The Roommates

Last Saturday I got to go to lunch with some of my favorite
people in the world, my college roommates!

Me and Chase, Courtney, Kate, Lauren and Emily

I really found the golden ticket when I got assigned roommates at BYU. I was so lucky to get to room with the BEST girls. My friend Lauren and I planned to be roommates together, and I was a little nervous what the other girls would be like going into Freshman year. Honestly, I couldn't have picked better roommates myself (except for Lauren, who I did, in fact, pick myself:) Courtney (or other Courtney, or short Court) and Kate ended up being some of my best friends at college. I love them both a lot.

The last day of Freshman year- WE MADE IT!

Posing on our lovely blue couch-accompanied by our other roommates Taryn and Rachel

Freshman year was so fun, we decided to live together again sophomore year. We got two great additions to the group, Shay (who lived next door to us Freshman year but spent most of her time at our place) and Emily, who was another random assignment that worked out great!

Kate's birthday party

Our roommate Christmas party

At my wedding

It was so much fun to live with these girls. We never had any drama and just had so much fun together. We are all really different, but we ended up getting really close. Kate is beautiful, so artistic and creative, musically talented and spiritually in tune. Short Court made me laugh every. single. day. She was my running buddy and anatomy study buddy and she was always FUN. Lauren helped me stay focused in school, always gave me great advice and perspective in life, and was always there to talk when I was stressed out of my mind. Shay was fun, carefree and friendly to everyone. Emily is very compassionate, generous (she always let me use her kitchen stuff-sounds kind of lame written here, but I really appreciated it) and sweet.

Obviously, I shouldn't have been stressed about who my roommates would be and if I would like them. I love these girls. Those two years were awesome. I'm going to remind myself of this next time I worry about something:)

Gems from Nate Part II

Nate's birthday was last week. In honor of him making it to 21 (as my mom put it, there were some days she worried he wouldn't make it to adulthood) I'm posting another edition of 'gems' we've gotten in his letters. These are just a few excerpts from his letters the last few months. These funny anecdotes are surrounded with stories of missionary work and his testimony. These are the parts that let us know it really is Nate who is writing these letters.

One week he gave us the highlights of week in this numbered form, 3,4, and 5 made me laugh.

1. Having an investigator the first time at church stand up in priesthood and bear his testimony.

2. A member buying our groceries for us this week anonymously.

3. Elder Sutton identifying George Forman as "the guy from the Green Mile"

4. Elder Sutton redeeming his lack of boxing or movie knowledge by getting me on a protein diet that's working like a charm.

5. Running out of gas *(Elder Sutton at the wheel, not my fault) on Sam Cooper Highway en route to a baptism, having to jog a half mile to the nearest gas station, buy a some gas and jog it back. (Shades of a similar incident with Aaron Johnson and Jane Bruce 2 years ago which Mom's family thinks I made up)

6. Getting good news emails from all of you.

*Nate was notorious in our family for running out of gas. His solution was usually to just switch to another car. He ran completely out of gas several times.

He got transfered to Memphis, Tennessee at the first of the year:
Memphis is the white field, we're just trying to hold one sickle at a time. I'll end there before the crappy metaphor and botched biblical parallel police come after me

In response to telling us about his new companion from Wyoming:

I also count it as a personal success that I've gotten him to sometimes say "I saw" and "We saw" rather than "I seen" and "We seen". Old habits die hard. No offense to Grandma and Grandpa.

Well, Jerry Sloan resigning sent shockwaves even through the hispanic world. Not really, but it was a mexican who told me thursday night. I thought he was talking about Jim Boylan, but wow, look what happens, I go on a mission and the whole world falls apart. I don't know what to believe anymore. Is Deron Williams a problem now? What happened?

This was him telling us about what happened on his birthday:
Otherwise it was just a pretty busy day, with another baptism and a big Relief Society Party celebrating the anniversary of the Relief Society, which included a short play (in spanish) about the founding of the relief society. There's something very inherently entertaining about 15 hispanic women dressed up in Pioneer garb and Emma Smith having a thick Chihuahua accent.

Crossed the year mark Thursday. We still haven't gotten to burn shirts (Elder Sutton is serving right next to me). We were going to do it yesterday, but Elder Pitt felt it would be breaking the sabbath. I call it a gray area.

I decided to try to get a haircut at a barbershop near Graceland. I learned my lesson, apparently you need to go to areas where there are white people to get your hair cut, because barbers who've only cut Afro-American hair, don't really know what to do with mine. It looks pretty bad. I did get to talk the barber about growing up in Memphis during the Civil Rights movement.

We miss Nate a lot, but these letters sure are fun to get.

The Big Move

On April 27th, Ben, Chase and I will be packing up and heading to our new home for the next 16 months: the island nation of Dominica. It's a tiny island in the Caribbean, between Martinique and Guadaloupe (for those of you who cruise the Caribbean often). Ben is going to be attending Ross University, which is an American University that has a campus on Dominica. We are doing his first four semesters there, and when those are over we'll be moving back to the US to finish medical school. All his clinical rotations will be done in the US. Our time in Dominica will be mostly book learning for Ben.
In a lot of ways, we are really excited for this move. It is a huge step towards Ben reaching his dream of becoming a doctor. We are also excited for the independence this will bring for us and a time for us to bond as just our family. Ben and I have always thought it would be fun to live in another country for a while, and this is an awesome opportunity. It will also be a grand adventure.
At the same time, the reality of this move is starting to sink in and we are getting really nervous. Ben is a little nervous about the rigorous nature of medical school and how he'll handle that pressure while balancing a family. I'm a little (okay a lot) nervous about being SO FAR away from home. (Like I told Ben last night, now a move to Texas or Oregon or somewhere like that seems like a breeze) My biggest fear is about our little baby. The island is very hot and humid and I worry about how he'll handle the heat. There are poisonous centipedes on the island that can be up to a foot long, along with tons of other bugs. I'm scared that I won't be able to protect Chase from the bugs! (Ben reminded me that I won't be able to protect Chase from every dangerous situation even if we are in the US) Since we haven't visited the island ourselves, we don't really know exactly what our little house will be like. If it still looks like it does in the pictures I think we should be just fine, but the unknown is still a little scary.
With all of these worries, I have felt very comforted that we are doing the right thing. I think that Ross University is really where we were supposed to end up and we have a great adventure in store for us there. A lot of things have worked out in just the right way, like Chase coming when he did, that will make this move as easy as possible. Even still- it's a huge change! Pray for us!

Happy St. Patricks Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Here is Chase last night, I finally got his huge gummy smile on camera!
This smile completely melts my heart.
I think he's excited about the upcoming holiday.

Here is Chase's St. Patrick's Day outfit #1.
With this baby we go through several outfits every day.
It was super cute while it lasted.

Then he switched to just green socks.
He doesn't own any thing else that is green that fits him right now.
I really love these socks. He has them in every color. They were a gift from my aunt. I get excited every time he wears a pair of them. This was the first time he wore the green ones.

Chase at 2 months

I think this baby is so cute! He smiles all the time now- I have yet to catch a really good smile on camera, but believe me it's adorable. Ben and I have talked about how seeing our baby smile can turn even the rainiest day into happiness. Chase has such a sweet presence and we just love him!
Notice the ipod touch in the top of this picture by his head. We use it for the white noise app to help him sleep every night. Ben is a little miffed that Chase has hijacked his ipod, but the extra sleep for me is completely worth it.

We had his two month appointment on Thursday. Having him get shots was the saddest thing, but mostly he was a trooper. Also, apparently he's kind of small, which surprised me because he was a pretty big baby when he was born. Here are his current stats:

9 lbs 13 oz.- 25 percentile

22 inches- 40 percentile

Head circumference 15 inches- 25 percentile

Virginia Trip Highlights

Our trip started with a big milestone for Chase- his first plane ride! He did so great on the planes going both ways. Mostly he slept, ate when he wanted to, and was happy and cute for anyone who wanted to stop to admire him. I love my baby!

Ben's dad attended his brother's funeral in Colorado the day before and just happened to be on our flight from Denver to Washington DC. It was nice to have another pair of arms to hold Chase. Ben and I each got a nap during the plane ride and Ray got some nice one on one time with the babe.

Traveling is hard work, especially when you have to be held and rolled around in your stroller all day:) Chase still sleeps most of the day, which was helpful for a day of traveling.

When we got to Washington DC we got picked up from the airport by our awesome friend Chana. (She's so awesome that the last time I rode in her car I was throwing up and she was holding my hair while driving the car on the way back from my doctors appointment. I was about 8 weeks pregnant and she was an absolute angel! This car ride went much more smoothly) Andrew and Chana moved from Provo to Washington DC last summer where Andrew is attending law school. We were so excited to see them! We spent the night with them, staying up way way too late. Chana and I would have stayed up much later, but when we got to the point when Andrew was mixing up words and Ben couldn't stop yawning we called it a night. They were darling with Chase. We love Andrew and Chana and have missed them so much since they moved away!

They so graciously watched Chase for us the next morning while we went to the temple for Jessi's wedding (the reason for the whole trip). I have never left Chase with anyone but my mom, but I knew Chana would take excellent care of him, which she did.

The Washington DC temple is so beautiful and it was wonderful to be there for Jessi and Kevin's sealing. Jessi looked beautiful and we are very excited to have added Kevin to the family!

Most of the Hugo Family outside the temple-Me and Ben, Janelle holding Ellianna, Nathan, Diane with Jeremiah, Kevin and Jessi, Ray, Brandon holding Jaylah and Angel. Just missing our Chase and Janelle's husband Trevor.

Our little family at the reception that night.

Chase got to meet his Grandma Hugo for the first time. Unfortunately, Chase didn't really feel like performing while we were there and was pretty stingy with his cute little smiles. Despite his crankier moods, both of his Hugo grandparents got some time holding their first grandson. Big thanks to Ray and Diane for making this trip possible!

Chase got to spend some time with his cousins, although he was pretty oblivious to the other babies. Also, he looks tiny next to these girls. They do have a couple of months of him, and as discovered at his pediatrician's appointment this week, Chase is kind of a lightweight.
From smallest (and youngest) to biggest (and oldest): Chase, Elli and Jaylah

We had a lovely trip, it was fun to catch up with family and friends, but it was also so nice to come home. Chase showed us how happy he was to be home and in his own crib- he slept NINE HOURS the night we got home!