Kruger National Park

Monday morning we had an early start once again. This time to catch an airplane back to Johannesburg where we hopped a bus for the six hour drive to Kruger National Park. We stopped in a teeny little village for lunch and also stopped for petrol at a station that had a zoo attached where we got to see our first animal sightings. The hotel was pretty cool and we had to walk around different wings to get to our rooms.

 

Tuesday was an even earlier start. We were on the jeeps by 5:30 in the morning. It was cold driving in open air vehicles at 50 mph to get to the park. We had good success seeing animals before our 9 a.m. breakfast stop at a campground in the park. The BEST time though was between breakfast at lunch. We saw four of the big five (only missed seeing the leopards). It was so funny when we were getting back into the jeeps after lunch and one of the guys we became friends with pulled out some doTerra oils to use. He told us we just HAD to try them. The other side of the world and still running into it! The drive back to the hotel that night was another one of my most favorite experiences during this trip. As we went through the countryside, all the people were out in their little businesses (a chair with a canopy over it was the hairdressers, a hose with a sign directed you to the car wash). The kids were so cute. If you happened to catch their eye, their whole faces would light up and they would jump up and down waving at you. So cute! And it was a very 'real' experience.

 

Wednesday as we took the bus back to Johannesburg to catch our airplane home, we took a different route and went through Pretoria. For some reason, I've ALWAYS wanted to go there. (Thanks to the movie The Power of One maybe?) It wasn't on our docket so it was a nice surprise. We got a tour of the city, stopped for lunch and did a little shopping (I picked up a beautiful pink and cream lace sweater blouse). Our flight out was at 9:00 p.m. which was nice to be able to actually sleep at a regular time on the plane. Of course, our total travel time was 38.5 hours by the time we got home including our bus travel. We definitely needed to stay longer in Africa to make the travel length worth going all the way there!

 

 

Cape Town, South Africa

We finally made it to South Africa early afternoon on Thursday. Our tour guide from smarTours for the Cape Town portion was Jason Gresak. We got a tour of the downtown city before getting to our hotel and checking in. Friday we opted to take two tours. The morning tour was supposed to take us up Table Mountain, but the tram was closed for renovation AND it was overcast so you couldn't even see the mountain. We went up Signal Hill instead and got great views of the city. We also visited the Malay Quarter and saw all of the colorful houses and stopped at a little restaurant there and sampled the food. We also toured the Castle which is the oldest structure in all of South Africa.

 



The second half of the day we went on a cultural tour. We started in District Six, moved on to Langa township and then finished up in Khayelitsha Shanty Town. That probably ended up being one of the best experiences of the entire trip! It was eye-opening seeing the extreme poverty with the 1.2 million people living there with no running water, shared port-a-potties, etc. We visited two non-profits and I loved seeing the kids sing to us at the second one.

 

 

On Saturday we drove down the coast and saw the Twelve Apostles mountain range, the fishing village of Hout Bay and saw the African penguins before going on to Cape Point where we also saw ostrich (which I ate that day at a restaurant as well) and baboons. We also went to Fishoek fishing village and we stopped at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens where all the flora and fauna there are indigenous to South Africa. We also went up to a light house. Great day!
 

 

Sunday we were able to find our way to Church at the Mowbray Branch. They were celebrating their 160th anniversary! Can you believe that the Branch was organized there back in 1853?!! Some ward members were kind enough to give us a ride to the beachfront afterward. We got some lunch and had a walk down the boardwalk. We finally got to see Table Mountain with the clear skies!

 

And We're Off!

How did Day 1 of our trip to South Africa start? With the Christensen's (a senior missionary couple in my division of the Temple Department), picking me up at 5:30 a.m. so we could drive to Bountiful and attend a 7 a.m. temple session with the rest of our division as a team building experience, plus the others needed to see the new film presentation. It was great! But hard to get up that early knowing the long day I had ahead of me... We went across the street afterward for some breakfast at Sister Stevens house before heading in to the office. BEAUTIFUL home!

 

Susan Hilton, Debbie Loock, Sandra Mason, and Leisha Olney

David Garmon, Steve W. Anderson, Leisha Olney, and Me

I joined the van pool for the drive home from work, picked up my luggage, was picked up by Amy and we went up to Bountiful to collect Amy S. and Amanda. Our flight left at 11:55 p.m. and I got some sleep on the flightsss. It was 32 travel hours later when we finally arrived in Cape Town, South Africa!

Building the Kingdom

On Wednesday, I managed to make it to an open house at Lori's work. I brought grandma with me and we sampled some of the meal choices that are available there (Dream Dinners). Jason, Marcel, Edna, and Jenica came too. Jason was supposed to play racquetball with me at 8, but he cancelled so that they could go visit Jake. I called Sarah last minute and she was able to make it! She stopped and bought a racket ahead of time so she wouldn't have to use my old one with the disintegrating handle.

 

Thursday night I held a South Africa get together at my house with the Amy's and Amanda. The whole point of us meeting was so we could watch the Power of One to prepare us for our trip. Amy F. picked up Los Hermanos so we could eat while we planned the last minute travel items, then we started the movie. Two minutes in, they called a halt deciding that no one was in the mood for a sad show and Amy S. even decided to leave because she had somewhere else to be. We watched a comedy that we all love, but I was VERY disappointed not to be watching what was planned.

 

I went to Ruth Cook's funeral on Friday. The services were very nice, more sad when they spoke of Thomas of course. It was also sad when Dean sat down to eat at the luncheon and there was an empty chair next to him. I rode down with the DeRoest's.  Amy met me for racquetball afterward and we got there 20 minutes early and no one was in our court so we played the extra time. She is wanting to exercise more so she played hard the whole time which makes me do the same. It was awesome! I was seriously sweating and gross, but still loved it. Jason and Jenica came over to the house after and we played Rook and Tetris.

 

 

Saturday was a BIG day. I spent the entire morning over at the Church as the stake representative for the stake baptisms that were going on. Afterward, I swung by the store (still in a dress) and picked up the last minute items needed for my trip. Then I practiced my talk a few times, babysat Ari, picked up haircolor for mom so Sherry can take it with her this week to California, then went over early to the stake center again, this time to give my talk in Stake Conference at the adult session. President Miles asked if there was a way I could extend my talk out as long as I could. I threw in another story and dragged it to 16 minutes instead of 12. That was the best I could do. Thanks to the multiple times I practiced it, I managed to make it through without crying. Yay! I think that was the best part. :-) Out of all the people I invited to come see me, Dana and Deborah were the only ones that showed up. Dana gave me a bone crushing hug afterward and told me that he was proud of me which was very sweet. I cried myself to sleep over the others.

 

I sat with Dana's family for Stake Conference this morning. I think his kids have finally gotten used to me. Tiffany will speak to me now and sit on my lap, Bailey and Jeffrey always want to sit with me and sit on either side and Jeffrey comes up and gives me a hug when he sees me now. I went visiting teaching after Church with my partner. One of the ladies we visit doesn't want to meet on the weekends or in the evenings (the only times I'm off work), so my partner has worked out a system where we drop her off something one month, and then my partner will share a message alone on the next month. We just left something today and visited with our other sister. I spent some time this afternoon chatting with grandma and Kevin before their home teachers showed up. Grandma came over later and brought me dinner! She gave me a chicken pot pie and a bowl of peach cobbler from Lori's work. I thought it was pretty sweet.

Jason wouldn't climb in the back so I crawled
over the seat in my dress. Three times. Curly tops!

Ed actually smiled for the camera!

Jason came up for Nikki's wedding and ended up going to a
funeral instead. We got a week w/him and then he had to leave Sat.

One of us in this picture is expecting. Guess who?!!

 



Working in Style

Dean's condition has improved and there are talks of him being sent home from the hospital. I think Ruth's funeral is on Friday, but I don't think I'll be able to go to it. :-(

 

Melissa met up with me for racquetball on Monday and Amy was tonight. Since she didn't get a chance to play last week, she wanted to make up for it during our games and came out playing hard. It made such a difference in our workout! I'd jokingly told her when we started to pick up her feet when she played (in reference to sometimes when we play and she is tired and moves slow, dragging her feet) and boy did she ever. So fun!

 

At work today when I got back from lunch, there was a large, executive chair at my desk in place of my regular chair. It was dark burgundy leather and looked like a throne. One of the general authorities on our floor was getting rid of it and it had been in the freight elevator hallway for surplus to pick up when my boss saw it and thought it would be funny to switch out with my chair. Joke was on him because I. Loved. It. and used it for the rest of the day! I eventually had to give my throne up, but maybe I'll still have them call me Your Majesty to make up for it...=D

 



Birthdays, Baptisms, and Bonding

Friday after work (where I once again fell asleep during the drive), I went over to Dana and Deborah's house for the family birthday parties. We celebrated the bdays of Deborah, Steven, TJ, Tiffany, and Ari with dinner and lots of yummy cakes that Lori provided. She did her Cheesecake factory carrot cake cheesecake as well as what she called a Banana Poke cake which was a banana cake with sweetened condensed milk and caramel in it. Then we held a practice for the family reunion musical numbers. I love when Jer and Nathan sing!

 

 Saturday started early with a drive up to Heber for TJ's baptism at 9 a.m. I played some prelude music then also gave the talk on baptism. Brett conducted in his white jumpsuit. He is so sensitive when it comes to his boys and ordinations. He's gotten pretty good at pushing through and continuing to speak, but I could see some definite lip quiver going on. He sang with all of his boys I Hope They Call Me on a Mission. Those Zabel boys are pretty cute! Afterward, we went to their house for a quick breakfast, then I took TJ in my car to get him some ice cream for his birthday and he got to ride with me all the way down to PG. He wanted to listen to my music because he really likes a good beat. It was funny singing with him all the way down!

We got to the family reunion and it went pretty well. We played a number of songs while people were finishing up eating. Jenny did some fiddling and sang a song, Nathan and Micah played violin, Nathan, Jer, Brett, Jenny, and I did guitar, Nathan, Jer and Christian sang solo songs - lots going on! There were lots of people there that I haven't seen in awhile. I stopped and saw grandma afterward to make sure she was doing okay. Then I drove Karen and her daughter up to Snowbird for the start of their family reunion week and we played card games. Karen wasn't spending the night until Sunday night so she drove home with me afterward late.

Jason was at Church on Sunday because he's in town for the reunion. I sat by him during Sunday School and he has agreed to go play racquetball with me this week. Yay! Ruth Cook passed away this week and Dean is hospitalized. He has severe carbon monoxide poisoning and his kidneys have shut down and his heart is struggling. We're waiting to hear how he's doing.

 

 

Singing with all of the kids there.

 

Our very own man from Snowy River!

 

Micah and I manning our stations at Nathan's Eagle Scout garage sale project.

 

Things are Going Swimmingly?

When I lived in Salt Lake, I had these nice leisurely evenings after work where I could do whatever I wanted...including doing nothing at all! I don't know how that's changed exactly besides me adding exercise to my routine, but I don't have a spare moment to take a deep breath! How busy is my day exactly? Yesterday I got up at 5 a.m., was out the door by 6:25 to catch the van pool. I was at work until 4:20 p.m. when the van pool left. I struggled to stay awake but lost the battle and slept during the drive home. Kent Reimschussel dropped me off at our house, I got the mail and walked straight into grandma's place and sat down and talked with her for 15-20 min before I had to cut the visit short, run in and change and leave immediately to drive to Lindon for a hair appointment (making it 5 minutes late). (On the plus side, they threw in a $5 nose wax! I'm breathing free and clear today.) I drove straight from there to the AF Rec and made it 5 minutes late to play racquetball with Melissa. I felt a little bad for her because I was seriously on my game. It felt so good! Then I left there after 9 p.m. and had to go grocery shopping (it was seriously the only time I could do it as I had to pick up a watermelon for tomorrow's family bday party). I got home just after 10 p.m. (after fielding a phone call from a member of the stake presidency asking me to speak in stake conference next week. I responded to that request in the exact same way as when the ball of wax was torn from my nose with all the little hairs attached - a vehement 'AWESOME!' Not surprisingly, both the hair lady and President Stirling both laughed.) Then I had to put away groceries and my laundry making it into bed just after 11 p.m. This morning was another early morning with the exception of having a DMBA specialist coming to the home for a 7 a.m. appointment to do blood and urine work, an EKG, and go over my medical history to see if I qualify for a life insurance policy. I also packed a bag since I didn't go home at all after work today and instead came to the Pacini's for swimming. Sigh...I can't wait for my airplane ride to Johannesburg when I'll be able to actually sleep for an uninterrupted 16 hours! Good thing I can sleep like the dead on an airplane.