My little helper

 One of Chase's favorite toys these days- the broom!

He "helps" me sweep multiple times a day.

This boy cracks me up lately, so full of ideas and energy. 

Other than the cute pictures of my boy, there isn't much new going on the Hugo home these days. Ben studies all day- nothing new there. I'm staying pretty busy just trying to stay on top of laundry, dishes, cooking and playing with this cute kid. Chase and I spent an hour at the pool today that was a little piece of heaven, splashing and giggling with the cutest baby ever. Of course, after we came home the inner monster came out and kept me on my toes for the rest of the day with tantrums. Chase and I leave in a little over a month to go back to Utah (and Ben will follow 2 weeks behind us) and we are so excited!

Our Fathers Day

We had a wonderful Fathers Day this year-

I love having a day set aside to be thankful for the amazing work that dads do.

I was blessed to grow up with an amazing dad, as was my husband.

And now I'm married to a man, who according to our son, is probably on superhero level.

These are the gifts I made from the Relief Society for the men in the branch.

(Hershey's with Almonds- aka the only Hershey candy bar IGA had last week- wrapped up in a wrapper with ingredients listed on the back as 100% loving and caring and 100% hardworking)

I know a lot of wards don't do Fathers Day gifts, mine never did growing up, 

but the men in our branch need a little recognition.

These men put in roughly 90 hours a week at school and still find time 

to spend with their families and to dedicate to the Lord.

So hopefully this chocolate bar appropriately expressed our appreciation of all they do!

(yeah- a candy bar doesn't even come close, but I think they were all wowed with the extreme skill I used to color in the ties with Ben's highlighters)

 Here is superdad with our sweetheart before church-

these two love each other so much it makes my heart melt.

 Please don't report us all to child protective services,

but this next photo just makes me laugh to look at. 

This is what our transport to church looks like weekly.

This van has seats for 10 people, including the driver.

You know how many people we put in every Sunday to get us to church?

Twenty-Three

I'm not even kidding.

(Although 4 of those are babies- not that that makes it better- shouldn't they be in carseats?)

We tried to get a good picture, but it's just not even possible. 

I do love how this shows the whole Jensen family sitting on ONE seat, 

with Holly and Kash on Eric's lap, and Hudson on Holly's lap.

That's how we roll in Dominica.

You know, when in Rome. . . 

Somehow we make to home from church every Sunday in one piece!

After naps, Chase was still a little grouchy.

Nothing a little "Cars" watching couldn't fix. Here are Ben and Chaser watching Cars

while skyping with Papa. 

(Chase will only hold still for skyping if a show is silently on at the same time)

 And then we sat down for a delicious dinner,

which although it was technically Ben's day, he did most of the work for.

I made the hamburger buns and salad, 

he made the burgers and the sweet potato fries.

And despite our worries that things were just not coming together,

it turned out pretty delicious.

And here is little Chase- showing us that he's ready for the prayer so he can eat.

We are so proud of this little boy!

It was a wonderful Fathers Day! 

Comic Relief

This is the main purpose of this colander.

We only make pasta once a month, 

but it's Chase's hat on a very regular basis.

Also- he usually wears clothes,

but give a kid a break,

it's really really hot here.

Our Sundays

Like I wrote in an earlier post, thanks to our sweet Chase and his early risin' habits, we do not struggle with the "mad rush out the door to get to church on time" here in the Hugo home. We are always ready in plenty of time for church. Our challenge lies elsewhere- in keeping the toddler, who at that point has already been up for 4 hours and is ready for nap #1 (yes, he still takes 2 naps, I love it!) happy and entertained. When Chase gets tired, he gets grumpy and hyper. He can't hold still. He doesn't want any type of structure or rules to follow. As you can imagine, it just gets more fun when we get to sacrament meeting.

Our self-timer photos before church this morning-

the challenge of getting the baby to look at the camera and smile

Today Chase made it through a whole 55 minutes of sacrament meeting before he lost it and spent the remainder of the meeting out on the balcony with Ben. Those first 55 minutes he mostly spent begging for treats from the kind souls sitting in front of us. (Because their treats were obviously more enticing than the treats I packed for him) Chase would point to their treat bag, sign please and more repeatedly until he got some goods. It was kind of endearing, if not a little embarrassing. I promise, we feed him. He just wants any and all food he can get his little hands on. Ben says we have a family home evening lesson on greed in our future. 

Needless to say, when we get to drop him off at nursery we both breathe a sigh of relief. He's not technically nursery age, but my friend Jessica, who is the nursery leader, lets him come. He has a blast in there. A few weeks ago Ben watched Chase get super excited when Jessica walked into nursery, then immediately went over and pulled out the playmat, sat on it, looked at Jessica and signed "please". Ben was a little confused at what he wanted, until Jessica clarified that she pulls out the playmats and has them sit for snack time. Chase was just informing her that he was ready for cookies!

As I'm reading about Chase's church antics two themes seem to pop up-
1.apparently we let lots of other people help us with our kiddo during church, and
2. his whole world apparently revolves around snacks.

Neither of these seem to put us in a very good light. However, we are extremely grateful to all the sweet people in our branch who are so kind to our boy and are willing to share their food with him. It takes a village, right? Please know that all three Hugos appreciate you!

The Park

Chase loves the park these days.

If we pass the park (which we do often, it's on campus by everything else)

and we don't stop,

I'm in for it.

He reaches out the side of the stroller, 

points and whines (loudly).

Usually I give in, at least for a few minutes.

This kid loves to climb, loves the slide,

but mostly loves picking up the weird shredded rubber

and searches for rocks.

He also really loves this ramp.

He's gotten too much momentum many times going down this thing,

which has resulted in his fair share of tumbles.

He usually doesn't care one little bit.

Just picks himself up and keeps going.

Really- he's in constant motion all day,

this place is just a great outlet for all that energy!

Making Lemonade

 I try to stay pretty positive on our blog about our life here, mostly because I try to think positive thoughts about our experience. Really, if I don't, I'll go crazy. Tonight I'm feeling a little sad that I'm missing Keely's wedding, who was my best friend growing up. She was a bridesmaid at my wedding, went with me to shop for wedding dresses, helped with all the set-up and clean up and decorations, threw me a bridal shower, slept over at my house the night before the wedding, the whole deal. I wish I could have been there for her. That is one of the hardest things about living so far away. If we lived somewhere in the states I probably could have jumped on a plane to be there, but not from here, with two days of international travel each way on a medical student budget. However, I want to remember these things so that one day I'll remember that life is easier- easier than it was when we lived in a 3rd world country and all that has brought to our lives.

Dominica lately has been a challenge. Now I'm remember just how cool (relative term) and wonderful the weather was from December-March and I'm remembering just how HOT and HUMID it was last summer. Alas, the heat has returned. And my poor boy has got a nasty heat rash all over his face and neck that I just can't get a handle on. Today we ran our AC all day (which probably cost us $25 at least- just for the one day) and stayed home to try to keep the little guy cool. By about 4:00 pm Chase and I came the same conclusion I think- we should not stay inside all day. We go stir crazy. We need to go on walks, go swimming and enjoy the beautiful scenery here. This view has given me sanity many times. We walk here every morning. In the morning the water is glassy and calm. It is so serene, I love it. We usually come here again later in the day, although I don't have a picture Caribbean sunsets are amazing. This amazing view brings me so much peace. It reminds me of the beauty of this place. I feel lucky to see this every day.

 Our life here is crazy at times. The weather here is crazy. This heat is rapidly interrupted when storm clouds roll in and you are literally standing in a shower and soaking wet. It's awesome. Being Relief Society President has been a little crazier and busier than I thought it would be, which is fine, I have the time, but it's made for a few hectic days. My sweet friend Crystal wrote an awesome recap on our branch conference last weekend, detailing all those little things that make our life here so much more difficult and also kind of charming and comical, which you can read here. Read it, you'll get what I mean. I especially love the part about her getting to the baptism, because my experience was almost identical (subtract a cake, add cookies and Chase in the stroller insisting on NOT using the rain cover) and the part about the taxi driver on Sunday morning. Classic Dominica.

I don't know what I would have done here without my little Chase. He's the light of my world. He makes me laugh so many times during any given day. Like in this picture below, which is obviously the most efficient way to get to the other side of the table. Today he learned to jump (for the purpose of full disclosure, his little feet never leave the ground unless I lift him, it's all wind up) and he was tickled with himself. I love love love him.

So after spending my day with this sweet little blessing, skyping with my wonderful mom for a good hour, and eating dinner with my amazing and caring husband, life isn't so bad. I'm still missing our life in the states, but we'll be back soon enough. 63 days actually, but who's counting?