The Meanderings of a World Traveler....kind of....

Since the end of April, we've had a lot of things going on with our family. Like my last post, I will talk a little about each thing....hopefully this post won't get too long, but I'm not too hopeful on that.

Orlando, Florida

Dannon has a soccer tournament every 2 years to pick a men's and a woman's soccer team to go and represent the USA at the Danone World Cup (Dannon is owned by Danone--a French company). This year the US tournament happened to be in Orlando, Florida at Disney World. My company paid for me to go as well as the hotel room, so we decided to bring the family. It was Addison's first time on an airplane, as well as Paige...and it was our first actual family vacation--a vacation that doesn't involve seeing family. The girls did so well! Paige slept a majority of the plane ride, both going and coming. We had a lot of time and made a lot of memories. Here are some of the pictures at Magic Kingdom. We went to the Magic Kingdom on Thursday and Friday. The first night we were there, Wednesday, we decided to do a little walk around the area we were staying at. We went into the gift shop there in the hotel to get Addison an autograph book and the lady at the cash register asked Addison if she wanted to be an honorary cashier. Addison LOVED it! She got to scan the merchandise, take my money and work the computer to enter in the payment. She was pretty excited about that. She also got a "1st Visit" button to wear around. Everyone said "hi" and welcome to her while we walked around the parks. It was a lot of fun for her to feel so special.
Saturday was the soccer tournament. It was HOT and HUMID. My friend from Casper, Wendy Marshall and her 2 kids, live in Orlando and we saw them a couple times while we were there. She said that according to the heat index it was over 100 degrees! I don't mind playing in the heat so much, but that humidity sucks everything out of you! We ended up playing 7 games that day! The games are only 2, 15 minute halves on smaller fields, but still exhausting. My team actually won. I really couldn't believe it. I had really mixed emotions about winning...it would mean I would go to Greece without my girls...especially Paige, seeing that she would be 10 months when I left. When we won, we got to go up front and shake Mickey's hand and even get a picture with him....how nice! ;)

It was a really nice sports complex that Disney World has and the tournament was very well organzied. It was a lot of fun and especially neat to see our CEO (who is from Argentina) play....and he's got some skills. It is great to work for a company that invests in its employees like Dannon does. Our CFO (he's also a pretty good player....and French) was there. I have been able to work with him one on one before---he came over and talked to me and my family and not only remembered my first name (and pronounced it right), but my last name as well and remembered that I had a baby. It's really great that even though I don't work with our CFO on a daily basis or even a monthly basis, he knows my name and took the time to talk to my family.

The next day we went to Epcot. Wendy ended up coming to Epcot and spending some time with us. It was good to see her and catch up. I haven't seen her since 1997!! Thanks for coming, Wendy! It was good to see you! Addison, we found out, is an adrenaline junkie. She LOVED space mountain as well as Test Track at Epcot. She's crazy.....just like her mom. :)

I guess I should note that this day was Brett and I's 12th wedding anniversary! It was a lot of fun to spend it there. We were given some "I'm Celebrating" buttons and they wrote 12th Anniversary on it. So many people wished us a happy anniversary. It was a lot of fun to spend the day with my family that started 12 years ago in the Manti temple where I was able to be sealed to my best friend for time and all eternity. It is a great knowledge to have to know that we can be together forever as a family. It was really neat to spend that special day with our little family.


We left to come home on Monday. We didn't leave until about 2pm so we decided to go to Downtown Disney to do a little shopping in the morning. Addison saw this place on our first night in Orlando where you can pick the oyster and get the pearl inside. I told her that if that is still what she wanted on the last day we were there, we would get it. So, it was still what she had her heart set on, so that is what she got. She loves her pearl. It ended up being a really nice one too. Here are some pictures we took while walking around Downtown Disney.

I loved being together as a family at Disney World, but I must say, that my favorite is still Disney Land...I guess the shear size of Disney World is probably what I didn't like...also all the Jazzies! Holy Cow, I think 90% of their sales are made to FL residents....and Disney World. Also, I like that California is a lot closer. :)


Hoggle Zoo

We went to Hoggle Zoo with my sister and brother-in-law and their son (Terra, Josh and Benjamin). It was a lot of fun. It was my first time there. I even lived right next to it when Brett was going to school at the U for a year and never made it over there. Oh well. It was fun to be there with the girls and my fav sister. :) Paige had fun...at least I think she did. I know Addison did.

Memorial Day--Boise, ID

We decided to go and visit Blake and Trish (brother and sister-in-law) in Boise, Idaho over Memorial Day Weekend. We don't get to see them all that often and they come down to see us all the time, so we decided to go see them. Addison had a great time with her cousin, Lincoln. He's so adorable! It was great to see them and have fun with them. We got a baby-sitter and went to Iron Man II. The day we left, we went to this kid play place there in Boise. The kids had a lot of fun. Thanks Blake & Trish...and Lincoln!!

Danone World Cup--Athens, Greece

In June I went to Athens to take part in the Danone World Cup. It was a great experience that I was able to take part in. Like the Dannon US tournament, it was all paid for. We were going to have Brett come with me, but a plane ticket alone was $2000! :( Hopefully we will be able to get back in that area some other time. This is my 3rd Danone World Cup. The first one that I went to was in 2006 in Portugaul and the 2nd one was in 2008 in Miami, FL. This one, by far, was at the neatest place....at least to me. :)

We left Wednesday from SLC at 8:30AM and got into Athens Thursday morning at 11:00 AM...you loose 9 hours going there. When we got there Thursday we went sight seeing around Athens. We, of course, went to the Pantheon. I love history, so it was really cool to go and see something that was built in the 4th century BC! It is for sure a neat experience to stand in an area that people have been standing in for over 2400 years! We also drove by the Olympic stadium where they have been running at since some of the earliest Olympics. When Athens hosted the 2004 Olympics, they ended many of their Marathons in that stadium. We also saw the Acropolis as well as a temple built to Zeus. There was also a mount right by the Pantheon where Paul came to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Athens.

The next day, we went on an adventure through the Athen's public transportation system to the beach. The beach was not what I had expected. I'm not a big "sit in a swimsuit out in the hot sun" kind of person, so I went mainly for the ride. One person in our party had her wallet stolen. Below are some pictures I took around Athens and the view from my hotel room. I felt very claustrophobic there. Buildings on top of buildings crammed together. Definitely not the wide open spaces of Wyoming or Utah. Also, it was a very dirty city with graphiti everywhere. It was quite sad to see a place with such an historic significance in such a state. Luckily there were not riots or anything like that while we were there. Me and 2 girls from my soccer team did go for a jog around Athens on Friday. Let me tell you, the air there is horrible. I guess at the Pantheon they were saying they were having a hard time preserving the monument because of the acid rain there because of the pollution. Saturday was the first day of the tournament. We played 3 games that day. We played Italy, Greece and Holland. We won 2 of the games and tied the 3rd. Below are some of the pictures of us going into the stadium....we drove and drove through town and down what I would consider back alleys and into a shady part of town and then into an industrial part and then all of a sudden there was a soccer facility. It was surrounded by high fences and....razor wire...yes....razor wire..I kind of felt like we were going to play in the fields of a prison....I half expected them to shut and lock the gates behind me after we entered the field. There were also security cameras. I had to laugh to myself as well as with my team mates on this one. The pictures below also have some of the lunch and my team mates as well as the US men's team.
After that day's playing they took us to an outdoor stadium for some authentic Greek food and Greek music and some Greek dancers. The music reminded me a lot of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. They eat a lot of lamb in Greece. Never tasted lamb, so that was definitely different for me. They also eat a lot of cheese. It was good....I think I would have loved it if this was in Italy a little more, though. :)The next day, we played Mexico first and suffered our first defeat. After that, we played Russia. Talk about being physical without really trying to play the ball. It was a frustrating game that ended in a 0-0 tie. With that, we were ranked a little lower than we had hoped. We would end up having to play an extra game because of it. We ended up playing France. We beat them 2-0 and then went on to play Spain. They scored in the last few minutes of play. Again, very frustrating. And our soccer playing came to an end. We ended up being ranked 9 out of 50 women's teams. Below are the pictures from our Spain game. It is a really neat experience talking with people from other countries who are all together for a common purpose and all have a link together through our work. I have had the fortunate experience to make friends with several people from other countries. The girls from Germany are really nice and also great to be around. I have also been able to make friends with some girls from France as well as England. At the tournament, we were given 4 jerseys. I kept one for myself and traded the other 3. Brett wanted England this year, so I got him England (he got Ireland and Italy on the other trips). I wanted a Germany one so I traded with them and then I traded with Holland. I can now add those to my collection along with New Zealand (which I gave to my dad since that is where he served), Mexico, France and Malaysia.

After all the games were played, they took a break between the games and the Finals. They played a small 3V3 game. Frank Riboud, the CEO of Danone, played in it. His picture is below. He's also a pretty good player. After that, they had the women's final. It was Mexico Water division VS Mexico Yogurt division. The Mexico Water division won. Next was the men's final. It was Brazil VS Spain. Spain won. It was the most interesting game I have ever watched. NO ONE cheered for Brazil, they played so dirty. It was a very bizzare game that was uncomfortable to watch because of how dirty it was and we are always told that we are playing in the spirit of fair-play. But, as our coach said, "we could have sold tickets to this game and made some good money". It was a pretty good game with some pretty impressive soccer......especially when you consider we're all a bunch of yogurt pushers.

After all that excitement, there was a big party at a night club on the beach. Me and a few of the guys from the Men's team (they were from West Jordan, UT) left right after we ate--not wanting to be apart of the whole alcohol scene. I find it very sad that in order for these people to feel like they are having a good time, there needs to be drinking involved. I was missing my family so much. Below is the sign that Addison made me when I got home. She made it all by herself and it was wonderful! I was so glad to get home. It was a very long flight. We left at 11 pm Sunday night, SLC time and I didn't get home and into bed until 1:30 am Tuesday morning...I think I slept a total of 2 hours. I was EXHAUSTED! It's always good to be home!

4th of July--Casper, Wyoming

A few days after I got back from Athens, we packed back up and went to Casper for the 4th. Everyone in my family was there except for 2 brothers and their families. It is always so much fun to hang out with my family. It was too short and I can't wait until we can all get together again. Paige began to crawl at her Nanna Howard's house. She also took a bath in my mom's infamous kitchen sink. Each grandchild takes a bath in this sink...it's nice and deep and so much fun. :) I also have other pictures of Paige below in her AWESOME BYU onsie....GO COUGARS....she bleeds blue like her mom. :)

Below are some misc pictures of Addison and her faces...her puppy dog eyes, her crazy face and just her cute faces. She is so much fun and I am so glad she is a part of our family. Paige is below with her cousin Benjamin. They have a lot of fun together. Benjamin likes to get down and crawl with her. They are 11 months apart but will be in the same grade in school.Well, that's all that I can think of for now...of course, the girls just had their birthdays and Addison just had her first day of school. I will get those pictures up sometime.

Brett is doing well at home with the girls. He would, of course, like to be working, but we are trying to enjoy the place we are at. We have so much to be thankful for. I have a good job, Brett is able to stay home with the girls and develop a relationship with them. It's now been 16 months since Brett lost his job. We have been so blessed in the last 16 months....but that is an entire post all by itself. Thank you to all of you who remember us in your prayers and think of us and help watch the girls when Brett needs help. I hope that we aren't traveling anywhere for the next couple of months....I have a lot of things to get done here. :)