My farewell.....

Laura, Willie, Me and Judith all 'farewelled the same night...November 7, 2008.

Bets and I...I love you girl!

Me and Heidi...so glad that we will have more time together at SMBI! Love ya girl!

Laura, Me, Heidi and Judith

Lynn & Laura, Willie & Jo

That's all for now!  Miss all you Hillcrest people! =(

Well...I'm told that since I am back I should now update!  So here goes... time kinda got away from me, so I am going to let the pics speak for themselves, until such a time that I can write a few words about each one! 

This as you can probably guess is the van loaded down with our 14 suitcases, ready to head to the airport on Tuesday, August 12, 2008 at approx. 6:25am.

Unloading at the North Arkansas Regional airport. Leonard dropped us off, and we were on our way!

Our arrival in Belize City, Belize! We were met there by our hosts, Eldon & Shana Helmuth, who are serving at the Double Head Cabbage mission.  The officials kinda wanted to keep Phil, but he paid them off!  Ok, not really, they wanted to keep the meat that we brought along, but in the end Phil paid a fee and we could keep it.

We went on almost nightly walks out the sandy road there by the mission, we were often accompanied by the 'mission dogs and puppies'!  An occasionally we met up with some interesting characters, but none that worried us too much, however there were times when I was glad that it wasn't just girls!

One evening the "white men" played the "black men" in basketball, was some very interesting games!

In the evenings we often would hang out and play games til 12:00 or so then we would go for our walk then to bed.  There was times when there was 3 different games being played at one time.  And I think that 'Rook' was the favorite, especially on Sunday afternoons.  I think that Kevin & I won this game against David & Abigail! :)

On Monday we went to Caye Calker, we enjoyed just walking around and touring, but the best was definitely that we got the chance to go snorkeling!  It was great fun and I would go again in a heartbeat if I had the chance! 

Doing the laundry for us 3 girls and the 3 guys!  This time we did it in the evening so that we wouldn't have to get up at 4:00 am in the morning to do it before we left for the day! They have a wringer washer, and so we could do it all in about 1 1/2 hours or less. But it was a lot of work!

One day we went to a Miya Ruin, and climbed to the top of this old temple or something, it was kinda neat.  Then we took a group picture, from left: Becca Sommers, Jonathan Yoder, Sarah Race, Sheryl & Phil Yoder, me, & Kevin Mast.

Our host family: Eldon & Shana Helmuth and their children from left: Abigail (12), Shane (6), Zachary (11), Sarah (9), and Marisa (13).  We really enjoyed our time spent with them, and they were great tour guides too!

On Sat. Zachary and Kevin were working at digging this hole for Eldon's to burn trash in and I went out to take some pics, well Zach started saying that the reason that I wasn't helping was because "girls don't know how to dig."  I told him that I grew up on a farm and that I had plenty of experience with a shovel, well then he tho't that if that was true why wasn't I helping?  I decided that I would go and get some shoes on and show him that I DO know how!  so I came back and got to work...I dug for awhile...without stopping...until he finally concluded that girls CAN dig and that I had proved my point! At which time I handed the shovel over to Yoder who was waiting his turn!

While they were still digging the hole, (previous pic), Eldon got a call that there was a bunch of fish that needed caught or they would die.  So we all piled in the van with ice chests and cameras, and off we went!  We got there and had to walk back into a marshy area, and when you got back in far enough, the water had gone down to about 6-8 inches and there was fish in there all over!  I chose to be the photographer, and held the cameras, while the others caught...or tried to catch...the fish with their bare hands!  It was a very interesting experience, and the fish had some sharp fins...if you don't believe me just ask Kevin! =)

This was the crew and the catch - 145 fish!  Til it was all said and done everyone was quite muddy, but no one seemed to mind too much!  I think it took them about 2 hours to clean them all, then after everyone showered, we did quite a few loads of laundry, since it was Sat. and we were heading out Mon. morning!

Just hanging out in the evenings playing games, this was another rook game - Yoder & I, against Eugene & Marisa, with many onlookers!  Sometimes some of the native guys would hang out there too.

"Packing up the dreams we planted"...oh wait...maybe it was more like packing up the memories we made!  Mon. morning we were packing up and trying to make sure that we got everything, and that none of the 14 suitcases were overweight, shuffling stuff from this one to that one, etc... It was interesting, but fun!

Piled into the van for the trip to the airport, Kevin, me, Yoder, Marisa, Becca, Zach, Sarah, David, Phil, Sheryl, Abigail, Sarah, Shane, Eldon & Shana!  Our last ride in that van that held lots of close fellowship, as well as many memories! =)

At the Belize City, airport, only to find that they had switched our flights, and now instead of leaving at 12:10, we leave at 4! We went ahead and checked our luggage in anyway so we wouldn't have to mess with it later.

Then we went and found this Chinese restaurant where we ate lunch, then we headed to the lighthouse by the sea, where we walked around and some of us played rook, til it was time to head back for the airport.

Our final flight, and it was a short one.  It was the first time that we were all together.  Some of the other flights us 6 youth were together, but Phil's weren't with us! =)  We all decided that we wished that this flight would have been our 3 hour one, we had a lot of fun!

Well that is the update from my trip to Belize!  Hope that enjoyed it and didn't get too bored.  =)

Later...and pry some more resent pics from around here soon too! =)  Hope you enjoy them!

  Just a quick little update!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008, was our annual chicken bbq here at Hillcrest, and along with it goes the annual mud slide/fight/whatever you want to call it! =) I am proud to say that I have been here for 2 of them now and am still 'clean'!  However there was a few people who tried to get me to join in, but I figured that would be the case, so I didn't bother to change into 'old' clothes, that way I would have an excuse!   Sorry, Willie, I just wasn't in the mood! =(

Here's a pic of me n Willie after they were all done! =)

And my dear friend Laura made the mistake of changing to 'old' clothes..."just in case"! And well the "just in case" happened! She got drug in and i think she liked it after she was muddy!

This is how Willie and Laura looked! =) 

Mud was everywhere!  It seemed like they had a good time though...however I was very content to sit on the sidelines and be a cellphone/camera holder!  

Then they all went to the volleyball court to take pictures and then the ones that were muddy played some volleyball! 

And sometimes poor, unsuspecting victims (like Mandi) get drug into the mud hole and cut the very tender part of their foot on a sharp stone or something, resulting in a VERY sore and tender foot!  She was off work for 2 days and then went on Night Duty, since it's not as much walking etc.  However I think that she will make it! =)

Mandi, I'm so glad that you are going home with me in less than 3 weeks! =) I just can't wait!!!!!   You, Me, and Laura, traveling together ='s party time!

K, well that's all for this time!  ~later y'all

Well...here is the update that I promised you!  Sorry for those of you who dislike when people update with a bunch of pics...but I had to try and give you a small taste of our trip to Alaska!

Angela and I at Thunderbird Falls.  (That's the falls in the background!)

Laura and I at the same place!  Was really neat back there and it was an easy hike for our first outing! =)  

The Falls up close.

Thursday we went to Denali National Park and drove out in the park for probably an hour, then after we got back we decided to go on a hike and chose the "strenuous" one! =(  That it was...took us 2 hours to get to the top!  But the view was really cool!  (Angela 'n I are pointing to the peak that we climbed!)

Snow covered mountains of Alaska!

My sister, Jen and I out on a Glacier.  Saturday we went to the glacier and Jen's boyfriend, Michael, went with us.  It was lots of fun to hand out with them, and to get to know Michael a little. (It was the first time that I met him.) =)

Me, Angela and Laura in the van.  At least we weren't sleeping this time guys! =) They claimed that everytime we got in the car to go somewhere, we fell asleep!  (I must say that it did happen fairly frequently.  But why not? =)

Michael, Jen, Laura 'n Ang out on the glacier.

Then we went to Hatcher Pass, and walked out the trail for a little, ended up at this neat view of the river!

Saturday evening we were on our way to play volleyball with the youth there and this moose was not real far off the road...so we turned around so that we could get a good picture!

My sister, Jen and her boyfriend, Michael Yoder!

Alaska at night! Was simply beautiful!

Sunday afternoon we went to the "Butte", was another really cool view...after we got to the top! =)

Laura, Angela 'n I on top of the "Butte"!

The group: L to R: Michael, Jen, Me, Angela, Laura (front), Jason, and Brian.

Our last group picture on Monday before going to the airport. =(

More beautiful Alaksan scenery!

At the airport...get in line!  Or you just might miss your flight! =) 

We wanted to see a bear...but unfortunatly we didn't...on the bright side...at least we didn't get chased by a bear like some of our "friends" back at Hillcrest were hoping that we would! =)

Anyway...that's my update for this time...hope you can enjoy the pics! =)

~later, y'all

 Hello to everyone out there in Xanga world!! =)  Guess what??? I'm updating twice in one month! Aren't ya impressed! =) Anyway...here's some pics from my day off last week when we went to the fire tower.  It was a beautiful day for such an activity.  I love the weather that we have been having! =)

Your's truly, climbing the tower.

Becca, Mim, Heather 'n I, climbing down the tower.

Caleb, John 'n Willie

When we got down we had a flat tire on the Sub, so we tried to use the little portable pump but that didn't work too well... :(

Audrey, Becca, Mim, Me 'n Heather enjoying the sunshine while we waited for the guys to get the tire pumped up.

...we ended up having to call someone to bring another tire out to us since the spare was also flat!

Me, Mim, Becca, Caleb, John 'n Willie peeking over the hood of the Sub!

While we waited we decided to act like kids and play in the mud!  Actually we decided to build a dam in the little stream along the dirt road, then we had to build a bridge just below the dam...in case it broke...then we needed a log cabin to go with it! =)

Here is the finished product...dam, bridge and log cabin!

Take note...it even has a door! =)

That's all for now!    ~later folks =)