Jamaica

Welcome to the land of Jamaica! Where the houses are never finished and people honk to say hi, thanks, and please. Early in September we were able to go to Jamaica for a week. This is where Jordan served his mission so it was a vacation plus a chance to go see some people he knew and see what it was like for him. It is definitely a whole other world down there.

Our second day there we went to Montego bay, which took about an hour and 20 minutes via taxi ride to go to church where we would meet up with Brother Smith, whom Jordan taught and was baptized recently the Branch President in another branch until it was closed down. It was so good to see him.

Jordan and BrotherSmith with some kids at church

Our ride home was quite interesting. We were in a taxi-bus with 17 people and 3 children stuffed inside. I was sitting on a “cross seat” which is a board that connects two seats in the isle so more people could fit in. What an interesting and squishy experience! I wish I had pictures but I thought it would be rude...However round trip cost us both about $20 instead of the $160 the hotel would have charged us.


A few days later we went to a cool spot called Dunns River Falls. It was really cool. We got watersocks/shoes and were able to go into the water at the bottom of the falls and then hike up it! We had a guide taking our photos, which was nice. But there weren’t very many show worthy photos. Too bad.

Afterward we went to downtown Ocho Rios. This was by far my greatest culture shock. It is so rundown and I am not used to it, and SO many people walking around. It is just CRAZY! I was a little overwhelmed and then I saw this..

The Church!

The story doesn’t end there. We ended up following a mad man while looking for a good authentic place to get rice and peas and chicken. A cop told us we didn’t need to follow him and he was just going to ask us for money. Jordan realized he should have known. I guess he was a little rusty in his Jamaican culture haha. It took us a while longer to find some food but we eventually did in the really run downmarket place. I was slightly scared to be where we were. But nothing happened and we got the food we wanted. I had to just keep thinking that Jordan has eaten food like this before and didn’t get sick..... So I ate it, and it was delicious!

This was our hotel. It was massive, but we learned how to get around and find things.

One day we went to see Brother Smith and his family at their home. He has 4 or 5 grandchildren living with him. So we hung out with them all. We gave them a suit case full of clothes and they LOVED it. Brother Smith also made us Curry Chicken which was wonderful and then we went to the beach where Jordan baptized him. It was beautiful.

Alia playing with my hair

Our last visit was with Tamara and Claudine, which was about 2 hours away in the middle of Jamaica. What a ride! It was crazy. It was basically driving in the bush the whole time on these little windy roads with a million and one pot holes. But it was cool to see more of Jamaica during the drive. We met up with them at KFC in the town of Mandeville. We chatted for a while and had lunch and then headed home.

We had a taxi driver take us there and back and so he hung around with us for the day too. It was kinda funny! He just sat around and then when we got lunch he sat with us and stuff.And when Jordan went to go pay for the food no one said a thing or batted an eye. And he paid for everyone including the driver! It was kinda funny even though he was intending to pay for everyone anyway.

Some highlights fromthe trip:

· The maid that wanted to hang out with us and take us around on her day off

· Cherisa’s new yard names, Splinter, Necky, and Mrs. Steps

· “Owls are in style you know”

· “Do we have to go to the tennis courts?

· The taxi driver hanging out with us all day

· Brother Smith saying “Church Stop and 1oclock” which we misunderstood thinking it started at 1. We were a little late

· “It’s nice to see a taxi driver that is young and pimp, its refreshing”

· Swimming in the pool after dark and eating jerk chicken and we weren’t even cold!

· Snorkeling

· Naps

· Japanese dinner

· The only reason to get out of bed was so we didn’t miss breakfast

· Crazy taxi rides

Mom's 50th Birthday

50 things mom loves

February 13th, 2011, Mom celebrated her 50th birthday. We celebrated it by having the family over for a homemade Cafe Rio meal followed by a video montage of mom's 50 years as a wife and mother.

Later, Dad took Mom for an overnight stay to Waterton and to attend the temple together.

Mom wanted to express her gratitude to everyone for their hard work in gathering photos, preparing the montage and planning the meal.

Family Garage Sale

Yesterday Mom and Dad cleaned out the garage (a huge undertaking to say the least) and put on a great garage sale this morning. The garage sale was a product of Alison wanting to make money to buy herself some toys in the summer time since her birthday falls right around Christmas. Who can blame someone for wanting that right?

She went through her toys and was a tough saleswoman (even to her own sister who had to buy the Dora Castle off of her) as she earned her new toy money. money. She even thought of a really cool way to collect money from people all on her own. She had two jars, one labeled dogs and one labeled cats. When the customer was ready to pay, they were to place their money in the jar that was their preferred pet, a cat or dog. By the end of the garage sale Alison would have a little neighborhood poll based on a dog vs cat preference. I told her there was just one problem. She needed a jar that said "neither" so that I could put my money in that one.

Alison had a few conditions with her earnings. First she had to pay tithing, then she had to decide how much to donate to someone in need, and then she had to put some in the bank for savings.

The Taurus was parked on one half of the driveway and a neighbor jokingly suggested we put a price tag on it. We thought it should say "comes with two sons and a half eaten, melted Dairy Queen Blizzard"

Alison enjoying her paper money (above)

Pregnancy

It's true what they say that "every pregnancy is different." With my first pregnancy I didn't have THAT bad of nausea, but I carried so high that by 6.5 months on I was so uncomfortable. I couldn't sleep and it didn't matter what angle I stood or sat at, it just felt like my sides and back were being torturously stretched and pulled.

Pregnancy #2 has sort of been the reverse. I was so sick and wiped out for much longer in the beginning, but because I'm carrying a lot lower I haven't experienced nearly the discomfort that I did with Charlotte. Up until a few days ago whenever people asked me the question, "how are you feeling?" I could honestly answer, "great!" I've had energy and much less discomfort. I do however, get the normal aches and pains and lugging around a 30 lb toddler hasn't been super fun these last few weeks.

Speaking of toddlers, it hit to me a couple days ago that very soon it's not just going to be me and my little sidekick Charlotte together every day. Since realizing that I've been relishing in and reflecting upon the one on one time that we get to spend together singing songs, reading stories, playing dress up (she always wants me to be winnie the pooh. I think it's because of my big tummy), running errands, and going on fun outings. I love that we have had so much time together to build our relationship and I've always had a feeling that she is going to be such a joy, blessing, support and friend to me throughout the years.

We are slowly but surely getting ready for the arrival of baby #2. I can't wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl and to be absolutely 100% honest I would be thrilled with either. There were times in the pregnancy that I leaned more towards wanting a boy or girl but I really am just so excited for a genuine surprise. For the record though, I've been thinking that it's a boy this entire time.

Out of curiousity I pulled out a picture of me 1 week before I gave birth to Charlotte. I'm around 36 weeks along in the picture below.

Here I am currently at around 36 weeks

Is it just me or do I look ready to have a baby in a week?

I can't wait to meet this new little member of our family. I feel so grateful for all that we've been blessed with, and am really loving this stage of life.

Summer

I have been waiting forever to get pictures from my father-in-law's camera from Dave's grad so I could post those before anything else. Well June, July and August have piled up and my pregnancy nesting brain is panicked that if I don't post now, I'll never post again. I'll try to keep things short and sweet, but I also treat this as a family journal so stop reading now if you don't have a few minutes to spare :)

JUNE

I entered my late 20s. Who am I? I don't picture myself as someone who is closer to 30 than 20 or 25. There's no stopping it though.

The Tinkerbell birthday hats were to please Charlotte. At every party she asks about party hats. The dollarstore had either Cars or Tinkerbell to choose from, it was an obvious choice.

Between grads, and mine and Dave's families there were so many birthdays/celebrations in May and June that I was all caked out. I decided to go with cake pops from Starbucks for a smaller/lighter version of the birthday cake. I just stuck them in some foam in the shape of 27 and it was the perfect little treat to have on my birthday.

June also was the month of packing as we were moving July 1st. I took pictures of our cute little apartment because we made such good friends and memories while living in "The Hamlet Spot"

Our toys spilled into the hallway. Luckily for us the people across the hall were our good friends and have a daughter Charlotte's age so it became a common play area for the girls and a great chat area for the moms :)

Charlotte's little reading area

June also included a girl's trip to Idaho to visit Cherisa. She was there for a semester without Jordan (sad) in a tiny little apartment and she kindly let us all pile in for a visit.

You know it's a good trip when by the end of it you are completely exhausted.

Charlotte doing her makeup with me

JULY

Oh how I love Sundance Lake. We spend as many sunny days there as possible. Charlotte loves it and plays in the sand while I sit and watch her. Totally made pregnancy in the summer doable!

Another day at the lake Charlotte insisted on bringing/wearing her pink tutu over her swimsuit.

Thank goodness for 7 year old sisters. Alison was the perfect playmate/helper/beach beauty whenever we had a day at Sundance Lake


We also were invited to my sister-in-law's cabin for few days. It was just the moms and the kids (not to mention a very helpful and fun grandma Wendie) which made for an funfilled, noisey, wonderful time

As you can tell, July has the fewest amount of pictures. There's a reason for that, July was a tornado. Not only did we move that month but Dave also started his residency. After having Dave off for June I had to relearn how to be a residency widow. His schedule is so busy and he is currently averaging anywhere from 60 - 100 hr work weeks. On top of that is hours more of studying per week. He is perpetually sleep deprived while he juggles residency, studying, a pregnant wife and a two year old. He sacrifices a lot and doesn't have really any time to himself. We've realized the importance of communication, putting yourself in the other person's shoes, planning ahead and how to make our time together really count. Not to mention that a weekly date night is a must if at all possible.

AUGUST

I was hesitant to post this picture of us in Waterton since pregnancy has officially taken over my body, but it's the only chance we had in August to spend a couple consecutive days together. We love Waterton and enjoyed going for walks, getting ice cream, going to the park, and visiting with family. We wish we had more time there since there is so much to do. There's always next summer...

I finally buckled down and potty trained Charlotte. I know I know, they say not to do that too soon before a baby comes. Whatever. She got super excited with her little potty party, sticker chart and treats and with the help/advice of friends I can officially say that she is potty trained. Way to go Charlotte!

We finally have most of our moving boxes unpacked and put away which allowed me to break out the old sewing machine again. I'm mostly self taught which means all my projects have mistakes, and some I've had to redo. With that being said, here are a few of my latest projects. I would even venture to say that I'm getting faster and better. It's such an exciting feeling to see something that I actually sewed all by myself :)

One project was a pelmet box for our dining room. Thanks to mom and an online tutorial I think it turned out pretty cute

Next project was the drapes. Those I did all on my own and they took a lot longer than I thought, but again, I love how they turned out and you can't see any mistakes when they're hung up :)

The most recent thing I sewed is my pride and joy. I know they're only pillows but the fabric was expensive (and I'm obsessed with it) so I was really nervous to cut it up and then have it turn out terrible. Somehow they turned out exactly how I wanted. This was my first time trying piping and I LOVE the look of it. I don't know if I'll ever sew another pillow again without piping, it really takes it to the next level in my opinion.

Hopefully the next post I won't have to catch up on 3 months! The next post really should be documenting this pregnancy since I'm 36 weeks along haha.