Dana's Adventures

We had our annual PCRM- dont ask me what that stands for I really am not sure... I have even asked a few people and none of them know either. But I do know that this is the time that they announce the winners of the years Incentive Comp contests. And to my UTTER SURPRIZE I didnt win Nothin! Hardly anyone did! All the winners from that year got moved out of our region so there was little celebration this year! But we had a fun time anyway!

Before we had the awards night we all got to go BOWLING! Yes folks bowling! Interesting choice in activity! We were even divided into predetermined teams!

All the girls are hanging out eating the delctable foodies, hotdogs, fried macaroni and cheese things... you get the picture!

Bruce Black and Kathy Burnham

Big Bowling Butt!

Cindy Antonelli and I

She is the funnest and her laugh is so contagious you cant help but feel happy around her!

It is so much fun to have old friend (married to my dear friend from EFY, Tami Willardson) Mike Price working for GSK now. He was with Reliant and when GSK bought them, we all were hoping to be able to keep Mike and we did! Its fun to have a familiar face at all the work functions I get to go to.

Darin Pace, me, Wayne Roberts, and Dave Southwick

They even let us take our cool BOWLING SOCKS home with us!

The women of the Utah/Idaho Cardiovascular/Metabolic Team!

(say that 5Xs fast)

My dear friend Nicole Reilly-she is the dignified and respectable one of the pair!

These are the guys on our team!

And here is good friend, Mike Price winning!

CONGRATULATIONS MIKE!

Darin Pace and I have so much fun, he is not with GSK anymore and its gonna be a real bummer to not only not have him around for working with, but the meetings we go to will surely not be the same!

This is one of the ways we entertain ourselves at the meetings

lets see who can make the craziest face without laughing to mess it up!

Cindy, Me and Kris

Bruce, Nan, Brad (aka Fav)

Last but not least my teammate Wayne!

Oi amiga's, I guess I am destined to fly to foreign countries by myself! I was planning on taking the same flight as Mark, Ollie and Renee to Brazil but wasn’t able to get on the first flight to Atlanta with them but then I got there in time to catch up with them for the long haul from Atlanta to Brazil. Unfortunately, they had gone out on the town in Atlanta and missed our flight to Rio de Janeiro. So off I went by myself- much like my Africa excursions! They caught up with me and the rest of the - already in Brazil gang- a day and a half later! My first day in Brazil was amazing; I was able to see the Monavie Village where there will one day be 400 children living and where all the miracles are set in motion and begin to take life- the property is beautiful and peaceful, lives will be changed forever within the walls of the Monavie Village! The MORE Project is Monavie's non profit organization and all of the following projects fall under the umbrella of the MORE Project, including the Monavie Village. I was with the executive director of the MORE Project, my cousin Derek's wife, Katy Holt Larson and her sister who runs the expeditions for the MORE Project, Valerie Holt. Both dear friends and amazing women who have shaped and influenced much of my thoughts and experiences for the past year and a half. That was the rest of the gang that was already in Brazil when I got there! They were the creators of my experiences in Brazil. DISCLAIMER: The rest of my description of the trip has this slight disclaimer, I don’t know for sure if everything that I am telling you is 100% accurate but its what I gathered or understood about the areas and the projects...
I went to "Mom's house" with Katy cuz they needed to do some filming there for the MORE Project...Mom's house is really several houses that are called Mom's house. They are homes where children, whose previous situations have been less than ideal, can come and find refuge from the drugs, abuse, and neglect they once experienced. I guess in a way they are group foster care homes.

We went to Mom’s house the next day as well, and I fell in love with a little girl named Natalia, she is beautiful, if I remember right about 10 years old and has 2 brothers and a sister there as well. She touched my heart more than any other experience in Brazil with a few sweet moments. We then went to one of the slums (favellas)that the "Believer's Project" is associated with. It’s an amazing opportunity to be able to go into this area, without an enormous amount of risk. The Believer's Project has an agreement with the drug lords that run that particular favella that if within certain hours and with daily permission, we ("we" meaning those involved with the MORE Project) are allowed to go there without fear for our safety. I have a ton of pictures and video from within the favella and will post them on my blog. The roof and the foundations are often rotting out as well as walls in their cement "homes." The children and the elderly suffer greatly in the living conditions of the favella. Because of mold and decay of the "buildings" they live in, there are many that suffer from untreated asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia etc. They are thin from not having enough to eat but don't yet have the distended bellies. Somewhere between healthy living and starving to death there lies a forgotten child. Its so sad to me that it seems that people have to be starving to death to get help and food. It is unbelievably dirty, unsanitary and unsafe in the favella. They steal electricity from the lines that pass over the favella ( I have no idea how they are able to do this) so there are open electricity lines all over, someone hooking in to someone else’s stolen line- very dangerous when it rains because there are plenty of places with wires that are exposed to the water. Open sewage is running through the "streets," really they are paths not streets and one main canal of sewage running down the steep hills that the favella's are built up against. The MORE Project has done much to improve conditions in the favella as well, they have rebuilt a few homes and there are more under construction currently. The ones that have been done are amazing and are what a home should be. We walked on the beautiful beach for a bit and then we went out to eat! Most of you have heard of Rodizio Grill here in Salt Lake, well in Brazil Rodizio is a way of serving the food, not just the tons of meat on skewers. We went to Rodizio Pizza! They bring different kinds of Pizza around just like they would the meat and you tell them if you want that kind or not... they even brought around DESSERT Pizzas!!! I loved that! Cinnamon Banana Pizza, Chocolate M&M Pizza, Yumm! Then next day I was a lot more tired than I thought I would be, I woke up and heard voices and thought I will just go back to sleep for a few minutes-OOPS that turned into a lot more minutes than I planned! The next thing I knew Val was knocking on my door and I was staggering towards it and she just says to me "uh oh!" She informed me that the bus was leaving in 5 mins and that she would stall them and try to give me ten minutes- I was barely coherent in the shower but pulled it together pretty quick! I got on the bus and found the entire group aboard but SOUND ASLEEP IN THEIR SEATS! I laughed and laughed as I know that this is an old and constant HOLT family joke! PS thank heavens I packed those slim fast shakes! Came in handy when I was running out the door! Just call me Speedy! We went to the "Believer's Project" which is essentially an adjunct to public school, as the public school system is below par in Brazil. Most people, if they have any money at all, go to private school and then College or University is free in Brazil, but you have to pass the tests to get in and if you have gone to public schools you most likely wont pass the test. So the children that live in the before mentioned favella go to public school for 4 hours a day (that is all they provide) and then go to the Believer's Project for 4 more hours to help catch them up from what they are missing in public schools. I have seen a lot of schools that have been built by non profit organizations in low economic areas, this one is amazing. I won’t even try to explain more than that, its what a real school should be, I love it. We got to eat lunch there with the kids, play football (soccer) and Foos ball (sp?), we played with cameras-all kids love to take pictures and to see pics of themselves, its so fun! The rest of the trip was typical tourist stuff with awesome view points of the beautiful city of Rio, thought provoking statues of Jesus overlooking the entire city, bus rides passing some of the most famous beaches in the world, Copacabana and Inpanema Beaches! And then small town shopping and beaches in Buzios and Cabo Frio, about 3 hours away from Rio. I love love loved playing Frizbee on the beach and sometimes in the ocean with Peter, Emily, Ryan, Brad, Robby, and Gabriel! I loved that when it rained on the beach we didn’t even mind because it was like getting a heavenly misting while sun bathing- don’t want to over heat! I had the best body surf of my life my first try there in Buzios! It didn’t ever happen again but hey it was a great ride that first time! I got myself my first bikini- let alone a BRAZILIAN bikini! Hey they say "when in Rome... " So I wore the brazilian bikini. I soon had to change into regular bottoms- I kept getting a wedgie while I was trying to play more frizbee with Emily! It’s hard to be athletic and have those skinny-butt swim bottoms on! Forget it- functional is far better than... whatever those things are! We ate great food and ate some more-I swear I gained 10 pounds down there! But I loved it, I met some wonderful people and am grateful for modern tech that makes it possible to keep in touch with them! So that is about it, oh except that I was flying home, again, by myself! Mark, Ollie and Renee decided to stay in Brazil for another couple of days since it was cut short on the front end...So there I sat in the airport chatting it up with a very good looking Brazilian man who was a self proclaimed richy, and who walks by....? Valerie Holt! We didn’t know we were booked on the same flight home! It was good to have a companion for the 9.5 hours to Atlanta and then again 4 hours to SLC! It’s never failed to amaze me I run into people in airports I never expect to see! Of course there is more to the trip, so much more but I won’t bore you with the details. Mostly this is a great way for me to get a few things down for a journal entry! Thanks for bearing with me...Until the next adventure,