Utah, it is the place.

This week I got to go to Utah! Young Lauren would not believe hearing 21 year old Lauren saying, "I miss Utah. A lot. I really want to move there." But its true!

Our primary reason for the visit: our niece! We finally got to meet her and attend her blessing. Dan did a great job holding her, and carrying her up for blessing. He'll be a great dad, many many many years from now. 
We got to go to our favorite pizza place, THE PIE! Our friends Danielle and Jesse drove up, we brought down Dan's siblings and we all had a blast. 
Dan and Tim and the ginormous pizza. Hey, there were 9 hungry adults. And we didn't finish it. 
Me and Danielle. I miss her. Such good times, in our old BYU days....
Me and Danielle are lucky enough to be married to that. I know, you're jealous. 
Other events for which I lack pictures:

- I got to spend several days in St. George with my family - so great.

- We got to go see Kade & Branda who just had a baby! Congratulations to them! 

Adventures of the Long Weekend

Dan had a whole four days off from Army this weekend. So we decided to utilize this time for some projects and little day trips...

I decided we needed some new furniture for our new apartment. But after seeing the prices at all the stores here, we decided spray paint was more in our budget. So lucky Dan got to do lots of painting, he had fun - I promise. 
While dan painted, I made jam. The domesticness of my new life is overwhelming. Note, this jam is made from organic berries from our farmers market. And its delicious. And if you visit, you can have some. 
Saturday we made the trip to the Oakland Temple. It was a forever long drive due to traffic. I know, I shouldn't complain about a 3 hr drive: There are Honduran families that sell everything they have and travel for days... Well for me, who is used to living in Utah and deciding which Temple within a 15 min radius to go to, it was long ordeal. 
The Oakland temple has its own unique flair. We noticed while driving in we noticed this sign that says " No limousines please." I wondered what the heck that was about. Also, as we were walking in to the temple, we saw a group of girls in matching strapless really low/short dresses. I thought to myself, "Interesting bridesmaid dress choices for a temple wedding..."
Its hard to see, because I was trying to take discreet pics and not get in the way of actual photographers - but it all made sense after we got out of our session. The Oakland temple is THE PLACE  for the local hispanic community to take Quinceanera and (non-temple) Wedding pictures. Seriously, there were tons of them.
I know, you're sick of reading. Last thing. We went for our first Big Sur hike, it was pretty cool.

I only look triumphant because you cant hear me wheezing. I'm not in good hiking shape. Poor Dan spent most of the hike waiting for me and "You can do it! Keep going, 10 more feet."
See, isn't this view worth coming out here to see? Can you tell i'm really pushing for visitors? The whole "staying home all day, with no friends, while Dan is at school all day thing" is getting old quick.
The end. Also I look so strange because we did the whole self timer thing and I was still moving. And I'm just generally awkward looking. Hope everyone had a great labor day weekend.

Goodbye Middle East, Hello Monterey

I finally got the heck out of the Middle East (note: i'm wearing our tour guides shirt in this picture because I was denied entry on to temple mount because my neckline was too low).

And came to my new home in Monterey California, and my eternal companion: 

And when I arrived in Monterey, Dan - who is modeling the lovely Jordanian garb I brought back for him- had already found an apartment for us. Our eternally amazing parents coordinated driving all of our stuff from our storage unit in Provo out here. Shout out to the parents (I now know my mom secretly reads this) - we really appreciated your help.

WE'VE BEEN MARRIED A YEAR. And since I was sitting in Tel Aviv on our actual anniversary, we celebrated this saturday. We went to this movie:

Which I would highly recommend if you enjoy Quinton Tarantino, blood, guts and gore. 
We went and walked around Monterey, its seriously beautiful. Never mind that the sun never shines. Its cool. 
And we finished off with a taste of our wedding cake. Well not quite. Our wedding cake was tragically lost in the Fridge/Freezer meltdown of October 2008 (I think Danielle and Jesse will remember that episode, it really was tragic). So we found a replacement. 
Cake batter icecream tastes a whole lot better than old frozen cake I'm sure... Well, its certainly been an interesting first year of marriage. I wouldn't recommend spending the majority of your first year on different continents to other people - but for us it worked. We made it through, it wasn't easy/fun, but we grew as people - or something like that. 

I ♡ Israel

Can I just start by saying that I LOVE ISRAEL! Its a first world country. There are no bed bugs. Creepy guys harassing you all the time. People hitting you with their cars. Butting you in line. Yelling at you in a language you don't understand... Best of all - I have no Arabic here. But besides that, its just a really cool place. So far we've mostly just been to biblical sites- which aren't that impressive - but are cool just to think "I'm where Jesus was, Tight."

This is a Synagogue in Capernum, where Jesus would have taught. 
Completely unrealted, but there is a kid in our group who has been catching lizards the whole time we've been in the Middle east. And he finally caught the elusive CHAMELEON. It was cool.
I just like this column from the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth because of the demons on the sides. Check it. 
This is Masada. It was King Herod's pleasure castle. And then a bunch of Jewish Zealots holed up in here against the Romans. And when they knew they were going to lose, they committed mass suicide. Women and children and all. Now its a big Jewish Nationalism symbol. 
This is me out side of the Branch building in Tiberias. It was amazing to go to church and be able to see the Sea of Galilee out the window the whole time. And church was and hour. Sign me up. 
We went to this cool nature reserve, Tel Dan (shout out to my lovely husband) which had MORE BIBLICAL SITES. Imagine that. But it was gorgeous. And thats where the chameleon was found. 

Blood Suckers and Babies

I am very, very much ready to come home. For a myriad of reason which I will now share:
"Why?" might you ask, "Is Lauren showing us a picture of her bed covered in blood spots?"
Because of these guys! Bed Bugs! Disgusting, I know. They live in my bed, come out at night, and suck my blood. There is no way to get rid of them. Yes I looked in to every possible method. I also tried sleeping on the couch, lo and behold, they live in the couch as well. Everyday I wake up with blood spots on my clothes/sheets, and itchy bites all over my body. I'll spare you the details/pictures on that one. 
Blood suckers of another type, Arabs. I really hoped before coming here I'd be able to say "Arabs are just like us! They are so misunderstood! They are all great people!" But, In my experience, they are not. These are our arab "friends." Friends that lie to us, talk crap about us when they think we don't understand, and are completely rude. I've had enough. I'm ready to return to "my people".  Gosh I love America and Americans. 

Lest you think I am completely negative, let me share a good news minute (relief society reference.) I have a niece! This is the darling Molly McNulty. I can't wait to get home and meet her and hold her. As soon as I have de-bed-bugged myself that is. Lovely. 

Its just like Transformers, except better.

It was really funny to see Transformers 2 here because the whole audience actually stood up and clapped and got so excited at the part of the movie that takes place in Petra. Jordan doesn't make it into a lot of movies, okay? Haha. This weekend we got to go on a little adventure to actually see Petra, home of the Primes. 
Me and Angie in front of the Treasury, the most famous building in Petra. 

This is the Monastery, which is actually bigger and cooler than the Treasury - yet less well known. That may have something to do with the grueling hour long hike to get to it under the blaring Middle Eastern sun, but thats just my hypothesis...

This is how you could find me most of the weekend. Hiding in the shade reading. I had a really good book, Freakanomics, I highly recommend it. 
After sleeping (except not really because it was so hot) in bedioun tents, the next day we went on a four wheeling excursion across the desert in really ghetto old Toyotas. It was rad. 
So you know that I'm not entirely lazy and actually did other things than just read, I climbed this sand dune. Proof. In other news, Dan and I are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first niece. And the end of this summer, so we can actually - you know - live together in the same country. We hear thats what married people do. 

AMERICA! Wadi Mujib. Cheetah Shoes!

Its been a long time since I’ve posted. Not much has been going on here, just the normal daily routine. But here’s some highlights of the last month or so…

The Cheetah Sandals Were Absolutely Necessary

If nothing else this trip has humbled me. Arabs find things totally inoffensive that are seriously offensive to a Westerner. A few weeks ago an Arab girl told me to my face that my friend Nettie is a lot prettier than me. My self confidence here is off the charts.

 But there is a quick way to restore one’s self confidence: Buy things! That’s where the cheetah sandals come in to play. After an especially humbling day. Angie and I went to Carrefour (a French Walmart) that is incidentally hooked into a mall. And there was Aldo’s. And there was my cheetah shoes. And I bought them, and felt better than I had in a long time. So now when I’m out and about and being mocked, I simply look at my feet, and everything is better.

 

4^th of July!: I used to think that living abroad was so glamorous, that anything is cooler than boring old America. I have totally changed my mind. Nothing is better than America! We are so lucky to live where we do. Especially when I look at all the rights and opportunities that I enjoy as woman in America compared to the oppression a lot of women here face, I feel really blessed. I love the USA. We Americans here had a nice little halal (no pork) bbq, sang patriotic songs, and basically just missed home. Angie and I made this beautiful Americana cheesecake. 
Wadi Mujib: I’ve seen a lot of really cool things in the Middle East, but Wadu Mujib was the most FUN thing I’ve done here. We got 10 people together and chartered a van. We went to Wadi Mujab, a big slot canyon that empties into the dead sea, right along the Israeli border. It was gorgeous! Seriously prettier than all the slot canyons I’ve seen in Utah. And, it was filled with water! The entire time we were wading, and then some parts swimming… And then some parts it was so narrow and swift we had to hold on to ropes. I felt like I was drowning and kind of panicked at some parts, and other parts I’d get pulled so hard by the current that one of the bigger guys would have to pull me. It was crazy! At the end there was a gorgeous waterfall, and then the way back all the steep scary hard parts became slides, and jumps to get down. It was awesome.