daughter her daughter´s dad left last week. it was sad to see them go because they were our first encounter and friends that we made here. They had a scooter that they needed to sell before they left so we figured we could use one, and then we wouldnt have to spend a buck a day on transportation. not to mention the family we are staying with said that they will buy it from us when we are done so it ends up being a win win for everyone involved. although i feel like we are getting the better end of the bargain. We have been enjoying the freedom of riding around town together.

i am really loving riding it out to the orphanage... since it is outside of town a bit too. its a little scary when the dogs chase after you and try to bite your feet but then i just go faster!

this was our easter trip to the cemetary that is located just outside of montero. we were there for the sun set it was really nice.

maestra de arte!

2011-04-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

Mostly what i have been up to is teaching art and painting my own paintings. i teach tuesday and thurday and i paint monday and wednesday! its actually really great to have this time to do the things i love.

this is my first finished piece. it is from a photo that i took of a family in paisaje, the community where eric ahs been working. Etta Projects is going to be selling this at their anual auction, it is fun to think that someone might like it enough to pay money for it.

close up

this is me with all the kiddos at the hogar. theres 22. i usually dont have all 22 but this was a special day for the easter holiday... we painted easter eggs.

this is more what my classes are like, 6-8 students in a classroom with desks and a chalboard. pretty nice actually. this was the day we learned to weave using the knowledge we had already learned about cool and warm colors and sad and happy lines. it turned out pretty good and they we totally into it because i told them a neat story about magic blankets. i am figuring the little kids learn better if i have a fun story to tell them so my storytelling skills, in spanish, are getting better.

Alacitas

2011-04-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

So every year a traveling group of carnival type folks come to Montero and set up along the main street and sell an assortment of fun things. they also setup carney rides like a ferris wheel, the spinning wheel that uses cintrificul force to keep you in, not seat belts, a house of terror, and a number of carousel type things for the little ones.

this is eric and i atop one of the many ferris wheels. you can see below us the street full of people.

this is a fortune teller that reads your silver. you drop liquid hot silver into a bucket of cold water and then she takes out and reads the form to you.

we went with tiffany and fabi, i like this pic cause you can see the street below.

amongst other things they sold minitures fo just about everything you could ever imagine. the idea is if you want something, fame fortune luck, a nice car, to win you soccer championship, whatever, you buy a miniature of it and tie it to this funny little statue. then you give it a cigarette (and you lite it and let it smoke) every tuesday and friday for the whole year and you will find success in whatever area. its kinda folklore and not too many people really believe in it.... but i think it is linked to the religions and rituals from the people who live in the andes mountains.

it wouldnt be a carnival without food on a stick! these were called hotdog crepes. there is a hotdog and bits of cheese inside that crepe like pocket on a stick. they were actually pretty good. there were also chuuros, chocolate dipped strawberries marshemellows and grapes on a stick, ice cream, and shiz-cabob

three years!

2011-03-26T15:11:00.001-07:00

Wow i cant believe its only been three years. we have done so much and been so many places that it seems like my life just started when we got married. its always an adventure, is our motto and boy have we been living that. We figured we have spent each one of our anniversaries in a place that starts with a B... Belize, Bellingham, Buena Vista-Bolivia. Im shooting for Bangladesh for our next one... Or how about Brattleboro Vermont. I hear thats a nice place... this year we took a break form our everyday life in cement town Montero and cruised in a taxi just an hour away to a place called Buena Vista where the view is spectacular. you can see the Andes mountains just past forests of monkey ladened trees. we relaxed by the pool and ate yummy food. I am so grateful to be married to such a wonderful man!

sitting in the recliners at our resort hotel in buena vista, enjoying the great view of the andes mountains and the Amboro National Park

the yummy food we ate at the resort... thats maracuya juice... mmmm... our favorite. its passionfruit. delicious.

the view from a top a swiss family robinson type tree house

We went on a horseback ride but it turns out i am crazy allergic to horses. i started to have a pretty severe reaction, sneezing and eyes watering, not to mention that i missed my calves when i sprayed my body with bugspray so my legs were getting eaten alive. i ended up having to get off the horse and walk behind them a hundred yards. it was kinda miserable, and i couldnt even really enjoy the beautiful forest we were walking through.

the river, our final destination. I tried to wash my hands and face free of the horse dander but it only seemed to make it worse, eventually the horse dude went back and got his motorcycle to ride me back to the hotel. pretty picture of the river though right?

me, eric, katie, bryan, fabi, tiffany... Eric surprised me with tickets to a Shakira Concert. we met up with all our friends at the concert. unfortunately my face was still red and puffy from the allergic reaction.. but i still had a GREAT time!

There were thousands of people at the stadium and you could feel the energy in the air. She was amazing, i actually couldnt really hear her very well because everyone was singing along with her. and boy can that woman DANCE! she has inspired me to take belly dancing lessons when we get back. Thanks eric, youre the best.

la gente (the people)

2011-03-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

The best thing about being here in montero is the people. i have to say that the city of montero is not exactly a beautiful city, mostly its just concrete and flat, and HOT and HUMID. But the people are great.

eric, me, koah, fabi,tiffany, pennye, katy are all people that i work with and we went to a butterfly museum and resort. we spent most of the day sitting by a pool. there were also kayaks, a monkey island, a bunny island, an aviary

this kids name is "squeaker" and he lives out in paisaje where eric and the boys are building composting toilets. they call him sqeaker cause he wears shoes that squeak when he walks.

here's the men, holding a anaconda skin nailed to a board

adorabel girl wearing my hat

most of the time this kiddo was hiding behind his mom, but i got a couple good ones. he's in side their outdoor kitchen, basically a straw roof hut with a woodburning fire as a stove

i fell in love with the intensity in their eyes. This woman was so warm and kind and absolutely gorgeous, as was her daughter.

these are some of the kids at the orphanage where i teach. they are working hard on their self portraits. its so fun to go there and be greeted by 22 kids that love me cause i bring crayons!

These are a couple of my HIV patients that i go visit every two weeks to do an art activity with them. they live at a residential treatment center/ hospital for HIV patients. THeir energy is wonderful and they are really tapped into creative expression. i hope that i can facilitate some meaningful creative experiences for them while i am there

Tiffany took me to a mexican restaraunt in santa cruz after our trip to the hospital. She is a volunteer for another project in the area and she hooked me up with this hospital opportunity.

montero-carnaval

2011-03-07T12:33:00.000-08:00

So.. some of you may know this but eric and i have been in montero bolivia for almost a month now... wow time really flies. sorry i havent updated in a while but our internet connection here is pretty slow so it takes a while to upload pictures. we are here with an organization called Etta Projects. etta projects does community developement work here in montero and neighboring towns as well. right now eric is working on a composting bathroom project to bring toilets that dont pollute the water to the villages out in the rural areas of montero. I am teaching art to some kiddos at an orphanage as well as helping etta with any creative projects they might need.

these are the teaching materials that i have been painting. They are doing leadership training in a number of different communities and these are to teach about how to be a leader. Im holding an example of a community

this is the first finished bathroom and i made the logo stencils. eric and the crew worked really hard to get this one done and now they are working on making 85 more. its a big project and is really going to help keep the water clean and keep people healthy.

As a surprise i slaved away for two days making these delicious enchiladas from scratch and evryone at the office had lunch together for eric´s 31st birthday on the 3rd. they were really yummy with one red sauce and a mole sauce with chocolate.

the office bought him an amazing cake that is basically a tres leches cake (erics favorite) but with chocolate and carmel. to die for i tell yo what!

Eric wanted to go to the circus that has been set up just two blocks away from our house for his birthday. This is sarah, one of the 5 daughters that we are staying with. Her and her 8 year old sister, Chula, came with us.

the circus was... interesting. it was put on by family of no more than 5 people. this was one of the acrobat acts. there was a magic act, a unicycle, a girl that did the same thing he´s doing and she also swung around on a ring, then there were clowns that pretended to throw water all over us, but it was just confetti. it scared me though. it was fun.

This past week everyone has been celebrating Carnaval. mostly what that looks like is a bunch of parades at night and people throwing water balloons and squirt guns filled with water the first day and ink the second day. there is also alot of drinking so eric and i ended up just going to the parades and then staying home during the rest of the chaos. One large part of the parades are all the Queens. there is a queen of every school and every neighborhood and every club you can think of so most of the floats are showcasing their queen. (the girl in the pink dress is this groups queen)

All of montero comes out to see the parade. Here we are waiting with the main plaza behind the crowd. ´

ESPUMA!!! the best part about the parade was these aerosol cans that everyone has that are filled with soap that makes foam when you spray it. its fair game to spray ANYONE, even the people in the parade. we got into a kinda battle with these 10 year old boys that were sitting a little ways down. it was SO fun!

This is Katie, the director at Etta Projects and here 3 year old foaming it up!

Another part of this pagan holiday (which is actually celebrated more amongst the more indegenous mountain folks) is on tuesday and you burn these things called Koas and they bring you good luck . these are dried baby llamas which you burn to give you good luck and are sold year round at the open air market. creepy huh?

and of course it wouldnt be latin america without a hammok nearby. this is eric reading during our 2 hour lunch / siesta break at the office.

Meet the Clarks in Mesa

2011-02-16T18:08:00.000-08:00

our next stop was mesa Arizona to see our good friends Cody and Olivia and CJ Clark. Cody and eric worked together in Utah as wilderness rangers and Cody now works in the Tonto National Forest. We chilled at their house and ate amazing cake and played cards. i got to go to the Mesa Temple on morning too.

We spent our saturday hiking in Cody's forest, it was beautiful.

we were definately in the desert as there were lots of interesting cactuses.

this was a neat little watering hole we found and in the summer it would be so nice to swim in it.

this is little CJ, he is so precious and he makes the cutest little smiley faces.

neat-o little homestead with a sweet-o tree.

one of the coolest things about mesa Arizona is the saguaro cactus. they only grow in this desert and they were everywhere!!!

VIVA las VEGAS!

2011-02-03T22:58:00.000-08:00

after Zion National Park, brett beth and emily headed back to salt lake as we continued on to Las Vegas. I was stoked to visit my childhood best friend Shea. we really tried t do everything and see everything vegas has to offer. however there was no gambling, bummer, our one chance to win big....

we went to a state park called Valley of Fire, which was super special cause there were tons petroglyphs throughout the valley

one of the hundreds of petroglyphs we saw

we also went to Red Rocks state park and saw some neato red and white rocks.

Eric inside.. at the Venetian casino.. we loved this ceiling cause it really looked like we were outside.

we saw the blue man group. pretty weird and we were glad the tickets were free from shea. definately entertaining and different.

classic vegas spot, the fountains at the bellagio casino

courtesy of shea's locals discount we saw the lion king musical. that was amazing. i especially was impressed by the costumes. it was quite a production.

a stroll through along the strip... this is the excalibur. its pretty amazing how over the top and big everything is in vegas. pretty spectacular, but it was also kinda depressing to see all the people wasting all their money on slots and alcohol.

we couldnt sped time in vegas without hitting up the all you can eat buffets. eric tried the octopus.

us at the awesome chihuly glass bellagio ceiling

but my favorite part of all that we did in vegas was spend time with shea and her adorabel family. we both look a little tired because we spent an entire day trying to figure out how to make these booties

but we did it and they turned out pretty great.

we were so dam excited to see the hoover dam on our way out!

road trippin in ZION

2011-02-03T22:25:00.001-08:00

our three week road trip started by meeting up in salt lake city with my friend emily and my brother brett and his wife beth. we went to Zion National Park first. We did an overnite hike and then a few day hikes in the park. it was beautiful and a lot of fun to hang out with these special people. it was absolutely gorgeous as well. the huge towering red walls of Zion were standing over us the whole time.

the first night we backpaked in 6 miles and winter camped. it was cold but still lots of fun. after our dinner we played card games in the tent and kept eachother warm with lots of laughter and good times.

the sunset from our first campsite, a spot 6 miles along the Chinle trail

the crew

brett and beth on our hike which was down a wash

me and emily

a view inside Zion national park.

waterfall in zion

we also day hiked up to Angels Landing

brett, eric and I tried to go to the very top, which is scary in the summer time. in the winter there is lots of snow and ice that one can slip on. the trail is five feet wide with sheer cliffs on both sides. brett dropped off here and i could go no further than 200 yards more. brave eric went to the very top!

our second campsite, along the virgin river just outside the park

cross country in lory state park

2011-01-19T19:46:00.001-08:00

we are in fort collins for a while before we leave for bolivia. it snowed here so we decided to go enjoy the beautiful colorado snow. eric and i have been lugging around our cross country skis so we went out to lorey state park. it was a great workout and a great way to spend time in the snow.

oh what fun

2011-01-07T10:24:00.001-08:00

this year the whole word family got to be together for christmas. mom and dad surprised us and flew jared and his family out to be together! what a great surprise! so we all went sledding in estes park to celebrate.

me and james

james and evelynn play really well together

brett, jared, jenny, me and chesley... everyone but jake is on this pyramid (jake was on a plane on his way from utah)

ann me and chesley

the train! james, beth, ches, brett, blake and dad

blake is starting her up early, hoping she will be a great snowbaorder someday

mom and dad

superbaby!!! cody loves to be thrown into the air

the newest members of the ward clan

2011-01-07T10:17:00.001-08:00

STARRING:

Jenny's boy James and Chesley's girl Cody!

cuddly cody

cody and eric

Jared's girls Evelynn and Ann and Chesley's Cody

jared's girl Ruby and Jenny's James! they are all so precious i couldnt get enough of them!

christmas with the wards

2011-01-07T09:42:00.000-08:00

We had a lot of christmas traditions growing up, so when we all get together we have to do them. it all starts christmas eve with acting out the nativity.

this year chesleys girl cody got to be baby jesus. ruby in the front is a lamb and she is right in the middle of baaaaa-ing.

i was mostly the costume designer, but at the last minute we needed a third king... i may look more like an african queen or the chiquita banana lady, but james was a great king!

mikey was a wonderful joseph

Evelynn as Mary on her dad's/ donkey's back

the whole crew

usually we read the polar express next, but we couldnt find the book this year... so we sang christmas carols instead.

then everyone gets to open one gift, jake opened the gift we gave him, this awesome wolf knife

christmas morning we run down to the fireplace (youngest to oldest) to find the gifts santa left, then we go to the christmas tree to open those gifts. this is jenny's christmas tree.

then we always have scandanavian skones (fried sweet dough) with honey. this one is my favorite and i dont think it would happen if i werent there.

there usually is some napping after all the hubbubb

and recently brett has been making a video/slideshow of the past year and we all watch it. its always a funny video!

a snowy thanksgiving with the robisons

2010-12-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

for thanksgiving this year, eric and i packed up the moving truck and drove over the snowy mountain pass to spokane just a day before a huge storm. it was a bit unnerving but we eric handled the truck perfectly. we moved the majority of our stuff into a storage unit the day before thanksgiving. then on thanksgiving day we just relaxed and ate way more pie than a human should ever consume. it snowed all day long so eric and i got out our cross country skis and skied to the grocery store to pick up some last minute items.

that is the I-90 bridge/overpass behind us.

skiing through the neighborhood

and of course eric had to get out the camera when i fell and couldnt get up! it was pretty neat to be riding through town during a quiet peaceful snowy day. no one on the streets and everyone inside enjoying their families.

Alena, david and i went sledding the next day at the most epic, steep, scary hill i have ever seen. i tried to take a picture of it but you just cant see the extremeness in the picure so you will just have to take my word for it. last time we went to this hill david broke a a rib and i broke my foot! this time was a bit more tame- but lots of fun! we ended the day with a three person pyramid, stacked on top of eachother on our bellies. it was awesome!

cousin joe comes to town

2010-11-18T20:12:00.000-08:00

after visiting my couisin joe in seattle last week when we went to the seattle art museum to see the picasso exhibit, joe decided he would come up to bellingham and visit me! yay! i love it when i can share this little peice of heaven with others.

we went up to eagle park to try to see some eagles fishing, but i guess we were too late for that. it was a nice walk along the nooksack river though.

and we found this neato fort someone has been making.

then we went to racehorse falls off of mosquito lake road. aparently extreme mountain bikers come up here to ride the trail and make CRAZY jumps like this one. i just cant even imagine someone jumping off this down to a rocky trail atleast 15 feet below!

i wish we wouldve known about this place sooner! it is such a beauty and a perfect place to go swimming in the summer. there were atleast 5 cascading falls with a pool at the base of each one... gorgeous!

we sure are going to miss all this beauty. it may be a bit rainy up here, but we kinda like the rain. and it sure makes everything grow!

bountiful bellingham

2010-11-18T19:58:00.000-08:00

it all started with eric getting a food dehydrator four years ago. ever since then he has been all about obtaining and storing the many bounties that this land has to offer. we picked many apples from the numerous public apple trees around town this year and made a couple pies and batches of applesauce. But the biggest endeavor this fall was salmon and mushrooms. eric met a fisherman who said he could get him some salmon for $1.50 a pound! "now this salmon isnt really for eatin, but its real good when you smoke it!" he said. so eric enthusiastically ordered 80 pounds of salmon! once we talked about how we shouldnt be spending $100 on salmon we decided to offer it to some friends and we would all smoke it together. eric got a smoker form his boss and woodchips from the local huntin store and the adventure began. first he had to fillet these 15 pounders, then brine it in some salt and sugar and spices overnight, then the smoking took almost three days. (probably about 14 hours for each fish)

but the finished product, after borrowing a vacum sealer from the chumley's, is very delicious and very professional looking. nice work eric, he's so resourceful.

so every time we go out into the woods up here eric has been looking or mushrooms. we have found lots of chantrelles but our big find this last weekend was a HUGE cauliflower mushroom. they can get to be up to 40 pounds so this was a small one!

i cooked it up and made two quiches with it. it is very yummy and very earthy tasting.

halloween 2010

2010-11-03T19:18:00.000-07:00

turns out eric is not so much into Halloween. this is a little bit of a downer as halloween was the second biggest holiday in my house after christmas. i think my mom may have more skeletons and gravestones than she has santas and baby jesus'. it took a lot of coercing for me to get him to come to our church fall festival, he might not have come if it werent for the chili cook-off. it was hard thinking of a costume idea that could incorporate his hairiness. he was thinking Teen Wolf which owuld have been awesome, but we wouldve had to spend some money and it seems funny to spend the little income you have on something you will wear for 2 hours and then never again. then i thought i could be little red riding hood and he could be the big bad wolf (another wolf) but that didnt work out. 30 minutes before the party, while eric was on his daily run, i went back to my childhood roots and dragged this costume up. a classic couple and true heros of our silver screen days. the hair is the most obvious part of my princess leia costume, but we had many people think eric was luke skywalker... ewww! i wouldnt be married to my brother would i? someone also guessed chewbaca...haha. i know han solo doesnt have a beard, but doesnt it seem like he could? plus eric is far more handsome so that makes up for it.

blasters are made from carboard and electrical tape with a duct tape utility belt

at the church party we had trunk or treating and i took out melody's kids. which was perfect since they were dressed like star wars charaters too. i just love little miles dresses as luke skywalker on the degoba system... see the yoda in a backpack on his back! so cute! melody is pretty clever.

after church on sunday we went to alena's house in seattle and carved pumpkins and had a huge potluck i made mummy pizza bagels (inspired by a facebook post from melody) and this is my jack-o-lantern. you cant see but there is a tail in the back as well.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

blame it on the genes

2010-11-01T19:01:00.000-07:00

so after a few blood tests, it turns out that i have a mutation on one of my genes that messes with my ability to absorb folic acid, and it puts me at a higher risk for blood clots. both are possible reasons for the miscarriages, which is good news because both are treatable with a few pills while i am pregnant.

i feel very fortunate that we qualify for state healthcare and have been able to get all this work done without having to pay exorbitant amounts of money. we will be seeing a specialist in seattle to help us make a plan so that we can go to south america and still get pregnant without any concerns....

cross your fingers for this next attempt at "operation baby robison"

golden lakes loop

2010-10-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

on a whim eric and i decided to finally go camping/ backpacking... something we had been meaning to do all summer, and now that summer is over and winter is almost here... and since we will be leaving this part of the country soon we decided now may be the only chance we get. eric had been wanting to take me to the lake chelan wilderness area where he used to work on the trail crew. the golden lakes loop was his choice trail because he said that in the fall the tamaracks, a coniferous tree which only grows in high wet elevations, change color and then shed their needles. this particular trail is called the golden lakes trail because the five or so lakes are surrounded by these tamaracs that turn golden in the fall. i was stoked to see such a thing. after we checked the weather reports we found out that there was a 100% chance of 5-10 inches of snow the second night out. we decided to go anyways and just bring our winter clothes.

here we go....

th golden lakes trail was a total of 23 miles... this was towards the end of day one about 8 miles... all uphill with about a 2000 foot ascent. lower eagle lake is below us

upper eagle lake was our planned campsite for the evening, and boy was it beautiful! we had the whole lake to ourselves. we tried to do a little fishing, but they were only jumping that night.

pristine reflections

that evening was cold, it dropped below freezing cause there was ice on the lakes in the morning. day 2 would include two passes and two more lakes, and about 9 miles.

us at horsehead pass above boiling lake. nothing about that lake was boiling in fact it was quite the opposite.

a nice example of the golden tamaracs, most of their needles had fallen which made for a golden ground, and golden trail!

cooney lake... we were getting a little bit nervous cause we had a late start and we knew there was a storm coming in. it was getting dark and gloomy by the time we reached our camp.

but there was still enough time for eric to throw a few casts out before it got too freezing cold to fish.

niether one of us slept too well that night as we listened to the snow fall on our little 2 man tent. eric was worried that the trail would be covered and we wouldnt be able to get back home. this is what we awoke to the next morning.

only 5 inches or so and it was absolutely gorgeous. a winter wonderland! we ate our hot oatmeal and packed up in a record 45 mintues.

the trail was quite obvious as it was a motorcycle trail as well so we had no problems getting back. it was an easy 6/7 miles back to the car, mostly downhill. the weather was perfectly sunny and happy. we trudged through our magical wonderland cutting fresh tracks in the fresh snow.

just a couple miles down the same trail and there was no snow to be seen. just the lovely fall colors.

and this is eric at washington pass on the drive back to bellingham on highway 20. we stopped at cinnamon twisp in twisp, WA for a late lunch. it was such a perfect trip and we were so blessed to be able to go and to be safe the whole time.

another miscarriage

2010-10-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

in case you don't know yet.. i am no longer pregnant. i had my second miscarriage a few weeks ago. this time right there on the floor at the doctors office. it was actually a blessing the way it worked out and i am grateful that i was where i was when it happened. this time i got to see the blood and feel the pain (which was actually no more than what menstrual cramps feel like) which i think is what i wanted. last time we just went it and had the baby removed so it didnt feel real. the first trimester is all sickness with no real indication of being pregnant so it was good to actually see the baby and know that my body can create. it made it all feel more real. i didnt want to feel happy and know that everything was going to be okay like everyone's kind notes reminded me. i wanted to hurt. i needed to feel the pain. i think it is actually helping me heal. it reminds me of a poem i wrote a few years ago...

los feos

i like the hurt
i like the dirt
give me suffering so i can feel
what it is to be human
to have to start over again
to learn to love
to break
and to heal
i like the ugly and the worn
i like the broken and the torn
its raw and its real and its deep
it cant be hidden by blah blah blah
or by a meal
or by sleep
its here
IN YOUR FACE

and in my heart
and i can taste the world's unclaimed odor
a pungent perfume, loved by few
its visceral, its magical
its actually happening

right here

in my fingertips

in my soul
and on my lips.

Ma in b-ham

2010-10-20T19:03:00.001-07:00

my beloved mother decided to come up to see this northwestern paradise that i have been living in for the past 5 years, especially since i will be leaving it soon. it was so nice to have my ma come visit me. exactly what i needed. i was so happy the whole time she was here, i just couldnt keep from smiling. it reminded me how nice it is to have family nearby, especially my mom!

she was really excited to come up and see the fall colors. the colors back in colorado consist of mostly aspen yellow so the red maple leaves were a wonderful reminder of north carolina and texas, where she grew up... isnt she gorgeous?

"everything is so much bigger up here!" she exclaimed. i guess thats what happens when we get 10 times the amount of rain colorado gets.

the week was filled with as many nature walks as my mom's poor feet could handle. walking near the water was nice but my mom is a mountain woman so she wanted to see our spectacular cascades. so we took her to artist point up mt baker road and went for a hike along the chain lakes trail.

it was much colder than i had anticipated and i didnt have any socks, but the plastic bags worked surprisingly well.

the day was mostly cloudy and overcast, with clouds rolling in and out and over the mountain. it was actually a mystical sight.

a quick snack break

we went to vancouver canada one day and met up with my friend sharon. this is the totem pole park and some crazy canadians recording a dancing video that will no doubt make its way to youtube in the very near future. i thought it was pretty funny.

me and my ma

the yummy desert we had at the stanley park teahouse.

and then we attended a temple session at the vancouver temple. it was so great to be with my mom. she took us out to eat, we went shopping, and i showed her all the beauty bellingham has seduced me with. the week flew by and when tuesday rolled around i really didnt want her to leave. someday we will live nearby and this wont be such a rare experience.

Ja BOK

2010-10-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

The reasons why i love my little bro, jake:

his big awesome contagious smile

he wears ridiculous pajama pants any time of day

his chips and salsa diet

his love for our dog cassie (all our dogs had a particular attachment to jake, or atleast jake was attached to them, literally)

he's passionate about rock climbing and dancing and has shown discipline and skill as he has mastered them both

he makes hilarious movies

he knows how to make you laugh and have a good time, and its always good-clean-fun

he's very genuine and caring towards others

his love and respect towards nature

he will do just about anything... no what ifs or worries... and he'll make it fun

he's got a great singing voice

he is one of the most humble people i know... always willing to admit when he's made a mistake and genuinely wants to make things better... and he never flaunts his awesomeness

HE WON MR. FCHS! finally prevailed when all other Wards fell short

he doesnt really care what others think about him (maybe this is why he wears such ridiculous clothes... i love it!)

he's thoughtful and sweet

he's just got a heart of gold and i feel his loving kindness whenever i'm near him

Jake has always been the one of my siblings that i felt like i could go to and "be real" with. he and i were a bit more sensitive than the others and i always felt like he understood me

he is an excellent example to me of having compassion towards others

thanks Jake for being such a great little bro. i have had so much fun with you over all these years and feel very sad that i have missed out on so much of your life these past few years since i have moved away. looking through your facebook pictures i can see that you are always having fun and are always the one that was a bit more riduculous than the others and i love you so much for being you. hopefully we can play more in the future

your big sis-lissa

life on texas street

2010-09-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

well nothing really spectacular is happening in bellingham these days. so here's a few pictures of the things we do to put some fun into this city of subdued excitement.

this is a dinner i made the other day of all local ingredients. eric was stoked about the fresh sockeye salmon he got out in the county from some local fisherman. i made a raspberry chutney from raspberries that we picked, and grilled some peaches eric picked while in the cascades and poured the raspberry sauce and some blue cheese over the top. then sauteed some chantrelle mushrooms that eric found out in the county woods, and the brocolli is from a local farm that we got from our friends at dandelion organic delivery. it was really really yummy!

eric took the day off yesterday to spend some time with me and we decided to go mushroom hunting. here is a gorgeous chantrelle that i found!

what a cute little couple.

perfect habitat for mushrooms

eric decided to bring the shotgun he just got from his dad which belonged to his great grandfather and we found a nice spot to shoot it. we did not bring the tv's and monitors to shoot, they were already there, as this was no doubt a local favorite spot for target practice.

i was going to shoot it but i got scared, i just dont like the idea of having a deadly weapon in my hands, maybe i dont trust myself, or maybe it was just really heavy. but its not for me.

( we also got a gun lock that very same day)

and here is our glorious bounty! yummy, all edible and delicious. (dont worry mom, eric knows what hes doing and its real easy to ID a chantrelle)

identifying mark of the chantrelle, veins under the head instead of gills, and the stalk is usually much more meaty and white than its poisonous counterpart

single mom for a week

2010-09-14T14:36:00.001-07:00

my older brother jared and his lovely wife steph decided to go for a week long trip to spain , a lifelong dream come true for steph. i volunteered to watch their precious girls for the week. i thought that it would be great to spend time with my awesome nieces and see my brother who has been living in ohio for the past few years. i didnt really realize what i was getting into until i was telling my friend where i would be for the week the day before i left. "three kids, one a toddler and you'll be all by yourself?!" she exclaimed. it was going to be a challenge for sure.

the week was filled with all the fun activities i could think of... tickle monster wars, fiestas, jewlery making, art projects, card making, pirate adventures, princess adventures, baking, swimming, singing with raffi, etc.... the week began with alot of playing with playdo. but then ruby (the toddler) started putting it up her nose so had to put the kaibash on that. these are the collaborative pandas that ann and i made. she would make the body and i the head or vice versa. pandies are her FAVORITE (yeah... it sounds a lot like panties when she says it)

lots of visits to the many parks in westerville ohio during the day while ann was at school.

these girls are very girly, expecially evelynn who insisted on wearing a dress EVERY day

here they all are dressed for their princess adventures. ann, evelynn and ruby are on a treasure hunt looking for the secret treasure box

this game was called "getting dirty" and the girls absolutely LOVED it.

evelynn on a slide near the library

oh so adorable. even though she had the tantrum throwing perfected and i am sure she practices her high pitch scream just to see if she can break glass, ruby did the most adorable things which made us all laugh and kept me from wanting to throw her in a closet. (not really steph... just metaphorically speaking)

ann and evelynn were stoked to have a beauty salon one night after ruby went down early. we painted fingernails and did eachother's hair and put on lipstick! it was SO fun.

you cant quite tell but evelynn is extatic.

towards the end of the week ruby started to really miss her parents, which meant she became more and more crazy and didnt sleep very much during her naps or at night because she was crying. so during the day she would fall asleep almost everytime we were in the car.

all in all i only broke down and cried three times and screamed once. the majority of the week was filled with so much cuteness that i am really glad i got to spend time with my adorable nieces.

the girls and i were very happy to see jared and steph when they got back.

i respect single moms so much more than before. its hard work, and being pregnant only made me more emotional and tired, but it was all worth it.

old dress... new dress

2010-09-14T14:29:00.001-07:00

we had a clothing exchange/ repurposing activity at church and i came home with lots of ideas and someone's old clothes to practice on.

this is a full length tube top dress made of brown jersey that the previous, very tall owner used as a skirt

i cut off the bottom and used the fabric to add sleeves and embelishments... this is the front of the new dress.

it was a lot of fun and i caught up on project runway episodes while i sewed, for added inspiration.

oh by the way...

2010-09-13T16:02:00.000-07:00

due march 21st, 2011 (same date as our 3 year anniversary)

the graduates

2010-08-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

the G R A D U A T E S

"Mrs. Robison,

Are you trying to get me to go to grad school?"

Eric and i have finally graduated! i graduated in winter 2008 and Eric just graduated this June. neither of us had a party or sent out announcements so i figured this picture should suffice. next in our plans, Bolivia...? grad school...? stay tuned....

Oregon Coast

2010-08-23T15:33:00.000-07:00

3 good friends, 3 bikes, 6 full panniers, three helmets, 200 miles along the Oregon coast... put that all together and you have the time of your life! My friend Julie Kerr asked me months ago if i wanted to join her on an epic ride along the Oregon coast. i have never done more than 20 miles on my bike and this ride was 400 miles, but sure why not? i'm pretty fit and i love hanging out with julie, and i LOVE the Oregon coast. its just gorgeous! So we thought that we needed one more person and Emily Fox would be perfect. not to mention the fact that we are all old friends from college and are now art educators. Girl Power!

packin up in the chamber of commerce's parking lot in Asoria

we are set and ready to ride.

we had a late start so we only rode 40 miles up three monsterous hills. we felt pretty proud and stopped in a cute little town called Manzanita for the first night. we figured we had all earned a 1/2 pound burger with bacon and blue cheese, and a peanut butter pie, so thats what we had for dinner, giddy with endorphins.

day two... our first stop was tilamook after a 3o mile ride. we had a lunch of bread and cheese and ice cream! yummy!

Emily wanted to play it safe so we got a yellow jacket at a thrift store and turned it into a vest and two safety capes. now we really are superheroes

me and the silver bullet, all loaded up

campsite at Whalen Island after a 60 mile ride

check out those hard core scratches and grease on those legs!

purrrrrtty

after 200 miles and lots and lots of hills we decided to take it easy and chill in newport on the beach. this is the mega bridge we had to cross atleast twice a day to get into town from our campsite.

aaahhh, how cute. this is what the weather was like most of our trip- overcast and gray.

look at these hotties!

frolicking in the ocean

julie and emily

cafe mundo in newport, an awesome cafe with live music and neat art

we had to take 6 busses to get back up the coast, julie and emily were kinda sleepy

we ended our adventures back in astoria aand julie and i took a small tour around the historic goonies town. ths is us at the goonies house. it has a huge isreali flag in the front and all kinds of flowers and a wall that wasnt there in the movie, but it was still magical.

Baker Lake from a canoe

2010-07-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

we went to baker lake for our fourth of july celebration on monday and tuesday cause we both had the two days off. we borrowed a canoe from the tobler family and strapped it to our car.

we canoed to a campsite up the river and set up camp.

once camp was set up we went for a hike around the lake. we found a nice spot with a great view of the lake and took an extended break. i painted and eric took a nap. it wasnt until then when the clouds cleared that we realized we had a great view of mount baker and mount shuksan!

after a lovely hobo dinner of veggies and chili we went for an evening stroll on the water as we watched the sky change to evening.

mount baker and eric

our dinner spot from our very own dock from our campsite

eric swimming in the cold cold water after a long paddle back to our car. mount shuksan is behind him

after she was all loaded up

then we checked out the mount baker hot springs. it was a really peaceful two days.

go america!

2010-07-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

my new favorite treat! it tastes like a mini cheeses cake but is way faster and easier to make! just smear plain cream cheese on a graham cracker and add whatever fresh berry you have in your fridge, or i guess you could even use jam. delicious! this is how i celebrated our nation's independence.

eric and i went to church and spent most of the day relaxing and trying to figure out our upcoming camping canoeing trip. last minute we decided that we wanted to see the fireworks show so we rode our bikes to the alabama pedestrian crossway which is up on the biggest hill and faces down to town. it was the perfect spot because you could see the whole city celebrating. since we live near an indian reservation, where sweet fireworks are sold for cheap, everyone had their own show going on in their own yards. not to mention the city fireworks show over the bay. it was beautiful!

Our freedom was established 200 years ago on indepedence day and to those who fought in that war i am eternally grateful! and to our forefathers who wrote our sacred constitution and bill of rights and organized a democratic state, whom i believe were inspired by God, i am grateful. let's focus on how we can live up to their vision and insure safety and health to all God's children.

after traveling all over the world i have a different view than before i left. i am so grateful for how comfortable my life is here, but with that comfort comes responsibility to do something. i hope that my knowledge and experiences will keep me active in trying to fight for peace in this war ridden nation/world.

i asked eric if he was proud to be an american, he said, " No, no more proud that i was born with blue eyes or blond hair, why should i be proud that i won the lottery"

there's no place like Kansas City

2010-06-24T19:42:00.001-07:00

yes i have never experienced heat and humidity like i did while i was in kansas city, and the barbeque pulled pork and onion ring sandwich was a one of a kind, but the real reason there is no place like kansas city is because that is where my beautiful sister jenny and her lovely little family live. i got to spend a week there just a month after jenny had her fourth little boy, Lukas.
the week was filled with all kinds of fun activities and child care. i really got some first hand experience of how challenging it is to take care of four boys in a place where the weather more often than not, does not allow playing outside, unless of course you are at the pool.

james and i made many "towers and little houses for the elnimals" (animals)
you may notice his intense concentration. unlike other children who smile when they are having fun, you know that james is enjoying himself because he has a very intense look on his face.

Shwan is a great helper and he was very useful around the house with the other boys. he is a great soccer player and just made it onto the varsity team in fort collins... thats right they are moving back to the fort in july!

Mikey was alot of fun! we roller bladed around the neighborhood when it wasnt deathly hot. he is really good and he learns quickly. i showed him a new trick and he had it down and was going faster than me in just 20 minutes.

there was alot of time spent at the pool. this was jen's fitness club's pool! pretty rad place for kids huh? you cant see but there are two winding slides in the back too.

and of course, the newest member of the family, Lukas. he is a sweetheart. he really likes to be bundled up real tight so he cant move his arms. jen said i should become a nurse cause i handled the baby so well. i think i should just have some of my own instead :)

jen has this awesome, free farm near her house and you can go and visit the animals and play at the park. james loves the animals but he is scared to get too close.

you can also fish! james caught this one.

the hook was caught real bad and the first time i didnt want to get it out so we had another less squeamish mom take it out. then shawn caught one so i tried to get it out but still squealed when the slimy thing wriggled in my hand. finally with the third one i said i was going to do. but the hook was caught through the poor guys eye and i couldnt get it. even though i wrapped my whole hand around the slimy scaly thing and pulled with all my might (trying not to kill the poor thing) alas i still could not remove the hook

as you can see its in there real good. so we had the 16 year old kid running the bait counter get it out.

at the farm

i shouldve filmed this but hopefully this picture captures the moment. james was riding these spring animals so "fast" that he had to put on his intense concentration face. i was scared at first that he was angry but then he gruffly said "weeeee" through his grimmace. it was pretty funny.

for FHE one night we talked about the creation and then made our own creatures. these kids arepretty creative.

awwww. realaxing by the pool. it has been so cold up here in the northwest that it was actually really nice to get in the sun and be refreshed in the pool. it reminded me of the hours and hours i spent at the parkwood pool with shea. who knows what we did but that was really the best way to pend the summer.

and happy birthday to me too

2010-05-17T23:18:00.001-07:00

for my birthday on may 4th, national star wars day (may the fourth be with you) eric and i had a relaxed evening after a great day substituting a fourth grade class. we rode bikes down to squalicum beach and walked by the beach. then we went out to eat at the swan cafe, with is like a deli in our food co-op. eric made it more romantic by bringing a tablecloth and a candle. then we came home and relaxed with a movie and a back rub. it was very layed back because the bigger celebration was the upcoming week.

squalicum beach with a view of bellingham behind us.

the tide was way out and actually on its way in once we walked all the way out to the edge. it is super flat here so the slightest bit of tide change means a difference in the coast by sometimes more than a mile out.

you cant really tell, but i was wearing my star wars shirt all day. then we ate a mini gluten free cake made of almond meal from the co op. it was delicious!

eric also bought me tickets to the Little Mermaid Ballet at the mount baker theatre in town. so the next weekend we got all dressed up, and being that i love mermaids so much i decided to wear my old mermaid costume, which was a beautiful prom gown that i turned into fins and a borrowed sweater from my friend kristina with hand sewn sequins, a sweater handed down her family from the 40's! so fancy!

and that is a sequinned starfish in my hair as well. we went out to eat first at a nice italian restaurant.

what a handsome fellow, sometimes i look over across the table at him and just think about how lucky i am that we are married.

the theatre was lovely with all kinds of pretty decor. it was rather romantic if it werent for all the 8 year old girls in their walmart princess dresses.

and this is ariel herself, on her human legs at the end of the ballet. we both agreed that we like operas more because there is more social/ relationship dynamics and drama due to the ability the performers have to speak. the dance was lovely and i loved the costumes.

what a sweet husband i have, thanks eric!

happy birthday chesley!

2010-05-09T19:53:00.001-07:00

ode to ches

she's invincible and irresistible and uncontrollable

the way she loves her husband is absolutely adorable

her tenacity and veracity keeps all of us playing

and dont you ever disagree with what she is saying

she's intelligent and articulate

and always very considerate

she always knows how to make me laugh

and she's the best twin sister anyone could have

and she will be a wonderful mom!!

thanks for being so... ches... a one of a kind

i love you