One Time I Killed a Lion

Another time I killed a bear... Then I waited around a well hoping to get myself an Isaac, but it didn't work. Then I discovered I'm a little claustrophobic.

Walk Like an Egyptian

Okay so I’ve actually never heard this whole song. I just know I heard this one phrase over and over again when I was in Egypt. There are so many things I want to say but I don’t have very much time so I’m going to try and sum it up saying the highlights and using excerpts from my journal.

We had many stops on the way to Egypt. At one point we stopped to have this hike. This is one of the wildernesses that the children of Israel would’ve wandered in. It was beautiful, but I’m pretty sure I couldn’t do 40 years here:

At another stop the tour guide took us away to a dessert. We played around in the sand like we were little kids. It was so much fun. The sand was very fine so it felt so good on our feet. After a while of goofing off the guide talked to us about how many sacred things have happened in the dessert. Then he sent us with a piece of paper off to find our own little spot in the dessert. I’ve always thought the dessert was such an ugly place, but as I sat there I really came to love it. I can understand how so many prophets would go to the dessert to escape from the world. There is such a beautiful solitude out there. I was very disappointed when the horn blew and we had to go back. This is the view I saw when I was all by myself in the dessert.

While in Egypt I went to…the Pyramids! It was so incredible. They’re so much bigger than I thought they would be. They’re huge! Also I was way impressed by how rigged and imperfect they are. The pictures and movies portray them as perfect buildings, but they aren’t all smooth. You can see the layers of stone and to me that seems like you can just see the history of it. We went inside one of the pyramids and it was crazy. The walkway to the tomb was very small and short. I started getting pretty claustrophobic, which hasn’t happened since the rainbow slide at Westridge. Once we got to the opening and saw the empty tomb we sat around and talked for a little bit. We sang, “I am a child of God.”It was really cool with the acoustics, but I felt sorry for the other people around. I love singing but I just feel like sometimes when we sing at some of the sites we’re interrupting other tourists’ experience.

After we saw the pyramids we headed to the Sphinx. On our way a man in a suit asked me, “What’s your name?” Well I was kind of creeped out so I just shook my head and walked away. Later on a girl came up to me and told me he was our security guard. Didn’t know that. Well the rest of the time he’d come up to me and say, “What’s your name? ha ha ha ha.” And the fun just continued…When I was in front of the Sphinx a little boy offered to take my picture. He organized the picture so it looked like I was kissing the Sphinx. How original I know. Well after that picture he started repositioning me. He pulled me forward and had me bend down. I was really confused as to what I was posing for. Was I leaning on the pyramid or over it? It just didn’t make sense. Well the little boy took the picture and started laughing hysterically. So then he handed me my camera and I saw this treasure:

One of my highlights of the trip was riding a camel along the Nile River. It was really fun to be in this line of 40 camels with a bunch of my friends. It was such an amazing experience. I loved seeing the beautiful green fields, and I was humbled as I saw these little huts that some people call homes. I’m so lucky, I’ve been so blessed. After the camel safari we had a Felucca ride down the Nile back to our hotel. It was so beautiful. This picture doesn’t do it justice, but it gives you an idea. If you look closely you can see the other ½ of our group riding camels.

So I decided that after this extremely long post I’m going to try and post more frequently and they’ll be shorter. The problem I have is there’s just so much that I want to say so I put it off and it turns into this project. Just know that I want to say so many more things, but I’ll try to summarize as best as I can.

Lately....(A picture narrative)

I walked on the wall that goes around the Old City. It was absolutely incredible. I could spend an hour in one spot looking at every angle and still be fascinated.

I went on an awesome field trip. We went to a bunch of different overlooks and saw the city from different views. We also saw many other places mentioned in the Old Testament including Bethlehem, Bethel and the Judean Wilderness. This picture shows a beautiful Jewish cemetary. There are so many cemetaries here, because the Jewish people want to be here when Christ comes.

I walked around Jerusalem. Okay I do that everyday. How lucky am I? Anyways, on this particular walk I saw the old steps to the temple. Aren't they beautiful?

I saw Dome of the Rock. I've loved going to places that other people find sacred. Sure it's not like going to the temple, but there is a nice spirit in these special places.
Speaking of places that other people find sacred...This is the Western Wall. It is one of my favorite places I've been to so far. People believe this wall was a wall of the temple. When I went I was so amazed at what I saw. Some people held on to the wall crying, others stood there rocking back and forth while reciting scripture, and others wrote prayers and stuck them in the wall. It was so beautiful to see everyone doing their own kind of worship. Friday night we came to this wall to join in the Jewish festivity of welcoming in the Sabbath and it was packed! The girl's side sang songs, but the boy's side was awesome! People over there were in a big circle jumping up and down and kicking their legs. It was so funny to see our white boys wearing kippahs intermixed with all of these Jewish soldiers in their circle. I sure wish we had a party every Saturday night like that to welcome in Sunday. But at our party I'd make sure the girls side had dancing!

On Saturday, which is Sunday out here, we went to the Garden Tomb. There were a lot of people there so we didn't have much time at the actual tomb. After we had all gone in we went to a pavilion in the gardens and sang Hymns. It was just incredible. The easiest way for me to bear my testimony is through song so I felt so lucky to be singing "He is Risen" to people walking around the gardens. I'm pretty sure that's the closest I'll get to bearing my testimony out here since we're not allowed to discuss the gospel at all.

Yesterday was a free day so I went to Tel Aviv and hung out at the beach all day. It felt so good. School out here has definitely been stressful so it was fun to go out and have a nice relaxing day. Also it was nice to be in the sun and not dripping sweat.

Today we went on a field trip to Jericho. I saw the oldest building ever made. (It's a tower that's now in the ground.) Then we hiked up to a beautiful monastery. This monastery was somehow built right in the middle of the mountain. How in earth did they do that without modern technology? After we looked around at the monastery we went to an overlook of the Judean Wilderness.
I leave for Egypt on Thursday. I'm way excited! Just know that I won't have access to a phone or computer but I'll try to post as soon as I get back in two weeks.

Jerusalem

Hello from Jerusalem. Let me start of by saying I have so many things I want to say and so little time so prepare for sloppy blogging!

It has been quite the crazy week. The flight over here was pretty long. I had figured an 11 hour flight wouldn't be bad with movies. You know how I love movies. Unfortunately 20 min. into The Blind Side my TV broke so I got to watch a dancing penguin and blinking text for the remainder of my flight. Come to find out I don't sleep well on planes. I didn't know that. Oh well.

We landed late in the afternoon on Wednesday. They wanted us to get off jet lag and so they wouldn't let us sleep. What's the best way to keep people awake? Meetings! Seriously I know they're necessary, but my goodness in between the 4 hr. orientation meeting and the 3 additional orientation meetings I've been dying!

Thursday morning I woke up at 5 so I ran around the grounds with a friend. Later on, we went into the Old City which is beautiful. Here are some of my first impressions:
-There are so many hills here. If it weren't for the cafeteria here I'd say I found a new great diet.
-The city smells bad. I can't identify it, it just smells. I'm so nervous I'll come back smelling like Jerusalem.
-There are merchants everywhere! They all know we're Mormons and they love us. Our instructors didn't want us to go out with our name tags on and let everyone know where we're from. Instead we went out wearing matching fanny packs and carrying around 2 liter bottles. The good news is we all came back with our money, none of us were dehydrated, and nobody knew that we were tourists. They thought we were locals.
-The kids here aren't nice. Some kid was mad I wouldn't buy his poster so he started throwing rocks at me. There are some clever new business tactics, huh? But it's not like the rocks sent me away I mean who wants a poster of Strawberry Shortcake?
-Everything here is built with beautiful stone. Someone in my ward told me the city glistens. He was right. If I keep my eyes on the building and not all the liter everywhere I'm way impressed by the beauty.
-There are so many different people here from so many different religions. I've loved looking at the different clothing, listening to the different languages, and observing different ways of worship.
-I can't believe how old this city is and how much history there is to it. There are so many remarkable things that have happened here.

Friday morning I had a great start. I blew out the fuse in our apartment. Then at lunch I spilled my tray and all the dishes broke. Did I mention the hot chocolate got all over my front? And everyone and their dog was in the cafeteria at that point? That wasn't embarrassing at all. At least everyone knows who I am? Oh yeah when I headed back to my apt to take a shower, yes it was that bad, I realized the shirt I was wearing had a big stain on it. Later we had class and then went into the city again. That night my friends dragged me into playing Scrabble. Not speed Scrabble, just Scrabble. Are there worse games? Yes; Risk, Monopoly, and any other game that involves lots of thinking. That's no game. Then we had a big dance party and watched a movie.

Today (Saturday) is the Sabbath. Church was absolutely amazing. Taking the sacrament while overlooking the Old City is an experience I wish everyone could have. My Relief Society president is Palestinian and from Bethlehem. She told so many neat stories I wish I could tell you, but time is running short. One of the things I wanted to do here in the Center is play the organ. I've never had the desire to play organ before (have you heard it?), but I wanted to play a Sacrament Hymn on this amazing instrument on the top of Mt. Scopus. It's the 2nd or 3rd best organ the church owns, so it's way nice. My new good friend was playing so he let me play a few hymns on it. (I don't think I was supposed to so he let me do it on his "practice time") It was awesome.

I feel so blessed to have this opportunity. I wake up every morning and I pinch myself. Just kidding. I hate that saying so much. Why on earth would someone pinch themselves? That's just stupid. I do keep catching myself smiling just thinking about how amazing this is. Anyways, I love the people here. I've met everyone, but I don't have all the names down yet. I feel like I know so little here and I just want to know everything. Sorry this post is long, but you have no idea how many things I left out. I'd go back and edit but sit's time for a fireside.
Both of these pictures were taken a few hours a go in Orson Hyde Park just outside of the Garden of Gethsemene. I'll include more pictures next time but you must be warned...I look awful out here. There's enough humidity to make my hair go crazy and too little to have it curl nicely. Also "modest" here is very different so that's fun.

Betcha Didn't Know...

1. Life size posters scare me. Even if their name is Jacob Black. I just don't think they should exist. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that one time when I was babysitting I saw a big man in the little boy's room. So like a mature person I asked Peter Warner to go upstairs with me when I turned on the light to see stupid Anakin staring at me.
2. Speaking of Star Wars...I've never seen any of them. I didn't think this was that rare until I was the only one in my English class that couldn't write a paper drawing similarities between star wars and the essay we had just read. So my teacher gave me a different topic comparing The Wizard of Oz to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Well I hadn't seen that movie either. So she gave me a take home essay. By the way I hated The Wizard of Oz. Mabe that's a movie you should watch for the first time before you're 17.
3. I don't have my credit card number memorized and I've had it for years, but hey I just barely got my social security number down. My library card number? Oh yeah, I had that one down years a go.
4. I have this thing with quarter vending machines. Arent they awesome? I'm not talking about the tattoo, sticker, bouncy ball machines I'm talking about candy. Not Mike & Ikes, Hot Tamales or Runts. Reese's pieces, any form of M&M's, and big fat gumballs. Word of advice: The older the machine is the more it gives you. Caution: They older the machine is the older the candy is. (sometimes.)
5. I absolutely hate commercials where babies are talking. They creep me out. As long as we're on this subject... I hate movies where animals talk. Just like my cousin Barbara. But unlike cousin Barbara I think that the movie is fine if the animals are animated and talking, but if they're real then that's just weird.
6. I hate Jeans. So much. This is why I don't get dressed for the day until I absolutely have to. It's also why I had to make a rule for myself that I can't get into my pajamas until 8. 7 on Sundays.
7. Sometimes when I can't sleep I get out of my bed and on the floor and I fall asleep.
8. I've been grounded once. I was 19. Don't think I'm a goody-goody and I've just never been in trouble. Truth is grounding me wouldn't have been much of a punishment...it's called reading! True punishment came in the form of "extra jobs."
9. I hate showers. Don't worry I still shower daily, but I do NOT like it.
10. I leave for Jerusalem in 9 days! Okay so you probably all knew that since that's all I ever talk about. But can you blame me?

Twenty Songs

So a few years a go I saw people doing this on Facebook, but I was too embarrassed of my immature music taste to post my results so I did it again and I'm posting it here. I'm still embarrassed, but you're close friends and family so I don't really care. My I-pod was on shuffle and these were the twenty songs that came up. I included the albums in some cases because that made more sense.

1. I Love Life - Melissa Lefton - Princess Diaries Soundtrack. (Oh dear, I'm off to a bad start.)
2. He Danced with Me - The Slipper and the Rose
3. Almost Honest - Josh Kelley
4. It's Raining Men - The Weather Girls (I honestly have no idea how that got there.)
5. Leningrad - William Joseph
6. The World Will Know - Newsies
7. Dawn - Pride and Prejudice (Dumb movie. Awesome soundtrack.)
8. Perfectly - Huckapoo - Pixel Perfect (This is the embarrassing stuff I was talking about.)
9. Close Every Door - Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
10. Two Worlds Finale - Phil Collins - Tarzan
11. Forever - Chris Brown (See I'm cool...)
12. Sympathy - Goo Goo Dolls - A Cinderella Story
13. Move Along - The All-American Rejects
14. Don't Ask me Why - Billy Joel
15. Dancing Queen - Abba - Mamma Mia
16. Home - Michael Buble
17. Joy to the World - Kurt Bestor (Wow I need to go through my ipod...)
18. Too Good is True - Rascal Flatts
19. Stick to the Status Quo - High School Musical
20. Indiana - Jon McLaughlin

So when people ask me what kind of music I like to listen to and I say I don't really have a set group, you know what I'm talking about. So what are your 20 random songs?

Now what?

So I just told you about all my awesome siblings. If you're not jealous then you did something wrong. Click on the link to the right titled "Sibling Series", read those posts, and try and tell me you're not jealous.

That's what I thought. Now my siblings are only part of my family. I didn't write about any of my awesome in-laws, adorable neice/nephews, amazing mom, or awful cousins. Just kidding I don't have awful cousins - I just couldn't think of another A adjective.

So where do I go from here? My blogging has had a structure, an idea. Now it will just be whatever. We'll see how long that lasts before I get a new idea or leave the country and write about those adventures.

She is Kindness Itself

I know most of my posts start out with me talking about my siblings looking like my twin, but it's always true and it is this time too. I've had a full conversation with cousins and uncles before they realized I was Becky, not Chrissy. When I went to Chrissy's ward and I wasn't right next to Chrissy some people mistook me for Chrissy. Believe me though, I don't mind. I'd love to be mistaken for Chrissy any day.

Chrissy is a great example to me, I've always looked up to her. One time in Primary we were going around the classroom saying who our examples were. I went first and I said, "My older sister, Chrissy." Everyone else said Jesus. Whoops, but not really. Chrissy is very Christlike. She's very thoughtful, always putting others before herself. One time Chrissy promised Jessie and me that she would play games with us that night if we did our work. Well we did our work and in the meantime Chrissy was invited to go hang out with friends. Chrissy kept her promise though and stayed to play games with her little sisters.

Chrissy is an excellent host. You want to a fun trip? Go to North Dakota. No that's not a joke. A trip to ND to see the Thomas family is so much fun. A couple years a go a bunch of us went out to ND to be there for April's blessing. It was a surprise and even though she wasn't expecting us, she had us around the table eating after 20 min. of being there. That's one example of excellent hosting. :) Last month I was able to go out and visit Chrissy and her family for a week. We had so much fun watching Jane Austen movies, trying to co-pilot a plane, swimming, exercising, doing puzzles, cooking, playing games, dueting, and spending time with her kids.

Chrissy and I got some of the same genes. Like the non-athletic genes, and the cry a lot genes. By the way I don't really appreciate either of those. We do have other things in common though. We both love to do puzzles. Not many people love puzzles, and I don't understand that. They're awesome! Also Chrissy has excellent taste in books. I have yet to disagree with her on a book. Seriously no one understands my love of reading like Chrissy does. Chrissy has given me probably half of the books that I own and I've loved all of them. One of the times when Chrissy was visiting we were going through the Twilight series. We would read when April went down for her nap. Well I was one book ahead of her so we sat there on separate couches reading separate books and it was so fun to hear her reactions to everything and discuss the books as we read them. Another common love we have is for Jane Austen books and movies. If I was watching a Jane Austen movie, or any movie from that time period, and I could have any one person watch it with me it would be Chrissy.

Other awesome things about Chrissy:
- Chrissy is very humble. I found out she passed all of her CPA exams on the first try years after she had taken them, and that was only after I asked her specifically about them. You'd never find out from her that she was offered a full right scholarship to BYU for piano. Or that she has perfect pitch and can read most anything. You'd have no idea that Chrissy is a great cook, unless you've had the opportunity to eat her food.
- Chrissy is always serving. It doesn't matter how busy she is Chrissy always finds someone who could use a friend. When I was in ND I found out she was befriending a single girl in her ward that's a little older than me and expecting a baby. Chrissy (and Kevin) had invited her over for dinner and games. This is just one of example of so, so many...
- Chrissy is always the perfect person to talk to. It doesn't matter what I have to say, she'll always listen. If I'm frustrated then she's sympathetic. If I have something fun going on, then she's excited for me. I don't know what I'm going to do next month when I can't talk to her at least every week. E-mail maybe? Not as fun, but it'll have to work.
- Chrissy makes a great second mother. This is kind of a joke in our family, but I'm serious. When my dad passed away Chrissy took on a lot of responsibility. My mom couldn't do it all and so Chrissy was always helping her. As the years went on Chrissy kept on helping, especially with the "little girls." (Me and Jess) I don't think I'll ever know everything that she gave up so she could be there for me, but I'm so grateful for it.

This picture is from one of my trips to ND. I don't think Chrissy and I look that alike, but I can see it in this picture. I'm on the right. :)

The only thing he's guilty of is being awesome!

This is a very typical picture of David and me. This is after Marie's wedding reception. Everyone was helping clean up and this is what we did. After we helped.

David and I are very alike. We have the same sarcasm, sense of humor, nose, teeth, and much to my dismay, hands. Seriously though David and I have pretty much the same sense of humor. Occasionally we spend a ridiculous amount of time on Hulu showing each other the lastest and greatest SNL clips. When I want to talk to someone about the latest movie I've seen, I know that David will probably have seen it and he'll know what I'm talking about. The day after Starstruck came out he was the first one I talked to about it! We're so alike we've even picked some of the exact piano pieces to play. Some of them aren't that coincidental since we've had the same teacher, but when we had different teachers we picked the same piece. Weird, huh? It's not like it was The Waterfall (heaven forbid, that would never happen!) or something common, it was Gottschalk's The Banjo. Random? Yeah.


When I was 17 my dance partner dumped me. I was devestated because it was my last year dancing and I really wanted to compete one last time. So David suggested we dance and with the support of his awesome wife, Heather, we danced together. We had so many good times, even at six in the morning! (Which says a lot for both of us.) How many 23 year olds do you know would spend time to dance with their little sisters in high school? This will always be one of my favorite memories with David. It meant so much to me.

Whenever I ask David for help he stops what he's doing and helps me right then. When I told him I needed a laptop and asked him for suggestions he stopped what he was doing and helped me. After doing research we completed an order less than two hours later. This is just one example of so, so many! More importantly than this help, I know that whenever I need a blessing I can call him. He'll drive down in a dress shirt and tie just for that. This is just one way he fills my father's shoes.

Other awesome things about David:
- David is the epitomy of an informed citizen. Seriously he knows about everything going on in the world, from all the natural disasters to the latest Provo High basketball score!
- David writes the best notes ever. These aren't traditional thank you notes, they're notes just because and I love them.
- David gives the best surprises. Best surprise #1. David and Sara's husband Chris planned a trip out to ND so we could be there for April's baby blessing. David was so excited to surprise Chrissy and her husband that it's the only thing he talked about for weeks, which we all loved. That really was such a great surprise. Best surprise #2. David decided that for Christmas we should give our mom a new room. He and his wife figured out all the details from the color of paint to the new shelves. So I convinced my mom to come up and visit me in ID for a weekend. During the weekend everyone at home worked through the nights to complete my mom's new room. Let's be honest it does look quite amazing now and she loves it!
- David is always working to further develop his talents. Last year he went back to taking piano lessons. Isn't that cool?

So there you have it. That's David and the only thing he's guilty of is being AWESOME!