vacation to Rio, Brazil!

Three-ish weeks ago Josh and I finished another semester of school, packed up all of our things, moved and then took off (on the longest plane ride of my life so far) for Brazil! Our first flight left at 1:00 pm and we arrived in Rio with Josh's parents at 9 am the next day! It was an amazing trip and we feel so grateful that we were able to go, thanks to Colleen and Kurt! I'm not sure what we all would have done if Josh did not speak Portuguese! We were all very grateful for him and for the talent that he has kept up. It was fun for me to see him speaking so easily with all the people that we talked to or passed by. I was able to understand a little bit of what people were saying because of Josh teaching me Portuguese and from my knowledge of Spanish, but I still can't say much.

Some of the things that we did were visiting the Christ statue, taking the tracks up to the sugar loaf, biking all along Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, walking around downtown, visiting cathedrals, soaking up the sun on the beach, sunsets and pretty city lights at night, trying lots of new food places, kayaking, figuring out and riding the buses and overall just exploring the whole city!

I'm sure what you all actually care about are the pictures from the trip, so I will get on with those. Brace yourself for picture overload here and some thoughts at the end if you can make it that far...

The Christ statue.

Guarana, my first drink of it! Its a popular soda in Brazil.

Botanical Gardens

Acai! I was SO excited to try it and then pretty disappointed by its taste :/ Josh still loved it though!

Just walking down the street, and beautiful sky.

That large rock is called the Sugar Loaf.

Our ride up to the sugar loaf!

The view from the sugar loaf.

Night time on Ipanema beach

Cathedrals downtown Rio

This graffiti was pretty good!

The arches

What the housing looks like.

Stairs made out of any every kind of tiles. It was random and fun!

Mocambique! (where Josh served his mission)

The ULTIMATE photo bomb. She is even smiling at OUR camera. It was pretty funny.

Our Condo that we stayed in for the week.

View from the sidewalk. If you look straight down the sidewalk, two blocks down in the beach. We were SO close!

Long bike ride up and down the beaches!

They have exercise equipment all along the beach! I found it pretty funny.

Perfect little mermaid rock :)

We rode the buses a TON. It saved us money and was pretty entertaining. This was us on our way to church the Sunday we flew out.

Church in Portuguese :) We found other BYU students attending the ward, of course.

Here are some panorama shots that we got.

The Sugar Loaf and its little beach.

View from the Sugar Loaf. See the Christ statue

Another view

The arches

View from the Christ statue

If you made it all the way down here then you are a trooper! Here are just some random thoughts about our trip:

• Living two blocks from the beach was awesome, but I hate that sand never goes away.
• The pineapple was delicious!
• Dinner on the restaurant on the beach was my favorite meal! 
• I loved the bike riding around the beaches.
• If I wasn't getting stared at for how white I looked, I was getting stared at because I was in the 2% of people on the beach that was wearing, not only something that covered my butt, but a one piece that covered my stomach as well!
• I've never seen so many butts in my life. Please America, lets never adopt the thong for a swimsuit trend. PLEASE.
• Overall, I didn't really love (or really like) the food. Which is disappointing to someone who loves food so much!
• The plane ride wasn't TOO bad, except for Josh could never get comfortable to sleep which meant the same for me.
• Met a guy on the beach from America, who was disappointed to find out that Josh is NOT my brother, but my husband. Awkward!
•  I loved the Sunday market but learned that if you find a painting you like, BUY IT. We showed up five minutes too late. Our painting was sold. 
• We had amazing weather the entire trip! But the humidity was not helping me out at all! I hate humidity. Mostly because my hair goes crazy  as seen in these pictures.
• And the whole time we were there it was hazy, which was a bummer for pictures of the city but I still think we got a couple good ones.
• Overall it was an amazing trip!!

I feel like the statement "the more I see the less I know" is SO true. I loved learning more about Brazilian culture and how the world really is so different outside of my suburban American life. I see how in so many ways I am blessed to live the places that I have.  I am excited for more trips around the US and the world through out our life!

happy one year my love, darling, babers, handsome

Our first anniversary has come and gone. We spent our cinco de mayo in the beautiful city of Rio, Brazil and on a long plane ride back to the United States. I thought our trip would be our anniversary present, but josh surprised me on the plane with a gift he bought me in Rio. It was an amazing bracelet that I had said I liked but decided not to buy. I LOVED the surprise! Josh is so amazing to me and I love how he always takes care of me.

It has been an incredible year with so many different things happening. We have already moved about 5 times, Josh is now half way done with his marketing program at BYU, I now have one more semester left of classes, we have laughed a lot, experienced trials, grown closer to our extended families, lost loved ones, and have learned so much more about each other. It has been so amazing and I love our life so far.

Josh and I made a promise to each other when we were engaged. We promised that we would laugh our way through this life. Although sometimes I am not as good at laughing when things aren't going right, I would say that we have had a successful year of laughter! This is something that I truly cherish about  Josh, his ability to just be happy no matter what life throws at us. I love our laughter and our happiness. 

There's not a day that's goes by that Josh doesn't remind me of how he thinks I'm beautiful and that's we tell each other we love each other. We feel so blessed in the lives that we lead. We feel so blessed to have such amazing families, extended families, friends, the school that we go to, the luxuries that we enjoy and the spirit of god that we have directing our lives. We learn more and more about the principles of the gospel and each day our testimonies grow in some way. Knowing that God is over all and that we have Him on our side is incredible. He is what helps make our relationship that much stronger.

So cheers to our first year of marriage! Cheers to an eternity to go. We are so excited to see what these next years bring for us!

grandma

Tuesday April 2nd, 2013. It is a day that I will never forget. This day is one that has really changed my own perspective on life and gave me new outlooks on my own beliefs. This was the day that  I found out my Grandma Alice passed away. I feel like when I tell people that my grandma passed away, they give me the look like "Oh its just your grandma. That's expected." And that infuriates me. It was not expected. And the fact that she is older (83 years old) has not helped me much in understanding her death. My grandma was one of my good friends. This past couple years I have gotten to know her better than I had my entire life.

She lived close to me in Utah so I saw her often. Sundays were usually our days. I would go over and just chat, catch up on our weeks and watch some old movies. She is the one who taught me how to sew. She was the one that never backed out of plans like many friends seem to do. She was the one who listened to me complain, or talk or ask questions about life. She would give me advice on life and tell me stories of her past experiences as a mother, wife, grandmother and daughter of God. My favorite recipes are from grandma; bread and homemade mac and cheese. She told me on Easter, the Sunday before she passed, that she would teach me how to make her bread. That's a chance I will no longer get. About a year and a half ago was the time that I grew closest to grandma. It was the day that  I "saved her life". That is another personal and emotional story that taught me a lot about the spirit, the sanctity of life, and how we really do need to be looking out for each other. Seeing her almost die that day was unbearable. No one really knew how that night effected me. No one but God.

Easter grandma was not feeling well, so we brought her food to her at home. I told her while we were there to let us take her to the hospital  I told her that I can't handle any more surprises  She said she would be okay and that she would let us know if she needed anything. Then Monday (the 1st) I got a call at 2 in the morning saying grandma had passed out and was convulsing. It was a miracle I even heard my phone. I jumped out of bed and rushed to the hospital with Josh along side. When I arrived, no one had answers. I got there just in time to hear Uncle Drew give grandma a blessing. We all felt the peace that she was going to pull through just fine. That it was not yet her time. She was awake, she knew everything that was going on. Test results would not come until morning. They told me that she was going to be okay and that I should go home and sleep. Grandma was so tired. She didn't complain, but I could just tell. I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I looked into her eyes and told her I loved her and that I would see her soon. What I did not know was that would be the last time that I would ever talk to her.

I've dealt with so much emotion these past couple weeks that they all don't even make sense. I've felt regret, glad that grandma was in safe hands when she passed, glad my family was able to come out so quickly, scared, angry that I had to do grown up things like clean out her house and be at the funeral home because all I wanted to do was mourn, I felt pain for her children who I love so much and can't imagine their pain. I have so many questions, for God, for my family, for myself. I wanted to remember everything that she had ever said to me. I wanted to keep all of our memories bottled somewhere safe so that I would never forgot. But mostly, I wanted grandma back.

My Sundays are no longer the same as they once were. They will forever be missing my visit with grandma. Her home was a place of peace and comfort for me. It was an escape from the rest of the world, a place of no judgement and where I felt loved. How I long for that right now. I know in my heart that she is safe in heaven, that she is happy. But it is hard for my mind to grasp the concept of death. It is not one I am unfamiliar with, and like many others, I just don't understand it. How can a person be here on earth and talking to me and then just one day be gone? I am still in mourning and still figuring out how this fits into my knowledge of a life after this one and eternal families. Experience truly brings knowledge to a new level.

Through all this, I have to say that I am extremely proud of my parents. Dad, I have you on my mind especially. I know how much you love your mom. You always made sure to call and check up on her and chat. You were such an amazing son. You fixed things that needed to be fixed, you made sure to make special time to visit grandma as soon as we got into town. As her son you fully knew her flaws and shortcomings but you loved her with all your heart. I could and can still feel that. And then through this hard time, you have given me strength. I want to be strong for you always. As you gave your amazing "conference talk" at her funeral, I looked at you and saw your love and your strength. I wanted to be strong for you because I knew how hard of a thing that was for you to do that day. I think you are incredible and I know that grandma think that too.

I have so much inside of me I could talk without end. I sit here in tears as I write this post. I look at the pictures of me and grandma from my wedding every night. I wear one of her rings on my finger or around my neck everyday. I will never forget you, grandma. You blessed my life in so many ways I cannot express my gratitude for you. There is a lot that I still don't know or understand about this life and about losing you, but I want you to know that I am doing my best to look out for your family here. I know that one of the things you wanted most was for your entire family (6 kids, 21 grand kids, 39 great-grand kids) to love and support one another.

This is all of Grandma's posterity minus only a handful of people. We were all there who could be to bid you farewell until we meet again. You are loved Grandma. There is no doubt about that.

Grandma, say hi to Alyssa's twins and Tressa's sweet girl that are up there with you. Give them wisdom there because they won't have a chance to see you for a while. Watch over your family on earth if you can. We all struggle and wish we could feel your love and hear your voice. And most of all, I look forward to seeing you when it is my turn someday. I know that you will be there greeting me back into heaven. I love you, grandma, and I will never forget you and how you have blessed my life!

good friday

Friday we celebrated the beginning of our Easter weekend by using our Guru's gift card for dinner and then attending a Easter Conference held at BYU. It was a great way to start off this special weekend. I feel that there is little build up when it comes to the Easter celebration in the LDS religion. We don't get a day off in school, we don't have as many set traditions around the holiday and talks on Sunday do not always center around the Atonement of Jesus Christ. So this conference was a great way to remember Jesus Christ and what his sacrifice means for the church and means in my life.

One of the big things that stood out to me when I listened to the talks was the balance between and Just and a Merciful God. In that discussion and through a compilations of different thoughts and readings it really helped me to understand my role in this life. How I am supposed to live up to being perfect and not break the commandments when God cannot look on Sin with the least degree of allowance when no one can get through this life without sinning? Well, the answer is Jesus Christ! If I join with him, he covers my sin. He makes up what I cannot do. And what is great, is that my best is not your best, it is not someone else's best. But Christ covers me, he covers you and he covers everyone when we choose to partner with Him.

I love how in a book that I am reading discusses how we believe in Christ, but do we believe Christ?? Do we truly believe that he can save or forgive us? We usually understand that he can save other people, but then it comes to ourselves and we all of a sudden think we aren't worthy or worth it to save or forgive so He can't help us. But this amazing thing is that He does help you and me! Heavenly Father wants all of his children to return home to him. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is for ALL of his children.

There are so many complex thoughts that I have been contemplating on this Easter weekend. I love delving into the gospel and learning new things and rediscovering simple truths for myself. I hope you all were able to take a bit more time this Easter season to reflect on what you know and believe about Christ and the atonement.