Pictures of Italy--part 1

November already!

October flew by in a haze of craze, and now it is into November. I feel like I am just getting my feet back on the ground:)

After 12 years of not really leaving the kids, all of a sudden I take 2 trips, for a total of 18 days gone, within 3 weeks of each other!
I just need to say again: My husband really is amazing and kind and amazing and wonderful and amazing and supportive........and...and....and..!!!!!!

I left the family on October 20th and met my friend Karami in Rome, Italy. We spent 4 glorious days touring around, seeing incredible things, eating incredible things and laughing about a lot of things:) It was great!

After Rome, I had a training in Naples, Italy and spent 5 days there. I didn't have a car and was on an American military base, so I didn't see as much as I did in Rome. I did get to a local market and tried the wonderful mozzarella cheese and fresh olives. I also got to run outside a lot, so I was happy about that. I didn't get to see south, down the Amalfi Coast or Sorrento (another trip to Italy is a must I guess), but I saw to the north, a place called Gaeta, and I also saw Mt. Vesuvius and some of Pompeii.

After Naples, I headed back to Cairo and reunited with my family. I missed them so much and even now, 2 weeks later, they are still telling me how glad they are that I am back:)
Absence does make the heart grow fonder!

It takes forever and a day to download pictures, but I will put them up. It just may be a few posts of just photos.

For the Eid break, our family is taking a trip to Israel all of next week and we are very excited to explore that part of the world, especially to see places where Jesus Christ actually walked.

It has finally cooled down here and is the perfect weather! Fall is in the air and we are looking forward to Thanksgiving....I already have a turkey hoarded in my freezer:)

The Egyptian people are kind people in general and I am enjoying a more settled, relaxed feeling living here. I think we all feel the 2nd year has been easier than the first---maybe not as exciting and new, but a lot more comfortable.

Well, gotta go try to find the Israeli embassy----wish me luck. Sometimes I really wish they had roadmaps that were accurate here!

Love to you all and Happy November:)

Amiee's Alaskan Adventure

Because I have an AMAZING husband, I got to fly to Alaska for the wedding of Aaron (my youngest brother) and Hillary. I left on Monday at 6am and didn't arrive in Alaska until 9pm on Tuesday---that included an 11 hour time change! I got to see London, NYC, Salt Lake, and Seattle on my way. It was beautiful flying across the USA in the daytime and seeing the whole country! Flying into Alaska (Ketchikan) at sunset was beautiful.

I arrived in Juneau a bit delirious. After a good sleep, I woke up on Wednesday and took a bush plane to Gustavus, Alaska. This town has about 400 people, with 60 kids in the school k-12. There are a few paved roads now, but still my house is still on a dirt/gravel road. This is where I grew up and where the family home is. My parents were working all day and none of the other siblings were there yet, so I went myself to Gustavus and had a sunny day in the true beauty of Alaska. I saw mountain goats and black bear on the flight there. I kayaked in my parent's single kayak, I went to the beach/dock, I saw friends and enjoyed the quiet of the forest--I mean absolute stillness and quiet where all you hear is sounds of the forest and nothing else. It really was great! That night Aaron (who was still working at the Glacier Bay National Park for another day before ending) and I hung out, talked and had yummy pizza at my friend's restaurant (the only one in GST).

After a night of darkness, with stars all over, and just the sounds of the wilderness around, I got up and rode a bike all over town in the rain. The gray skies made the fall colors and the evergreens stand out and the rain brought out the smell of wild cranberry bushes---it was fantastic! I saw a bald eagle on the dock road and listened to its call...one of my favorite sounds in the world. OK OK =-) I won't go on and on anymore, but I will say that I flew back to Juneau refreshed and rejuvinated....and my lungs felt cleaned out from Cairo's pollution:)

Back in JNU: Andy and Heather and little Bryant, Alan and Lisa and little Logan, Amber, Angela and Evan had all arrived and we got to spend the rest of the time (thursday through Sunday) hanging out, laughing, teasing Aaron and each other and just plain having a blast. Amber and I went running through the glacier trails with Uncle Mike, we all ate lunch with the wedding party and saw a whale right outside the window and we got to go on a boat to pull crab pots, then I got to eat said crab less than 1 hour later:)

The wedding was in the observatory of the Mendenhall Glacier and in spite of the rain and gray skies, we got some amazing pictures and saw our "little" brother get married to a girl he really loves:)

As I said, I could go on and on, but I will stop now and just put on the few pictures I have of flying into Gustavus and my time there. I hope Andy and Alan put up some pictures of the wedding because my camera ran out of batteries and even my back-up batteries were dead!

One more thing: when I grew up in GST we had church in our living room. Now there is an actual church house in good ol' GST! Amazing....really.

Days Off

Because of the end of Ramadaan (yipee!) there are some days off of work and school. Brent got USA's Labor Day off on Sunday and he and I spent the day together. We took metro to Coptic Cairo (christian quater) and saw some beautiful sights. It was clean, organized and I liked it. We went into a little church in the back of the Greek Cemetary and it was a spiritual place. I also saw the first art I have ever seen in an art museum that depticted the resurrected Christ, so I thought that was cool. The pictures are scenes from Coptic Cairo. There is a mosic depiciton of Mary, Joseph and Jesus traveling to Egypt. There is a sculpture of a saint slaying a dragon (not familiar with this bible reference, unless it is Peter slaying the dragon symbolically). Also a beautiful church with a cross weather vane on top. Don't see that so much here, so it is nice to see.
Brent also got Thursday, beginning of Eid, off and he and I exercised together (Jillian Michaels kicked our hineys!) and just spent day together relaxing. Kids all off on Sunday, 12th, for last day of Eid (end of Ramadaan feast/celebration time is called Eid). We have some sick kids so we will probably just lay low. We thought about going to beach with some friends, but not so fun with kids who don't feel well.

Kids are busy with life. Rebekah and Josh are in the middle school play called "Zap", Josh is in the golf club, Elisabeth is doing Egyptian Folkdance class, Emma is taking pottery and Sarah is doing the painting/drawing class afterschool. We have YW/YM, piano lessons, homework, scouts, Arabic class and more...we are plenty busy:) I am taking a swimming lesson to learn how to endurance swim...someday I am going to do a triathalon. I am also running in the early AM with a friend, though sometimes we have to carry rocks to throw at the wild dog packs! I have seen others running with golf clubs, riding crops and crow bars. I am sticking with my rocks thank you very much.










Here is the gummy army guys that Brent and I came across at the military grocery store. Talk about weird! There were 4 guys: grenade thrower, bazooka shooter on the ground, sharp shooter and rifle man. Not sure what to think about these, but they tasted pretty good.

Back to School and birthdays

Kids headed back to school on August 15th, Josh turned 12 the next day and then it was Sarah's turn to be a 6 year old on the 24th. Josh, after turning 12, also became a deacon and was given the Aaronic priesthood. It is a special time for him. He passed the sacrament for the first time 2 weeks ago and seems to be a pro now:)

Brent becomes a LCDR

LCDR means Lieutenant Commander. Brent was promoted in August and we all attended his promotion ceremony. The kids played a good role and marched and saluted. It was nice and we are proud of Brent:)

Still playing catch up

Finished trip to UK and headed to Idaho Falls, Idaho. We visited family, played in the grass and had a blast. Elisabeth turned 9 while we were there and got her ears pierced. She was very brave! We traveled to Wyoming, where we got to see lots of family, ride horses and we hiked the Star and up to the intermitten spring. Josh went to a soccer camp at BYU and Rebekah went to a girls camp at Utah State.
Brent headed back to Cairo after 2 weeks, but me and the kids stayed and had lots of fun in Utah and Idaho, with my Mom and with Bren't parents. We also got to see lots of family while in Utah. What fun and some beautiful sights. We loved it!