The Making of Eurotrash, Rebecca Version

So, as you both know I recently had my grand trip to Amsterdam. It was perfect. Except for the part about Amsterdam.

It all started one partly cloudy day. I woke up after spending the previous day running around trying to get last minute things in order (but, since I'm a procrastinator everything is last minute). I jumped in Ninja Warrior and off we went up to the airport. Checked in, got through security in no time.

Everything was looking good. And that is when it turned ugly. Had I known that Seattle was a nightmare to fly in and out of I would have made other plans. But, I didn't. So, I waited through two flights; waiting for my name to be called. Nothing. The first flight I missed it by 2 people. Then the next flight, which was the last option to be had for making my connecting AMS flight. Well, my name is third on the list. I can see it popping up on the cleared list at any moment. Then, my luck decides it is not going to behave itself and a father and daughter that missed their previous flight show up wanting a seat on this flight. Wish granted and two of the open seats now go to them. But to make matters worse they delay the flight by 20 minutes. Which wouldn't have been a problem, but by that point all 7 people that would have missed the flight otherwise were able to make the connection. No problem though, I'll grab my bag and try again for the morning. Baggage problem #1, my bag made the flight that I didn't. It's now about to land in Seattle. However, Baggage Services Man Keith (who, looks like a little leprechaune with a stained tie) promises that they will have it sent back immediately and I'll have my bag by that evening, ready to go for the next opportunity. Baggage problem #2... my bag doesn't make it back from Seattle that evening, but I decide not to let it ruin my trip. Baggage Lady Tammy says she'll send out an S.O.S to Seattle and tell them to send my bag to Amsterdam anyway. I, knowing this plan will fail jump on the plane anyway. I make the first leg of the trip. Sitting waiting in Portland for the plane to AMS. Problems again. Plane comes in 2 hours late. But, good news is that it's not full and I make my business class aspirations! Massage chair, leg room, movies on demand, silver platter service. Ahhh, it all makes the additional 2 hour mechanical delay worthwhile... until I get the phone call that informs me that my bag is in Salt Lake City waiting for me to pick it up. S.O.S. to Seattle did not get read. I know start my journey without anything!!!!! Awesome! I decided that panic was not the the best option and looking at it through the eyes of an adventurer was the best way to go about it. So, I enjoy my flight. Get into Amsterdam and into a country that doesn't speak my language, find my way through multiple cities and end up right where I need to be, at the JorPlace Beach Hostel. The fun begins and the worries are over! I'm in Den Haag. I love this city. Perfect, clean, friendly, and homey. It's here that I meet up with Michael, and our new German Friend Stephan. Stephan was a great roommate to have. He has been at the hostel for 4 months and has 3 more to go. He's doing an internship and the hostel is the cheapest way to go. He was great, friendly, quiet, and eager to learn about America. He and I spent a lot of time talking because Michael was in conference the whole time we were there. We exchanged stories of our cultures and learned about the world in between. Stephan was a lonely soul in Den Haag. Germans are still hated by the rest of Europe and it was very evident. We wished him the best after becoming our own little misfit family, and headed on the highspeed to Paris. Now, I'll start the photo documentation of the trip instead of play by play in writing... Just, don't judge me-I didn't have any of my clothing, and the humidity did a number on my hair. Anyway, the photos begin:

Hi Speed Train, the Thalys.... 200-300MPH!!!!!

Random statue in front of a random chapelThe random chapel from above had all these "t"s in it. I don't know what the T stood for, but I liked them allPretty self explanatory. I don't know what these were, statues in the Louvre though. Really, the only art I liked in theirBrussels!!! Country #3 on the tripManekkin Pis. Way smaller than I expected him to be for being such a famous little boy

Belgian Waffles.... So amazing!!!!!!
Brugge was my favorite city on the trip. So picturesque. The whole town was quaint and darlingBrugge again, the steeple in the background was disappearing into the fog. This was at like 10 at night
Random Parisian statue. She was huge and protecting the Siene

I will Triumph!

Mona Lisa. She was tiny, over hyped and unimpressive

Sacre Coeur. Such a beautiful basillica

Here I sit on a Saturday morning, completely and totally unsure what to do with myself. It has been a crazy hectic winter and down time has been very elusive. So, I'm trying to figure out what to do to keep my sanity. I keep thinking I should go for a run or go to the gym.... however, I just did my hair and I don't want all that heat damage to go to waste. So, I think maybe I could bake something... but I am not going to the gym to reverse those effects so that won't really work. Maybe I could go shopping.... No, I am trying to cut back on my spending. Read a book? I spend all my free time at work reading books. Plus, my book is in my locker at work. Volunteer at a school? Yeah, It's me like that would really happen. Plus, it's Saturday there are no real venues to volunteer at; and it's Park City where would I volunteer anyway? So, I keep sitting here thinking that maybe blogging with help with my boredom.... and it did, for all of 3 minutes. Now, I still gotta figure out something to entertain me for 4 hours until I have to work. Free time is a workaholic's worst nightmare

Resolutions, I believe!

I'm not usually one for New Year's resolutions. I'm more into New Month's resolutions. However, I'm going to go for a New Year's resolution that I want to stick to--for life. As I was driving down the dark deserted road the other night I was thinking some totally ridiculous thoughts about a dream I had the night before. Vampires attacking me. That led to thoughts of my demise. And then I couldn't help but wonder if I was in a life or death situation would I quickly repent and beg for immediate forgiveness for my short comings and go calmly out of this world? Would I beg God for an extended life in exchange for a more devoted existence of spreading His love wherever I go and with whomever I come in contact with (then I had a side thought of walking around wearing a tee that says Jesus is my homeboy)? Would I just grin and bear it and deal with the aftermath of my life in the after life? I never came to my conclusion because until I'm in that situation I'll never know. So my resolution takes form; (we all see where this is going) I want to do a better job at being a follower of Christ. I have a Lord that loves me and loves all his children. He always has and always will. From the beginning of time with Adam and Eve, to the dispensation of Moses, to the time of Christ, to the Nephites, and down to this dispensation with Pres. Monson. I want to do better at receiving that love and showing that I deserve to be bathed in that love.
Now I know that sharing this stuff isn't typically me, but they say that by writing goals down and telling someone about them you are more likely to achieve them. So, here I etch my new resolves for all to see and all to hold me to. I have a goal to read and pray daily, I am challenging myself to read the Book of Mormon again by year's end, and to better apply it's lessons into my life. I want to revamp my attitude about everything. I have a great Patriarchal blessing and I want to be worthy to receive those blessings and to fulfill my life's mission.

Funny side note, I have a co worker that has a bumper sticker that states "Christianity has Pagan DNA." I thought about this, and I'm completely convinced it's vice versa. The end

Oktoberfest

October has a fun and kinda eventfulish month. Okay, no events just fun, and only parts of it have been fun. I decided to do a photo update of the month of scarefests. I tried time and time again to carve my traditional pumpkin. It took until the last day of the month to carve it. Which, I kind of enjoyed the whole thing as a halloween night deal. I debated long and hard on what design to do, but i decided to go with easy and traditional this year. I'll start working on next year's designs. The night before halloween I went to a dance with Lee and Duke. I'm the sports fanatic in the middle. Psyche! thanks for the set up. Upon coloring my hand with a highlighter early this September I realized the genius behind my halloween costume... An Oompa Loompa. So I thought it out many many times and I was able to create quite the costume. It was a total hit. Hundreds of people (or tens) commented on how great it was. I put all the other Oompas to shame. Lee went as a University of Montana sports fanatic, and Duke went as SemiPro.

Just the week before Halloween Lee and I decided to go to the BYU v. TCU game. I told him the only way I would go to the game was if we could paint our faces. So we both sported the colors... not the colors we wanted to, but Dad would only give us the tickets if we would cheer for the Y. The game was a disgrace and we both wanted to remove our paint almost as soon as the kick off was through. BYU didn't show up for the game and as fans we shouldn't have either.

Lee got his design inspiration from a skeleton. Not even a week later he did sport his true colors the Maroon and Silver of UofM. He was way more happy to paint his face for the halloween costume rather than the BYU game.

Other events of October. Phineas had his first birthday. Jennifer and I spent the week searching out jungle animals for his sweet birthday cake. There was a carport beach theme. He was the happiest 1 year old ever. He had such a good time that day and knew that it was his day. Then the next day Lee, Jennifer, Phineas, Justin and I went to the zoo and looked at all the baby animals, where afterwards he enjoyed his first piece of pizza. The next week after that Michelle came from CA and we spent the weekend out at Spring Haven. Good times! I miss Spring Haven and I miss Michelle.

Well, those are the highlights of the month. Nothing too exciting and worth reading. Or even worth posting. But it happened and that is that.

It was a whale of a time

So Lee came to visit me this past week. We did several very fun and memorable things (I think so, he may have been bored out of his mind, but he's a boy so what does he know:). A few of the awesome things we were able to do I'll post up here. We started out with an awesome dinner and then ran out to a place called Lena Point for one of the spectacular sunsets here. Whitney, Lee and I sat there on the cliffs overlooking the sea and watched the 10:30pm sunset. It was awesome. We watched for whales too, but didn't see any wild life besides a seal that kept poking his head around. Then the next day we got up early and went for a helicopter ride. This was awesome. The weather was spectacular and we were able to get up and see the glacier and also the Juneau Ice Field. The ice fields are only accessible when the weather is the clearest and the sunniest. And we scored big that day, and even got to do snow angels in July! We also were able to get out on a whale watching tour. Anything you can hope for in a whale watch we were able to see. A sweet humpback full breach. I saw that sucker from head to tail completely out of the water. It was a baby, and was still larger than a full size truck. It was phenomenal. Then we were lucky enough to see a pod of orca. So rare, and something I've been waiting to see for two summers now! Then we also saw bubble net feeding. It's a learned behavior that whales only do here in Alaska. The mate down in HI and then make their way up here where they bubble net feed....translation-12 whales in a circle jumping out lunge feeding at the same time. It was amazing. We spent a lot of time eating, every restaurant that I love we went to, and then we spent a lot of time laughing. He was lucky enough to ride along with me on my tours for 2 full days. That was the biggest treat of them all. You all could have this amount of fun too, with the low low price of coming and visiting :)

Gallon Challenge Revamp?

So the other night I was on my way up to Park City, UT. Along the way I passed through Heber. I love Heber. As I was trucking along at a whopping 37mph I passed the Maverik. Maverik happens to be one of my favorite gas stations. Not only do they have the cheapest gasoline prices but they also have stellar hot chocolate, chocolate donuts, frozen yogurt and a catchy little slogan- "Adventure's first stop." Exciting, I know. It draws me in every time. Anyway, back to the story. As I passed the gas station I glanced over at their marquee to see what price they were boasting for gas, that's when I saw it. The advertisement that gave me one of the best ideas I've had. They were advertising any size Icee for $.99. I've been on a craze lately where I can't get enough slushies, so of course I got excited and my mind started to reel in the possibilities of a $.99 Icee of any size. Now, I know that the largest size they offer is more than enough to satiate my craving but true to form I needed to scheme up the best and biggest possible scenario. A 5 gallon bucket of Icee?! And, better yet... for $.99!!!I was skeptical, but thought it would be fun and totally awesome to go for it. Well, I decided to continue on my way to PC so that I could get back up for my plan.
After much deliberation and persuading. Okay, mainly persuading I convinced Lee that this was a brilliant idea and that there would be no regrets. Step 1 of my plan was complete...convincing the opposed. On to step 2. We had to retrieve a container that would hold an outlandish amount of Icee. This was an especially heinous part of the trek... we had to run the gauntlet of WalMart, aka the Mexica Villa... normally not an issue. But, this is prime time Swine Flu with Park City shutting down all sorts of public gatherings. Could we obtain the chalice and get out unscathed by the filthy swine? While running the gauntlet we decided that a 5 gallon bucket maybe a little overkill...especially since we didn't know how much those machines can hold so we stuck with a 2 gallon canister. Step 3, and the most important... the execution of the plan. As we drove up I was super nervous that the deal would only be at the Maverik in Heber. We're in Park City now and this is a whole new ball game....much to my delight the deal was company wide. I wish I had a camcorder for this part because it truly was spectacular. We walk in and I head straight for the Icee machine, passing the middle aged Asian lady at the counter. Lee walks through the store searching for food and providing a great distraction. I filled the container with Watermelon Fanta and Coca Cola flavors. As I walked away the machine started to make the most awful noise because I'm pretty sure it hasn't had that much action in...ever. As I walked away the lady looked at the machine like it was going to blow, and that's exactly how it sounded (it didn't, well at least not while we were there). We get up to the check out counter and Lee puts his dinner selection (donut holes) on the counter. Ms. Asia rings it up and asks if that is all. I motion to my hand and say, "Oh, some Icee too." Her eyes get wide, she gets an annoyed look on her face. She asks how big of a container we have. Lee says something about the fact that they advertise that all sizes are only $.99. Ms. Asia gives a look like, "you're serious? You really think that is what we meant?" Then informs us that it was a refill container and that they charge differently for refills. As we were finishing up checking out she asked if we were having a party. She didn't believe us when we told her that we were having a party with just the two of us, because why would two people need 2 gallons of slush? We ended up being charged $5 for 2 gallons of Icee and one of the most awesome adventures I've had at a Maverik. We went home and enjoyed the frozen goodness. This is one thing that I will forever laugh about, and thought I'd share it with my 2 faithful followers.

Scent sure is a funny little sense.

As I pull up to the parking lot at work and the conditions are perfect...When the moon is just right, and the clouds and fog are just low enough, and the temperature is just crisp enough that the humidity emits the best scent ever, the scent of the salty water. Smells just like the ocean and I'm taken back to a little town down in the south of New Zealand. I'm riding my bicycle along a never ending street late at night. The town has gone to sleep, I'm the only one out. The fog has rolled in and settled upon the streets, stopping time. The seemingly endless road is lined with lamps, but the fog has defused the light making everything appear to be in the twilight zone. The stillness is eerie, but also safe, as if I'm in a dream and my surroundings are something I've fabricated in my mind. I feel so vulnerable, not knowing what lurks just past my sight. The void of movement is a padding as though it's impossible that there is another creature out taking in that same sight, the same air, the same scent that the ocean has brought in.
Some nights I take my time getting home, basking in the quiet solitude, enjoying the thought of being in my dream world where everything is mine and created just for me. Other nights my legs can't peddle fast enough to get me safe and inside back to the noise produced by the announcers on the telie, and back to the scent of boxed wine and baking tarts, the the friendly chatter of the day's events. But still in the back of my mind is the scene I rushed in out of. Know, years later I still play this nightly occurrence over and over in my mind. Taking me back to the time where the only thing that mattered was what I was seeing and experiencing right then and there.
As I pull into the lot and others are complaining of the scent of the lake, thinking that it is too much to bother with, I rememeber what the smell can be and what it represents and it brings a smile to my face. I don't know why these things all have to be lined up for the phenomenon to happen but when it does it's the portal to one of the best moments and memories i can have.