Adventures in D-World!

Oh it's been so long since I posted! I'm sorry! I just work nights usually, and then on my days off I just play and don't feel like blogging. so here we goooooooo! So last week my roommates and I attented Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. We went as the 3 good fairies, flora, fauna, and merryweather. our home-made costumes weren't as cheap as we thought, and weren't as easy to make as we thought. but we had fun making them! So here's some pictures of that night.

It was so much fun. So these pictures have a week between them. We realized that the time goes so quickly here because we just go from days off to days off. the time in between is just work and we don't even count it. But, let the record show that I do love my job. I love to answer guests' questions and telling them little secrets to have more fun in the parks. I love to talk to the little kids and ask them if they're having fun. It's heaven for me.

Anyway. days off a week later! We went resort hopping! because we never know what to tell guests when they ask us about resorts. so we went to lunch at a semi-fancy restaurant at the Contemporary Resort. I got a bison burger. yeah that's right. trying new things over here! it was fantastic.

Then we went to the Polynesian resort. they have hammocks. on a beach. oh it was so relaxing.

next was the grand floridian. and oh boy is it grand! i can't even explain it.

then we went to the swan and dolphin. we actually just saw the outside. but it looks cool right?

next was the boardwalk! i need to stay here. oh it's so beautiful!

and here it is ladies and gentleman. the kitchen sink. 15 scoops of ice cream. 18 toppings. a can of whipped cream. 7 of us ate it. (it would be more of a feat with fewer people) but, it was fun.

until my next days off :)

Elder Rodgerson update: I got a letter! hooray! he's doing so well, loving it, not homesick, hating the food, loving the work. funny quote from his letter... but please note, it was at the very end. everything else was gospel oriented. "I dropped my scriptures the other day and this guy told me my wife got uglier. but then he said you get double hot wife points for tracting in the rain and triple if you do it in the snow. so just a heads up." he just said he's really happy and he couldn't ask for more.

seriously?!

I don't know what this Tiffany Olson lady was doin, but I've never seen this boy smile for so many pictures. And what a cute smile it is! Just thought I would show off this handsome guy I've somehow managed to snag. But seriously, if you can look at that without smiling.... You're... dumb.

The perfect combination of business and pleasure!

alrighty! so let's talk about my weekend with father. So... rewind to thursday. I requested to get off work early so that I could surprise dad and be at his hotel when he got there... well then when i asked when he was getting in, he said 11:30. So! I got off early anyway and went to Fantasmic with Cami and Emily. the nice thing about being here for 5 months is that we can just go wait in line for 2 hours, get great seats, watch Fantasmic, ride tower of terror twice, and head home without feeling like we should've done more! So then daddy picked me up from my apartment and we went to the hotel which is less than a mile from there. I had planned on sleeping through his meetings the next morning, but then he asked if i wanted to go with him. and hello! i'm a pr major! like i don't wanna go to meetings with disney people!!! So I woke up early and went with :)

luckily, we had to go check something out at the Polynesian resort, where there just happens to be dole whip!!! mmmm! (Heavenly pineapple ice cream)

then we went back and changed out of our professional clothes and headed over to the magic kingdom! where I presented dad with his birthday present. his very own ears. with his name on the back! :) it's all decorated for halloween here, which is very fun.

we only went on a couple rides, luckily dad's been enough that he too doesn't feel like he's missing out when we only hit few. we did space mountain and buzz, and saw my work.

then we waited... and waited...

and waited... for the electric parade!! i don't think i've ever seen it, that i can remember. i just remember videos of it when i was little. so i made dad wait for it. there was this little boy sitting next to us, named bailey. he was like four and was flirting with me the whole wait. then when the parade started, he yelled "hey katelin! look!" every 5 seconds. so i had to ignore him like every 3, then i'd turn around and say "yeah look!" and then wait for the next time i could look away from the beautiful parade :)

then we went to dinner (where i got dad his 2nd discount of the day cuz i'm a cast member) and we went to walmart... i know they say you're supposed to go shopping when you're full, but i was so full that nothing looked good! i was so looking forward to being taken grocery shopping... it didn't work out. anyway. dad got up early to golf. then we drove 4 hours in a brand spankin new mini van, we were so spoiled, we had a wi fi connection cuz craig was there and had some cool gadget. so the ride wasn't bad at all! then of course we got to the game...

it was a beautiful day! about 93 degrees. no clouds. i think i sweated off my last 5 meals. hence, my hair all up and sleeves rolled up. oh it was so hot. anyway. the cougars decided not to show up. i learned some things. 2 quarterbacks = crappy offense. and tight ends that can't catch = crappy offense. and florida state fans that aren't drunk are really nice. so we lost. but it was really a fun time.

well, now here we are sitting in the hotel room. it's been so nice to have a comfy bed! and even nicer to have dad around! now i just have to work really hard till my next visitors, trace's parents! in october! until next post...

gooooooooooo cougars!

i won't do this for all of them...

Here it is!

I apologize you haven't heard from me sooner dear family but it's officially p-day and they are pretty strict on the rules here. I found this out very early on when the mtc president came barging into our room at 10:32 telling us to turn off the lights and they we need to be better missionaries. Lights out was supposed to be at 10:30. Regardless, I will begin from when i left you.

The first elder i ran into in line at security in slc was elder burgoyne from taylorsville, who's only been on a plane once when he was nine. He must have been a little shell shocked because all he could say for the first hour or so was, "this is so crazy. this is crazy". We eventually were met up by three three other elders at the gate. manning, dudley (originally from London), and starr. We flew to JFK where we picked up two more elders. Mannwaring from Newport Beach (originally from Utah) and Mlynar from Detroit. We then ate some Burger King for like ten bucks a meal at the airport and waited for our flight for about three hours. I called home from a payphone, but as expected, no one answered. The flight to Manchester was pretty rough but I did have my own video screen with digital radio and games. I played round about a thousand games of solitaire and jammed the black keys. When we arrived in England it was everything you expect. It was cold and it was raining, and hasn't stopped for six days. We were picked up by brother mount, who looks like a professor straight out of harry potter, after going through customs, adjusting to everyones accents. The agent at the desk said cheers to me. We walked out to the mission van and loaded in. It was great to drive through and look at all the scenery, we were able to see the manchester city center from the motorway and some countryside in between manchester and preston. The mtc sits on a large complex that includes the temple, the distribution center, a stake center, temple patron housing, the temple presidents housing and the mtc. The grounds are beautifully landscaped with a giant fish pond, flowers and hedges. the whole place looks like alice in wonderland. We were welcomed by the mtc presidency and ushered through a variety of interviews, orientations, and other routine matters. Missionaries from all over the world started to trickle in from all over the world until, finally, there were twenty some of us. 7 americans, 14 brits and some australians, danish, swiss, philippino, german and taiwanese.

My companinon is Elder Youles from London. He's short, buff, buzzed head, and a flat nose. He looks like some sort of british henchman from a movie. He by far has the thickest accent and I always have to make him repeat everything he says. He's very reverent about spiritual things, a funny guy and a great companion. He's also kind of shady though. He has a ton of fake rolex watches that he's been trying to sell since he got here. He's been teaching me lots of things though. Like how to put on a duvee cover, and how to talk like you're english. drop your h's, th's are f's, and er's are uh's. With this many brits around it's hard adjusting to being the foreigner. Every meal there is some sort of weird english dish that is just awful, they're "fizzy drinks" are totally different, they're cereal is off, and every single one of them is good at football. I also learned that they love listening to an american accent just as much as we love listening to a british one.

The classroom instruction is very helpful. It's very directed and focused on what we need to be taught. we do a lot of role play and things and we are going out this friday to the manchester city center to have a crack at being a missionary. I'm glad i've gotten over the fear of talking to people but the context is completely different and it's still a little terrifying.

I have to run because i'm only allowed thirty minutes but I love you all and I hope to hear from you soon. Write me letters if you will.

Love,

Trace

PS.

I need jakes address (it's in my phone as a locked message. send it to me and then delete all the messages) I also need to get katelin's address as well. log onto my user profile on my computer, open my email, look for an email from barnes and noble regarding my order and reply to it if needs be.

key word: cheap.

so disney lets us in on these crazy deals. till the 30th of this month i can get movies for like ten bucks. so if there's a movie you want, disney, not disney, tv show, they have like everything. so text me or call me. you can either give me ten bucks or wait till christmas.

yup.

Without a Trace.

He's safe he's safe! I'm just going to steal things off his blog that his parents are doing, but if you wanna read that one it's here.

So here's what the family got via email!

Dear Rodgerson Family,

Just a short note to let you know that after a long journey Elder Rodgerson has arrived safely at the Missionary Training Centre here in England. He will be sending a personal e-mail to you on Wednesday.
We are delighted to have him with us, and thank you for sending such a wonderful young missionary. We are certain that he will have a great experience here in the MTC. We are committed to his happiness and success.

Isn't that exciting?! Oh it made me so happy. Well here are some pictures also from that blog.

i only cried one little time and that was when i got home from work and saw these pictures. only cuz he's so cute! i sure can't wait to hear from him and see how he's doin! keep him your prayers please and thank you! :)

September is here!

Holy smokes i haven't posted in a long time. sorry about that. anyway. Florida is great still. still rainy. work is lovely. I'm addicted to the tv show Lost. Emily and Jenny, i bet your'e proud of that. i watched like a whole season in a matter of like three days. that 27 45 minute episodes. talk about not having a life.

Trace is officially gone. he is taking off right this moment!!! i'm not even that sad! i'm just happy he's finally gone! so now we can finally start waiting for him to come home! haha just kiddin, wrong attitude. i'm so proud of him oh geez louise. i'm so proud.

I sent him a dear elder like a week ago, hopefully the mtc didn't get it like two days ago and say "we don't have an elder rodgerson" and throw it away. haha and hopefully they didn't think that a missionary ran away or something! ha. okay time for another awesome evening in toontown!

pray for elder rodgerson please and thank you!

here are some pictures from my last week or so :)

just hangin out in England.

okay fine. it's Epcot. i went all by myself and had cast member take my picture so i could send them to tracery as his bye bye present. he really like it, i also gave him a mickey dressed like the guards in front of buckingham palace and some uk guitar picks. i'm sure at some point in the next two years he'll need to play a guitar, and he'll need a pick to do so :) so that's that.

this is my favorite pub in england. i'm sure trace will like it.

singin in the rain. gene kelly style.

kelly and me just sneaking into the chinese theater.

so emily has a pathological fear of dinosaurs. i convinced her to go on the dinosaur ride, and i screamed more than her. neither of us knew this picture was going to be taken. i guess no one in our car was as scared as we were...

no one wanted to take a picture with mr. smee. it was so sad. kids these days. don't appreciate the classics.

just savin the world with Frozone and Mr. Incredible.

minnie mouse herself!

i always said if i were to date a disney character i'd probably want it to be aladdin. i'm not so sure after meeting him.

oh yeah. these are my roommates. they're more like me than i thought. haha.