Friends

These are some of my very best friends in the whole world! Joy and Stephanie are leaving this next week, and then we will follow soon there after. It is a sad sad time for all of us. Here we are at dinner before the Relief Society Broadcast. It was such a great time with the ladies....Our friendship seems to be so strong and close because we are out here in the boons. We are members of the church and all speak English and speak the same culture :) That is hard to come by in the Dominican Republic and so we latch to each other. I, for one, have learned so much from these ladies and will miss them terribly. I have told them all I will have to call them in the middle of the night for advice. It has truly been a blessing for me to know them and spend time with them: walking, running, weight lifting, brunching, lunching, chatting, crying, doing therapy together, de-stressing, coping, complaining, sharing, laughing, beaching, and loving each other. I am so lucky to have such good friends.

Columbus Lighthouse

For one of our date nights, we switched it to a Friday afternoon when Tobias gets out early. We took Rebekah and toured the lighthouse they say Columbus is buried in. The DNA debate is still on with Spain, but the lighthouse is pretty amazing. We really enjoyed our time with Beckah and liked seeing the museums inside from tons of different countries. Columbus' signature is cool-lots of symbols to basically say he is Christ's servant. The whole story is pretty sad...Columbus never was paid...and no one really knows where he is from or any of his family. They think he might have been Jewish and changed his name so they couldn't trace any information back to him. I am glad the Americas were discovered, but with them came basically the entire destruction of the Taino Indians of the Dominican Republic. We all know the same story in several different countries where this happened and the struggle continues between old and new "power." (Guatemala, etc.) Needless to say "Colombus Day" is not always a celebrated holiday in Latin countries.

A day in our house

My cousin Rebekah has been a lifesaver! Some days the girls just need some undivided attention. This day they loved getting dressed up like Hollywood stars and being driven around downstairs on the office chair! So fun!

Indian dancing

The University here actually had a cultural exchange! We went to it and just loved the Indian dancers and music. The girls had a blast and went up at the end to dance too-Madison was in heaven and couldn't keep her booty still! Mikaela would not pose for a picture--I think she was on stimulus overload. The one lady danced with seven pots on her head...it was about a 20 minute process of one by one putting them on her head. She even sat down and picked up a dollar with her teeth off the ground! It was amazing. The man did a similar courting dance with a huge pot of water on his head that was first on top of one, then two, then three glasses. He then walked on nails, the sides of swords and walked clutching glasses with his toes. It was so great. Way to go cultural exchanges!

El Salvador

Well, I got to go back to the mission, with my family!!! It was a wonderful trip and such a blessing. Here a bunch of photos that have the descriptions and more info if you click on them. Lots to do and not enough time. Thanks to the Porters for opening up their hearts and home to us, it would not have been possible without them! We love you!!!

Helicopter Ride

There was a special mission here with the American war ship Kearsarge. The embassy gave us the great opportunity to go and tour it. Being so big, and having certain rules, the boat had to stay afloat about 1 mile from shore or something. We drove to the Dominican air force base and rode these huge helicopters out to the boat and then had a fabulous tour. A storm came up and we were thinking maybe we would have to spend the night on the boat, but they decided to take us back to the navy base instead. We got to ride on these huge hauling boats that sit in the bottom back part of the war ship. The warship can sink its back half a little and then open up into the sea to load and unload things. That is where we went and were "unloaded into the sea." It was absolutely fascinating! I learned so much of our armed forces and the good they do. It was strictly a peace keeping, medical mission. They were able to be near Haiti when so much of the devastation had occurred and were able to take thousands of gallons of water and other supplies in these hauling boats. I happened to meet the Colonel on an airplane a few days later and he said it was such an awesome mission...that he was amazed at how humanitarian the young service people were. He mentioned it as being hopeful when we worry so much about the 20 something kids we have. I am definately proud to be American...even when not everything in our system is perfect. These service men and women sacrifice so much! Six months out, some in, and then out again. They were very kind and professional to us. One of the other really interesting things that we saw was their six operating rooms. The Kearsarge is a special medical boat that goes to different parts of the world to help other countries, but also our own troops. They had about 100 doctors working together from several countries doing dental and eye work for this specific mission. We asked the most common surgery and the chief surgeon said, "vasectomies and apendectomies." I had to make sure I understood right, so I asked if a vasectomy was what I thought it was. He said yes, they come to make sure they can have no more babies! I thought he was talking about the different countries that they serve, but he was talking about our own troops! On their was home they have the surgery or their wives, girlfriends don't want them back!!! I thought that was a little funny, but in actuality, incredibly sad. So complicated...Life is not easy, that is for sure. Hope you enjoy part of our experience!

Most beautiful Caribbean Beach

We went to playa Rincon this weekend and had a blast. It was absolutely beautiful. Hope to go back someday soon.

My cousin Beckah

Well, she got here without a hitch--even with tropical storm slash hurricane!

Madison Princess

Well, we DID start something! I was about to leave to workout when Madison woke up and was hysterically crying. I tried talking to her, holding her...I had no idea what was wrong. She has bad allergies and her eyes were all swollen so I thought maybe she was sick or something. After about 10 minutes of just holding her, turns out that she had taken out the little pink curlers that we put in her hair last night and her hair just wasn't curly enough! She was SOOO distraught! So I stayed home from working out and we curled her hair a little more, but of course couldn't stop there! We then had to take pictures. This could seem like a new bad habit, but at least she is caring about her appearance--before brushing her hair was a nightmare! Now she asks me to :)Isn't she beautiful!!!

The Campo

It is so fun to go to the campo and see how most of the real world lives...granted, I can come home and take a shower and wash my hands, drink water that is decontaminated and not worry about the heat or bugs! But, our trip to see our housekeeper's girls was awesome. The girls loved all the animals: bunnies, a donkey, ducks, turkeys, pigs, and lots of chickens. They were so kind to us and so friendly. The grandpa used this gigantic machete to peel and orange for Layla and I just had to document it! They were kind enough to let the girls ride the donkey and we saw all kinds of fruit trees--avocado (which we ate, mango (season over), cherries (which we ate--the red color fruits), squash, beans, papaya, gourds---everything right there by their house. Such a beautiful country and people.

Layla Zooloo

I bought this cool necklace from a Colombian friend of mine that is made from a "Dalmation bean." Hence the black and white spots. I am usually not so daring in my choice of jewlery, but this was just too cool. Layla put it on, naked of course, and she reminded me of Shaka-zulu. So cute!

Morning Sunshine

I came home from working out this morning to find my two little princesses dressed up and ready to take pictures. I think we have started something here! :)

Happy Birthday Tobias!

Tobias turned 35! "I,m lucky to still be alive," were his words. The girls and I all went to his office to give him his presents and then Mikaela ate most of his favorite Toblerone :) Then we made him his favorite cake and shaped it in a heart. Mom and Dad then went out to dinner--yes we had dessert first with the girls and sang Happy Birthday. Dinner was quiet and nice, and it was fun to get dressed up. We were suppose to go to a resort just the two of us, but our nanny needed to go out this weekend to help some people in the campo. It was serendipidous that we didn't go because the rain started Friday morning with a tropical depression and there was a huge accident on the way to where we would have gone killing 20 people. So we decided we would just dance at home and have some alone time. I sure love my husband! We listened to my new favorite song that describes my Tobias to a T. Basically the words say that No matter the season it is always Christmas time because I know your mine. He is my miracle. I love you Tobias.

just for dad

So...these are pictures just for grandpa! Happy memories :)

Beautiful girls

Well, I have to say our girls are beautiful and actually pose for pictures sometimes. We try to capture these moments and linger on the memories :) We have had a fun time dressing up and doing our hair. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Animals, animals!

We go to a ranch of our friends often, and the girls just love the animals and getting dirty. The mangoes were such an added treat this year!

Everyday life in the DR

Drive-thru Mango shopping...Who could ask for anything better??


Grocery shopping for yummy food! Notice the sticker on Opa's head!


Swinging in the backyard.

Resort WIth Oma and Opa

Well, this is our third trip to a resort and we feel absolutely spoiled! Look at this beach! The girls got their hair done and refuse to take it out! They swam 24 hours a day with daddy while mom sat under a tiki and enjoyed the breeze. We went to a fun Japanese restaurant and they had fire!!! Wahhoo! The seafood restaurant was actually really gross...but the Japanese place was awesome! Sushi was yummy and cooking in front of you kept the girls attention for long enough that we could eat our food! We took long walks on the beach early morning and late evening. We ate and ate and ate...The girls really liked getting anything they wanted. Talk about gorging and wasting! Resort atmospheres are fun and can be relaxing, but they are also incredibly indulgent. We are ready to go home at the end of five days, eat healthier and do something productive!

Beach Bums

VACATION WITH OMA AND OPA

We are almost done with our tour and are just now finding the most amazing places to take visitors! This little Isla Catalina (island) was incredible. We took a huge catamaran out to one side of the island to snorkel (Mikaela decided to sleep again to avoid the big swells and the less-than-smooth ride) and then they took us to the other side that was absolutely phenomenal! The water was so blue and clear, and the sand so white! It was paradise. No vendors, not many people...it was perfect. We got drenched on the bumpy boat ride back, but both girls slept the whole way. This must have been Oma's favorite trip. Too bad we don't have a boat!

Punta Cana Vacation

We just had a family vacation on the east coast of The Dominican Republic and all absolutely loved it. We love that we have the time and means to do these things that make such an impact on our little family. The beaches in this country are awesome! We loved swimming, playing and enjoying being together.

Mikaela turned 2!

Mikaela is two! What a day of fun with the family. We opened presents and just kind of played the whole day. Tobias took the day off of work and we enjoyed opening presents and using them throughout the day. Most of her friends are not around right now (just moved and vacation) so Madison was very distraught that we didn't have a big party for her. Madi needed them (and boy have we had them!) but we almost had to force her to open her presents. Finally we just let Madi do it for her (that is what Madison really wanted anyway!) I learned that home made cake is always better--period. We wish family and friends could have been closer, but it was a good day and we sure love our little family. The biggest event of the day was that we got rid of her binki!!!! We are still working on potty training... if she is naked, she will go in the potty, if not forget it! Oh well, we rushed the first one and are still paying for it. I am just not stressed about this one. Parenting is definately NOT about knowing all the answers!

These are our girls with MY birthday cake! So fun! I'm 31!

Pigeon excitement!

Our Layla sure loves animals. Isn't her little voice so cute!

Princess Madison

Madison and mommy had our date night together at Princesses on Ice (Disney production) It was great fun! Madison dressed up like Cinderella and was in heaven. She keeps asking when we can go again. She kept saying during the performance, "Why can't I go up on stage??" I asked what she would do on stage and she said she would do what they were doing. I think we have a future actress on our hands! :)