Vaccines for the Philippines Humanitarian Trip 2008

First of all, I have to say a HUGE thank you to my husband for the hundreds of hours he spent preparing for this trip-it was, in my opinion, the best trip so far-and I also want to thank the amazing volunteers we had this year. We had around 30 volunteers come over with the organization. We ran into some cultural glitches along the way, but those things that could have been a big problem made the trip more memorable and seemed to give us some incredible opportunities that we never could have planned. The work was more difficult and labor intensive than we have done in previous years, but everyone worked so hard and didn't complain about the difficult conditions. We started work on 5 houses and provided 3 free medical clinics in different towns on the island of Bohol. We also made sure that we did a lot of fun things-going to the beach, jumping off waterfalls, playing with monkeys and island hopping to name a few- to balance out the work. It was the first year that I wasn't ready to leave when it was time to go home.

The whole group right before we headed into the jungle to haul our wood out for the houses


In the middle of the jungle getting the wood for the houses-this was the COOLEST day! Later we found out their was a huge cobra nest right next to where we were getting our wood.


My friend Katie and I throwing candy out to the kids


Showing off the chocolate chip starfish


Hanging with the darling filipino kids
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Mixing the cement for the foundations


At the beautiful Bohol Beach Club


My cousin Nate and I with the famous transvestite at the giant python cage-yes that is a man-it did two lip syncing performances shortly after this picture


Pete helping the dentists at one of the medical clinics


The special forces army invited us to their camp and let us shoot their huge guns. I was horrible and they told me I needed a lot more practice.


In front of one of the houses we started


This was our beautiful backdrop for where we built the majority of the houses-the town was called "Behind the Clouds"

Aaahhhh....It's so nice (and a little sad) to be home!

It is so great to finally be home! Ryan remembered who we were and seemed to learn TONS of new words while we were gone-but he won't let us leave him for a second-he even comes with us into the bathroom. We got back last Thursday from the Philippines and then a couple days later headed to Lake Powell for a Reichman family reunion. This summer has been so crazy and has flown by-literally going from trip to trip with just enough time in between to get caught up on laundry and pack for the next trip...

And while I am not complaining in anyway about being gone-it is still great to be back in my own house and in my own bed! I have so much to get caught up on and can't wait to read what everyone else has been up to.

Reality check-I go back to work tomorrow which is always a little sad but I am more sad to realize that summer is ending and Pete will be going back to school to start his Master's program in a week and a half-oh well life has to go on right?. I am going to post pictures from our trip to the Philippines so check back-it was amazing! With the last of our trips over for the summer, I keep trying to think up little weekend outings to have something to look forward to so if anyone is up for anything fun just let me know...

Since Pete's been gone...

I had been a little worried about Pete leaving me alone with Ryan for two weeks before I join him in the Philippines, but somehow it has gone by quickly and now it is the night before I leave to travel the 30 hours over there. Pete has to go over early each year to set up all the humanitarian work that the rest of the group will get to participate in. I have been really busy between family being in town, work, a concert, a family reunion and getting ready to go on my big trip. I have definitely had a few breakdowns since he has left, but overall it has been okay. Here are some pictures of what we have done since he left.

The Colbie Caillat/John Mayer Concert-John Mayer sounds amazing live


Horseback riding with my sisters and nephews at the Ranch we stayed at for our family reunion.


Ryan was in HEAVEN with so many rocks to play in and throw at other people


This was what happened when we attempted to play tennis in the dark-I went to hit a wild ball not knowing the tennis court was surrounded by a swamp and ended up covered in mud. We laughed for about 10 minutes which was good since it had been a really hard day with Ryan.


Riding the zipline. The ranch had so many fun activities to do and when Ryan napped I took advantage of that time to have some fun.


Where we spent the majority of our time. Notice Ryan is covered in floaties-that is because he thinks he can swim and doesn't want anyone to help him in the pool.


Another one of the places we spent a lot of time at during the family reunion. I think I heard: "Wow, he is SO busy" from almost all of my aunts and uncles. Someone asked me if he even knew how to walk since they only saw him run.


Hiking in Zions-it was beautiful!


Well, I am pretty much packed and just waiting to go. Wish me good Luck-I am starting to feel my usual pre-trip anxiety (turbulence is not my favorite thing) and I am really sad to leave Ryan for two weeks. It should be a wonderful experience-we are building houses this year which I am really excited about-I keep telling myself it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity each time I get to go over. Thanks in advance to my wonderful mother-in-law and my Mom for watching Ry while I am gone-I hope they don't sell him on ebay. I will be back in a couple of weeks!

I love it when Rebecca comes to town

Besides getting to spend some quality time with my amazing sister Rebecca (who always seems to live too far away), another one of the great benefits of her coming to visit is that she always takes a family picture for us. Ryan was kind of a pill and so our photos were very true to life. Here is one of the pictures that i stole off of her blog-she says she is refusing to edit anymore until she can get home to her perfectly color calibrated desk top back home in North Carolina-she is so technical, but I love her anyways

Sisters Road Trip 2008

My sister Rebecca and her three kids decided instead of flying out for their 4 week vacation to Utah they were going to drive out so she could have a car. My other sister, Melissa, had been living with Rebecca in North Carolina for the last two months and they planned what I thought sounded like a really fun road trip. I figured that I may not have a chance to drive cross country in my life and after consulting with my husband I bought a one-way ticket to NC to join in the fun (he was very nice to let me leave Ryan behind). I flew to Denver had an unexpected 6 1/2 hour layover, got in to NC around 11:30 p.m. then got up and started on the road at 7:30a.m. I wish I had had more time to see where she lives in Chapel Hill because it was beautiful.

It was great because they planned one big thing to do each day to break up the drive and then we tried to stop at the most random/classic road trip places we could find-and boy did we find some winners. First stop was the Great Smokey National Forest where we had a run in with a mother black bear and her two cubs-luckily we were in the car when we saw them, but we all felt like we were in a National Geographic magazine. We spent our first night in Tennessee and woke up the next morning to head out to Graceland.

One of our first great finds was the "Old Country Store" we found along the road to Graceland-they sold everything you could dream of if you wanted to be a red neck-like these beautiful coon hats!


Graceland ended up being pretty cool-esp because I knew almost nothing about Elvis-their were some die-hard fans visiting his home that day.


For some reason I have always wanted to go to a Piggly Wiggly (mostly because I can't believe a store is REALLY named that) so my sister made special stop to fulfill my lifelong dream.


Our third day we were in St. Louis and rode to the top of the arch and walked around the museum-it was really neat. Everything we did seemed to exceed all of our expectations so it made things fun. That day we also went and ate at a World Famous bbq joint in Kansas City (my sister had done some serious research about what was the best)-it was AMAZING! We were all craving it the next day and were sad they don't have Arthur Bryant's in Utah.


Melissa wanted to run thru a cornfield, but most of them were fenced off so we took advantage of this open one...


As we drive thru Kansas, we saw signs advertising a six-legged cow at a place called Prarie Dog Town-we were sold. We knew we had to go after that-and it did not disappoint. In fact, it was one of the highlights of the trip. It is too bad in this picture you can't tell that the cow's friend had five legs.


The three kids were great, but after driving thru NC, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and Utah we were very glad when we drove into my mom's driveway. We all had a great time and it was fun to be able to spend some much time with two of my sisters.

Wasatch Back Relay Take Two

Last year after I ran the Wasatch Back relay, my team and i decided that we wanted to run it again the next year. But life happened and a majority of the team couldn't run in the race and so I assumed I wouldn't be running it this year. I was wrong. My sister called me right before I left for Hawaii and told me that they needed to fill a spot (you have 12 runners on your team) and asked if I would do it. I was a little hesitant because I hadn't been training for the race, but knew I would regret it if I didn't do it. So that was how I joined team Estrogen Overload (I think the name makes it sound like a bunch of 50-year-old women running). Each team runs a total of 181 miles (from Logan to Park City) and each person runs three times during the race-I ran almost 16 miles. My quads are sore-my legs felt like bricks on my last run-but i am really glad that I did it-especially being able to run it with my oldest sister made the experience really fun. She is an amazing runner and their team inspired me to want to run more and to run faster than I ever have before.

With my older sister, Catherine, before my first leg of the race



It was hot and I think I poured more water on myself than what I drank


Right after my night run-i know you are jealous of my outfit-this was my best run of the race


After our van of 6 had all finished our runs-we were exhausted


At the finish line-the 12 of us were reunited


I am still exhausted-we only slept an hour during the whole process-but I would totally do it again. It is an amazing feeling finishing something you didn't think you could do.

While Mom was at Work...

Today Pete watched Ryan while I worked a 12-hour shift and apparently they had a REALLY good time while I was gone.

They let the neighbor's kitty come in and play in the house...


Ryan got to enjoy some chocolate pudding and so did the floor...


This picture was from a couple of days ago. It was so funny to me because I had just gotten on my friend Sarah's blog and she had posted pictures of her little boy Mckay wearing his winter snow boots in the summer. I thought it was so cute and wondered if Ryan would ever do that. Well, he answered my question a little bit later when he asked to have his boots put on. It was so random since they had sat in the same place for months and he just barely showed interest in them. He doesn't look white trash at all.

...Playing Catch Up...

I took a little hiatus from the world of blogging-Life got a little crazy and it was the first thing to go. So I thought since things are starting to somewhat calm down that I would catch up. Pete graduated back in April and the day after went straight back into his cave called the library and studied every minute until he took the MCAT on May 10th. He had very mixed feelings about it because he thought he would feel more relieved after taking it-I think part of it is that you don't find your scores out for a month after taking the test. It got a little lonely around here and I actually started looking forward to going to work to get out of the house. It has been so nice to have him around more lately even though he is still so busy.


We just got home from a trip to Hawaii with his family-they were so nice to take the entire family-and are trying to get over our jet lag. We had a wonderful time playing at the beach and relaxing in the sun. Ryan didn't quite understand how to play very well at the beach, but he sure enjoyed covering himself and his fishy crackers with sand. The trip was great until the flight home. It was an overnight flight and I didn't sleep a single second of it. Pete had started to feel sick during the day and then once we got on the plane started throwing up and threw up the entire six hour flight-at one point he even fell asleep in bathroom because he had been in there so long. Ryan slept the first hour and a half and then woke up and started kicking the seat in front of him and freaking out. I hurried and got him out of his seat and then had to hold him for two and a half hours-most of the time standing up. My arms were killing me and it was a little difficult with all the turbulence. Needless to say I was grateful when we landed-it was a rough flight in more than one way.

Playing with cousins




Even blankie got to play at the beach



Covered in sand and eating my crackers!

AAAAHHHH!!!!

I need some help-I love my little boy more than I can say-but he is a little wild and church is becoming more and more difficult. I thought it got easier the older they got, but I have been wrong. I was all excited for him to get into nursery to be able to at least have two meetings to listen to, but Ryan (who has never had a problem with this) suddenly developed separation anxiety recently and won't let us leave him in there alone. Sacrament meeting is totally out of the question. We last about five minutes before we have to go out in the hall. I try to bring special treats that he doesn't normally get, but then he tries to dump them on the floor and if I take them away he screams and we have to leave. It is hard because the other kids his age seem to be able to handle sacrament meeting. I know he is still really little, but I don't know how to teach him the concept of "no". I really want church to be a positive experience for all of us. So I need some suggestions-what do you do to get the most out of your church experience? What kind of activities do you do with your kids to distract them and help them to stay in sacrament? How do you teach a child that he can't yell in church? Any suggestions would be helpful-thanks!