ATHENS

So I have been in Athens for two days and I am loving it! Each day has been full of adventures and touring. Each morning we wake up and have planned activities until early afternoon when we are set loose to do wahtever we want. We spent the first day on the Acropolis seeing buildings from the 5th c. BC such as the Parthenon and Erechtheum. (picture jumping at the Parthenon)It was so neat to be up there and imagine what life was like in Athens during the time these buildings were used. We walked over to Zeus' Temple after the acropolis and hung out under the trees just talking. We thought it was pretty cool to just be hanging out at Zeus' temple.(picture at Zeus Temple. Look close...I'm standing at the bottom) Not many our age can say that. :) After the touring we headed back to the Acropolis and looked at all the shops. I bought a really cute pair of earning for 5 euro. Of course I bartered it down successfully from 7. I also had my first gyro today (sandwich type thing with meat, tomatoes, onion and sauce). The food has all been excellent. We came home and heard that my suitcase has finally been found and was in the Athens airport. Because American Airlines lost it, but doesn't fly to Athens, they sent it on an Olympic flight. Since Olympic was not responsible for it, they said I needed to go get it instead of them bringing it to me. Torrie and I left Saturday morning at 6 AM to get it. It was a 3 hour trip there and back...quite an adventure alone on the metro) but so worth it! I had never been so happy to see my suitcase in my life. When I got home, I opened it up and went through it just so i could see what I had even packed. It had been 4 days without it.

My suitcase!!
We met up with the group at the national archeological museum and were there for several hours. It was really neat to see so many things that I have studied from textbooks about right in front of me. A lot of the statues were so much larger than I had thought. It was also so mice to be with other people who are interested in this type of stuff. We would just sit and stare at objects and discuss them. Kinda nerdy, but I loved it. After the museum several of us headed to the coast to hang out at the beach. It was so fun. Most of the girls just layed out, but I was determined to get in! I talked Noelle and Torrie into jumping in with me. The water was freezing, but I'm glad I got in. No regrets this trip!

Exploring the tidal pools

Noelle, Me and Torrie after braving the cold waters!

As I went to bed last night I was excited to set my travel alarm clock. Torrie and I have are sick of converting time on our phones (becuase it hasn't reset since Chicago and won't...) to set our alarm. With our luck though it stopped working in the middle of the night, so we were wakened by Brianna, who knocks on doors 30 minutes before we need to leave. I somehow was able to shower and get ready for church in 30 minutes. The group got on the metro and went to church at the Athens branch. I always love going to church in other countries and seeing how the gospel has touched the members' lives. After church Noelle, Torrie, Natalie, Jackie and I wandered around Athens. We saw the olympic stadium, spent awhile in the National Gardens writing in our journals snd wandering, and watched the changing of the gaurds. We spoke with one of the army guys there who repositioned the guards and straightened their skirts. It was fun becuase he said he had once served as one of the gaurds( they stand motionless for hours gaurding the tomb of the unknown soldier) and we were able to see that they really do have personalities. He was hilarious! We are back at the hotel for a bit and then will head back to the church to go sing with the missionaries at a town square.

We found an air vent while wandering through athens. We couldn't pass up the Marilyn Monroe picture.

All in all it has been a great stay in Athens. Tomorrow we head to Rome!!

safe in Greece, finally!!

Well, after two very crazy days, Torrie and I are in our hotel room in Athens, Greece. When we got to LAX, we were told that our bags could only be checked through to London, because our connecting flight to Athens was an "illegal connection." When American made our travel arrangements, they only left 1 hours 35 minutes between landing in London and taking off. Becuase they couldn't put our bags through, this meant that we had to land, go through customs, get our bags, travel out to the new terminal on the underground (several minutes away) and check into our flight. When we asked one of the airport workers the best way to do this, his eyes got big and in his think British accent he simply replied "aw, shit!" (sorry about the language...) Basically that's what Torrie and I were thinking as well. We did our best to hurry along and made it to the baggage claim. We got Torrie's bag, but mine never came off. Of course every minute we sat waiting for the bag was a minute we didnt have to wait. We had to go report it to American so they could find it and hopefully send it on to Athens before I leave for Rome. This is where the tears began. (I couldn't help it...hardly any sleep, little food, and stressing like crazy) We hurried to catch the underground train but missed it and had to wait 12 minutes for the next one to arrive.
By the time we got to the British Airways terminal, it wass 11:30. Our flight was at 11:45. We went to the help desk and explained our situation. The lady gave us the two options. Take a risk and wait stand by on the British Airways 8:55 flight, or purchase a ticket on the 4:3o Olymic flight. We were put on stand by and went to a payphone to call Dad. (Often I wonder what I would do without Dad...he is constantly saving me.) The first call went through, but there was such a loud ringing noise that I couldn't hear him on the other end. I switched phones and called and explained our situation...missed flight, no bag. He wasn't very happy with American Airlines. He got the payphone number and said he would call back within 5 minutes, ater getting American on the line. 15 minutes passed and we didn;t hear back, so we called him. He couldn't get through to us. He asked us to get a number at the British Airways desk so he could reach us, but Torrie was in the bathroom so I couldn't have her do it. An employee was passing by, so I asked her. Of course my face was tear stained, so she stuck around to help me out. We walked over to the help desk again and an american lady was working. She was our angel. She said we were her "fellow yanks" and "two ladies in distress" so she would figure things out for us. When she told us their wasn't a airline phone Dad could call, she handed us her cell phone and told us to use it for what we needed. I called Dad and with this lady's help, we booked two flights on the Olympic 4:30 flight. Of course when we went to check in there, the man non chalantly told us it was delayed 2 hours. Great. I guess we should have expected that. We hung around the airport for several hours, sleeping on our backpacks so they wouldn't be taken. We finally boarded at 6:00, but didn't take off til 7:30. We sat on the runways waiting for a strom to pass. The guy next to us turned and said " we must all be unlucky." If only he knew...
We arrived in Athens at 1:00 AM greek time and met Mark Johnson, the director. All the trains had stopped for the evening, so we made it to the hotel by Bus and taxi. I don't think I have eer been so grateful to make it to a hotel!! Torrie let me use her shower stuff and gave me a set of pajamas, becuase I still don't have my suitcase. I just got an email from Dad saying that AMerican located my bag and will send it here on the next flight to Athens. Hopefully it will be here in the morning. All in all it has been 2 crazy days. I am glad to be safe and SO glad that Torrie was with me.

Au Revoir (In a week)

So, I started blogging again, then slacked again. typical. Oops. I think I will blame this one on the semester coming to an end, which I am ecstatic about. Don't get me wrong...it has been a grand semester, I am just ready for a break, and my trip to EUROPE! I am leaving a week from tomorrow from LAX to Athens, Greece. I am going on a study abroad with BYU art history. I know, I am a business major...yada yada yada. But, I love traveling and I love art history. (sidenote: I actually just finished a huge final project for my sales management class and my "creative business final" tied my class learnings in with art history. love it!) I get to travel all over Europe with my director and 24 BYU girls. Since taking AP art history in high school from R. Herold I have LOVED it! Also, I went to Northern Italy early in high school and saw a lot of art, but because I hadn't taken art history, I knew nothing about it so basically couldn't have cared less about the amazing works of botticelli, michaelangelo, and da Vincis that I saw. Well, I remember enough to know that I need to go back so I can appreciate what I missed out on. Like I said, we start out in Athens, then go to Italy (Rome, Sorrento, Capri, Pompeii, Florence, Venice, and Milan), Spain (Barcelona, Madrid), France (Paris) and England (London). We will be with the group from the morning til 2 ish, then we are set free to explore! I would love any suggestions of things to do from any of you who have been to these places.

Star Valley, Wyoming

For a few months Colby and I have been planning on going to Wyoming for his Grandpa's 90th birthday celebration. Lucky for me, his Grandpa lives just down the street from Colby's home, so I got to take a weekend trip to Colby's house. We had so much fun. I hated when it came to an end. I feel like I was able to learn so much more about Colby by being with him at his home with his family. I must admit, being on a dairy farm in Star Valley Wyoming was a little different than what I am used to, but I quickly learned to love it. Colby took me snowmobiling one morning which was so much fun. We went back in the mountains and the scenery was absolutely exhilarating. Of course the snowmobiling was fun too!

One of the favorite parts of the weekend was when Colby took me out to show me the farm. First I saw the cows being milked...much different than what I had expected. We then went out and saw all of the newborn cows that were in individual stalls. At the end of the stalls was an open area where a 2 day old baby cow was. I got to feed it fresh milk out of a bottle. It was so adorable. After the milk was gone, the calf still wanted more. She followed me around for a few minutes head butting me, trying to get more milk. I had to laugh. I really didn't know what to do, and of course Colby had snuck away so he could see what I would do about this. I looked up to see Colby and his dad outside the gate just smiling and laughing at me trying to run away from a 2 day old cow. goodness. We then went on to see more cows, then Colby showed me the tractor. I couldn't help but think of being at the farm in Idaho and seeing how excited my Dad got with all this kinda of stuff. Colby was just like it. I still think it is funny that I had known Colby for several months before I even knew he grew up on a dairy farm; he just doesn't come across as the typical "dairy farmer" kind of guy. (this was before we started dating, before we actually really got to know each other...). After the tour we headed in and just relaxed for the evening. We were both so exhausted. I never would have thought snowmobiling would wear someone out so much!

Sunday we got up and went to church. His two brothers and sister-in-laws had to head home early, so it was just Colby, his parents and me. It was fun to be with just them and of course I learned so much more about Colby. Somehow I ended up having about an hour long conversation with just his parents while Colby fell asleep on the couch in the other room. I was able to learn things about Colby that he never would have come out and said on his own. I have found that I really am dating an amazing guy. Thanks Colby for everything!

Here are some pictures from the weekend. Of course I have tons more (because I am obsessed with documenting EVERYTHING with my camera) but I will spare you. :)

Dont' worry...we wore helmets :)

This is one of the hill climbs Colby took me on. This picture doesn't really give it justice. I thought I was going to fly over the handle bars because the mountain was so steep. It reminded me of being at the top of the really steep slides at a water park. I think Colby enjoyed the steepness much more than I did.

Here we are in the milking room. They have quite a production going there. PS check out the amazing suit I am wearing. Brittany, Colby's sister-in-law was given this suit by a friend when she married into the family. She told me it was probably her favorite wedding gift. She is pregnant, so I got to wear it to protect my clothes from the wonders of a dairy farm.

This is me feeding the baby cow. So cute!


The cows

Us at the tractor

Look closely...yes, 3 feet of snow, and it had melted a lot!

The Ultimate Gift

Last weekend Colby and I went to Redbox hoping to find National Treasure 2, but it wasn't there. Nothing really jumped out at us, so we ended up getting The Ultimate Gift, a movie neither of us had heard of. We both loved it and it has turned out to be one of my new favorite movies. If you are looking for a great movie, I would highly recommend this one.

Here is the summary from theultimategift.com: "When his wealthy grandfather dies, trust fund baby Jason Stevens anticipates a big inheritance. Instead, his grandfather has devised a crash course on life with twelve tasks – or “gifts” – designed to challenge Jason in improbable ways, sending him on a journey of self-discovery and forcing him to determine what is most important in life: money or happiness."

Several of the Tibbitts cousins took a break from Utah and went to Hemet for Presidents' Day Weekend. It was so nice to take a break and forget all about school. We played outside, went to the beach, sat in the jacuzzi and ate lots of food. It was such a fun weekend!

It was fun for me to be able to bring Colby along. This was his first trip to California. With the trip came many other firsts for him: In-n-Out, seeing the ocean (besides flying over it), touching the Pacific, picking citrus fruit from a tree, etc.

The cousins at the beach. Love this picture!

Colby and me at Oceanside

Some of the guys wanted to show their manliness and run out into the ocean. I thought it just showed their ignorance of the freezing air and water. It made for a good laugh.

Colby and I were able to squeeze in a game of tennis.

Everyone (except Caitlin, Chad and Sarah) before we began our journey back to Provo. I think we were all sad to leave behind such sunny, warm weather. PS, please take note of Mitch and Adam's precious hand holding in the front.

"Super Cute Sunday"

At BYU, the first Sunday of each semester is the day all the girls (and guys) try to dress to impress. For those of you who have gone to a BYU ward, you probably will know exactly what I mean, and may have even been sucked into it yourself. Well, a couple of my good guy friends have dubbed this, "Super Cute Sunday." Jessica, Lindsey, Sarah and I thought we would go against the norm this time and wear DI dresses. Of course we didn't want to be seen as sac religious, so we kept things mild. We got several comments, mainly that our dressses were really cute. I'm sure some of the new people in the ward who don't know our personalities just thought we had really interesting taste in fashion.

Aloha

For Christmas, my wonderful parents gave me and my siblings the gift of going to Hawaii with them. My dad had a dental convention scheduled at the Grand Wailea in Maui and he decided to take the whole family along. We all got out of school for a week and went and played in the sand and sun! It was such a good break from the snow and so good to be with the whole family. We probably won't have many more family outings with just the eight of us, and all eight of us. For the next four years we will have either Mitch or Brad on a mission, and by then, someone will probably be married. Sorry, random digression. Anyways, Hawaii was beautiful and I loved every moment. I will post a few pictures to share the memories.

the family at the North Shore

We went on the Road to Hana and at one of the stops it started raining. Brad and I found leaves to make into rain hats. Quite convenient and innovative. :)

Vines were hanging all over the place, so of course I had to get a tarzan picture. Sadly it turned out blurry. Even sadder, the vine broke half a second after this picture and I hurt my ankle pretty bad. I couldn't walk for the next day or so. I always seem to injure myself for the sake of a good picture.

Sara Bareilles, one of my favorite singers, came and performed at the convention. We got front row seats and later met her and got signed CDs. It was amazing! Check her stuff out at her website.

One evening we traveled to Lahaina for dinner. We stopped by the famous banyan tree, the largest in North America. These trees are fascinating; it has 12 main trunks...all the same tree. Roots grow down from the branches and start new trunks. The above picture shows Lindsey walking on it.

I just realized that I don't have any beach pictures on my computer. I promise, we spent a good amount of time at the beautiful Hawaiian beaches. Some of my favorite things we did there we snorkeling at Molokini, Whale watching, and swimming with turtles. I will have to get those pictures from my parents.

HALLOWEEN

I absolutely love dressing up, so naturally I love Halloween. It gives me an excuse to dress up and not have everyone lok at me like I am crazy. This year I dressed up with my best friends at went to our ward roller skating party. For this, several of us went to DI and got random things to throw together for a "costume." I don't think Lindsey and I ever really decided what we were. For other Halloween festivities, I wore the Dorothy dress that my mom made for me in the forth grade. Somehow it still fits. Of course it was much longer on me when I was nine, but personally I think it fits better now that I am twenty. Haha.

My family saw Wicked when it first came out. I loved it so much! Lindsey loved it more than any of us and can probably sing every word to every song. This year my family went and saw it again. I was surprised at how much I had forgotten. I guess that is one of my flaws; I forget things easily, mainly books, movies and plays. Anyways, I loved seeing Wicked this time even more because I had learned so many of the songs. The performers were phenomenal and I could see if a hundred more times and never get bored of it. If you are looking for a good musical, jump on the band wagon and go to WICKED!

Journey to East Asia

This past summer I went with my Mom and Dad to go pick Nathan up from serving in the Singapore Mission. I loved being able to travel and learn about these cultures; most of all I loved being able to see Nathan as a missionary and see the people whose lives he had touched. We started in Singapore, went to East Malaysia, West Malaysia, Sri Lanka, then stopped in Hong Kong on the way back home.

We got to Singapore while Nathan was still serving as a missionary. While he was out preaching during the day, Mom, Dad and I toured the city of Singapore. It was busy, spotless and humid! This is me with the Singapore skyline in the background.

One of the most tender and memorable moments of this trip happened in East Malaysia when Nathan took us out to visit on e of the families he had taught. When we arrived, the children came running out yelling "Elder, elder." They were all so excited to see Nathan. We were able to spend a few hours with them and learn about their lives. We were so humbled to see their living conditions and how little they had. Despite the lack of worldly thing in their lives, they were all so happy and full of will to press forward.

In West Malaysia, we spent a lot of time in Kuala Lumpur, the capitol. We climbed 272 steps to the
Batu caves to see the monkeys. These creatures were so accustomed to humans, that they came up to us with little or no hesitation. They took food from visitors whether they were planning on sharing with the monkeys or not. The caves have significance to the Hindus and a festival is held here each year. If interested, check out the Batu Caves website.



Sri Lanka felt like a whole other world. Driving, eating habits, and lifestyles were all so different from what I know and felt were normal . I said several silent prayers over mysterious food and many prayers of thanksgiving for what I am blessed with. This picture shows Nathan and me with some children he taught. We are standing on the edge of the jungle that they live in. My favorite tourist part of this trip was in Sri Lanka when we visited the Elephant Orphanage. We rode elephants, bathed them in a stream, bottle fed a baby, and watched them travel to and relax in a river for their afternoon.























We finished up our two week adventure in Hong Kong. Nathan hadn't been to the temple in two years, and wanted to have our layover in Hong Kong so he could go to the temple. I was able to go and do baptisms while the others went to a session. It was so neat to see the blessings of the temple touching people all over the world.

Though I was sad to see this trip come to an end, I was excited to get back to America. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to take this unforgettable trip.

VACCINATIONS!

Last Monday I went into the BYU Health Center to get several shots. Before I am able to go with my parents to pick up Nathan from his mission, I had to get my vaccinations. I had four done; yes, four metal objects were jammed into my arm. I was really scared, but feel that I was a trooper. I was so good that the nurse gave me apple juice and a lollipop when I was done. Those, along with the Looney Toons band-aids, helped me through the rough times. :) It will be all worth it once I am in Southeast Asia visiting Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Hong Kong. I'm so excited for the trip!

Ballet West

Austin is the sweetest guy! For Christmas my parents gave me a dress that I absolutely love, but didn't know what to wear it to. I felt that it was too nice for church, but didn't know what to wear it to. I mentioned it to Austin and he said something about going to a ballet or an opera. On our six month "anniversary" he took me to see Ballet West perform at Capitol Theatre.
When I was younger I drove past a sign in San Diego for a ballet and developed a fantasy-like desire to go to a ballet. I think I liked the thought of "going" to a ballet, not so much actually sitting through one. When Austin and I were in our seats I realized this and got a little worried, but ended up absolutely loving it!! I knew he took me because I had mentioned wanting to see one before, but wanted to know if he enjoyed it too. When I asked him, he said he enjoys stuff like that too. Not many guys are into that stuff and willing to take you to it. He may just be a keeper. ;)

I used my professional photography skills to take this shot. I got really brave and asked a stranger to take the lower one so the dress could be seen.

CAMPING

Being the adventurous person that I am, when I heard that some people from my ward were going camping, I decided to join. Because it was kinda last minute, we made it really simple. We got subway sandiches and went to a campground up Provo canyon. We ended up right next to a boy scout troop and got to hear the hour long knife safety talk and have eleven year old boys trample through our camp all night long. It reminded me of Andrew and his eleven year old personality. We had a lot of fun and were able to laugh about the scouts. The high-light (or not so high) was when the girls went to set up the six man tent and found that there weren't any poles. Steve was kind enough to let us four girls sleep in his three-man tent and sleep in a single man tent himself. Needless to say, us girls got really close that night.

Happy about the tent before realizing that it was without poles.

A little blurry, but I wanted everyone to see how amazingly buff I am! I can lift a two person house above my head, balanced on one foot, without any help! yeah-yuh!

Jessi, me, Jessica and Jodi all crammed into the three-man tent. Trust me, it was mislabeled. It really is a two man...

I play on an intramural team with some of the girls from my new ward, the tenth ward TIGERS. I haven't played since about eight grade, so it is nice to bring back the memories from my favorite childhood sport. We had our second game today and DOMINATED, 20-11. SWEET. Our first game wasn't so hot, so it felt good to come out on top. We decided to take a "team pic" like back from the little league days, mitts in front and all. Isn't it so precious! :)

I went with my roommates to Provo's semi-annual Llamapalooza this weekend. It was a lot of fun. Several live bands were there, along with a DJ and LLAMAS borrowed from the Hiro Krishna. Of course we had to take pictures with the llamas. This one smiled for us. The white Llama wasn't as photogenic.

I finally have a BLOG!!!

Yes, I finally went through the strenuous process of getting my own blog. :) Michelle told me about it over a month ago and I finally sat down to do it. I have been so busy with school. Finals start in a week and a half. I'm not excited for finals, but so ready to be done with this semester. I will be taking two classes this spring: cooking and world religions. I am so estatic about the cooking class. I actually need to take one more credit. If anyone has any suggestions for a good/entertaining/easy one credit class that would be great!