Homeward Bound from Dubai

Hello Everyone,

I am so excited to finally be heading home. I have spent the past two days with Christa, Guy, Laura, and Laura's two cousins in Dubai. It is an amazing city. It sits all by itself but has a huge number of sky scrapers and other buildings of all shapes and sizes. We started our tour of the city by buying a tour bus ticket. We rode the double decker bus around Dubai and stopped at all the popular sites. It is very hot here but luckily the bus was air conditioned so we did not die of heat. Part of the bus tour included a boat ride on the Dubai creek where a traditional boat showed us various sites up and down the riverfront. After the river tour we took a taxi to the Mall of the Emeriates. This is a HUGE mall! We wondered for a bit but the real reason for the visit was for Guy and I to try Ski Dubai. It is an indoor ski resort with one chair lift and two different runs. By the fact that Guy and I have seen snow before we were in the upper level of experience. The fact that we had skied before made us experts. We bought a two hour pass and instantly went from a desert to a 28 degree ski slope. It was very fun to see some of the locals in ski gear and full arabic robes and headgear.

The next day we visited the Atlantis waterpark. We rode water slides and enjoyed a day of relaxation in the sun. Once again, it was also very interesting to see a range of arabic swimsuits from a bikini to full robes. I think it would be very hot under those black robs in the summer.

I am currently sitting in the Atlanta airport and so excited to have Natalie and Abby picking me up in a few hours. I love you all and look forward to seeing you soon.

Love,

Ben

Word from Tanzania

I am traveling through Tanzania right now. Today we are going to be taking a ferry from Geita to Mwanza. It is such a beautiful country full poverty. Yesterday we were driving about 130 kilometers per hour (maybe 65 or 75 MPH) down a dirt road. When I asked my safety guy who was driving why he was not slowing down he indicated that the road was filled with bandits and if we go to slow we were at a higher risk of being robbed. At each end of the road they had armed police guards who would stop all traffic at 4 PM because the risk of driving the road at night was too great. The area is heavily forested and the forest connects to the Rwanda and Uganda areas. The fighting there has lead to refugees fleeing into the forest and unfortunately criminal elements have taken advantage of that. As our South African General Manager said, this area is “Real Africa”. The ladies are carrying pots of water or baskets of fruit on their heads, the little kids are herding goats or cattle, donkeys pull carts full of charcoal and many of the adult men are living in other places to find work. My local guy indicated the unemployment rate is around 50% and the poverty is just amazing. My hotel last night costs $20,000 Tanzanian shillings (about $13 USD) and while I was trying to talk to Natalie and frog came in under my door. I had to chase the frog back out with my sandals and decided that I would barricade the bottom of the door with a pair of dirty Levis. I am looking forward to seeing everyone again, being able to sleep without a bug net, drink cold water, and taking a small vacation with the family.

More pics from Tanzania

Aubrey at the pool

We spent the afternoon today at Aunt Jennifer's pool taking in the only sunshine we have had all week. Jennifer was confinced that Aubrey would like "her pool" so we took her up on it. The kids had a blast and I'm sure Aubrey will not be wearing out her swimsuit this summer!

Pics from Africa

Here are some picture that Ben sent from what he called "REAL" Africa - enjoy

Hello from Africa

Hello everyone!

It has been a couple of hectic days here in South Africa. On Tuesday I flew from Cape Town to Johannesburg, South Africa. We have an office here and several projects. We spend Tuesday afternoon in the Pretoria office and catching up with the people who work there. I stayed at the same 10 room hotel where I stayed last year during my training course. The same guys were working, the same dogs sleeping on the same couch, and I even stayed in the same room. It was good to see those guys again and the remembered me from the last visit. On Wednesday we woke up early and drove to a gold mine about two hours outside of Joberg. We visited the clients and rigs and then came back to spend some time working with Wayne, our Southern Africa Safety Manager. We went to a African restaurant for dinner called Chief Boma’s. They had African drum players and all sorts of game steaks and other local food.

Today I woke up and spent a few hours with our General Manager reviewing our systems and determining how we should proceed on a few things. He dropped me off at the airport and I am on the plane flying to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I will be spending the night here and then have a six AM flight to Mwanza in the morning. I am not sure how reliable the communication will be in Tanzania so if I cannot update the blog for a few days I apologize.

I love you all and I am excited that we are now on the downhill slide. I will be home in 8 days and I am counting down the time!

Love,

Ben

Tuesday

Ok, so we made it one week, we survived and all is well.

We have lots of generosity and kindness given to us today. We had a neighbor call today to offer her house and her daughters to come and babysit for me so I can get a break - apparently my dear husband talked to her and told her that poor little Natalie was going to be home alone for three weeks and could use some good babysitters! So sweet!

We also had a neighbor and his little brother come and mow our lawn today, looks like Ben took care of everything for us! Great to have the long grass short again, and I am sure it will grow back fast with all the rain we are getting.

Granddad came and took Hayden and Ethan to Hayden's baseball game, so I could stay home with the girls, so I took Abby out for ice cream and made a "date" of it. Thanks Jim for the out - I really needed it.

So, I bought the kids some new toys, first to have something new and exciting to look forward to, but also keep the kids on their best behavior for at least a couple of days... So Hayden is been huge into these Bacugans...so I bought him a three pack. Hayden, Ethan and Abby's prizes are sitting on top of the fridge waiting for them to earn 15 "points". They get points for taking on extra jobs and doing things without being asked. The score so far.... Hayden - 9, Ethan 0, and Abby 3. Poor Ethan keeps back talking so he has toggled in the negative for a day or so - but he will learn. Sweet Hayden spent his afternoon free from homework doing chores without being asked. He weeded the garden, swept the kitchen, emptied the garbage's, folded laundry and even made my bed..... what a good kid, he must really want those Bacugans! Here is a picture of his attempt to make my bed! I sure love him!

Sunday at home (Day 6)

Ok, so going to church alone isn't all that it is cracked up to be.  We ended up taking two rows, in the back and I wish I could have a quarter for each time I said "shhh"  They actually did great considering we were all fasting and no food in my boys equals some grumpy kids!

So I was feeding Aubrey today, ran down stairs for a sec, and this is what I found!  I actually think she ate more this way, licking the bowl then when I feed her with a spoon, she cried when we took the bowl away, but what a mess, she had to have a second bath for church, but who doesn't love a clean smelling baby!

The boys spent most of yesterday with Grandpa, helping clean his toy closet and helping out in the yard.  I went to target while they were there and I got call after call from Hayden telling me he "earned" enough money to have me buy them a Bakugan, a little ball toy that opens up to become a creature when placed on a metal card.  So when I came home with ones for each of them, they were happy little clams.  They have been playing with them all yesterday and today!  What ever floats their boats, right?

I was so proud of Abby that she could stand up in primary and say her article of faith all by herself today.  It was her assignment to repeat the 6th article of faith, which just so happen to be her favorite one she memorized while we worked on them with the boys.  We have the boys repeat them each morning during breakfast in order for Hayden to memorize them for his Faith in God Award.  One day, the boys each took their turn saying it without looking, and Abby says, I want to try, can I look at the paper Mommy?  Ethan jumped all over that one and said, "you can't even read!" So I said sure, your turn, and sure enough, she had it down word for word!  So when her assignment was that exact on we just passed off at home, I knew she could do it!  All of the other sunbeams need their moms to help, and you couldn't understand a word they said, not Abby, she stood right up, with out me, and repeated it word for word!  What a smart little cookie! 

Happy Sunday everyone! - Natalie

Sunday in Africa

Hello Everyone,

 

The day started out at 6:00 AM in Cape Town.  My hotel had an excellent view of Table Mountain which apparently is quite the attraction here in Cape Town.  Wayne Lindsay and I met our Southern Africa Regional Manager, Greig Rodgers, and a Canadian expatriate driller named Sheldon for breakfast and then a 700 kilo (approximately seven hour) drive to a drill site near Gamesburg, South Africa.  We spent the day talking about the politics of Africa and the LDS church.  It appears that I am the first member of The Church that most of these guys have ever met.  Even though the drive was long and cramped we arrived safely and I enjoyed the conversation.  We arrived just in time to meet the crews heading back towards our camp.  The guys on this project live in a camp that Major Drilling built three years ago.  I was picturing a camp that Indiana Jones would have stayed in but the camp is actually fairly nice.  It has concrete floors, tin sides and roof, beds for about 80 guys, and a grill that cooked a great t-bone steak for dinner.  I had to buy a coat since the weather in the camp is around 50 degrees during the day and close to freezing at night.  I am currently wearing my t-shirt, a long sleeve shirt, my fleece jacket, and my only other long sleeve shirt.  I cannot believe that right now I am freezing and in a few days I will be sweating to death in Tanzania. 

 

We are going out to the rigs early in the morning and then leaving by noon to drive the seven hours back to Cape Town.  The experience of staying on site in the camp and traveling these great distances makes me appreciate the ability to sleep in a warm bed and get a snack whenever I am hungry.  I am almost half way through the trip and will be home before you know it.  I hope everyone had fun at the birthday party for Guy, Mike, and Nate.  I love you all and will look forward to talking to you tomorrow on the phone. 

 

Love,

 

Ben

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all doing well. I hope you are enjoying your weekend and can have some fun today.

We spent the day driving over bumpy roads in the middle of nowhere. We left Swakompmond early on Friday morning and drove to a uranium exploration site. We visited with the crews and spent some time with a supervisor named Raymond. He has been in the drilling industry since before I was born and was a nice guy. When we were done he took us through a dry river bed to the next mining site. We saw some Kudu ( a large animal that looks like a grey elk) and lots of birds.

We ended the day by driving to the capital of Namibia, Windhoek. As we drove here the terrain started changing from Desert to grasslands with trees. On the drive we saw a (herd, flock, tribe, group?) of baboons, a few girrafe, and alot of antelope.

We visited our local office for a few minutes then went to check in at the hotel. We went to a local place for dinner called Joe's. It was an outdoor resturant that specialized in different game meats. I had a great Orynx steak and since it is cold here (55 at night) we sat by a huge fire pit that was probably 4 or 5 feet across. It was a great meal an interesting experience.

I am staying at the Safari Court, a really nice hotel by local standards. It seems to be a jumping off point for safari groups in the area. Staying at the hotel there was a group of fifty or sixty American tourists who were headed out on a bus tour to some local game parks. I am going to be flying back to Cape Town on Saturday and then headed up to a mine site about eight hours drive from Cape Town called Black Mountain. The idea of driving eight hours to do a rig visit does not sound appealing but the client there and the crews seem impressed that someone would travel all the way from the States to visit so away we go.

I love you all and hop you are doing well. Nat, I hope the scrapbook night went well and the kids enjoyed their sleepover at Grandpa's house. I miss you all very much and wish you guys were here with me. I hope the kids remember who I am when I get home this time.

Love,
Ben

Day 4 at home

Lets see, I'm feeling a little like our life at home is quite boring after hearing Ben's adventures in Africa, but hey this blogging is for all of us, so I am sure Ben will appreciate the update, plus who doesn't want to hear all about our day here in Syracuse!

Let's see, I spent the morning packaging prints for Kaysville Jr High officers... our first "job". Bella Road Photography is up and running, so bring on the clients!  (www.bellaroad.com)

The girls and I went and had a "date" with Jennifer and Josh.  Abby was so excited to go to the rainbow chair place (Cafe Rio) and sit by Joshy!  It was fun to see them and hear about the life of an almost 16 year old!  We followed that with a trip to the beauty salon to get Abby a haircut for the summer!  Oh what fun it is to comb a 4 year olds long long hair!  We cut about 5-6 inches off, and we walked out of their both mother and daughter happy!  I love it long, but the tears over combing it are just not worth it.  I still think it is pretty cute, and it is still long enough for me to play with!

Tonight we had Hayden's baseball game, which my dad willing came with.  I was so proud, Hayden had two runs, stole home, and one great hit!  It was so fun to see him on first base, with a big smile and doing the happy dance that he got a hit!  Ben - he wanted to call you so bad, but to explain to him that it was 4 in the morning where you were put a little damper on it.  We celebrating by going to get shakes at Artic Circle!  It was quite the ending of the day, thanks Hayden for making me so proud and happy for you!

I'm grateful for friends and family to help and support me! I defiantly don't know how good I actually have it!  Thanks Dad for coming to baseball with me! 

Uranium & Quads

Hello Everyone,Today has been another day in paradise....

We started by driving about one hour east to the Rossing Uranium mine. The pit is very deep (about 2,100 feet) and a bit longer than a mile. The equipment they use is massive and the terrain was rocky and barren. We have five rigs on the site and the visits took most of the day.

Late in the afternoon we decided that we were going to take a few hours for a "team building" exercise riding four-wheelers through the sand dunes near the coast. We rode for two hours and ended up finishing the ride along the ocean. Unfortunately the fog came in and the last half of the ride was cold and visibility was low. We ended the ride with no injuries and enjoyed a good dinner afterwards. The break from the rig visits was fun and it gave me a chance to get to know our safety team a bit better. We are starting early tomorrow so my post is not too long tonight.

I love you all and hope you are having a great time. Boys, keep playing hard in your baseball games and take care of Mom. Abby and Aubrey, keep giving Mom lots of kisses and hugs for me. Nat, I hope all is going well. I hope the love and support of family and friends is helping you out and you are in my thoughts and prayers. Have a great night and I will write more tomorrow. For some reason I cannot get the photos to upload so I will send them in tomorrow nights message.

Love,
Ben

Namibia Day 3

Greetings from the Skeleton Coast,

I hope you are all doing well. It looks like Baseball is still in full swing and Mom is running everyone around quite a bit. I miss you all and wish you were here with me to see some of the interesting sights and meet the people of Namibia.

Today I left the rainy city of Cape Town and took a two hour flight to the North. We landed in Walvis Bay, Namibia. It was a great big desert that had very few trees or life of any kind. I took a picture of the view as we left the airport for you to see the few trees in the area. This area of Namibia has a heavy German background and the city names still carry much of that history. For example, my hotel is on Vineta street in the city of Swakopmund. It is right on the Atlantic coast and seems like a nice place. Everyone speaks English and most also speak Afrikaans. Upon arrival I was greeted by Wayne Lindsay (our Southern Africa Safety Manager) and Charles Freeland (our South Africa HR Manager) and we stopped for lunch on the way to the rig visit. We had fresh prawns with the heads still on and fries. Luckily they have Coca-Cola light to help bring a taste of home to the mix. We then drove the two hours out to our first drilling rig of the day.

We traveled through an area known as the Namibia's Skeleton Coast. The area got its name from the large number of shipwrecks that have occurred on it's rocky coast (f0r more information click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeleton_Coast). We came across one ship that had hit the rocks. Wayne was nice enough to stop so I could get a picture and share the sight with you. Besides the shipwreck the coast was beautiful with a nice sandy beach and no development for miles and miles. It would make a perfect beach resort if it just wasn't 1,000 miles from nowhere.

We left the coast and inspected one small drill rig. The rigs are similar to the USA but where we have two or three employees per rig they have seven or eight. The only real interesting thing on the rig was watching the geologist check for the uranium they are after. Once our crews had placed the core sample in the boxes the geologist would run a radiation sensor over it and measure the amount of energy coming from the sample. Kind of makes you wonder about the whole process.......

After the rig visit we drove back to Swakopmund and met up with one of our safety representatives named Michael. He and I first met at the Development Centre course I attended last year in Johannesburg so it was good to see him again and see how he is progressing. We enjoyed a nice dinner and now I am getting ready for bed.

I miss you all and hope that things are going well. With some of the large decisions facing the family I wish you were all here to sit down and have a face to face conversation. But the time will go by and it will seem quick in a few years from now, right? I love you and hope all is well with everyone.

Love,

Ben

Day 2

Lets see - what have we done today.....not much out of the ordinary.  We had lots of errands to do, appointments, and baseball.  I survived day 2, and even got some shots at Hayden's game and had a great time in the rain taking my niece Jessica's engagement and bridals...  We miss you Ben - here is a pic from Hayden's game - Nat

Ben's First Two Days

Hello Everyone,

I am missing you all ready and we still have a few days to go yet. My flight went well but it is a loooong trip. Our flight was delayed out of Atlanta by about 2 hours so it extended the total time from our house to the hotel in Cape Town to a total of 29 hours. I did not ge the upgrade on the flight and ended up sitting next to a guy who was kind of crazy. He told me about his plan for a space portal system to replace airplanes and how the government should own all building so that they can expand the roads anytime they want without having to pay anything. All I can say is that thanks to Matt's noise canceling headphones and an ambien I was able to get some sleep and survived the trip. It is rainy and cold here in Cape Town (50 degrees and wet) and I have not seen much of the city since it was dark when I arrived. The hotel (the Protea Fire & Ice) is a bit strange (think surfers meet hip hop) but the food was hot and the bed is comfortable. Since Cape Town is known for its Great White encounters, the hotel elevator is made up to look like a divers cage. Tomorrow I am flying to Walvis Bay, Namibia so I will get you some more information when I arrive. I love you and hope you are all doing well.

Love,

Dad

Day 1 - First Blessing

Ben left today for his 20 day adventure to Africa.  For those of you who don't know, he recently took over the region of Africa with work.  This requiring him to go and see all the mining sights and rigs over there.  His adventure are going to take him all over South Africa and into Tanzania and Namibia...  So while he was gone, we are going to take on the challenge of telling all about our daily activities so he can not feel left out of being gone for so long.  So here is our first day....

It started off quite early, 3:15 am to be exact....what crazy things we do for our kids.... I along with 4 of my friends stood in line to get our daughters into preschool for this upcoming year.... we watched the Devil wears Prada and visited to get a precious number for registration starting at 8:30... Sure hope it will be worth it.  I then drove Ben to the airport and cried all the way home thinking this is the longest time he will be gone... I know I tease him about how great it is to sleep in the middle of the bed and not have to share blankets, but I would would rather steal sheets than sleep alone with out him....

We spent the afternoon with Dave and Dee Dee, and Laura and Emily, visiting about new adventures and making beaded watch bands.... and then enjoyed Jessica's engagement party!  What fun it was to spend time with family....

One tender moment - When  we got home, all the kids got into their PJ's and got ready for bed in record time, and during prayers, both Ethan and Hayden prayed for our family to make right choices.... we need all the help we can get, so I will take two tender boys pleas and cherish their gestures.  

My first blessing of being alone, was when it was time for bed, no arguing, no fighting, nothing, it went from Goodnight Mom to silent in about 5 minutes, which is record for us!  It is 9:30, and I can finally go to bed and everyone is safe and asleep!