Kossac and his Celo

Saturday we left Crimea and came back on a little plane to Kiev.  We met up with Natalie, a member from Borshahivskiy.  We started the day with going to Peregov!  It is a HUGE outside museum.  They took real houses from little celo’s (Ukrainian Villages) and restored them and put them in the same area.  There were a ton of houses.  It was out in the boonies with trees everywhere.  It had the coolest feel to it.  

They even had Kossacs to take pictures with.

He was kinda mean tho.  We got ripped off by some random guys which was totally lame but Howie came to mine and Natalie’s rescue and paid the guy off. What would we do with out Howie!?? 

We then headed to andreevsky spusk.  I was so happy the church was all repainted and absolutely beautiful.  For my whole mission it was covered in scaffolding getting it refurbished.  

After the Spoosk we were able to go to the best Ukrainian restaurant in Kiev.  I had never been there but walked past it all the time not knowing what it was, because it is right by the church on Shota, in center. Of course I got Verenikiy z kopustoyu (dumplings with cabbage) They are my favorite!!

Fat guy in a little speedo!

I will start with my apologies to anyone that actually reads this, or those that hope to read it but never can because I never have put anything up.  My computer died and I haven’t been able to but I have been writing things down a little hear and there for posts. 

So we went down to Crimea to find some the sun and some warm weather.  We got there and I had some pretty high expectations for the Black Sea. This is what I was looking for.....

That wasn’t exactly what I found.  Instead we found two small triangles of “beach” that were covered with half naked people showing a lot more of themselves off than anyone would wish. The beaches don’t have sand but have big rocks that kill your feet when you try to walk on them.   I will include some of the pictures.

Well the first day we just pushed our way onto the beach just to say we did it and we actually started to enjoy it and then the rain came.  Everyone booked it off the beach before you could say “RAIN!!” 

At that point the family decided that was too much fun and we would have to go back to the black sea to hang out for our last day.  It was the best choice thus far!  We even tok it to the next level and laid out at the black sea in style!!! Loved the black sea!!!

The sun will come out tomorrow!

I think this post will just have to take on the same ideas that were in the last. On Monday we had a member offer to take us on a tour of some sights in Kiev. We talked about some of the places we would go and I was excited for my family to see everything. Well it rained ALL day! We walked around for our tour for a few hours and then my mom was tired and cold so she went home to rest and we attempted to carry on the adventure by eating some Visuvios Pizza. 

I was able to go out to dinner with my mission president, President Jorg Klebingat and his lovely wife, Julia Klebingat. It was to see them again and have them meet my family. I love my mission president and look up to him so much. 

After Mondays adventure with the rain we hoped Tuesday would be better. Unfortunately it rained Tuesday as well. We went to the temple and I was able to see some dear friends and missionaries that I serve around, elders Shurtleff and Hubble!  They are doing great and it was fun to chat with them. 

We have decided that we are going to ditch this bad weather and head down south to the black sea, where it's expected to be blue skies, sunny and gorgeous!$

All is well that ends well!

You know on my mission I heard myself saying, “things did go as planned.”  I asumed that, that was a mission thing.  I felt that everything I planned got flipped upside down.  Not for the worse, sometimes for the better but it would just never go as planned.  I have come to realize that it’s not the mission that makes you say that it’s Ukraine.  

Starting for the beginning, things started to go off course.  We were sitting in Salt Lake International waiting to board our plane to Paris when they announced that they needed a part for the plane and that it wasn’t in SLC.  They would need to go get the part put it on and then we would be able to depart.  So we sat, waited and ate for four hours and they said that we were able to fly to Paris.  By this time we already realized we were going to miss our flight to Ukraine.  I, of course, started to cry when I realized I would not be able to attend a ward that I loved dearly because I served 9 months of my mission there. Well the flight was okay we got to Paris at two in the afternoon.  They gave us a hotel and we decided to go play in Paris.  It was wonderful we saw the Eiffel Tower, the arc de triomphe and shopped on the Champs Elysees. It was nice to soak up paris in a few hours.  We went to our hotel and slept for only a few hors and were right back at the airport.  After some complications of them not being able to locate us on the flight roster they pulled some strings and got us to our gate really fast. I was so excited to be on my way to Ukraine!!!

We got to The Kiev Airport and we waited for 30 minutes for our luggage to come out for the plane.  Everyone else came and left with their stuff and to our surprise our luggage never came.  we filed a lost luggage claim and went to get our rental car.  Up until this point things were fine we enjoyed out detour to Paris and were just happy to make the flight to Kiev but a lack of luggage and no knowledge of when it would come was a little frustrating. Well we get our TINY rental car and decide we are going to church.  

We were able to still make it to sacrament meeting in a different ward that I served in.  We were late and tried to sneak into the back.  Well the bishop of the ward who i know very well noticed us and announced to everyone that Sister schmidt has returned to Kiev with her family.  everyone looked back so we waved and then he invited me to the front to bare my testimony.  As I walked from the VERY back of the room to the front I felt completely out of my element!!! I was walking to the front of a ward that I served in as a missionary, now as a returned missionary IN JEANS AND SNEAKERS DURING SACRAMENT MEETING!!!!!!! It was completely awkward and not how I ever imagined it would be, when I revisited my mission! But I was so happy to greet and hug everyone!  They are amazing people!! I was so glad to see them no matter what attire I was wearing!

So things may not always work out as planned, but they still work out.  Sometimes life takes you in a completely different direction or maybe just on a detour. It maybe for the best and sometimes its just because, but no matter what the circumstance “all is well that ends well.”

Holy Schmidt!! I just did that!

I am an official finisher of the Ragnar 2012! what is Ragnar. It's the largest Relay race!  You get 12 people family or friends and run 200 miles over the weekend.  It is the most obscured, crazy thing ever.  There were over 1,100 teams meaning about 13,200 people running from Logan to Park City.  I can say enough about it.  we have already signed up for next year!  I loved doing this with my family1  they are the coolest people ever!

Our team name was "HOLY SCHMIDT"  It was awesome!  We had T-shirts and our van was decked out with our name all over it.  We even had people taking pictures with our van! We had just as much fun preparing for the race as we did running it.  We designated our run to Lexe Selman.  She is my hero.  Many of you know that Lexe is battling Leukemia and is winning the battle.  We were "running for Lexe" with her number 13 on our backs and thoughts of her in our hearts. Lexe kicks Leukemia and we kicked Ragnar for her!  We love you Lex!

I ran three legs.  For some reason my first, which was my "easiest" kicked my trash! It was only 3.8 miles but it was hot.  It ended with a battle to the end with a girl that tried to pass me so I cut her off and ran in front of her. Rude, but awesome.  I almost peed my pants though! HA Leg two was by far the best!  I started running at 4:15 AM it was totally black and silent.  I had my new skull candy ear buds in and flying!  I blew past four people in my first mile and continued with a fast speed for 7.5 miles and raced a girl to the end feeling like a beast and..... NOBODY WAS THERE!  Heather was just chillin in the honey bucket line! Which was ironic considering she had just told me a few hours ago that she would never not be there.  i told her that was my biggest fear of Ragnar, that I would race in and my team wasn't even there. Luckily, Braden found me and told me she was on her way.  She is SO LAME! (I still love you Heaffer!) PS she still peed on herself anyways :)  Leg three is when I really became a beast!  I ran 4.0 miles up a mountain.  Okay fine, I didn't "run" I walked for the most part with a little jog on occasion.  I gained 1700 feet in elevation in 4 miles.  I thought it would be the death of me but after all my energy shots and GU chomps and caffeine drink, I was wired even after my run I could still shake my butt at Heather running past and summiting the mountain!  Our family rocks!

32 hours after we started, our 12 members rejoined together in our Holy Schmidt 13 shirts and ran through the finish line, with Howie as our lead man!!  It was such an amazing weekend and I hate that the next Ragnar is a year away but maybe this next time I will actually train for it!  If anyone is debating about running the Ragnar I say don’t hesitate just do it!!! It’s so worth it!!

Pictures to come soon!

All Is Well

Have you ever sat and thought about everything that you have?  I am sitting here in a beautiful home, with lights and comfortable furniture. I am next to my brother who, in my mind, is one of the most incredible kids on the earth, and I think how am I so lucky.  I think people ask God, "how could this happen to me," when things get hard or something goes wrong.  Tonight I find myself asking that same question but opposite. How come I got to be so lucky?  Why was I born into an amazing family? Why did I have the privilege to grow up in America and have the freedom and ability to realize my dreams?  How come I got to grow up in the Gospel, when I was taking advantage of it and somebody else had to go through a lot of hard trials in order to come unto Christ?


I love my life, family, religion, education, home and dreams.  I have everything I could ever need or want and yet I forget.  I forget what I have and look to what I want.  I forget who I am and try to be what I am not.  My eyes are then opened to the lives of others and the hard things that they have to go through.  I watch Lexe Selman, two days before her 18th birthday, smile and laugh as her mom injects syringe after syringe of her medicine, helping her battle leukemia and watch her body deteriorate from so much chemotherapy. I watch the video of Stephanie Nielson who suffers from severe burns all over her body, say she is lucky and that loves the trials that come her way. I am grateful fro those around me that go through trials and help me realize all that I really have.  I am so grateful for everything.  I am grateful o be me, to have the siblings and parents that I do.  I am grateful for this gospel that constantly gives me the hope and love for the greater things in life. 

“In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.” 
― Gordon B. Hinckley

A Lack of Excitement

So I just spent the last half hour reading my sister's blogs and literally laughing out loud to myself as I am in the kitchen eating my veggie burger (No I am not vegetarian but my sister introduced me to some awesome veggie burgers and I can't get enough of them).  Meanwhile my roommate is in here room with her door open probably thinking, "Only three more days that I have to live with this crazy chick!" Ha She loves me :)

So I thought to myself, "Hey I haven't updated my blog in a while.  I should do that!" Oh wait, I am not pregnant nor do I have an adorable girl to take pictures and tell funny stories about.  Yeah thats right why would anyone want to read my blog?  Easy answer.... They don't! Well too bad I am writing anyways.

I love life!  I truly do! I might just be hopped up on happy pills that come in the form of sunlight, shorts, flip-flops and sunny G's, but that's how I am feeling.  I kind of failed at school this semester.  I hear that RM's are way good students especially right after they get home form their missions.  Well it's a lie.  I couldn't care less about school.  It just needs to end as soon as possible.  I feel like school is getting in the way of my education.  So I just finished the first of four finals.  I will finish Thursday and with out hesitation, My friend Carrie and I will jump in the car and drive to California for some much needed R&R!  Laying on the beach reading and not having a care in the world sounds like paradise!  We will be there for a week and then I have a lot of driving ahead of me.  I will go from California to Logan Utah in a matter of two days.  That how much my friend Mckell's wedding means to me.

I then find myself in Draper.  Yes, that is right I am moving back home.... living with my parents. I will be a 23 year old returned missionary and just about to graduate and living with my parents.  I definitely fit the stereotype.  At home I will be sitting on my butt doing nothing....  I wish! Instead I will be taking an intense Russian course for 2 weeks, 5 1/2 hours a day.  I think my head will explode. I will need week of recovery after this before I will be able to communicate in English again.  I then will start working.  I am so excited for my job this summer.  I will be working as a property manager for Huntington Apartments in  Bountiful. I will be there for 10 weeks while the manager is on maternity leave.  I am excited for the job expierence because I am going into business management.  And with all this time I will spend most of my time playing with my little nephew that is due the day before my birthday!  I can't wait for him to come!

Boo to novel length posts! Sorry!!