10 Things I never have and wish I did because I always forget to buy them

wrapping paper

spices

vitamins

dryer sheets

envelopes

stamps

contact solution

409

batteries

glue stick

More Nature Fotos

My Photography class is over, but I still keep taking fotos :) As soon as I have 30 minutes I will post some fotos of Brasil... I need to sort through them still...

14 days later

Yes. After 2 full weeks of being lost, my suitcase was returned to me. That means it never made it to Brasil. Instead it was sent to Chicago, and then Charlston VA... pretty close to Brasil eh? I have now spent a great deals of hours with United Airlines employees in Brasil, San Diego, Salt Lake, and India (thats where the 1-800 number goes) So yay for red elephant suitcase coming back, I was pretty excited if you couldn't tell.

Besides this whole thing the Brasil trip really was fantastic. Absolutely wonderful. No words. Booyah!!! Stay tuned for other pictures from my fantabulous trip...

lost and found

yes. the suitcase that was officialy lost, has been found. today. that means a whole 8 days after it was lost last thursday. which means yours truly has been wandering around using the same clothes for 8 days. (imagine that I am laughing hysterically right now... because I am)

so it has been quite a journey. luckily the suitcases have been the only mishap. wednesday after spending a few hours at the sao paulo airport urging the airline-american airlines- suitcase people to PLEASE start looking more urgently for my suitcase, they told me nothing could be done. at which point I gave up, and started making a list of all that I had lost. there was a lot. electric shavers for my brothers companions, a digital camera to give away, my clothes..... sigh.... shoes, other running shoes, 2 books with all of the names, dates, phone numbers, and addresses from my mission, and lots of other random presents things... basically a ton of stuff. but i laughed and decided to move on with my life. no use crying over spilt milk right?

so i bought two shirts and some shorts so I could look more presentable. up to this point I had been washing my clothes everynight in the shower... I think buying new clothes was a better option. so now I have new clothes, and my suitcase...ok I don´t have my suitcase yet, I get it tomorrow night, a whole 22 hours before I fly back to the United States. Which means I will get to look cute for one day- sunday. ahh well, once an ugly missionary in brasil, always an ugly missionary in brasil eh? ok not really, because I have not been doing missionary things at all, swimming at the beach (in my brothers short and shirt) listening to brasilian rock music, watching brasilian tv... nothing missionarish about it.

but I digress, really the whole thing is just hysterical. it has been a great trip, dirty clothes aside. I love brasil so much, and it is so nice to just visit everyone. yesterday we drove up to Sao Jose do Rio Preto, and we visited Moises, a pizza man, and he taught us how to make brasilian pizza. yum!! and I was able to pass by and see so many fantastic people. it is wonderful to see how people grow and change, and are blessed by the gospel. I truly love visiting all of these people again, and remembering how wonderful the mission was and continues to be.

so yes, everything is good. even my beloved red, elephant spotted suitcase.

reunion, tapioca, and the lost suitcases

so yes my suitcases are still lost.. which means I have been wearing the same clothes for several days now... ok i lie, i went and bought a skirt yesterday for church today.. But let me tell you I look marvilous... but all of this just makes everything funnier, and makes it a real brasilian experience for my parents... but man i am loving it all...smoky smelly clothes included.

everything just seems so familiar, it is crazy. I love speaking portugues again, seeing the brasilian culture again, they are so sweet and so fun and loud. I feel so at home. and hello... can we just talk about being able to see michael again? wonderful!!! and now we can speak portugues together, which is a blast. He is skinnier, but just glows.... we all knew he was basically perfect before hand but now we can just expect him to be translated anyday now :)

he has been taking us all around maçeio, which is soo fun. It was St. John´s day yesterday, that means lots of parties, and drunk people, normal stuff for mike and I, quite an experience for my mom and dad. They are handling it beautifully. It is awesome to see the people He taught, we met the sweetest family tonight who we all fell in love with- especially their 4 year old son. (it is so great being able to hold little kids now.... not like my mission days!!) They all cried when we left and Mike said their goodbyes.

we also introduced my parents to some great brasilian food... tapioca (this is NOT pudding..way better) and rice and beans and forofa and conjica and hmm lots of good stuff. We told my mom she had to eat everything today at lunch or they would get offended (which actually is true) and I think we all laughed to see her eat more food then I have seen her eat my whole life. It is good for her... good practice for mission days ahead of her (eat more sister!!!!)

it has been a blast. i love brasil so much.... i am getting so excited to go to my areas in a few days. but now i am just enjoying to see what a great missionary my brother is.

Tchau ate...

and the adventure begins...

in typical brasilian fashion, we have now been traveling for 26 hours and are not in our destination. Sad, funny, and true...we are still in the sau paulo airport...where I have spent a good 20 hours of my life waiting in the past 6 months...hahaha.

But the adventure really began yesterday when our first flight was delayed... thus missing our connecting flight to brasil... so then we ended up being routed to Chicago.. where we had a 20 minute layover which was spent running through the airport... and obviously our luggage did not make it with us to our next flight to Brasil... and then that flight had problems and was delayed, so we arrived in Brasil late, and with the lost luggage problem, we missed our connecting flight to Maceio... so now we have to wait 8 hours until the next flight. and it looks like maybe tomorrow sometime we will get our luggage...which means no clean clothes for a few days. hahaha.

This is all quite funny in my book, except that I feel bad for my mother who is counting down the hours until she can see my brother. But what is one day when you have been waiting 2 years?

From this I have realized two things- first off, airports and airlines are tricky tricky things, and then with the foreign country factor, its hysterical. Second off, I will never,ever, ever, work for the airlines. It seems to be one huge mess.

So now we are burning time, I think I will go introduce my parents to some brasilian food. Oh the funny times are just beginning. This morning I taught them not to flush down toilet paper.. here in brasil you just throw it away. Mom thought that one was wierd.

A least I am enjoying speaking portugues, even if it is explaining for the 10th time that our luggage has been lost.... haha. And so yes... the adventure has officially begun! YAY!!!

that crazy family

So this is a post for my family. We are crazy... crazy fun!!! Here are some pictures of when I went home and we went biking at Cornado, and played at disneyland. Fun, fun!










Happy times at the Happiest Place on earth... and that chocolate banana is heaven!!