Basketball

Basketball was better and worst this year. Better because Tayson played better and seemed to have more fun. Worse because for the majority of the games Todd was traveling so I had to go by myself with all 4 kids and Sophie was crazy. At the last game Claire started to get sick with a fever and actually fell asleep on my lap while Sophie ran wild and I had to keep chasing her while holding Claire and at one point she had a wallet next to me and pulled out all the cash before I realized that she had found it (it ended up being the guy sitting 2 rows behind me on the bleachers).

In his game last week Tayson even grabbed a rebound, dribbled it all the way to the other side and then made a basket. It was awesome!

Tayson practicing shooting a basket

Playing instead of paying attention

FHE - Feeding the Ducks

Steve and Christine invited us to feed the ducks with them at the BYU pond a few weeks ago. It was dark so the pictures aren't the greatest but the kids had so much fun. It was a very fun activity to do with the kids and since Todd was gone for FHE I wasn't about to do something that big by myself with the kids.

This duck was eating out of Allen's hand

Claire loved the ducks

Christine took care of Sophie so I could
take pictures and chase the other kids.

Tayson, Luke and Ryan throwing bread

Catching up.....Cornbelly's & Cellulitis

Since I have a few minutes right now I thought I'd catch up on some old posts.

As usual we went to cornbelly's to celebrate Lexie's b-day.

The kids rode on the cow train, played with the water ducks, swang on the swings, ran through the kids maze, made it all the way through the monster, played dress up and just plain had a blast. It was a beautiful fall day spent together as a family.

I forgot to mention...

One of the funniest things I saw in Moscow was that they have lots of porta potties out on the streets (not even for races....just there permanently on the streets) and in most of the sets there was almost always one that had a permanent occupant. Yes homeless people were living in the porta potties on the street. They would just be sitting in there with the door open looking out at the street. Convenient if you need a warm place and a bathroom I guess. I even saw one that a man and woman were both hanging out in just having a conversation like they were at home and I saw a guy who had a butane type heater in his to keep the place nice and cosy. It was so crazy to me!

Budapest

I asked the Moscow staff how early I should leave for my 9:50 flight to Budapest and they said because of how long it takes to get to the airport (due to traffic 2-3 hours) I should leave around 6:30. So I woke up early and took a taxi to the airport at 6:30 and it took 15 minutes to get there. The man drove like a maniac and there were no other cars on the road that early. I couldn't check in to my flight because I was so early so I sat out in the main area of the airport surrounded by smokers reading my book (btw...I've already finished 2 books and I'm only half way done with my trip - oh no). Finally I was able to check in and get through customs and on the flight. There was a high school hockey team on my flight which was crazy. I got taken on a bus out to the flight and kept worrying that I wasn't on the right flight because there were very few signs and everything was in Cyrillic and no-one spoke English. But I made it.

Luckily I had no major issues with my flight to Budapest or finding a taxi to take me to the office. My training went well and I got lots of work done then a few of the girls from the office walked me over to my hotel and out on the town.

We had a blast and stayed out until almost 11 and I had to wake up this morning at 4:15 am for my flight to Brussels. I'll sleep when I get home. :)

This is at the top of the hill on the "buda" side of the town

A better picture of the view that was behind me in the picture above.

Kata told me that I would have good luck if I touched the horse "there"
so of course I did....it's tradition

This sign was hilarious to me pointing to the toilets

Kata and I on the "pest" side at the square

The anonymous writer - his eyes were so creepy!

We had dinner at the "Spoon" restaurant which was on a riverboat
and it was an amazing view with amazing food.

For dinner I ate traditional Hungarian food. We got appetizers that included sausage, liver pate, and some other meats and spreads. I had goulash soup for my appetizer and then paprika veal with egg gnocchi for dinner and marzipan for desert. I was almost sick from eating so much but it was all delicious.

I miss this...

I was going through a folder on my computer and found this picture. It made me miss my little ones.

Russia

Yesterday I left my house at 6:20 am to start a VERY long trip. I headed to New York first. I kept myself awake on this leg of the flight to help me sleep better on my way to Moscow. Which means that I finished my book before I got to Moscow.....oops! Knowing that I would be spending less than 24 hours in my first 2 cities on the tour I opted to do carry on which always makes for fun flights (fighting for overhead space and no foot room along with dragging my bag around the terminals to make it to my connections). I had a quick dinner at Chilis in the airport before getting on my flight to Moscow. The flight to Moscow was 11 hours and it was packed. My luggage barely fit and the Russian man next to me had 5 whiskey's within the first hour of the flight. So when I tried to sleep he kept leaning over to my very small seat accidentally when he was sleeping and at one point his legs were completely stretched out under the seat in front of me! Even with him I managed to get a few good hours of sleep.

Then I got to the airport and my cellphone didn't work, there was no wifi in the airport, and I had no idea how to get to the office or my hotel. I'm sure I looked confused because a taxi driver kept following me around asking if I needed help. I finally changed some money and paid to use a computer for 15 minutes (what in the????) Then I took a cab to my hotel to find out I couldn't check in until 3:00 pm. So I asked if they knew where Nu Skin was and gave them the address and they had no idea. I still had no cell phone and the hotel doesn't have wifi either. UGH! So I took a taxi and the man drove in circles (I actually saw the hotel twice on our drive) just to end up about 2 blocks away from the hotel. Oh well I made it to the office with 30 minutes to spare. I changed in the lobby bathroom out of my tennis shoes and jeans and presented with very flat hair and day old makeup on.

One of the staff took me around to see all the sites tonight and it was amazing. He took lots of pictures (so those will be coming soon). We rode the subway everywhere and I was amazed at how far down it is (the escalator was liking riding a rollercoaster it was so steep). I went to Red Square, bought some cool Russian dolls for Claire from a street vendor, saw churches and the Kremlin, and Lenin's Tomb, went inside a catholic church (and had to cover my head), saw the Moscow version of Times Square and walked down the street where free market began after the fall of Communism. My host was very knowlegable and spoke great English and was a wealth of random facts. It was funny to me how much he hated propiganda. I forget easily swayed American's are by our media. He went off about Swine Flu for an entire metro trip.

Here are some of my observations from a day in Moscow. Everyone wears fur, short skirts, high boots, tight pants, they all smoke, have crazy teeth, no-one smiles, there is a starbucks on every corner, and the subways were exteremly clean.

After a rough start this morning things were great. I'm going to bed because I've been awake for about 27 hours.