Simple Life

Chase and I have one week left on the island.

ONE WEEK!

I can hardly believe it. Honestly, it feels a little surreal.

And while I am so, so excited to get back to Utah to visit, and just 

to live in the United States again in general,

I know there are things I'll miss about our island life.

One thing I'll miss is how simple life is here.

So for the sake of record keeping, 

I wanted to record a little run down of our basic day here.

I know once we move back things will become more hectic, 

and I'll fondly remember our simple days here.

I've loved the little routine we have going.

Everyday (except Sunday) is basically the exact same thing.

5:15 am- the cute little alarm clock goes off, and if I'm not already awake (my body has trained me to wake up just before he does) I get woken up to his sweet little voice saying "mama? mama?" and then not so sweetly, shaking the sides of the now-squeaky pack n play.

5:20 am- plop Chase on the couch with a sippy cup of milk and Disney Jr., compose myself for the day, get changed into workout clothes, get Chase dressed, return emails and play around on facebook waiting for it to get a little lighter outside

6:00 am- head out for our morning exercise, enjoy an hour of breathtaking rainforest and ocean views while Chase babbles away in the stroller

7:00 am- come home, get Ben up, make breakfast, everyone eats, clean up breakfast, start laundry (longer process here than the simply turning on the machine with clothes in it), make beds, send Ben off to school, get showered and ready for the day.

8:45 am- read stories with Chase and put him down for his morning nap

9:00 am- Courtney time- read scriptures, return emails, clean up Chase's messes, prepare lessons for Sunday, blog, make bread, menu plan

10:00 am- Chase is up and we head out on some activity- friends house, family lounge on campus or the pool

12:30 pm- come home for lunch

1:00 pm- Chase's play time, he gets to do things like clean out the drawers so he can sit in them- pictured below:)

1:30 pm- Story time with Chase and then afternoon naps. Usually I nap too (that 5 am wake up call usually comes a little too early for me!)
3:00 pm- Up from naps, usually we head to the grocery store to get stuff for dinner than night. The grocery store is about a 5 minute walk from our house. Since their inventory is unpredictable, it's best to go almost daily to see what's available and plan our meals from there.
4:00 pm- Home from the store, Chase plays around our house, sometimes I play too (building towers, throwing the ball, etc.) Usually skype with family.
5:00 pm- I start making dinner. Chase usually melts down. Usually ends with Chase sitting in his high chair, with a snack and a sippy cup, with Cars on my laptop. It's the only way to get dinner made most days :)
6:00 pm- BEN COMES HOME! We are always ecstatic to see him!
6:15 pm- We eat dinner as a family. Chase loves joining in on our "dinner conversation" which is usually all about him anyway
6:45 pm- Ben puts Chase in the bathtub, I do the dishes
7:00 pm- Family prayer, I read to Chase and put him down for the night. He usually goes down without a peep.
7:15 pm- Ben studies for the rest of the night. Sometimes I help him. Usually I play on facebook, look at blogs, watch a show, just hang out. It's pretty chill. 

Farewell Banquet

Near the end of every semester the spouse's organization hosts a farewell banquet for the 4th semester spouses leaving. In the past they've always done it at a local restaurant near the school. This semester they wanted to do something different and have the banquet out at Red Rock- a restaurant I'd only heard about before. I was excited to get to see a new part of the island (and I always thought it was only a 15 minute drive from the school). I dosed up on dramamine (a must for any type of driving trip here- no matter how far a distance), Ben came home a little early to watch Chase, I touched up my makeup and was out the door. Honestly, it was pretty liberating to be able to go out for a night with the girls! Since it's only once a semester, and Ben only lost about 1 hour of potential study time (since Chase goes to bed early) I didn't even feel guilty about it.

We boarded the transport (WORST DRIVER EVER) and headed off to Red Rock. It was about a 40 minute drive of crazy fast driving around so many twists and turns in the road. My weak stomach felt less and less enthusiastic about the night the longer the drive took. Once we got to Red Rock, I got to enjoy the beauty of the place, and the horrible ride was [mostly] forgotten. Look at this amazing view!

 The restaurant is right on this beach! We got there just as the sun was going down. This is on the Atlantic side of the island, which has much rougher waves, making for some gorgeous scenery. We live on the Caribbean side, which is much gentler.

I'm glad we got a photo with the gals in the branch! These are the women I hang out with all the time- but never without our kids. It was so fun to be able to sit and chat and enjoy our dinner without being interrupted every 45 seconds. These wonderful ladies have made all the difference for me living here. I kind of feel like we are all in this crazy adventure together! I'm glad I got to know such strong, wonderful women here and I love them all!

Crystal Durrant, Holly Jensen, Jessica Dunn, me, Kelsey Stenquist, Heidi Wilkins

After dinner and the slide show were done, we were ready to head back to school. I must admit, I missed Ben and my little man Chase, I'm really not used to being away! If the ride to Red Rock was horrible, the ride back was even worse. I could not get off that transport soon enough! I don't think details are really necessary here on the blog- but suffice it to say, it wasn't pretty :) Despite crazy Dominica transport drivers on windy roads, it was really a beautiful, wonderful evening!

Are we there yet?

Sometimes this whole medical school journey- especially this extremely intense accelerated program on the island- feels like it is just wearing us out!

Ben has been great at making a little time every day for his family,

but Chase and I agree that we could definitely use a little more Ben time.

Lately, everytime Ben leaves Chase becomes distraught.

Yesterday we met up with Ben on campus for a few minutes, Chase had a blast playing with his dad, then when it was time to go he started screaming and crying.

I kid you not, he screamed the entire ride home.

This morning when Ben left Chase was just beside himself and unconsolable. 

Finally, he found a little solace in reading books with Mom. (Whew!)

I think we are all looking forward to a time when Ben is a little more available!

 Chase and I leave for Utah in exactly two weeks, 1 day.

Ben comes 13 days later.

We are getting so close to being done here,

as long as everything goes well (you probably know from my last

posts how insane passing and grades are here!)

Any prayers you could send our way would be much appreciated!

It's also been so so HOT in Dominica lately.

I remember it feeling like this last summer too- humidity makes heat a lot more intense.

When we get home from mid-day outings I've been giving

 Chase an otter pop to help cool him down.

He thinks it's the coolest thing ever.

Except that he doesn't fully understand how to keep the goodness 

coming out of that plastic tube. We're working on it.

And this picture makes me laugh, mostly because of why I took it.

Chase asked me to.

Seriously, he brought me the camera, 

then stood their and smiled looking at me expectantly.

After I took the picture, and he looked at it, he was satisfied and went away and played.

So this was a random post- but to recap,

we miss Ben, it's hot here, but Chase is adorable,

so it's all okay:)

Chase-in-the-box

The favorite toy around our house the last few days:

the box we keep the toys in.

I love the irony that he dumps all his toys out so he can play in the box.

Chase gave me a run for my money today. I don't know what was up, but I had a hard time making him happy. I kind of felt like I was at battle with him all day. Then we got to bedtime, and he sat so sweetly in my lap and let me read story after story. Then, instead of fussing when story time was over like usual, he just snuggled into me while I sang him his lullaby. He kissed me goodnight, I put him down, and he gave me a soft little smile as I walked out of the room. I guess after a hard day he wanted to end things on a good note. 

Chase's Job

I love playing with Chase, or just sitting and watching him play. He is so focused and intense in whatever he's doing. He plays like it's his job. My mom is always telling me that it IS his job- which Chase understands and takes very seriously. We went to the pool yesterday, which I love doing with Chase these days. We had an assortment of buckets and little cups and he kept himself very busy filling them up and dumping them out, out into the pool, outside of the pool, into other cups, on mommy's head, on his own head. It was just darling. Then he would take breaks to blow bubbles or jump off the steps, but then would go right back to filling up those cups. He just so full of ideas these days! 

The other night we gave him a cookie after dinner. He had a sippy cup of milk and whenever he wanted to drink from the cup he sat his cookie right on top of the cup, so as he tipped it up to drink the cookie was right at his nose. You've got to keep a close eye on those things, lest they disappear! He was doing the same thing with his cereal and smoothie cup yesterday, so I snapped this picture. (And yeah, he's just in a diaper again, but we had just come back from the pool)

 And this is just my cute boy running towards me with a big smile on his face. That little toothy grin is the best thing in the world to me!

Good Things to Come. . .

Chase and I will be in Utah in a little over three weeks! To say we are excited would be an understatement! The last few weeks of Dominica have been hard, to say the least, for a variety of reasons. It has made me all the more excited to go to Utah and live the good life for a little while. The only thing that would make it better would be if Ben could come with us, but he won't be freed from the bonds of medical school for a few more weeks, so he'll join us a little later. And just because I keep day dreaming of all the fun things to do and enjoy in Utah, here is a list of what's rolling around in my head on a daily basis:

1. Seeing family! I've missed them so much! It's amazing what even that first little glimpse of them at the airport does to my heart.
2. Eating at my dad's restaurant- we've missed it a lot while we've been here.
3. Eating my mom's delicious cooking. After 15 months of pretty tedious cooking here (which I mostly like) I am seriously looking forward to a little break from cooking. And everything my mom makes is fabulous.
4. Seeing friends! Especially a few out of state friends who are going to come visit while we are there! It's been way too long!
5. Going to the temple- especially with the emotional roller coaster that this experience has been, Ben and I have really missed being able to attend the temple.
6. Swimming at my parents pool- and the luxury of just being able to suit up Chase, grease him with sunscreen and walk out the back door to enjoy the pool! (As opposed to loading up the stroller and walking over a mile to get there in blistering heat. I'm so hot by the time we get home that I've cancelled any cooling effect of the pool)
7. Kelly's wedding! The reason Chase and I are leaving a tad early.
8. Normal restaurants, I've been dreaming about Cafe Rio and Zupas lately. Also, Ben and I agreed to go out to a nice dinner to celebrate our anniversary while we are there and we can't even decide where to go, there are so many amazing options that sound incredible to us! Mazza? Macaroni Grill? Red Iguana? Just a few on our list :)
9. The peace of mind that comes from taking Chase to his pediatrician, getting caught up on shots and to check everything out. And being able to have him ride in a carseat again. Basically, being able to feel like I'm doing everything possible for my babe's health and safety!
10. Shopping- not that we've got an extensive budget these days, but even Target looks amazing after you've lived here for more than two weeks.

However, I'm still trying to enjoy my time here. There are many things I'll miss about this island. I'll miss how calm my life is here. There is still lots to do, being a mom and wife and keeping my house clean, groceries bought, baby happy and boys fed. However, it's not the crazy busy that life is in the states. I don't run errands (mostly because there wouldn't be anywhere to run them to). Our social circle is pretty small, but it's a great group of people, and I will miss them a lot. I'll miss being able to walk everywhere; I really have enjoyed just throwing Chase in the stroller and going places. I'll miss the smoothie shack where I stop almost every day to get a strawberry-mango-banana smoothie to share with Chase. I will definitely miss the beautiful view of the ocean I get every day. So I think I'll enjoy my last few weeks here, even though I'm so incredibly excited to be back in Utah!

Totally unrelated, but this picture I took two weeks ago makes me laugh. Chase took a little tumble at the park and scraped his little nose and forehead. As you can see by that mischievous smile, he didn't stay sad about it very long. His smile melts my heart!

Ben got off the island!

We've been living in Dominica for almost 15 months now, and until Sunday Ben had never left this tiny island. About a month ago he told me he was starting to get "island fever" and was really wanting a break. Luckily, this opportunity came along!

In Ben's first semester of medical school his cadaver had oat cell lung cancer. Yuri (pictured below with Ben) was in Ben's dissection group* and had a lot of expertise in that type of cancer from undergrad. Yuri spearheaded a research project for their group to put together and present at the school's research fair. Last May we found out that their project had been selected to present at the AACA Research Conference, with medical professionals from all over the world, and this year it was being held at St. Georges University in Grenada! Just a hop, skip and a jump (well really, two flights) from our little island! They got permission from the school miss some class so they could attend and present (and Ross even footed the bill!). 

Ben loved Grenada. He said the island is much more Americanized than Dominica, it seemed to be much more developed and have much nicer amenities. Also, as only someone who lives in Dominica would appreciate, the airport was an easy 5 minute drive from the campus (unlike our one hour drive on the windiest road known to man, makes us so sick every time). He was also so impressed with St. Georges campus. After attending the conference, he decided we probably should have chosen St. Georges over Ross, but live and learn right? He was just gone for 3 nights, but Chase and I sure missed him a lot and were so glad when he came home to us on Wednesday night.

Their presentation went well and Ben said it was definitely a learning experience. Towards the end of the conference Ben had the funniest conversation with an older Australian woman who came up to look at his poster. After continuously critiquing and judging the poster (with questions like "Did you really do this? Or did a professor just do it for you? How do I know this is your work?") she looked at Ben and said, "And you know, you really need to watch your physique."

What the heck?

Ben was kind of shocked- he's maybe put on a few pounds here, since his rigorous school schedule hasn't given him much extra time to work out, but Ben is by no means an overweight guy.
She went on to say that doctors need to look more fit and she recommended that he chain himself to a desk to study with the food just barely out of reach. Awesome idea right? We've had a good laugh about her comments several times since.

*Just to record how insane Ross can be at times, Ben's dissection group started out as 5 guys. Only three of them are even left on the island (the other two failed out) and one of them is no longer in Ben's class because he had to repeat 3rd semester. All three of them got to attend the conference, but it just shows how stressful passing is here!

Crabby

Crabs are cute, right?

I mean, look at this cute little guy we sculpted for the top of Chase's birthday cake?

 And look at this darling little crab on this outfit I used to put Chase in all the time.

It even says, "I'm cute!" on it.

Wrong.

Real life crabs are not cute. In fact, they terrify me. 

I'm pretty sure they are evil. I know classify them similarly to snakes, which is my least favorite animal. Ever. 

A few days ago I was coming back from my morning walk with Chase. I was pulling the stroller up the stairs backwards (a skill I've perfected down here). I thought I heard someone coming up behind me, but a glance over my shoulder showed no one was there. I kept going up the stairs, and heard the sound again. I glanced down and saw this creepy guy right there by my foot!

 Of course, I screamed (not unlike the time a few weeks ago I was walking and suddenly saw a 4 foot long boa constrictor on the sidewalk right in front of me). I pushed the stroller back down the stairs, pulled Chase out, and darted up the stairs staying as far away from those evil little pinchers as possible. I know Disney makes that funny little Sebastian look cute and endearing, but in my experience, real life crabs are just terrifying.

On a totally unrelated note, Sunday was a big day for our branch. We got cushioned folding chairs! After sitting on the hard metal ones for three hours every week for the last year, we loved it! And it's much quieter when Chase hits toys on the chairs. We did cause quite the commotion when Chase tried to crawl under a chair after a stray toy. The old, metal chairs just had one bar connecting the legs and Chase easily fit through the space. These new, fancy chairs, have two bars. Chase wiggled between them to retrieve the toy, but then got his little head STUCK! Right as the sacrament hymn was starting. Chase laughed at first, then started screaming as I tried to free him. After several failed attempts, Ben squeezed in and freed the poor boy. Chase was fairly traumatized. It's funnier in hindsight than it was at the time!

And just because no post would be complete without recent pictures of Chase, here are a few I snapped this morning.

Chase LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!

Independence Day

This is our 3rd Independence Day spent OUTSIDE the boundaries of the USA (we were in Italy two years ago, and here in Dominica last year)- and man, we really wish we could be back in America celebrating today. However, living here has given us a unique way to celebrate and a greater perspective. We love America! We miss America. With all it's imperfections and political arguments, I still believe it is the greatest country in the world. One troubling thing about life in Dominica is to see the poverty around us. In the United States, when people are down on their luck or disaster strikes, or they were raised and have always lived in poverty, there are programs to help them: medicaid, food stamps, WIC, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, the list goes on and on. Here in Dominica there is nothing. As Relief Society President I've had the opportunity to help with welfare needs in the branch, and I'm so grateful for that chance and that service our church provides. Each time I realize that if the church wasn't here to help, these people would starve. Their children wouldn't eat for days. And I know that this is how many in Dominica are living. God bless America!

Two years ago I had the unique opportunity to go with a small group from the BYU nursing program to Washington DC. We spent a week there touring and studying Veterans health. We met with our Senators, toured Walter Reed Medical Center, met with leaders of the central VA hospital, and met with several veterans. It was amazing to get a glimpse into the health problems- both physical and emotional- that these men and women went through. It increased my gratitude and awe for their sacrifice. I think of the few veterans I know personally- an uncle who has given his whole life and career to serving our country, a few elderly men in my parents neighborhood who fought many years ago, all heroes in my mind. I can clearly remember walking on Omaha Beach 7 years ago and listening to my teacher retell the story of the Normandy invasion and the significance of D-Day. I walked around the beautiful American cemetery there in France, looking at the rows and rows of headstones, standing so perfectly in straight lines, in complete amazement of the sacrifice given there. The words that come to my mind now were from a man we met on our last day in DC. He was a veteran from WWII and fought at Iwo Jima. He met us right there at the memorial and recounted his experience. When he was finished he instructed us,

"Have a great life. That's why we did it."

He was so right. Living in America is a great life. That great life has been fought for and preserved for centuries by selfless men and women. Our freedom has come at a cost. I will forever be thankful for them.

 We had a lovely 4th of July. We got a group together at the pool for a little BBQ. There isn't a grill there, but we rigged one using some charcoal, cement blocks, and a rack from our oven (and an umbrella during some light rain), it worked great! Everyone brought delicious food and it was a fun little party! Next year we can do the whole deal- fireworks, parades, all that jazz, but for now, I'm glad we at least had a 4th of July BBQ!

And I just love this picture I snapped of my two favorite guys on the way home tonight-

Chase adores his dad,

and while I wish he loved me that much

I really love their little relationship.

An Important First

Baby's First Blanket Fort!

This is what Ben and Chase did while I made dinner on Sunday,

Chase thought it was amazing!

And this was the dinner I was working on,

since we moved to Dominica, we have sorely missed my dad's restaurant,

Faboys Pizza and Pasta Co.

so we tried to replicate one of our favorite dishes there- "the works" stromboli.

It wasn't quite as good- our homemade dough wasn't quite right,

we didn't have the yummy marinara sauce to dip it in,

and our oven doesn't cook quite as hot,

but other than that, it was delicious. I wish I'd made two, we probably could have eaten them.

Blanket Forts and Stromboli-

it was a good Sunday!

4 years

 Tomorrow is our 4th wedding anniversary- I really can't believe it's been that long. At the same time, it feels like we've been married forever. I'm so happy I made the decision when I was so young to marry this man. I remember when we were dating and engaged we talked about the kind of adventures we wanted to have in life, how we wanted to travel and see the world, and how fun it would be to live abroad. Little did we know then where our life would take us- I think the 2006 version of ourselves would be pleased to know the wild ride we've been on so far.

When I got married I had so many people tell me "marriage is hard work" and "the first year is the hardest". Then we had our first year of marriage, I thought we had it made. Those first few years of marriage, living the student life in Provo, childless, were a blast. Really we had it easy- we were blessed with good jobs and were always able to make ends meet, school went well, we had the best friends in our apartment complex that we had a blast with, we traveled a lot, enjoyed leisurely Saturday mornings making a big breakfast and working out together, enjoyed the freedom that our carefree life offered us. We had lots of time to spend together and we had awesome adventures. Our sweet little Chase joined us, and although stressful and hard work, our happiness just felt complete.

Then, just before our 3rd anniversary, we moved away from all our family and friends and even the good old USA to come to Dominica for medical school. With the accelerated program here, Ben became completely immersed in school work and those hours of time together quickly diminished to about 20 minutes a day at dinnertime. We had new stresses- like water being shut off frequently, the grocery store constantly being out of at least 2 ingredients needed for dinner that night, living in sweltering heat with no AC, having to chase lizards out of our home and worrying about poisonous centipedes and that the cows lining the dirt road I walked 12 times a day might get angry and charge. The stress of passing each semester weighed heavily on us. We missed our family and friends a whole lot.

This was the point where I felt more that marriage was "work". Ben loves homemade meals, and I'd always strived to make them, but now I had much more limited ingredients. And cooking here is way more work because I have to make almost everything from scratch- bread, tortillas, spaghetti sauce, and pretty much everything else imaginable. I had to learn to light our oven with a match (no small task for me) and then cooking anything would heat up our house even more than before. There have been many times that all these added stresses of 3rd world country life has made us a little grumpy and maybe less than pleasant with each other. Those days when we'd come up drenched from head to toe from being caught in a out-of-nowhere downpour only to find that there wasn't running water at home, due to the storm, ironically.

And although it's been hard, I think it's made our love and appreciation for each other stronger. Ben appreciates all the sacrifices I've made to support him here and reminds me of that often. I have grown to love and respect him more from seeing his hard work and dedication to his school work, but I am also filled with gratitude that he does take time for his family. Truly, every time I see Ben play with and care for our Chase my heart just swells and I'm so grateful I married a man who is such an amazing father. Everyone told us that moving away was good for a marriage, that you learn to depend more on each other. It's so true, our life here has solidified and bound our marriage in a way that nothing had before. It also taught us that it really doesn't matter where we live, as long as we are together, we have all we need.