Living it up in 'Merica...

Well...its been a while...

In my two and a half month blogging hiatus I found much to occupy my time with - exams, work, shopping for African souvenirs ( I swear I kept the vendors in business for December, I don't know who else locally would buy that stuff...certainly not us Africans!) etc etc etc.

And then mid December we ditched our regular life for a more glamorous one, boarded a massive plane and 22 hours later found ourselves 9 hours younger, jet lagged, but more importantly IN AMERICA!

It had been 4 years since my last voyage to the "land of the free and home of the brave" (although our land is free too so I think our gov'ment should learn a thing or two and come up with a cool slogan), and for J it had been 6 looooong years.  Our whole marriage,Up to the 17th of December, we've only been able to share our individual experiences of America, but now, oh brother, NOW we've got a whole shebang more memories that we BOTH have of the same place, same time, same people, same food...

Speaking of food, we were 'smart' and brought most of our souvenirs home on our bodies...Excuse me whilst I go snack on a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup...

We spent 3 glorious care free weeks soaking in all things 'Merican that we craved and missed and spent much needed quality time with my family that I have seen only a handful of times since J and I wed 4 years ago. We loved every.single.second. of every.single.day. Even the days it never reached above freezing!

So whilst it's impossible to share all the details of our brilliant American adventure, here's just a few pics of hundreds for a sneak peak of our holiday:

All thanks to a storm or two

So its been a while since the last blog post...

No apologies on my part though because I've been living life and enjoying every second of it. The past two months have been laden with exams, writing a 20+ page portfolio, proofreading, studying, callings, etc etc etc. 

Midst all these happenings we have had some SERIOUS CRAZY WEATHER in South Africa. Like America with their destructive Superstorm Sandy, we too have had our fair share of superstorms (too bad our country doesn't name them...). The non-stop rain for the past two weeks has caused floods and damage to roads all along the Eastern Cape; even several bridges have washed away. 

For example: 

Source: dispatch.co.za

Source: sawdis1.blogspot.com

Source: sabc.co.za

Poor Port Alfred and P.E...we are only a couple hours away. 

J frequently travels there for business and reality really hit home when he came home one night after a two day trip to P.E to report on just how bad the roads are. People's homes are flooded, entire roads have been closed and it is estimated to be a billion rand repair job. A billion rand is A LOT of money for our country and who knows when and how long these roads will take to be repaired. J reflected that what if we get into a situation that many more roads and bridges are washed away then trucks bringing in food and petrol won't be able to come into our town - thereby affecting us in an even greater way.

So we decided to finally do what we have been counseled to do for ages and that is prepare for emergencies/disasters etc. We have put together a 72 hour kit in case we have to grab stuff and go and made mini kits for our cars (seeing as majority of people aren't even home when disaster strikes).

At a recent Relief Society meeting we made these tins that can be used for cooking purposes or as a source of heat/light. Simply clean an empty tuna tin, insert tightly packed corrugated cardboard (pizza boxes work well), and pour over some melted candle wax - just enough to wet the cardboard. Once lit, it burns for an hour and a half. So if you were to cook 3 meals you would need 3 of these tins.

We're constantly adding to our kits, but we now have the peace of mind that should disaster strike in our area, we have prepared for it. 

In the words of President Spencer W. Kimball: "Preparedness, when properly pursued, is a way of life, not a sudden, spectacular program." 

Beach date

Saturday = best day ever. 

We slept in (me till 6:30AM, J till 8AM),

Worked out our budget in bed until 10AM,

And finally rolled ourselves out of the room and got ready for the day. 

To our surprise, the weather was PERFECT, giving us a delightful taste of pre-summer weather!

It would be a downright crime to not spend time outside on a perfect day like this.

Off to the beach we went and took Molly with for the walk of a lifetime.

Nahoon is our favourite beach. J practically lived on it growing up. He also won my heart on the sand dunes when we were first dating. Really can't help but falling in love surrounded by one of God's finest creations whilst gazing into the eyes of another of His very best :) (cue sappy music)

Inspiration and Motivation

Lets face it, everyone needs a little inspiration and motivation from time to time 

to live life to the fullest

to live a healthy lifestyle

to become the person God wants us to be

to educate oneself

to love a little deeper

serve a little better

avoid procrastination

That's why I'm grateful for the WWW. To have access to so many people's life stories and tips and information is a great blessing. With the click of a button I am often inspired and motivated simultaneously. 

So here are some things I recently stumbled upon that prompt a round of introspection:

1) For days I can't make it to the gym, I turn to this awesome gal for some pop Pilates. Sure gets me motivated to exercise! Check out her other vids on Youtube.

2) The Red Headed Hostess always posts thought provoking articles on studying the scriptures, teaching more effective gospel lessons (helps me with seminary), mouth watering recipes and other tips and tricks that makes you scratch your head in awe at her powerful brain. Check out this article on divine nature. 

Teach Me Who I Am

3) I recently watched this video on Vimeo. Holy mackerel! Coco's story is so beautiful!

It reeeeaaaallllyyy touched my heart. Go watch it NOW! And pay a visit to Reachel Bagley's fashionable blog Cardigan Empire. 

4) Exactly this. Internalize and do.

Source: http://girlandabear.tumblr.com/post/22093730416

Track day

We vowed we'd go return to the Grand Prix Circuit and this past Saturday we did! 

Thankfully this time there was no rain, only sunshine and wind strong enough to knock you senseless. 

It's not like we've ever ridden one or even that we have a relation who drives these babies, but man alive, we get an adrenaline rush just from the sound and the trail of dust coating your face after they whizz by.

Our friend Annaline gleefully snapped hundreds of photo's whilst we chatted with Mark and spoke about all things cars.

 Our highlight was watching them round the s's when one car spun out of control onto the grass. And we may or may not have cheered with excitement and longed to see more action. That doesn't make us bad people right?! haha!

After their final laps, we couldn't hide our perma-smiles. 

Now if only we could find someone willing to take us along as a passenger down the track...

Africa Mormon Helping Hands

This rolls around every year...and every year we love doing it even more...and we learn powerful lessons from some very small souls.

Once again our ward spent a morning giving service to the Glen Stella Campus of the children's orphanage. 

We got stuck in weeding, digging holes to plant trees and washing line posts, uncovered stairs under a pile of sand, and planted veggies in their veggie patches. Our R.S also handed over 2 bags worth of handmade blankets for the children. 

In order to protect their identities, we shan't post any pics of us with the kids, but here's a shot of J putting forth great effort to dig a hole in that hard hard ground. 

At one point I felt as though I may cry my eyes out watching those little girls and boys run around, test out the gardening equipment and help us pat soil around a just-planted sandalwood tree. It almost broke my heart to see one little girl sit on our bishop's lap and with her little hands, lift his arms around her. Little arms who probably don't get many hugs.

But my heart was comforted as I saw the expression on their faces. These little souls who have started out life with such heartache and difficulty are the HAPPIEST children. And in an instant I was taught a lesson well worth learning: there is joy to be had in every difficult journey. I am sure our Heavenly Father is comforting His little ones day and night as he works out a plan just for them. 

We both left feeling humbled and grateful for our lives. our families. our parents. our trials.

There really is joy to be had in every difficult journey. 

The Jar

Growing in my fam, we had this jar with lots of bits of paper with ideas to places to go to and things to do on the weekend. We would try explore our city (Cape Town) and create new brilliant memories of us spending time together as a family. 

When my dad mentioned two weekends ago that they still do the jar with my younger brother, I decided it would be a good idea for us W's to keep family tradition alive and make our very own. 

So 2 FHE's (Family Home Evening's held on Mon night) ago we wrote tons of ideas on blue slips of paper of things to do on the Saturday's we don't have any pending plans. This past Saturday was the perfect opportunity to put our jar to use. J pulled out the slip declaring movie day - whether at the actual cinema or at home. Whilst I was at an informative Relief Society meeting on Saturday afternoon, J did the research of what's showing at our theaters (a wonderful selection of 4 movies...). Upon arrival home, J rushed us out the door to pick out 2 films at Videoland and a pit stop at Checkers for the necessary snacks (popcorn and chocolate of course). 

Even though one of the films (New Years Eve) was mega cheesy and super predictable, we enjoyed the time snuggled close together.  A perfect ending to a Saturday. :)