Amsterdam!

Abomoso Day 4

Blast from the past!

So I decided that today I would go back and post a little about our short, but sweet trip to Amsterdam.

So when we got to the airport and realized we had well over 6 hours to kill and that it only took 20 minutes to get to the main city center, Emily, Joey, Spencer and I jumped on the opportunity to take a look around.

We didn’t know much about the city, but for everything we didn’t know, we sure felt good about all we got to see.

We walked the streets (I loved seeing Spencer next to this car), tried some bakery items, bought a delicious French hot dog (even though we were in Holland),



Tried to visit some pretty big churches and buildings but they all cost money


Emily, Joey and Spencer in the main square


Enjoyed the canal scene





And at least got to the see the outside of all the great buildings and cool statues



It’s obvious that we didn’t REALLY get to experience the life and culture of Holland, but we did get some fun pictures and I would rather kill my time in a Scandinavian city than in the drab airport anyday!

Abomoso Day 3

Our first day at church!

Some surprises: Some came from church, others are just in general, but I hope you enjoy them

The district president couldn’t have been a day over 30 years old. (The branch president can’t be any older either)

The number one language of speech – Twinglish – of which we only understood the English part. But even then, it seemed to be one phrase in Twi, one phrase in English and so on until you were so confused as to the topic it was hard to pay anymore attention.

The church is more like an open yard once you get inside the gate. Every door leads outside.

Everyone, especially the men, were really excited about the business classes Spencer and Joey will be starting next week. We were told that it would be mostly women who participate, and weren’t sure how well the classes would go over, but it was actually all men who have approached them in excitement, and it seems that there are quite a few people who will be coming. YAY! Good news for the guys!

Apparently, lectures on modesty, which we received today, don’t take women and their children into account. Don’t know if we’ll get used to that one.

When the sun goes down, you can’t even sit in the house without being swarmed by bugs. Our room isn’t quite as bad though.

With all the heat and humidity, there actually CAN be a breeze in the church, and it feels good!

If you wave with only your fingers, you are telling all the little children to “come”. I guess that might explain the masses that have followed us everywhere thus far.

Baby goats can jump really high and know how to do Irish dances! I promise!

Ghanaian food is quite a bit like Indian food. LOVE IT! (So far) 
It can start raining at ANY time. Beware!

When trying to ask a child where the missionaries live, she might just take you to the meeting house instead. I’m thinking we should learn a little more Twi.

Here’s the picture of our discovered meeting house yesterday and some of the kids who followed us. Definitely don’t think the missionaries live here 

"We are here to build business and love handles"

Abomoso Day 2

“We are here to build business and love handles.” –Stephen Abu Junior

And boy is this true! When meals are made here, there are massive pots set in front of us and the four of us don’t even have a prayer of finishing it. While we aren’t forced to eat a lot, just having so much food in front of us is an inadvertent way of telling us to keep eating and make sure it’s all gone when the pot is picked up. Good thing for us, the food has been wonderful so far. But after only two days it’s a little hard to go wrong, and luckily it’s all very low in fat



Can you find the two "obroni"s? They don't stick out at all :)
And while the boys were working hard playing soccer, Emily and I were fighting off the masses of boys who are still too young to play with the older, more skilled boys. So everyday they come to the soccer field and watch the older boys play. They were really funny, constantly looking for our singled-out attention by doing whatever they had to to make us look. The only hard thing is that they always speak in their native tongue, Twi (pronouced tree), and speak only a little English. That was a surprise to us!

Day 1 in Abomoso

Abomoso – Day 1

We left Accra, the capital city of Ghana, yesterday at about 11:00 am. We took our ride across the countryside (much of it dirt roads with many pot holes) and arrived in Abomoso (also spelled Abomosu) just after 1pm.

Upon arriving at the house of Stephen Abu Senior, we were promptly fed lunch and placed in rooms. Spencer and I have our own room and full size bed, with a ceiling fan. Oh how excited we were for the ceiling fan! Literally, it was our saving grace as we tried to sleep last night, otherwise, I don’t think we would have slept a wink.
Anyway, Brother Abu then gave us a tour around his farm, which is incredible! He has dozens of little goats and chickens that wonder around the property, and just 4 days ago, his dog had 4 little puppies. They are adorable! Upon seeing this, I realized that my little sister, Sydnee, would be in heaven here. All the little baby goats and chicks and dogs would keep her happy for life. So Sydnee, your next stop is not Abomoso, Ghana! 

We also got the tour of his gardens, orchards and nursery. He grows pretty much anything tropical you can think of. There are little pineapples all over the place, he grows avocadoes, bananas, plantains, mangoes, some weird potato-like things, yams, cabbages, oranges, and coconuts! When we got to the coconuts, he decided to cuts a bunch of them down so we could drink the milk and eat the meat inside. It was so much fun! I’ve never had such a soft coconut, or such sweet milk. The pineapple here is so sweet there’s almost no sour in it. I could probably eat a whole one by myself without my mouth even starting to get raw. The mangoes are amazing too. I’ve never had such soft and juicy mangoes – I didn’t even really like them until I got here! But I think it’s gonna be fun to have so much fresh fruit around us.

Spencer and I then got a tour around the town. Wow! This was when we really saw how they live here. It’s such a simple life, but they’re so happy. Everyone was so kind to us, and as we walked around we had a following of little kids yelling, “Obroni! Obroni!” which means “White Person! White Person!”. It was really quite amusing how excited they were to see us. And when we got back from our tour, a huge mass of children were waiting for the chance to meet and play with us. Emily, Joey, Spencer and I ALL had massive circles of kids surrounding us, touching our skin to see if we really were white, teaching us their language and hand games and jumping all over Spencer and Joey.

The little girls’ first desire for Emily and I was to play with our hair. I think our blonde hair is quite foreign to them, not to mention how soft and easy it is to do. They had fun just touching it, and before long, we both had our whole heads braided.

Once it starts to get dark, everyone, even the kids, begin to retire home for dinner and bed. I think everyone in the town was in bed and asleep by 10, no joke. This house was completely dead. And then everyone’s up around 6. It’s a wonderful life here. We are definitely going to have to adjust in many ways, but I am grateful for the chance we have to live here and be with all these kind, wonderful people.

Here are a couple pictures from today. I hope to post one or two every day, along with a new story or adventure here.

AFRICA!!!

We made it to Ghana!!!

Here we are just after we got off the plane and onto the shuttle bus which took us to the baggage claim. I can't believe we're finally here!


It's absolutely wonderful here! Nothing like home, but still wonderful! We haven't yet made it to Abomosu, the town we'll be living in, we stayed the night here in the capital city, Accra before we head out there.

Now, I have a lot to catch up on as far as the blog goes. I have a ton of pictures from my family's trip to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, which I plan to post, but I'm not on my computer right now. We have yet to set up the internet here and we have been permitted to use the internet here, so, while I'm the only awake at the moment, I decided to do a quick update. :) I also have pictures from our layover, where we got to spend a couple hours in the city of Amsterdam! It was so much fun, and I can't wait for you all to get a glimpse.

I still don't know much about Ghana, and because it was dark, we haven't seen much either, but I am excited to get to know this place better and get to know the people expecially. We have already met the most amazing people, and everyone here just seems so welcoming and giving. This summer is going to be incredible! And hopefully, when we get our computer set up with the internet here, I'll be able to continue to post pictures and write about all the great things we'll get to do here.

Here we are at the Accra, Ghana temple. After getting some much needed sleep I am so glad we got to stop by and see this on our ventures through Accra.

GRADUATION!!!

So everyone, I'M OFFICIALLY GRADUATED!!! It was kind of a weird experience honestly. I woke up yesterday morning and I felt the sudden anxiety that hits when you're anticipating something really big. My chest kind of felt like it had been hit by a truck or train or something big like that. I realized that I was actually done. It's a totally weird sensation, and hopefully I'm not the only who's ever felt it.
For most of you who know me really well, you might think it's kinda weird because I really didn't have classes this last semester. Because I was working on getting my Gerontology Certificate, all I had left to do was my practicum (internship) and my research paper. I was still working toward something for school though, but now I just feel weird. Maybe it's because I really am going to miss school and learning and that I don't want to enter "real" life and find a "real" job - or maybe it's because Spencer and I are headed for the adventure of a lifetime this summer in Ghana, and I just don't know what to expect. So this combination of factors has kinda thrown me for a loop. But you know the great thing about it? It's coming! Life will continue to move forward, and we will hopefully be able to continue to move one step ahead of it.

But anyway, all this "feeling" stuff and is a little too much for me. I'm ready to go! So here's some fun pictures of the ceremony and all the amazing people there that day.



As I was racing to find a restroom before the procession of graduates into the Spectrum I ran into one of my best friends, Stephanie Smith! We went to high school and started up at Utah State together. We both served missions at the same time, and since we've been home we've spent a lot of time in gerontology classes and events together. This all made it so much fun to see her just after she'd finished with her ceremony! It was perfect!

Here are some random pictures of the procession and of me sitting on the floor with all the graduates and then walking and getting my diploma cover (they actual diploma is not really in that little cover). I actually got to sit by Sarah Fassman, the wife of one of Spencer's really good mission friends. I was so grateful to have someone I knew with me :) (There are some pictures of her in there too)








Here are all the wonderful people who supported me and cheered for me there



A day of 2 for 1's! My brother-in-law, Steve graduated from my same college! This made it much easier for family to feel supportive.
(How about those awesome Chacos on my feet!? We moved out of our apartment on Friday (the day before graduation) and my parents ended up taking my packed suitcase - with my nice sunday shoes - home with them. So I only had one option of shoes if I didn't want to wear my tennis shoes. So even though I kinda felt like a hobo - Chacos it was!)



All of the parents together! (Spencer's dad wasn't able to make it. He was appointed as a delegate to attend and vote at the state convention, so we rightfully excused him, and hope that all went well for him there)
This is the only picture I have of Marilyn, I wish I'd gotten more, but I'm glad she was there for this one!
My amazing mother-in-law (Marilyn) is like Super Mom/Grandma, and she is always just so happy and has the most amazing positive attitude. It makes you feel good just to look to at her! :) I'm really glad she got to be there for BOTH Steve and I.



Grandma and Grandpa Cox may have come all the way from Idaho for my brother Josh, but when they heard that graduation was timed perfectly in there, they were so excited that they could support us both, and I was so happy that they would take the time to do so!



Even my friend Jake Reed (who I met way back in the Summer of 2002 when my family participated in the City of Joseph Pageant in Nauvoo, Illinois) was able to hit the 2 for 1 special on this wonderful day! His friend from the mission, Natalie, also graduated with me, so he actually finished all of his finals flew out from TEXAS to be there for it! What a great friend! It was so good to see him again!



Grandma and Grandpa Smoot made it too! They have been so incredibly supportive of all of their grandchildren. They attended 3 different college graduations in the last week. That's dedication! I didn't expect them to come at all, but I am so grateful that they did. It is always so wonderful to have them around!



And of course my parents have been my biggest fans all along! I am so lucky to have them in my life! They have been my greatest examples and I am so grateful that I was blessed with parents who love me and have given me so much in this life. They are the best!



And last, but absolutely and positively, not least, my amazing a wonderful husband Spencer! This picture was taken in the car on our way home, but I had to include it here. In my personal opinion, he is the greatest person EVER!!! I just love having him around, and I'm so grateful to have an eternal companion who loves and supports me in everything I do.



Here's all of my grandparents, parents and Spencer and I together! I feel like I am the most blessed person in the world to have so many amazing people around me. I love you all and am so grateful for what you've done to help Spencer and I get to where we are today. Thank you!

Aimee and Porter's Graduation!

Isn't is weird how quickly life sometimes goes so quickly? Take my niece for example - She'll be two years this month! I can't even believe it! It seems like she should still be a little infant, but with how big she's grown and how much she talks now, she's definitely in the toddler stage. WEIRD!!!
Anyway, I bring this up because her parents, my sister and brother-in-law graduated yesterday from Utah Valley University!!! I am so excited for them!!!


What a cute family!!!

How cool is it, that with a two year old, they were both able to still get their degrees? I don't know if I would have been that diligent with a baby... which is why God gave THEM the child :)
So, instead of going to their graduation like a nice supportive sister, I babysat their daughter :)


Oaklee and I fighting the wind after a day of bonding together. She loves me!!! :)


You see, I graduate next week, and I don't even want to attend my own graduation, let alone make anyone else attend it. So by watching Oaklee instead, neither Aimee nor Porter will feel obligated to come to Logan next week for mine. I thought it was a great plan!

But back to the beginning when I was talking about how time flies so quickly - I just can't believe that Aimee and Porter have graduated! I can't believe that I'm graduating! It's just such a surreal feeling. When I graduated from high school (which seems like it could have been last year), I thought that if I ever graduated from college (because that was something SO far distant in the future, there was no way I'd ever make it there!) I would be so much older and wiser and that I would know... basically EVERYTHING! Well, I guess it's the general trend now (at least in my life) that as you get older, no matter how much education you have, the less you know. I must say that I never really expected that. I mean really - try telling that to a high school graduate who's on top of the world! There's no way that concept would have grasped. But maybe that's what an education really does for you. It makes you realize that there's really not much you will ever completely understand, and that's just gonna have to be something I deal with!

So... on and on with life I go! 6 years after high school graduation, and being out somewhere around $25,000 for this education - I am technically receiving a bachelors in History and a certificate in gerontology - but I like I am actually getting a diploma in being "historically" illiterate, and a certificate in not having a clue about "aging". But you want to know the real kicker about it all?

If I did it all over again - I would definitely go back and spend even more money if I had to, just to learn nothing ALL OVER AGAIN!!! Getting an education is worth EVERY Penny!!! (even if you come out feeling like you know less) :)

Congratulations to me and everyone else who's graduated this year!!!!