Europe.

I have been promising to put up pictures from Europe for the last month. For one reason or another I have delayed. So, to all my loyal readers/lookers, I know there are very few of you, here you are. I have debated back and forth in my mind how to present the trip. It was incredible. I went with Rach and we met amazing people.

Here are some of the people we met...

Lithuania

These are most of the girls from the Vilnius Branch.

(Jolita, Sarah, Aleksandra, Kristinia, Marinia, an old Elder, and Sandora)

This is Alinia, she is one of my MOST favorite little girls in Lithuania.

Did I mention it rained the entire time we were in the country?

This is Giedre, she is very important to me.

I met her about 8 months into my mission and we have been very good friends since then.

We are standing on top of one of the highest points in Vilnius.

This is Lucy and Maggie. They are from China. Lucy makes the best Chinese food I have EVER had. Maggie is afraid of the camera and Lucy has the strongest faith I have ever seen.

These are the girls from Klaipeda. This is a picture of Anna's wedding shower. Anna was my companion, she is native to Latvia. I picked her up from the mission home exactly one year after my mission started. She was a brand new missionary and the first thing she did was correct a grammar mistake. She is the one who really taught me how to speak Lithuania. She moved to Ireland with her husband. I love her. (Anna, Sarah, Vika, and Little Dovile)

This is Edita's mom. Edita lived with my family when she came to America before she got married. Edita's mom was so king to let us stay with her.

This is Dima and Natasha's family!! They are truly amazing. When I began my mission Dima and Natasha had their first little girl, Nikole . She is now 3 and crazy!! They had Sophie about a year ago. Rachel thought she looked just like a cupid. We spend a night with them, it was crazy and fun. Nikole cried when we left. Nikole also ate more than Rachel and me, which is pretty incredible. (Rachel, Sarah, Dima, Nikole, Natasha, & Sophie)

This is Saules and Marinia. I love them. When I was on my mission, Marinia never failed to inform me that I was gaining a little weight. She also taught Jenna and me some hilarious stomach exercises. We could never get through the exercises because we were always laughing too hard. Their daughter Emma, in the picture, was born on my mission. I can't believe how big she is. (Saules, Marinia, Emma, & Sarah)

This is Nijole and her husband. I worked with Nijole my entire mission. She fed me a lot on my mission, a lot. Rachel and I had lunch with Nijole and her husband. We ate for three hours straight. It was great, we were so full we could barely walk away.

Germany

This is Diana, Mitch's cousin. Rachel and I stayed with her in Munich.

Rachel and I went with Christian and his cousin Andrew to a bonfire to celebrate the summer solstice. Christian went to SUU to receive his Master's degree. Christian is from a little city right on the border of Germany and Austria. This was my favorite night of the trip. More details to follow..

Rachel, Christian, and I lit wax candles, walked up a hill, and lit a bonfire with 20 little kids.

It was awesome.

While at the bonfire, we met these nice German men. They were drunk and shocked that Mormons were there. They were also puzzled as to why we didn't drink. On the night of the bonfire, Christian told Rachel and me that he has never seen two girls eat so much food. Should we take that as a compliment? I think so.

Greece

This picture was taken in Athens in front of the Parthenon. These are our (Rachel and my) friends, Lilly and Matt. We met them in the airport in Naples. We were stuck in Naples for a billion hours, our flight was delayed for way too long. Good thing we met Lilly and Matt. They got engaged in Paris a few weeks before coming to Greece. We spent two days with them, they loved us.

I don't know this lady's name. But Rachel met her at church in Greece. She is from Philippians and Rachel was able to speak Tagalog with her. I thought it would only be fair to put one picture up of Rachel with one of her people.

This is us with the sister missionaries in Greece.

Austria

Rachel and I met some of these girls at the temple in Frankfurt. They were so nice to let us stay with them in Vienna. They live in Vienna and took Rachel and me on an incredible tour of the city.

(Sarah, Rachel, Ester, Lillian, Ester, and Margaret)

More to come...

Jodi & Tyler

These two love birds are tying the knot.

I have known Jodi since I was eight. We danced together at Salt Lake Dance Center and lost contact for a little while. It just so happened that we were reunited again in the MTC when we became solo sister companions. Ever since then we have been the best of friends.

This picture perfectly portrays how happy Tyler makes Jodi. I can't wait for them to be married.

Congratulations!

"500 Days of Summer"

saw the movie, loved the movie. go see the movie.

Happy Friday...

Cait & Nate

This crazy guy, Nate, asked one of my best friends, Caitlin to marry him in Lake Powell a couple of weeks ago. She was waterskiing and he held up a sign that said, "Will you marry me?" She said yes...the rest is history.

Congrats. I love you guys!

Bryce..

I am off to Bryce Canyon, haven't been there in six years. I can hardly wait to see the beauty and experience the heat.

Have a fabulous weekend.

loves,

sj

Health Care...

I have been meaning to post pictures from my trip, but they wouldn't upload on my computer...so instead you get this..... ha ha!

Enjoy!

And I promise pictures will come soon, oh so soon!

House Health Care Plan Would Boost Taxes on Rich
NYTimes, 7/14/2009

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Democrats on Tuesday rolled out an ambitious $1.5 trillion plan that for the first time would make health care a right and a responsibility for all Americans, with Medical providers, employers and the wealthiest picking up most of the tab.

The federal government would be responsible for ensuring that every person, regardless of income or the state of their health, has access to an affordable insurance plan. Individuals and employers would have new obligations to get coverage, or face hefty penalties.

Health care overhaul is President Barack Obama's top domestic priority, and his goal is to slow rising costs and provide coverage to nearly 50 million uninsured Americans.

The plan would slow Medicare and Medicaid payments to medical providers. From big hospitals to solo physician practices, providers also would be held to account for quality care, not just ordering up tests and procedures. Insurance companies would be prohibited from denying coverage to the sick. The industry also would face stiff competition from a new government plan designed along the lines of Medicare.

The liberal-leaning plan lacked figures on total costs, but a House Democratic aide said the total bill would add up to about $1.5 trillion over 10 years. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private calculations.

The legislation calls for a 5.4 percent tax increase on individuals making more than $1 million a year, with a gradual tax beginning at $280,000 for individuals. Employers who don't provide coverage would be hit with a penalty equal to 8 percent of workers' wages with an exemption for small businesses. Individuals who decline an offer of affordable coverage would pay 2.5 percent of their incomes as a penalty, up to the average cost of a health insurance plan.

With Obama pressing Congress to act on health care this summer, House leaders want to move their bill quickly through three committees and to a floor vote before the August congressional recess. But a group of moderate and conservative Democrats has withheld support, and no Republican votes are expected. The House bill seemed unlikely to win broad backing in the Senate.

Standing before a banner that read ''Quality Affordable Care for the Middle Class,'' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the moment ''historic and transformative.'' The bill would provide ''stability and peace of mind'' by braking costs and guaranteeing coverage, she said.
''We are going to accomplish what many people felt wouldn't happen in our lifetime,'' said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., one of the main sponsors. Obama issued a statement hailing the measure.

Democrats said the income tax increase would apply only to the top 1.2 percent of households, those who earn about one-quarter of all income. The wealthiest 4 percent of small business owners would be among them. The tax would start at 1 percent for couples making $350,000 and individuals earning $280,000, ramp up to 1.5 percent above $500,000 of income, and jump to 5.4 percent for those earning above $1 million.

The tax would raise an estimated $544 billion over 10 years.

Business groups and the insurance industry immediately assailed the legislation. In a letter to lawmakers, major business organizations branded the 1,000-page bill a job-killer. Its coverage mandate would automatically raise the cost of hiring a new worker, they said.

''Exempting some micro-businesses will not prevent this provision from killing many jobs,'' the letter said. ''Congress should allow market forces and employer autonomy to determine what benefits employers provide, rather than deciding by fiat.''

The business groups also warned that the U.S. health care system could be damaged by adding a government-run insurance plan and a federal council that would make some decisions on benefits, as called for in the legislation. Thirty-one organizations signed the letter, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable representing top corporate CEOs and the National Retail Federation.

The House bill would change the way individuals and many employers get health insurance. It would set up a new national purchasing pool, called an exchange. The exchange would offer a menu of plans, with different levels of coverage. A government plan would be among the options, and the exchange would eventually be open to most employers. Insurers say that combination would drive many of them out of business since the public plan would be able to offer lower premiums to virtually all Americans.

But backers of a public plan -- including Obama -- say it would provide healthy competition for the insurance industry.

Under the House bill, the government would provide subsidies to make coverage more affordable for households with incomes up to four times the federal poverty level, or $88,000 for a family of four and $43,000 for an individual. Medicaid -- the federal-state health program for the poor -- would be expanded to individuals and families up to 133 percent of the poverty line.

The legislation also would improve the Medicare prescription drug benefit by gradually reducing a coverage gap known as the 'doughnut hole.'

The individual and employer coverage requirements would raise about $200 billion over 10 years, the Democratic aide said.

Even before the bill was unveiled, the House Ways and Means Committee announced it would vote on the proposal beginning on Thursday. The panel is one of three that must act before the bill can go to the full House, probably later in the month.

Across the Capitol, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee slogged toward passage of its version of the bill on what was expected to be a party-line vote. Another panel, the Senate Finance Committee, was striving to unveil a bill by the end of the week. But the outlook in the Senate remained uncertain.

Some House Democrats privately have expressed concern that they will be required to vote on higher taxes, only to learn later that the Senate does not intend to follow through with legislation of its own. That would leave rank-and-file House Democrats up for re-election next year in the uncomfortable position of having to explain their vote on a costly bill that never reached Obama's desk or became law.
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Associated Press writers David Espo, Alan Fram and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report