Return to Civilization (Sort of)

Late Sunday night I got an awesome phone call. Landon has landed safely back at McMurdo Air Force base, and is officially done with the research portion of his trip. 

One of the best things about this news is that he now has regular access to the internet and a phone in his room. Daily communication: don't take it for granted.
With the daily communication comes something almost as exciting: new photos!! Enjoy a little peek into what the last few weeks have looked like way down south:

Landon! Proof he is really there, even though he prefers sending photos of seals to actual pictures of himself.

This is our new friend Clement (Clem for short). I haven't actually met him, but I have talked to him on the phone once or twice. It's been great that Landon and his "roommate" get along so well.

This is where they shot "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Ok, not really. But it could have been. :) This one's for you, Fred!

Landon with a 'Delta' (no, I have no idea what that means - I'm guessing it translates roughly to "really big extremely large no seriously huge truck" in MacMurdoese)

Clem (and Landon's feet) inside the "cooking tent."

Camp. In Landon's words: "I believe it's the first camp of the traverse . . . but they all kind of looked the same (flat, endless snow, four tents . . . you get the picture. No, really, you do . . .)"

This is their radar sled.

Landon in front of "Camp 3."

Whoa! Don't tell BYU about his beard and crazy long hair!

 Landon again: "Me in my helmet and rebreather . . . I can't decide if I look more like Top Gun or Darth Vader . . . . hmmm, decisions, decisions."

Introducing...L. Burgie, rap star extraordinare!

I just learned this today. The spots in the sky are called "sun dogs." Apparently when you're at the bottom of the world things look a lot like Tatooine. 

Landon being a scientist.

One of the temporary shelters they stayed in at WAIS.

For those of you who have been wondering/hoping/praying that by some miracle we'd see him by Christmas, it's not an option at this point. There isn't a plane leaving for New Zealand until the 27th, so that really is the earliest possible flight. We're very grateful that so far the weather there has been remarkably temperate and there have been no major delays, so he'll get home as planned (at 3pm on Monday!). Thank you for your well-wishes that he'd come home sooner, I know that the many prayers have been one reason the weather has been so mild.

We are tantalizingly close to the end of this thing, and I am not without hope that the next few days will speed by with holiday cheer taking place of grinchly self-pity. Thanks again for the love and support.

5 days.

Merry Christmas Darling -- I wish I was with you.

Does anyone else cry every time that Karen Carpenter song comes on the radio? ...I mean, me neither...

For many reasons, this Christmas season has been somewhat disappointing. Part of it is that I'm really not counting down to Christmas, but to 2 days AFTER Christmas (Abby & Jenna, I think this is the first time someone has had an advent calendar dedicated to your birthday). It makes "the big day" sort of anti-climactic in my mind.

Another reason is that I'm all alone in my house. I tried to put up a little Christmas cheer, and there are TONS of presents and a few nativities spread around, but seriously, I wasn't going to attempt to haul a Christmas tree on top of our tiny Cavalier back to our house, saw off the bottom, fix it in the tree stand so it would be straight, and string the lights on by myself. Instead I have this:

Yeah, it's a little sad, I know.

I don't think the lack of Christmas spirit is totally my fault though. It has been 50+ degrees here for the last little while (today excepted), resulting in a Christmas scene that, instead of looking like this:

Looks more like this:

Taken a couple of days ago (without my coat on). Not exactly sleigh ride weather. Although I am thankful that it's looking like nice, dry roads for my trip up to Rexburg next week.

Lest you think I am a total Grinch, we've had a few Christmas jaunts to keep the spirit of the thing, although flickering, more or less alive. There was the obligatory visit to Santa:

 The making of Christmas cookies and a formal viewing of "Elf" as a hodgepodge family unit, And an awesome trip to "The Nutcracker," with row-5 seats in the Capital Theater, courtesy of Aunt Wendy. 

I feel horrible saying that I can't wait for it to all be over, but that's how I am feeling this year. It sort of makes me long for the days of drinking eggnog with my Mom and Dad while we decorate the tree, choir trips to temple square, freezing to death while we delivered (what felt like) millions of neighbor gifts, reading Christmas books as a family, changing the direction of the candy canes on the tree to drive my mom nuts, watching Rudolph in the kitchen while we prepare yummy snacks for Christmas Eve dinner, making molasses cookies, hiding in various rooms of the house and only coming out to swap wrapping paper with each other, eating the nasty, sticky lifesavers off the Santa advent calendar, running to Preston's house through the snow and decorating cookies, and the sheer anticipation of watching the pile of gifts under the tree grow bigger, and bigger...

Then I remember that handsome guy hanging out down south, who will be back with me in a little over a week. And I know I wouldn't trade all the Christmas traditions of old for the feeling I'll have at that reunion, and the future Christmases we have to look forward to, establishing our own traditions and making many happy memories. 

And I remember the true reason we celebrate Christmas, and know that Christ is watching over me and my family, and that real happiness doesn't lie under the Christmas tree, but above it. Thanks Erica, for posting this song to help my Christmas spirit survive a little longer.

And now I shall go make myself a plate of ginger cookies, and ask my Mom to hold off on the Rudolph watching until I get there.

10 days.

Just a note

Quoted by Landon's thesis adviser, Dr. Summer Rupper:

Our first day of drilling took us about 14 hours - that's like going to school twice in one day. We loaded the sleds with the gear, drove by snow mobile out to our drilling site, dug and sampled the snow pit, drilled the ice cores, loaded the sled back up and headed back to camp. Upon returning to camp around 11:00 at night (well past my bedtime), after a very long day in temperatures around-30 F, Landon smiled and said "that was really fun".

Now that's the Landon that I know and love. :)

19 days.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

I'm still here! My life is not quite as exciting as an Antarctic expedition, but I've been keeping pretty busy on my own. I have to say that through this very interesting time in our lives, my greatest blessing has been the massive support system I have around me.

This is Jenna. She is my oldest friend. I mean, as in, I have known her since we were approximately 6 years old, and we have been friends ever since, not as in she's 100 years old and freakishly young-looking. She moved from Rexburg to Provo about 9 months before we moved down from West J, so I've been lucky to have her around during Landon's many absences. She's always up for a good sleepover, provided there are juvenile movies (Schoolhouse Rock anyone?) and lots of junk food available. She's also a super awesome running partner. (Gotta do something about all the junk food we eat on the weekends, right?) A couple of weeks ago, I called her at the last minute to come to the football game with me. It was freezing, but we had second row seats right behind the field goal and won by a lot, so it was worth it.

These are two of my favorite cousins. I strangely have no recent pictures of us together, but to prove we know each other, here's one I found on Facebook:

Cracks me up. Anyway, Molly and Chelsea are twins, about 2 years younger than me, and just plain awesome. Don't believe me? Molly will tell you herself:

 

Molly and Chel live in West Jordan, about a mile from our old apartment. We've been having a blast with them since we came to Utah, and even though it's hard to get them down to Provo, they have still taken care of me in the last 2 weeks. First with a fun-filled night of Harry Potter, and then last weekend at Thanksgiving - where they introduced me to the movie Dirty Dancing for the first time. I'm hoping for one more good hangout before Christmas. Love you guys!

Last, but far from least, this is my family. The Jackson Five. We had a rare opportunity to get together for my Mom's birthday breakfast last week with just the original 5 of us. Although we love our spouses, and a party isn't a party without Stella and Siena around, it was great to squish in a booth together and talk and laugh like we used to before anyone left home. I feel pretty lucky: Abby, my sister, lives just 30 minutes away from me and has already hosted me at her house numerous times so I wouldn't have to stay home alone. We basically talk nonstop and scheme up projects together on a regular basis. Josh, my big brother, lives in downtown SLC, and is just a phone call away if I need some heavy lifting, some manly protection, or any emergency car repairs. Aside from that, my wonderful parents call me every day, send cheerful emails, and I know constantly worry about me. It's so great to be loved.

There are countless other people I could put up here: My fabulous in-laws, visiting and home teachers, Jesse and Catherine, many, many people in our ward, our upstairs neighbors, and the guys I work with have all checked in on me. So, while I miss Landon A LOT and can't wait for him to come home, I am well taken care of.

21 Days.

Farewell to "Mac Town"

Excerpt from a Gmail chat held Tuesday:

Kylie: So, what did you do today? 
Landon: Got a core tray from the Carp Shop and ran over to the Cage in the BFC. Had lunch in the MCC 155 and climbed Obhill. 
Kylie: Great, now I have to learn a new language??

 "ObHill" AKA Observation Hill, McMurdo, Antarctica

Image taken from Travelpod.com

Landon has loved his time in McMurdo - "Mac Town" as he informs me the locals call it. However, he was more than ready to get out of there and get started on his research. They were blessed with good enough weather yesterday to fly out to WAIS (West Antarctic Ice Sheet) Divide. If the snow and wind had been too heavy, they would have had to wait till Monday, so we're glad they weren't delayed.

Pictures will be few and far between for the next couple of weeks, as they will be out on the ice sheet and have irregular and extremely slow access to the internet (although, if you ask me, the fact that they will have online access at all is astonishing). Everyone pray for continued good weather. We certainly don't need to drag this out any longer. :)

25 days.