Jessi's wedding

My cousin/best friend Jessi got married September 3rd....I know I'm a little behind on my blogging. I didn't have my camera with me most of the day so I only have a couple pictures from the reception. The place where they had the reception was incredible! It was up hobble creek canyon and was serious my dream property.
I was a bridesmaid
All of us bridesmaids!
My sexy husband
This is the only picture I have of them. What a handsome couple!

Where were you on Sep 11?

I mentor a little spanish girl named Jacqueline and each week I take her out to do something and spend time with her. She's from Mexico and is still getting used to the U.S. She told me that her teacher said that we will never forget what happened on September 11 and that it is one of those events where everybody will remember where they were and how they felt. I believe that's true.
I think for generations much older than mine it joins a list of others: pearl harbor, atomic bombs drop, cuban missle crisis, President Kennedy assasination, man landing on the moon etc...
My list is probably Princess Diana's death, Oklahoma city bombing, Columbine shooting, with September 11th having the biggest impact. I remember I was listening to 94.9 zht getting ready on my bed it was about 7:50ish and some listener called and said "I heard a plane ran into the space center! Why haven't you announced anything on the radio?" The announcers scrambeled then found the information being received and so I ran to the TV and was shocked at what I saw. I couldn't get another tardy for school so I had to run but my first period was honors history and we just watched the TV and saw when the second plane hit the other tower. I remember thinking "how did this happen we're the United States!" All that day and the next the nation was glued to the TV as the different tragedies and heroic events were brought to light.
I truly can say I am proud to be an American! I was proud before, but I think that after living in El Salvador for the summer and seeing just how lucky we are compared to most of the world I am more than proud and also blessed to be from the United States. Maybe Obama is leading us to destruction but even with him we're still a whole heck of a lot better of than most.

I love little kids

Mark and I work in the nursery and I love asking the little kids questions and hearing their answers. I got my inspiration for doing this from the movie made in the 70's by the church called "From the Mouth of Babes." The following was my conversation with 3 yr old Eli.

"Eli who is Jesus?"

"(thinking for a second) um I think he is a prophet!" He says this very excited and proud of himself.

"Good job Eli! And what does he do?"

"He teaches the little kids things"

"What does he teach you?"

"He teaches me Spanish and French, that's what the prophets teach"

"Oh, what sorts of words has he taught you"

"Well I actually make up most of my words because I can't hear him very well because he's in the sky. But, the one word I have learned from him is vamanos ya. That means come on yeah."

I had to hold back my laughing because he was so serious and matter fact about all of this.

City Deals

So I've been getting these e-mails from city deals but never looked at them. Then they sent me one for Lazer Assault for a 25$ gift certificate only costing 8$. Seeing as we love lazer tag there I bought 4 passes that value 100$ for only 32$. Sorry if this sounds like some sale pitch because it's not. Just thought I'd share the wealth with others. There's a ton of restaurants or activities with like 50% off. here's the link if you want to look at it. It's only in Utah :(

http://www.citydeals.com/?ref=CDUMTIyNDIy

Civil War

It's crazy that when I say "civil war" in El Salvador I mean during my lifetime. The war here was from 1980-1991. The war resulted because of the extremes in economic situations here. There are a few very wealthy families that have governed El Salvador since El Salvador really began. They kept getting richer and richer while the poor got more and more poverty stricken. The poor started protesting against it in the 80's but the government feeling threatened began killing. They started killing the protesters and even the arch bishop here in El Salvador for speaking out against violence. The protesters then escaped to the mountains and formed their own guerrila army. The government then forced all the boys to go into the military and begin killing the poor civilians. If they refused then they themselves were killed. Our guide told us that he was forced to join the army on the side of the government but after he found out he was forced to kill innocent poor people he escaped into the mountains and joined the other side. The war went on for 10 years turning into a blood bath for the poor ill-equipped rebel army called the FMLN. The pictures taken are off the weaponry and the main hideout of the rebels. They told us they'd searched the place for mines placed but I'm not sure I believe that so we didn't leave the trail much.

The saddest part of the war was the massacre of Mozote. The battalion of the government went down to the remote village of Mozote and separated the men, women, and children into three different houses. The men were all murdered and their bodies burned, the women were raped and murdered, the girls 10-14 were taken up on the hill and used as "toys" for the men until they killed them before leaving, and the little children and babies were used as bayonet practice. One woman escaped when she was at the end of the line to be killed and a guard looked the other way. She told the story of what happened. It wasn't until just recently that the U.S (who was involved in the war and trained the soldiers that did the massacre) or the Salvadoranian government even recognized what happened. The memorial there is of the children and you can still see their blood stains on the bricks. It was quite a humbling experience to be there and to see something so sad that happened during my lifetime. The soldiers said that they did it to make a point to the rebels that this is what would happen to them if they continued.

Hostels

This was the hostel we stayed when we went and toured the civil war sights (1980-1991). I always thought I was one of those rugged people who loved traveling so much that it didn't matter where they stayed......wrong. After staying in so many hostels like this I decided I am a luxurious traveler-I wouldn't even say luxurious necessairly more a bathroom with a toilet seat, sheets that have been washed, and a safe environment. The lady told us we had the special "suit." Just look for yourself and tell me how special it looks.

This was the door right next to our room????? Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
See how our door closes-a rebarb, see how much space is under the door for anything to get it-gross!
It is all cement. Those blankets on the bed had not been washed in a couple years and I think they'd wrapped the blankets around a tree because there were little sticks coming out of it all over the place.

All done with murals

So we finished our last mural yesterday, hip hip Hoooray! I decided I love painting it is so relaxing and fun. When I graduate I want to take those community classes and learn all the tricks. I feel like they turned out pretty dang good though, especially for us being novices! It was so cute because in each room that we painting we would have an audience of workers, nuns, and 5-6 kids just sitting there watching -no pressure right.