Moab Madness And Other Adventures

Sunday nights always seem to be a little melancholy. I tend to stare at my pictures from the carefree days before, stocking up on serotonin to get me through the midterms that never seem to end. Aren't they supposed to end eventually? When does the recess bell ring so I can go outside and hang on the monkey bars and pretend to be a sloth?

/// Weekends. The recess of a college student. ///

And seeing that it is much too late to right anything witty or charming or innovative, I am going the lazy just-paste-pictures-with-stupid-captions approach. Enjoy.

*And we all know how lazy I really am because I didn't finish this on Sunday night.  I even procrastinate on blog writing.*

Night mountain biking. Some suggest that this is dangerous but being bored and sad is also dangerous. You win some, you lose some.

Taking a picture of my shoes so I have an excuse to rest my aching bones while running. 

Getting up to the top of the trail and realizing that I have to run all the way back. (This is when I could benefit from having a boyfriend to come pick me up and buy me an ice cream.)

MOAB! I swear Elise is not nude in this picture. We went swimming in the Colorado. And it was deliciously cold.

Moab is Disneyland without lines or screaming children or overpriced Gumbo.

BECKSTEAD turned 21! This meant that we ate mildly gross Peruvian food, bought her a cat onesie, cracked eggs on her head and shoved her face in the cake. Peruvian culture is the best culture.

So majestic. This girl is the best sport ever. She was one of the biggest examples to me on the mission and I feel so incredibly blessed to still be her friend. Have her do her Penelope impression from SNL. She really is the Cat's Pajamas.

You know it will be a good Friday when your car has skis and a bike in the back. #blessed

My Father came out to see me again! He is just recently getting into the Chuck Norris jokes...I know I know, he is about 7 years late, that bandwagon set off when I was a sophomore in High school. 

GO TO DRAPER UTAH TO MOUNTAIN BIKE. Take the "Rush" trail because it is so so so so fun. Banked turns, jumps, and it's one-way on the downhill so you don't have to worry about collisions. And the dirt is PURR-FECT right now. Go go go! 

Sometimes people ask me if I get tired of my parents coming to Utah so often. I just stare at them and shake my head..."You just don't have a Shane and Sandy for parents so you don't understand." 

Evidence of the before mentioned: My Dad helped me attach pink, sparkly streamers on my mountain bike's handlebars. Only the pros do it. 

I have decided that there should be a new TLC show called "Camp Fire Wars: People Duking It Out Over Which Method Is Best." I have also decided that people don't understand the No-Judge Zone when it comes to quantities of A1 sauce. There is no such thing as too much A1 sauce on anything, especially tinfoil dinners.

Breakfast for dinner with the grandparents. Watching every PBS period drama ever made. Snoozing to Antiques Roadshow. Sunday Paradise.

Suggestion for those going to Moab to mountain bike. Check out the "Bar-M" trail system. It's just off the highway before you reach the town limits. This place is rad. It's fantastic for all skill levels and is just so so so fun.

According to this picture Mat and Camren are Siamese twins. If Moab is Disneyland, "Slickrock" is Space Mountain. It is the reason why you even go in the first place. It's also a great place to leave with giant bruises all over and if you're Mat, heat stroke from eating too many salted almonds and not enough water. 

Hooray for weekends! Sleeping under the stars, watching shooting stars, never brushing your hair, living like a gypsy. It's the good life. 

Now it's time to buckle down, put my nose to the grindstone, and work as hard as I can at school because the weekend will be here in 5 days. The countdown begins.

Oh Sister Sister (Not The TV Show)

DISCLAIMER. Reading about someone's sisters is like taking a bath in corn chips. (corny, if you didn't get the poorly crafted joke.) You have been duly warned.

Sisters. You start out life taking those pictures on the coach where you're accidentally strangling the smaller one and end comparing varicose veins while eating banana jello in mu mu's. It's the kind of relationship involving slamming toes in the door jam and stealing brushes and fighting over who gets to wear the legwarmers on 80's day... It's a lot of selfie-taking, double chin making, Panda Express eating with all the food guilt that follows. Having sisters means you always have someone who truly sees how ugly your personality can get and can tell you to "shut up and eat something because you're hangry."

Sisters are everything that is kind and fun and slightly aggravating. But mostly the fun and kind part. So this is all just me trying to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA AND SHANNON.

Jessica. 
Everywhere I turn to in Provo reminds me of you. I miss you when I pass that sketchy part of South Provo where you used to live, I miss you at family dinners, I miss you when I see it's sunny and all I want to do is bike to the lake with you.... I miss you when a cute boy says hi to me and I just want to analyze it all with you and Wise Wise Dan... I long for your company when I longboard and ski pow pow and mountain bike and go to lunch. I miss you in every moment and I want you to know that I think you are the most beautiful pregnant creature in the world and that I just can't wait for this semester to end so I can see you and talk to you for hours and make fun of the fact that you always seem to have a bun in the oven these days. And thank you for saving me spiritually by giving freely of your love and being so Christ-like that I couldn't help but change. I love you. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Shannon.
Sister Sister. You're my dearest friend and I love you. We have so many moments together that define who I am. We've gone through a lot. Moments that were painful beyond words, but those moments sewed our two hearts together in an unspeakable bond. You will forever be my lets-go-watch-a-chick-flick friend, my up-for-anything adventure buddy and basically the hot version of the Ostler Clan. Your voice is as beautiful as your soul and I am so grateful that you don't eat sugar anymore because it means more for me, I love you to Argentina and back a million times three. No words can describe how proud I am to know that you are spreading the Gospel to the people who need your beautiful light. BESOS POR SIEMPRE. Happy Birthday!

Now go and hug your sister and don't start watching the Sister Sister show again because it was kind of lame....

Birthdays And Lots Of Meat

The Compassionate Service Committee came over to my house tonight. I stumbled out of my room looking like a pajama party gone wrong; fuzzy socks, mismatched plaid, and bra-less. They proceeded to give me candy (!!!!) and a rose (whoooocaarreeessss?) and I then proceeded to eat the entire bag...in under five minutes. I blame it on the midterm blues.

But my gluttony is not important because today is a special day. Over two decades ago the cutest, sweetest, funniest set of twins were born. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX AND SYDNEY! 

When we were babies.

I remember the first time I saw that curly headed, short, irresistibly likable duo. It was the summer of 2011 and we were in the same orientation group for BYU. I was probably wearing short shorts and being angsty because I had to leave my boyfriend for the summer. I was lounging on the grass with our group, a little disturbed by the eclectic array of people there. One of the girls wanted to be a coroner who literally looked like a corpse herself, and one that hadn't seen the light in 78 years. I was thinking that I would never be able to find some good friends who weren't obsessed with dead bodies when I saw two beautiful creatures come mincing in; Alex and Sydney. 

And that is how the friendship started. 

Thanks Alex and Sydney for being a ray of sunshine for everyone that comes in your path. You're the very best and I love you both to smithereens. You truly are such Christ-like people and I admire you both so much. And let's be honest, you're so quirky and nerdy and strange....we're like four peas in a pod (with Elise). I hope you had a fantastic birthday!!

 ...................

To celebrate this huge occasion we splurged and went to Tucanos. My oh my oh me. This place is INSANE. It's a Brazilian grill where they serve you all-you-can-eat meat right off the skillet. We sat down and Sydney said to me, "this place is your best dream and worst nightmare put together." Pshhhh. It's an all you can eat meat place! Waiters come every half second to give you more meat! Bacon wrapped pork loin! Teriyaki steak! Parmesan chicken! Hot wings! Grilled pineapple! How can this place be compared, even in a joke, to a nightmare?

Well. It can.

MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT. It was like it wouldn't stop. I was stuck in a labyrinth of meat and couldn't escape. Get me out of here before I burst! Have mercy! No more meat!

We luckily made it out alive but that one guy who was dining by himself a couple tables down......He might still be there, finding solace in the endless meat platters.

The green side up meant that we wanted more meat. The panic when my fingers were too slimy  to turn it to the red side! 

Besos y felicidad, Alex y Sydney. 

Birthday Eggs

Hermana Ostler’s Update – August 25, 2014

IT’S MY BIRTHDAY IT’S MY BIRTHDAY. 

Or in better words, it WAS my birthday. I got rotten eggs cracked all over my head, flour in the face, and other evil pranks. Then we had to visit sisters and drop people off at the terminal, and something revolutionary happened, something that has never happened in my whole life..... I FORGOT THAT IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY FOR THE REST OF THE DAY. If you know me, you know that I am the type of person who proclaims to the whole world that it is MY special day and that all must bow down to me and treat me like The Queen of Genovia (Princess Diaries? Anyone?) 

But this birthday I made the goal to think of others. To stop being my typical self-centered me and lose myself in service that day. It was a really beautiful day and I felt a lot more love for other people, and a lot more gratitude to have another year of life to serve my fellow friends in this world. Love is what should drive us all, I am trying to have a lot more of it. Love to just be nice, to put vegetables in bags for an hour, and love to preach the gospel according to the needs and hurts of other people. Love is what makes us whole and happy. 

We also got to go to Valle Sagrado for the week. I LOVE THAT PLACE. We ate cuy and animal intestines (lie, I didn’t eat the intestines), went to my favorite orphanage in the world in Huayallabamba and ate Quinoa pizza. Most of all I love that place because it just feels different. The life is slower, people know their neighbor, there is no organization to anything, and it felt nice to feel a different pace. Also, Wishbone (The German Shepherd that ate my arm more than a year ago) died. VENGEANCE COMES. SOONER OR LATER IT BIT THAT DOG IN THE BUTT. 

Soledad is doing really well. She has a date to be baptized this 13 of September. I am so excited for her because she is starting to understand her importance as a daughter of God. She told me last night that lots of times she feels unworthy to pray to God. What a terrible lie that Satan has put in her head! We have never fallen too far, or said something too ugly, or been too disobedient, to be out of the reach of God’s love. Soledad is reading the Book of Mormon and says that she feels like it helps her know how to live her life. She loves church because she feels that the people there just want to help her be happy. I love Soledad- she will be so happy if she just keeps pressing forward.

I love you all! I love Cusco and I love Peru- I love being a literal representative of Jesus Christ because he is changing me. I love seeing that change in the people who I love so deeply here. I love cuy and I love birthdays. I also love Nutella. Thanks mom for sending it! It lasted about 2 days. But I don’t love sleeping in hospital chairs, can we just eliminate that from my mission experience? 

I love you!

Hermana Alex

Sweet Sweet Rest

Hermana Ostler’s Update – August 18, 2014

After a whole month of living without a single day off, we were able to go do something fun today! We went to Valle Sagrado with the Familia Farfan from the ward. They are my favorite. We had the opportunity to help Carmen start coming to church again and now she is seminary teacher and everything! But. The point is that we got to leave and get all relaxed and everything. AND I FORGOT HOW TO DO IT. I felt like I had to be doing something productive and felt stressed out. But luckily that only lasted for about 30 minutes, after that I was once again able to be the wild Hermana Alex who jumps and runs and laughs really loud. We went to Moray (a big hole in the ground that the Incans made) and Maras (the salt collecting place of the Incas.) Maras is my favorite. You literally can just walk around and eat free salt! And from what Hermano Erick told me, it is really special salt because there are crushed up seashells inside. I totally bought a ton of the salt and so we can eat it when I get back. 

A man tried to put my hand in his armpit when he felt my ice cold skin. I love Cusqueño men. 

I am learning a ton from living in Latin America. One of them is Sugar Coating everything. And when I say “sugar coating” I really mean that you take those words, pour chocolate syrup on top, cover it in caramel and then throw a pound of sprinkles on top. Basically you have to be really careful not in WHAT you say, but HOW you say it. Its honestly helping me a ton, because I have learned that in the eyes of God, cultures do not exist. There should only be one culture in His church and that is one of love, respect, and a willingness to change. So I am working on the sugarcoating. 

Concilio was this week. I LOVE CONCILIO. The Elders basically just like to blabber mouth for 6 hours while I wait anxiously for the food. This week I had the chance to make out with a slice of lasagna that had about 3 pounds of cheese on top. 

We are also teaching a part member family. His name is Alexander and his wife is not a member. We had the most beautiful family night with them this week. We taught the Plan of Salvation and I just relished in the joy that I felt to know that God DOES have a plan for us. Thanks to that plan we can know where we came from before we were born, we can know why we are here and what our purpose is in life, and we can know where we will go when we leave this mortal body. How my soul delights in that comforting knowledge! I know that this life isn’t just a random coincidence. I know that this life is not just to find momentary thrills or to satisfy every urge and desire that comes to mind. The purpose of life is to have JOY. Joy is so much more than adventures or food or family or religion. IT IS ALL OF THAT and more. It is a balance that comes to life when we put the things of God first. 

I love you all. Do not forget that my birthday is tomorrow. Sing me a little jingle from thousands of miles away and I promise I will feel it! 

hermana allleeexxxx

When the toilet overflowed...again. And my eyes look creepy because I was taking off my makeup when the poop crisis occurred. 

Reunion with the Coffey.

Best Day of the Year: My Birthday

Hermana Ostler’s Update – August 19, 2013

  

Hey everyone!

This is going to be a short one. Just wanted to let everyone in list form, know how awesome August 19^th of 2013 is:

1. My birthday. 20 years babay! Totally balla status. 

2. Went to the big old city of Cusco today to hear an Apostle of God speak in person (Elder Quinton L. Cook). Remember Peter, James and John of Jesus’ time? We have men on the earth today who hold that same authority as they did thousands of years ago. It was way awesome and I am pretty sure my beautiful, red, shiny face will be on the cover of a church magazine because I WAS IN THE FRONT ROW!

3. Found out that I AM AN AUNT FOR THE FIRST TIME. I am so happy!!! Baby Jesper, my first niece. I love her so much, and I forgive my sister for not sending me a birthday email today... because let’s face it, I am definitely going to be overshadowed by this wonderful little baby. 

4. I found out that my pensionista (lady who cooks for us) thinks I eat like a pig because I mix the rice and sauce together. (??????) I don’t get it either. But the benefit of being a Gringa is that I can pretend like I don’t understand (even if I do)! 

5. THAT IS ALL. More stories, but I have no time and I am going to MACCHU PICHU tomorrow! Woooooohooooo! 

I love you all so much. Just know that I am happy and that most of that happiness is due to the fact that I know I am a daughter of God. That He has a plan for me, and that I always have a friend. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME. 

Love, hermana alex

________________________________________________________________________

20 pictures to celebrate 20 years

Happy Birthday Alex!

Happy Birthday Shawa!

My little demon of a sister turns 18 today. 

Shannon. Thanks for hissing back at me when I want to act like a cat and being my unwilling sidekick for your whole life. 

Thank you for being a lot more approachable than I am. It's saved me from a bunch of awkward and longwinded conversations in my day. 

Also, why are you so good at everything? I mean, seriously, stop being so athletic, artistic, and intelligent. But please get good at driving. That's something you could improve on. 

The only person who can wear a vintage dress to every formal dance and pull it off with ease. 

Built in parter-in-crime for 18 years. 

Sorry I wasn't your first kiss. Stupid Angelo. 

We wore Timbaland boots before it was considered cool. 

Thanks for loving me even when we hated each other. 

But I am not happy that you are turning out to be prettier than me. Not cool Shannon. Not cool.