The Shark's Cousin....

...is the Stringray. Who knew? I learned that from the DOE (Dept of Environment) who was regulating Stingray city last week.

Last week was our annual trip to the Cayman Islands. Yes, it was amazing! I could never tire of that place. From the extreme humidity to the bipolar weather to the sunburn/peeling, I love it all! Bring on the burn, the frizzy hair, and the inability to be useful or productive for an entire week! I welcome all these things!

We drove to Utah the Friday night before we left for Cayman (our departure was Sunday). That Saturday (we arrived in Provo at 2:30am) we spent with my family before leaving. I also got to work on and catch up with a few clients while I was there.

Sunday we left Provo airport and arrived in Cayman about 9 hours later with a lay over in Texas. I've decided that Texas isn't very exciting. there are no mountains, well, non that I saw.



As soon as we arrived we ate dinner and stocked up on food for the next day. I was able to get a picture on my phone of a random rooster that was roaming around the gas station that we stopped to get our goodies at. I guess roosters roam the streets just like squirrels here do. it was kind of odd to see but entertaining.

The rest of the week we were entertained by sleeping, reading, eating (the food was divine...and the desserts...OH,don't get me started on the desserts), stingray city, snorkeling, kayaking, more snorkeling, more stingray city and borderline comatose-relaxation. Can you say *BLISS*

Stingray city was my favorite thing from the entire vacation. I finally became good at holding them. what's weird is that you get to hold these things that are meant to be wild....but they are not. They're gentle and soft (for the most part). I got a few "battle wounds" like getting smacked in the face with a tail from a stingray I was holding. They kind of swing their tails when you hold them and this one I was holding had a very VERY long tail that collided with my face. I also got a few over-eager stingray trying to suck my entire fist because I was holding squid in them. that was a little startling and left me with what looked like a small self-induced hickey on my thumb.


Funny story: Wednesday was an overcast day. Tristin and I went out on the catamaran and sailed up and down the bay. After 20 minutes it started to rain hard, as if stones were being thrown from the clouds. We couldn't run for shelter because we were stranded on the catamaran in the middle of the bay. The only shelter would have been to jump in the water. After a minute of freezing cold rain on my sunburned body, the sky's cleared up completely and it was as sunny as ever. This is what I meant by bipolar weather :)

The only complaint I have about the week was that Shark Week was playing on the Discovery Channel all week long. The thing about Shark week is that it's extremely mesmerizing. As soon as you start watching it you get sucked in and you wanna watch it even more. Seeing dismantled legs and arms and bodies on shows called "I survived a shark attack" was not a comforting thing to watch every night, especially when you're in the ocean every day BUT you still watch it. Obviously it wasn't scary enough to stop me from watching it but I probably shouldn't have because every time I got in the ocean I'd think "Hm...I hope there aren't any sharks near me today!"

Saturday we flew back to the States and surprisingly I was NOT harassed by immigrations or customs. I tend to be a target for suspicion in airports. the rest of the day and Sunday was spent with my family catching up and just hanging out with them. It was a very unreal moment when we had to say goodbye because it felt like we had never really left Utah. Our life in Colorado almost seemed like a very distant memory. It was very bizarre. But now we're back and in the swing of things again and I realized that although I left my home in Utah, I was welcomed by my home here in Colorado.

"Time goes, you say?"

"Ah no, Alas, Time stays, we go."

How far we have come in the past month and a half. What feels like days has been weeks and what will soon feel like weeks will in actuality be months.

I hadn't realized it but it had been an entire month of bloglessness for me. Some sort of record, I'm sure. So I blurted out to Tristin that he should do an update on our lives as I was running out the door to work the other day. What I didn't realize was that there wasn't really anything interesting enough (for him) to blog about....until he set out on his quest to hook up half the apartments appliances to be on-demand by the touch of our phones. You can read about it in the blog prior to this one.

Here's one new thing I've learned about Tristin. When given a lot of spare time, he will start crazy projects. He's probably broken and fixed our computer (which is new) 4 times over since we've moved due to tweeking programs on it and what not! I don't speak the language of technology so I don't really know the specifics, all I know is that one day I'll want to use the computer and it's broken...again, or he's hooked up the tv and surround sound to the computer and none of those are working. Then I come home and lights are switching on in the house magically and there he'll be sitting on the couch grinning at me, trying to see if I'm freaked out or if I've figured out that it's one of his projects he worked on. He kind of reminds me of Merlin the magician from the cartoon, The Sword in the Stone. (that scene from the movie say's it all). Some days his tricks run smoothly, and then some days he gets a little carried away and things get a little messy with which I say "I don't care, as long as you can fix it"....and he always does. I Love my nerdy husband!

Wow, talk about a tangent...
So here it goes, our lives here in Colorado the past 4 weeks or so...

ZIM FEST (the end of June):

It was pretty cool. The farmers market had a lot to show for the day and we had live music and singing. What really stumped me was that I was half expecting black people to be performing because it's Zim Fest....as in ZIMBABWE the country in AFRICA! How ignorant am I? You'd think ME, a WHITE person from South AFRICA would understand that there are white people in Zimbabwe! I'll tell you what, I'll never make fun of anyone who asks me stupid questions about Africa again, "are your parents black, can you read, are their buildings in Africa, do people wear shoes in Africa, why are you white" questions like that.


4TH OF JULY:

Conryd and Aly drove to Colorado to spend the 4th weekend with us! It was awesome. Friday we took them to see Boulder, Saturday we played games, relaxed, ate food til we felt sick and wrote our names in the air with sparklers in commemoration of the 4th (how cool are we?) Then Sunday they had to leave us which really stunk.

MY PARENTS:

My parents came to visit us the following week. My dad had a show in Denver from the 8th-11th so we'd hang out with them during the evenings when I didn't have work. We ate at the International Tea House 3 nights in a row because the food was TO DIE FOR! It was so amazing, I couldn't believe my taste buds. Then Saturday we took my mom to check out the Farmers market which she loved. We saw and heard some interesting things from a guy wearing a "I love Weed" shirt to a man in the line behind us verbally marking his disapprobation to the lady next to us by saying that she was torturing her dog for letting it walk on the hot pavement and that she should put her hands on the ground and see if she likes it.

Aren't people great?



Then we had to redo the whole goodbye scenario which I've come to strongly dislike, BUT I have to get used to it because it will have to be done a lot in the next 3-4 years.

On a positive note, Colorado has stolen our hearts. It's beautiful, comfortable, the people are lovely and we are very happy here.

Homemade Hax0red iPhone Videos

So it has been over a month since we posted anything. Big deal, you know you don't care that much. All the same, you might have had a moment in the middle of the night when you wondered what we are doing. Right before you realized you still had half a sandwich in the fridge from lunch. Yum!

We don't really want to bore you with details of what we've been doing (Juanique is working, Tristin is pretending to work and slowly rotting until school starts), so here is an abridged version: We saw lightning and our phones can open our garage door. Yeah, we are awesome in two different ways. And we have videos to prove it. Here's the lightning:



All apologies for the lousy quality and the sidewaysness. All we had was an iPhone (not 3Gs--we do it old-school hax0r style), which doesn't do well with fast things or the dark. I recommend you download the video, open it with VLC, turn on image sharpening to full throttle, and rotate the image 270 degrees. That would make it watchable. But skip to 1:20ish and only watch for 20 seconds. Yeah, I could do all that for you. But then I'd lose interest before this video actually got put up and it would be another month before you heard from us.

OKAY, here is the exciting part that you've all been hoping for ever since you got your first garage. That's right, friends. We've figured out how to open our garage door with a garage door opener OR the computer OR a remote OR our iPhones! You can believe what you are reading, because we have proof in the form of another blurry iPhone video. This is the part where we confess that we don't own a real video camera. We hate memories and stuff. But I'm pretty excited about this, because nothing makes me feel more like a man than opening my garage door with my phone. I know, I have issues. Just wait until I get a Roomba and arm it with a laser. Just the thought makes me a little bit teary eyed. Okay, here it is:



You are so jealous. If you aren't, pretend you are so that I'll feel cool. Thanks. We've also got a digital picture frame and the living room lamp set up on this system. Once we get some more $$$ we can add to it, so that eventually the whole house will be controllable with the phone. And then I will get a Roomba and attach a laser to it. At that point, pray you are on my good list. Mwahahahaha!...

Where Do the Deer and the Antelope Play?

In BOULDER~ that's where! Well, just the deer, No antelope. (I'll explain later in this post)

Today was our adventure to the Boulder's Farmers Market. It was the perfect day to go as well because IT WAS ACTUALLY SUNNY! This whole week has been showered in rain and lightening which reminds me a lot of South Africa. I don't remember seeing lightening much in Utah, come to think of it. Nevertheless, it was great to feel the warmth again and tie my sweater around my waist. Our adventure started with a search for parking. we parked about half a mile away but the walk was pleasant. the actual market itself was just amazing! If I had the money to spare I would have gone CRAZY. All the food was locally grown and organic, there were tons of bead and jewelery booths, beautiful hand made clothing, paintings, pottery and flowers and plants for Africa. I wish I had taken more pictures but I completely forgot to. I came across a booth that sold handmade sandals from cow hide (I think) that were just GORGEOUS! The owner was really cool and told us that her shoes she was wearing were 7 years old (and they still looked great). They are so durable that you can go anywhere with them like hiking through rivers or just hiking.....so I ordered a pair (I shouldn't have but if they're going to last that long and look that great, then I need them). We also was a poster saying that in 2 weeks time the Zimbabwean Music Festival will be here in Boulder so we can't wait for that. (Don't you wish you were here to see that mom? It's your mother-land where you were born!!)

Later we drove around looking for a store. We ended up in a residential area in Boulder that was at a higher level than the city itself. As we passed a house we saw a deer literally 2 feet away from our car. So I went trigger happy and took a lot of pictures. She was just beautiful and not shy at all. She even started walking towards the car.

Our next stop was Pearl Street Mall which is an outdoors mall with tons of people playing music and putting on shows, not to mention the diversity of the stores there is amazing. We came across a guy on a ball who was juggling fire. Definitely a show worth sticking around for. Then about 10 minutes later our wonderful weather turned to a tropical rain storm and it was time to head on home where we were met with hail. Yes, hail!

All in all it was a fantastic day. We are starting to feel very happy and comfortable here in Colorado. It's a fantastic place to live! In fact, the area here was voted the 2nd best place to live in the USA, next to Provo which was voted the #1 place to live. Haha. So I guess you can say we moved down in the rankings, going from Provo to Boulder :) Just kidding.

Love to all!

Bread Attempt # 4!

Yay! we did it! we finally made bread that looked like bread and it was soft and edible! Is it the healthiest of recipes? No, but we weren't sure if it was our mistake or the bread-maker's mistake so we bought a "pre-made" box of the dry ingredients for sweet bread (just add water) and TA DA! So now Tristin and I have to find a healthy bread recipe that works in our bread machine.

Do you know of any good recipes for bread that are yummy and healthy? Please share. We'd love to know! As for us, it's back to the drawing board. *sigh*

Bread attempt # 3 (as shown in a past post)

Bread attempt # 4! Success! And Tristin STILL refuses to smile properly for pictures. Haha-I love him

Perspective.

I was reminded today of a video I once saw earlier this year. Every time I watch it I am humbled but the extreme amount of abundance I have in my life! If you have 3 minutes to spare you should watch it (if you haven't seen it before). How I don't count my blessing enough some times. Hope you enjoy.

Colorado so far...

Pictures of Colorado on our trip up. Its SO GREEN! I LOVE IT

Wow! I can't believe I've been in Colorado for over a week now. It feels like mere days! They say time flies when you're having fun but I have yet to hear "Time flies when you're constantly in a frenzy trying to unpack boxes".

You'd think that moving from South Africa to a TOTALLY different solar system called Utah would have been easier than moving a state over, but alas each situation has it's ups and downs. So I'll start from the beginning (because I woke up 4 hours too early for church and our church is at 9am)

Last week was CRAZY! I never want to have to move that much furniture AGAIN! and we only live in an apartment! What would moving an entire house of furniture feel like? When we move again, I'm selling all our stuff (except our comfy mattress) and then I'll re-buy everything over when I get to my new place (just kidding, I'm not going to do that, that's absurd). So moving was hard and long and tiring and costly. I was stress, exhausted, sleep deprived and aching all over my body.

Our rental truck. Everything we own is in that.

So moving day comes! Saturday we all left at about 12:30pm. Tristin and I in the moving truck (which was by far the scariest thing I've ever ridden!! I've been on some of the scariest rides at theme parks but this truck, BY FAR, takes the cake. I was sure I was near cardiac arrest a few times). Tregan and Joel Aldrich in Tristin's car and Rick and Kim in my car (thanks you guys for all your help). It took us just under 9 hours to get to Colorado. LONG DAY! We unpacked the truck in less than an hour (go us) and then around 10:30 we all crashed and went to bed. I was happy that I got to sleep on our very own matress again, even though we were surrounded by a million boxes. It was the best sleep I had had in a very long time!

Our lawn with 3 rabbits on it. the 3rd one is a little hard to see. I also managed to get a bird in the picture.

the next day we all went to church. Afterward we looked around Boulder and ate at the International Tea House which Joel called IHOT (international house of tea as opposed to IHOP-I thought it was funny). that place was AMAZINGLY beautiful!

IHOT: International House of Tea, properly know as International Tea House. I prefer the name IHOT though.

Next we headed over to Naropa University to show the family where it was that Tristin would be going to school! To read more about the program he will be going to, click here. The gardens were beautiful, symbolic and the memorial was very unique. The Images were very well thought of. It got us all thinking really hard about what we were seeing and how we were all interpreting it. We then went to Pearl Street, look at all the unique shops and then went back to our apartment to fix up a few things and unpack a few boxes. We had a fun day. then everyone left us early Monday morning for Cayman! I wished I was them that entire day.

Naropa Campus: pic 1: Stones hanging from tree (don't know the point of that). 2: Memorial. 3: Garden with 5 flags representing the 5 elements (I think)

Which leads us to our first full week in Colorado. Unpacking is long and tedious. And to top it off, our apartment wasn't cleaned by the previous tenant so I had to clean and then unpack. Blah. But now I know the place is clean and to MY standard of clean. (Thanks mom for turning me into a germaphobe!)

All in all, I LOVE LOVE LOVE our place. The location is perfect. There is a costco, Walmart, Whole foods, Safeway and a shopping mall (which I probably won't be able to use for a really long time due to expenses) all within 3-5 miles from us. Our apartment is stunning. It's in a gated community with a pool and exercise facility, and we have bunny rabbits outside on our lawn all over the place (I tried feeding them cherries but they don't eat it, who knew?). We got really lucky because we have an end unit on the bottom floor with no apartments across the street from us staring into our place. The area is quiet and spacious. We're 20 mins from Downtown Denver and 15 minutes from Boulder! Like I said, the place is PERFECT! I just love it! And we've been living with my inlaws for the past year and a half so using all my furniture again is like having news stuff! I feel like it's my birthday in June! And I'm baking and making all our food! Who knew I was so domesticated?! ME, Baking bread! WOW...So far the bread hasn't turned out too well but if at first you don't succeed, try try again. Yesterday was our 3rd attempt at the bread thing.....it's still a work in progress :) I'll post a picture of the bread. It's kinda funny really.

Our humble abode. Not the best of pictures.

And now for the cons....
COLORADO IS EXPENSIVE!! Who knew how much money we're all saving in Utah, people? I guess that's the price for living in a desert. And I miss Utah, I really miss my family and being 5 minutes away from them. I miss my friends, my wonderful clients and I miss working. The last 4 hours of our drive to Colorado I put my sunglasses on my face (even though it was raining and thundering) and sobbed for a good straight hour and a half. But if felt good to cry. At least I knew the reality hit me earlier rather than later. But everyday gets better. And once I have a job again I'll feel a lot more productive and useful. So far I've had 2 interviews and one lined up for this week! Cross thumbs for me :)

They had this entire fish with an orange in its mouth at Whole Foods. Tristin obviously thought it was really cool. YUCK!

So that's about it. We'll see in a few weeks exactly where we are and how life is for us. Wish us luck, pray for us and know that we love and miss you all.

Bread attempt #3