Rock the Throck

Kgale Hill

2012-01-09T23:53:00.000-08:00

A few of us went to climb Kgale Hill, which is on the outskirts of Gaborone and overlooks the city. It wasn't a hard climb, but some of the girls didn't want to go all the way to the top so I stayed back with them. Next time I am going before sunrise and climbing the whole thing.

The combi ride there. Combi's are little buses that can hold about 15 people and they have different routes. I have already gotten lost taking the wrong combi, but for P3.30 it's a great way to get around.

Some pics of Gaborone neighborhoods

It really doesn't look big at all. It is! Kind of. Well not really, but bigger than it looks.

Most of the plants are pokey.

Anne, Christy, & Hannes. Poor Anne, her feet were swollen and red, it looked like cellulitus. But she managed to climb the thing. She never found out what was wrong with her feet, the doctors at the hospital were at a loss. Freaking Africa.

Chris

This is from about halfway up. Next time...

UB BU!

2012-01-08T02:32:00.000-08:00

Let us take a tour of campus.

Las Vegas, Block 480 A2, Room 10

Here is my dorm room. Small little bed, too hot for blankets, but I finally got a fan and that helps a lot.

I shove everything in my closet and lock it up before I leave. I hear all kinds of stories about how when you are sleeping, someone will gas the room so you pass out and break in and steal all your crap. And my roommate likes to use my things without asking, I hate that.

The desk area. Dorms are sad. I miss my house.

My roommate K (I don't know her real name) moved in a week late. It was so nice having a room to myself for that long!

The foyer area. There are 6 rooms with 2 girls each on each floor. We share a bathroom with one tub, 3 toilets, and one shower.

There was no shower curtain for the first week. Water got everywhere and I only got walked in one once! These girls don't care about being naked though, that's for sure.

The 2nd floor has been leaking into our bathroom so there is always water on the floor.

I would rather shower outside with a hose than step foot in this bathroom. I saw a roach crawl out of the drain not too long ago. Ick.

Each block has 4 levels.

The blocks across from ours are the guys. There are maybe ten or so blocks in Las Vegas, which is what our dorms are called. All the international students live in Vegas unless you are a graduate or home stay.

That's my block.

The Pavilion, or Pav when you are texting someone. You can usually find a big group of white kids hanging out here at all times of the day.

Doing laundry by hand is the worst, especially with African laundry soap. I really miss Tide. They do have about 20 washing machines which is cheap to use, but only 3 work are there are always lines.

Barbed wire is huge here. This gate is always open anyways.

One end of campus. Our dorms are on the far end. It's actually a very big campus.

The cafeteria called Curry Pot. I try not to eat here. Except once that had really good potato salad. I asked for some and she would only give me a tiny scoop. Then she started speaking to me in Setswana and I was like whatevs.

The business building, which is huge and nice.

Here is the pool, which is only open for 4 hours a day. Sucks cause it's hot here!

And a seriously high diving board. One day.

Pretty sky here. I will take more pics of campus. There were a lot of people out at 7 am when I took these and I felt like a dumb white tourists so I stopped.

Every plant here is a pokey plant for hell.

These termite mounds are seriously everywhere. They are huge.

Lots of vendors hang out side of campus and sell food and candy. This is at the Main Mall. They have stores but also vendors in the middle. There are at least 6 malls in Gaborone. Some really nice ones too. These people love to shop.

Culture shock.

2012-01-07T11:59:00.000-08:00

Woo it's hot here. Usually in the 90's, which is nothing for us Arizonians, but in AZ there is AC everywhere and we all drive. Here, we walk, we're lucky if there is a fan in the room, and there is no such thing as ice. Really, it's hard to find. Also what is hard to find is toilet paper and soap. Most bathrooms don't come with TP so we have to bring our own, and soap, yeah right. I carry around a mini bottle everywhere I go.

My first weekend here we went on a cultural excursion. A tour of Gaborone (pronounced: hab-a-rone-aye, if you are a local), which was miserably hot with 60 white kids walking in packs. That's how we travel, in packs of white. Since we are all international students we spend a lot of time together doing things, so we spend time hanging out too. We have mostly broken off into groups, the Germans, the Bosnians (who need to shower), the Swedes, and the rest of us. I would say there are about 100 intl students with 60 from the States. We have our groups we usually hang out in but we always meet together at the pavilion with a few locals. Anyways, back to that god-awful tour.

We all piled in on a hot bus and went to the Parliment. No pictures allowed. We stood out there for a few minutes not listening to the tour guide, trying to stay hydrated.

Then we went to see the 3 Kings. I can't tell you what they are about, I was standing in the shade. It's summer here! And that was a hot day. But here is a pic anyways.

Then we went to the No. 1 Ladies Opera House, which is a cute traditional Botswana restaurant/entertainment place owned by the guy who wrote the series, located in Gaborone, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I haven't read it but have heard good things.

Here is the local food. The white mashed potato looking stuff is called pap, which is ground maize mushed together. It has zero flavor. There is some intestines in there, which they love here and really tastes like poo because that's exactly what it is. The bread tasted sour, the other piles of stuff are pap mixed with beans, and that little tiny black circle thing is A WORM. Yes ladies and gentlemen, a fat, nasty worm. It's called a Mopane worm and it was absolutely terrible. I couldn't swallow it. It takes like 5 minutes to chew and you can tell you are eating a worm. Never again.

A bucket of mopane worms at the Main Mall.

After the tradition dinner, the locals did some traditional dancing.

They had everyone that was from the same country do a song or dance from their home country. These are the Sweden girls. Monica, Megan & I did the Fifty Nifty United States song and since there were 50 of us from the US, we had to do other dances. I know the YMCA was in there somewhere. It was quite an interesting night, to say the least.

NewOrleansDallasLondonJohannesburgGaborone

2012-01-06T04:04:00.000-08:00

Holy crapolie. That was the longest traveling I have ever experienced. On Tuesday, January 3rd Kyle dropped me off at the New Orleans airport at 8:30 am to catch a 10:30 flight to Chicago. By the way, that was the worst goodbye of my life. Here I am, standing with a giant backpack and duffle bag outside of the New Orleans airpot, telling Kyle to just walk away through my gasping breaths. Ugh, awful. Watching him drive away, trying not to turn around and keep walking straight, I am bawling. I feel for all the wives of solider boys. Except it was me that was walking away. That sucked.

Anyways, as we are boarding the plane for a 5 hour layover in Chicago, they tell us that the engine has a fuel leak so that flight is cancelled. Then begins the waiting. I stood in line for about 2 hours to get a new flight that went to Dallas. After hours waiting in the Dallas airport, I took an early flight to London Heathrow. It was about 7 pm at this time. Since I jumped on an early flight, I gave up my good seat I had chosen on the later flight, which I didn't think about until after I was walking on the plane. I should have just waited. It was American Airlines, so I was stuck in the middle of the middle row. Blah. It was impossible to sleep so I watched 3 different movies. All new releases! Not bad. The English woman next to me was incredibly nice, although I had a hard time understanding her accent. I think she felt she had to watch out for me since I'm like 18 or whatever.

After an all night, 9 hour flight, I make it to London Heathrow at 8 am, 3 am Louisiana time. I was all ready to go out on the town and spend a few hours around London but as soon as I got there I was like, no freaking way am I leaving this airport. London Heathrow is incredibly huge and confusing. It was freezing out and I only brought a light sweater. And I had to carry around my luggage since I didn't check anything (I didn't want anything to not make it to Africa). So I found a spot and camped out for 11 hours. I had started to get sick before I left, a sinus infection and sore throat, so I tried to sleep on a chair. It wasn't comfortable but I managed a few hours. Stupid Brits don't believe in free Wi-Fi but luckily I bought some pounds back home from the bank and was able to catch Kyle on Google messenger before he left for work. Too bad I didn't know any other international students because half of them were waiting for my same flight.

Finally, finally! my flight left from London Heathrow to Johannesburg. Another overnight flight. I sat by a white South African and he warned me about all the dangers of traveling to Botswana. Thanks, guy. But he did convince me to fly instead of take the bus, which would have been much cheaper but dangerous for a little white girl all by herself. I left London at 7 pm and made it to South Africa at 6am their time, 10 pm LA time. I thought I was about to have a Taken moment after going through customs, but I was on my guard and made it out sex slave free. After running to the ATM 3 times, I managed to book a flight to Gaborone, Botswana. I met another exchange student, Pete, from Colorado and a local, Gerald, on the way. I left there at noon and it was only a 45 minute flight. By Thursday, January 5th at 1 pm, I was at my destination! Only 45 hours of constant travel and waiting, with no showers, sleep, and little food. I made it!

Pete and I split a cab to the university and walked for a while trying to find our destination. They had some local cuisine waiting and since we arrived a day late, we missed a lot of the orientation. I walked to one of the three local malls, River Walk, with some of the other exchange girls and bought a few things with my newly enquired Pula. The exchange rate is 7 Pula to 1 US dollar so I find myself constantly dividing by 7 to see how much I am really spending. Some things are regular US price but others are a lot cheaper. After finding my room, getting a shower and settled in, I was finally able to fall asleep in a bed.

I woke up in a sweat (typically its in the 90's and I didn't have a fan) at 6:30 am to what sounded like cats yelling at each other. I look out my window to these little guys.

I'm not really into monkeys but they were cute to see with their little babies on their bellies.

I am going to find some food, I have plenty more to come!

Farewell

2012-01-02T06:29:00.000-08:00

The Throcks threw me a going away dinner at Olive Garden. Here are some pics of the fun night. I'm excited but nervous to go! Botswana is really far away.

Kyle is the cutiest.

Napoleon's Facebook profile pic.

I got a sweet cake!

Aww I like him.

Big sistah

2011-12-02T20:39:00.001-08:00

Happy 30th Leanne!

Kyle & I love you so much. You are a great big sister and Kyle really looks up to you. You are always there for us and we just love you so much. We hope you had a wonderful birthday!

speaking of AIDS...

2011-12-01T23:06:00.000-08:00

I got accepted to do a study abroad in Botswana, Africa!

I will be living in Gaborone and studying at the University of Botswana. I leave in one month, January 3rd and come home at the end of May. Yes, I am desperately sad to leave Kyle for that long but at least I have the bushmen to keep me company.

But for reals. It is a great opportunity and I am really excited and nervous. It's either now or never, so now it is! Kyle will be flying out in May when the semester is over and we are going to travel around for 2 weeks before I come home.

I really am hoping I see this when I get off the plane.

And you better believe I am going to find Pride Rock.

Simmbaaaaa.

AIDS

2011-12-01T20:50:00.000-08:00

I am so proud of Kyle! For his graphic design class, they made campaign posters promoting AIDS awareness and Kyle got first place! He was presented his award (a $100 Hobby Lobby gift card, which I will probably end up using!) by Mr. Mayor himself, Kip Holden.

Prize winning art.

His other posters.

I am so happy for my husband. He is such a hard worker and it's great to see him get recognized for it.

Cat in the wall, huh?

2011-09-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

I opened the door this morning to go outside & a cat comes running in. Baton Rouge is Cat City. They are everywhere! This was obviously someones pet. He was declawed & clean. I let him hang out for a bit before I sent him on his way. I hope he found his way home, he is too much of a pussy (haha get it??) to defend himself in the wild.

You & me goin' fishin' in the dark.

2011-09-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

Kyle & I went fishing today in Mississippi. My first time ever. And I caught 2 fish! Actually, the same fish twice. He was already bleeding from the previous wound. I felt bad. And now I feel even worse typing it. Poor fish. I hope he is OK.

Dos Anos

2011-09-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

Happy 2 year anniversary Kyle!

I love this photo of us. We took it at Chuck E Cheese with Leanne & kids. It is totally me & Kyle.

On the morning of September 18th, I was at work when I got a text message from my mother-in-law, Karen.

It said - "Happy special day to you both. 2 year. Wow".

My reply - "It's my anniversary? I totally forgot. Ha ha I think Kyle did too".

Well guess who didn't forget. Yup, Kyle. I asked him why he didn't remind me, he said he had been giving me hints all week! Next time Kyle, just tell me! He came to my work & we went out for lunch. When I got home from work he had a Suguaro cactus waiting for me. I was so excited, I can't even tell you!!

My own little piece of Arizona. Love it.

Throckmorton Family Vaycay to Bama

2011-08-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

Throck Family

We rented a beachfront condo at Orange Beach in Alabama. The weather was great, except for that crazy thunderstorm that came through one morning.

Aaron. When you tell him to plug his nose to hold his breath, he plugs his lips! It's so funny.

If you look above who I think may be Karen and see that black spot, that may or may not be a dolphin. We saw a ton of them swimming around in their little dolphin flocks.

Karen & Richard.

We buried the kids. They loved it.

I got buried too. I didn't love it. Confining & crushing. It was the worst.

Baby Daniel.

I found the cutest baby leopard sting ray.

Craig & his boys.

We were banished to the couch.

Blane!

The Ortiz's.

Our resort.

The beach was full of people.

Crab catching. We always threw them back.

Napoleon.

Kyle skimboarded his life away. He taught Myron, who picked it up really quickly.

Dinner at The Hangout. It's a cool place with expensive food that wasn't very good.

Buried treasure!

Excuse my puffy hair. The humidity hates me.

Teehee. Karen is funny.

On our way home we stopped at Lamberts, which is a crazy popular restaurant. The drinks are huge and they throw rolls at you! And the food is definitely American sized.

Our familia! The humidity ruined the picture. Too bad.

We had tons of fun family! Lets do it again :)

Happy Birthday Kyle!

2011-05-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

Kyle turned 24 today. We both had to work. I got him a game & hid 6 snicker bars around the house since he loves them. I thought it'd be funny. He found 2 before he gave up & played his game.

I took him out to lunch, we went shopping later in the week & to dinner to celebrate. Hope you had a good birthday Kyle!

My own episode of Hoarders.

2011-05-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

School is out. I finished my first semester at LSU with the worst grades I have ever made (3 C's & 1 A, but I got a 95% in that class!), but still managed to keep my GPA somewhat decent. Can't even tell you how shocked I was that I got a C in Biology. I was expecting the worst. That means I must have made an A on the final since I failed 2 of the 4 tests. Meanwhile, my dear Kyle made the Deans list at his school with his 3.6 something GPA. I am hoping for better next semester...

So after school ended I hopped on a plane headed to Arlington, VA to help my mother clean out her parents house. My grandparents are now living in Arizona since my grandmother has dementia and needs taken care of. They are selling their house in VA and we had to get it ready for an estate sale. And OH MY GOSH, I can't even tell you HOW MUCH STUFF my grandparents had. We found things from the 1920's that the previous owners had and Nana didn't get rid of. She didn't get rid of ANYTHING. EVER. NEVER. Let's take a walk through the house of Nana Anne and I'll show you what 60 years of hoarding looks like.

Mine and Kelli's first job was to clean the hallway closet. This is what one shelf looks like when you never throw away greeting cards.

Thousands of them. It took the entire day to clean out the hallway closet.

The front room. The table has never been cleared.

Kelli's task. Nana had so many trinkets we had to go through. Throw away the crap and keep the sellable stuff.

Every drawer was fuuuuulllllll.

"WHYYYYYYY MOTHER?????????"

I had the liquor cabinet. Bottles of half-full liquor from the 60's and every cork from all those bottles.

You can't really tell but I did clean it up.

My mom gave it all to the 90 year old neighbor because she was having a party.

These expired in the 70's.

She kept a USED bib from a lobster place that had grease stains on it. Folded up nicely in a drawer.

I think my Mom & Kelli are just as bad as Nana. They brought their own Circle K cups from home (yes, brought them on the plane) because they don't have the styrofoam cups at 7 Eleven. "The plastic ones sweat". The women in my family are obsessed with Diet Coke. Except me and San. And maybe Kristi.

Every room was stacked full of furniture. The stuff they didn't take home was sold.

And if all that furniture wasn't enough, Grandpa John collected Corvairs. 6 of them. 1963 and 1964 corvairs. Some here, some at the cottage in Maryland.

Hi mom! They also sold Grandpa's Cadillac.

My dad came up to drive the U-Haul back to Arizona full of stuff to take home. My sisters made out pretty well on vintage furniture.

Chris's new ride.

Here is the house. Just to remember what it looks like.

The last time I was at this house I was 10. I don't remember anything about it.

These were the bags that didn't fit in the giant dumpster. This was only from our week cleaning up. My other sisters have been there in the past few months and had an equal amount of crap to throw away.

Here is Kelli taking pictures of herself.

And here is the dumpster filled to the top.

5 days worth of garbage that my grandparents have been living with for 45 years!

And more of Kelli. She was the only one I had to take pictures of, except for the El Salvadorian behind her. They got more done in 2 days than we did in a week.

I was testing out the lighting on my camera. Still can't get it right.

My mom took us around DC to see the sights. We went to the Arlington National Cemetery to see Uncle Bills grave. He was killed in Vietnam.

Look at the graves. Dead soldiers. Sooooo many.

I spy the White House.

Hey stupid guy get out of my picture!

That's the Pentagon, but you can't tell. Grandpa John worked there for years. He used to run there to go to work. Nana felt her house shake when the pentagon got hit by the plane.

We sit in trees and take pictures of each other. Ha.

We got the house all cleaned up and they had the estate sale the next week. Next it's the boys turn to clean up the cottage. That's going to be a lot of work, and that's why the boys are going to do it.

We've moved.

2011-05-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

We moved out of our expensive cute 2 bedroom yellow house to a studio loft that is less clean but incredibly cheap and at the North gates of LSU. No more driving around for 30 minutes to find parking in the morning. I get to walk to school now. We really like living here even though it is slightly ghetto. So take a peek in the multi-colored ghetto House of Throck.

Outside:

We live in a quadplex on State St. Whenever I tell someone we live on State St. they always tell me to be careful. Really though, just because there are gypsies who sleep in the field across the street, we don't have any problems. It's safer then people think.

This is the front of our apt.

There are 2 apartments on this side & 2 on the other side. Our neighbor on the other side is a B word!

Parking wars.

We haven't been able to put up curtains on the top windows because it really high up. So if you want to come spy on us at night, you get a free show!

The humidity here is killer. Hence the foggy camera when I walked outside. The flamingos don't seem to care though.

We have a nice little courtyard area outside. Our place is hidden so we don't have any random people that walk by our place. Except for that one guy I found sitting on my yellow chair and asked if Arleese lived here because he wanted to smoke a bowl. It's hard to find and I like it.

Meow.

Front Room:

If you notice how every wall is a different color. The girl before us painted the place, trashed it, left without telling anyone and after 8 months they finally cleaned it up. They had to buy a new fridge, that's how bad it was. We also had to hide our kitchen table under the bed because there isn't enough room in the house for it.

Kitchen:

We have a nice little storage place under the stairs. It's where the girl before us kept her bunny.

My cow pours milk from his mouth. Heehee.

Sandy, do you still need an AZ plate?

Our loft, upstairs.

Up the stairs...

TO BE CONTINUED (when I clean the upstairs)...

Nana Banana

2011-04-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

I went to Arizona to visit Nana. She isn't doing well and I didn't want the last time I see her to be at her funeral. I know it's sad but her body is failing quickly and she isn't able to do anything for her self. Her quality of life is gone and that is no way to live.

But she did give me this.

Teehee.

Girls night out.

We went to Serranos for dinner. The server brought Kelli a note from some guy who said how much he loved Kel and he paid for our dinner. He signed his name Red. I guess some guy in my Nana's ward had a crush on Kel when she went there once? Not sure, but it was my dad & it was pretty funny. The server totally ratted him out.

Muh ladies.

New place at the mall. I was excited because I thought it would be something Cajun or New Orleans style. It was even decked out in Mardi Gras stuff. No, it was asian. Weird.

Jewelry shopping at Claires.

Meow.

Booty!

Oh goodness this is great. Best picture of the night.

We were racing to the car. Pregnant Katie lost.

San tried to light me on fire.

Who does she look like? hahahaha.

This may be the picture of the night. THE CRYPT KEEPER!

MISS YOU SISTERS!

I was able to go to lunch with my favorite friends Sarah & Ashley, along with their children, Madison (who is now 7! I can't believe she is so old) & Sarah's new baby Harper.

Madison is a funny girl. Too smart for her own good.

Harper Stone.

I miss you girls! It's always fun seeing you when I come home. I wish you guys could come live here with me, I miss my girlfriends.

I took Toddy & Kaden to go dumpter diving for donuts outside of Circle K. Talk about nasty town. I took a look inside & said no way am I getting in there. Kaden had talked it up about how cool it is & how you can get good donuts. I am not a freegan but I'm also not above digging in the trash for food, but those donuts were mixed with other gross, wet, sticky things. He said if you dig you can find good ones. No Kaden, no.

And that trash can was right next to the doors, people were asking what we were up to. Uhh he is looking for something he lost, I told someone. Ha.

Creepy picture! I think it's Toddy.

And of course, trying to get Trey to smile is impossible. We will end this post with picture of this angry guy glaring at me. He is still so cute! :)

STILL WAITING FOR KATIE TO SEND ME PICS OF ME & NANA, THE WHOLE REASON I WENT HOME! GET ON IT SISTER!!

Chilly Paynes

2011-04-15T18:54:00.000-07:00

Dave and Sonya took a road trip to the South. They stayed at a beach house in Alabama and came to visit us in Louisiana. We spent the first day seeing the sights in New Orleans and showing them the tourist places.

We had a sleepover with the kids while Dave and Sonya had a getaway at the Marriott. These kids seriously crack me up. Chloe and Reagan had so much fun playing dress up and Jackson loved playing video games with Kyle. We ate pizza, ice cream, stayed up late and took them to get beignets in the morning which was their favorite thing about LA since the movie with that black princess in New Orleans.

Reagan didn't know how to focus the camera, which is fine because she's 4.

Video games all night long!

I loved their paintings. Good thing acrylic comes off the floors.

Kyle let his eyebrows grow out. This is why I call him cejas.

The girls thought it was really funny.

And Chloe LOVED my hair extensions. She wants long hair so bad and was seriously so happy wearing these.

Look at her expression in the mirror. She was jumping up and down.

Love this.

Reagan said she wanted to make me fabulous.

I think she could be my kid. We look alike.

Saturday we took them on Brian Champagne's boat tour! This one was way better (sorry twins) because it was in April and that's when the gators came out of hibernation. We saw SO MANY. When you come visit me, do it in April. It's the best time.

Potty breaks.

Reagan slept most of the time.

Turtles & Gators.

This was awesome! We got within reaching distance before they ran away.

Brian's tour is the best.

After the tour we stopped to eat at this local cajun place. It really wasn't for me but Kyle and Dave seriously loved it. Kyle and that crawfish. Blah.

Thanks for visiting Dave and Sonya! We had tons of fun.

SLC - Part 2 TEAM KIA!

2011-03-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

We met up with our friends from Baton Rouge - Branden, Brandon's girlfriend Taylor and Brandon (left to right) at the Marriott in Salt Lake, with Kyle's discount, yes!

Welcome to the KIA SNOWBOARDING TEAM.

I can't even tell you how much fun it was.

Don't you agree Kyle?

Branden does.

And so does Brandon.

Taylor on the other hand....

she tried snowboarding for an hour,

then tried skiing for an hour,

then tried sitting in the lodge for 3 days,

which she was really good at.

Day One: Snow Basin

It was snowy!

Me and Kyles.

It was white out on top of the mountain. We couldn't see a thing so we'd just jump off the mountain and hope for the best. Several times that backfired on us and we had to unstrap and walk out of all that powder. That sucked, because it's like walking with bricks strapped to your feet.

See all that whiteness?

Friends on the gondola. That's what was nice about Snow Basin. Warmth.

Brandon. We taught him tricks.

Taylor. Tried to teach her tricks. EPIC FAIL.

Day 2: Brighton - nope, didn't go there. But we drove to it.

Day 2: Solitude

Solitude was fun but it wasn't my favorite. It was really snowing.

Pretty.

Branden goin' crazy.

This is what the snow looked liked driving home.

And this is what the ducks looked like crossing the street.

Day 3: Power Mountain

By far THE BEST MOUNTAIN EVER. I went here with Nate & Kelli 5 years ago and I remember it being awesome. It surpassed everything I remember. This mountain is ridiculously huge. We made the mistake of doing a half day + night skiing when we should have done full day + night skiing. It is super cheap and you could be here a week & still not ride the entire mountain. Plus the park was FANTASTIC. Next time, we are staying here the entire time. I miss it. It hurts how much I miss it.

Those guys.

First things first, IN N OUT. Who knew SLC had an In N Out? Everyone except me. There is no In N Out in Baton Rouge & these guys have never heard of it. They didn't believe me when I said it's the best. They told me I was right. Of course I was.

The only black guy in Salt Lake. We almost thought we were in Baton Rouge again.

Lovely.

Kyle was hittin those guys like a crazy man.

Check out this sweet video of me doing tearing up this awesome jump.

I showed up all dem boys.

Check it out in picture form. Goooooood.

Cute face.

Someone farted? Probably me.

I'm better than Branden. It's true.

So fun! Can't wait for our next trip. But next time, leave the girlfriend at home...

(don't worry, she'll never see this).

Jajajajajaja.

SLC Part 1-PHX

2011-03-15T18:36:00.000-07:00

We left Baton Rouge Friday evening to drive to Houston so we could fly out from Hobby Lobby airport (it was $400 cheaper & 5 hours away). Friday is the day the Mardi Gras fiesta's began & I was so glad (and kind of sad) to get out of there. New Orleans is about 80 miles away from our house & from where we live going the opposite direction from New Orleans the traffic was backed up for over 30 miles, completely stopped. Why would you even sit in that traffic? It was ridic.

Downtown BR

We spent the night at Kyle's friends Kallan & Jospeh's apartment. Kyle used to love Kallan. They have a very fluffy dog. Saturday we took off for SLC with a 2 hour layover in Phoenix. We didn't have time to leave to airport but we did have time for some Fili B's! The fam came out to the airport to hang out for a while. It was great to see mostly everyone!

Hey Grandpa John!

John & I are 13 years apart & his oldest son Kaden & I are 13 years apart.

It doesn't matter what I do. I can't get this boy to smile at me.

I was trying to get him to look up & he'd just slightly glare at me.

Alexa tried to make him look! Still didn't work.

Toddy & Saira

Ryleigh & Laney

Saira is getting really good at gymnastics (just like her momma!) & loves to show it off (just like her momma!).

Look at her back bend!

And of course, whatever big sister does, little sister has to do too.

I love her little pose. & I love Laney in the back trying to do it too.

The boys being, what else, boys.

Congrats to my sis K*T on baby #3!

PapaBear.

Those kids are all over us all the time. I freaking miss them!

Try is smiling! But no thanks to me... :(

Sistahs, minus Kristi, add Ryleigh.

The whole crowd.

Next up...UTAH!

A little update on our lives.

2011-02-01T18:49:00.000-08:00

We have been living in Louisiana for almost 6 months now. Goodness how times flies. I have lived a lot of different places and I will tell you, I love Louisiana. Everything is so different. The food, culture, people, religion. It's a great change from being surrounded by white Mormons my entire life to being surrounded by black people of all types, lame frat boys & whorish sorority girls, and a lot of gay people. It's different and new. I have a new love for sushi, have made friends of all types, and attend a really freaking huge college. I am in my 3rd week at LSU and love it. I have finally chosen my last major, International Studies, and am loving it. We are learning all the countries & so far I can tell you where all of the countries are in Asia & the Middle East. I have fallen in love with maps & atlases & learning about globalization. I still get lost around Baton Rouge & especially around campus. I really hate the traffic, but that comes with any city. I am working at Barnes & Noble (again) and have made a lot of fun friends. Kyle is still going to swamp school & getting A's. He is currently working on an app for the iPhone with his friend Tyler (buy it when it's ready, please!) and checking out all the prostitutes that come into his work. We stereotype when were are driving through the ghetto & always keep our doors locked. I visit Mike the Tiger every chance I get and love watching him swim! We suck at grocery shopping. We have date nights as often as possible. We love Netflix and playing Wii together, and dancing in our living room to Black Eyed Peas. We both can't wait for the Spring so we can visit the gators. We are loving our lives right now & trying to enjoy every minute we can while we have this time to ourselves. We miss our AZ family & friends but love living by our LA family. We have no idea where we will end up and actually prefer it that way. We are not wanting to have children anytime soon & I definitely am looking forward to traveling with Kyle as soon as we can. I'm hoping to graduate from LSU next December, so save up & come visit!

xoxo

The Throcks

Blessings.

2011-01-08T17:57:00.000-08:00

Kristi flew us down to AZ for Kase's sealing & blessing. I love that she's a mommy. We always love visting Az. I miss my family all the time but I do love living in LA. Here are some pictures from the after party!

Aren't they adorable together? I totally set them up.

Chomp.

Ez & Ez.

You would Kel.

Freaking Cory. We went snowboarding the day before this & of course, he busts him shoulder up & tore some things in there, the day before his son's sealing! Every time we snowboard together he gets hurt. He needs to quit trying to show me up, IT'S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN CORY!

Nana & Dad

Nana & Grandpa

Kwisti!

Lets pose with the waffle maker. Sexy!

Little Brooke. We watched her while everyone was in the temple, dang this girl is tiny!

Mah Sistahs

Kwisti again!

Lots of breakfast. Loved it.

Oooolala

That's better.

Kristi's father in law thinks were hot.

Miiiiiiike!

Tara, the birthmom, & her mom.

Evan, the birthfather. We just love these two. They gave my sister the miracle of mommyhood! :)

GOD BLESS ADOPTION! and God bless Tara & Evan! I know this wasn't easy for them but gosh, they are amazing. Love you Kris! & Kase! Ok and Cory too!

Have a holly jolly Christmas.

2010-12-25T17:31:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas Breakfast!

Before we got together with family, we had our own little Merry Christmas, starting with stockings.

Wii Play!

I may have gone a little overboard with Kyle's stocking & all that candy (hey I got it all for less than $5, go couponing at Walgreens!). But I think it makes up for the fact that he got me NOTHING.

Really. There was only one thing in my stocking, & that's because I bought it & wrapped it myself. Haha Kyle you suck!

I found season 3 of the O.C. at Goodwill for $9 UNOPENED! I had to get it for me. I was super excited.

But he did get me this Pink LSU sweater, which I love!

And he was so happy to get the new 007 on Wii.

& I got the new Donkey King & hair extensions!

I got him a Gerber knife set thing, which he uses every day. He loved it which makes me happy as a clam :)

We had a family Christmas party in Mississippi which was a lot of fun. One of Kyle's aunts called me a prostitute. Yeah, nice huh? After MS, we headed to the Throcks to open more presents. Guess who showed up? Santa Clause himself! He is real Kelli, you can't lie to me! (She's the one that broke the news to me when I was a kid, thanks a lot!).

Aaron was soooo excited.

I love Alicia's face in this one, she is a happy mom!

Santa brought all of us presents!

Then it was present time, and it was MADNESS!

Karen got something pretty.

We got tons of stuff from everyone & had a great time hanging with family. Last Christmas was pretty lonely in Idaho but this one was full of excitement. We love being so close to family. Happy holidays everyone!

Christmas Eve, Southern style.

2010-12-24T17:01:00.000-08:00

The Throcks have a tradition every Christmas Eve to go down to the levees & watch the bonfires. People set up these big wooden pyramids & when it gets dark, the burn the first one then go in a row. The story behind it is that when Santa comes down to Cajunville, they don't want him getting lost in the Mississippi River (the river is on the other side of the levees) so they light fires to guide him along his way. There are a ton of people that come out for it & we had a good time. I am lovin the South.

The Throcks on the levee.

Mama & Papa Throckmorton with their baby boy.

Handsome man.

Even handsomer man.

Tug boat on the Mississippi.

Fires getting started.

Ich lieba dich.

Firecrackers.

I love them together. Their happiness is consuming.

Karen has some friends that live in the neighborhood where all this action takes place. Man did they have some good food.

Karen thought so too.

I never even heard of jambalaya before I met Kyle.

Here is Karen's tree. OH MY GOSH did she get a ton of stuff!

And then here is our tree...

I love my house.

Happy Christmas, coming soon!

BRZ

2010-12-20T13:38:00.000-08:00

The Baton Rouge Zoo is also known as the Ghetto Zoo. There is hardly ever anyone there, it's like 5 bucks to get in, and it's really small. And that's why I love it! The animals are always hanging out, usually pretty close to the fences, you don't have to wait around to see anything or get trampled by little kids. I love the zoo & I'd way rather go here than to a big city zoo. My favorite part was the lines for the parking spaces. They were flamingos! They did have a pretty creepy canal right at the entrance though.

They have gators, crying panthers, lost bears, spooning monkeys, elephunks, & a wild man.

This elk was pissed. Kyle kept making fun of him & let me tell you, he didn't like it. He kept trying to charge at us & then we'd laugh so he'd do it again. You can see the anger in his eyes, he wanted Kyle dead. Lucky for us there was a fence in the way. Stupid elk.

Monkeys monkeys. They could totally jump over this fence. It went up to my waist.

Lots of fish. The sting ray was trying to get the heck out of his pond!

This guy & I became best friends. Or most like he was my best friend & I was his enemy. Every time I'd flash my camera, he'd open his mouth. I think that was him telling me to get the eff out.

Waving turtles, snakes, & crocs.

This dumb goose bird kept trying to bite my feet.

This bird fell IN LOVE with Kyle. She wouldn't let his hand go. She even got so mad when he'd walk away that she bit him! Hard! Her cage was a circle so every time he'd walk around she would follow him on the fence.

I think it was mating time for the giraffes. The male kept head butting his GF, who would just ignore him. He was definitely trying to get some.

Humans.

They had a petting zoo. Ha freaking sheep.

Prairiedogville.

Tiger town.

Check them out, being so sleepy & lazy.

We went to see the tigers twice. The first time they all just laid there, then when we went back one of them had caught a herring at they were tearing it apart. The male tigers in the cage next to them were going crazy.

So we were just sitting there by the glass, watching the tigers eat the bird & she was just laying, being sleepy. Then Kyle saw one of the zoo keepers & called him over to tell him that the tigers caught a herring & the tiger went from this:

to this, in a swear to you, less than 1 second.

She was PISSED. Apparently, that zoo keeper has to put her in the cage at night & she remembers him, AND HATES HIM. She jumped up on that glass so fast & started roaring. She wanted him destroyed. He told us that the tigers remember the keepers & they remember which ones they don't like. The main keeper came up a few minutes later & another tiger (who remembers him from him quarantining her) ran behind the tree & stalked him the entire time he was standing there. It was awesome to see that real tiger instinct.

Seriously check out those angry tiger eyes!

I would not want this tiger stalking me.

These guys wanted in on the action.

I love the zoo. But I hate it at the same time. Those sad animals in those cages kept there for our entertainment. It makes me sad to see them, especially those crying panthers. But I also love to see them. It's a love-hate relationship, & really, there is nothing I can do about it.

Twins

2010-12-14T15:37:00.000-08:00

For my sister's 29th birthday, they came to pay us a little visit here in the dirrty South. AND IT WAS SOOO MUCH FUN!!!! I wish they would come visit me everyday! We had a busy weekend full of activities planned.

Here I am patiently waiting for my sisters at the airport. Oh the excitement!

There was a lot of hugging & screaming.

Baby Kase!

My dad felt bad he forgot my birthday so he sent this cute jacket with Kris. Thanks dad!

Eek.

Check out creeptown! Downtown New Orleans is full of them.

Kwisti & Kase at the French Market. Napoleon & Alicia gave them the grand tour of downtown. The French Market is full of A LOT OF STUFF! This is when all of them tried alligator bites & I got angry and walked away. I don't like eating gators!

I also don't like eating muffalettas. But I did because I was hungry & it's just something you have to do when you go to New Orleans.

Kyle told us to be natural. This is us being natural. Kase looks disgusted with his mother. Probably because she dropped all kinds of greasy sandwich guts on his hat.

Kelli fell in love.

Napoleon said it is rare to see these guys on the street outside of Mardi Gras. He is a Mardi Gras indian of some sort I think? Right Alicia?

We also saw a wedding going on. These people were getting there party on in the street. It's a New Orleans tradition of some sort. Gosh I don't remember my facts. But I do know they were an odd looking couple.

These guys asked me to show them my tata's. So I showed them my ass. Ha.

The Mississippi River. This is a good one.

By the time we ate Raisin' Canes & got home, we were exhausted. The next day was a tour of LSU, church-where we met Stephanie Meyer and SHE IS A TOTAL BIZOTCH!!, fried turkey with the Throcks, plantations, dalmatian plantations, unbroken levees, and I think we watched the new Twilight movie even though WE HATE STEPHANIE MEYER! I fell asleep.

Kyle loves tigers.

Monday was a good day. Slightly chilly, we dropped off baby Kase & headed to the boondocks to take a swamp tour. We met Leanne, Craig & children for a ride on the swamps. It would have been better to take the tour in the spring when it's warm & green, but we didn't have much of a choice now did we?

Brian was our tour guide. He is Cajun-French & speaks fluent Cajun-French. There was a French couple on the small boat with us so it was a bilingual tour. She got swamp sick & threw up on the boat.

Dinner.

Since the gators are hibernating right now, he caught a baby so we were guaranteed to see something.

This gator got lots of action.

Open wide & say Ahhhhhh

This poor gator got manhandled by Brian.

There were hundreds of fake ducks!

The hunters put them in the water then hide out in these huts & wait for real ducks to come quacking along.

Kristi found a loose one (they are stuck there somehow) & she kept him. His name is Brian.

Baby Blane.

Thank you for reading.

Cute yellow house.

2010-12-10T22:46:00.000-08:00

I have always wanted to live in a cute yellow house. I love my house, minus the leaky fridge. We live in downtown Baton Rouge, about 5 minutes from the LSU campus & across the street from the ghetto. Our landlords wife is Russian & has the cutest style. I love the orange kitchen. We moved in in October & I finally got around to taking pictures. One day, when I remember, I will take a picture of the outside. If you are ever in need of a place to stay in Baton Rouge, give me a call!

I love my vintage salt&pepper shakers from The Honeymoon Bungalow.

My blue chandelier goes awesome with the orange walls!

Karen & Richard got us this table for Christmas.

The office.

Kyle painted that tiger.

El bano.

Our bedroom.

The guest bedroom is ready for the twins & Kase! So excited :) :) :)

Come visit!

2901 Oleander St.

Baton Rouge, LA 70806

OH Christmas Tree

2010-12-08T22:42:00.000-08:00

Our happy tree. It was pretty much the only decoration we had this year. I am working two jobs & Kyle has finals. We really weren't up for decorating.

Kyle got to put the star on this year.

Happy decorating!

25 and TOTALLY jive

2010-10-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

Thank you Robert Pattinson, for making my wildest dreams come true.

Holy crapolie I can't believe I am 25! Half way to 50, a quarter of a century, mid-twenties! NOOOOO!!! When did we become adults and how do we make it stop?!

According to one 19 year old female, I look like I am 19, not 25. That's a pretty big age difference. Do I really look that young? I don't think so. Maybe 22, not 19. I sure hope I don't act 19 though. All that girl was saying the whole night was, "I like to partyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!" Yeah, I can tell by your giant beer belly.

So on with the birthday festivities. Kyle had to work all day so I went with my lovely sister-in-law Leanne to Olive Garden for a birthday lunch. Afterwards, she was nice enough to sit with me at Firestone so I could get my car fixed. After Kyle came home from work, he took me to:

Barnes & Noble so I could pick out any book I wanted.

I was so excited, I have been wanting this book for a long time.

Then to the mall for a little shopping.

He knew I had a crush on this sweater I saw at the mall in AZ so he took me right to it.

Dinner at TJ Ribs.

He was especially happy about this.

And they gave me a giant ice cream for my birthday.

His parents for a little birthday get together.

We stopped by our friend Branden's halloween party.

He was dressed up as some gay tutu fairy guy or something.

Raaawwwrrr.

A big THANK YOU to Leanne for everything you did for me on my birthday. (especially when MY OWN PARENT'S DIDN'T EVEN CALL TO SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!) And of course to my husband Kyle, who will do anything to make me happy. I am lucky I noticed you stalking me in art class 2 years ago. I owe all my happiness to him. He always tries his hardest to make sure my birthday is special.

I always said I would cry when I turned 25. Ah I guess it's not so bad. Not yet, anyways.

Pregnant friends, baseball games, & terrible movies.

2010-10-21T21:51:00.000-07:00

Kyle & I were able to have a few extra days in Arizona this trip to see some friends. We met up with Sarah & Chad at Joe's Farm Grill for dinner. We love hanging out with them. I wish we could live by them, they are fun friends. Sarah is going to have her baby in February. I am so excited for them.

We got to see Ashley for a little bit & meet her BF. Kyle tells me all the time, I love Ashley.

A cop eating a donut. How ironic.

Sandy got beat up! I think that was from Todd.

Sonya!

Eesh.

Kyleface.

Siena loves me. I'm her favorite Auntie.

Trey got huge since I have seen him. I love his blondie hair & his skinny little butt.

BFF's.

We went to watch Toddy play baseball. He got a hit! We embarrassed him with our signs we made but I know he loved it.

Kyle likes my butt in these jeans.

Aunt Mary & Siena

What a stud.

Sandy & Kyle are in love.

Sarah Williams!

Since all the girls were in town we did a girls night. Pei Wei & a dollar movie. We saw Eat, Pray, Love. I read the book which was alright but the movie was SO BORING. The twins left for a while, my mom went home, & I convinced Kelli that she dies in the end. She doesn't.

Crying Kase.

Gotta love us Payne girls.

House of Payne 2010

2010-10-21T11:02:00.000-07:00

Kyle & I flew over to AZ for our Payne Family Reunion. It was just with my siblings & their children, which is still a ginormous crowd. Our reunion actually took place in Verdin, NM where my dad grew up, in the middle of the desert.

We stayed at the old Virden Mormon Church Building which has been converted into a hotel basically. You can rent it out for things such as family reunions. It held our entire family nicely. Lots of space for the kids to be loud so they can wake you up a 7 am. We had a good time for reals though. I really didn't take many pictures so I don't have much to show. We rode the quads a lot, got yelled at by the neighbors. Sandy & I snuck into my dad's abandoned elementary school. It was in the day time but it was pitch black inside. We didn't even make it 5 feet before we freaked out & ran. Llamas eating pumpkins, girls night craft time, Sandy getting laid out by Todd in football, kick ball games, cemetery trips, Mom falling at the ghetto fair & having her bleeding head cleaned up by the EMT (that was scary), & Kyle scaring the crap out of Chris with the Jason mask in the shower. We had a fun time.

We carpooled with Kristi & baby Kase.

3 little babies sitting on a table, one fell off & broke his navel!

In elementary school we used to play the parachute game & tell jokes inside. If you play with Mike & Dave, they like to fart inside.

Payne Family talent show. I didn't participate, I don't have a talent.

Chloe is the gymnast in the family now. Sorry San!

K*T & Kyle rocked it playing a song, but I don't remember which it was.

Dave & Sonya did a Pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop Papa Payne rendition to Lady Gaga, as well as Mike & Ash. Then Mike & Ashley announced Baby #3! Totally guessed it first!

Kylie can sing! She loves being in the spot light.

Kaden & Conner did a rap to another song I don't remember. Something about shorty's & ipods stuck on replay. It was pretty amazing.

My parents sang a duet.

One year of pure bliss.

2010-09-18T08:27:00.001-07:00

Wow it has been one year. One year since that crazy, awesome wedding. One year living with a boy. One year not being a Payne. One year not living in Arizona. One year being a wife! It still is weird to me sometimes saying "husband". Maybe it's because I still feel like a teenager. I'm not sure that will ever change.

Kyle had to work on our anniversary and we had been out of town the weekend before so we couldn't do any weekend getaways like we wanted. Instead we spent a night out on the town. Well, a night out at dinner. One very expensive, delicious dinner. We tried out one of those Brazilian restaurants, Texas de Brazil, where you pay one price, get to sit there as long as you like and eat all the food you can manage. When you flip your little card over to green, that means you are ready for the meat. Oh goodness, 6 guys will come running to your table cutting slices of meat for you. And the 1,000 item salad bar is just worth the money in itself! It was so good. And so worth it.

I'm not exaggerating when I say I ate so much I threw up. I really did throw up, as soon as I walked out of the restaurant.

It got all over my tights. But I felt much better afterwards!

The hostess asked me if my legs were really that yellow. She is a dumb, dumb girl.

Happy one year Kyle! To many more happy years to come.

Life in Louisiana.

2010-09-17T14:24:00.001-07:00

*Let me warn you, this post is really boring. I have no creativity in me right now nor do I feel like trying to be funny, or feel like blogging for that matter. I am having bloggers block.

This is Kyle's school. He goes to swamp school. That building is the main office then there are some classrooms. It can hold like 100 people. He loves it.

If you were wondering what a tar ball from the Gulf oil spill looks like, well you're in luck because I found one in Mississippi. It was sticky and stinky. I promised my old manager form Idaho I would send him one. But I didn't send it in the mail, because that would be illegal...

So we have been in Louisiana for almost 3 months now. Holy crapoly time flies by. Here is what we have been doing with our time.

We went gator hunting a while ago to Spanish Lake. Kyle spotted a few gators and by the time he pointed them out they were gone. You can see him at the top of the picture.

These birds were just hanging out in the trees.

Then all of the freaking sudden they were everywhere. I mean, hundreds of them.

This is what the lake looks like in the summer.

And this is the picture I took in Dec. of 2008 in the exact same spot. Big difference.

We went to Boluxi, Mississippi with some friends for the weekend and got to stay at the Hard Rock Hotel. It was pretty sweet. They were having a huge pool party and guess who we saw!? Knight from the Real World New Orleans. He seemed like a huge douche like he is on the show, but we saw a not really famous person!

Here is a horse.

The view from our hotel room.

Kyle's longtime friend Brandon.

Brandon can somehow get anything he wants. Like a limo for the night $5.00.

I love Kyle's face in this picture.

Kyle & I went down the coast on our way home. The entire coast got destroyed by Katrina but they have recovered for the most part. There are still some houses that haven't been rebuilt but it's still an awesome place. The houses here are so awesome.

We stopped by the oily beach and Kyle made sand crafts.

He tried to make it look like it came out of the water.

He was very proud.

I took a picture of these people taking a picture of the turtle. I'm a creep.

I love the sunshine. Not really looking forward to winter.

We saw this sign on the way home. There are lots of churches here with some funny sayings. Now that's what I'm talking about!

And this is what the world looks like through my snowboarding goggles.

We went on a family vacation to Pensacola, Florida. That's where we went on our honeymoon last year. We got to hang out on the beach for the weekend and got tan and it was wonderful.

CATCHING CRABS!

We visited the Naval Air Museum. I love everything WWII so it was fascinating to me.

I got to fake fly a plane!

Soulja Boys.

This POW display they have made me cry. My uncle died in the Vietnam war and reading the stories from the POW's was heartbreaking.

Kyle got to do the simulator they have. He wanted to be a jet fighter when he was a kid and he was soooo excited. More excited than he looks, really.

We were here on September 11th, we are so patriotic.

These are all the insignia's the Navy has had. I vote for the first one! So Popeye.

Then we saw the IMAX Hubble! Why have I never heard of this Hubble? It was AWESOME!