St. Patricks Day

My sweet baby-

St. Patricks Day 2011

St Patricks Day 2012

What a difference a year makes in a baby! I forgot it was St. Patricks Day and originally dressed Chase in this cute little dog outfit a friend gave us. By 7 am I realized my mistake and put him in this little outfit, which I love. Unfortunately, Chase is pretty much grown out of it. It was pretty tight, and I promised him once St. Patricks Day was over I would put it in the pile of clothes to take back to the states for a little brother to wear at some point. I really hope Chase does get a little brother, because I seriously have a hard time packing away my favorite outfits. It makes me so sad when he out grows them!

Maybe it's because his mom forced him to wear a slightly-too-small outfit all day, but Chase was not a happy camper for St. Patricks Day. I snapped this picture at the end of the day, after many tears when I didn't hold him while I cooked dinner, and when his toys wouldn't fit through the holes he was trying to put them through, when I wouldn't let him play with the trash can and then when I handed him his milk and apparently that wasn't what he wanted. Most days this boy is delightful, but this was one of those days I was all too eager to put him to bed as soon as possible (just keeping it real folks).

In other events at the Hugo home, Ben is working studiously away at his cardiovascular pathophysiology, microbiology and pharmacology. I now know those drugs better than I ever did learning them in nursing school. I'm supposed to be doing CE courses online to keep my license active (which I have been doing, I've done 21 of the 30 credits so far that have to be done by next January) but with all this studying Ben and I are doing together I feel like the licensing bureau should give me credit and renew my license! I think by the time we are done here, I'll have earned a quarter of a medical degree. Ben really amazes me though. He is so focused and so disciplined. I get bored and kind of ornery when we study together for three hours- and he does 16 hours 6 days a week! He's one dedicated man!

I'm loving my calling as the First Councilor in the Relief Society Presidency. (To clarify, the presidency is just me and the president, Nicole. We are the presidency, compassionate service chair/committee, relief society teachers, visiting teaching supervisors, enrichment committee, etc.) We had an activity on Friday where the head of the Ross Counseling Department came and gave a presentation on mental and emotional health. I made the refreshments, two new recipes I found on pinterest that turned out really good for mint chocolate cookies and coconut cream pie bars. Nicole brought juice and actually found us a table cloth at James Store (aka- the random store of junk and everything imaginable that probably won't work after you buy it). We were pretty proud of ourselves that we had a fairly nice looking table (plastic lime green and purple table cloth, paper plates and forks, juice in water bottles and then the treats I made). The activity was fun and the treats were all gone, so I'm hoping that means everyone liked them.

The next day I was talking to my mom who had just gotten home from her stake's big Relief Society birthday celebration, complete with a main session, several seminars (one of which she presented) and lunch. She told me about how the entire church was decorated, the chapel, halls, foyer, classrooms full of antique framed photographs, quilts, floral arrangements, and an entire covered wagon. To which I responded,

"Wow. Nicole and I were pretty proud of

ourselves for having a tablecloth."

That's life in Dominica for you!