How could I forget?!?!

You may be wondering what this title is all about, it is so very important, that I am amazed that I had forgotten it.  I am such a terrible person, I should have written about this a few days ago, but, I FORGOT. How? You might ask.  I don't know, I really don't because this is a matter that deeply saddens my heart.

                      On January 22, 2008, a legend died.  Heath Andrew Ledger.  This man could act.  This is one of those events where I remember exactly where I was when it happened.  It was my freshman year of college and I was in one of my classes with my BFF Beth.  Our teacher was up lecturing us and I was probably daydreaming about my crush at the time who was...well lets just call him Cranberry.
         Anyways, Beth receives a text message, and she gasps out loud.  I was like, "What the heck happened?!" She then told me that Heath Ledger had died, and I seriously thought she was joking, Beth likes to do that.  I should have known that she wouldn't joke about something as lovely as Heath Ledger.  So when I told her that I didnt believe her, she showed me a picture of the news article on her phone, and sure enough it said that Heath Ledger, age 28, had died in his home in New York.  I was crushed.  I definitely didnt listen to any more of the class after that.  I was almost tempted to walk out, for fear that I might burst into tears at any moment.  But, I held it together.  When class ended, Beth and I walked home in silence, contemplating the death of our Heath.  It was terrible.

                  When we got home, we discussed how we were gonna celebrate his life with our other friends.  We decided to watch his movies.  We popped in "10 Things I Hate About You" which just so happens to be one of our favorite movies anyway, and we passed around the chocolate chip cookie dough.  It was, therapeutic.

                 Who could forget Heath Ledger and his amazing acting?  I mean, the man was brilliant.  From "10 Things I Hate About You" to "The Patriot" to "A Knights Tale" and finally to "The Dark Knight" which some say is what caused his death.  Oh, Heath, we will never forget you and all those wonderful movies.  May you rest in peace.  I miss you.

                 This weekend, my friends and I, will be celebrating his life, with a collection of his movies, chocolate, coke, pizza, laughter, tears and memories.  It is gonna be awesome, I know Heath would appreciate it.

                 Remember when he sang this song?  My heart melts every time I hear it :-)

That smile, seriously, gets me every time.  Oh Heath, why did you have to leave us?  You really did make this world a better place.
UNFORGETTABLE. Once again, may you rest in peace, Heath.  We will be thinking of you this weekend.

Snow+Ice+Walking=Bruises

                      So Im back at school, if y'all didn't already know.  I know I haven't posted in forever and I really, really need to do better because that is one of my 101 things to do... So Im living in Rexburg, Idaho where it snows basically every day from the months of November to at least April...but I've been here in June when it snowed, thats right, JUNE.  Anyways, do you wanna know how many times I have slipped, and fallen...all.the.way.down.? Well lets see, in the past six days it has been, well at least six times.  Wow, you might be thinking, Sara sure is a clutz.  You're right, I am. BUT, I have seen so many other people fall, that I don't feel so bad.  I have approximately 7 Visible Bruises right now, all of which are very painful but I deal with it.  You wanna know what the worst part is? The fall itself.  I never fall gracefully, or in the same way really. Its actually in slow motion which is very odd to begin with, but most people when they witness me falling, say that I fall in slow motion and I can't explain it. One day I did the "banana peel" slip.  I seriously lost my footing, did the whole "moving in your arms in rapid circles to catch your balance," and then proceeded to fall backwards and land on my back.  This was at school, too.  Luckily, no one was around, but someone was probably watching from a window.  I then tried to get up and it was so slippery, that I fell right back down. BAHAHA. This started making me laugh hysterically, making it even harder to get up.  I wish my dad could have been there because I know he would have gotten a kick out of watching that.
                      The other great one was when I was walking out of my apartment and didn't notice that the last step was a little bit icy, and well, I face planted into the sidewalk. Classic. Once again no one was around, however after five minutes I was walking in an icy parking lot and I fell on my side and I think I hit so hard, that I even bounced back up a little and then landed firmly on the ground.  Needless to say, that bruise is huge and prevents me from sleeping on that side, it hurts so much. Someone was walking behind me then, but didn't bother to help, they probably didn't want me pulling them down with me if I fell back down.  I totally understand, stranger.
                        Every single day I ask myself why I go to school in this frozen wasteland known as Rexburg.  But some of the happiest times of my life have happened here, and then I remember why.  Most of my friends are here and we all share the same beliefs and there is no one here to judge those beliefs.  How wonderful.  Now Im not saying that there aren't judging people here, because I will be the first to tell you that there are, and I have been one of those several times.  I shouldn't, but when people say crazy things, I cant help myself. Forgive me.  Anyways, that is my icy rant for the day and I promise I will do better at writing, because I know that ALL of you wanna read the nonsense, that is my so-called life.  Thanks and I love you all!

The words I didn't get to say.

There are so many things going through my head right now that its hard to put into words.  I came back from Ecuador on Tuesday and later this week, I started school at Brigham Young University Idaho.  Let me just tell you that I did not want to come back.  I wanted to just stay in Ecuador, I wanted to be with my babies for the rest of my life.  Leaving Ecuador was THE SINGLE HARDEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE IN MY LIFE. Im sure there will be more trials later in life will be just as hard, but at this point in my life, leaving my babies is the hardest.

I cried my last day, all day.  I didn't want to leave.  I cried when I had to say goodbye to Andres and all he did was smile.  I cried when LuLu told me "te extrano mucho" which means I will miss you.  I cried when I told Camilo goodbye and he touched the tear running down my face.  I cried when Emily waved to me the last time I saw and her and she said "chao." I cried when Sara gave me a huge hug.  I cried when Sor Alba told me thank you for everything and told me to never forget these little angels and to never forget Ecuador and to come back soon.  And I cried when I was walking out the door for the last time and Jorge came running to me and clung onto my legs and said "Chao, Shala" and then gave me a beso.

They changed my life.

If I could tell them and they would understand, I would tell them that I loved them more than anything.  I would tell them to never let anyone tell them that they are anything less perfect.  That there are so many people that love you, you may not know it but you have touched so many lives and you will grow up to be amazing people.  Your Father in Heaven loves you and if you always remember that, you will never be alone.  Always choose to be happy.  Life is tough, but you can get through it, it always works itself out.   Live Life to the fullest.  Follow your dreams and never let anyone tell you, you cant do something.You may not remember me, but I will never forget you.  You will forever be in my heart and I will praying for you and thinking about you always.  I love you so much and I will miss you always.

I left my heart in Ecuador.  Oh Heavenly Father, help me and please keep those kids safe.

A song that I like to listen to when I am missing them is called "Never Alone" by Jim Brickman, sung by Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum.  Here are the lyrics and a link to the song:

May the angels protect you
Trouble neglect you
And heaven accept you when it's time to go home
May you always have plenty
Your glass never empty
Know in your belly
You're never alone

May your tears come from laughing
You find friends worth having
With every year passing
They mean more than gold
May you win but stay humble
Smile more than grumble
And know when you stumble
You're never alone

Never alone
Never alone
I'll be in every beat of your heart
When you face the unknown
Wherever you fly
This isn't goodbye
My love will follow you stay with you
Baby you're never alone

Well, I have to be honest
As much as I want it
I'm not gonna promise the cold winds won't blow
So when hard times have found you
And your fear surround you
Wrap my love around you
You're never alone

Never alone
Never alone
I'll be in every beat of your heart
When you face the unknown
Wherever you fly
This isn't goodbye
My love will follow you stay with you
Baby you're never alone

May the angels protect you
Trouble neglect you
And heaven accept you when it's time to go home
And when hard times have found you
And your fear surround you
Wrap my love around you
You're never alone

Never alone
Never alone
I'll be in every beat of your heart
When you face the unknown
Wherever you fly
This isn't goodbye
My love will follow you stay with you
Baby you're never alone
My love will follow you stay with you
Baby you're never alone

I will never forget your beautiful faces and spirits.  I will love you always.

My last post in Ecuador.

So this is going to be my last post in Ecuador, how sad is that?  That means that I am leaving in four days and they will be some of the saddest and happiest days of my life.  Gees, I don't want to leave my beautiful babies and this beautiful country and all of the friends I have made.  I wanna live here forever and adopt all of my babies so that I don't have to live a day without them.  When I go back to the states, I'm starting back at school which should be fun to see my friends, but I also think its gonna be hard adjusting back to real life and its gonna be hard to not miss my babies.

So anyways, enough of the sad stuff.  So since the last time I wrote, I have had some wonderful adventures, absolutely wonderful.  We had Christmas down here and on Christmas Eve, we went to some of our sites and we gave them Christmas gifts that we had purchased with some of the donation money.  We also had a family come down from Minnesota that brought a whole bunch of toys and so we were able to give them those too.  The sites we went to were, TA, which is an orphanage for children that have been taken from abusive homes.  We went to a boys orphanage way out by the Equator, and lastly we went to Casa H, which is another orphanage near the boys.  We dont usually go to these but since it was Christmas we decided that we should.  We also had presents for LAS and our special kids but we weren't able to make it to those sites on Christmas Eve so we gave them theirs on a different day.  It was so wonderful giving gifts to these children who dont have anything, and it was so sad to not be able to afford a gift for every child.  I decided that when I become famous, that ever orphan in the whole world will get a Christmas present.  It was a very emotional day but I so grateful that I got to experience it.

  So yeah that was Christmas and it was awesome!  The other adventure that happened this week was...we went to the BEACH!  We drove up early monday morning and came back tuesday night, and it was so much fun.  The beach we went to is called Atacames and it was so pretty.  Here are some pics from the trip.

Our hotel

So the men down there, all walk around with their shirts like this...

 So that was our beach trip, it was just so much fun.  We wanted to stay longer but our babies needed us to come back.  Tonight is New Years Eve and they have some crazy traditions that I will write about later and post pics, so look forward to that!  Next time I write, Ill be back in the states, so see you soon! Chao!

101 in 1001

So this week in Ecuador has been sort of uneventful.  We had several visitors and it was two of the girls' last week so me and Amber only went to LAS twice this week! Crazy right?!  So I had plenty of time this week to make this list.  The list is of 101 things I want to accomplish in 1001 days.  Im gonna post this somewhere on my blog to remind me and so that I can cross things off. So here goes...

1. Lose all weight
2. Go on a cruise
3. Leave the country at least once
4. Go to Beth's homecoming in Cali (April 2011)
5. Buy Mom and Dad a Kindle
6. Save money for college
7. Go to D.C.
8. Volunteer more
9. Save money for Lasik 
10. Join WW
11. Limit eating out to twice a week
12. Only 2 cokes a week
13. Sponsor and SVP child
14. Get a credit card and build credit
15. Pay Mom and Dad back for Ecuador
16. Run another 5K
17. Go to Cedar Point, OH
18. Graduate from college with degree
19. Watch 26 movies I've never seen starting with each letter of the alphabet
20. Answer the "50 Questions that will free your mind"
21. Complete a 365 day photo challenge
22. Pay for the person behind me at a drive thru
23. Come back to Ecuador at least for a visit
24. Read at least 50 books that aren't for school
25. Go on a road trip with friends
26. See Harry Potter #7, 2nd half, at midnight
27. Learn to play the piano better
28. Skydive
29. Save more money than I spend
30. Host a mystery party
31. Host a holiday party
32. Go to the movies at least once a month
33. Do "Couch to 10K"
34. Cook at least one new thing once a month
35. Limit sweets to once a week
36. Learn to play the guitar
37. Blog at least 4 times a week
38. Complete an 1000 piece puzzle
39. Go to a Josh Groban concert
40. Try Geocaching
41. Go to a concert at least 2 times a year
42. Go to Warped Tour at least one summer
43. Write a list of 101 things that make me happy
44. Ride a roller coaster in 2011, 2012, 2013
45. Save money to go to Greece and Ireland after 1001 days
46. Play muggle Quidditch
47. Write missionaries more (Beth, Virg, Heather)
48. Make a quilt out of my t-shirts that I don't wear anymore
49. Send Beth a package filled with wonderful things
50. Go to General Conference at the Conference Center
51. Take Mom out to dinner
52. Take Dad out to dinner
53. Always tell my parents I love them
54. Get a least a 3.8 every semester
55. Buy an expensive dress when I lose all my weight
56. Make a photo book for Ecuador
57. Make a budget
58. Go to a showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show
59. Go White Water Rafting again
60. Floss every day
61. Take my makeup off before bed
62. Save $5 for every task completed
63. Donate $5 for every task not completed
64. Learn to French Braid
65. Read all of Jane Austen's novels
66. Go Paintballing
67. Visit Nashville
68. Get an iPhone
69. Give 5 "I saw this and thought of you" gifts
70. Answer 5000 Question Survey
71. Go to a Book Signing
72. Do "Race for a Cure"
73. Read Book of Mormon again
74. Send a secret to Post Secret
75. Fit into smaller jeans by end of year 2011
76. Work at a summer camp
77. Get a facial
78. Finish a book of Sudoku puzzles
79. Ask 20 friends to suggest one book and read them all
80. Do a 101 snapshots challenge
81. See All Time Low live
82. Find out my blood type
83. Read the entire Chronicles of Narnia
84. Visit my older sister and my nieces
85. Take a pic of these completed tasks and make a collage
86. Get new bedding for apt for later
87. Get new glasses
88. Do karaoke
89. Put my favorite/inspirational quote on something for decor
90. Float down the Ichetucknee River with my family
91. Learn to drive a stick shift
92. Spend a day at the spa
93. Volunteer in a Soup Kitchen
94. Sing at an old persons home
95. Have a monthly board game night
96. Go to the Iron Bowl
97. Participate in Operation Beautiful
98. Witness a flash mob
99. 100 strangers photo challenge
100. Make a patchwork quilt
101. Read 20 of the "1001 books to read before you die"

So thats it.  Thats my list. I don't think its completely out of reach...do you? Thanks for coming! Ill try and post more pics soon! Love you and cant wait to see you!

Ecuador at its finest

Wondering what the blog title is about?  Yeah I was too until I realized what it was and then it was kind of violent and gruesome, but cool at the same time.  Last week and the week before, we had "Fiestas de Quito."  Pretty self explanatory, but basically the people of Quito celebrate their city for about a week and a half.  Awesome.  Let me tell you, these people know how to party. Our next door neighbors had a party going on from around eight o'clock at night to about 5 in the morning. A very loud party.  None of us got any sleep that night, it was bad.  But the whole time they celebrate, they have parties all the time and signs that say "Viva Quito!"  It was so much fun to see all of the spirit and patriotism that they have for their city.  So the week and a half of the "Fiestas de Quito" is the only time that they have the bull fights the whole year.  They built a whole stadium just for this time of year.  We went two Fridays ago and it was...interesting.  I was pretty sure I knew what was going to happen because I think I have seen it on Discovery Channel or something with my dad, but my roommates didn't know that the bull was gonna die... Its like a Harry Potter complex where, "neither can live while the other survives." Either the matador has to die, or the bull has to die.  The day we went, there were gonna be six bull fights, however we were done after three.  But it was kinda cool, I know that sounds vulgar and disgusting that I think that its cool that they were killing a bull for a spectator sport, but hey, its all part of the culture so why not embrace it?  Here are some pics from the day.

Look how close he is!

This was our favorite one, he was the cutest, his name is Diego and he was awesome with his bull.

Ok this guy, seriously was magic.  He had stabbed it but then it hadn't died, so his
assistants were gonna help him and then he was like "NO!" So he gets off of his horse
while the bull was still alive and he was face to face with the bull, the bull could have
charged him and killed him, but he puts his hand on the bulls horns and then the bull
collapsed. Seriously. Magic.

So did you know that panama hats originated in Ecuador
not Panama? I didn't until today when Amber told me.
Look at all of those hats!  Everyone was wearing one!

So yeah it was a pretty cool day and the whole stadium was outside, so it was pretty hot but still fun.  Oh, the other thing is, we never felt so united with the country when we were there because randomly someone would get up and scream as loud as they could, "Que Viva Quito!!" and then the whole stadium would scream back, "Que Viva!" We did that several times. It was awesome!

So much has happened...

So, like the title says, so much has happened since I last wrote, and I am sorry that I haven't been able to write, I don't have access to a computer very often down here, so when I get the chance I write.  Also since there have only five of us for about two weeks, we are struggling.  Usually we go to bed at nine o'clock every night because we are exhausted!  Tomorrow we go down to four volunteers, which should be way interesting... But anyways, since I last wrote, we have been to Otavolo, we saw Harry Potter 7, and we had Thanksgiving, all of which have been eventful.

Otavolo is the biggest outdoor market in South America and we got to go! It was so sweet too! There were so many stands selling so many things, it was ridiculous.  I really cant explain to you in words how wonderful it was so I'm just gonna show you in pictures.

Cool huh?  We spent all kinds of money there, but luckily we got our Christmas shopping done!  Another place we went while down there was called The Pie Shop.  Let me just tell you, I have tasted heaven, and if all of heaven is that great, then I don't know what I'm doing here.  They have awesome sandwiches, but its sure not called the pie shop because of their sandwiches.  We tried their apple and chocolate pies.  The apple was good, but the chocolate was.... well there isn't a good enough word to describe the chocolate pie.  Just Heaven.  In my whole life, I have never and probably never will have another pie that tastes as good as that one.  I would come back to Ecuador just to have some of that pie...oh and to see my babies, that probably should be reversed, but thats how good it was.

Us enjoying the pie.

Another thing that we did, we saw Harry Potter 7, and...It.Was.Awesome. Need I say more?  Ok I will, I laughed, I cried, I was scared and I was happy.  For the most part, I cant wait til the last half comes out! The only thing is, I don't want it to end! Aaah! What will I do with myself?!  I cant' believe that ten years have come and gone that the first movie came out and I saw it with my mom and my cousin, when I was eleven years old, the night it came out and then again the next day.  Incredible.

The last thing I have to write about is Thanksgiving and how we celebrated here in Ecuador.  As you may know, Ecuadorians don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I believe only Americans and Canadians celebrate it, but don't you fret, we had an American Thanksgiving with our Ecuadorian family.  The Chicaizas cooked the turkey and it was off the chain! It was so good! We also indulged in, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, homemade rolls, a green salad, pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll, and apple pie.  We didn't eat until about eight o'clock that night because we still went to work in the orphanages even though it was Thanksgiving, but that was why it was so rewarding in the end.  Also, you should be impressed because I HOMEMADE the pie crusts, my mom doesn't even do that, even though I assure you she can because my mom can make anything delicious, just ask my dad.  Now I wouldn't have resorted to this, had they sold them at the Supermaxi, but they don't, so I made them with my own two hands.  They turned out delectable!  I wish I had a pic to show you, but I don't, sorry.  That was my thanksgiving in Ecuador, it was awesome.  I missed my family in the states like a fat kid misses cake.  It was my first thanksgiving not at home with my fam, so it was hard but Im so glad I was here in Ecuador, because I still got to be with people I love, my babies. 

Well I have to go, but stay tuned til next time, when I will be writing about the bull fight I will be attending tomorrow and another field trip.  I Love Yall! Chao!