Friday, February 5, 2010

Escape to Scottsdale

When I went home for a month my family went on a little get away to Scottsdale. My sister Danielle lives in Gilbert so it was the perfect place to go! We wanted to have a week where we could all be together but away from home to avoid the stresses of everyday life. I will let you in on a little secret...WE HAD A BLAST!!! And before you look at the pictures if it looks like I rarely ever got ready for the day...it's because I didn't! We had way too much fun hanging out in comfy clothes and lounging around!
First off...my dad and I came down a couple days late. Ryan was coming home for 3 days and my dad had some things to deal with at home so we were picked up from the airport with...
My bUdDy BaBy BeNtOn
AND THESE CRAZIES!!!
What a great surprise to be picked up by my private little "Rudolphs!"
We had all the family that lives in Arizona over to the house for a football party! I'll be honest...I don't even know what game it was! I didn't really care and I was too busy hanging out with my cousins and eating!
Mom and dad brought back Karsiyaka souvenirs from their visit to Turkey!
We took lots of naps and enjoyed the pool! Yes, it was WARM enough to swim!
We ate breakfast on top of the guest house and pretended we were Rapunzel!

We played nonstop with Nerf guns and chased each other all around the house! You should have seen my dad and Josh in their Nerf wars! We even got creative and made up new games like the painful one shown above! Yes, we love each other! Josh is hands down one of the funniest people you will ever meet. I love this guy! So happy he is my brother!
Saders got creative and used them in all sorts of ways! This is my favorite!

I couldn't get enough of this little guy...
And these two! They're getting SO OLD! Sadie and Sam are to die for! Sadie is no longer a child, she is a GIRL! And Sam is getting so tall and big!
I love the girls in my family (missing Alycia)! It was so much fun to have time with all of them and I am not going to complain for half a second about the little get away to Scottsdale! Of course I love the boys too! Thank you mom and dad for taking us! You guys sure know how to have a great time! I had so much fun eating at great restaurants, playing nonstop games, going on walks, making up exercises on our walks and looking like crazy people, sleeping in, sharing a room with Sadie and Sam, swimming, laughing til my stomach hurts and last but not least learning that all I need to get my dad next Christmas is a nerf gun!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

BEST FRIENDS

If you're not one of my Best Friends you might find this post somewhat annoying or cheesy but I felt it was necessary. Being here in Turkey I have learned to count my many blessings and have become more grateful for many things I miss at home. One of my many blessings is my best friends! In Turkey I have made friends that are fun to be around, I can grab lunch with, go to the gym, call for help etc. but it is never the same as my friends at home. Yes, the people here are nice and I feel grateful for the new friends I have found but it doesn't mean I can forget about my friends at home for half a second!
When I went home to visit home I again realized that I have the best friends in the entire world! It was so much fun to see each and every one of them and I felt so lucky to come home and still have my friends treat me like I had never even left.
WE...
watched the BACHELOR every Monday night
Went out to eat A LOT!
Stayed up WAY TOO LATE so many nights!
LaUgHeD uNcOnTrOlLaBlY!
Had a Welcome Home party for Ry guy
Went to the movies!
Went to the mall! Shopped til we dropped!
Played pranks on each other!
Drove around with music way too loud like High School!
And it was ALL fun just because I was with my friends!

Movie Night! The Lovely Bones (even thought Stef and I ended up with our eyes closed more then open! Way too scary for us!)
"Wammer" and my "baby Jenny!" I can ALWAYS count on Kami for a blast! She has a contagious spirit and can make anyone laugh. Jen has the biggest heart of anyone I know. She would drop anything to be there for you. She had so many terrible things happen to her while I was at home but you would have never known because she wanted the focus to be on me. She always makes me feel special and I want to be as sweet as her!
My girl Caitlin!! First off she decorated my room when I came home!! Tons of balloons, posters, and candy!! She is always so excited for things that happen to Ryan and me. She is so much fun to be around, reliable, BEAUTIFUL and well just a very special girl!! She always gives me the 411 of what's going on at home and makes me feel like I am right around the corner. I love her and she will ALWAYS be my Best Friend! No matter what I always have fun with Cait! She's the one I call when I feel like doing something really sporadic...like a random trip to St. George just me and her!

Mommy-Daughter lunch! Stef, Caitlin and I had a Best friend lunch and wanted our moms to come along! Of course we went to Happy Sumo and it was yes...of course DELICIOUS and a BLAST! We also were SO happy to have my wonderful sister Kim and Baby Benton along for the lunch! It's perfect to have her in this picture because well...she is my Best Friend too! She will sit on Skype and talk to me for at least an hour everyday and she helps to make me not feel homesick. She helps me think of things to do with my time and will even workout over skype with me! Also it's perfect to have my gorgeous mom in this picture because she is DEFINITELY a best friend too. She is always fun to be around, is the most charitable person I know and I wouldn't trade her for anything! I also need to give a shout out to my sister Danielle! I love her so much and she is an amazing person. Always kind, sweet, hardworking and well just special! Love you mom and sisters!
BFF'S FOR LIFE!! I would do anything for these two. And in return I know they would do anything for me! (And Paislee of course!!)
TEPANYAKI!!!! Caitlin, Stef, Jen, Bre, Kinsley and me.
Bre is VERY hard working. She never complains about things that are happening to her and she makes people drawn to her. She has a sweet spirit about her and also is my little Hip Hop buddy! Kinsley is loud, funny, crazy and such a blast to be around! She is such a cute little housewife and an AWESOME hairstylist! She is the life of the party and can bring fun to anything! I love Crazy Kins!
Ryan's Welcome Home Party! I have the most supportive friends and I am so grateful that not only do I get along with all of them but also Ryan loves all my friends! Makes things much easier!
Ryan with some of his friends that came to the party!
Lauren and me! She is such a great friend and I am so happy we've been friends for so so so many years!
Cafe Rio Girl's lunch! Lauren, me, Jordan, Jen and Caitlin. Each of these girls have the craziest/busiest schedules between Full-time work, school, boyfriends etc. and they found time in order to go with me to Cafe Rio for the first time since I had been home. It was so YUMMY and of course the company was perfect! I've talked about everyone but Jordan in this picture. This girl is INCREDIBLE! She is in nursing school and working nonstop! She is an amazing person and is more driven then anyone I know. She is supportive, fun, beautiful, happy, dedicated and welp...a GREAT FRIEND!
And last but NOT LEAST! My girl Stef! Not only is she the Best Friend in the world, she is also the greatest little mommy! I call her nonstop from Turkey and she is never annoyed or too busy to talk to me. I can tell her anything and know that I can trust her with everything. She is a great example to me of a great marriage and how to "someday" be a great mommy. She cares more about others then herself and would do anything to make someone else happy. She is the cutest little dresser and Interior Designer. She is the QuEeN of creative crafts and they are all amazing! I hope to grow up and be like Stef!

Well, I know this is long but it is just something that can't be short! I am grateful for my friends and I would do anything for them. I hope they know how much they mean to me and again I am so happy that they haven't forgotten about me thousands of miles away in TURKEY!



Christmas bells are ringing...


Christmas may not be the exact same in Turkey...but it was still a perfect Christmas! I couldn't have been more happy that my family came to spend Christmas with us. It definitely would have been a weird Christmas with just the two of us! We kept traditions alive AND started new ones!
The Traditions begin...
Christmas Eve
Tradition #1 See a movie on Christmas Eve. We saw Avatar! LOVED IT!
Does anyone know where we can buy a pair of these glasses? We make these glasses look good! Just kidding.
Tradition #2 Draw names for a gift exchange. But the difference this year is we did white elephant gifts and had a 5 lira limit! As you can see above you can purchase a lot here with 5 lira (about $3.50USD). We had 15 minutes to separate in the mall and find our gifts. Then we met back in the food court and exchanged our gifts!
I bought my dad a Mars Bar, slippers and clothes pins (inside joke).
My dad randomly bought my mom a lamb?
Alycia bought Cody slippers, water, and Haribo candy!
Ryan bought Alycia a little Christmas ornament the says "Tessuker" which means Thank you! That was a word she practiced the entire trip!
Mom bought Ryan his favorite crackers, cookies and slippers! He didn't think this was very white elephant because he loved all the gifts! He ate the food that night and still to this day is obsessed with his house slippers!
Cody bought me stickers! They were Turkish flags and the "All seeing eye"
And I didn't get any pictures for some reason but for our Christmas PJ's my parents bought us all Karsiyaka Tshirts and sweats! Memorabilia and Tshirts all in one.

Then came Christmas Day!


My mom bought us these adorable aprons! They make me want to cook more just so I can put it on.
Tradition #3 EAT!
We rode the ferry across the bay to go to the Swissotel for an amazing Christmas Brunch!
The Abney's came with us! They are the Humanitarian missionaries here in Turkey and they are my parents away from home. We loved having them along for Christmas day. The food was INCREDIBLE! We're talking anything you can imagine. The traditional Turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, vegetables, gravy etc. OR there were crepes, pancakes, waffles, fruit galore, a huge salad bar, a whole wall of breads to choose from, any fish you want cooked Tepanyaki style, desserts, desserts and more desserts AND a "cold stone" ice cream stand where you can choose ice creams and toppings and they mixed them all together. I don't know why I didn't take pictures of the food! Can you tell I had pretty much died and gone to Heaven? It was so much fun to have amazing food and of course the cherry on top was having my family in town for Christmas!! What a blast and a Christmas to remember!

Road Trip


When my family came to Turkey to visit we took a little road trip! Ryan had an away game in a place called Antalya so we decided to go on a little adventure for a few days. We started off in Izmir and went to Ephesus. We then drove from Ephesus to a little place called Dalyan. Spent the night and drove to Antalya the next morning. It ended up being about a 6 hour drive total but it was fun from beginning to end!


The "Nike!" supposedly this is where the symbol of Nike came from. Who knows if it's true but supposedly the Goddess would take off and fly like a "swoosh!"
Sitting on the pot! Guess back then there wasn't much privacy!
Leaving a wish on the wall
The Virgin Mary's house
Laying on the incredibly sandy beach!

Dinner in Antalya

It was so much fun to have Cody and Alycia come to Turkey. They were so adventurous and excited to see everything! They made everything even more fun!
The Bizarre in Antalya
After Ryan's game!


Our driver took us by his sisters house on the way home and she gave us honey from her bees!

Eating lunch at our driver's wife's restaurant. AMAZING food!
It was such a fun road trip and I saw so many new things I haven't seen yet living here in Turkey! Thanks for the fun trip mom and dad!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Istanbul

It all started when my family came to Turkey. They came to visit us for Christmas and we had so much fun! We were really busy going on different adventures attempting to see all of Turkey! The last few days of the vacation we went to Istanbul. It was INCREDIBLE!
Inside the Blue Mosque
My mom was begging me to purchase this hat...I went with a NO! I already stand out too much here in Turkey anyway. This is outside the Haghia Sophia
Outside of the Blue Mosque with the party animals themselves!
Inside the cistern...what used to be the main water source for Istanbul


At the Istanbul Bizarre!
The scarf man was a crack up! Anything we would put on he would say it was made specifically for us...what a "shmoozer!" But...we totally fell for his selling tactic!

Our new hats! I love these hats that my dad bought us in Istanbul! Not only did they keep us warm but they're also very cute!
Thanks for the fun trip to Istanbul mom and dad! I had so much fun and want to do it again. That is whenever you want to make the 24 hour trip back! Love you!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

When My Family Came to Turkey

We had visitors! My parents, along with my brother and sister in law came to visit us in Turkey for Christmas! It was so much fun! We traveled around, made lots of memories, laughed a lot, ate a lot, watched Basketball and I taught my family some Turkish. I have so many pictures and so many things to post but it will have to wait a couple days. That will be quite a task and I am enjoying my visit back to Utah for the month! Thank you family for coming to visit us! It was so nice to see you and celebrate Christmas with you.
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