Dab.

                   Only my family will understand this title, sorry.  But I wanted to dedicate this blog post to my father.  His birthday was a few weeks ago on the ninth.  I was too caught up with getting back here, and getting back in school mode and unpacking and stuff to mention it.  I wont tell you how old he is because he wouldn't appreciate that, but my dad is amazing y'all.

                  Happy Birthday Dad!  My dad is always there for me and my family.  And he has taught me some valuable lessons in life that I will never forget and then there are some crazy times in my life with my dad that are making me laugh out loud right here, right now. Bahaha.

              Oh, but before I get into this, I would post a pic of my dad but neither he nor my mom like their pics taken, so I don't have any pictures of either of them.  Sorry for the inconvenience.

             So my dad is basically the coolest dad ever.  He has lived in and visited all kinds of places!  Here are just a few of them.

Pretty cool huh?  A lot of those were because he was in the air force.  But still thats cool too. 

Some other things about my dad are... 

1. My dad is really conservative when it comes to electricity.  He taught me and my siblings a valuable lesson to always turn off our lights when we leave our room.  If we left our light on he would make us pay a dollar for every light bulb that was left on.  While I hated it at the time, I NEVER leave lights on anymore.  
2. My Dad LOVES animals.  Since I have been alive, I don't remember a time when there weren't animals at my house.  We have had dogs, fish, chickens, guinea pigs, and ducks.  My dad loves them so much.  He also gardens like no other. He has the greenest thumb of anyone I know, then again I don't know that many people who are gardeners, but still.
3. My Dad doesn't like to go out because he would rather have my moms cooking, which I totally understand.  But he does like the fries from Five Guys, and anyone who has had their fries, would totally understand. 

Heaven on earth.

4. My dad is a money saver.  He cuts out coupons every Sunday from the newspaper, and I remember I loved helping him when I was little.  That is one of my favorite memories.

5.  My dad loves music.  He and my mom play a big part in the reason I love music so much.  When I was little, every Saturday when we cleaned the house, we listened to oldies and me and my sister would dance with my dad. We were so happy when dad would dance with us.

Some other memories of my dad are....

1. When I was about seven maybe, my dad told me and my sister that he was gonna make us fudge and we were so excited!  (We love anything sweet in my house)  So I don't exactly remember what happened, but it had something to do with cooking the fudge in the microwave...? And the fudge ended up really... hard. Instead of looking like this....

It looked like this....

Except not as shiny.  But hey, me and my sister still ate it, because even though it looked like pebbles, it tasted like hard fudge.  It was so funny, because my dad kept saying that it was almost finished and we were getting more and more excited and finally when it was "ready" he pulled it out of the microwave and it looked like pebbles...we definitely got a kick out of that.  Haha, it still makes me laugh.

2. Another memory is when we would be driving down the interstate and it was just my sister, my dad, and me.  Dad would turn on CHER's "Believe" and turn it up way loud and roll down the windows and we would sing it at the top of our lungs. ALL of us.  We loved it.

3. When my mom would go out of town, we always had these and every time I eat them from now on, I will always be reminded of my dad, who would let us get away with anything always made us do our chores when mom was out of town. 

4. In the mornings before school or church when we would have to be up early, Dad would come get us a little earlier and pick us up out of our beds and carry us to the couch so we could watch this show, which he already on the channel on, so that we could have time to "wake up".  How I miss those days.  My Dad was the best.

5.  My Dad always made us our work if we wanted money.  We always had to do some kind of chore, whether it be pulling weeds of filing his files or mowing the grass.  He also used money as an incentive if he lost something, like his credit card, he would offer money to the first person who found it. 

                  In our old house my dad had a Beautiful garden with a path that he named "the angel path" for me and my sister.  I miss that path.  Anyways, he had a beautiful little green tree that was being eaten up by little green worms that looked like this

So my dad told me and my sister, that for every worm we pulled off the tree he would pay us a nickel.  We were out there for hours and we made a good bit of money.  Good times.

                        Anyways, that is my dad.  My dad is the best, have I mentioned that?  He always helps me out if I need him.  Me and my dad are so alike too.  I have my dad's head and his hair and his mouth, and his toes.  Me and my dad even sleep in the same position.  He has always believed in me and I am clearly his favorite child...haha just kidding, but not really.  I was his first born so of course I'm his favorite.  When I was born he was there, but when my sis was born, he was eating Arby's, clearly I am more important...just kidding Lil.  My dad would do anything for us. 

                          I miss him and my mom, I haven't seen them since september and I wont see them until April! I have my dad's same weird sense of humor, but added with my mom's sarcasm.  Its a good combination, there's no denying that. No one can compare to him, but I hope one day I can find someone that will treat me and love me the way my dad does. I love you dad and Happy Late Birthday! 

In other news.....

My friends and I celebrated Heath last night (see my last post if you have no idea what I am talking about) and it was way fun.  We went out to eat and when we got back home we watched "10 Things I Hate About You" and ate a whole bunch of crap, literally.  Don't judge us.  Heath was a big part of our lives. So here are some pics.

Cailey and Stuart :-) Aren't they cute?

I like this one better than the other one, but they wouldn't
let me make that face, but whatevs Im putting
them both on here.

I know you wish you were there.  Oh and after we took this
we decided we wanted to watch "10 things" instead
but Im sure we will watch "A Knights Tale" soon. Don't fret.

I just figured we should document this seeing as it has
"Heath" in it.  Just sayin.

My wonderful friends Kakamoe and Kim! And yes her name
really is Kakamoe.

So my weekend has been awesome, I hope y'alls is just as fun.  See ya soon! Love ya!

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.