While we were gone

Our prayers were answered and the kids were safe and well looked after while we were gone.  Krystal did a great job getting them here and there, and they got a long with her well too, bonus! My sister Karli Sue also had her baby while we were gone, but she is in Ohio so I can't even hold her! :( Here are a few email snippets of what the kids sent us while we were gone.

October 16th

Hi mommy and daddy I miss you already! I hope you have a super fun time! This week had been soooo long. Anticipating this trip and fall break. But its finally here. I slept in until 10:53 A.M.! I am going to have Ami over today I think I'm so sad you can meet her yet. But it sounds like you are having a great time soooo... Luv you soo much!
❤/: Savvy
P.S. we got BOOd last night so we are thinking peanut butter cookies and apple bread!
❤/: Savvy

 

mommy daddy! I hope you have a great anniversary and I know it is probably like eight right now for you, but I love you soooo much! those pictures are so cool i like the one with all the purple flowers in it! I slept into 9 o clock. Happy anniversary I love you soo much! here is what Weston has to say

HI i love you so much! I miss you too! I hope you have a fun time on your trip! tell dad I said hi.

Weston obviously has not much to say. Okay I love you have a fun time! I miss you alsot!

Fiora

 

yeah, everything is going good! i will let weston know this and enjoy the rest of your time there.

Krystal

 

October 17th

Sorry if I woke you up but I couldn't wait to show you this: 

 

Believe it or not thoes are my real eyelashes but I was wearing fake ones before only I took the off because they were very irritating. Holly cames over and we had a photo shoot she did our hair and make up for it fiora looked Gorgeous!! When you get back we will show you every thing. Sophie was totally into it! She is such a super model! She wore the old wedding dress that we still have in our costume closet and it fit PERFECTLY!! She was sooo cute! Right now I am in your bathroom I don't know why. 😜 Well get back to sleep. Love you lots
❤/: Savvy
  Oh and you and Wendy look soo cute!!! 😊😊☺☺😉😄😃😘😘😘😘
  ❤/: Savvy
 

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! So yesterday ami and I went to the movies and watched meet the Mormons again because she hadn't seen it. That's okay though I LLLUUUVVV that movie and I wanted to go again. Oh and yesterday we BOOd the Chattertons and the Mosures. Don't worry I'll get caught up on my math eventually. Besides it goes on term two so my grade will be what it is right now probably. Anyway... I think that me, ami and Aislyn are probably going to Swig today. At least ami invited us yesterday. Well those pictures are waaayyy cute and fiora just about died of a heart attack when she saw that cute kitty! 😂I hope you continue two have a great time and that your digestion problems don't get any worse! Love you guys ssoooooxsxosoosoxoxo much!!!!!!
❤/: Savvy

 

KITTIES!!!!! That looks like an egyptian mau cat... or it could be a manx! if you got a stand up piture of one, i bet I could decipher it better because manx have no tail. That is such a cool picture of you and dad on that rock!! and the ship looks like a movie ship! I hope you are feeling okay, I haven't either, but its all good. GO AWAY BREAD!!! I did see weston practicing yesterday, but not today, he is still asleep! (LOL oh israel) Last night we did take the garbages to the road, but the rewcycling bin was overflowing, and I didn't want the garbage dude to put boxes in the garbage... So i was in a conundrum. We didn't, but the garbage was taken out.
On wednesday we got boooed, where someone secretly gives you a treat, and you have to give someone some treats. We made on bakes with candy corn, because we got a bag of candy corn when we got booed.

Well I hope you have a great time with you arabian familis! be safe!!!!

Fiora

 

MOmmy i love you tooo much don't leave! hehehe I thihnk I did good on my math test yesterday. I love you very very much. I will email you even more tomorrow.

Fiora

 

October 18

 

Wat da heack!!!!! Is that even a real camel? Das sooo cool!

DAD DON'T EVEN FALL OFF OF THAT CLEEF! YOU ARE A CRAZY MAN! Sooo I confirmed with Ashlyn that I was coming to temple yesterday and that I would be waiting at 5:30 A.M. just like we planed. Only guess what at 1:33A.M. She texted me back and told me to be waiting at 5 sharp.only I didn't even get that text until I woke up at 5:15 A.M. I thought for sure that they had come and gone but I waited a while at the window but around 5:25 texted her and asked her if they had left without me. This is what she said: 

     I'm running really late and just can't come pick u up plus I don't feel good. But I will take you some other time I promise!

So there I am in my dress al ready to go at 5;30 A.M. and she canceled on me. Then I tried to go back to sleep but couldn't so I did my nails and watched a movie until Krystal came down and got Wes for gym. Then I went upstairs and crashed in your bed until 11:43 A.M. I am still quite disappointed that I couldn't go but I guess that's life. But it looks like you guys are having a great time so continue.😁 OH!!!!!! AND KATY SUE WAS BORN TODAY 1:31 A.M. weighing at 7 pounds. HOORAY! Tell mom if she doesn't already know! Love you so much and have a keep on having a GREAT time! 

❤/: Savvy

 

Oct 19

Mom I'm so so sorry you don't feel good! Please be careful I want you to enjoy your trip! You only have 7 more days! We all love Krystal she's doing a wonderful job here! Please feel better. I am so sorry that happened. I love you and miss you soooooooooooo much!

❤/: Savvy

PS oh and that prayer thing would just be so irritating. I probably would have been ready to rip my hair out!!!

that is all i have to say. Im so sorry mom! I wish I could come and give you hugs and cuddles. How are dad? That is funny you usually don't see many pictures of Jesus in big cities.   Happy days, will come as well.... I think that is how it goes. I have that song stuck in my head to make up for no choir! raoar! well i love you and hope you feel better completely!

Fiora

 

yum pomegranate juice? You don't have to get me any souveniers if you get me one of those cats! I cant believe you guys saw a camel  (well I guess i can It was just unexpected {actually it is not unexpected[Ill just stop taliking now[}) now i want pomegranates! Katy sue is here! if you are not getting the texts, but I doubt you can get the texts from jerusalem! I am sooo excited! we have been doing pretty good with the cooking, but today i made myself some eggs, and I accidentally poured WAY too much bacon on it.

 Fiora

Katy Sue born Oct 18th 2014 daughter of Grant and Karli Sue

 

 

SHWARMA!! meow. So pretty i like that house place. youre singing is so great. Also um last might I had a horrible night, cause i felt like I kept hearing my name so I sang a primary song, but I fell back asleep, and then i woke up again,, and my finger was losing circulation, and so I felt it, and one of my rubber bands was on my finger, and so I wasn't thinking straight and dropped it, and then I felt in my mouth, and only one of my rubber bands were in there and i am like oh no! I dropped it! so I had to go all the way upstairs and got another one, and it was so weird, because either my ears were ringing, because I kept hearing fi, fi, fi, fi, fi, until i fell asleep again. It is so funny though, because Krystal found out that the vent in her bathroom led to the vent in our bathroom, so she was like "Hellooooooo? Anybody therrrrrreeeeee????" It was sooo funny lololololol! Krystal is awesome, yestereday we played ultimate spoons in our backyard, and Weston was climbing on the basketball hoop, and he went to the hoop and he hung on the hoop and the thing started wobbling, and i am like weston! and he jumped off and I yelled at him because I tought he was going to die. And hes all acting like nothing scary happened, hes just like jeesh, and so I stormed inside. Well here is what weston has to say:

I already saw that, Savanna showed it to me, I have already seen the pictures, I already know thats schrorma,

ok... well love you bye bye have fun be safe and feel good!

Fiora

Shwarma. Ha! You are totally rockin that scarf mom! 😉
❤/: Savvy

 

Oct 20

waoh! that is sooo coool! also that is weird looking bread. Is it really bread? or does it have the bad case of measles? That is an OOOLLLLD tree! woah woah woah woah you and dad have fun now oaky? love you!

Fiora

 

whoa, nice tree. Yeah, the kids are doing good, it was tough on the first day Weston was crying cause savanana took the I pad, but right now they are doing good. and i should of asked you where you go for sunday school yesterday cause i didn't know where to go after sacrament meeting, whoops, i just sat in the foyer and read Esther, haha! but releife soceity made me feel welcome, so that's all good.  

Krystal

 

they look like israel people! lololoz dad what is that you are drinking? I want to wear their hats. I hope you guys are safe and have fun! Fiora

I hope you are okay mom. This issue with the pizza reminds me of a ninja turtle episode I watched when Mikey had a dream that the pizza got mutated, and was controlling all the people like they were zombies. Also, I like the pictures you guys took-they look awesome! 

      Well, I love you! Bye!
-Weston

Oct 21

I am having a really hard time with homework and school today. I wish you were here to help me. I want you to scratch my back and tell me its okay. I miss you a lot and I'm really mad that the break is over. I still have two assignments to get done by tomorrow. Its so hard to be motivated when your teachers give you homework over the break and I'm really stressed out. I just want to go to bed. 😞😣😢 I neeeed yooouu. Saturday is taking to long to get here and I'm just wasting time writing this. I need a tissue.... 

Okay I guess I'll just try my best to get everything done. But I miss you guys. Please hurry . Well don't hurry just I WANT TO GO TO BED BUT I CAN'T! I need help! 😫

❤/: Savvy

 

I did a miranda sings make up tutorial with Aislyn to day and eyeliner is REALLY frustrating to get off! I need you. 😩
❤/: Savvy

 

So right now it is  11:24 pm and it is really freaking me out because I can't sleep and I have to wake up at 6:00 am tomorrow so that I can shower, get dressed, blow dry my hair, say my morning prayers, eat breakfast, do my make up, pack my bag, double space my report, get my play review signed, get my practice record signed, and walk to school. I am having an anxiety attack. WHY WON'T MY BODY JUST SHUT DOWN AND GO TO SLEEP!?! Mommy. 😫 😤 😖 😴 👿 💤💤💤💤💤 Hope your having fun and I don't mean to make you sad but thres no one else to talk to let alone at 11:33 pm. I so mad. 

12:04 am. Still no luck. Switching locations. Heading to the couch. 😒
❤/: Savvy

I just axidenally woke up Fiora and I'm really worried she won't get back to sleep. The sad thing is that I really enjoyed my lat day of fall break but now it is officially over and I cannot sleep. This is really scary I never tayd up this late on a school night in my entire life and I'm really freaking out! 12:16 am.

 #anxietyattack/needmymommy
❤/: Savvy

hi mom today is the first day of school since fall break. I miss you so much, you have been gone for almost a week. I hope you are having fun. I really like all of your pictures.  Um jordan said that she is having a party this saturday, but aren't we going to be at the halloween party at jesses? Well I love you and hope you have a fun rest of the trip, I apologize for those weiredo foreign doctors. I hope you feel better. thanks mom, it kinda stinks though cause I also missed Norahs party, but I want to go to the family party better. I miss you more than you think. Love you
Fiora

 

Oct 22

thanks mom I um.. was going to um, clean my room, bu;t i will do it today don't worry! On monday we went to kneaders instead of saturday, to like celebrate for weston being able to eat sugar and stuff again. It was really good, BUt something weird, my uh, #2 has been really smelly scince last week, and I can't get much out sometimes. well that all sounds really exciting, i want to see that place now. Love you!

Fiora

Oct 23

So tonight was also really hard because I managed to get the assignments done last night and this morning but I was so way late to school, I stepped into class right when the bell rang. And guess what? My locker is broken AGAIN! Arrg! I accidentally slept through my alarm this morning and woke up at 6:40 instead of six but I HAD to shower so I took a 5 min shower. Very unpleasant. Ate half of breakfast barely double spaced my report on time (first I had to figure out how) and then did the fastest hair drying EVER. Then I forgot my lunch so had to get out of the car and go grab it. Yes I had to pay for a ride even though this was totally an appropriate situation for an excuse. I didn't fall asleep until one. 😩 So guess what you know that report I worked so hard on? Well I didn't have her class today and right after school she was in the LOCKED auditorium for play practice. So I got home and decided to scan it into the computer...

Me and Krystal were sitting there for two hours trying to figure out how to email it. We never did. So now I am having another anxiety attack. I worked so hard on writing that STUPID IDIOT FACE review!!!!!!! 😤😡 I cannot believe this is happening to me. You totally could have helped me scan it in. I never knew how hard school is without you solving my technical difficulties. I am so sorry for ever not showing gratitude toward you. Lunches have been a nightmare because I have two stop my perfect morning routine to help Krystal figure out how to pack them and show her where to put things. I'm really stressed out. I am not ready for this! 

     On a happier note, I ran 20 laps in PE today! MY PERSONAL BEST! And Krystal choreographed a dance to Chandelier that we did. I was way fun. Also I walked home the EXTRA long way because Ami walked to her sisters house which is down by Lindon Ele. Then I walk home from there taking the road by Aislyns house because that's the only way I knew. So don't worry if gotten plenty of exercise and I hate it because I literally have gained the 5 pounds that I've lost BACK  without you here to motivate me! 😤 Its made me feel really self conscious. Well I guess that is all. So I love you guys and hope your having fun. 

❤/: Savvy

 

Oct 24

that sounds great! I am glad you are coming home soon, but im sorry you will have to leave soon. STRAIGHT A's to get into byu? darn. not even an a-? weston is at piano lessons right now, we will show this to him soon. I love you.

that looks soo fun! I hope otu are okay on your LONGGGGGG airplane ride. you can rest from all of that walking and hiking you did!

Fiora

Here are some pictures from their photo shoot with Holly in our back yard:

Trip to Israel

Jared and I returned from our tour of Jerusalem and the surrounding area yesterday. We had a wonderful time, everything went smoothly except for a pancreatitis flare up for me and a 2 hour flight delay on the way home, we learned a lot and felt and were quite safe. I'm going to have to outline this day by day. It will be long, so I'd better get to it.

Oct 15th
Departed at 5:30 am and traveled for 23 hours, 3 flights and a bus ride. That took care of this day! There is a 9 hour time difference, so we ended up getting there on on Oct 16th around 4:00 in the afternoon. Our backs and bottoms hurt and sleep was broken up, but we were excited to arrive.

Oct 16th
We stayed at a lovely place called the "House of Mary" located on the top of the Mount of the Beatitudes. It was so peaceful there, there is a little church called the Church of the Beatitudes right next to the hotel and a very well kept garden around the grounds. We saw lots of date trees and banana trees and cacti, and lots of olive trees!  It was our 15th anniversary this day, we didn't do much but walk the grounds and enjoy the venue as we were all recovering from the traveling and jet lag, and they served us a nice dinner at 7:00.  I didn't know what to expect by way of food, so when the soup came out I inhaled it and had some pita bread too, not knowing that there were 4 more courses coming! Cucumber and tomato salad, spicy pasta, steamed veggies, and cube steak was served to us the first night, with fresh dates and pears off the tree. They eat a lot of bread there! Pita for every meal. Bread is on my NO list, but I was really hoping my body would be able to just eat what was served me for a week so I could 1. have the cultural experience of tasting all the food and 2. keep myself fueled so I didn't have a low blood sugar energy crisis, and 3. I only thought it would make me bloated or have the runs or something. I'll get back to that issue.
Just a few general notes: Jerusalem and my hair did not get along, it was either frizzy or completely flat the entire time, and looked awful, and I didn't take any make up so I don't look that great in any of the pictures. Gary Gillespie is our group leader, you'll hear lots about him. There were 26 total people in our group, and we spent the evening getting acquainted. Jared and I were the youngest by far of all the couples, but everyone was very friendly and we all got along well. Interestingly enough, a doctor who works in my office building and who refers clients to me, Steve Cherington and his wife, were with us. Felt a little strange to be on vacation with the doctor. Our Israeli tour guide was named Hasan, I liked him best of the three native escorts we had on the trip, he was very knowledgeable about everything and also very friendly, Jared picked his brain a lot. Chris and Wendy Heim, our friends in our ward who told us about this trip were with us a lot and it was super fun to have their company. Each place we stayed in had WiFi so in the evenings we would email the kids and post a few pictures on facebook, which was nice.

Oct 17th
Lots on the agenda today. We got up at 6:00 to watch the sunrise over the sea of Galilee and Gary played his harmonica while we waited and told us stories about his past trips to the holy land. Breakfast was glorious, they had a huge spread of olives, oil and spices, veggies, eggs, tuna, hyssop sesame spread, dates, lots of bread, pastries and assorted cheeses. We went to the church of St Peter's Primacy first, the traditional location of where Jesus asked Peter 3 times "lovest thou me?" It was located on the shore of the sea so we dipped our feet in, so warm you could swim in it. Where ever there is a spot where it is traditionally believed that something significant Jesus did happened there, people build a church on it. The only exception to that was the garden tomb, which ended up being everyone's favorite spot because they left it in its original condition! We next went to the church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes, this was neat because it was one of the few churches that still had the original Byzantine structure and mosaics (400 AD). Jared let me buy some fresh squeezed pomegranate juice, they had that all over the place, yum! We stopped by Capernaum and saw the ruins of the synagogue there, and the funny octogonal church they built over top of the traditional site of the home of Simon Peter. Then drove an hour north and visited Ceasarea Philippi, where anciently people traveled to worship pagan gods, and where the source of the Jordan river springs; it was here that Jesus asked his disciples "Whom do people say that I am?" The highlight of the day was lunch, Gary arranged for us to have lunch with an Arab Christian family in a small village called Ellabun, and they fed us home made native Israeli food. Flat bread with hyssop sesame, leaves wrapped around rice, cucumbers and tomatoes, radishes, tomato wheat pasta, pickles, olives, grapes and apples, and pita of course. It was divine, and the family was so cute. We rushed after lunch to Kabbut (Hebrew word meaning shared common goods community) and took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. Gary read scriptures to us and we sang "Master the Tempest is Raging" and saw all the cities along the sea. We stopped in the gift shop and I had to pay for a toilet twice because my bowels started to revolt on me, I was just glad it didn't happen on the boat and thought that was the price I'd be paying for the diet change. If only it were.

 

 

Oct 18th
Didn't feel well in the morning, my bowels were on fire, but there was a lot on the itinerary so it was up and at 'em! Traveled to Mt Tabor, traditional sight of the transfiguration of Christ, whereon they build a church of the Transfiguration. It was beautiful up there, we had to bus to get to the top, and the grounds were so pretty and the church beautiful. I felt really happy and grateful up there. They had another stand for pomegranate juice and had a funny sign underneath explaining that it will cure what ails you, I was hoping it would cure my gut! The sign lied.
We next went into Nazareth and saw the church of the Annunciation and the church of St Joseph. Nazareth was quite a big city, it was hard to imagine it as a small obscure village of the Savior's time. Lots of trash all over the place, people just dump their garbage anywhere over there. Sad. We had lunch at a nice restaurant in Nazareth, another 5 course meal that I didn't know was going to be a 5 course meal because there are no menus, you just sit and they bring stuff out one course at a time. apparently the spaghetti was the appetizer, but I thought it was the main course and ate it, pasta is definitely on my NO list, had I realized that cole slaw, potatoes and roast beef were coming I would have refrained. I was SO bloated afterwards.
On our way out of Nazareth we went to the top of Mount Precipice (traditional spot where they tried to push Jesus off the cliff) and saw a nice view of mount Tabor where we just were. We tried to stop at Bethabara (traditional spot on the Jordan river where the Savior was baptized) but we were 5 minutes too late, they had already closed the site. So we drove to Jericho and saw the Mount of Temptation and the monastery built into the mountain there. Jared and I saw our first up close camel, and bought our first souvenir there, a traditional male Arab head covering. The vendors were pretty assertive there.
We next traveled to Jerusalem and walked in the dark through the busy market place (the suq) to get to our hotel in the old city. We stayed in the Armenian Guest House, not nearly as nice as the House of Mary, we passed some armed police guards who are stationed right at the corner and felt a little unnerved. We later learned they are pretty laid back, and Jared eventually asked to have a picture taken with them. At the guest house we had to share a bathroom with two older ladies in our group, and we had no ventilation in the room, and no soap, no drinkable water, and our room was right above the loud city street and right next to the "call to prayer" speakers. The Islam religion calls their followers to prayer with a very loud odd sounding "song" that lasts about 20 minutes and goes off 5 times a day, one of those being 4:30 in the morning. Good bye 5 course meals and beautiful breakfast spreads! This evening we were served pizza for dinner, 1 step above a freezer pizza, and that was it. But it was all part of the experience!  That pizza was the straw that broke the camels back for my digestive system.

 

Oct 19th
Woke up in the middle of the night with severe pain in my bowels, level 10 pain, crawled to the bathroom seeing if I needed to go but that didn't' help, got stuck in the bathroom and couldn't move due to pain, and the lady sharing a bathroom with us (Suann) found me on the floor and woke Jared up. I managed to get to bed but was whimpering and couldn't breathe and Jared woke up Chris Heim to help him give me a blessing, so Wendy Heim and her mom Deann woke up too, and everyone was trying to think what they could do for me in the middle of the night int he middle of a foreign country. My insides were seizing and clenching, I started sweating then shaking because of the pain, so the ladies heated up a towel for me to put on my stomach and after some time I started to calm down and told them to go to bed. I thought it was the end, but Jared blessed me to be patient and it would pass, so I waited and prayed and fell in and out of consciousness as I experienced the mother of all painful pancreatitis flare ups.
I got up at 6:00 and got dressed pain or no pain, there was no way I was going to miss a minute of my Jerusalem experience. Everyone could tell at breakfast that I was sick, I was hunched over and pale, all I could manage to eat was pomegranate juice. I had to tell Gary that I had some diet restrictions, and he was quite put out that I didn't let him know from the start, and I felt ashamed for not following what I had learned and what the Lord had directed me to eat to keep my body healthy, I should have trusted Him to provide food for me that I could eat and stuck to my food standards. Lest anyone should ever feel that my no sugar, no bread, no dairy diet is because I'm a crazy extremest and my body should be able to handle it, this experience proved once and for all that something is seriously wrong with me and it is a real danger for my organs to eat simple/refined carbs, and I will never forget that when I tried to eat "normal" for 3 days I suffered for it for a week. People in the group were so kind and caring, everyone offered me fruit whenever they had extra so I always had something to eat.
We visited the Western Wall this morning and went through a big security check to get to the Temple Mount, the Arabs have laid claim to the site of the temple, they don't allow Jews there, so eht Jews pray at the wailing wall or western wall of the temple, considered by the Jews the closest to God they can get. They go there to pray and stick papers in the wall with prayers written on them. I found a paper on the ground that said "keep smiling" so I tried to put a smile on my face despite the pain. The Dome of the Rock and the Islamic synagogue on the temple mount looked interesting but we weren't allowed in there. What a HUGE area the temple mount includes! We took a nice group picture in front of the Dome.  There are lots of wild cats all over the old city and Jared and I would take pictures of cats to show Fiora who loves cats.
We next visited the church of St. Anne, traditional spot where Mary was born, and the priest there let us sing hymns inside, which was very spiritually uplifting and my pain subsided somewhat, and then I waddled painfully along the Via Dolorosa (way of sorrows) where it is traditionally believed the Savior carried the cross and fell. We were making our way to The church of the Holy Sepulcher but I had to go to the guesthouse and lay down before we got there. Jared took me to it later. It is a church built over the stone slab where Jesus was taken down from the cross, but it was dark and opulent and too many people were there. We spent the rest of the day walking around the Suq and making a few purchases. I didn't go to dinner this night, it was better than pizza--shawarma which Jared tried to get me to eat some of, I just ate almonds and juice, trying to let my gut heal. After dinner, Jared went to "Jimmy's bazaar" with the rest of the group and saw all Jimmy's olive wood he makes especially catered for LDS customers. He actually drove in a van through the Suq to get there, and it was quite the scary ride! Jared bought a liahona and consecrated oil containers and a small nativity music box.

Oct 20th
Jared would get up in the morning early and take a walk with Gary around the Suq and buy Ka'ak, a weird oval shaped bread. The breakfasts at the guesthouse had much to be desired, hummus, tomatoes, boiled eggs, and pita, every morning! So Gary liked to buy us all ka'ak and hyssop.  I ate an egg. This morning we walked to the Garden Tomb. I loved it there, so did Jared.  The only place that didn't have a big church build over top of the site, it was left in its original condition or as near as they could get it, and it was owned by British Christians, so the grounds were neat and beautiful and the tour guides very educational. We saw "the place of teh skull" next to the tomb where they believe Jesus was crucified, and then we got to walk in the tomb and Gary played "how great thou art" on his harmonica. My pain level was down to a 4 so I was able to appreciate and feel the spirit there.
We then walked past the Wailing Wall again and made our way to Caiaphas palace, turned into a church, the traditional site where Jesus was condemned to death and Peter denied knowing Jesus, and saw some dungeons in there and lots of mosaics. I wouldn't have wanted to be a prisoner in those days! Most of the houses they lived in were built out of earth and stone and didn't look very cozy, but the dungeons were even colder and stonier and way down in the earth.
We walked from there to the City of David, passing Absolom's tomb and the Eastern or Golden Gates (where the Savior rode in the city on the donkey, triumphal entry, where it's believed Christ will enter during the second coming) on the way, and everyone grabbed a sandwich in the convenience store there. I ate almonds and tried not to look as miserable as I felt, I was totally out of balance what with practically fasting and being in pain so much for 2 days, it was very hard for me to keep smiling while everyone around me ate their bread and ice cream. Once we got into Hezekiah's tunnel though I came alive again. We actually got to walk inside the mile long water tunnel built in 2700 BC! It was so cool! The water was cool and clear, and the tunnel sometimes was so small you had to crouch and sometimes so high you couldn't see the top.  I don't know how they managed to dig all that stone out of the ground! We wore shorts and head lamps and it was a little claustrophobic but a lot of fun.
After that we trudged over to the Garden of Gethsemane which is next to the Church of All Nations (supposedly built over THE rock where Jesus prayed and atoned for all humankind). There were 2000 year old olive trees in the garden, thick and gnarly, and really beautiful. My pain level was about an 8 while we were there so I felt much empathy for the Savior who suffered unimaginable pain for all of us as I walked around the grounds. Gary took us to a secluded olive grove and read scriptures to us and thanked us for being good people who don't ruin the spirit of our tour, I made a pledge right there to have more positive thoughts so I didn't become that one person whose spirit is negative. After all, pain or no pain, I was so grateful to be there.
Jared took me to a restaurant in the Suq that looked like it was carved out of stone, and we bought falafels (fried chickpeas and veggies in a pita). I only ate the chickpea and veggies, and it was good but still made me feel a bit bloated. Jared let me buy some scarfs for myself and the girls, nearly all the women wore scarfs there, they are required to cover their hair, only their husbands get to see their hair. I wanted to go to the guest house and rest but Jared wanted to keep exploring, so he walked around the old city and the suq for another couple hours. He is strong and wanted to take advantage of every minute there, he took more pictures and video that I did, and he ate everything I couldn't. What a marvelous creation he is.

 

 

Oct 21st
We boarded the bus about 8:30 and traveled to Bet Sahur (the shepherds fields next to Bethlehem) and visited the Church of the Angels there. I liked that church, it was small, tent shaped, had white angles all around the chapel and paintings instead of mosaics. There was a small ground of young girls in the church, probably on a school trip, and Gary had us sing "I am a Child of God" to them, then they sang a song in Hebrew or Arabic not sure which, to us. Precious! We sat in a shepperds grotto and read scriptures and sang Christmas hymns. There was an olive wood shop near the shepherds fields where we were all offered a group discount, 40% of everything, so Jared and I did most of our souvenir shopping there.  Then we traveled into Bethlehem and visited the Church of the Nativity--supposedly the cave stable where Mary gave birth to Jesus, and the most holy place in all of Europe. There were trillions of people there, we waited ina  huge line for 1 1.2 hours to see the dark, semi covered with red cloth, candle and incense strewn cave. Lame! Why couldn't they just let it look as it would have at the time? It's covered with an enormous church, the floor of which was covered with trillions of mosaics, which was quite amazing, but it was all being renovated so everything was covered with scaffolding. Least favorite church. We walked the shops of Bethlehem for a while and Gary brought everyone pita, I wonder if people were getting sick of pita by then? I bought some corn from a street vendor.
We boarded the bus and traveled back to Jerusalem and visited the Holocaust museum there. It was a very large and well kept place, but I thought the museum in DC was better. I only got one picture of the group waiting for everyone to exit at the end. We ate a nice lunch there, stuffed peppers and vegetables. We got back to the Damascus gate (gate in the old city wall where we enter to get to our guest house) about 5:15 but Jared was not about to go inside that early, so I reluctantly followed him around the Suq for a while, trying to find the entrance to the ramparts walk, but it was closed, so Jared went with Chris to "people watch" at the western wall while Wendy and I went back to the guest house. Jared met a Hasidic Jew there, originally from New Jersey but lived 30 years in Jerusalem, who was happy and willing to have a conversation with him. Jared loves to talk to people and learn about their way of living! It was probably his favorite part of the day.
After our shawarma dinner again, we went next door to a much nicer hotel the Austrian Hospice and found a veranda where we could play cards with Brad and Shawna Fairchild and the Heims. It was fun, Brad pulled out some Israeli nut roll they all shared but me and we played Phase Ten in the dark in the old city of Jerusalem. My favorite part of the day!

 

Oct 22nd
Our last day in Jerusalem was on the Mount of Olives. We went to a hospital with a 800 olive tree orchard and helped harvest the olives, as all proceeds of olive oil sales go to benefit the hospital.I was feeling much better this day and being in the olive tree grove raking olives off the tree in the morning high above the old city was a choice experience! I got very dirty climbing trees and kneeling in the dirt to gather olives and remove twigs and branches from the harvest. How fun, to be able to do what people have been doing there for centuries, what a beautiful morning. We bought some oil there, cold pressed straight from their trees, I wish I could have bought more.
We stopped at the BYU Jerusalem center next and toured there and heard an organ concert. What a great facility! I wish my kids could all spend a semester studying there. We went to the Church of Lamentation next, church built over the spot where its believed Jesus sat as he looked over Jerusalem and wept over its fate. It was a tear drop church, and had a nice mosaic of a hen gathering her chicks under her wings. I liked the view from there. We walked to the Orson Hyde memorial park next and the priesthood brethren consecrated the oil people bought at the hospital. We walked down the mount and back to Jerusalem to visit the church of the cennacle, the place traditionally believed to be where the last supper was held. Then we made it in time to walk the ramparts (walk on top of the walls of the old city). That was fun to do, like castle walls.
I spent some time organizing our luggage so we could be packed and ready to go by 6:30 the next morning. We had shawarma again for dinner, and we all started joking that night about the lack of variety of the menu of the Armenian Guest house. Gary made arrangements for us to have breakfast the next morning at the White Sisters hotel, which was very nice and had a lot more variety for everyone, except me who had to stick with boiled eggs and vegetables as my body is so intolerant .

Oct 23rd
Tight schedule today, we dropped by Bethany to visit Lazarus' tomb and the Church of St. Lazarus built next to it. We had a different tour guide today, Hasan left us and Amos took his place. He was very smart as well, but liked to make sure we were all moving along rapidly so he came across as impatient. There was a real time crunch because we had to get everything done and travel to the border crossing way in the southern tip of Israel before it closed at 5:00. We stopped by Qumran and saw a video on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the community that lived in those caves by the Dead Sea, and explored the area there for a little bit. Very cool to see how they built their clay/stone homes and collected and used water in the desert.
Then we went to Masada. Jared and I didn't know much about Masada, so we were excited to learn about it. We watched a video about the Jews of 63 AD that took refuge on the plateau city Herod had built for himself in 4 BC, the Romans were conquering and enslaving all the Jews and about 1000 rebels took refuge there. When the Romans laid siege to the area and built a ramp to knock down the walls, instead of becoming slaves they chose mass suicide, so when the Romans entered the city only 1 woman and 2 children who had hid themselves were alive to tell the tale. We took a cable car to the top and Amos hurried us through the bath house, the synagogue and the food and water storage systems there. The view of the Dead Sea was very nice from up there!
We had some lunch at the cafeteria at the bottom and then the bus took us to a place we could wade in the Dead Sea. We only had 15 minutes there, but someone in our group actually got in his bathing suit and floated in the sea fully submerged! I only put my hand in, it was very oily and the salt was so strong (37% salinity) you could taste it on your hand even after you washed it off. I didn't like the feel of it. It's cool to say I have been to the lowest sea on the face of the earth. Then the 1 hour bus ride to the border, which was quite an ordeal to get us into Jordan, and the 2 hour bus ride up to Petra where we were staying for the night. We had another nice dinner there at that hotel, like a chuck arama buffet of middle eastern food--always a side of olives and cucumbers and tomatoes with every meal! The accommodations were very nice and peaceful.

Oct 24th
Wake up call was 5:20 am so we could have breakfast at 6:00 and get down to the ruins of Petra by 6:30.  We spent 6 1/2 hours hiking around the ancient city!  It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. We had a funny little Jordanian guide named Issam, very knowledgeable but expected everyone to listen to every word he said and he liked to stop at every little thing and talk for 10 minutes, the group started ditching him one by one, even Gary ditched him, and Jared and I were no different. One member of our group stuck with Issam the whole time!  After walking through a mile of gorge you come to this 300 foot towering temple cut into the red rock cliffs.  It wasn't just the one temple you see in the movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," this was a huge trading center that at its peak has 42,000 residents in the city. There was an amphitheater, gigantic tombs for the royals, small tombs for everyone else, synagogues, a columned market place, a monastery, a treasury, and homes cut into the stone all over the place. It was like walking in a gorge at Moab or the grand canyon, only seeing columns and cavities cut out of the rock.People currently live there today, in a small village just outside the area, and they sell their wares and donkey rides along the streets of Petra all day long. I'm so glad I was feeling almost 100% by this time because it was a long and hard hike to get to the huge monastery.  I was wishing for a donkey half the time, and Jared and I gave in and rented a horse ride for the last 1/2 mile hike out of the ruins, and had to tip the horse owners heavily. And when we first got to the treasury or temple there was a camel ride available so I paid 5 dollars to ride a camel for a couple minutes, now I can say I have been on a camel! We ate lunch there, but it was hard to find something without bread, I ended up spending 9 dollars on canned hummus and canned salami, with cucumbers and tomatoes. Neat experience. Jared probably would have stayed there all day, but we had to get back to the hotel and shower before 3:00, that's when we were forced to check out. So we "wasted" about 3 hours of the day wandering around the hotel waiting for dinner time. Dinner was fun, after about an hour wait  they brought out 5 different salads and then some chicken filled crepes and some lemonade with mint on top. We were trying to kill time anyway because the bus didn't leave til 8:30 to take us to the Amman airport so we could journey home.

Oct 25
Traveled by bus for 2 hours to get to the airport, then waited 2 hours for our flight to depart, then had a 5 hour flight to Paris. Waited 5 hours at the Paris airport for our 11 hour non stop flight to SLC, which was delayed by 2 hours, so total travel time was 27 hours. Not much sleeping happened. We are both still trying to recover! But so worth it. I'm amazed at all we packed in, we could have easily spent another week enjoying the sites of Israel, but it was also a relief to come home and see our kids again and get back to our routine here. I loved spending so much time thinking about the Savior's life and having an idea of where he lived and what he experienced. Jared loved the cultural experience and wished he would have studied up more on what we were going to see and do so he could appreciate it even more. I was impressed with Gary Gillespie and all the efforts he made to make our trip smooth and efficient, and his stories and insights were wonderful. I was thankful for the kind and considerate people in our group, I was asked so many times how I was feeling and was encouraged through my painful times. I'm grateful to be yoked with the Savior, even though it was hard, trusting Him helped me keep going and I feel closer to Him for not only walking where He walked but also suffering maybe a fraction of what He suffered. Jared and I are both grateful to Heavenly Father for the gift of His Son and his eternal plan of salvation.