Thanksgiving in Seattle

On Tuesday, November 24th I headed to Utah. I think I was there less then 24 hours, but it was still great! Jess and the kids picked me up at the airport and we headed out to Mom's house. It was a joyous reunion. It was a fun evening filled with good food, great company, visiting, gift giving (from Kuwait), and being entertained by the kids!

Rylee took this picture- Nice job!

Rylee and Julie are happy!

Tayler is modeling the scarf I gave to Mom, while Rylee is modeling her prayer beads.

On Wednesday, November 25th, Mom and I headed to the airport and headed to Seattle! We stayed at Brent and Ashley's house. We got in around 7:30pm and that evening we visited, played wii, and handed out gifts! Ashley was very thoughtful and gave Mom and I a box of hand warmers and foot warmers since it tends to be a little cooler in their house. It was an awesome gift- I love those things! I also handed out some gifts from Kuwait.

Sheik Brent modeling his gift!

Thursday was THANKSGIVING DAY! I love Thanksgiving- it is a wonderful time to reflect on how blessed we are and how much we have to be thankful for. I was especially grateful this year to be home to spend the holiday with family. Ryan, Marcela, and Reyes joined us for the day and Uncle Gary also came over. It was nice to hang with them. Here are some pictures from the day:

Uncle Brent playing with Reyes

Thanksgiving Spread- It was delicious! Cute Reyes

Reyes and Julie just chillin' after all that food!

Ashley, Ryan and Marcela chillin'

Me and Two of my Bros! Ahh Fer Cute!

The Guys

The Gals

Ryan and Marcela- Muy Guapo!

It was definitely a relaxing day. It was awesome to just eat good food and hang out! Thanks Brent and Ashley for putting on a great spread!

The next morning Ashley, Mom and I braved the craziness called "Black Friday". It wasn't too crazy and look at all the good stuff we got! We didn't even have to get up too early! :^)

Successful Shopping

Friday evening we went to Ryan and Marcela's house to hang. We made a Costco run and got some pizza for dinner. Then we watched the short Merry Madigascar movie and sang silly girls camp songs. It was fun and Reyes loves the Moose song!! I actually spent the night with Ryan and Marcela since I went with them to Seattle the next day. Good times!

Our reason for going to Seattle was to go shopping. Pretty sad that the only thing we bought was lunch! It was definitely not a successful shopping day, but it was still fun to hang with Ryan, Marcela, and Reyes!

Reyes! I think she sang the entire Tarzan soundtrack that day- cute girl! On the ferry heading home!

After spending the day in Seattle we headed to Brent and Ashley's house where we looked at pictures from Kuwait and heard Brent's stories of Japan. Mom, Brent, Ashley, and I visited until past 11:30pm. I guess we figured once we stoped visiting that meant our vacation was coming to an end- sad!

Mom and I caught the 7am shuttle to head back to the airport on Sunday morning (November 29th). We got home (to Utah) by 2pm to find the furnace had died! Good thing we had hand and feet warmers that Ashley gave us! Thanks again Seattle clan for making it a great weekend! It was fun to see you all!

Back In The States

I'm back! Back to the USA and back to the world of blogging. When I got back to the states (Nov 18th) I first spent some time in Colorado before traveling around the country to visit the rest of my family. A big thanks to Jared and Katie who let me stay with them since I was homeless for a time. I had two major priorities - to find an apartment and to buy a car. I was able to find an apartment and had a move in date of December 10th. Also, with Brent and Ashley's help, I was able to decide on a perfect vehicle for me... a new Subaru Forester! I love it! The heated seats will help me survive a Colorado Winter!

My New Car- Isn't It Super Cute?

The day after I got home, Jenny just happened to be flying to Boise, and just happened to have a layover in Denver. So, I went and hung with her at the airport for a couple hours- it was great! The real reason I came to Colorado first was so I could attend my good friends' sealing on November 21st. It meant a lot to me to be there, after all, I introduced these two! :^) It was great to be with them on Friday evening when they received their endowment and again Saturday morning when they were sealed as an eternal family. It was awesome, I am so happy for them and happy I got to be there!

Lisa, David & Skyler

Bride and Bride Maids- a year later!

Saturday evening, November 21st, was a YSA event to attend the DU Hockey Game. I went and it was a lot of fun to see old friends and have time to visit. There was a sign that was just for me... okay, I'm sure it wasn't, but it was fitting!

So, from Wednesday, November 18 to Tuesday, November 24th I was in Colorado. Here are some other stories during this time:

Once I landed in Washington D.C. and got through customs, I headed out to find an information board to see where I needed to be for my next flight. I found the information board only to read a big "CANCELLED" next to my flight! I am soooo close to being home!!! So, I got to spend an extra few hours at the airport, but I did eventually make it on the flight that left at 12:20pm. :^)

After exactly 24 hours of travel time, I picked up my rental car for the short time I was going to be in Colorado. I thought it was pretty funny...

The day I got into Denver I had some time to waste before Jared and Katie got home, so I went to Target. It is pretty ironic that the first people I saw were a group of women wearing head scarfs and speaking either Arabic or Farsi! Am I still in Kuwait?

I got used to being at J&K's and hearing Cayden's "good-bye Julie" every morning. What a cute kid!

At the DU Hockey game I won 4 tickets to a DU Basketball game. I never win anything in my life, so that was pretty exciting!

Goodbye Kuwait

Kuwait Sunset

So, now that I’ve almost been home for a month (this Friday, 18 Dec will be a month) I think it is about time I blog and say one last goodbye to Kuwait. There were no tears shed for Kuwait… but there are a few things I will miss:

- Being warm, even at work

- My friends I met there (to include my second cousins I met there)

- Not having to pay any bills

- Not having to pay for my gas (or get out of the car to pump it)

- Ordering any drink on the menu and not having to ask if there is alcohol in it

- Sitting outside and enjoying dinner right on the water’s edge

- The humidity which made my hands so soft

- The wood shop

- Seeing all the big trucks and Army vehicles

- The feeling of being in a foreign country is kind of neat sometimes. It was so different with how they dress, their mannerisms, and the language.

The list of things I will not miss about Kuwait is much longer:

- Driving there (have you read my blog???)

- Working long days and working 6 days a week

- Driving to Post 7 days a week (I attended Church on Post. While I am very grateful there was a group that met on Sundays, it would have been nice not to have to drive to “work” every day.)

- Only having a “Saturday” when it is a holiday

- Dust, sand, wind, humidity, and hot - not a good combination, you just feel dirty all the time

- Walking on rocks and ruining 4 or 5 pairs of shoes

- Walking outside and down the street 100 ft to use the restroom (at least it was running water!)

- Communication barrier (For the most part everyone spoke English, but some spoke very little and their heavy accent didn’t help. For work I started saying, “I’m sorry I don’t understand, will you please e-mail me?”)

- Having only 15-25 people at church and having to sing acapella or with a tape that skipped so you were never in synch with the music (you can imagine how frightening that sounded… the phrase “And Jesus listening can hear the songs I (we) cannot sing” (There is Sunshine in My Soul Today, Hymn 227) comes to mind. Good thing we are not judged on our vocal talent, I think our group would have failed miserably.

- Being the only Sister at church for a couple weeks. It’s a good thing all the Priesthood Brethren were nice and let me join them!

- Not having a social life. I would literally go to work and go home. Only on holidays or rare occasions did we do something and mostly it was attending a farewell dinner

- Having very few food choices: Dining Facility (DFAC), Charlie’s, KFC, Subway, Hardees, Pizza Hut, Baskin Robins, Taco Bell, Burger King, Nathans, and Panda. After a year of only these choices food simply did not sound good anymore. Oh, and their cheese was nasty, it tasted like fish oil!

- Not being able to run to the store whenever I wanted (like fresh fruit and veggies). Yes, I had the “freedom” to do that, but I did not feel safe enough to venture out on my own.

- Not being able to cook since my oven stunk every time I tried to use it.

- The time difference and not being able to call anyone anytime I wanted to

- The not so attractive landscape, I definitely would describe it as beautiful

Things I love about being home:

- Being amongst friends and family who make me feel so loved! It’s like I’ve never been gone!

- Having a social life again

- Going to church with a lot of people and not having to hear myself sing

- Feeling safe enough to go out and about on my own

- Being able to cook and not have to eat fast food everyday

- The laws that make our country great and the enforcement of those laws. For example, Jaywalking, speeding, regulations that keep us safe (Kuwait had some serious electrical issues and had a lot of fires because their standards are not as high as ours. Same goes for medical standards.)

- Wasta is not as prevalent here… in other words, abusing your status and position of influence

- Being able to understand what people are saying around me when I am out

- Being able to pick up my phone and call anyone at anytime

- Reliable internet service

- The snowcapped mountains and the beautiful view

It was a difficult year and rather trying at times, but I am so glad I went. I’m glad I got to experience the things I did, see the things I did, learn the things I did, work on the projects I did, and meet the people I met there. I am extremely glad to be home, but will be forever more appreciative of what I have here. We are definitely a blessed people and live in a blessed land. I’m grateful for the freedoms I enjoy, the opportunities that are available to me, and the safety and peace that being a US citizen provides. “I love this land, God bless the USA!”

Well, here are the last of my pictures from Kuwait. The first set of pictures are from my Veterans Day Holiday (Nov 11th) outing. I worked for 6 hours and then we played….we went to the aquarium which was awesome! They had some very different animals there which were fun to see.

Me at the Kuwait Aquarium

Nice Bat!

Desert Cat. There is a glass there, but you couldn't see it at first, so it looked like a random cat was wondering around inside. It was pretty funny.

Eel

Penguins in Kuwait!

Feeding the Penguins

Scorpian, Beetle Standoff Creepy Worm

Julie with gulf in background- after all it was a holiday so I had to get my water picture!

Next we went to the towers to enjoy a nice dinner and then see the sights. It is kind of cool to eat with the sun set and overlooking the city. We had some traditional Arabic food which I did taste all of these things:

Baba Ganoosh à Eggplant (has a consistency similar to humus which you eat with pita-like bread

Humusà Ground chickpeas which you eat with pita-like bread. I typically am not a fan of humus, but the humus here was mighty tasty!

Tabulaà Cilantro leaves and tomatoes (tasted like a mild salsa, and you eat it on pita-like bread)

Grilled Haluum à salty grilled cheese

Pickled Peppers

Grape leaves

I had pizza for dinner. Their cheese actually tasted fairly normal!

At the Towers overlooking Kuwait City

The Towers- I thought it was a cool picture

After that we made our way to city center where we met a Kuwaiti woman and her husband. It took me a year to meet an actual Kuwaiti woman. They actually looked like a happy married couple and were normal. That too was a first. People do not show emotion and appear extremely miserable, since you very rarely see people smiling. There is a law against merriment in Kuwait.… I think a few times when I was out with friends (co-workers) we broke the law! After shopping for a little while we called it a day.

We had Organizational Day which ended up being when they farewelled me. I think that is fitting, I was hailed on Organizational Day and a year later farewelled at Organizational Day. It was like they threw a party just for me! We played kickball, ate lunch, played games (checkers, poker, horseshoes, etc) and just visited and enjoyed the day. I started a new tradition… I found a coin which said “An Army Of One Less- I’m Outta Here!” and on the back it said “Official Short-timer” I thought it was pretty funny, so I gave it to Attila (my good friend and mentor for the past 5.5 years) with the hope he will get to pass it along soon! :^)

Co-workers after playing Kickball on Orginization Day

Hackett and I- I received the Civilian Accommodation Award Medal

For my last night in Kuwait I decided to do a bowling party instead of going out to eat. Karina & Charlie (and kids laila and Chaz) and Lee and Marty were able to join me and my co-workers (who can get off Post). It was good fun- I can’t believe we had not done that before, but because everyone works long days they are simply exhausted and don’t want to go out and I don’t go out on Sundays. In addition, the traffic is crazy and I refused to drive downtown, so I didn’t get to go out and do fun things very often.

Attila and I

Judy and I

Cousins

Yolanda and I

Co-Workers

Church Group

Random pictures....

Do you like that the fridge in my apartment had a key to lock it? Hmmm....

Didn't know how to work my oven... I don't know what those symbols mean!

I did have dinner with a few close friends before Attila dropped me off at the airport on November 17th. I then had a nice 24+ hour journey ahead of me. It wasn’t bad since I used my miles and upgraded to Business Class- the 14 hour flight from Kuwait to Washington D.C. was so nice! I sat in Seat 14D, I thought that was fitting since 14 is my favorite number and it was my “D-day” since I was heading home!!!

A random car after a 5 minute rain storm

So, again I say goodbye Kuwait! Goodbye Apartment #1 in Mangaf where I had to walk up 25 steps (it always cracked me up to see apartments numbered zero), goodbye warmth, goodbye desert!

Winding Down

Sorry I miseed last week. Blogger website decided it did not want to come up last Sunday, and I never did get around to posting during the week. Here are the highlights since I last posted...

On Wednesday, October 28th it rained. I think this is the first time in 9 months that it had rained in Kuwait. Granted it was a nice summer sprinkle- but it actually rained! Yes, I did go outside and sang and danced in the rain! :^)

I received the official offer for my new job on Friday, October 30th- Wahoo! I accepted the position on Monday and am currently trying to get everything wrapped up to leave. There is always so much to do when moving!!! Anyway, I will be heading back to Denver, CO and working for a contractor in support of the Forest Service. I'm excited! I had leave already planned at the end of November, so the job offer timing could not have been more perfect since now I get to cancel my return flight to Kuwait!

I participated in a Halloween Fun Run on the 30th. My co-worker had a hat, so I wore that just to show I had some spirit. Last year I was a cow-girl as well... tradition?

On Saturday, October 31st, my friend Chris and I went to a new mall called ' The 360 Mall' since it goes in a circle. The mall is gigantic... perhaps you can appreciate the size of this mall from the picture. Anyway, we went to a movie and it was the nicest movie theater I've ever been in. They escorted you to your seats! You are encouraged to leave your trash in the theater where they take care of it. Oh, and there was a lady who handed me paper towels after washing my hands in the restroom! Such service for a movie theater! We saw the show, "Surrogate" with Bruce Willis. It was a good show. Oh, and yes, we were able to sit next to each other in this theater... in some theaters here men are on one side and women are on the other from what I've been told.

After the show we went and grabbed some dinner. Since I didn't want Lebonese food that left TGIFridays as the best alternative. I ordered a drink (I love ordering drinks here becuase I don't have to worry if it comes with alcohol) and was quite surprised at the size of the drink when they brought it out. Lets just say that was pretty much dinner!

Wednesday, November 4th was a fun evening that I got to spend with my cousins (Karina, Charlie, Laila, and Chaz). Karina's parents were in town, so it was fun to see them as well. I enjoy hanging with them- they are fun and have such cute kids. We had dinner at Cafe Supreme in Fahaheel and enjoyed the nice evening watching the water shows behind us and listening to music.

Lee and Marty

This past Friday a couple co-workers and I went to the Friday Market. Again, this is a huge yard sale where you never know what treasures you are going to find. Well, as we were wondering I found these little beds. The one I am in front of is a Tom and Jerry bed and I couldn't help but think of Tayler. So, Tay, this picture is for you- looking forward to seeing you soon!

There is this huge shopping center called LuLu's that you park at when going to the Friday Market. I had to get a picture and get a shout out to Meggy, so this picture is for you Meggy! See you next month!

Well, that is about all I have for you. I am only a week and two days from being home. So, I really am winding down here and trying to get everything in order. Lots to do in a week's time...