Bula, my friends.

I've been blogging in weird places lately. Namely, the public library and the Nadi, Fiji airport. Not that I'm complaining! Randomness of life is the best. 

Guys, I don't ever really notice humidity. People in NZ would comment on how it was a humid day and I would be like ya. . . totally. And usually i'm a pretty observant person. But both times I have stepped off of an airplane in Fiji I have been absolutely amazed at how humid it is. I have to adjust to breathing here, people. And as I'm standing at a computer kiosk writing this post I can feel sweat starting to drip down my back. Ok, that was gross. I'm sorry. But I hope that gets my point across. 

Another thing I would like to comment on at this time is how awkward it is to watch people passionately kissing at airports. I know what you're thinking. Why watch then? I can't help it. I'm already a big-time people watcher and airports are the cream of the crop for that hobby. But seriously, it's awkward. I don't think I could ever act like the couple I saw today. In the words of Junior Floyd, "Tonsil hockey! Yuck!". (Little Giants reference. If you get it, I love you.)

Well I paid 9 fijians dollars to use this computer for an hour and I am now going to spend the remainder of my time chatting on Facebook. Because that's what we humans do. 

(Seriously though, I was walking by the computers and every. single. person. had Facebook open. What is to become of us?)

See you soon Utah:)

Quick Update.

My computer is broken again! What's up with that?!

So here I am at the local library...blogging.   :)

Ok I get on an airplane in 23 hours!

They are probably going to be the slowest 23 hours of my life.

Nah. I reckon the 12 hour journey from Nadi, Fiji to LAX will be.

Nah, the whole 20ish hours of traveling will be.

Actually! I'm going to buy the book Delirium and gobble it up so hopefully that will help.

Raja went and had her babies without me there.  :(

But I do have 3 baby kittens to come home to!

Gosh, I'm such a sucker for small furry things. Or large furry things.

I saw "Just Go With It" and sat there with a huge foolish grin on my face the entire time.

It is such a cute and funny movie. I loved Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston together. Good comic pair, those two!

I also saw "Sucker Punch" in *GOLD CLASS*

I have to say, watching a movie in a plush lazy boy while eating delicious New Zealand fruit dipped in chocolate is not a bad way to go. (Totally worth 40 bucks right?!)

It was also an awesome movie. Way to go, Hollywood, keep 'em coming!

I finished the Book of Mormon!

I'm so excited about this one, you guys! I can't tell you how many times I've started it with the intent to finish it and let life get in the way. I've finally finished it now and it feels great.

Ah, the church is true. :)

I think that's it for updates. I'm so dang excited to see you, my lovely STG.

If you could be sunny on Sunday that'd be fantastic.

:( :) ?

Bleh. Bleh. Bleh. 

It's crazy how many hours there are in a day when 11 of them aren't devoted to being a nanny. 

I'm BORED. 

Today I woke up and had to finish up a paper and get it sent in to my teacher. 

That took up my day until noon. 

Then I got some sushi, a strawberries and cream shake from Starbuck's, wandered around some souvenir shops, got a book from the library, did some reading, then took a really awkward nap around 530? I have no idea what time it was. I have no idea what time it is any of the time. All I know is I want it to be 1255 Sunday the 17th so I can head off to the airport. 

Ok I sound super depressed. Which maybe I am right now because my family is back at home having game night and I'm ready to be with them. Plus my cat, raja's ego is super prego and I want to be there when she has those kittens. 

No worries, though! I have my whole day planned out tomorrow and I'm super excited about it! 

I'm going to do some hot yoga in the morning (scared/excited for this one).

Then go for a run if I'm not too tuckered from 90 minutes of doing yoga in 105 degrees (ha, run? am i crazy?). 

Then I am going to shower because I'll be stinky. 

Then I'm going to take my camera out for a walk. A walk in Long Bay Regional Park. Snap some FOTOS.  

Then more reading. Probably in Long Bay Regional Park. 

Then! I'm going to see "Just go with it". I can't wait! I've heard great things about this movie. Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler together? Heck yeah. 

Hopefully that's enough to fill my day. (fingers crossed) 

Thursday I'm leaving to go for a little 3 day tour up north so that will also be exciting. So despite the downer day I honestly am happy to still be in this gorgeous country, and I will make the most of it.   :)

 Raja the day I got her. 

Now she's a soon-to-be-mama. 

Great couple. haha

Miss these girls. Zion is calling my name. Funny side story: we all 3 saw our present or a previous boss this day starting when we were driving to Zions. 

I miss Jess too. Oh so much! Question: why can you always see your tan line so exaggerated in pictures? (Notice the buttocks area)

CAN I PLEASE GO BACK TO LAKE POWELL AND GET THAT TAN AGAIN

Congratulations, Bri, that was the weirdest blog post to date. 

NERD

Once upon a time I was about 8 years old and I was reading a really good book. 

It was probably BabySitter's Club, but to 8 year old Bri's standards, that was a dang good read. 

I got a knock on my door, and it was my brother, who was holding the telephone in his hand.

"It's Shailey" (best friend at the time). 

I put my ear to the phone and heard, "Can you play? Come over and let's go to our secret hut". 

I LOVED our secret hut. It was so amazingly perfect for us to play in. It is located on the Red Mountain and that's all I can tell you. When our moms would make us take our little sisters with us we would roam them around on the mountain for a solid 5 minutes before taking them there so they could never find it. 

Anyways, I really wanted to go...but I was in the middle of this awesome read! 

So what did I do? 

I said, "Hold on, let me ask my mom". 

Then I lied. 

I played around with the phone for a minute, trying to make it sound like I was walking to find my mother. I might even have asked the question out loud to my teddy bear so she could hear. Then I got back on the phone and told her that my mom said I couldn't play today. 

Then I finished my book. 

It worked so well that I did it every time I wanted to stay home and read. Which wasn't too often because as much as I loved reading I loved roaming that Red Mountain with all my heart. And riding bikes, roller blading, playing night games, playing house, solving made up mysteries and all the other adventures Shailey and I had together. 

The point of this story is that this was the event that made me realize I was a bookworm and always would be. And I was ok with that from day one.   :) 

Books on my list to read right now:

First and foremost, I need to finish the Book of Mormon! I have until the 20th of April to do so! 

My brother that's on a mission challenged my family to be done with it by the time he gets home. 

Second: Delirium 

I heard about this book for the first time about 2 weeks ago and it keeps popping up every where I look since! 

Third: Matched

I've heard lots about this book lately too. 

Now that I have the next 9 days of my life free in New Zealand I can't wait to go buy one of these and lounge on the beach reading ALL DAY LONG! 

If anyone tries calling me I'll just say my mommy said I can't play today. 

The Parental Units.

I have been trying to decide whether to do the parents together or separately. 

I have obviously decided to do them together for a couple reasons. 

1. Once you're married, you share everthing. 

What's mine is yours, right?

2. If I did them separate it would be pretty repetitive. 

You guys make one good lookin' couple!

Which turned into good lookin' kids so thank you! haha

Man, I'm gonna try and keep this short and sweet, but it's gonna be tough because I have the most amazing parents a kid could get. 

I'll start at the beginning.

Thank you for taking a leap of faith and falling in love.

Thank you, Mom, for getting baptized. 

Thank you for sealing us as a family in the temple. 

Thank you for raising us in the church. 

Thank you for changing my diapers, and letting me do my own hair when I wanted to. 

Thank you for giving us beautiful, carefree childhoods, full of love, laughter, and support. 

Thank you for always putting on music for me and praising my non-existent dance skills. 

Thank you for introducing Chance and I to the song boot scootin' boogie. 

Thank you for never worrying too much about money, and having all of us kids instead. 

Thank you, Dad for working sooo hard for us every day of your life. 

Thank you, Dad, for never working during any of our soccer games, track meets, etc. 

Thank you, Mom, for being a stay-at-home-Mom and teaching us all those lessons that can only be learned from a Mom. 

Thank you, Mom, for being my shoulder to cry on when I came home so heartbroken from a certain "friend's" birthday party one year when she treated me so horribly. 

Thank you for fully supporting me in all my crazy shenanigans, like when I moved to Arizona. That was a big mistake, but you guys supported me anyway and I learned a lot from that. 

Thank you for listening. 

Thank you for the late-night talks. 

Thank you for making chocolate chip cookies, Dad; they are the bomb. 

Thank you for teaching me how to work hard, and be a team-player.

Thank you for being not only my parents, but two of my best friends. 

Thank you for being so fun.

Thank you, Mom, for being the cool Mom that is playing 500 with us at the park instead of sitting on the sidelines and "just watching".

Thank you, Dad, for teaching me persistence, and how to follow your dreams. I can't tell you how much I look up to you for this.

Thank you, Dad, for being Mr. Nice Guy. Everyone knows you as the biggest sweetheart, because you are so nice to everyone you meet. 

Thank you, Mom, for being the perfect example of selflessness.

Thank you, Mom, for teaching me to love books. 

Thank you for supporting my decision to move across the world, and welcoming me back with open arms. 

Thank you for everything. 

I honestly feel like I couldn't have been luckier. You guys are amazing. 

Mom, one of my favorite memories of you is when we were couponing and I kept losing the coupons. We were getting so frustrated! I misplaced them for about the 5th time while we were in the cake aisle and I finally found them hanging out on a shelf. People thought we were absolutely bonkers when they walked past and saw us doubled over in laughter with tears streaming down our face. I'm cracking up right now just thinking about it. 

Dad, the thing coming to mind with you is just being a little girl and feeling so safe when Dad is around. 

You'd get home from work and we'd all yell, "Dad is home!" And run to you and hug your legs. 

I also loved that you would always pick me up and just hold me whenever I wanted you to. 

Oh this memory just popped into my head. Remember when we were all three driving in Dad's dart and the horn would randomly honk every couple of minutes. 

HAHAHA 

That was hilarious/embarrassing. 

I love you guys! 

Can NOT wait to see you in 10 days:)

Lesson learned from parents: Absolutely everything. 

P.S HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM! :) 

More funnies

Just a couple more stories I forgot from yesterday.

Amelia and I were playing... hand games? Ya know, where you are singing silly songs and slapping each other's hands in patterns. 

So anyways, Amelia would get confused and accidentally slap herself in the face! She did it twice and on the inside I was cracking up, but I didn't want to make her feel bad. She's such a cutie. 

Also, I totally farted in front of the two little boys, Hyrum and Xander and they laughed SO hard. 

We were instantly best friends. 

Such a bonding experience:) 

I wish I would have figured this out a long time ago; it would have saved me a lot of grief! 

And yes, I am going to be that blogger that talks about farting.  :)

It's a Trotter thang. 

Funnies.

Just a couple stories I need to record before I forget them. 

1.

Tonight at the dinner table Yas(14) and Kiera(12) asked me to say paw, as in a dog's paw (we play this game a lot at the dinner table. They have British accents so my American one is apparently entertaining). I thought they were asking me to say poor, as in, I have no money, I'm poor. 

After I understood what they were saying I expressed to them that it was weird to me that they say it with an 'r' sound in it. Then Yas brought up a guy on the radio that was making fun of English people because they are always adding 'r' sounds to words. 

That sent Kiera off on a rant about how they are the ones speaking proper English, and where did the language come from anyway? And that's how the queen talks. 

yada 

yada 

yada

So I said, "And where does everybody want to go? America." 

(They have both told me that they want to go back to America)

Out of spite, and being the teenage girls that they are they responded with:

Yas, "No! I want to go to France"!

Kiera, "No! I want to go to Portugal!

That's when Hyrum(4) pipes up with, "I want to go to LollyPop Playland"!

Knee slapper, that one is!

2.

Today, while waiting for the older girls to get to the car after school,  I was spinning Hyrum around outside and we both got dizzy and ended up doing a little slide down a hill. Hyrum's bum got dirty. I took his pants off of him so he wouldn't get his booster seat dirty and didn't bother putting new pants on him when we got home as he would soon change into PJ's anyway. 

About 40 minutes after we got home I noticed he was on the downstairs deck so I went out to chat with him. He had put clean shorts on so I said, "Hyrum, you got yourself clean shorts, good job"!

Hyrum, "well, look"!

And he turned around and showed me another dirty bum. 

Apparently he took another little slide down a muddy part of the grass. 

Whoops!

It's the little things, I'm telling ya.    :)

Weird Sleeper.

Sunday night:

put in a movie. 

snuggle up under covers

start feeling drowsy even though it's only a little after ten

start fighting the eyelids because I want to watch my movie

start really wanting to flip onto my stomach

finally give in and flip on my stomach

.  .  .

.  .  .

wake up. 

be confused

it's light in my room

when did i fall asleep

what time is it

look at ipod

it's 430

tv is still on

oh ya i must have fallen asleep halfway into my flip-over onto my stomach

go pee

go back to bed

be really happy it's not time to wake up yet

Monday night:

get ready for bed

say prayers

turn off light

snuggle into covers

put laptop on lap

read lots of awesome blogs

put computer on ground and fall asleep in half a second

.  .  .

.  .  .

wake up

be confused

is it morning

am i late getting up

shoot, gotta make lunches

wait that light is artificial

it's my light in my room, not the sun

i specifically remember turning that off

what time is it

look at ipod

3am

why did i even wake up

have i really only been asleep for 4 hours

i feel well rested

go pee

go back to bed

be so happy that i have a whole 4 more hours of sleep

Tuesday night:

go to sleep

wake up at 515

go pee

go back to bed

sleep until 705

What I'm trying to say here is that I've been having some weird nights! But last night wasn't too eventful so hopefully they are over. 

Chance

aka Chancey

aka Chancey-boo-bwah-bwah

aka Rocky

Oh, Chance. 

I don't know where to start with you either. 

You were such a punk when you were little, weren't you? 

Nothing made you chuckle more than a lecture from an adult. 

How many years did I write Santa a letter asking for a new big brother? 

2? 3? 

Obviously I didn't know what I was doing because I couldn't ask for a better big brother. 

I just didn't appreciate the incessant teasing! 

haha

Anyway, now we're past our boot scootin' boogie days, and you're off becoming a man. 

I can't tell you how proud I am of you! 

You are such a great missionary. 

It's been so amazing watching you change out there in the mission field. 

I can't wait to see you in 2 WEEKS!

It's so weird how fast these last two years went. 

I'm sure it went by even faster for you though! 

One of my favorite memory of you is when we were arguing about how pineapples grow. 

I said a bush, you said a tree. 

I know you so well that I knew you were thinking of coconuts! 

After arguing long enough for it to start getting heated, I realized how hilarious it was that we were really arguing about this. 

Then I started laughing and couldn't stop for about 30 minutes.

That's the longest I've ever laughed in my whole life. 

You thought I was a freak, but it got some laughs out of you as well.

Another funny story is when we were driving down Snow Canyon Parkway past the ponds one day. 

I was driving and you were looking down, texting in the passenger seat. 

All of a sudden a huge pelican flew right in front of my car! 

I didn't even know we had those birds in St. George so it scared the hoo-hahs out of me. 

I screamed, causing you to yell and jump and start flailing your arms wildly about. 

Heart attack much? 

haha That was so dang funny. 

Chance, I love how you never take life too seriously and you are literally always ready to have a good time. 

Your laugh, as everyone knows, is the best. 

 I love how this looks like your graduation because you stole my cap!

 The only times we got along at this age: sleeping, and dancing. 

Lesson learned from Chance: Know when to work hard, know when to play hard. 

Church

One thing I've noticed since being here is the amount of beautiful architecture, especially the churches. 

 I've been able to snap pictures of just a few that I've seen. 

You can check them out here.

Makes me wanna be an architect.   :) 

I'm late and I failed.

I did not realize it's been over the two weeks that I gave myself to lose four pounds in this post. 

I definitely failed on losing four pounds. 

Darn. 

I only went running a couple times, but hey, Jason was here. 

That's my excuse. 

I don't think I'm going to make any more goals until I get home. 

I'll have a lot more time in my day and a gym membership.

13 days.

Jaron

aka Jaron Baron

aka Jar-bonesy (mostly just Chance called him this because he was so skinny as a little kid!) 

aka barbon {bare-bon}

Jaron, where do I start with you. You're such a funny kid. 

I really wish I had some pictures on my computer with you as a toddler because you were the cutest little toe-head I've ever seen in my life. You would always just walk around and say things in your cute little kid voice and force people to love you!

Then you kind of grew up out of the blue and became a man or something. 

What the heck, dude. 

The thing I envy most about you is the same thing that drives me crazy about you.
Can you guess what it is?
The fact that you can just SIT and be totally content with yourself.
You'll just be sitting in a chair and I'll walk into the room and be like, "what are you doing"?
"Nothin'".
"Alright..."

You're just so happy to be there.
It makes me laugh because I can never do that.
If I ever just sit around I'm always feeling guilty or lazy about not doing something.
I wish I could learn to be content like you!

Now you play stupid COD so you're sitting there moving your fingers and yelling a lot so that might be a step up... or a step down. haha Just kidding, man.

I also love how patient you are. I love watching you teach Cole and Kaden soccer techniques and play with them. I also love watching you help all the little kids with their homework. You are a very good teacher.

You're an amazing soccer player, man! I love watching you play. It's seriously so fun. I really think you should  go for a career in it if that's what you want.

Lesson learned from Jaron: Be content

You know how...

Those stupid claw machines are usually a huge waste of your money? 

(Not to mention extremely anti climatic) 

Well not this time!

It was probably a mixture of beginners luck and the fact that the machine gave Jason and I like 10 turns but I won this hottie on my 4th try.

I screamed, "woo! purple elephant!", did a little happy dance and then Jason gave me a high-five.  

Can you tell i'm proud? 

:)

His name is Feijoa.

{fee-jo-ah}

Jason challenged me to a game of air hockey with Feijoa as the prize, and I won him 9 to 7. 

Ok I'm done bragging now.