Sunburns, sneezes and squito bites sounds like summer

These are some of the words I associate with summer. I could also add a lot of positive words too but since I currently have all three of the above I am going with them. I have never been a huge summer person. Most people would tend to think I was a huge fan of the summer because I chose to be a teacher and could have a nice long break well that really had nothing to do with why I chose to be a teacher. I actually think summer break is too long for kids (it puts them way behind in their school work and drops their reading levels and I think it often drives parents crazy) to be out of school and way outdated. Before kids needed to be out for the summer because they had to work on the farm not so much now but that is not the point of these thoughts.
I know this title sounds negative and I do not hate summertime, I just don't think it is all that great. When school ended in May I was nervous about what on earth we would do to stay busy because I love having things to keep me busy and going to work is great for that. But we have done a good job staying fairly busy. The library is a life saver for me I think I have read over 20 books since the end of May! I know I should really enjoy all this free independent time because soon enough it will be really hard to find. So I have been keeping that in mind and by so doing have learned that I love hanging out by the pool! This really was a revelation to me. Growing up in California one generally thinks that being poolside is a favorite past time but since my parents did not have a pool growing up I never knew how enjoyable it could be. I love going out after my morning walk and taking a book and reading for awhile then swimming some laps and reading some more while I dry off. It is so funny to me that I never realized that I could enjoy it. Unfortunately, our new apartment complex in Colorado Springs does not have a pool so I won't be able to enjoy this new found way to pass the time.
I am actually quite impressed that I haven't gotten more sunburns than I have. The mosquitoes are eating me alive but that is pretty normal anytime there are mosquitoes around. We went to a movie night in the park Friday (a summer activity that I love!) and I got tons of bites with mosquito repellent on. I never ever had allergies growing up in California, where everything grows but ever since we moved to Utah for that one fateful summer in 2005 I get summer allergies. I swear I am allergic to hot weather. Luckily Greeley has had a very mild summer so they haven't started kicking in but this week they did and I am sneezing all the time. It makes me feel so bad for people who have lots of allergies.
Whats crazy is that for us summer is almost over especially for Mark. He basically has 2 weeks of summer left. His new teacher orientation starts July 26th and continues through the 31st and then he starts teaching on August 04th. This is actually something we think we will really like about his school district. They go to school for 9 weeks and then have 2 off. They still get out the same time as other schools in the area (the end of May) but they get three 2 week long breaks throughout the year to make up for starting sooner. (October, December and March)
We have a few more fun activities planned and then its time to pack up and start the next phase of our lives. I can't wait for the end of this summer and the changes it will bring but I am definitely making the most of my free time while I can!

Estes Park Colorado

We decided to head up to Estes Park yesterday which is the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. Its a lot like Jackson Hole WY if you have been out there. We have some friends who moved up there so we wanted to see them again before we move farther away and to spend a day in the mountains. We went out to eat and then took the "River Walk" around town. It was a beautiful day and so nice to be up in the mountains.

Mark on the River Walk
The water was completely freezing, pretty much snow melt off from the mountains.

We went on a short walk up to some falls in Rocky Mountain National Park. I am glad the "walk" to the falls wasn't any longer then it was. Its interesting to see what I can do and what I can't do. I am always a little nervous because I have a tendency to become lightheaded pregnant or not.

The bridge before the falls.
It is still really strange to see myself pregnant. (25 1/2 weeks) I am so used to seeing myself pre-pregnancy that when I do see myself I always think, "that's what I look like?" Its not a bad thing just weird.

It felt so cool and nice by the water.

I love being outside. Nature is so pretty we are lucky the we live just an hour and 10 minutes away from such beautiful places. When we move down to Colorado Springs we will be even closer.

Tradition, Tradition!

Mark and I had about as traditional a 4th of July as we could and it was fabulous. The weird part was that it was only like 82 degrees here and then around 3:00 a big storm came in and the temperature went down to 62 degrees. Mark and I kept saying over and over how great the weather was only really weird for the 4th of July. Normally in California its 100 + degrees so this weather was a nice change. Other than the weather it was a traditional (for Mark and I) 4th of July.

We went to the Parade



Had a BBQ with friends



Made the "traditional" Fieth family Root Beer Floats



Waited for it to get dark enough for the fireworks to start
(We both ended up getting pretty chilled a first for the 4th of July)



Enjoyed a great Firework show







Does anyone else have a really hard time taking pictures of fireworks? Our timing was way off last night. Oh well.

We went over to Fort Collins to watch the firework show. There was one here in Greeley but after talking to friends who have watched it it seemed like the Fort Collins one was more practical. It was scheduled to start at 9:35, which it did where as the Greeley show was scheduled to begin after the concert was over and we had no idea when that would be. It turned out that we drove the 30 minutes to Fort Collins, waited and watched the show then drove back to Greeley getting here around 10:45 and were still able to watch the Greeley show from our balcony. It didn't start until 11:00! We are glad that we went over to see the Fort Collins display as it was better the the Greeley one.
Its always sad to me when the 4th of July is over because there are no real big holidays until Halloween. I know there is Labor Day but its not really the same as other holidays. Fortunately for us, Mark's birthday is August 09th and our anniversary is August 21st so there are some things to look forward too.

One year later

Just outside the Cairo Airport

San Francisco Airport with my Dad and our life for the last 2 1/2 years (the 6 pieces of luggage)

As of today we have been back in the good old U.S. of A. for a whole year! And what a great year it has been! We have been so blessed this past year. America is such a great place! Lots of people warned us when we were coming back that we would experience a lot of culture shock but looking back I can say, nope! None! I guess we didn't immerse ourselves fully into the Egyptian culture. I remember how excited we were to come home. We flew on our last Egypt Air flight, from Cairo to New York and spent the 4th of July weekend being tourists in our native land. It was a lot of fun. It was a great place to spend our first 4th of July back in the States. I loved seeing the American flag everywhere and feeling so at home. Going to grocery stores was a blast and the sky was so pretty and blue.

Here are some highlights from our first weekend back in the states and some things we were and still are so happy to have in our lives again.



FAMILY! Us with my sister Susanna and her husband Ryan. They flew out to NYC and we got to hang out with them for part of the weekend.



Free, beautifully maintained public parks, Green Space!!



All the BBQ we could want!! Pork included!



Clean(er) streets (it is NYC) where people use crosswalks and there are stop lights and signs in English and a sidewalk too! (I am holding a bag of Dunkin Donuts also a plus! We never could find real donuts in Egypt)

Performances that start on time. (We went to see Wicked, so fun.) In all honesty we really loved the Cairo Opera House, we saw some really good shows while we were over there and they were so affordable too. So we could just say everything being on time not "Egyptian" time because there really is whole different concept of time over there.



American holidays celebrated the American way!

Liberty for all!

Being Americans in Egypt made our lives easier and harder at the same time. It got old always having to pay or be expected to pay the "foreigner price" (No we are not rich just because we are from America.) When we got back we could just feel the freedom. I know that sounds strange but is just felt right.

The Temple! So this wasn't technically that first weekend but it was within the first week or two. We love that we live within an hour of a temple we did miss it while we were gone and we even got to go a few times.
Sacramento, California Temple.

We really are so happy that we are home in this great land that we love but we are also so glad that we got to live in Egypt. It turned out so much better then we thought it would and we wouldn't trade that time together for anything.

Brazil!

No, we are not going to Brazil although that would be fantastic! (Maybe in like 25 years when our kids are grown up we will travel internationally again until then...) But we did bring a little bit of Brazil here. Mark served his mission in Rio De Janiero so last night our friends the Alder's came over to help us cook up a Brazilian BBQ. He also served his mission there so with Jason and Mark combined we had an amazing dinner. When Mark and I began dating we met up in Provo one weekend and Mark really wanted to take me to his favorite restaurant called Tucanos. The restaurant is a Brazilian BBQ place and they bring over skewers of delicious meat and slice off pieces for you at your table. They also have amazing roasted pineapple. If you are ever in the area (Orem) we totally recommend it. So last night we created our own Tucanos.

Jason and Mark with our Brazilian dinner. They did a great job cooking the meat.
Jason served in Southern Brazil and these dinners were huge there. Lots of people had fancy BBQ pits in their backyards there so he learned how to flavor the meat and cook it on skewers.
(I don't know what is the deal with the glare I think it might be time to buy a new camera.)



Mark and Jason BBQ'd ham, pineapple, steak, and sausage.
We had black beans and rice which apparently Brazilians eat at almost every meal.
Mark made some really good limeade which we threw some frozen strawberries into, also very popular in Brazil.
And some fresh fruit salad cut up by yours truly.

It was all so yummy! Especially the pineapple. Just a little brown sugar and then roasted on the BBQ.

I never ever ate black beans until Mark and I were married. Now it seems weird to not have them when we have Mexican food.

These are Mark's Brazilian flip flops, Havianas. (Notice the flag of Brazil on them.) He actually got this pair in Egypt which we thought was really random but made Mark happy. Jason had brought over some Brazilian music and we had a great night.
OPA!