Out of Africa

Casey went to Angola for work at the beginning of December. He was given the opportunity because he speaks Portuguese and that is what they speak in Angola. They didn't have any freedom, had to do everything together, and were heavily guarded the whole time. Here are a few of his favorite pictures from his visit:

He had a layover in Frankfurt, Germany so he went to the famous Christmas Market. The office where he spent most of his time.

One of the many bodyguards watching over them. They had to have bodyguards with them 24/7 because Angola recently went through a civil war. Most of them were british and have some impressive resumes, including guarding The Queen, General McCrystal while in Iraq, the Spice Girls, etc.

Downtown Luanda. Casey said the place is a dump, but is one of the most expensive countries to live in because they import everything. Dental Floss was $11 and the building you are looking at costs $6,000/month to rent an apartment. Crazy, I know.

Poverty - people just threw their trash down the hill. Trash was everywhere.

There is a ton of traffic and there are almost always people in the middle of the road trying to sell random things to drivers: Christmas trees, pants, belts, toys, etc. This kid is selling toilet paper.

This was my favorite picture because to me it just screams Africa with all the bright colors. On the weekends, Casey and his coworkers would go to a local beach that Casey said was kind of gross, but he brought home a lot of pretty shells which weren't lacking there.

The little boy looks so cute just hanging on his mom's back

Some of the food. They had steak at every meal and a lot of seafood. This is Casey's lobster lunch. You would think that Casey would be in heaven since he is such a steak lover, but overall, Casey thought the food was disgusting.

The only picture we have with Casey in it. One night they went to a churrasco for dinner. One of the best meals they had.

A Snowy Visit

At the beginning of December Weston and I went to Utah to visit my parents. Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of pictures, but we had a great time none-the-less. We were there for a week and went to their Christmas ward dinner, enjoyed looking at the snow, seeing my sister and brother, and hanging out with Mama, Papa, and Jonas. One of my favorite things was playing games almost every night with my parents and Jonas. I am a huge boardgame person and this just made my day! Weston really liked playing with my parents dog, Pink, or terrorizing her I should say. He had a hard time not being able to go outside very much because it snowed a lot of the time and was 20 degrees. Casey kept saying, "just let him play in the snow, I'm sure he would like it," so when we were at my sister's, I let him go outside and 10 minutes later he was at the door whining to come in because he was so cold. The worst part was the flights to and from Utah. We had layovers both ways for the first time and being 6 months pregnant and having to carry a 1 1/2-year-old part of the time or bend over in our seats to get him snacks, etc. was a little uncomfortable. Weston was great, but it was a little long for both of us, and I think I'll stick with direct flights from now on.

Weston in the dog's bed. I wasn't a huge fan, but he thought it was funny :)

Nimbus Fish Hatchery

While Janelle and Garth were in town for Thanksgiving, we headed down to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery in Folsom. It was more fun than I thought a fish hatchery would be, but I'm sure it helped that we were with family and there were a lot of kids. They had steelhead, salmon, and trout. My favorite part was watching Weston feed the fish and say "blub, blub" (that is the sound a fish makes).

Weston and Casey looking at the steelhead

Everyone feeding the fish
Weston and I just looking. The fish food smelled disgusting, so I left the feeding up to Casey :)

Everyone at the end of our little field trip