Having connections has its advantages. One of my roommate’s friends works at the gardens at Thanksgiving Point where they rent Segways for tours. As luck would have it, she got us in just before closing for a private tour of the gardens. I figured I’d brave the cold for a little fun. Let me tell you, those things are a blast! It was definitely worth facing the cold autumn air. If you ever get a chance to try one out, I’d highly recommend it. Here’s a few pictures from the adventure. They’re a little blurry because I had to take them on my phone.
I have completely dropped the blogging ball. So, rather than trying to catch up on all the goings on via text, I’m going to let the following pictures tell my story. Enjoy!
16 Drinks From Around The World
Fountains at the Bellagio
$30 worth of Gelato - don't ask.
Angel's Landing Summit - Zion National Park
View From Angel's Landing Summit - Zion National Park
View From Angel's Landing Summit - Zion National Park
Wakeboarding at Echo Lake, MT
Kneeboarding at Echo Lake, MT
Cameron Falls - Waterton Lakes National Park
Upper Waterton Lake - Waterton Lakes National Park
Bertha Lake - Waterton Lakes National Park
Cameron Lake - Waterton Lakes National Park
Upper Waterton Lake - Waterton Lakes National Park
Prince of Wales Hotel - Waterton Lakes National Park
Village of Waterton - Waterton Lakes National Park
Bear's Hump Summit - Waterton Lakes National Park
Black Bear near Red Rock Canyon - Waterton Lakes National Park
Police Lake & Chief Mountain - Police Outpost Provincial Park
A mission is a singular experience. Some missionaries enjoy them, some endure them, and others love them. I am one of the latter. I have now been home for over 4 years, and still not a day goes by that I don’t think about Madagascar, it’s people, and the language. From the very beginning, my mission was unique. I was called to the Madagascar Antananarivo Mission and assigned to speak French. The mission itself consists of 3 main islands: Madagascar, La Réunion, and Mauritius. Speaking French meant that I would have served in La Réunion and Mauritius. Apparently, there were other plans in store for me. I was driving with my family through Idaho the day before I was to report to the MTC when my dad’s cell phone rang. It was the bishop informing us that my assignment was being changed and that I would be speaking Malagasy. That one phone call changed the course of my mission.
I recently had the privilege of meeting the man who not only changed my mission call, but as a result changed the experiences that shaped me as a missionary and as a person. Meeting President Hill at the Madagascar mission reunion was a great privilege. I also went to Sandra Razafinirina’s wedding reception (she was the Malagasy that taught me in the MTC.) However, I didn’t just attend a wedding reception and a mission reunion. These get-togethers are more like family reunions. Some of my best friends are people I met while serving in Madagascar. Reason number one General Conference is so great: reminiscing with friends.
For the second conference in a row, I had the privilege of being a Malagasy interpreter. I can’t really explain what a neat experience it is to transform the words of Prophets and Apostles into a language that people you love will understand. True, interpretation is important to the Malagasy people, but it is also a chance for me to dive into a conference talk and study it in a whole new way. I’m looking forward to listening to the whole conference on my daily commute. Reason number two General Conference is so great: sitting at the feet of Prophets and Apostles.
June and July are celebratory months for me. The celebrations begin on 26 June – Madagascar’s Independence Day. Traditionally, I throw a party for all my friends featuring various Malagasy dishes to delight the taste buds. This is normally possible due to a ton of help from Mom. But this year with work keeping me on such a wacky schedule, it wasn’t going to happen. So I had to tone things down a bit. Thanks to the Madagascar exhibit at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake, a great Malagasy celebration was easy to come by. Two of my Malagasy friends and I hit it up and here’s a taste of what we saw:
Fossa
A Desert Tortoise
Ring-Tailed Lemur
Black and White Ruffed Lemur
Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches
To end the day off, I got some Malagasy food after all. We ended up cooking some toton-kena sy anana (hamburger and greens) over rice, of course. Boy did it taste good!
July 1st is Canada Day. Again, I was working so I wasn’t able to make it to the party that the Provo Canadians throw at one of the local parks. So I did the next best thing – took Canadian chocolate bars to work for me and the guys. There is a story called Crazzy Canuck in the mall that sells all kinds of lacrosse and hockey equipment, as well as Canadian junk food. So I went on down and got all kinds of stuff – including one of my supervisor’s favorites: Big Turk.
July 2nd is a day that I don’t necessarily celebrate, but I remember it nonetheless. It marks the day that I went into the MTC – 6 years ago now! I can’t believe how the time flies. That day marked the beginning of a great experience, so to me it’s worth remembering.
Next, of course, was the 4th of July. I have a roommate that is doing an internship down in Austin, TX, so I decided to go down and check it out. It was a great weekend of good food, good music, good fun, and good company. When I got there, we went straight downtown to check out the Capitol building.
State Capitol
Davy Crockett
Remember the Alamo!
Confederate Casualty Memorial
That night we went to a little Mexican restaurant where we enjoyed some good food and a live Mexican band – you know, the ones with the trumpets, violins, and guitars that play really loud. They were really good too!
On the actual 4th, we spent the day at Schlitterbahn water park. We picked a good day, and a good place to go. On the 4th and 5th Austin broke records with temperatures reaching 104 both days. HOT!!! So water parks in general were a good idea. Schlitterbahn was an even better choice. It has been voted the world’s best water park for 11 years in a row and is home to America’s favorite water ride – the Master Blaster. At first we didn’t know where it was. The water park was huge and had tons of rides. We finally found the Master Blaster – after we took a shuttle to the other annex of the park that was a few blocks away. Even the annex was huge! The Master Blaster definitely was a hit. You sit on a tube and go down twists and turns only to be blasted back up other twists and turns by jets of water. Essentially, it was a roller coaster ride on a tube. Good times, to say the least.
On the way home, I had to connect in Denver. When I got there, I went to my next gate and realized that my flight had been delayed. That was fine because I had left myself extra time before I had to go to work for that exact reason. But then it got delayed again. No one knew why until we got on the flight. Apparently on the first flight of the day they had gotten in the air and someone on board had a medical emergency that forced them to turn around and land at their origin to get medical help. That would have been an interesting flight, I’m sure. In the end, I was only 15 minutes late for work – not bad. All in all, it was a great 4th weekend. I always love an adventure!
The last celebration is July 26th – the day I returned from my mission. I can’t believe it’s been 4 years since I’ve been back! I don’t know where the time has gone. Looking back on the past 4 years, I realize that a ton has happened. I dropped Nursing and started Pre-Med, my brother has gotten married, I have lost a grandparent, my family moved to Arizona, I graduated with a BSc in Biological Science, I’ve moved to Utah for a change of pace, I’ve experienced unemployment for the first time, I’ve applied to med schools and have started re-applying, and I’ve learned how to make toothpaste for a living. Wow! Life is an adventure, and I love it.
So apparently I’m about as good at keeping this blog going as I am keeping a journal going. Sad. But, I suppose it’s better to catch up late than never. So – back to May. Memorial Day weekend my two remaining roomates and I packed up and headed out to Vegas to go to our former roomate’s wedding reception. It was a much welcomed adventure. After an uneventful drive, we arrived at our hotel (which, being the young, single, spontaneous guys we are, got booked around 10:00 the night before). For those of you who are familiar with Cardston, think Flamingo Motel. For those of you who aren’t, I’m told that it was reminiscent of the hotel from “Psycho”.
The hotel we almost stayed in....
Spending the night in Vegas in a hotel straight out of Psycho wasn’t exactly what we were planning, but we figured one night wouldn’t hurt. So, I went in to get our key. The guy behind the counter was in a pair of shorts and a plain white T-shirt. In fact, if he hadn’t been behind the counter, I wouldn’t have known that he worked there. I gave him my name and he gave me a sheet of paper from Expedia and simply said “call them”. Apparently they had been overbooked and didn’t have a room for us. Great. No room on Memorial Day weekend. Not good. So, I called the number and listened to the worst hold music I have ever heard in my life. 45 minutes later, I got through. I explained the situation, held some more, and turned on a little Kartchner charm. About a half hour later the lady on the the other end of the line had hooked us up with a hotel closer to where we wanted to be, worth twice the money (for no extra charge), she had put $25 back on my card for gas, and credited my Expedia account with a $100 gift certificate to use towards any flight or hotel booked through them. SWEET!!! So after a quick swim at the nice pool, we went to the wedding reception. Which, by the way, was very nice.
The Pool
The Room
Not long prior to our little trip, I had bought a tent – something I’d been thinking about for a while. So, we decided to take it for a test drive at Lake Mead. One would think that we’d understand that camping in the desert would mean no trees. But, being next to a lake we figured we’d be able to find something for a little shade. Not so.
Our Campsite
This was as good as it got. But, it was only one night and it turned out to be a good time. Of course, everything is good if the food is good!
Kabobs
Monte's Hash
The next morning, after a delicious breakfast of Monte’s Hash, we found a shower at one of the marinas and cleaned up a bit, then headed back into the city to spend the afternoon on the strip. It turned out to be a reminder that if you’re not in Vegas for the booze or the women, you’re going to have to spend the money to see a show. Since we were there for just the afternoon, we got some good grub at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville and some gelato at the Bellagio. Then it was back home.
All in all, it was a great weekend with lots of fun and good company. The only problem is that by the next weekend I was antsy for another adventure.
‘Tis the season. With school out for the summer, the onslaught of weddings has begun. I started things out right by going to Jacob Powell’s reception on Friday. He is the 4th from my MTC district to get married. The reception was great. It was good to see him again and to meet his new bride. Getting to his reception required a drive from Provo to Price – about an hour and a half of gorgeous scenery through the canyon. Not only did I get beautiful views of canyons and small towns in the setting desert sun, I also got to see some elk. It was great to get out of the city and into some open spaces again. What a great feeling!
The trip back to Provo proved to be interesting as well. I was only about 10 minutes out of Price when I saw a man walking along the side of the road. I remembered seeing him when I was on my way to the wedding, and there he was, still walking. So, I made a quick decision, flipped a U-ey, and asked him where he was going. He gave me a chuckle, and with a thick southern accent said, “Carson City, Nevada!”
You never know what you’re gonna get when you pick someone up on the side of the road. As soon as I opened the door, I wondered if I knew what I was getting myself into. He was red in the face, weathered, and worn, and I was hoping he didn’t smell like booze. But, I figured that if worse came worst, I could always stop and kick him out. So, I offered to take him a little ways. As luck would have it, he smelled very clean.
We got talking and I found out that he was coming from Jacksonville, Florida and was heading to Carson City to stay with his brother. He had been on the move for about 6 weeks. It had taken him a month to get as far as he had gotten in the past week. Apparently he had had a lot of luck recently with people picking him up. I didn’t get into it too much, but I could tell life had been rough for him. He was very soft spoken and shy, and was genuinely in need. He knew every historical landmark there was to know all along his route, so at least he had something to look forward to down the road. It was interesting to chat with him. In the end, I took him a little more than an hour up the road to I-15 – the junction to his next route. Before we parted ways I convinced him to let me buy him something to eat. With his pack on his back and his dinner in hand, R.C. and I said goodbye.
The day turned out to be great all the way around. I saw some of our Father in Heaven’s beautiful creations, I got to rub shoulders with an old friend, and I got to spend some time with an man that reminded me what life is all about. There is so much in this world that is so unimportant, and yet we lose sight of what is important and focus on the unimportant. Why? I have no idea. But one of these days I’m going to learn how to quit that.
They say that April showers bring May flowers. The other day I witnessed it first hand. We have had quite a rainy April, and it looks like it is bringing plenty of flowers along with it for May. Every year there is a Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi. There were huge gardens with all kinds of tulips. By huge I mean tons of wide open space, fountains, waterfalls, koi fish, and 250,000 tulips! Here is a random sampling from my wanders. Enjoy!
2008 was a year of change for the Kartchner family. It’s a little hard for me to pinpoint when the winds of change began to blow. Perhaps it began with my application to both ASU and BYU in late December. Most of you probably had no idea that I did that. It was a spur of the moment decision to see what might come of it – which ended up being not much. Maybe that’s when I started getting a little antsy. By mid summer, after returning from a 5 week humanitarian trip to Madagascar, I had pretty much decided that if there was nothing (or rather no one) to keep me in Lethbridge by December when I finished my degree, that I would move and see what life had to offer elsewhere. After all, I’m only young, single, and spontaneous once, so I might as well live it up!
Change for the rest of the family began during the summer. By the beginning of August, if I remember right, Dad, Mom, Karson, and Kayden had made the decision to move to Arizona so Dad could take a new job. The hope was that it would provide opportunities for growth and learning that were previously thought unlikely. As far as I can tell, it has been a great experience. It has not, however, been an easy one. They have had to leave family, friends, and a new home, make new friends, find a new home, figure out the American school system, and fly back and forth between Arizona, Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec pursuing Mom’s immigration papers. When they first left at the beginning of September, I became the only surviving Kartchner in all of Canada. It was an oddly honorable position to be able to single-handedly hold up the family name. I got some help later on that month though when Brett and Malori returned to Southern Alberta from Arizona. Mom got her immigration papers just this month, and that completed her southern migration.
September also marked the beginning of my last semester of my undergrad degree in Biological Science at the University of Lethbridge. It proved to be a busy one. Not only was I in school full-time, I was also working part-time, and trying to figure out med school applications with very little direction. The med school applications may not sound like much, but let me tell you – it’s a science of it’s own, and in a dog-eat-dog world, it’s not an easy thing to do. But, I survived, and finished up my degree by mid December. That marks leg one of my journey to becoming a doctor.
My last semester also gave me a chance to think about what I was going to do post-graduation. I basically had three options – go to grad school, stay put and work, or move and work. I opted to work. The only decision that I had to make after that was where to do it. I thought California or New York might be fun – and a big change too! But I opted not to go to either due to the struggling economy and the fact that I didn’t have a job already lined up. Something about being completely broke and living in one of the most expensive places in the States wasn’t exactly appealing. So, I was left with two other options – Arizona or Utah. After a lot of consideration, I opted to come to Utah. The reasons were many, and yet few. In the end, I think I could have gone anywhere or nowhere and been happy. It’s all about the journey and what you make of life. In fact, that’s the family’s attitude about life these days – finding joy in the journey.
Early 31 December, I loaded my entire life into my little Neon, said goodbye to a snowy sleepy town, and made the trek south along a familiar road. Only this time, instead of going all the way along the route and into the sun, I stopped at the halfway point and set up shop. I spent a couple of days with some of my greatest friends in the world, then I found an apartment with 3 great guys who I previously hadn’t met. When it comes to roommates, I completely lucked out, and when it comes to friends, there are no friends like old mission friends.
It took me a month to find a job that didn’t require me to work all day, every Sunday. Eventually though, I found a homecare position that gives me about 10 hours a week – just enough to keep the bills paid and food on the table. Needless to say, I’m still looking for a more lucrative job. I suppose the fact that I’m looking for work in an area with about 55,000 students in the middle of a recession doesn’t help the situation much. Then there’s always the fact that if I get into med school, I’ll be leaving. It took me two months to get my car imported, a cheaper option than buying one down here. In the next few days I should have the insurance and everything else done on it, and that will complete my southern migration.
There have been many changes for all of us. Sometimes it has been relatively easy, and at other times it has been down right difficult. But if nothing else, I’m finding joy in the journey – and that’s what it’s all about.
Hi all! I have finally decided to get into blogging. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what is going to end up being posted here. It may end up being completely unentertaining and uninformative, but only time will tell. If nothing else, it will give me somewhere to jot down a few thoughts and/or ideas. I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s blogs and keeping up on all the goings on in your lives. Hopefully this will become a place where you can come to find out what has been new and exciting in my life, if you so choose. So welcome, and enjoy the ride!
