I Lack Boundaries

Apparently the prefrontal cortex is the part of your brain that is suppose to pick up on social norms and abnormalities. It's the part of your brain that tells you, "you'll be socially awkward if you do that".

Apparently my prefrontal cortex doesn't work when I get really excited.

This past Saturday I got to meet Joanna Brooks at The U of U! She's kinda my hero for SO MANY reasons! (I may have a golden shrine dedicated to her...JK...or am I?) I was SO excited to meet her and talk to her and take a photo with her (Creep-o-meter  going up) that when we all went in to take the photo I was TOTALLY crouched up next to her and in her space like we were best buds!!

In my defense I thought EVERYONE was going to snuggle together for the photo. Whoops...Sorry Joanna. I'll respect your personal space next time round.

Joanna Brooks is the author of The Book of Mormon Girl. She's not only an incredible writer but an incredibly sensitive, loving, and empathetic person who strives to bring awareness for equality especially among women. The best way she does this is by demystifying what it means to be a devout Mormon and a feminist. Feminists are not angry women. Feminist are a community of women who may be housewives, working women, singles, teachers or young students who all believe in a God who adores His children equally. 

After hearing Joanna Brooks talk, me and the girls went out for drinks and a snack. In light of the nature of the womens conference, and because I have a very sick sense of humor, I suggested ( that's a lie, I INSISTED) that we go to this place....just for kicks:

I'm a bad person...

Don't worry, we ordered herbal teas and hot chocolates followed by a quick stop to the chocolate shop (apparently it's a famous chocolate shop but I've forgotten the name)

Girls day out = success. YAY for Women! And YAY for chocolate!

Weep Not for Roads Untraveled...

Leaving CO was rougher than I thought it would be. I often told Tristin, "I wish people would forget we even existed here, it would make goodbyes SO much easier," but then I realized how selfish and ungrateful that sounded. We gained SO many friends and met so many people we dearly love. Life wouldn't be the same without them. They deserved a proper goodbye, as did we.  Our last month there I kept joking with T about tying him to the car and driving to Disneyland where we could ride away our sadness.I kept my cool til my very last working day when I was alone and everyone was out of the office. As I packed up my massage room I had a fat pity party for myself followed by some happy Owl City tunes.  I never knew I could love my clients so much but what shocked me was their love in return. They had become a part of my great big Colorado family and so saying goodbye every day was probably harder than saying goodbye to South Africa 10 years ago.  I hate even admitting this but I didn't even stay for my last Sunday in Young Womens. Saying goodbye to my girls would have been too hard...so I left after sacrament (selfish, I know!!!)

Our last Room Mate get together! You guys were the bomb.com

The packing Crew

However, we survived the sadness and heartache. We packed our truck in 45 minutes, left a day earlier than planned and said goodbye to Boulder as we drove away in the rain.

But don't feel too bad for us...we spent the next 10 days in Grand Cayman, burning all sadness away with sunshine and salt!

 *more pictures to  come*

Soon after our Cayman trip it was back to reality. We met with a mortgage officer, started looking for homes to buy, fell in love with a few and finally decided on one.

Thats right, folks, we are moving up in the world and are becoming home owners soon. Just the other day I bought our very first fridge for the house and we were SO PROUD of ourselves!!! By Thanksgiving we will be ready to move in and say goodbye to the boxes of stuff that are sitting around our temporary bedroom right now. No point in unpacking boxes to just pack them again, right!

Tristin has started his BYU PhD program, along with work and is a VERY busy boy these days. I'm lucky I get to see him at all. Even on the weekends he's working on research projects or papers for his classes. Full time school plus 35+ hours of work a week is not easy but trust Tristin to be able to do it. The hubster is brilliant and continues to amaze me more every day. 

My Shy Guy

What is even more amazing to me is that he loves the work he's doing at the BYU Advisement Center (Hi Kerry), loves his professors, loves the research groups and projects hes doing and loves his cohort in his program. Everything here was just SO easy! No struggles, no large obstacles, no nothing!

Dessert at the Grad Night Dinner. Peter, from the cohort, won a half semester scholarship and did a cartwheel while receiving it! It was brilliant! the Psych Department was definitely the loudest!

People keep asking us what it's like to be back. The truth is this: sometimes it feels like we never even left and that CO was some sort of strange dream.  But then I'll get a loving text message or phonecall here and there from CO friends that remind me that I really DID exist there once upon a time and that there are still people there that love us...I left a few footprints and people still feel them. That, to me, is a warming feeling

It's good to be back in Utah Valley. I've missed my family and forgot what a luxury it was to have them around ALL the time! Even my little nephew knows and remembers me now. He now allows me squeeze him and give him kisses ALL THE TIME!! (obsessed much? Maybe...)

Even with that messy face I wanna eat him alive!

Family hike

Life continues to unravel gloriously every day. I know this is where we are meant to be.  I've felt the "pull" of Utah Valley calling us home for a long time and even though I was scared to come back, it was worth it.

13.1 Miles of Awesome

13.1 miles
1:44 minutes of straight running
1300 calories burned
3 days of intense muscle pain (and then some)

Yeah, it was TOTALLY worth it!

This past weekend Tristin and I ran the Nebo Half Marathon. It was one of THE COOLEST things I've ever done. Maybe even cooler than bungie jumping off the Orlando Towers in Soweto, South Africa!

Here's the nitty gritty details of the day:

~5am-Wake up
~6:15am-Get on a bus with the other runners and drive up Nebo Canyon
It was the longest 13 mile bus drive I've EVER taken. After 30 minutes I asked Tristin, "are you sure you signed us up for the half and not the full marathon....this seems like an awfully long bus ride."
And how were SO MANY PEOPLE that chatty at 6:30 in the morning! It was a LOUD bus ride.  I mean, seriously, people, I was ready to take a nap.
~6:55am-Get off the bus.
The race was suppose to start at 7am. As we get off I head straight for the porter potties. Nerves+stress+anticipation=Upset stomach (TMI??).
HOWEVER!!! HOW. EVER...the dude on the loud speaker says, "Excuse me everyone but we WILL start at 7am. Those that just arrived please come to the starting line. We are going to start in 2 minutes".
WHAT THE WHAT!!! I couldn't believe what I was hearing, not to mention that the lines for the Honey Buckets (honestly, who names porter potties The Honey Buckets. What kinda sick sense of humor is that, people?!) were super long!

So the race starts and T and I are just finishing up. No warm up, no stretches, no nothing. But no worries, Our timers only start when we cross the starting line so I guess I shouldn't have been freaking out.

So as we were about to start I stop and say, "WAIT! I've gotta take a picture". So now we're late, stressed (well I was stressed, Tristin was chilled out as always) and freezing in the cold while I fumble for the phone. Good times!! (It actually was good times! I loved every second of it)
 ~7:03am-Start running!

The starting line. Its a little blurry coz I was shaking.

Finally we are off! The run was not only a blast but it was BEAUTIFUL! and I was listening to a killer music playlist of what Tristin likes to call Cheesy Boy Band Crap. Mix the scenery in with awesome music and the best runners high I've ever had and you've got what I kept calling "a spiritual experience". Seriously, I thought this was just as amazing as going through the Temple for the first time ever!!! I kept thinking things like:

We should have signed up for the marathon! this is fantastic
Lets run 13 miles twice a week now
I cant wait to do this again! We should sign up for  one next month.

The high was awesome...until I hit mile 10. Then reality took over and my body was saying, "Um, I'm done. No more".

The last 3 miles were excruciating.

But WE DID IT! We finished! And we had both our parents there to meet us at the finish line! That was probably one of the best parts for me was seeing them all at the end! I felt like a kid again at a sporting event getting cheered on.

My big grin...because I was happy it was over (and super chuffed with my time I did it in)

Tristin sprinting to the finish line!

WOOHOO! Finished at last!

So YAY us! I'm proud that we did it and I really cant wait to do it again! And not only that but we did it faster than we thought we would. I placed 4th in my age group (20-24 Yr old) and Tristin placed 9th (25-29Yr olds).

So....
Run Half Marathon: Check
Goal Accomplished! Yay Team Roney

SA Trip Part 2: Durban

So you've seen and marveled at the pictures of Cape Town and you've gotten  a little sneak peak of my very first day in Durban with my wonderful reunion with the bestie and and family....so lets continue this adventure with day one of Durban...because things were still happening that day (and this is kinda like my journal anyway so I wanna make sure I get in all the details).

After the airport reunion of myself, Tristin, my parents, Thobeka, my uncle Peter and Aunty Joy, Conryd and Sam (They flew in from the USA to Durban because going to Cape Town with us would have been too long of a vacation), we all went to my Aunt's house (where we saw my 2 cousins Jamie and Michelle), ate lunch around a huge table and had what I think was THE LONGEST family counsel EVER! It took 11 people 2 hours to plan the next 7 days together. Needless to say we got it done but it took a LONG time of talking and eating biltong

First thing we had to do was shop! We were staying 2 miles away from the largest shopping mall in the Southern Hemisphere...how could we NOT go there? And of course some goofing off was to be expected

I'd blame this on the jet lag....but that would be false. I had gotten used to the time changes by then :)

That night when we were going out to get Bunny Chow (curry) and Steers for dinner we saw the South African Rugby Team drive by! How about that? I was within 10 meters of the world famous Rubgy team

"Heir kom die Bokke!"

June 6th: Day 7. The Grand Tour de Durban

The 4 Musketeer reunite!

Growing up, Thobeka, myself, my brother Conryd and his best friend Sam were INSEPARABLE! We did everything together. Now was the first time all 4 of us were back together again...however, because my husband is so cool (ok, he's hysterical! Never a dull moment with him) the 4 musketeers turned into the 5 musketeers and it was like Tristin had been with us from the beginning.
 I kid you not: The laughs were endless, the jokes never ceased and the eye rolls were many! I must have cried several times a day laughing with this bunch. 

So our first stop: The Durban Beach front

Many memories were formed at this place.

She's really not that short...I'm just that tall ;)

Durban and the soccer stadium (to the right) in the background

Tweedledee  and Tweedledee

So apparently everyone remembers me falling into these pools when I was a kid...I obviously blocked out that experience but no one else did....strange

And finally I was able to harass  some local folks (I just switched up my SA accent to my sweet American accent so they'd be more compliant) to take this picture of the 5 of us! don't we look stellar?

Next Stop: The Pavilion

This place was THE hang out place back in my day. So we decided to walk around, eat and reminisce in the good ol' days that were spent here

 Third Stop: High School

Welcome to Thomas More College.

Thobeka appointed herself official Thomas More Greeter. Isn't she just first class?

The view from this school field is a million dollar view. I guess we didn't realize how luck we were to see this everyday going to school.

I added this picture just because when I was younger I played field hockey and so I put this one up for memories sake

The main building....It's a pretty school, isn't it?

The million dollar view once more

 Yes-Here is where my glory days took place. I LOVE coming to this school and was heart broke when I left it.

 Last but not least on our Tour de Durban agenda: Home

I lived in this house for 14 and 1/2 years. In the past decade of living in the USA I've lived in 11 different homes and I've moved about 13 times. So you can see how this house is a symbol of stability to me.

You can see Conryd ringing the intercome to ask the owners if we could take pictures outside their house...They must have thought we were NUTS. And you can also see the Citron the 5 of us rode in. I'm surprised we all fit in there!

Conryd and the famous 13 Spy Rd house

The old gang by the old headquarters where so much mischief and fun took place

 After this long day of reminiscing so many people asked "how did it feel being there and going back to your old life". My answer to that question was, "it felt like nothing"
You see...life moved on, and so did I. It felt like a place that I used to know, not a place that I longed for. My memories are what I hold to myself but I don't long for those days back. My life is exactly the way I want it to be. He is home to me. Tristin is my present and my future and I think having him with me as I took this trip down memory lane kept me really grounded

So that was our long day of partying and touring our old life. Probably not as fun for you to read (the juicy stuff is for later) but it sure was fun to experience.


And just for kicks....Here's a Facebook capture of why I cried with laughter everyday.

the text to the side says: Sam: We're so awesome. Tristin: Together. forever. Thobeka:BFF's. Sam: Never before have two guys looked so good in the back of a Citron (Si Trey aughnnn)

June 7th: Day 8. road Trip

Thobeka and I needed some alone girl time to reminisce and listen to cheesy boy band music (Backstreet Boys, Nsync, all the 90's stuff from our childhood).  As young kids we always spoke about the epic road trip we'd take together. Well today was going to be one of the road trips we'd take.

By the way, I didn't know this but dog's love Thobeka....who'd have thought? Everytime I saw Thobeka on a couch, the dogs would follow her

June 8th: Day 9. Ushaka

Ushaka is this big aquarium/water park in Durban. The lazy river (at the water park) takes you past the dolphins, fish and sharks that are in the aquarium...it's seriously sooooo cool! Remember though, it's the middle of winter in South Africa so floating down this lazy river was FREEZING COLD...oh, by the way, people can squirt you with squirt guns on the side lines while you are lazing down this river. NOT COOL!

the Cousins: Myself, Michelle, Jamie and Conryd. we missed you Luke!

Anywho, we started our day with the dolphin show. I haven't uploaded that video yet so that is still to come but we took some pictures of some of the other things we saw.

This little dude was cool. He'd pop his head out every now and then and stare at us or at the sharks that would swim by. check out that red eye.!!

After touring around the aquarium, those who were daring enough went for a swim....and froze our buns off...it was miserable

The brave swimmers: Conryd, Michelle, Jamie, Todd (Michelles boo), me, Tristin, Sam, my dad)

Ushaka was great...despite the cold weather. I cant wait to come back to this place (preferably in the summer though).


K-we still have 4 more days in Durban to go but my toosh is getting tired of sitting here and I gotta eat something so....to be continued!

~~~~~
One month later and I'm back blogging...These SA pics sure are overwhelming.

June 9th, Day 10: Teaching/Rugby

Teaching day! Today I got to co-teach my moms course in DubanI was given the morning so I taught some of the massage techniques I know. I think it went well because they want me to come back next year to teach my very own course
Insert excited squeal here, please

That evening we did what South Africans do: Drink (soda's and juices) and watch the Rugby...
Rugby to South Africans isn't just a sport, it's like a religion! So when the rugby's on, you don't change the channel!!


June 10th, Day 11: Churchiness

Even though I knew I wouldn't recognize anybody at church, I really couldn't wait to take Tristin to the Ward that I grew up in. To me, those church grounds were sacred because that's where the Gospel really got ingrained into my mind from a kid all the way into my teens. When I think "religious institution" I don't think BYU or Seminary...I think Pinetown Ward...and it's also where Thobeka and I met when I was 4 years old. Also a big deal.

So I took Tristin to my ward and then we attended Thobekas youth class. She's a HILARIOUS teacher! I love sarcasm and this girl knows how to use it even when conveying a spiritual message.

After church we went to get lunch at a Cafe in Kloof (Sams Cafe I think) and then stopped off at my uncle and aunts house for a family get together. T and I went for a run before hand...just to run off the extra pounds we'd been putting on from this trip. South African desserts, man!! They are AMAZING!!!
The run was SPECTACULAR although the hills were killer.

The trio downing our Horlicks and Milo

Part of the run. The pictures don't do the valley justice. It was stunning!

The awesome foursome

More family

It was Lukes Birthday in a couple of days so we all sang to him while we were together! Happy Birthday CUZ CUZ!!!

June 11th, Day 12: Getting to the heart of the African Spirit

After 11 days of being in Africa, we finally went out to find some big game....not to eat although my uncle kept commenting on which buck would have tasted the best. (Not gunna lie, the impala biltong was to DIE for!!!)

But we had to get some snacky snackies beforehand! Popeye Sherbet- a Childhood FAVORITE!!!!

If you look really closely you can see those trees have TONS of birds in them...just waiting to steal food from us!

I don't like ostriches...they are sassy like cats. They think they own the place. 

Look-Hippos!!!

After the game reserve we drove through The Valley of 1000 Hills and stopped off at Tala Valley to learn a little bit about Zulu Culture.

Did you know that the Zulus are polygamist? True story. The men can have several wives!! Apparently the current SA president (Jacob Zuma) is a Zulu and has many wives. does that mean every Zulu in Kwa-Zulu Natal practices polygamy....NO! Just like us Mormons, some traditions die (and thank heaven for it!)

June 12th, day 13: Relax and unwind

Today we had NOTHING scheduled which was kinda nice. the day started out with an amazing run along the beach (with hills. Tristin LOVES hills!) followed by all you can eat sushi and then ending with shopping from the locals on the street for gifts and a walk along the beach front while eating mini doughnuts (which are probably THE BEST doughnuts on the face of the planet! Not even exaggerating! A trip to SA is worth it JUST to try these doughnuts)

That night the "kids" went to Gateway mall to eat brownies for dinner and play arcade games. It was seriously the best-we felt like 12  year olds! I have a pretty cool family. Even though I only get to see my cousins once every few years I still LOVE them!

My family is pretty awesome!

June 13th: Day 14: Goodbye Durban, KwaZulu Natal. Hello Johannesburg, Gauteng!

Remember this:

Well yes, today was the day we said a sad goodbye to my place of upbringing and traveled north to Joberg.