A long time coming...

So yes. It has been ages since I posted to my blog, and so I thought I would share a little bit.
Georgia is creeping into spring at the moment. I can see the buds in the trees struggling to sprout And share their beauty. The other day, it was around the first day of spring, it was 28 degrees overnight. Now for my family back home in Utah that may not seem all that cold, nut remember I get humidity too.
So, it was super cold, the roommate was out of town and unbeknownst to me, he had turned the heat way down when he left. Why he likes to do that when I am still here is another mystery to be solved at a later date. Anyway, I was so cold that night, my down comforter wasn't even giving me the warmth I needed. So what did I do since I didn't have an extra blanket? I grabbed my fresh clothing out of the dryer and layered them over my comforter like they were extra blankets. I'm ashamed to say they've been there ever since, don't judge.
One of those nights I was having a hard time getting to sleep and so I laid on my back and stretched my arms and legs out as far as I could trying to get cozy. I woke myself up snoring two minutes later.. WOKE MYSELF UP! That's just scary. It reminds me of Cecelia saying she didn't want to sleep with Nanna because the snoring scared her.. I scared myself.
These are my awesome experiences he in GA. Jealous? I thought so.

I'm on a plane headed to see the Greens in NYC. I should try to catch a few winks as I was up at 430.

Love ya

NYE camping day 1 (Dec 29th)

Holy crap it's cold up here!
Back that up...
So I'm camping up at a place called "Rivers Edge Campground." I'm here with my friend Neil from Greenville. The camp site is about 120 miles north of where I live in Newnan. So it takes me about 3 hours or so to drive up here. It's a fun little (big) campground where a lot of people come with their campers and spend a long weekend.
I first came up here for Halloween with another friend of mine, Michael, and stayed in his tiny (seriously tiny) camper. I met some very nice people including my friend Neil that I am staying with this time. (His camper is a pop up so its a wee bit bigger)
I must have gotten he just after Neil because he was just popping up his little tote. We got things situated and have prepped some stew for the pot luck at the club house. They have free wifi up there so I'm hoping to get this post in before I head up there and transmit.
Back to the fact that it is freezing up here.. Seriously! Tonight is supposed to get to 27 degrees! Yes.. Cold! Like Holy Hannah cold! I am still outside while Neil is setting up the camper and my digits are fuh-reezing!
Came inside! Much warmer with the little heaters going.. Don't worry I'm not about to freeze..
Anywho I've take some pictures during the day and have them ready to attach..
Much love to you all..
Mike

Amsterdam

Hey there my family and friends! I leave for home in a few hours but its late and I have to be up early.. I haven't decided if I am going to go to sleep or just hope I am tired enough to sleep the 12 hour flight home.
It has been a great work trip and the people here are extremely helpful.
Love you all

Troll face

Do you ever just get troll face?

My Disney Adventures

Who knew that going into 2012 I would visit both Disneyland and Disney World before the year was half over? Not even me!

My first Disney visit just happened to coincide with the Flegalheimers family adventure. I was scheduled to go to work in LA and voila, they just happened to be going to Disneyland while I was out there. So of course I had to spend the day with them!

I was a cool misty day but that didn't stop us from riding Grizzly Rapids twice in a row.

Who is wet? We all are!

Eliza thought it was the MOST fun and didn't mind being wet. I didn't mind either, until a lovely little cold came by to visit. Nothing like being in wet jeans in 60 degree weather.. but we had a blast!

It was so much fun to see their faces as they plummeted in Tower of Terror. I looked over at Eliza as we dropped and her hair seemed to float in space.

My second trip was with a bunch of friends from Atlanta and Orlando.

Frank, Brian, Kevin, Mike, Brian
And no we didn't plan the symmetry 

Thankfully this time it was HOT HOT HOT. So hot we had to keep escaping the scorching sunshine into anywhere that had air conditioning.

Hello Mickey!

I have to say the most memorable ride for me was Splash Mountain. As you go along you keep seeing signs for briar rabbits laughing place. I was reminded of Grandma Helen and her laughing place. Sure it was no Kauai, but it was the memory of her, and the story of briar rabbit, the song of the south and all that. Its nice that there are things in life that remind us of those that are gone.

That tan came on during the day

I had such a great time that day with friends. Who knows.. maybe ill get there again before the year is through...

Boys on a boat!

and oh, by the way...

The fireworks show was AMAZING!!!

Loved the show!

Knock Knock Knock... Is this thing on?..... Hello?.....

Ah, there you are.. Hello family! Sorry I've been a little bit absent on my postings. You could say that I've been just a wee bit busy.

OK.. Its been CRAZY busy... but... Summer is here, which for me, means that things slow down a bit. I can't do all the travels that I have been doing and meetings so its time to re-center myself.
I hope that you have all had a great, WOAH.. six months! Dang, I really am late in my postings.
Im sure I can find pictures of myself in different places but why dwell too much in the past?
Memorial weekend just passed and I hope that you all had an amazing relaxing weekend like I did.
Here are some photos from my trip to Lake Mitchell in Alabama. My friend has a lake house that his grandmother left to him. Just a cute little two bedroom home but totally perfect for the weekend get way.

So.. let the slide show begin..

Mr Stanley driving us to the lake

The bridge to the south

The dam to the north

My pigs to the east!

sunset

If you look closely, you can see the mud on my suit. I jumped off the dock to do a cannon ball and the water was a wee bit shallower than I thought.. woopsie.

Yes.. I am totally relaxed

I almost fell off.. but pulled a barefoot maneuver

He fell off.. I WIN!

Leaving Tanzania 10/18/2011 Journal entry edited

As I jet to Nairobi, I can share my day yesterday.

Mangos in the trees

We wanted to go Zanzibar but the logistics were too difficult. We would have had to wake up at the crack of dawn, drive down to take the boat and then its a 2 hour ride to the island. Due to the schedule, we would have had limited time on the island. That plus the fact that it was more money than we wanted to spend for just a quick trip. So.... we decided to go to Bagamoyo.

just a view out the car

ladies carrying water

some cute boys we kept passing

Agnes found us a pineapple

Bagamoyo is where, during the slave trade, Africans were taken, locked up, before they were shipped to Zanzabar to be sold and put on ships to Asia and the Middle East.

The drive to Bagamoyo was about 40 kilometers, but being as traffic is a bit tricky, it did take us awhile to get there. The drive was really cool however. We went through a lot of small towns and we saw little markets set up on the side of the road. Agnes, a local who joined us on our trip, was able to tell us all about the towns, the produce we saw and give us a little history.

I got the following from the internet, it explains more about Bagamoyo than I recalled:

Slaves were kept here

this cross is dedicated to Dr Livingston

Bagamoyo was the major slave trading post in East Africa. Bagamoyo, which means ‘lay down your heart’ in Swahili, was probably given this name because Bagamoyo was the last place the slaves would stay in Tanzania before being shipped off to foreign lands. Although the slave trade officially ended in 1873, slaves continued to be sold and traded in Bagamoyo through the end of the nineteenth century.

During the slave trade, it was not uncommon to see hundreds of slaves walking through the streets of Bagamoyo chained together by the neck. Slaves were collected from the interior by capture, purchase or trade and then shipped to Zanzibar or Arab countries. 

Once we got there, we went to look for this museum. It is next to the first Catholic church in Africa. It was in this church, that THE Dr Livingston's body was kept over night, after a 1500 mile journey from where he died, before being shipped back to England where he is buried in Westminster Abby.

Agnes, Pam and Bruce

a super old baobab tree

There was a very interesting museum and school there next to the 'new' church, new, because it was built in the very early 1900's. The museum had some very interesting artifacts and photos. We saw the actual chains that were used to chain the slaves. Photos of the slave trade era. It was actually quite heartbreaking to read the articles and see the photos. But as we know, it is best to learn what we can from our history so that we are not doomed to repeat it.

the old priest quarters

the view from the restaurant

We left the museum and went to find some lunch. As luck would have it, just at the end of the road from the church and museum, on the beach, was a restaurant. We got to eat overlooking the Indian Ocean. SO COOL! My king fish steak was outstanding!

Bagamoyo has a LOT of mango trees. In each tree you could see hundreds of mangos growing. It is one of the main exports out of that area. That along with cashews. We didnt see any cashew nut trees that had them growing but did learn that the cashew is the stamen of the flower out of which grows a fruit. they make juice from the fruits and then sell the cashews.

Pam and Bruce with a baby

the 56 year old Croc

Me with a baby croc

We stopped at a crocodile farm where we got to touch and pet a 2yo baby. They had tiny babies and then even the Patriarch of the place, a 56 year old crocodile! He was HUGE...
Agnes was totally terrified, so of course I had to scare her as she was peering into the pits where the crocs were. I grabbed her arm and she totally jumped and screamed. It was worth her chewing me out.

We drove back to Dar and had just dropped off Agnes when we received a call from the Mission President that he was taking the senior missionaries to dinner. We weren't dressed for a nice dinner but apparently in Dar, that doesnt matter. We went and had a fabulous dinner on a cliff over the ocean. It was nice to have good food and conversation. Their zone conference was the next day and was also when I was due to fly to Nairobi.

Just a cool tree near Bagamoyo

This morning, Pam had to have something fixed at the house so we just hung out at the house and I was able to get packed and ready to go to Nairobi. We went and picked up Bruce at conference and they took me to the airport. As they dropped me off, they were so sweet, I felt like I was their's and they were saying goodbye. Pam even ran after me and gave me some money to buy a snack in the airport. I must say they are the best people to know! Thanks Brother and Sister Worthen for the amazing visit. I will work on getting Mom and Dad over there to visit!

Flying out of Dar es Salaam

Well I'm landing in Nairobi.. time to put my books away and find the apartment.

Tanzania 10/16/2011 Journal post 'edited'

Not sure why they held the english version in such a small room today. Im back in the main chapel, listening in Swahili. I have to say it does sound pretty cool. I cannot wait to see how well the Worthens pick it up.
Tomorrow the Worthens want to go to Zanzibar. It is apparently a 2 hour Ferry ride to get there. It should be a good time.  Tuesday is their Zone Conference, but also the day I am flying to Nairobi, Kenya. Apparently Maciej's parents are arriving before me. THAT at least makes me feel a bit better. I was nervous that I would be in Kenya, they wouldn't make the flight and I would be stuck on this crazy adventure all alone.
There is a cute little boy laying in his mother lap while she is listening to conference, he is sucking his 2 middle fingers and fidgeting with his mother. Its funny how even the small things in life are the same, we fidget and fuss the same no matter where in the world we are raised.
It makes me think of Truman at home kicking mom. Kids are kids no matter their race, creed or color.
Btw, the conference keeps freezing on the dvd. For some reason, they ended up showing the rest of it in English instead of getting the other player and putting in the Swahili version. I liked listening to it, it made great background noise for writing in my Journal.

Notes in my Journal:
una itwa nani = how are you called?
nina itwa mike = My name is mike
hibari = hello (Pams favorite)
a san tay = thank you
a san tay sana = thank you very much (Pams other fave)

Tanzania - Dar es Saalam - 2011
Journal entry (edited)
My day stared early in Paris. Not sleeping last night I kept waking up thinking I had overslept. My alarm was set to go off at 440am to catch the 5am shuttle to the airport. I woke up at 1am, 2am, 230am, 3am, 310am, 320am, 340am.. you get the idea...
Finally I got up with my alarm, took a very fast shower and grabbed my bags and checked out of the hotel. I got the 5am bus and went to check in at the airport. The agent gave me a seat right away so I was set to go for my 725am flight. Just had a LOT of time to kill. Luckily the agent put me near the front so I could make my tight connection in Amsterdam.
The lady at the transfer desk only checked me in as far as Kilimanjaro, not all the way to Dar es Saalam. So when I went to check in my bag they had to do some extra finesse on my ticket.
I was told the flight was wide open both up front and in the back so I had hopes of riding first class.. XXX nope.. coach seat, window in the back.. but I got on!
Luckily I was so tired I passed out even before take off and woke up in the skies. I slept on and off on the flight to Kilimanjaro. They passed out a postcard to each person for some promotion that KLM was having with the Netherlands.
We landed in Kilimanjaro, most people deplaned and I got to chat with the Flight Attendants until the plane reloaded.. Luckily it was only a 45 minute flight on to Dar.
I deplaned, paid my 100 usd visa, and then exited to find the Worthens there waiting for me.. It was so nice to see a friendly face that far away from home!
The drive back to their place was fairly uneventful and it was almost midnight. We still stayed up chatting for quite sometime until we were all nodding off.

That night I had bad dreams about Grandma Flegal passing.. not good
The next morning we had a delicious breakfast of fresh bananas and pineapple. SO yummy!
I went to music class with the Worthens, they were teaching the basics about how to lead music. It was great to see the people so interested.

Dinner tonight was in downtown Dar at a place that was voted best BBQ in Dar. It really was quite tasty! We ended up taking 2 missionaries with us and had ourselves a great meal!
Pam and Bruce are a hoot! Bruce talks to the other drivers in the cars like they can hear him. I just had to sit back and laugh. Its no wonder these two are such good friends with Mom and Dad.

Sunday was another full day of conference, again I kept falling asleep. I went in to hear it in swahili as the room for english was jam packed. Swahili is a language that has tones from a bunch of different languages. I heard Portuguese, Dutch and other one I couldn't identify.
We had planned to go to Zanzibar the next day on the ferry but it turns out with the ferry schedule we would not have had enough time to explore it, so we decided to drive the 40kms up to Bagomoyo.

Tanzania/Dar is a crazy place but beautiful none the less.

Paris for work.. really not a problem!

I guess there could be worse places to go for work right? I had a 3 day training class that I taught to those who are considered in the Atlantic region for the company. We got a chance to go to dinner in the city and I took a few really great pictures at the Arc de Triumph of it and the Eiffel Tower. Enjoy

Happy Mothers Day

To my mother..
Hope you have a fantastic Mothers Day with your little Munchkins in NYC. It was so nice to see you this past weekend. Time spent was fun and I loved to see all you were doing with the house.
Much love and tons of kisses!
Mike

It is Official!

I am going to run a race....
I know I know! Anyone who knows me has heard me say, 'running is for convicts.'
Well I am apparently on the lamb from exercise or something because I am getting heavy sitting there on my duff at my job and I have not been volunteering for anything in the community..
So I thought I would kill two birds with one stone! Its a Charity Race. I am with Team Challenge of Georgia and they sponsor the Crohns and Colitis Foundation. I have 4 months to raise $2500. Thats right family and friends.. Im asking for sponsors!
So what do you have to do? Its easy! They set me up with a donations page.. Here is the link. So click and donate and help me raise money!
If you are thinking you don't know anyone with Crohns or Colitis and just want to donate to encourage me to get off my duff that is fine by me. Just DONATE!!!!!!
love you all
Mike

Not on the crapper list

Just so I don't get placed on the, Who's not posting to their blog black list I thought I would pop on and say hey!
Its a bit late on a Monday and about this time last night I found out I would be going to a meeting in Minneapolis tomorrow. In my sleepy state I got on the computer and booked a flight. The timing didn't seem all that right but I just figured what the heck.. I didn't realize until I got to work the next day that I had booked, out of habit, a flight out of Salt Lake City.. Silly boy.. You've only been living in Atlanta now how long? Coming up on my 8th month..
Oh well.. silly me.
It has been lighting and thundering all week and I have loved every minute of it. The lighting strikes, the Thunder claps and its like the most perfect night sleep!

So there.. Post, posted..Katie, loving the bellie shots! Liz, always good to see that little peanut grow!
Teresa, uh you are on the bottom of the black list, so much to say! and not a post in sight since new years.. Sara.. I know you have fun pictures from your trip to SLC.. and well Ali, I am letting you slide for just a moment as you are moving but don't think I wont harp on you.. You guys did ditch me in the South!

Loves to all
Uncle Mike

St Patricks Day is coming!

Mother this one is for you! I came across this recipe and it sounded like your famous green drink.
Enjoy!

Juice’s Patrick’s Day Punch
Ingredients

Gorgeously Green Saint Patrick's Day Punch
1/2 cucumber
8oz/227g spinach
1 whole apple, seeded and cored
juice of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lime
Method
Add ingredients into a blender and mix to a pulp.
So with all of those drink options everyone will have a drink to chink on the big day – cheers!
Get to know a bit more about the man you’re toasting this Saint Patrick’s Day by taking a trip round

Life and Death..

Its crazy how something so tragic as the death/loss of a friend can remind you of how sweet life is.
I found out this week that a very good friend of mine passed away over the Christmas break, yes, JUST found out. Apparently I wasn't on the notification list or something. Actually he was Canadian and I just didn't get the memo. Im finding out that a lot of his friends didn't know he had passed.
His name was Ashley Warren Haslett, 36 years old and one of the most upbeat, amazingly happy people I know. The details of his passing are currently a mystery, wrapped in an enigma. In reaching out to his parents to verify that the obituary was really my friend, I got a one line answer, 'yes your friend was our son.'
I don't know what to make of their response. I know they must be grieving extensively, I just wish they could have shared a bit more.. Did he suffer? Was he ill? Was it expected? Sudden? My mind continues to ponder over what must have happened.
In that however, I have been given insight as to how precious life is. We can be here one day and gone the next. Live life to its fullest right? We hear this all the time but how many of us actually take it to heart and try to find the beauty in each and every day?
The beauty of today was that I got to have dinner with a friend I hired on with at Delta almost 10 years ago. She was in town for some training and we got together and went to my favorite burger place in town. Catching up and just talking about friends we both new while the sun was setting over the city totally made my day! Thanks Nahe!!!

On a more bizarre note. My roommate went out of town for work and I was supposed to be out of town Tues and Wed. So his mom came into town to watch the dog. roomie Of course what happens? My trip gets the ax and I am stuck with his mother all week!
Now if it was my own mother that would be a joy and I wouldn't be complaining.. But this is someone I don't know very well and now she is my for the week.. can you say AWKWARD.......

Love y'all

Blondes have more fun...

So this is what I have heard from other people.. Id been feeling a bit like I wasnt doing much of anything fun so I thought.. Why not dye my hair blonde?
It didnt do exactly what I was thinking.. luckily I have a great stylist back home who told me to do a bit of work on it.. I cut it yesterday and this is what ive come up with..
Tell me how you like it!!!

Awh.. Honey, I baked!!!

Yes.. I baked. But not a lucious cake or dessert type. I made something classical. MEATLOAF!!! Why, you might ask did I make meatloaf? Well because I bought a big 3 pound thing of ground beef and didnt know what to do with it.. Et Voila.. Meatloaf.
I scoured FoodNetwork.com to find just the right recipie and low and behold I came across Double Pork, Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf. Yes, I started drooling too!
Now of course I had beef and not pork but I did have bacon! So I made it following the recipie with just that difference. Here is what it looked like before I baked it.

I baked it for an hour and it was swimming in juices. I did go and use a baster and take them all out but this is what it looked like when it was done!
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Now let us not forget DESSERT!!!
I got the mix when I went to New Orleans for a day..
they are OH so yummy!!!