Possible Christmas Gifts

I have finally gotten around to posting some of the jewelry I've made on Etsy.com. If you want to check it out you can find it at: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6081982

Happy Halloween!

This year was similar to last year in that we hadn't decided on a costume until literally right before the Halloween party we went to. I had gone to the dollar store and to Target in search of something cheep and yet amusing. Nothing was to be found except $50 costumes on the shelf that were quite ridiculous for the price. And the dollar store- there are no costumes for a dollar even though I had hoped I might find some awesome make-shift costume for a buck or two. They did have fake leaves for sale at Kroger however, so I thought I'd create something...I thought I could pin those leaves to me and I'd dress in all brown and be...you guessed it....a tree. So I bought my leaves and safety pins and headed home. Little to my surprise, Joe was not impressed with my creative contraption- and he decided to look on line for something better.

5 minutes before our party he found something that was better than my tree idea- hard to believe, I know- but we ended up being "Mavericks" for the night.


And his school buddies especially loved it being that only 3 out of 200 students are republican. :)


Before the Brand School party, we went to a dinner party with some friends from church. We had delicious soups and bread, watched some old school scary movies and had the "best costume" competition. I can't believe we didn't win. Just kidding, we only spent 10 minutes on our costume, so we definitely don't deserve best costume. But none the less, it was still a good time. We did have a happy Halloween!

Just us girls and the new job-

So, just about a week ago, I got to go to visit my family in Utah. My sister Cristi was going to be in town, as well and my grandma, so it was really fun to have time to hang out with just us girls. It was a pretty last minute decision to go out west, but it all just seemed to fall into place- so I couldn't turn down the offer when my mom found one spot left on the flight to Utah using her flight miles.

We had such a great time together. Here is one of the things we did which was give our cute and very old dog, Patch, a bath. I got Patch when I was in 3rd grade which makes her 16 years old now! How crazy is that? She is the cutest little thing, but sadly has a harder time these days with running or going up the steps. She also has some really nasty breath, and there is some kind of growth that has appeared on her upper lip- it makes us laugh.


Here is the before picture...


...And here is the after. She looked and smelled so much better!


Since I've been back from Utah last week, I have taken my certification exam (which I passed!) and I have also started my job at Central State Hospital. I've got my keys and ID here to prove it. So far things have been going pretty good. I met the other MT's there which was great- and I've just been observing groups so far because I am still in training. I am looking forward to starting my own groups there- but for now I am just trying to learn everyones names. It has been hard because I meet new faces every day! But, I'm hoping I'll get it straight soon.

Anyhow, Joseph has been really busy with school, but is enjoying it! We have been very blessed so far this school year and things seem to be really coming together. Sorry it has been a little while since I posted last- now that we have a new camera, I promise we will work on posting more often!

Back in the swing of things...

I am sorry that we have not posted anything cool as of late. Joe has seemed to misplace our camera I'm afraid, and so we haven't been able to post the great pictures we have from our anniversary/birthday trip to the outer banks. But, I'm hopeful that we will find it, and we will post those pictures as soon as possible.

As for now, we have not been really living the exciting life. Joseph's school schedule is really starting to kick in, and I am still on the job hunt but had an interview today, so that is good. I have have been babysitting on the side, making jewelry to sell at the local farmers market, and I have also been doing my music stuff as well. I actually wrote a new song just this week! So, although I don't have a "real" job, I've been keeping myself pretty busy. This week I will also be substituting for a teacher at where I did my internship, so we'll see how that goes. I've kind of always dreaded the thought of being a substitute teacher only because I remember how we used to feel about them when I was in middle school and high school...but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes.

Anyhow, that is where we are at right now. Here is a picture of some of the jewelry I've made using natural beads that we brought back from South America.

There's no place like home...

Well, we're back now. And although the trip to Colombia was so amazing, it feels great to be back. Even just arriving to the airport, I found myself suddenly so excited about once perceived common luxuries such as drinking fountains and endless supplies of toilet paper in the bathroom (that is free mind you)! It was quite wonderful. We had "American" Chinese food in the airport on our layover and it was delicious! It will be a little while before I bust out the beans and rice I think. :)

Now Joseph has started school and we are just getting back into the swing of things. We're almost all the way moved back into our apartment. And I am currently studying for my certification exam and looking for jobs. Finding a "real" job is kind of hard. But, I am continuing the search and I know something will work out the way it needs to.

Saying Goodbye

Well, I'm sad to say that our time here is coming to an end. We recently said goodbye to our 31 children at the foundation. I made little cards for each of them with a little note that I put on their beds before we left. I wanted them to feel like they were important as an individual. It took me quite a while to finish, and some of them will toss it into the trash right away I'm sure, but I hope it will mean something to someone.


It was hard to leave- we were sad to go and hope that they know that we love them and are not leaving out of rejection to them but because we have to. We are hoping to keep in touch and told them that we would call when we got back to our home in the States.

This last week we were busy at the foundation building a garden. As you can tell from this picture, I had to really hold them back at first from not all working at the same time (just kidding). They were actually not as excited about it at first as I was, but they still enjoyed it and when it was finished, I think they were proud of what it had become.


We plated carrots, lettuce, cilantro and beets. I am hoping that the vegi's will grow that that they'll be able to make salads with it. Here's kind of a cute picture that Joseph took. It looks like he's thinking to himself, "Please God, make this garden grow- it will take a miracle." That was pretty much my thought as we were doing it. I really didn't know what I was doing. But thank goodness we had one of the workers there help us out.



And here it is after we planted the seeds...


Anyway, Joseph and I are going to go to the LDS temple in Bogota tomorrow. We're looking forward to that. And then on Wednesday morning, we head back to the good old USA. We're getting pretty "trunky" as missionaries call it. We have already decided where we want to eat when we get there- Thai food. I think we've probably had enough beans and rice here in Colombia to last us the year. :) We are glad that we've been able to have the experiences we've had this summer. It has been amazing really.

Not The Most Gifted Athletes...

But we can run a 10k and here is our proof.


Well we didn't come in first...more like 8,607, but we all finished so that makes us winners!


So we totally thought we were in such great shape because at the beginning of the race everyone was walking and we were jogging through them all until we realized we hadn't even crossed the starting line yet. I guess everyone else didn't sign up for the 10.5k...more props to us!


I'm glad I brought the camera along to snag this great picture. I believe at this point we were more than half way done and still pumped! {This is Bianca speaking for myself...I must admit, I was not pumped. You can tell in the different faces I have in the first and the second picture here. Joseph was still so excited and all full of energy and all I could say to him is, "How are you not dying right now?! I usually always can run farther than him because I run more, but this day, he somehow had a ton of energy. I was very proud of him- he wasn't sure if he even wanted to do it. Now, he's talking me into doing the half marathon in Richmond! Way to go Joseph! It was a lot of fun- just a little rough for me at about mile 4 I think. I'm glad we did it.} Oh, and by the way I wasn't the only serious runner with a camera during the race.


Here we are at the finish line! Overall, it was a great experience and something I would for sure do again. For biacna this was her second 10k and I dont think her last. I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to run the whole way, seeing our training consisted of about 5 runs none of which I was able to run a mile without stopping and I think I maxed out at a 1 and a half. And yes there was talk of a half marathon in Richmond, but we havent run more than ten feet since the race, but who needs to train anyway.

{And a shout out to Mandy for running with us. We miss you and love you and are glad we could have shared that 10k experience with you! Joseph says that you get the award for most fashionable runner with the styln' $3 gucci glasses. :) }

More loves...

I thought of a few more things that I love about being here right now, so I thought I'd quickly share those...
First of all, they have the best fruit here- and what makes it taste even that much better is that it isn't that expensive (compared to the U.S. I guess). In this picture here, I am about to eat a huge fruit salad that cost me about $2.50. How great is that?!

Secondly, I love moments like these. We ride the bus quite a bit from the orphanage to Bogota and other places- and not just in Colombia- but in about every South American country I've been in, they like to squeeze about as many people as humanly possible on a bus. I love moments like these when we have to ask ourselves, "Is this really happening right now?" We have a lot of these moments, and they make for great laughs afterward. Here is a picture that also shows you just how well Joseph fits in here. :)

"Chancho...I need to borrow some sweats."

Joseph and I decided to start a blog together because we are currently in Colombia traveling and working at an orphanage for 6 weeks, and we would like to show some pics to family and friends who are far away and don't get to live these experiences with us. We have had such a good time so far. We are actually about half way through...we've got 3 weeks left here. Our goal for this trip has been to really enjoy and live in the moment. It is easy to focus on all the little things that you miss about home or the US, but we are trying to focus on all of the things we love about being here right now. Here are a few examples of things we have loved so far:

1. We live at this orphanage about an hour out of Bogota, Colombia which is in the country. One of the things I love is how peaceful and beautiful it is around there. Here is me and my little sister Mandy just outside of the orphanage.


2. We have found a lot of relation to Nacho Libre...and it never gets old. "It's the best!" Joe saw the "elote loco" on the streets here and naturally couldn't leave without giving it a try. He loved it!

3. We have loved getting to spend more time with my little sis Mandy and my dad. We've had a great time, and it has been so much fun. They leave before we do, and we will miss them greatly.

4. Oh, and how could I forget..."the orphans, they are my heart" (Nacho Libre quote once again). At times, they can be really stressful to deal with because there are 35 of them, and so it drains you if you don't get a break once in a while. The mornings are usually a little more quiet because most of the kids are at school, so that has been nice. When they get home from school, we usually help them with their homework, and then do an activity with them before dinner. After dinner, we usually just play games, do hair, put them to bed, read and sing to them, etc. Here are some pictures of the kids.
















The one on the right is our airplane flying contest that we did with them...and the one on the left is just us hanging out and playing music.

This boy is Joseph's favorite although he doesn't like to admit it. He could be compared to "chancho" in Nacho Libre. He's got these cute chubby cheeks...he really is such a cutie.


Joseph has also become the giant of the orphanage who is constantly being asked to throw kids around...they can never get enough. We have loved so many things about being here. We are glad that we decided to come down. We've got to go now back to the orphanage, so we will post more later.