To bring you all up to speed...

So, since we have come home, we have had some fun adventures!
Ryan and I walked in graduation from Brigham Young University. Ryan, of course, graduated in April of this year and I do not graduate until this December, we got to walk together and have our family come out and see us! It was great! I will post those pictures soon... Once I get them from my in-laws.
We had a great time with our parents. We had lots of BBQ's, we went to Park City and rode the alpine coaster and alpine slide. All in all, we had a great time with the fam and were sad to see them leave...
Ryan started his job at State Farm and he is doing so well! We are still busy working on things with Zaytoon International. Currently we are working on fundraising for the NGO and are planning tons of great activities. We are also getting things sorted out to start implementing our program in Salt Lake City teaching the Iraqi and Sudanese refugees there! We are so excited! Hopefully by January of 2012 we will have that started!
I am in charge of recruiting interns for all our many programs for Zaytoon. I have started a sub-program which I am so excited about. I am getting books and bookshelves donated so that the community centers in Jordan can have books available for the youth. They do not have public libraries in Jordan and, as a book nerd, this is just unacceptable. So I am working to change this. I am gathering basic English books, young adult books (like Nancy Drew) in English and then any and all levels of books in Arabic. So excited! It is going so well already!
We are also looking for interns to go and teach for 3 months in Jordan just like this past summer. We are in the process of getting contracted by the Jordanian Ministry of Social Development and the World Bank. We will be working in more community centers all over Jordan by the Dead Sea and West Bank.
So yes, we have definitely been busy.

I got to go to Park City Olympic Park with my friends Kim and April and we got to go on the fun rides that they have there. We went on two ziplines, an alipine slide, got to see a really awesome ski jump show and then went on the olympic bobsled! It was sooo cool! It goes so fast! 70 mph! What a rush! I suggest it to anyone for sure!

I also was blessed enough to get a new car! My car died in April and Ryan and I have been sharing our car since then. But since we live far from campus and work, we knew we needed another one. So we leased a new 2011 Jetta S! We love it!!


I am in some awesome classes this term. In one of my classes, Geogrpahy of Southeast Asia, we have an assignment to enjoy some of the food of the culture. We had the choice to either make the food ourselves or to go to a restaurant... I opted to make it of course! I made an amazing green thai curry! It was sooo good!

Pyramids Part 2! Still the BEST DAY EVER!!

We love this country

Abdullah, Me and Ryan

I think this picture of Ryan is so dang cute... He thinks I am weird...

I love the pyramids....

While we waited for our tickets into the pyramid we goofed off. By the way, paying to go inside the pyramid isn't worth it. It's super hot and plain. Not even any hieroglyphs. But it is cool to be able to say that you have been inside a pyramid. So, up to you! :)

Ryan was so nervous when he first got on my pyramid... He thought he would fall off. But he did great!

The Sphinx! Soooo cool!

Last of Egypt...

The following day was the last day before Ramadan would begin. So, needless to say, everyone was prepping themselves for this month of fasting. Ahmed took us to an amusement park called, "Dream Park". It was about an hour outside of Cairo, and again it was cool to see Egypt as we were driving by. It was basically an overpriced carnival but it was fun to be there with our friend.
That night we went into Tahrir Square and walked around all the tents. There were still thousands of protesters there and they were giving speeches. The energy was amazing and I know Ryan was loving every minute of it.
Because we found Tahrir wasn't the terrifying place that we were told it would be, we decided the next morning to go to the Egyptian Museum which is located on the Square. The Museum was amazing. I got to see King Tut's Mask and sarcophagus! It was breathtaking. I wish I had pictures to show you but I was not allowed a camera in the museum. I saw so many beautiful remnants and artifacts from ancient Egypt. Statues, grave adornments, mummies, tons of sarcophagi, and papyri. It was so wonderful to be there. I felt like I was being overwhelmed with awesomeness. I love Egypt so much!
Well we left the Museum after only being there an hour. I felt restless and didn't know why. So we left to my dismay. But I am so glad we did. As we were walking up to Tahrir Square to cross to get back to the car, the place went insane. People started banging on poles and picking up sticks and hitting anything that would make a noise. I was freaking out. The civilians that they had policing the Square (since they won't let any law enforcement or military in) didn't want to let us in either. They said it was too dangerous. I agreed. However, we needed to get back to our car. So our friend, Abdullah, talked them into letting us cross. All around us was pandemonium. Ryan was holding my hand and we were scurrying through the insanity. People were grabbing propane tanks and were all running down to this one street. People kept telling us to hurry and only go to the car and we finally looked down the street where all the commotion was and we saw the Egyptian Army and police force marching down the street with their tanks and riot gear. It was the most insane sight I have ever seen. Yea, words cannot describe the feelings that I felt at this time. But we ran to the car and quickly got out of there. Later on that night we were at home with the Shaaban family and their son, Mousad, who is in the army told us what happened that day. The military were tired of all the protests and they decided since it was Ramadan and Mubarak's trial had started, that it was time to move on from Tahrir and protest and move on towards progress. So yes, we were in Tahrir both that last night it existed and when it was being taken down. Pretty amazing. Ryan and I love that story.

Our theme park visit.

Isn't this the weirdest mascot to have for a theme park? A weird old man??

I have such a strong hubby... :)

I love enlgish translations...

The Satanic sun

View from the ferris wheel at night of Dream Park

Tahrir!!! So everyone wanted to take pictures with us in Tahrir. This was a woman who loved having me near her because I was American. They absolutely loved us!

The last night of Tahrir in its revolutionary state