The Picturesque Northwest

I officially have the best family EVER.  Tuesday night at 9pm I purchased a ticket home to Portland and flew out 12 hrs later.  Despite short notice, my family in Portland and Seattle welcomed me home without complaint.  Here are a few pictures highlighting my spontaneous adventures. 

Sunset in Seattle Friday night

Vancouver Canada Temple

Ty at the Portland Rose Garden on his birthday.  After the Rose Garden we headed to the Elephant Park

another photo from the rose garden-used a funky setting, but I thought it turned out nicely

Strawberry picking.  We picked 27 lbs (not counting all the we ate as we picked).  Ty couldn't resist...neither could I.

Pikes place with Sheri.

Other highlights from the 4 day excursion include:

• Visiting 4 new restaurants (Yumms, Isabel Pearl, Viet My, and Samurai Sushi)
• Shopping sales tax free in Oregon, including a quick shopping trip to the Columbia employee store. 
• Running on the water front in Downtown Portland
• A trip across the border into Canada.  Unfortunately they do not stamp passports at the border for Americans, but for the record--I have been to Canada.  Check.
• An 11 mile bike ride around Stanley Park in Vancouver BC.  
• Watching Sheri finish an Olympic distance triathlon
• Time spent with 4 siblings, and 9 nieces and nephews

Races

Julie and I ran the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay again this year for the 5th time and finished in record time for our team.  191 miles in 25 hrs 45mins.  Way to go blazing saddles. 

And no-I did not contradict myself from my previous blog.  The run way HARD at times (long, no sleep, cramped legs and snow at the top of Guardsman Pass) but so worth it and a great to finish with a strong team. 

Today Sheri completed the Lake Padden Triathlon in Bellingham Washtington.  It was an overcast, cold morning for an open water swim, but she did awesome.

  It was an Olympic distance...good preparation for an upcoming Ironman in August, perhaps??

I may have killed a tree

I'm in search of someone who actually enjoys writing research papers...and I'm talking about the research and writing part of it, not the good feeling you get when the paper is finished, turned in, done and in my case submitted for publication. 

Is there really anyone out there like that?  Because I'm willing to bribe someone to help out with this little assignment called my graduate school research paper. 

It's a stretch, but I'm going to try to find a correlation to people who talk to me and hate running.  I like running (most of the time).  Like today.  Today was a GREAT run.  It was 6pm-perfect temperature.  I was on the Provo river trail and had a nice breeze coming off the river and trees that shaded the trail and I just got in the groove.  But there are days when I run, even races I run, that I hate it.  But I never regret a good run when I'm done.  Case in point: last year I ran a half marathon in July.  I felt great the first 7 miles.  It was down hill and I knew I was flying.  I also knew I was going WAY too fast and by mile 8 I was like-really why do I do this to myself?  Why would I ever run a full marathon again? When will this be over.  I had kind of given up by mile 13 b/ I walked 3 times the last mile.  At the finish line I felt like collapsing-and then I saw my time.  I PR'd, so all the pain from the previous 45 mins was SO worth it.  And the massage tables had a spot waiting for me.  The race, the run, the pain, the misery-it was ALL worth it.  I felt GREAT. 

Will I feel that way in 3 months when I am hopefully done with this paper???  Will I feel that way in 1 year and 3 months when I am graduating??  I sure hope so. 

In the meantime, I'm just killing trees (and spending some precious summer sunshine cooped up inside writing, reading, revising, oh and blogging).  I think this is my 5th or 6th topic.  I haven't printed off nearly this many articles for the other would be topics, but I've printed off my share.  On the bright side-I do get to print for free in the grad student lounge.  Thank goodness.  And I do recycle when I'm done.

Oh-and some things never change.  Just like high school and undergraduate school--I still study in my bed.  It's way more comfortable than a chair. 

I hope they call me on a Mission....

When I have grown a foot or two....

What? No sign at the entrance to the MTC?

I hope by then I will be ready....

 To teach and preach and work as missionaries do!

 Can you believe this boy is 19 years old already?!?  My "little" nephew is all grown up and entered the Missionary Training Center (MTC) this afternoon.  It was great to spend the evening with him.  We talked about his mission, how he feels about the gospel, his testimony and what to expect.  He was so excited and that is a great thing to see and feel.  He's all grown up--in size and maturity.  I'm one proud aunt.

The drop off.  They have changed things a bit since I was at the MTC.  I didn't even have to lift his suitcases out of my car.  The missionaries there to welcome him did all the work.  He was so excited to finally get there. 

The Generations Project

Last night Dave and I watched a special on BYUtv about his family history in Pakistan, a project that his older sister has been working on during the past year. 

Generations Project: Ullah Family

I rarely (ok never) post anything about my dating life, but here are 2 pictures of Dave.  He isn't interviewed in the Generations Project, but he is in the footage of the family gathering in NYC.  See if you can spot him. 

a classic emily shot with my arm in the photo

Presidential Elections

The results of the presidential elecction that was held a few weeks ago was scheduled to be announced today after work.  A few days ago  they decided that the results would not be available until Monday after work.  The most recent update sent to NGO volunteers regarding safety during this likely period of political unrest is to stay away from political conversation and remain indoors starting Sunday. 

(I'll be home safely by Monday)

In commemoration of the would be BIG DAY, here is a photo I took yesterday of the presidential palace.  It looks like the same as it did a year ago after the earthquake. 

A small tent city is sitting on a median in the middle of the multi lane road in front of the Palace.  Does anyone else find that strange?  

This is not the best picture I have ever taken, but I realized I do not have very many pictures of people carrying items on thier heads from this trip.  It is a common sight to see as you drive through town.  People have boxes, baskets of fuits, eggs, bags, etc balanced perfectly on their heads sometimes carrying two or three baskets at a time.  And perfect posture to go with it.  I asked Lesley, one of our interpreters, today if anyone evers drops thier stuff all over the road.  He laughed.  Said No.  I'm still not sure why he laughed at the question. 

I learned though, that only the lowest class carries stuff on their heads.  People in the upper classes view this as an act that is below them.  Seems like a good use for your noggin to me. 

And the cute photo of the day award goes to this sweet little girl at the New Life Orphanage. 

Doesn't that smile just melt your heart?  This was the most impressive orphanage I have ever seen.  It was close to the airport (ie very much in the middle of town) and it had a garden with fresh producce which we ate for lunch, a chicken coop, a fish hatchery, goats, rabbits, schools for the younger kids and a guest house for volunteers who come to help.  They have 120-135 kids.  About 20 of them have mental disabilities.  The number of kids at the orphanage is always changing as they often bring in children from outlying orpahanges who are malnourished, failiing to thrive, or very sick and need increased medical attention.  We completed a care giver school for the orphanage workers on topics relating to caring for disable children. 

Tomorrow we are off to a more remote orphanage to complete well child exams and then staying elsewhere for the evening.  Most likely there will be no internet access, so no photos for a few days.  Hope you are all enjoying the posts up to this point in the trip.  Hard to beleive it is Thursday already. 

Another day to Serve

favorite photo of the day

Today Jordan, Kirsti, Miriam and I were assigned to clean a medical warehouse.  It doesn't sound like exciting work to be doing overseas, but we enjoyed the chance to serve where we were assigned and to make a small dent in the work that needed to be accomplished. 
highlights
* the boys dancing on lunch break and watching Jordan rip his pants
*watching how willing the Haitians were to pitch in manpower to move boxes.  they made our work go much faster
*throwing 50 boxes off the second floor in the warehouse to reload on a different palate (we used wheel chairs to transport boxes from one side of the warehouse to another)
*cold drinks during our lunch break! Much needed after sweating indoors for hours
*a naked man sitting in a tree on the side of the road
*making progress in orgnizing IV supplies, syringes, masks, gowns, ortho supplies and others equipment.
*swimming--did I mention that I love the sunny, warm weather!
*the power is currently back on and the internet is working
*we have water on the 3rd floor again!!  We now have water to shower, turn on the sink faucet and flush the toilet.

I'm sure there are a hundred more highlights, funny stories and reasons that I am thankful to be here. 

photo taken at the end of the work day after loading sheleves full of IV fluids. 

Just to show you how dirty we got, that wipe cleaned off one arm and it is filthy.  I didn't want to touch anything for the entire ride home...and traffic was horrific.  That is actually a funny story--traffic wasn't moving anywhere so I looked ahead to see why and there was a huge dump track blocking 1/2 the narrow haitian road.  They were changing a flat tire in the middle of the road, in the middle of busy streets, at a busy time of day!  Street hawkers were directing traffic.  20 cars in one direction and then 20 for the other direction....it took FOREVER.